May 12, 2024

[Kino] Even the stars are gone (Complete)


 

We aren't dead! 

Just like we said in our last post in... December? (Jesas), we had our next project lined up, and it was a big one.

So, about the time we were finishing Veranda, Citlali, aka, Cumbia lover, said they wanted to work on something... darker. So I said, why the hell not? Because there was something in our past that bothered me for years.

Back in 2020 (Oh my freaking GOD, THAT'S SO LONG AGO!) we worked on a little commission by Kino called "Even the stars are gone". Back then we knew it was only the first part of maybe a 3-parter so I was hoping that we would get back to it some day. And so, with our objective locked in, the whole thing being out for like a year at that point and some willingness to try some new things we got into it.

It's my first time buying and scanning a book, and it was no small task since the first time I decided to try this was with a 100+ page monster. Taking into consideration translating, editing and cleaning everything (and that maybe I scanned the dang thing like 3 times) and a few personal hiccups on Citlalin's and my end, I hope you can forgive us for disappearing for almost 6 months.

And today, we close one more cycle, YAY! And now, to the work at hand.

"Even the stars are gone" is a Magireco AU doujin by Kino where Ui died and Iroha didn't become a magical girl (guess pebble-sama wasn't around), but she still managed to meet Yachiyo. This a story of their meeting in these circumstances and what lies in the future for them in this timeline, where Iroha's lights are gone...

It's a darker story but it was still good, and after it we can find solace in the fact that canonically everything went well... so far (I'm looking at you F4, don't make the girls disappear... again).

Next, some words from Citlalin 

 Hello, buenos días, pialli. SGT is back at it again with yet another release, right when the whole world thought we were gone for good this time. We even got our resident sloth Namake back to bless this release. The haters and the losers can however rest assured: they will have their day, for death comes for us all, even oddly long lived PMMM scanlation groups. Ahnochipa tlalticpac. Zan achica ye nican.

This release would have been out months ago if I hadn't kept it stalled at maybe 80% done (though the last 20% of polishing is always the most painful) for like a month and a half as I went along steadily losing mental health hit points dealing with a Family Situation. In a weird and funny way, it was so draining on my mental health (I don't really want to describe it as "difficult" because it's really nothing compared to a lot of certified bad family situations even people I know personally have gone through) that I came out of it with a new appreciation for life. I feel like I'm seeing in 1080p, seeing colors more vividly (it might just be that it's finally spring though...), I feel like the shot of Yachiyo breaking through the surface of the water, floating and reaching for the moon from the MagiReco anime S1 ED. Life is too short to spend it being sad about things beyond our control, even if sadness isn't like a switch in the brain you can just decide to turn off. Anyway...

Did you enjoy this release? I certainly enjoyed reading it and working on it. As someone who has often felt and continues to often feel like Iroha does on page 85, wondering if I'll spend the rest of my life going through the motions of being alive, moving air in and out of my lungs, I love the bitterness, the astringency, the spice, of these kinds of stories, even if they can be a bit heavy handed. I love fluff and lighthearted fun too, but the core vision of PMMM has always felt like it required engagement with despair even if a particular story comes out on the side of hope, so I'm glad we got to work on something a bit darker. Once my hostile takeover of SGT is complete and Ica is exiled to some remote pueblito up somewhere in the Sierra Madre de Oaxaca (with internet, of course, so they can continue doing all the typesetting), you can expect to see a lot more of this kind of thing from SGT.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one and didn't find it too depressing for your taste. Hopefully our next release won't take as long as this one did, although we haven't actually decided on what it and the future of SGT in general are going to be. But that can be fun too — not knowing where you're going — right? Todo irá bien. Today was a good day. I got smoked at ping pong by some uncle who was on his university's table tennis team back in the day, it rained, I cooked some delicious beans, some trees are in bloom. Todo irá bien. Oc ceppa ticueponizqueh. Oc ceppa tixotlazqueh.

Some unsolicited thoughts on books and other media to pad out this blog post:

Evermaiden — very good, but a bit predictable near the end. Fans of PMMM, the few that remain, will enjoy this. Averla my beloved.

