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I'm working on a new video since this one is slightly outdated.

I think the bones of this issue lie in your personal definition of "escapism." Healthy escapism, in my opinion, is when you dive into fantasy to get away from troubling aspects of your life that you cannot control or change. It's perfectly reasonable to distract yourself from those issues by doing something that helps you forget. Unhealthy escapism is when you are hiding from something that you really must deal with. Generally speaking, the longer you avoid handling these types of issues, the worse they get, so not only are you postponing the inevitable, it's likely that you are making your own future more difficult for the illusion of a simpler present. If I was doing something that I loved, but it was making my situation worse, that would be a strong implication that the problem I was avoiding was that second kind of problem. Therefore, I shouldn't be avoiding it. Of course, knowing what you should do and being able to force yourself to do it are two different things. But if there's something you're running from and you know that running will hurt you, try to stop running.

As any translator can probably tell you, Japanese jokes are a huge pain to capture in English. There are unfamiliar memes, cultural references, wordplay, riffs on kanji characters — none of which are particularly easy to convey to Western audiences. If you get lucky, a few nips and tucks in editing are all you need to make one of these unwieldy beasts work in English. If you get unlucky, however, you end up having to grab the rib spreader and do some major linguistic surgery. Sometimes the patients pull through. Sometimes they die on the operating table. These are their stories. Joke 1: Pearls before swine In this scene from KoiRizo, Soutarou has just finished giving one of the girls a bit of helpful advice passed down to him by his grandfather. The raw translation is below: Soutarou: “... That's the motto that they followed back then, I think. Well you know, according to my grandfather.” Riho: “Your grandfather's ball bag?” Soutarou: “A-Although I think that he got it from my grandmother...” Riho: “Ha ...?!” Soutarou: “...” Riho: “I just said a really strange thing ―!” Get it? Get it? No, of course you don’t. KoiRizo was intended as a literal translation, and read literally, this makes zero sense. At this point in my editing, the only choice I had was to go back to the original script, break out the Japanese > English dictionaries, and see if I could figure out what the hell was going on here. As near as I could figure, Riho meant to use the word “chiebukuro” — literally, “sack of wisdom.” She intended to say something about Soutarou’s pop-pop being a pretty smart guy, chock full of good advice. Instead, she uses “tamafukuro” — literally, “ball sack.” You can understand Soutarou’s confusion when Riho starts talking about his grandfather’s wrinkly old nuts. Nice guy that he is, however, Souatrou tries to give her a graceful out, suggesting it was actually his grandmother who provided the advice. Riho realizes her error and is appropriately mortified. Great. We’ve puzzled it out ... but at this point, the joke still doesn’t work in translation. “Sack of wisdom” isn’t a common English phrase, so the reader won’t catch the intended meaning behind Riho’s mistake. It just sounds like a plain old non sequitur right now. So our next task is to change her line to something that (1) works as a Freudian slip, (2) comes out of the blue, and (3) is sexually shocking enough to catch Soutarou off guard. The version I eventually settled on ran something like this: Soutarou: “... That was the common advice back then, I think. Well, you know, according to my grandfather.” Riho: “Your grandfather must have really liked giving you pearl necklaces, huh?” Soutarou: “A-Actually, it might have been my grandmother who liked giving out pearls of wisdom ...” Riho: “Ha ...?!” Soutarou: “...” Riho: “I can’t believe I just said that ―!” Here, we’ve keep the same basic structure, but rather than “sack of wisdom,” Riho tries (and fails) to say “pearls of wisdom,” a much more common English idiom. And now, rather than Grandpa’s gnarly ballsack, we have the even more shocking image of the old guy giving his grandson pearl necklaces on a regular basis. Soutarou still gets to save the day by pivoting to his grandmother, and then the rest of the joke plays out pretty much as originally written. Does it work? I hope so, but one could just as easily argue that I broke it. It’s a different gag; there’s no doubting that. But at the end of the day, I’d rather have a joke that works and maintains the original’s spirit than one that’s accurate to a fault. Joke 2: Deflowering the girls Here’s a joke I know I broke during editing. Smashed it to the ground and danced on the pieces. In my defense, it was looking at me funny. In the raw translation of this scene, resort manager Nagisa has just asked the staff to gather in their swimsuits for a big announcement: Nagisa: “I have a reason for calling you all here like this today.” Nagisa: “I'd like everyone to become the 'detergent' of the facilities.” Sango: “Detergent? Us?” Nagisa: “Oh, sorry. By detergent, I was referring more to advertising material.... In other words, I need you guys to photograph for an advertisement.” Again, another joke that makes no sense when read literally. And the only TL note I had to go on said, “This translation won't work in English.” Agreed. So I hauled out the J>E dictionary again, but had much less luck this time. At best, I came away with a wisp of a shred of a guess. My hunch was that Nagisa was using one very specific meaning of the word “senzai”— the foremost part of a garden, the loveliest flowers intended to set the stage and entice visitors in deeper — and Sango interpreted it as another more common meaning of “senzai” — namely, detergent. Nagisa clarifies her meaning, everyone has a chuckle, and the scene continues. I wasn’t sure if I was right — I’m an editor, not a translator — but lacking any better options, I decided to go with it. And I promptly flailed about like a clown being drowned in a bathtub. Right off the bat, I knew there weren’t any good English sound-alikes that would work here. So instead, I wrote about a dozen variations on garden and flower puns, but none of them managed to weave plausible misunderstanding with Nagisa’s actual meaning. Worse yet, they just weren’t funny. Next, I tried a few bawdier versions, but quickly abandoned those as well. This scene is going to get more risqué in a minute, but throwing in a sex joke right now would be tipping our hand too soon. (In one draft, I had Nagisa say she wants the girls to be the hook that lures visitors to the island. Sango replies, “What?! You want us to hook for you?” — i.e., she thought her boss wanted to pimp them out as resort hookers.) Having hit brick wall after brick wall, I decided to strip the joke down to its essence. What’s the basic structure here? Nagisa says she wants to use the girls to help sell the resort. Sango suffers a comic misunderstanding. Nagisa corrects her. The end. So that’s what I wrote: Nagisa: “There’s a reason why I’ve called everyone here like this today.” Nagisa: “I've decided to sell you.” Sango: “Sell us? Is that even legal?” Nagisa: “Oh, sorry. By ‘sell,’ I meant using you to help advertise the resort ... In layman’s terms, I need you guys to model for some publicity photos.” We lose the poeticism of the original — that image of the girls as flowers drawing visitors in — but in exchange, we get something that actually works as wordplay in English while still delivering the necessary plot info (Nagisa’s marketing brainstorm). It’s still not a particularly hilarious gag, but then again, neither was the original. In both examples, I ended up completely rewriting large chunks of each joke. And while I'm not entirely satisfied — I wish I could have kept more of the original language — I'm okay with the result. Editing is a balancing act. You want to remain as faithful to the original text as possible while maintaining the audience’s immersion in the work. If the reader suddenly comes across a joke that clearly doesn’t parse in English, that immersion is broken. They stop. They scroll back and re-read it a few times, trying to make sense of it. They wonder if they’re missing something, or if the TL team just messed it up. BAM. They’re now completely out of the world of the visual novel. The magic is broken. Because magic is only magic until you notice the strings. Or that dead clown in the bathtub.

