sanahtlig

There's better ways to look up untranslated words than Google Translate. For Japanese, I use JParser + Translation Aggregator.

Mangagamer had an early history of bad translations, although their translations have improved in recent releases. They have some decent titles, but unfortunately these titles tend to be marred by said poor translations or voice licensing issues. Mangagamer's releases overall have failed to impress / interest me, and their lineup for this year is mostly nukige. Barring surprise announcements at Anime Expo, Mangagamer hasn't given me a lot to be excited about. Mangagamer titles I've played and enjoyed: Soul Link Shuffle! Mangagamer titles on my "to play" list: Kara no Shoujo Ef Tick Tack! Koihime Musou really disappointed me, but that's not really Mangagamer's fault. JAST USA on the other hand has released some good games in the past few years, and it has some very good titles in the pipeline. Some notable titles I've played and enjoyed: Princess Waltz School Days HQ Demonbane Family Project Saya no Uta

Mangagamer denies this allegation. Can anyone that's installed the demo confirm this?

You're confusing licensing issues with censorship. Mangagamer doesn't censor any of their releases. They occasionally release games without voice because their games don't sell well enough to cover the exorbitant licensing fees that are sometimes demanded. The Higurashi incident was another example of licensing issues that were particularly problematic because it was a doujin title and wasn't completely legitimate to begin with (elements were "borrowed" without explicit consent of the rights holders). I don't believe Mangagamer was involved in the release of Kira Kira iOS, although their translated scripts might've been used. Mangagamer was not involved in the localization of "If My Heart Had Wings". For more information on that, see this post / thread:

Yes, you're right. It appears the option was for gore.

Saya no Uta. I think there's an option to remove the sex scenes.

Years ago, back when I'd played a fair number of English VNs but didn't have the sort of "perspective" I have now...I bought Day of Love by Hirameki. I only realized recently that half of Hirameki's titles were censored eroge, exactly what MoeNovel is doing but even worse due to the limitations of DVD player format. Obviously at the time I didn't give it a second thought--and I can't imagine most of their target audience will have a more adverse reaction to the censorship than I did. I actually played eroge and was decently aware of the industry, after all.

http://kineticliterature.com/the-meaning-of-oelvn/ Katawa Shoujo is an OELVN. You'll have to tweak your choices or the wording of the question so that they match up.

What "bitching"?

That's a mess. Try this: Do you prefer VNs originating in Japan or OELVNs (VNs developed by Westerners)?

The second poll question is pretty vague. Is it referring to Japanese companies making VNs for Westerners, Japanese companies modifying VNs for Westerners, or Western companies/fans making VNs for Westerners? I think some might change their answer depending on which of these implied questions they thought was being asked.

I came up with a new one-line explanation (specifically for eroge): An anime-style Danielle Steele novel with pictures, sound, and multiple romance options.

Let this thread die. Respond in this thread instead:

That's interesting. I play Japanese language VNs with machine assistance, and when I'm feeling impatient I'll actually skim the *machine translation* faster than the Japanese voice actor can speak the lines. For lines where I know the words, I can do the same with pure Japanese. Reading at speaking speed is actually fairly common. It's a limiter many of us place on ourselves simply out of habit. You can break the limiter with practice (subtitled anime is actually pretty handy for that), and after you do so the pace of normal speech (and the lack of a skim option) can become annoying. One of the downsides of immersing myself in subtitled anime, VNs, and the Internet is that my listening comprehension has probably atrophied a bit. When I watch an American movie without subtitles, I often end up missing words or lines. Even when the only option is English voice acting in game cinematics, I still turn on subtitles.

This poll is much clearer. I'll transport my response from the other thread. I got into subs originally due to a perception that Japanese voice acting was better suited to anime than English voice acting (some of this is due to cultural gaps embedded in language); in addition, the English dubs I'd seen just weren't very good. Since then, I've learned some of the language and Japanese audio is a large part of what makes anime "anime" to me. Just as hair color often denotes personality in anime, so too is voice part of the characterization. For eroge, the problem is even more acute, as now the additional issue of vocal attractiveness and H-scene audio comes into play. I think a lot of people get into eroge in part because they reject the tropes in Western pornography, and they might find the Japanese voice acting itself arousing. For those into lolicon or "school life", there's the additional problem of unwanted reminders of "real-life" children/teens, which are easy to dismiss when the voice is in an exaggerated foreign tongue (enforcing the "otherwordliness" of it). My first exposure to Japanese media was through English dubs. I expect this is the case for most people. Anecdotally, I've exposed people who started on popular dubbed anime to subbed anime (sometimes of the same show). These casual anime watchers emphatically agreed that subbed anime was better than dubbed, though they had no knowledge of Japanese at all. In general, outside the fandom I'd expect that the average person overwhelmingly favors English dubs (at least in anime). The most prominent reason for this, in my experience, is that they have difficulty reading the text and paying attention to what's going on on-screen at the same time. This is uncomfortable for many people and is particularly problematic for people with low reading speed. Visual novels with English voice acting are almost non-existent so there's little data to draw on there.

