Noratoto - 18+ Restoration Project

[Infernoplex]

Okay guys, time for some updates.

The entirety of this month, July, was spent on doing tech work. And for their great successes and achievements with this, you can all send your thanks to @marcus-beta and @Casual_Scrub. They alone really did a lot, lot more than anyone else involved with this project did so far. I am really grateful for their active support for this project, and I wish I could say the same kind of progress was made for the other parts of the project.

But alas, other than the great progress on the tech stuff, I must admit we didn't do much for the translation of the H-scenes. Not only that, but we may have also hit a roadblock in this project at the moment. Namely, our TLer got busy with real life issues and won't have time to work on this anymore. That means we practically don't have a TLer now. And that's why, if you know anyone who'd be interested in helping us to translate this, we'd be grateful if you could point that person our way. We're right now looking for a TLer, but in case we don't manage to find one, not all is lost. The final solution will be to just MTL all H-scenes and release the patch like that. It's not a perfect solution, but at least Noratoto will be uncensored that way.

Thank you for your continued support.

[marcus-beta]

Maybe it's better create a proper topic to the project, isn't? @Infernoplex

[Infernoplex]

@marcus-beta - We could if you want, although I was always seeing this thread as our project page

[marcus-beta]

Well, me too but... I don't think many people will see you recruiting here.

[littleshogun]

Well good luck to the work there, and if you forced to resort to MTL I guess ot can't really helped here (It's still preferrable though if the sex scenes translated properly).

[casual_scrub]

I think a separate topic would be logical for the restoration project, just so people know it's in progress and the thread is not just for discussing the existing release.

[Infernoplex]

Some updates:

- We got one TLer who's interested in helping the project since my last post

- I promised to make a dedicated project thread (and since I was super busy with some stuff, I couldn't get down to do it... I'll try doing it tonight if nothing stops me in that quest)

Edited August 3, 2019 by Infernoplex

[Infernoplex]

Noratoto - 18+ Restoration Project

1. VN Info

Spoiler

Title: Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart / The Princess, the Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart

Publisher: Harukaze/Fruitbat Factory/TOKYOTOON

Official Site: Link

VNDB: Link

Steam: Link

Getchu: Link

2. Synopsis

Spoiler

Nora lives together in Sakuragabuchi with Shachi, a girl younger than him whom his mother had adopted. After his mother’s passing, they were able to grow up just fine with the support of those around them. Shachi loves Nora very much, and wakes up him every day while straddling him in bed. Then they head to school and enjoy their time with their friends, including their childhood friend and discipline committee head Michi, and his cheerful gyaru-like kouhai Yuuki.

One day, Nora came upon a girl named Patricia in a park on his way to school. She was a Princess of the Underworld and she came to the world of the living on her mother’s orders to destroy everything and remind humans of death. However, the life energies were too strong for her and she was overwhelmed by it. Nora took care of her while she was feeling ill, and she fell in love with him as a result. She asked him to explain the ‘mysteries of life’, but why does that include reading porn books...!?

From [VNDB]

3. VN OP

Spoiler

Youtube Link

4. Project Introduction

Spoiler

One more eroge got censored (read: gutted and butchered) so that it could be released for the Western audience. This time, the victim is Noratoto, a visual novel the fans have been talking about ever since it was originally released in Japan to critical acclaim and commercial success. To understand the popularity of this title, you don't need to look further than the fact that it received both a full-fledged sequel and an anime adaptation, which is not common for visual novels. There aren't many visual novels that can boast of such achievements.