After they announced Kizumonogatari, Owarimonogatari begins, and it's a freaking 48 minute long episode special! All the head tilts, crazy backgrounds and wordy dialogues are back, extended across 50 freaking minutes. I am in heaven right now. The opening was super cool, this might actually be my 3rd or 2nd favorite opening in the monogatari series (nothing beats Platinum Disco though). Really curious to know more about Ougi in this season, although I've sort of already spoiled myself on a lot of things about her. As for the episode itself, it was a nice mystery, albeit very cliché in terms of development, but it's fun to know more about Koyomi's past. I guess Oikura is going to become a regular in this arc then? She was in the credits so it's likely. Don't know how to feel about her, although I imagine there's a lot of potential to develop her. Thank you based Shaft and welcome back Monogatari series (although fuck you for making Kizumonogatari into a trilogy)

STRAIGHT INTO MY VEINS

There’s no getting around it. If you’re looking to edit visual novels, at some point you’re going to have roll up your sleeves, put on the rubber gloves, and get elbow-deep in some H. The good news is that if you come prepared, practice your technique, and set some clear boundaries, it can be a pleasurable experience for both you and the reader. First, a disclaimer: I don’t like pineapple on my pizza, and I don’t like H-scenes in my VNs. It’s not a prudish thing; it’s a narrative thing. They’re rarely well crafted — you can feel all the hallmarks of the B-team being brought in to write them — and they almost never add plot/characterization that couldn’t have been handled better some other way. (I’ll pause here so you can mention Amane’s route from Grisaia, an exception that helps prove the rule.) Let’s be honest: they’re shoehorned in to help sell product. It’s built into the economics of the eroge genre. And honestly, that’s fine. I try to be sanguine about it and think of H-scenes as banner ads or TV commercials. They’re profit centers that help support the content I’m actually interested in. (I suspect more than a few developers feel the same way.) Long story short, H-scenes ain’t going anywhere. So how do we deal with them? Go in with a game plan. [Warning, there will be some NSFW language from this point forward. Sorry! It’s all part of seeing how the sausage is made.] 1. Do your research In raw translation, sex scenes from a Japanese visual novel tend to be far from erotic. More often than not, they read like an obsessively detailed transcript of a gynecological exam. That’s not because the Japanese writing team suddenly forgot they were supposed to be penning a passionate sex scene. It’s just that what’s erotic in one culture isn’t always as erotic in another. It’s your job (along with the translator) to help bridge that cultural divide and come up with something that feels faithful to the original, yet still sexy in English. Your first stop? Research. Read some English-language erotica so you can get a better sense of what works and what doesn’t. Sites like literotica.com even have stories broken out into fairly specific categories, so if you know you’ll be editing BDSM, threesome, and footjob scripts, you’ll have no problem finding what you need. (If you have all three in a single scene, you still might be in luck.) There’s also a category called “First Time,” which is more broadly useful, given how fixated many VNs are on virgins. Read, read, and read some more. Pay attention to the verbs, the nouns, the pacing. Try to quickly form a model of what makes a sex scene successful, then look to carry those techniques over to your VN script. 2. Pack a box lunch If you take nothing else away from this post, remember this: bring a big bag of dicks; you’ll need them. Better pack a few pussies while you’re at it. By the time you’ve edited your third or fourth H-script, you’ll find you’ve run dry of good synonyms for the male and female genitalia. In KoiRizo, the raw script mostly used the word "thing" for the protag’s package, which ended up sounding childish and/or ambiguous in English. (I only kept it in a few instances where such a reaction might be appropriate — for example, when the route partner catches her very first glimpse of Lil’ Protag: “Is that your ... thing?”). The remainder of the original script was a mix of the clinical ("my mucous membrane”) and the hilarious (“my soiled meat stick”). As for ladyparts, the original script relied heavy on metaphor and indirect reference — lots of openings, entrances, gates, doors, depths, special places, overflowing pots of nectar, etc. So what’s missing from the above? The common English erotica standbys: “dick” and “cock” for men, “pussy” for women. There’s a reason for that. KoiRizo complicated things by using the Japanese equivalents of these very sparingly, reserving them mainly for shock effect in dialogue — “e.g., OMG, she just said ‘cock!’ Things must be getting real.” Moreover, when these words were finally hauled out, the devs bleeped the VO and censored the text string (e.g., “p*ssy”). That meant it was very obvious when those words were being used and when they weren’t. All of which presented quite a challenge to the team: if we were to preserve those “shocking” character moments, we couldn’t use the most common English terms 99% of the time. And so, I fell back on a shortlist of alternate references: pole, rod, erection, hard-on, manhood, etc. By the time I was done editing, however, this list felt far too limited; those words were overused pencils worn down to their nubs. This is one of those areas where, in hindsight, I feel like I could have done a better job with KoiRizo. The takeaway: If I ever tackle a VN this H-heavy again — doubtful — I’ll come packing a much longer list of euphemisms. 3. Bring a raincoat Compared to its English counterpart, Japanese erotica seems downright obsessed with fluids: saliva, vaginal secretions, semen, urine — you name it. The look, the sound, the feel, the taste, the smell, the volume. You’ll be describing a lot of liquids in a lot of ways, so get ready to break out the thesaurus. And an umbrella. 4. Embrace the improbable Let’s admit it: VN sex is over-the-top ridiculous. In a matter of seconds, sheepish virgins turn into seasoned pornstars, cramming 20 orgasms and 40 positions into a quickie broom closet hookup. (Oh so much cramming.) This is the nature of the genre, so don’t fight it; embrace it. Trying to force realism onto a typical H-scene would be like trying to force realism onto a Dragon Ball Z fight: everyone still looks constipated, but no one’s having any fun. If you’re that desperate to edit sadly mundane sex scenes, wait for the VN version of Michael Winterbottom’s 9 Songs to come out. Till then, work with what you have. I remember a tiny dustup a while back when another TL team supposedly wrote lubricant into an H-scene because they felt the acts described would be difficult or painful without it. It’s a minor thing, but if the original writer left the lube out, I’m inclined to do so too. These portions of the script are wish fulfillment at their best/worst, so just leave them be. Except ... 5. Reject the impossible ... Except when the improbable becomes the impossible. More often than not, this is either the result of a mistranslation or an error by the original writers. (As an example of the latter, KoiRizo was haunted by an entity we dubbed “phantom Riho.” A couple of times, the devs would forget they were writing another girl’s scene and use Riho’s name for a line or two instead. We fixed this in our version, but still ...) Anyway, as editor, it’s your job to keep an eye out for the impossible. Is the protag’s penis simultaneously in someone’s vagina, anus, mouth, and ear? Did the heroine’s hymen suddenly regenerate? (Starfish Girl is mah waifu!) Did a corded vibrator suddenly become a battery-operated one? Ask to have the TL double-checked and, if that still doesn’t resolve the issue, use your best judgement to fix the error while causing minimal disruption to the surrounding lines. 6. Set your limits This is important. Know what you’re comfortable with going into a project and make those boundaries abundantly clear. Some VNs can venture into very unpleasant territory — rape, abuse, gore, catgirls, etc. — and it’s best to ask yourself up front if you could, in good conscience, commit to editing that sort of content. Set your limits early on, then make sure your team’s fully aware of them. 7. Have a sense of humor At the end of the day, VNs are entertainment. Unless you’re editing Saya no Uta 2: Vom Harder, it’s probably okay to approach your H-scripts with a subtle sense of play. A decent chunk of your audience will either be fast-forwarding through these scenes outright, or paying far more attention to the visuals than the script. So think of these times as exhibition games in your script editing schedule. They’re opportunities to spread your wings a little bit, try a few stylistic experiments — maybe even slip in a sly joke or two. And even if everything doesn’t quite work, we’ll still respect you in the morning.

'Dawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

If there was, I'm pretty sure I'd hate them instantly.

I cooked this great curry stew last weekend

You're making it sound like more Monogatari is bad. Sure it'll definitely be stretched out, but it's Shaft, it'll be worth it just for the eyegasm.

Just gonna put my btag out there (even more so) Sarayne#1517 add me

I am actually not sure. I remember reading somewhere that they wanted to do more with M2, but that they wouldn't be able to make the deadline if they did. So they decided to split M2 into 2 parts, so they could keep the deadline and also deliver the same quality as people expect. Im kind of ok with that explanation, theres enough other things I can read in the meantime. I don't really worry about it getting released, so far they delivered what they promised. The characters in Fault feel "fresh" (not too many stereotypes), the story is interesting enough; it is overall serious, there are some funnies and of course some infodumps about manakravte. I was happy Milestone 2 picked up the pace immediately, because it took a while before I could get into Milestone 1. Overall I thought it was an (surprisingly) enjoyable read. The only thing Im a bit concerned about is that they keep pulling new manakravte tricks out of the hat.

Enjoy your miserable life. Grind until you die. Agarest Zero is the second game but it is a prequel to Agarest GoW. I played the games in release order though. GoW, Zero and GoW2. But the correct order is Zero, GoW and GoW2. I only ever put effort into GoW and failed after 140 hours of gameplay. I can't really help you with that.

Confession: I'm not Moogy

My first game of chess against Cyr and I lost.... halp

Day made. Cannot wait.

