About This Release
As Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou fans will know, prior to this there were 2 main releases of the manga:
- MangaProject's version (only did up to Volume 10). The quality of the scans here is good. This is the release that I think most newer YKK fans will be familiar with. Unfortunately, the translation that MP decided to go with is often wildly inaccurate. It's only speculation on my part, but I'm fairly certain they used these old text only TLs by Andrew Cunningham, considering many inaccuracies occur word for word in the exact same areas. As I typeset this and compare their TL to Neil's, it becomes very apparent that the translator did not often have a very solid grasp of the events taking place or the individual character's personalities (Ojisan's way of speaking is cut almost entirely). In volume one alone I came across many instances where the real meaning of the characters' dialogue was very oversimplified or changed entirely. It's a real shame, considering all their work here otherwise is in fact quite good. Though I must thank them, for without their scans of volumes 1-10 this project would not have been possible.
- The old ykk.misago.org version translated by Neil [ykk]. This, to my knowledge, is the only existing english scanlation of volumes 11-14. Pretty rough and dated scan quality, and not the prettiest typesetting. However, this, to me, is the only acceptable release of YKK for it's vastly superior translation quality. The guys at ykk.misago.org seemed to care very deeply for the series, and it shows in their work. This is the release that people still seek out to read despite MP having much better scan quality. Neil's notes from the site.
So, what is this project then? This project is aimed at taking Neil's TL and editing it into MP's superior quality scans, hopefully to create the highest quality version possible where no compromises have to be made. I was growing tired of having to choose whether I wanted nicely defined art, or a proper translation when I wanted to reread the manga. So... I decided that if no one has done it yet, then it was time to take matters into my own hands. This is a learning process for me, considering I have little photoshop experience and no typesetting experience. Still, I am trying my very hardest at making the typesetting look professional and scrutinizing even the smallest details on each page. As of the end of volume 2, I would say my typesetting has improved greatly. I hope you find it to be acceptable.
Various details:
- for every single line of text I am referencing Neil's TL, MP's TL, and the original japanese raws. Occasionally, Neil's TL reads a bit stiff, so I will add a word here and there or do some minor rephrasing solely for the purpose of better readability.
- In rare occasions, MP's TL will read with a tad more eloquence than Neil's while retaining virtually the same meaning. In those instances, MP's has been left as is.
- There are some chapter title pages that I am needing to redo considering they were translated incorrectly (just in Vol 1 they have Chapter 7 as "Afternoon 2/2" when the raws say "Morning 2/2." I hope you will find my cleaning/redrawing somewhat acceptable.
- HQ scans of volumes 11-14 have already been sourced (yay!). This was one of the bigger issues I was worried about when starting this, considering no HQ scanlations for these volumes exist. After sifting through all the raws I could find online, volumes 11 and 13 were still not up to the standard I want this release to have, so I got them myself.
-I'm removing all of MP's watermarks.
-I'm trying to implement all of dDave's & Kymoto Go's error corrections which can be found throughout various topics here.
Image Comparisons
Scene 1
my version
Scene 2
[mangaproject] version
my version
Various Comparisons between the MP release and my version
*mp marked in red*
album
Volumes 1 and 2 are complete as of now (links below), and I plan on completing a volume per week at the very minimum and releasing them here as I go. I'm dedicating nearly all of my free time to the project until it is fully complete, and at a level of quality that I am satisfied with. I'm rereading each page as I go and also rereading the full volumes as I finish them, so hopefully there are no large oversights on my part. If you do happen to see something that needs fixing, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Anyway, that's enough talking for now. I only hope for this release to find both old and new YKK fans alike. It's still my dream for Yen Press or someone to license this, so if that were to ever happen, please support it.
From one YKK fan to another,
cheers!
Vol 1 & 2 DL
Dropbox
MEGA
