Hey everyone. As I mentioned before in my rant for chapter 40, I have been having a great day even though I’ve only been awake for 2 hours. There are a couple of reasons for that and I want to get it out of my system through a post. So feel free to read this or ignore it, whatever you to do.
First off, my younger brother is coming home to visit from California for the weekend and he’s supposed to come in today. For some, it might be a bit odd that I, a 22-year-old guy still currently living with his parents, am happy about my 20-year-old (?) brother coming to visit when he only left at the end of January, but I can’t help it. He was like my constant friend throughout most of my life. I’m a bit of a family man, even if I don’t interact with my family as much as I should.
Second, I was extremely hyped about reading the latest chapter of One Piece. Luffy’s Gear Fourth was so freakin’ awesome.
*screams like a big guy failing to scream like a fangirl*
……Okay, so I didn’t scream, but I was still really excited about it. I was practically smiling half way through my drive to work today just remembering it. If you haven’t noticed it by now, I am a fan of One Piece. I really hope that they make a figure of it in the future.
Huh? What was that? What do I mean “figure”?
Oh yeah, you guys shouldn’t really know about it but I collect One Piece figurines. I do occasionally get things other than One Piece, but most of my collection is for One Piece. If you guys want, I could take some pictures of my collection and share it with you guys.
Well anyway, the third reason is that someone asked me about if I would make another Japanese lesson video. I’m ecstatic that someone asked me on what was going on with that project. I’ve been a bit busy with school recently, as you could see with my rant for chapter 40. Actually right now, I am taking 5 classes this semester while doing my 8 hour job. 3 classes have me going to the campus and 2 are online. Well enough of my complaining.
As I said in my reply to their message, I have set a deadline for myself to make another video. That deadline is May 8th since my classes should be over by then. So for those of you that were hoping to see more of those videos, that’s the status of that. For those of you that don’t really care, sorry for wasting the few seconds you took to read that part.
And those were the four reasons that I am so happy today.
Eh? What do you mean “four”, you say? There were only three?
Well, let me give you some words of wisdom:
There are three types of people in the world, those who can count, and those who can’t.
………
……………
………………….
I am really sorry about that. I tend to loosen up when I am feeling happy or exhausted, both mentally and physically.
Seeing as how I am feeling so great, I decided in the time that I wasn’t reminiscing about the One Piece chapter on my way to work that I would talk to you guys about this. I want to make a bit of money from you guys.
*slaps self in the face*
Other me: How could you say such a thing to your readers!?
Me: What are you talking about? We both know that we’ve been thinking about doing that from the beginning!
Other me: I know, but still, you’re not supposed to tell them that!
Me: Well, how else are we going to start?
Other me: ………I don’t know! But still, I’m ashamed of you!
………
Sorry your had to read that. But yes, it is true, I had thoughts of making money off of you guys from the beginning and I apologize for betraying your trust.
The reason that I haven’t done so until now is that I haven’t done anything to earn your money up until now. I can’t take your money for the translations because that isn’t my work, any money to be given should go to the author of Sendai Yuusha. I was thinking that I would accept donations from people that went and bought the original but I was too shy and embarrassed to ask for money. Another plan was part of the original reason I started the learn Japanese videos. I wanted to accept donations from people who thought that the videos were actually worth paying a bit of money for. But I only wanted to do that after I made quite a bit of progress with it. Only until now, there has only been two videos with a long break until now. Not really donation worthy.
So I was thinking, why don’t I get your guys’ opinion on this? Tell me what you guys think, lay it all on me. Praise me, hate me, give me all you got. Give me some ideas. I feel that I’m asking a lot but seeing as how I loosened up, this is the best time to ask.
This is the end of my rant. Thanks for reading all the way through.
Manga0205 Translations 
Hey, I wanna know you opinion on Gear Fourth. I’m having a bit of a mixed reaction to it. Doesn’t it just seem like Nighmare Luffy from the Moria arc? Personally liking the fact that he’s kicking Doflamingo’s ass though.
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To be honest, I am loving it. Yes, he does look like Nightmare Luffy, but that is only the looks of it. And what’s wrong with that? Nightmare Luffy was just buffed up Luffy with extra power and sword skills. Gear Fourth Luffy is buffed up but with special moves that make use of his powers. I also like the design. If you look at how his armament changed him and the way he positioned his hands went he first changed, he looked like one of those demon gods (?). I can’t think of what the god was, but seeing how the armament made it look like there were flames on his chest made me go crazy.
Edit: It would seem that I was think of the Japanese thunder god, not a demon god.
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What I’m thinking of are the god like things that Ryouma and Momo imitated in Prince of Tennis when they were doing the doubles match.
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I think Oda was making a reference to the Samoan designs with the look of his new armament. It really does give a Hawaiian/Samoan vibe to me. Do you get that too? I didn’t get the Demon God vibe though. Was more of a Kabuki and Samoan mix to me.
