Beyond the End 7

DDL (mediafire)

sad panda

Well, travel and seminar papers made this later than I'd hoped, but here's Beyond the End 7, featuring Granberia and Sara. We are now caught up to the publication again.

As with the previous BTE, Setouchi's new tone is beyond my redrawing abilities in some places, but hopefully it shouldn't be enough to be distracting.

Expect more Fallen Brides later this month. Seminar papers are still eating up most of my time, but I still have a rough draft for the first twenty pages of Mimiru's chapter ready, so expect the first half of her chapter as a Christmas present. After that it will be back to weekly updates.

Beyond the End 6

mediafire

sad panda

Sorry for the longish wait. This is the sixth Beyond the End ero-doujin by Setouchi, with chapters for Black Alice, Doppel-Luka, and Erubetie, plus a few bonus illustrations. It's not as long as some of the previous ones, but still longer than 5, and it lacks any kind of afterword or commentary from Setouchi.

Setouchi switched to a less redraw-friendly type of screentone for this one, so there are a couple places that may look spotty.

Expect BTE 7 to be translated before the end of this year. In the meantime, I've begun work on Mimiru's chapter of Fallen Brides, but I'm holding off on posting it until I have a substantial chunk to start you off with (probably a fifth to a quarter of the story, which is roughly the same length as Baphomet Complex).

Baphomet Complex — Wrap-up

EPUB

MOBI

pastebin

Alright, here's the last Baphomet Complex for the foreseeable future. I've reformatted everything, done a bit of editing (catching typos, smoothing out a few sentences), and put everything into an ebook version that includes the first illustration (I can't scan the remaining two where I am now) in addition to the usual Pastebin. I strongly recommend you check out the ebook, because the pastebin necessarily lacks a lot of formatting that improves the reading experience (for instance, the lilim's telepathic speech is in italics).

The one major change I've made in terms of terminology is the decision to adopt "mana" for "魔力." I am currently keeping "精" as "essence," because it does not strike me as felicitous to render two distinct terms with the same word. I also refuse to ever use the word "mamono" in what is ostensibly an English translation, especially as the English word "monster" already appears on the covers of several MGE books.

Baphomet Complex — The End

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This update brings the English translation of the main story of Baphomet Complex—or at least the first draft of it—to an end. There's a two-page afterword by Strange that follows the story, and I'll have that for you next week, along with EPUB and MOBI files for people who would prefer to read the story with proper formatting. After that it's BTE 6 and more Fallen Brides.

While I have generally endeavored to edit only readability, this update contains a single edit for content, or rather for continuity. Baphomet Complex was published in 2011, prior to most of the other MGE books, and it seems that strange may have been unclear about a) there being more than one lilim, and b) "lilim" not being a personal name. As such, I have translated "リリムさん" here as "the lilim," etc. and not as the more literal "(Miss) Lilim." This has been done to keep the work generally in continuity with the setting materials as they currently stand.

Baphomet Complex — Tentacles 2: Judgment Day

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I'd hoped to have a little more for you this week because there's a page-break one page past where this update ends, but midterms were less than amenable to that plan. Anyway, here's another 1,200 words.

With any luck, the next update will be finish the book, with the exception of Strange's afterword (which is short). Beyond the End 6 before the end of the month is looking like a real possibility.

Baphomet Complex — Round Two

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Well, the translation has now officially broken the 20,000 word barrier.  With less than ten pages remaining, including Strange's afterword, we're well on track to finishing this draft within the month.  It will be followed by Beyond the End 6 (and maybe also 7), then Mimiru's chapter of Fallen Brides.

I had a chance to use "somnambulist" in this section, but I regretfully held myself back because it doesn't seem appropriate for the character's voice.

Baphomet Complex — Another 1,000 Words

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The title pretty much says it all.  We're in the home stretch now, and this draft of the novella should hopefully be finished in October.

Baphomet Complex — Short Update

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Only a thousand words this week. I've been busy.  Still, there's only about a fifth of the book left to go.

I've acquired a copy of Beyond the End 6 and plan to translate it, but I may wait until after Baphomet Complex is done (which hopefully won't be too long).

Baphomet Complex — The Pacing Improves

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Well, this is technically a day late, but it's at least close to being on-schedule.  We're now almost 3/4 of the way through Baphomet Complex, following which we will be returning to Fallen Brides for at least two stories before looking at other collections.