Confession: I'm working on a new "Here at Fuwanovel" music video.

Please note that any names and or likeness to descriptions of people in this post are not meant to be offensive in anyway. I mention names for the sole purpose of getting points across, not to tell you your opinion and way of forum use is inferior. Also, please note that not everything I say will reflect how you feel. I am merely posting the things I see from my point of view, though this may not entirely reflect how you feel at this point in time. That is all. Fuwanovel. It's a site that has been around for quite some time now, and with all the recent changes that have happened in the past year or so, things have slowly started to go downhill. I don't want to beat around the bush and try to write something witty, I just want to state my thoughts about how I feel this site is changing and what is currently happening to lead it down its own path of destruction. Let me start by saying that this site is falling apart, and very quickly. Old members who guided this forum have slowly started to leave the site due to lack of interest, and new members are too "young" to understand the intricacies of the site. I understand that Tay has a perfect excuse for being away due to personal life issues on the island he is currently studying on, but what I do not understand is the amount of work that is being done to the site otherwise. Let me just cut right to how I feel. First of all... I am sick of the fact that the front site has not been updated. For the love of God, there is no excuse at this point. Nayleen, you took over Checkmate's job for the sole purpose of being that guy who works on the site when Tay is out (which he usually is) and yet all you are doing is putting it off more and more every fucking day. Don't tell me you are busy; you are sitting on Steam playing video games and clearly have the time to update the site. There is no fucking excuse at this point! People are donating to this site, and you refuse to even work on it. If there is a personal life issue that is happening, at least let people know because at this point all I see is complete laziness and lack of interest. So, we have Tay who is busy, and Nayleen who has apparently given up on Fuwanovel and left the site. Emi and other members like Kendjin and Rooke have left because nothing is happening, and a lot of those guys were the driving force for changes occurring on the site. Eclipsed and a lot of other active board moderators have started going into their own social cliques and don't give a flying fuck about the site at this point and its changes, dividing Fuwanovel with the confession's thread, the Love Live thread, and chat. Kaguya himself, someone who always complained about helping in the leadership department, has now resorted to posting in his PMs and giving a flying fuck about moderation. In other words, this place has no community anymore. There is no sense of togetherness anymore on the forums, and it's both sad and pathetic. You want to use college life as an excuse? Bullshit. People were attending school last year and nothing like this was happening. Most of you are freshman, and after going to college for 5 years myself with a double major mind you, your 1st year is pathetically easy regardless of your major. You have time to use this site for 1 hour a day at most and still socialize with others around campus. Am I the only person who actually cares about this community being together anymore? I have my TeamSpeak and group of friends, but even I try to desperately unite old and new members with a variety of activities and events. I am desperately trying to find something that will unite the community again, yet it seems nobody fucking gives a shit about what this site does anymore. Do they still lurk in the shadows? Of course, the loli ban on the site proved that when my TeamSpeak filled itself with 26 members and old members returned to post in that thread, people are still here. Yet nobody gives a flying fuck about what is happening, and at this point it's making it extremely difficult to continue pushing forward. And I get it, even I find myself doing the same thing others are doing as well. I start something and instantly give up on it because I know how much of a waste of time it is, so don't worry I am to blame as well. For the love of God, we got a donation system. It's pathetic and it's sad that we still don't have a stable leader to guide the site when real life situations occur. Tay has an excuse, but nobody else really does. At least Tay admits what is going on and shows his love for this site constantly. Everyone else just says "fuck it" and abandons it without a word. That's fine, but it makes it damn near impossible to do anything anymore. Entertainment and streams aren't working. I remember when 30+ members signed up actively for games and other community activities. Now we have nothing. No logo contests, no participation, nothing. I am not mad that what I am doing isn't working, but I am furious that this site is still sitting where it is this far into 2015. It's pathetic, and I want to say that I believe Fuwanovel is a dead shell. Sadly it isn't because of the changes, but rather because of the lack of interest anyone has on this site anymore. That's fine, but let's just admit the truth at this point - Fuwanovel is going downhill, and unless something is done and people actively work toward making it better, it's finished. I apologize for this post and for being upset, but deep down all I feel is regret and sadness for seeing such a site fall to the wayside and realize nothing has happened for the past year. Update the front site. There is no fucking excuse for this anymore.