Knowing this, it's not hard to see why so many VN fans were revolted when they learned that Noratoto would get localized, but without all the content that made it popular in the country it originated from in the first place. Namely, the edition of the game that got localized for the Western audience is the one that came much later, when the developer decided to expand to the console market. Noratoto has been ported to 3 consoles so far: Vita, Switch, and PS4. From what I understood (if I in fact understood anything at all), the version of the VN that got localized for the English release is the Switch one, with maybe some differences? I'm not 100% sure on this, but regardless of that, it's still based on the console release, which means that the major problem still stands - lack of H-scenes without any patch, official or unofficial, in sight to restore them. And this localization decision was made by the publishers themselves, which in this case are the developers themselves, Harukaze, and a company no one here ever heard of (or at least I never heard of them) by the name TOKYOTOON. One more company was involved in the localization of Noratoto, but from what I understood, their involvement was fairly minimal (from what I got, they only did QC and some PR/marketing level stuff). I've seen many people blaming this company for Noratoto's situation, as they are an indie publisher who prioritizes only all-ages VNs, but I must defend them here and say that I am 100% convinced they didn't call any shots. The decision to localize the console release instead of the original PC release was made solely by Harukaze and TOKYOTOON. And by the time that they got involved, the matter was already settled to do only the all-ages console release, without any kind of restoration patch. There are still things I'd blame this company for, but those aren't related to the censorship problem.

Now, I have to admit I myself don't know how much the H-scenes in Noratoto mean for the whole experience (though I did hear from those in the know that they're tied to the plot in some way or another), but even if the impact of their removal was 0, I'd still say it's censorship. And any kind of censorship always changes the vision of the work that may be significantly different from the one the original author intended it to be. If in Japan they're reading one version of the game (that skyrocketed Noratoto in popularity in the first place), why should we be treated to a totally different version, arguably the one that's inferior to the one they've been reading over there? What are they trying to tell us by doing this? That what the Japanese liked, we won't? That sex is a normal thing in Japan, but not in the West? WTF? What's the point, I don't get it? Are we being treated like children or something? 12-year old French girls? Really? I didn't know 12-year olds were even reading VNs. I was around 17 when I read my first VN. And I don't recall hearing about any censorship of VNs at that time, aside from the mosaics issues. What changed so much in the last 5 or so years that we're hearing about censorship of localized Japanese media so often?

Anyway, to finish off the rant and get back to the point - we're gonna try to fix the censorship done here to the best of our abilities. I'm not promising this is gonna go any better than the way the last project I was involved in went. Worst case scenario, we're just gonna MTL the H-scenes and dump the patch like that. It's not an ideal solution, but you could say that the VN got at least uncensored then. What I also can't promise is when it's gonna be finished. At the time of writing this, our current progress on the translation is 0%. The only real progress that was made so far was on the tech side of things, for which I can only thank @marcus-beta and @casual_scrub. Their devotion to testing and fixing bugs is unparalleled. I really hope that their efforts won't go in vain and that we'll see this through the end, without having to resort to MTL.

The version of the VN we are making our patch for is the Steam's censored release. Not the JP release. Praise Marcus for being able to hack the Steam release ...

That's it for the project introduction.

5. Staff

Spoiler

1. @Bathhouse_Owner - Project Leader, Editor

2. @Zephyrast - Translator

3. @randompleb - Translation Checker

3. @marcus-beta - Hacker God and our resident Tech Wizard

4. @casual_scrub - Quality Assurance

5. @Infernoplex - Maybe Editor (when I have spare time)

6. @BigBigDog - Quality Assurance

7. Various testers

6. Recruitment

Spoiler

For now, we aren't looking for anyone. But if you believe you could help us with something, PM me.

7. Progress

Spoiler

TL: 0%

Edit: 0%

Tech & QC: A lot

Edited August 4, 2019 by Infernoplex

[JoshB2084]

Ooh, I'm instantly following this.

[YomiPlays]

Oh, nice.

 

[jpo05]

i know a gang of veterans who translated hoshi ori, hatsuki 1/1 and tsujidou-san no jun'ai road,and they maybe interested in helping out as currently they are not working on anything. and for me you can count me in as a tester i left the TL and EDT things long ago.

 

its really a shame this good vn got butchered, i pretty much enjoyed the prologue

 

let me know if you guys need some extra hands, a good vn needs restoring and its our duty to make it happen

 

had to make a account just to make this post XD

Edited August 11, 2019 by jpo05

[kokoro]

9 minutes ago, jpo05 said:

i know a gang of veterans who translated hoshi ori, hatsuki 1/1 and tsujidou-san no jun'ai road,and they maybe interested in helping out as currently they are not working on anything. and for me you can count me in as a tester i left the TL and EDT things long ago.