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Like this: http://puu.sh/hnXSc/2753c8447d.jpg screams Kabuki to me.
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I was thinking something like the image on this site. http://www.chocolate-fish.net/img_-2713
If you look at the smoke around Luffy, it looks like the raiment around the statue
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Oh those are called oni, right? I can sorta see it with the hairstyle, and all. You’re right though, now that I notice the smoke it does seem like that too. Would’ve never known. That’s pretty cool! Also it seems the comment system is weird and I can’t reply to your latest comment. RIP
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I find the comment system odd as well. At the third tier, it gets rid of the reply button. And I have no idea how to change that. Sorry.
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I would also say that with the fourth gear, it finally feels like he lvl up after the training period. Bounce man!!!
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Well, for me the gear 4 is not serious in the arc of the history. I mean, if he have use it for the beginning, Donflamingo would be finish since a long time. And seriously, a Bounce man? it’s like a joke, the gear 3 give the same thing (oda could just make Luffy us it and said: gear 3 + hakki = bounce man).
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The fourth gear make use of his muscle while the third gear make use of his bone. It is not the same.
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Pretty simple business model, release content daily, build up readers, and people will donate. Just look at wuxiaworlds success.
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Take the donations. People want to support you. I may not have any money to do it, but I guarantee there will be other people with money with no qualms about giving you some for all the translating you do. The stories might not be your work, but the translations of the story are.
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But I’d still like to have people support the author before they support me. That’s why I thought I’d try to ask people to purchase a copy of the light novel, seeing as how I plan on translating that eventually and that that is where the images come from, before they support me, but I guess that is just my own personal problem with it.
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yeah, i’ve been trying to convince readers to purchase light novels as ‘support’ or ‘commemoration’ as well.
…
let’s ignore the fact that i begged for enough money to buy my own copy of the light novel (lol). it was a gift! a present! because i’m wonderful, and not because they were paying me to translate. or rather, considering the hours that i’ve put in, getting paid $40 is way too cheap anyway (lol)
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Please post the pics of your Figurines, please! I’d love to see some quality models. Saw a 10″ Tharja model and a 12″ Robin figurine owned by a friend. I’m still Jealous even now T_T
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Alright. I’ll start taking some pictures once I get home……in about 8 hours. Fair warning. My collection is on the verge of being unhealthy in my opinion.
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Hey, do you think Nightmare Luffy was a foreshadowing for Gear Fourth? I mean, during that time, Gear Second and Gear Third have already been released. Not to mention that when he was Nightmare Luffy, he had an increase in both power and speed. Also, as you can notice from the cover of the chapter, there are zombies around the straw hat crew. I thought that was a call back to the arc where in Zombies were featured which is also the arc where in Luffy went into a state with overwhelming power and speed.
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I’m not sure if Nightmare Luffy was a foreshadowing at that point but it is possible. It might have been an incomplete Gear Fourth since it didn’t fully utilize Luffy’s power. If it was foreshadowing, Oda is a freakin’ genius to hold it off until now.
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That’s what I’ve actually been thinking. There’s also that Chapter 783(G4 announced)387(G2 announced) thing with the last chapter that led some people, including me, to wonder if it was just a coincidence or if it was totally intended by Oda.
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Holy crap! I did not realize that. That is freakin’ amazing! I wonder what Oda is going to pull off next, whether it is intentional or not.
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On another note: I disagree with the notion that the translations are not your own work. If we took another translator for example and had them translate the series, we wouldn’t get the exact same translation. Their are always subtleties, preferences, and styles that make your translations your own. Making money off them is a whole other ball game, but one thing I can tell you is this.
Ren from Wuxiaworld asked IET for permission to translate the work, I’m not sure about monetizing off of it but honestly it seems fair game to me. He provides 2 chapters a week free (reasonable release speed for a translator), if the readers want more they can donate to a queue for a paid release. Technically you’re not paying for a chapter, but it works out that way. The guy has turned it into a job, which I think is more or less reasonable. You can’t be expected someone to put in more work without being reasonably compensated after all. He makes 2 free chapters a week, I’ve never seen the queue below $80 for more than a day, so it’s reasonable to say it’s a full time job. He releases a total of 16 chapters a week (2 free), so it’s 14 x $80, a week x 52, becomes his yearly salary. Dude also has a full time job he goes to as well.
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On another note, before this he was releasing 21 chapters a week(2 free), but the work was too much for him so he reduced it.
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I see. I did think that it would be wrong of me to earn money off of a work that I didn’t really get permission to translate and that’s part of why I was hesitating. That’s why I was thinking of the videos to be the reason for donations. That way it would be something that I did myself. And now that I see what Ren did, I’m starting to wonder if I’m actually worth donating to. It’s not like I’ll be planning to increase my translation speed or anything if I were to get donations. My translation speed depends on my translating mood. Right now, I’m at a chapter a week at the least for chapters that aren’t even that long.
