General Progress Report 5-16-20

May 16, 2020

Progress on chapter 5 is going well. I took a few days off to relax, and so I took it easy today getting back into the swing of things. Chapter 5 is 26 pages (24 not counting the bonus pages), and so far I've translated 8 pages, edited 5. Assuming I can keep my focus for longer tomorrow, I can probably have most of the translation done at least. In short, Chapter 5 is on track for a release next week, assuming no road bumps.

Looking ahead from Chapter 5, there will be two sets of bonus chapters – a 5.1 with some short vignettes (10 pages), and a designated 5.5 which will include the tankoubon extras (~16 pages). Those will probably be roughly a week apart each, possibly sooner depending on scheduling stuff.

In response to the drama on MangaDex regarding the will of Takemiya-sensei, I've taken a few days to think the situation over. My decision is to continue translating the series so long as I get no formal complaints from Takemiya-sensei or an affiliated party. My reasoning behind this is as follows:

After actually reading the Japanese portion of her Twitter bio, Takemiya-sensei uses “画像” (pictures, portraits, images), not say “漫画” (manga) or “作品” (works). This leads me to believe that she's more specifically talking about the sketches and/or teaser images she posts to Twitter and not necessarily an overarching, outright ban on fan translations.
Other of Takemiya-sensei's works have already been translated in full and are still available on MangaDex. At bare minimum, this would indicate that there is no active policing of the supposed “no fan translations” rule
Far more people have reached out to me to express their desire to see the series continue than have people who want me to quit until explicit permission is given
Personally, I love this series and I want to keep translating it. If I ask for permission and am explicitly told “no,” then I will respect that decision. The translation would then stop and I'd remove everything I've uploaded to MD.
Asking for permission after I've already done 1-2 chapters seems rather... hollow and pointless? Sort of an “in for a penny, in for a pound” situation.

Are they all good reasons? Probably not, but I tend to hope that giving the series some momentum in a previously ignored market without any compensation for the work put in would at least garner some sympathy?

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