 

its really a shame this good vn got butchered, i pretty much enjoyed the prologue

 

let me know if you guys need some extra hands, a good vn needs restoring and its our duty to make it happen

 

had to make a account just to make this post XD

Lol, Tripli would finish the whole project in one day.

[Dergonu]

2 hours ago, kokoro said:

Lol, Tripli would finish the whole project in one day.

It's like 8k lines, so that's physically impossible.

[Infernoplex]

8 hours ago, jpo05 said:

i know a gang of veterans who translated hoshi ori, hatsuki 1/1 and tsujidou-san no jun'ai road,and they maybe interested in helping out as currently they are not working on anything. and for me you can count me in as a tester i left the TL and EDT things long ago.

You're saying Triplicate would want to TL this? Wait, did he say so?
We already have someone for testing, but if the crew doesn't mind, I don't see any problem inviting more testers later down the line.

8 hours ago, kokoro said:

Lol, Tripli would finish the whole project in one day.

Indeed, which is why I am curious if he really said he'd be interested.

6 hours ago, Dergonu said:

It's like 8k lines, so that's physically impossible.

You clearly didn't meet Triplicate yet XD

Jokes aside, he's gotta be one of the fastest TLers on the earth right now.

[jpo05]

On 8/11/2019 at 11:28 PM, Infernoplex said:

You're saying Triplicate would want to TL this? Wait, did he say so?
We already have someone for testing, but if the crew doesn't mind, I don't see any problem inviting more testers later down the line.

Indeed, which is why I am curious if he really said he'd be interested.

You clearly didn't meet Triplicate yet XD

Jokes aside, he's gotta be one of the fastest TLers on the earth right now.

i didnt ask him yet but right now those guys are not on any project

[jpo05]

On 8/11/2019 at 11:28 PM, Infernoplex said:

You're saying Triplicate would want to TL this? Wait, did he say so?
We already have someone for testing, but if the crew doesn't mind, I don't see any problem inviting more testers later down the line.

Indeed, which is why I am curious if he really said he'd be interested.

You clearly didn't meet Triplicate yet XD

Jokes aside, he's gotta be one of the fastest TLers on the earth right now.

the problem is....he said hoshi ori was his last vn and after that only a miracle can bring him back into TL

but i can only ask its upto him to decide weather to tl or no tl

 

btw i finished the vn .....and didnt really hit the spot as i expected it to but it was ok.....just ok...or maybe i had too much expectations, cant say im looking forward to part 2 of the vn

[Infernoplex]

5 hours ago, jpo05 said:

the problem is....he said hoshi ori was his last vn and after that only a miracle can bring him back into TL

As expected. He said Hoshi Ori would likely be the last VN he'll ever work on. I am grateful for everything he did so far. In my books, he went down as a hero.

Edited August 13, 2019 by Infernoplex

[UnHolyFiretruck]

thanks for doing this guys

Edited August 19, 2019 by UnHolyFiretruck

[jpo05]

On 8/13/2019 at 7:47 PM, Infernoplex said:

As expected. He said Hoshi Ori would likely be the last VN he'll ever work on. I am grateful for everything he did so far. In my books, he went down as a hero.

true, hoshi ori is a master piece and carries 1st place in my personal favs, but im rather sad that its counterpart 

Gin'iro, Haruka

 is not picked for translation by anyone, my translators are not veterans and a project of such size will definitely suck out few years of their life. i hope someday my japanese improves so atleast i can try.

[Irru]

Don't bother asking him, unless you want to get on his blacklist.

[littleshogun]

Speaking about Ginharu, while I prefer Tsurezure to handle the translation for that I think we should respect Trip's wish to make Hoshiori as his last work, so nothing that we can do about it. Similarly asking him to translated Noraneko sex scenes would be out of question here, and I think we should try to handle the translation without asking him. By the way once again it's quite a shame that Harukaze couldn't even understand that some people would prefer if they make Noraneko 18+ available as well, and so they decided to just released the port from console version.