Phonology in Generative Grammar by Michael J Kenstowicz — just like with the Heim and Kratzer textbook, Blackwell simply does not miss. Been meaning to really study phonology properly and this is a great and incredibly thorough if daunting monster of a tome to start with. Bits of it are already starting to leak out of my moldy dish sponge of a brain and I'm definitely going to need to read this again at some point, but it's gotten me up to speed (up to like the late 90s ig lmao) in derivational phonology at least. Guess I should start reading some optimality theory now?

無垢なる花たちのためのユートピア by 川野芽生 — haven't finished this one yet tbh but definitely intend to. Lovely little collection of science fantasy short stories with a very ethereal, delicate feel to them. The book is beautifully written, with a lot of lines reading more like poetry than prose, a lot of attention paid to every word, every sentence. Beautiful prose hiding some quite raw and dark contents.

The Allure of Nezahualcoyotl: Pre-Hispanic History, Religion, and Nahua Poetics by Jongsoo Lee — as promised (to the exactly 0 readers who cared), some more thoughts on this book. Fascinating reassessment of Nezahualcoyotl, peeling away the layers of mythologizing and propagandizing surrounding the figure coming even from well meaning and highly respected scholars like Miguel León-Portilla. We hate to see our boy reinterpreted like this, but it had to happen 😔...

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish — so I actually watched/read just about every version of this story that exists apart from the manga which I think is just an adaption of the animated movie. The original short story by Tanabe Seiko and the 2003 Japanese film are both p interesting in their own ways. Odd little stories that are endearing but leave a kind of weird aftertaste. The 2020 South Korean film was... alright? and the animated film despite having Miyamoto Yume my beloved it pains me to say was not good imo.

Cantares Mexicanos translated by John Bierhorst — Chalcacihuacuicatl must have been like WAP back in the day to Sahagún. Need to reread once my Nahuatl is a bit better.

Quantification by Anna Szabolcsi — banger, absolutely required reading for anyone interested in formal semantics. Not the most approachable but incredibly thorough and precise.

Maboroshi — Okada Mari cooked so hard with this one. I've really tried to like all of her previous work from like IBO to Maquia, and even the most dedicated haters cannot deny there is some spice, some sabor to her oeuvre, but this was the first one that really immediately resonated with me.

And now, the link!

MEGA

We probably won't tackle something so big as our only work again for some time, it was quite exhausting. Next we might work on something from Kirara, most likely Mahou Shoujo Bu. But you will know when we release the first chapter.... hopefully this year (crossing fingers!). 

See ya!



December 12, 2023

Veranda of Madoka Volume 3+Extras [Complete]

 

We leave you today with the links to the bonus pages and color chapter of the tank release of Volume 3 as well as a link to the complete compiled Volume 3, thus closing one more cycle. A long one that I'm not even 100% sure when it started...

I started working on Veranda long before I knew Japanese, and when things got dire I had to actually learn the language so this little series wouldn't be abandoned in the void. I'm aware there are things that could be translated better, but I know in my heart I tried my best, and I wasn't alone so I'm confident we can say goodbye to the meguca family with some degree of confidence that their story will be told.

And now, some words from our resident cumbia fan:

Hello everyone, buenos días a todos, this is the strange and often obnoxious "other" authorial voice of this blog.

This is the last chapter of Veranda. SGT has been working on Veranda in some capacity since long before I joined, possibly even before I knew Japanese(?) if our dear leader's memory as to the exact year can be trusted. This says more about our abysmally slow pace of translation (at least 8 years for 3 volumes) than the magnitude of the work, but it was nevertheless a long chapter in SGT's history. I was never the biggest fan of Veranda (sorry), but I mainly helped out of a sense of obligation to make sure the chapters didn't go out with any grievous translation errors or poor phrasing. I'm still not entirely satisfied with the state of the translation, but I doubt we'll be back for a round 2 (3 if we count the earlier chapters we already redid once). Complaints aside, it was still a nice thing to have worked on. It's hard not to attached to a series after working on it for so long. But now this chapter is over. I was reading The Allure of Nezahualcoyotl -- Pre-Hispanic History, Religion, and Nahua Poetics by Jongsoo Lee and came across this frankly hilarious passage from Fray Juan de Torquemada's colonial era chronicle of Nahua history (more on this book in our next blog post, and why the picture of Nezahualcoyotl Torquemada paints is not to be taken totally at face value), presented here in the author's English translation for those of our readers who cannot read Castillian, few though they may be:

After having eaten, he [Nezahualcoyotl] ordered his singers to come to celebrate the beginning and ending of the feast; and, as he was a man of good prudence and much and deep consideration and seeing so many kings, nobles, and valiant captains together, he wanted all the attendees to understand that the things of this life end and to be moved by this consideration so that they would use them like the census. And he ordered his singers to sing a song that he himself had composed and began like this: xochitl mamani in huehuetitlan, etc., which means: “among the trees and junipers, there are fresh and fragrant flowers,” and continuing ahead, it says that although for some time they are fresh and bright, they become ripe, they wither, and dry up. He went on to say that all the attendees would die and would not reign again; and that all their grandeur would have an end, and that their treasures would be possessed by others; and that they would not enjoy this again after leaving it. And those who had begun to eat with pleasure finished the feast with tears, hearing the words of the song and seeing that what he said was true.

We all have that one friend who just has to ruin the boys' night out. SGT is by no means dead now that Veranda is over, and we have at least one other big project in the works, but until then, I leave you with another poem from Nezahualcoyotl. Think on it and keep it in mind, dear Veranda reader.

We only rise from sleep,
We come only to dream,
it is not true, it is not true,
that we come on earth to live.
As an herb in springtime,
so is our nature.
Our hearts give birth, make sprout,
the flowers of our flesh.
Some open their corollas,
then they become dry. (Cantares 1985:f.14v, in León-Portilla
1992b:153)
Thanks to Candy as well for her help with the coloring pages! And as cumbia fan said, we already have a new project underway so the ride is far from over. It's not from Kirara Magica, but I think you will like it... or probably hate it. 

And now, it's time we say goodbye to Veranda. See ya and thanks for the memories!

 
 

 

December 9, 2023

Veranda of Madoka 32 [FINAL]

 And here it is, the final chapter of Veranda... 

I don't really know how to feel. I've been working on this series for years, and now that it's finally done I guess I'm trying to avoid letting the sinking feeling of the passage of time get to me. 

At least I want to personally thank everyone that helped us get this series translated. From the earlier days of begging for translations in forums to the recent, very much appreciated, helping hands in increasing the quality of both the translation as well as the color pages (that so dearly needed an expert).

However, it's not the end-end of the series yet. We still have a bonus color chapter from the tank version that will go up soon together with the complete file for Volume 3, so it's not yet time to say goodbye to this meguca family.

So, enjoy the final (not final-final) chapter of Veranda of Madoka!



November 10, 2023

Veranda of Madoka 31

Sorry for the delays, but finally chapter 31 is out!

Now for real, next chapter is the last one of the series but the volume release had a bonus color chapter, so it's not yet time to say goodbye.

We also have some things planned for our next project, we'll reveal more details at a later date. So for now, enjoy the chapter!

 


October 14, 2023

Veranda of Madoka 30

 A new chapter is finally out! Better slow and steady than never, r-right?

This is the second to last chapter of the series, meaning that next one is the final chapter of Veranda. There's a bonus color chapter with the tank release, so once we do the full volume release it will be included there so look forward to it!

EDIT: Err, I miscounted and there's still 2 more chapters left, oopsie.

 

 

MF

September 10, 2023

Veranda of Madoka 29

KAITEN HAS A RELEASE... err, window! Hopefully we'll finish Veranda before it comes out, so please enjoy this new chapter.




August 11, 2023

Veranda of Madoka 28

 And we come back with a new chapter! Not much to say this time because it's late so, enjoy!

EDIT: Fixed an oopsie in page 1, new links below.