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I just recently started translating as well and I think you should just put one up anyway if you want to. I had the same thoughts you had but I ended up putting up a donate button anyway when I was feeling sheep-like one day. If someone appreciates you enough to donate, that means they think you’re worthy! Do not belittle yourself!! Do whatever you want dude. It’s not like putting up a button would hurt anybody or force them to do nasty things they don’t want to do. That was my own justification about the art of donations when I was being shy and embarrassed about thinking that way. If it makes you feel better and less self-conscious, you can include a note asking them to support the author next to it as well. If you ever decide to make one that is.
p.s. I am enjoying your translations and although I’m not a big fan of figurines, I don’t know why I’m always excited to see the ones my friends own.. can’t wait for yours!!
p.p.s. I realized why I didn’t want to own them. Because I knew that I would not properly take care of them and would let them rot under dust. It’s like buying a pet and not feeding/grooming/taking care of it. Terrible. Figurine owners may even sue me like how people try to sue pet owners who abuse their pets. I don’t know what I’m talking about anymore.
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Nice to see that someone had the same worries as me and thanks for the vote of confidence. Did I use that right? Well anyway, to be honest, I’m not good at keeping things clean. There is definitely dust on my figurines. They don’t seem to be rotting though.
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If it’s a thick layer, you have already sinned and do not get the $200 when you pass GO.
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I’d say it’s pretty thick. I don’t have to go to Jail, do I?
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Also wondering if you’re aware of the LightNovels Subreddit community? Your updates get posted there quite frequently http://www.reddit.com/r/LightNovels. Though it says LightNovels, stuff like Chinese Wuxia novels, Korean Webnovels, some original fiction, and Japanese web novel translations get posted there too. It’s good a place to find stuff to read. I’m personally enjoying a lot of the Wuxia stuff that gets posted there.
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Nope, I didn’t know about the subreddit community. Thanks for pointing it out to me. I’ll try looking around it some time.
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Welp, now you know where some of your new readers and fan base come from. 🙂 I found you on Mangaupdates though, haha.
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This was the most entertaining rant I’ve read this week.
With the number of people accepting donations increasing, it sure is tempting.
That aside, whether or not you accept donations is ultimately a battle you wage with yourself. Either way, we’ve got your back. (Most of us, anyway. )
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Hey Manga0205, is there any other way I can contact you, other than comments? Create a Reddit account and let me pm you?
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Reddit account created. Username: manga0205
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Alright, nice. I sent you a pm, the little mail icon should highlight orange, and you click it to see your pms, comment replies, or new messages. http://puu.sh/ho5ze/cab081e019.png
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That one piece chapter was awesome
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Honestly I deally dont have any issues with you asking for donations. To be honest I think I also said before to put up a donation box somewhere before. Anyway, Lots of people are reading your translations including my self. We enjoy it so were totally cool with that.
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The feeling when over half the comments One Piece.
On another note, do put in Donations. You need some moneyz. Not as if I can donate… No income. Nothing lelz Buying the original author’s LNs are helpful but we don’t always have enough money to buy that so donating our pocket change to you works too.
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question is it possible to have a book japanese to english and do learn that way also i was thinking and i got a idea that you might or might not like to do its if someone here can make a machine translator and you make the words into the english equivalent and only you can change it rival google in it and get your name out there
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While it is possible to learn with a Japanese to English book, it will be difficult with just that. You won’t necessarily learn how to speak it or change the verbs the way that you want. I would suggest taking a class to learn the basics, or watch my videos that I made (which I do plan on making more of), then reinforcing it with either listening to Japanese music or watching shows in Japanese.
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I think like most people, there is no issue with a donate button. As long as you don’t make it a pay-wall you should be good to go. I’ve certainly enjoyed your translations so I wouldn’t be opposed to tossing a couple bucks your way.
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Pretty much what everyone else said. Put a donate button up and those who want to donate will, those who don’t, won’t. No need to feel guilty over it.
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The one about types of people it actually goes like this: There are 10 types of people in the world, those who can count and those who can’t.
Note: 10=2 in computer language.
Oh yeah ik that I’m commenting on a soon 2 year old post, I’m fully aware.
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There’s nothing wrong with living with your parents, it might be odd to some as this is an American “tradition” but I don’t think it’s the same for other countries as I think this tradition came to be just because America is a wealthy country.
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Honestly donations are the thing right now so go for it and if money motivates you to put out more chapters then we will pay this is one thing you should know bc I have been reading LN for a few years but faster translations means more $$$. And we care very much for the faster translations bc one a week is very hard breaking and you can loose reader if you take too long.
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