[kancas55]

Are you guys planning on only adding back the h-scenes or will you compare both scripts and add back all censored/removed content? The game is full of sexual jokes and situations and some scenes got completely removed from the all ages release, for example in Shachi's route:

Spoiler

There's a scene where cat Nora goes into heat when he sees Shachi naked, jumps at her and stars sucking her nipple, this scene gets cut short to when he jumps at her chest and the entire scene following where he talks about it with his classmates is cut out completely, this ends up being a couple of hundred lines that would have to be translated.

I haven't compared both versions thoroughly but just by skipping I've noticed a couple of cut scenes like these.

Why did you guys decide to work using Steam's release? I feel like that will make restoring this kind of cut content harder.

[Infernoplex]

29 minutes ago, kancas55 said:

Are you guys planning on only adding back the h-scenes or will you compare both scripts and add back all censored/removed content? The game is full of sexual jokes and situations and some scenes got completely removed from the all ages release, for example in Shachi's route:

That's a lot of work you're talking about, but yeah, I think we won't be able to do that. I personally don't know how much has been altered, but if they've been censoring the original script more than I thought like you suggest, then we are indeed in trouble. Maybe @Bathhouse_Owner could do something about it. I don't know, it sounds like a huge pain in the ass to compare JP and ENG scripts and find all censored scenes like that.

29 minutes ago, kancas55 said:

I haven't compared both versions thoroughly but just by skipping I've noticed a couple of cut scenes like these.

I vaguelly recall that someone else told me the same thing. I'm not sure how much has been altered between the versions. I don't know, I pray to God it's not that many stuff...

29 minutes ago, kancas55 said:

Why did you guys decide to work using Steam's release? I feel like that will make restoring this kind of cut content harder.

I was actually thinking the same thing back in the day. @marcus-beta told me a couple of good reasons, but... I'd have to dig now what they all were. Unless he can remind me again here.

I know that the engine on the JP release is not as good as Kirikiri. We'd have some different problems for the JP release. Marcus's knowledge on working with Kirikiri is much higher than for the engine used for the JP release. I know it's not an excuse not to try hacking the JP release, but it's still something to have in mind.

Also... it should be possible to restore everything to be 100% as it was in the original JP release. The problem is how much work that would be. Yeah, it'd be way easier to just port the ENG TL and do the missing content translation than to do it like this. This is what I attempted to do with Miazora. But... here we went for the Steam release for a couple of reasons. One of them was that some of us on the project don't hate the devs nor the publishers and would like them to still make money on Noratoto, so that in theory the localization of Noratoto 2 could happen. Yeah, I know it's not fair for fans to have to fix and help out like that. I am not really picking up any sides here, but I understand why some feel like that.

Edited August 23, 2019 by Infernoplex

[casual_scrub]

Also the international version has some new non-H event CGs along with dual language support(which i highly value). Coupled with the Hscenes being present, character sprites uncensored (for example bathroom scenes), script being revised I think we are creating the best version here.

Technical work is largely done with Marcus and the translation is progressing. This is not gonna be a vaporware.

 

[marcus-beta]

My most relevant point in use the steam version is because the Kirikiri is a engine that use UTF-8.
While JP release of the game use the SJIS encoding that support only Japanese and english, the
Steam release use the UTF8, and this encoding is universal, this means the game can be translated
to any language in the world, I'm giving priority to the steam release because I plan translate this
game to my language, then this is the most important point in use the steam version to me.

My secondary reason is the multi-language in the english release, this feature is very cool and is
one of the best points in the english release.

Also I really understand we have some people with rage of the localization team releasing the game
with censor, but please guys, they aren't our enemy, they can did the wrong thing with the censor
but they allowed us to enjoy the game without need know Japanese,  I'm sure no one here is a idiot
like some protestants in my country that burn wheels against the forest clearing.
I'm petty sure the staff of the english release love this game too, they aren't a enemy, so please guys
we don't need a useless thing like boycott this game, this is just shooting yourself in the foot and may
affect the possibility of the second game being released.

Edited August 23, 2019 by marcus-beta