Honestly, your response leaves me even more perplexed as to what you're trying to address with this poll. You need to simplify if you want any sort of coherent answer. Poll 1: In general, would you prefer Japanese or English voice acting in localized visual novels originating from Japan (assuming quality of the voice acting isn't an issue)? 1) Japanese 2) English 3) Depends on the visual novel 4) No preference Poll 2: If you'd prefer Japanese voice acting, why? (you may select more than one choice) 1) I'm a Japanese culture aficionado 2) I'm studying Japanese 3) I prefer localizations that are as close to the original as possible, and I believe a dub is a step further from this ideal than a text translation 4) Dubbed ero content would bother me 5) Other Poll 3: Would language of the voice acting be a significant factor affecting your decision to play a localized visual novel originating in Japan (assuming quality of the voice acting wasn't an issue, and dubbed / dual audio versions were widely available)? 1) Yes, I'd significantly favor titles with original Japanese voice acting over those that didn't. 2) Yes, I'd significantly favor titles with an English dub over those that didn't. 3) No, the language of the voice acting would not be particularly important to me.

As a tool for asking a question and receiving an objective answer, the poll has a few flaws. 1) Ambiguous question: "If all current/future VNs were voiced in English expertly, would you read those?" Just glancing at this, it's hard to pinpoint what you're trying to assess. Are you asking whether I'd refuse to play a VN that had English dub only? Are you asking whether, given a choice, I'd prefer an English dub over the original Japanese VA? I should be able to form an answer in my head before even looking at the choices. 2) Inconsistent or biased choices: "Yes, I'd exclusively read English VNs." You forgot to distinguish English VA from English-language text. "No, I'd prefer Japanese VA because my Japanese is better than my English." This is a nonsense answer, since if the person's Japanese was better than their English, they wouldn't be reading the VN in English in the first place. "No, I refuse to, because..." You use the word "refuse" in only this answer. In addition, this word has a negative connotation and will tend to bias the voter to other choices. That said, I chose the last choice. I got into subs originally due to a perception that Japanese voice acting was better suited to anime than English voice acting (some of this is due to cultural gaps embedded in language); in addition, the English dubs I'd seen just weren't very good. Since then, I've learned some of the language and Japanese audio is a large part of what makes anime "anime" to me. Just as hair color often denotes personality in anime, so too is voice part of the characterization. For eroge, the problem is even more acute, as now the additional issue of vocal attractiveness and H-scene audio comes into play. I think a lot of people get into eroge in part because they reject the tropes in Western pornography, and they might find the Japanese voice acting itself arousing. For those into lolicon or "school life", there's the additional problem of unwanted reminders of "real-life" children/teens, which are easy to dismiss when the voice is in an exaggerated foreign tongue (enforcing the "otherwordliness" of it). The "I'm just used to it" answer doesn't really apply to me, as my first exposure to Japanese media was through English dubs. I expect this is the case for most people. Anecdotally, I've exposed people who started on popular dubbed anime to subbed anime (sometimes of the same show). These casual anime watchers emphatically agreed that subbed anime was better than dubbed, though they had no knowledge of Japanese at all.

You know, I thought I was being generous for challenging your trollish comment on lolicon in good humor. But it seems you didn't get the hint. You throw out a moral challenge to prove you wrong then retreat behind the facade that it was your "opinion" when they do? Think I can throw out a racial slur and hide behind the pretense that it's just my "opinion", or that I was just trying to be funny? Stop being a coward and just apologize. If you don't want people derailing your thread, don't throw out inflammatory remarks and insult people when they call you on it.

Only pedophiles would be insulted by being compared to subtitle fans and lolicons? That's a rather interesting insight.

Did you just liken a preference for subtitles to a sexual fetish (and a psychological disorder?!)? Granted, both inclinations reflect a strong preference for an original unsullied state but...

I was simply responding to: Yes, it is against US law if the company sends you a DMCA notice and you refuse to comply. Translation is fair use. Translation and distribution of said translation (with or without the actual game) is not. As soon as you share that translation with someone else (for free or for money), it's a breach of copyright. Whether the company will actually press charges, or whether you agree with such law is besides the point.

I believe distribution of unauthorized modifications (derivative works) is a breach of copyright under US law. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement

Apparently not that easy, or otherwise someone would've added the adult content back into Aselia the Eternal by now (by applying the scripts to the Special edition). I wouldn't get my hopes up about a fan release with adult content. How many Hirameki titles with the adult content added back in have you seen?

I'll just leave this here: These changes are based on new information from a fan that e-mailed customer support. http://vndb.org/t4084#19 "Stance on censorship" was compiled in part using this information:

I have a pathological aversion to replaying games I've already played. Most of the time, I don't even play more than one route. If gameplay is involved, the likelihood of me playing more than one route drops even more.