I'd like to take some space here to address a question of translation in the previous update.  More specifically, the translation of 精 (sei) as it is used in the context of the Encyclopedia.  Many of you may be familiar with this as "spirit energy," but for various reasons I am unsatisfied with this translation.  In the first place, 精 means "spirit" only in the sense of "a spirit" or "a sprite," which can hardly be the intended sense in this instance.  It can indeed mean "energy," in the sense of "vitality" or "vigor."  The energy expressed my 精 is vital and anything but spiritual.  It also means "semen," although compound forms such as 精液 or 精子 are more common in this instance.  Nevertheless, I think it fair to say that the double entendre is certainly deliberate.  To my knowledge, no English word combines these two essential senses, but I think it possible to at least approach the original.  I experimented with several renderings erring on the side of "energy" in my previous translation, but in this novella I have decided to experiment with "essence."  I will probably try several other renderings over the course of this project, but whatever I finally decide on will be standardized across my final drafts of all the stories.  (Speaking of which, expect a substantially revised draft of Wilmarina's story later this year.)  I welcome your opinions on this matter (constructive or otherwise), but I will not necessarily abide by them.

Baphomet Complex — New Update Schedule

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In an effort to avoid my recent prolonged absences and also balance this with my graduate work, I'm adopting a new schedule of updates for these translation.  As of now, I will be posting whatever I have done every week rather than wait until I have a particular amount to post.  The updates will be smaller (this one is around 1,700 words instead of 3,000+), but they'll be more consistent and things should get done in a fairly timely manner.

This is another section in which I could spend pages just complaining about the prose, but at least we're past the entirely redundant descriptions, so I'll spare you my grumbling for the present.  Fortunately for all of us, Strange seems to have improved as a writer over time and most of their other novellas are at least slightly better paced and plotted than this one.

Baphomet Complex — Okay, So Maybe I'm Just Not That Great At Keeping a Schedule

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Well, that certainly took longer than I promised.  In my defense, a lot of things cropped up in the meantime, like moving, starting grad school, some last-minute freelance work, deciding to replay Drakengard 3 (in English, this time) and discovering they still haven't fixed the worst final boss of all time, building a new arcade stick, indecisively taking up knitting...  Anyway, I don't quite have a handle on what my new schedule will mean for my free time yet, but I'm going to keep working on this and try to get updates up more frequently, even if I have to make them shorter to do it.  We're currently more than halfway through Baphomet Complex, so you shouldn't have to wait that much longer.

With this update, we're past the transformation sequence and drawing nearer to the climax of the story.  (That was a pun.  Ha ha.)

Baphomet Complex — No, I Haven't Died or Given Up

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This update took much, much longer than I'd initially planned, mostly owing to personal circumstances that no one else is likely to care about.  In any case, here are another 3,000+ words translated, and I ought to be back on a more timely schedule for the rest of the novella.

Many of you may be pleased to learn that by the end of this section — halfway through the book — there is officially one (1) baphomet in Baphomet Complex.

There is an illustration at the end of this section, depicting Lilia in the middle of her transformation.  I intend to post it here for you as soon as I can get my scanner sorted out.

Beyond the End 5

exhentai

mediafire

After a hand injury and an international hiking trip put me out of commission for a couple of weeks, I'm back to bring you Beyond the End 5.  This one is back to the 30 page length of 1 and 2, and features shorts for Radio and Page 65537, plus some two-page spreads for other characters.

I'm back to work on Baphomet Complex now and should have another update for that up soon-ish.

Baphomet Complex — What Kind of Name Is "Flimlight," Anyway?

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We're up past 6,000 words now, and things are actually starting to happen.

As you may notice from the above illustration, KC and Strange are not exactly in agreement as to the costume of our heroine, but — as I explained last time — Strange can't even agree with himself on this point, so it's only to be expected.

On the subject of the illustrations: Baphomet Complex three full-page black and white illustrations by KC.  In addition to the one above, there is one depicting Lilia in mid-transformation, and one depicting post-transformation sex (I swear, KC must be subject to some sort of curse that prevents him from drawing male faces).  If anyone has decent scans of the remaining two, I would very much appreciate them.  If not, I would very much appreciate some tips for making quality scans without damaging the book.

Baphomet Complex — 100% Baphomet Free

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After several delays, the first 3,000 words of Baphomet Complex are finally here.  There are about 40 pages to go, and this section contains no baphomets, monsters, sex, or anything that isn't a little girl sitting at a shop counter.

I've done a bit heavier editing on this than I'v done on Fallen Brides so far because Strange seems to be under the truly bizarre impression that almost every sentence ought to be its own paragraph.  I think they may get some kind of shock to their pleasure centers every time they hit the return key.

Note also that neither Strange nor Kenkou Cross have any clear idea what our heroine is actually wearing during this scene.  First she's wearing something so short that it lifts up and reveals her navel when she raises her arms, then later she's said to be wearing an apron (which, however short, wouldn't lift up when her arms move because it doesn't go over her shoulders), and finally KC's illustration shows her wearing a vest and a one-piece dress.

Beyond the End 4

sadpanda

mediafire

At long last, the fourth and — as of this writing — final installment in Setouchi's Beyond the End series of Monster Girl Quest doujinshi.  It's hard to believe that it was Valentine's Day when I started seriously working on this one.  Anyway, I figured I'd better stop procrastinating and get it done and uploaded before someone else got fed up waiting and did it themselves.