It's true, it's true, I must confess. I feel an inexplicable yearning every time I see them. Hi, I'm ara and I'm mostly dumb, but hang in there with me, okay? I've been on fuwa for well over a year and now over 1000 posts. It's been pretty great and I've met a good number of people I very much enjoyed talking to. I made a lot of friends and stopped talking to just about as many, sadly. But the reason I post is because I actually want to talk about myself and my hopes and ambitions. I'd really appreciate it if you read my post with an open mind. One of my greatest passions is understanding and appreciating stories (and characters). These things that people write, draw, animate, or film. And I'm sure there are a number of other ways of storytelling, but for me, the stories I read about in books, manga, and anime seem to hold a special place in my heart. And the thing is that I don't think anyone really sees things the way I do a lot of the time. I won't get ahead of myself and tell you guys about how special I am and how I have this great vision or whatever, but there's definitely something different in the way everyone experiences stories, right? I believe a lot of that comes from contexts and from the reader's willingness to open their heart to the story. I care about many stories and I care about them in ways that I don't see people talking about. I care about facets of them that are often left undiscussed and it pains me every time I see someone bash something I love when it seems to me that they misunderstood "the really interesting part" or failed to appreciate the enjoyable uniqueness of the story. What I want to do is try to share my feelings with other people. I want other people to understand the way I feel and look at things with the same caring eyes that I do. I want to share with people the stories that I love and the things I love about them. Whether or not you may disagree, I think something wonderful can come from trying to transcend the singular context with which you read a story and see it in a new light. Or maybe it's just not very quality, but good in very specific and unique respects. That's cool too, right!? People, appreciate these things!! So I've been musing for a while. "I spend too much time talking to people online about nothing" "But you like talking to people, you like connecting and fangirling over things with people and sharing your passions" and thoughts like these, although recently they've been tainted with this general cynicism about online relationships. Yea, yea. Normal stuff. Sorry I'm not a hilarious breath of fresh air. But what occurred to me is that I should try to write. Actually write for other people as much as for myself, to try to build a bridge between their understanding of stories and my own, and hopefully get people to love some of the things I do for the reasons I do. So I want to take my 1000th-ish post time in the spotlight to say two things. 1. If you're looking for someone to talk to or feel lonely or want a friend or someone to bash ur fookin' 'ead in, I'll try to be a mate for ya. You can message me on fuwa or add me on skype or whatever you want and we can spend all the day chatting idly about why $0$ is a hilarious nickname for s0s or whatever garbage comes up. 2. I'm planning on writing something that may be called postviews or something... Thoughts on stories I've read and things that I think other people might have something to gain in thinking about. I think I'll do this as a blog function or something but I'm not entirely sure. The process might end up being too formal for my fool-ass self, but I want to at least bring it up in the hopes that someone cares and maybe we can talk about stories. Because I don't like sitting around thinking about why I love this and that so much without having anyone to share it with. Life is better spent with a friend. So, I hope you've enjoyed a glimpse into my mind as I post this awkward post with a fittingly awkward title that only makes sense if you really really think about it. I swear I'm only a little crazy! But I hope that I can share some of my craziness with you guys in the future. It's been a pleasure being on fuwa, but I seriously need an outlet for all of my thoughts and I think people are getting tired of my incomprehensible explanations. (Shoutout to HMN who won't read this but who is super amazing) Also this thread will function as an AMA for anyone that wants to ask pretty much anything or just talk about things. Idk! I didn't think that hard about this post, okay? gosh. Though I expect I scared most of you off with the text above.

999 is a DS game, its region free, any version will work on any DS or 3DS. I don't recommend the mobile version because the puzzles are important part of the experience.

I'm always here in fact XD I just didn't participate much. yup I knew, but Danganronpa was more successful commercially so I wasn't worried. ZE on the other hand.. actually came back from the dead lol anyway, I'm very happy about the news and I'll play both for sure.

Dreams do really come true "celebrating"

Emiya Shirou. He's a fucking idiot for 90% of F/SN. And F/SN is quite long.