This one features stories for Alma Elma, Scylla Maid, Alice, and Worm Villager, plus single pages for several more monsters at the end.  Unlike the previous books, all but Scylla Maid's take place after the end of Part 3.

In order to save time, I stopped translating sound effects on this one, so you'll have to just imagine all the wet, squishy sex noises yourselves.

Fallen Brides Update: One Down, Seven To Go

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EPUB

MOBI

Well, here we are.  After 282 handwritten pages, 3 boxes of ink cartridges, and almost 35,000 words, the first draft of Wilmarina's chapter it complete.  It still needs some serious editing for voice and for sentences that flow a good deal better in Japanese than they do in English, but it's all there and it's all readable.

As usual, the pastebin contains only the plain text, while the ebooks include the illustrations and formatting such as italics and non-standard characters.

Next, I'll finally be putting the finishing touches to Beyond the End 4 (I'll probably dump individual segments on /vg/ as I go before uploading the whole thing here) before moving on to Baphomet Complex, which should serve as a good introduction to Mimiru's chapter in Fallen Brides.  For Baphomet Complex I'll be trying for a slightly shorter weekly update, as opposed to my somewhat irregular schedule with this chapter.

Fallen Brides Update: Almost There

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Well, I'd planned to have this finished by now, but real life intervened, so here's what I've got at the moment.  Only four pages out of 80 remain.

Also, if anyone has a better scan of the above illustration (or any of the other illustrations or title pages), I would very much appreciate it.

Fallen Brides Update: Somewhat Closer To Consensual Than Many Of You Probably Expected

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EPUB

MOBI

After a couple weeks of life, with it's incessant jealousy of art, interfering at every possible opportunity, we're up to almost 30,000 words, and one more update of this length will bring us to the end of the story.

I've been experimenting with formatting for ebook versions because Pastebin can't handle the illustrations or all the formatting in the original, so check them out if you want to see the hearts and musical notes that punctuate Deruella's dialogue.  Symbols like that display better in the MOBI than in the EPUB, while the reverse is true of the header image I made from the original title page, but I hope to have found some way of correcting both issues by the next update.

Expect to hear from me again in a week or so, and then it will be on to Baphomet Complex and editing.

Addendum:
I realized after I first posted this that I forgot to explain a point I had been meaning to, so I'll just touch on it briefly here.  Some of you may be wondering why I chose to translate 魔王 as "dark lord" when the existing translations of the encyclopedia entries and sections of the world guides have rendered it fairly consistently as "demon lord."  The latter would of course generally be a more literal rendering of the Japanese term, but there are several considerations in this instance that lead me to reject it.  魔 is commonly used throughout the encyclopedia and related fiction, either on its own or as 魔物, to mean "monster" — the occasional use of the English word as interchangeable renders this translation relatively definite — so that 魔王 ought to be read not as "ruler of demons" but as "ruler of monsters."  The translation "monster lord," which many anglophone readers of the encyclopedia are likely to be familiar with from its recent use in other works, very naturally suggests itself as a solution to this dilemma, but in the case of the encyclopedia I consider that it fails to capture a second crucial part of the meaning suggested by the original, namely its association with established fantasy archetypes.  The encyclopedia is at its heart a parody of what has come to be the generic Japanese fantasy world — largely derived, of course, from Western source material, but still possessing distinct features sufficient to merit separate consideration — and in such a setting, one expects the forces of darkness to be lead by a 魔王.  "Dark lord" is the equivalent omnipresent post in Western high fantasy, dating back at least to The Lord of the Rings — although it should be remarked that Sauron's title in Japanese translations I have seen is 冥王, literally "dark king" and also used to express the name of Pluto.  It is sufficiently universally understood to admit of parody in works such as The Dark Lord of Derkholm.  For this reason I choose it as the best English rendering of the encyclopedia's 魔王.

Fallen Brides Update: Tentacle Rape/Life Counselling Session

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Here's another big update, which brings us to page 55 (27 left to go) and pretty much concludes the transformation scene.  At more than 23,000 words, the initial drafts of this translation now fill one and a quarter composition books.

I've decided to translate Baphomet Complex once this chapter is finished, then go on to Mimiru's chapter, and then alternate between the remaining chapters and the short stories from Diaries of the Age of Monster Love.

Fallen Brides Update: Now With Tentacles

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After much delay, here's the next part of Wilmarina's story.  The length of this installment, which brings us a bit past the halfway point, should hopefully do something to make up for it.  As the above image no doubt alerts you, Deruella makes her appearance in this section, and endeavors to compensate for her absence from the first thirty pages by sticking around the whole time.

Pastebin regrettably does not do perfect justice to Deruella's dialogue, which in the original is punctuated with hearts and musical notes.  I've converted the characters into symbols from the Japanese edition and you'll be able to see them once I've finished the draft and format an ebook version of it (this is also how I intend to handle the illustration).

I currently hope to get this first draft finished by the end of the month, and then move on to either the first story in Diaries of the Age of Monster Love or Baphomet Complex (which is by far the shortest of the books in my possession) before going back to do the second chapter of Fallen Brides, which is Mimiru's.

Additionally, I would appreciate it if someone could tell me if anyone has already translated the short stories at the end of the two World Guides.  I know someone has done at least part of the guides themselves, but not if the stories were included in that.  If they weren't, I'll get around to them at some point.

A Slightly Belated Valentine's Day, in Collaboration with HappyScans

MediaFire

I forgot to post this until Valentine's Day was technically over (at least where I live), but here's a little surprise in the form of volume 1 of Nagai's Kama Sutra.  It's the kind of crazy trip that only he can provide, complete with numerous quotations from the original Hindu text.

As regards my solo projects, I've actually got sections of Beyond the End 4 done now, and I've been working my way through the draft for the next section of Fallen Brides, but I've got a very busy couple of weeks coming up, so those might take a little longer than usual to be done and posted.

More Paladins, Still No Succubi

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Here's another chunk of Wilmarina's story.  This brings us up to more than 11,000 words, which is longer than anything I've done since my undergraduate thesis.

There is, once again, no mention of monsters in this bit and definitely no sex, but the next section opens with tentacles growing out of fleshy walls, so those of you waiting on that should be satisfied in another week or so.

This is, as ever, still a first draft, so the flow of the English is sometimes suspect and there are a lot of rough, overly-literal patches that will later be revised.

Fallen Brides Update

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Here's the second installment of Wilmarina's story, plus several edits to the first part.  This brings us up to about 7,000 words, and almost a quarter of the way through the novella.

There are some references to setting details like the Order and the Chief God this time around, and even one mention of monsters, but the story remains closer to Charles Dickens than any kind of fantasy erotica.  That will be changing next time.

I think the characters of the aristocrats and officials must have been conceived in response to the question 'how can we possibly make Deruella look at least sort of maybe potentially positive.'

One thing to note with regards to the translation, the repeated scene transition I have rendered on this occasion as 'fade to black' more literally means 'the period of darkness in a theater when the lights go down so that sets can be changed' and carries the additional meaning of 'to take a turn for the worse.'

As always, this is still not even a first draft, so expect it to be rougher and less natural than a finished translation.

Fallen Brides: Case 1: Wilmarina (Part 1)

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As you can probably see, I have acquired several of the various collections of fiction that accompany Kenkou Cross' Monster Girl Encyclopedia, and intend to translate them.  Altogether, the volumes in my possession represent a little less than 1,000 pages of prose, each containing around twice as much text as a page of a standard Japanese paperback, so this will be a long-term project, but I mean to see it through.

The above link is my draft of the first ten pages of the first of the eight novellas that make up Fallen Brides.  The story is around eighty pages long, and I will be posting regular updates as I make my way through it.  Unlike the Encyclopedia, the novellas include quite a number of things that are not sex, so this preamble doesn't get around to mentioning that monsters exist, let alone our narrator's eventual transformation into a succubus (as shown in the first World Guide).  What I mean to say is that, if flower-picking and classism are your cup of tea, these are the 3,500 words for you.

This is still only a first draft, so the translation is in many places rather too literal to make for really readable English, but that should be remedied in future drafts.  That said, I can't exactly ask most of the people who normally help me proofread prose translations on this one, so comments, criticism, and suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Setouchi Pharmaceutical] Monster Girl Quest! Beyond the End

DDL: Mediafire

Gallery: ExHentai

This is the first of Setouchi's 'Beyond the End' Monster Girl Quest! doujinshi.  It contains short chapters for Nanabi, Emily, and the crab girl, as well as a short message from Setouchi.

A fourth Beyond the End has recently been released, and I will be beginning work on it in the near future.

[Setouchi Pharmaceutical] Monster Girl Quest! Beyond the End 2

DDL: Mediafire

ExHentai

As promised, this is the second of Setouchi's 'Beyond the End' Monster Girl Quest! doujinshi (I'm working in reverse order).  It's significantly shorter than the third, with only three main sections (Jelly Girl, Dagon Girl, and Alice), and lacks the behind-the-scenes material of its sequel.

I should get to the first one soon.

[Setouchi Pharmaceutical] Monster Girl Quest! Beyond the End 3

DDL: MediaFire

ExHentai

The third and easily the longest of Setouchi's side story/what if doujinshi for 'Monster Girl Quest!'  This one includes more major characters than the previous two, as well as a section of early drafts and rejected designs.

I plan to translate the previous two doujinshi shortly.