Jenny Draper: Does MangaGamer intend to provide more up to date eroge?
bamboo: We are choosing games based on companies that are interested in overseas and who are willing to invest into the project. We are sorry about some delays for some titles such as ef. The most difficult part of my job is negotiating with the game companies.

onyxsyaoran: I’d like you to localize Steins;Gate!
bamboo: Please tell that to 5pb. We are choosing games based on user opinions and companies who are interested, but it still takes a long time to make the companies interested in the overseas market.

LGJinnai: Do you have any plans to make more visual novels with interactive game play? Outside Japan, games are looked upon with disdain if they lack decent game play.
bamboo: Games with game play are difficult to develop at this time. We need a lot of cooperation with the game companies to make it into a reality. I think it will take a bit longer until we can attract more companies, even though we have been trying for 3 years now.

iAX_SPJA: Do you play any Western-developed games? If so, what’s your favorite(s) and do you think you can apply any of the practices/themes from them into your visual novels?
bamboo: I play a lot of Western games, my favorite is Fallout 3! The current situation in Japan is like Fallout 3, lol.

bamboo: What do you guys call our genre? Bishoujo games? Visual novels?
(Most people call them visual novels, some said eroge, one said bishoujo game. Some people were more detailed.)

yeahorsomething: Have you ever cried while reading an eroge? Which?
bamboo: Yes, I cry a lot when I play these games!

krat6: In the future, will it be possible to release games at the same time overseas as in Japan?
bamboo: Yes, in the future we might be able to release games overseas at the same time… but we don’t have the money to do that yet.

rkiosuku: It’s expensive, isn’t it.
bamboo: Yes, it’s expensive! You might think that Japanese game companies are big, but in reality there are barely 10 staff members. That’s why they try to concentrate on the Japanese market first. And they have a difficult time appointing people to manage the overseas market.

wizzlewiz: Have most companies in Japan been pleased with the sales of the localized versions in the west? Have your efforts improved the Japanese market’s perspective of the western market?
bamboo: The companies selling their games through MangaGamer are still not selling as they want, so they are practically doing it as a free service at the moment. They need to sell over 2000-3000 copies to make an actual profit. It might still take time to make it into a real business, but sales and members have been steadily increasing.

Kittaka_Fuyuka: What is happening with Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa nai? Is there a chance of it being translated?
bamboo: The negotiations for Oretsuba are going steadily.

yeahorsomething: Bamboo, yaranaika?
bamboo: No thank you!

Counter_Arts: Have you thought about bringing budget value titles at around $15 to help grow the market?
bamboo: It depends on the titles and their contents, but if those game companies are interested…

wizzlewiz: What plans do you have to attempt to quicken the expansion of the Western market? Also, more importantly, do you still have high hopes for the Western market?
bamboo: MangaGamer is still relying on the Internet and conventions for promotion.

rotinoma: Will bamboo make it to Otakon one year?
bamboo: I haven’t gone to Otakon and would like to, but I’m going to at least AX this year. I would like to answer more questions at the AX panel in person.

girlsinspats: What are your thoughts on creating a Steam-like application for the digital distribution of eroge?
bamboo: I would like to make a system like Steam personally, but the market is not big enough yet unfortunately…

NintendoManiac64: Wouldn’t stronger support of iOS and Android avoid the need for something like Steam?
bamboo: We don’t have any plans to release games on Android as MangaGamer, but we are releasing Kira☆Kira for it as OVERDRIVE.

(Question missed)
bamboo: I have left the project in the hands of the overseas staff for a while, but I would like to keep in touch with people using these chat sessions and things. It might take a long time, but eventually I would like to get the word out.

komeP: Where do you hope MangaGamer will be in five years?
bamboo: It might be gone, it it might still he around 5 years from now. If it is, I imagine that there would be a lot more titles by then.

Counter_Arts: Have you considered translating a high quality Japanese doujin circle’s bishoujo game?
bamboo: If there is a high demand, we would go for doujin games too. MangaGamer is still small, so what we negotiate depends on the demands of the fans.

Asceai: Who are your favorite eroge scenario writers?
bamboo: I like all of the eroge writers I’ve worked with.

(Question missed)
bamboo: Basically, it costs money to localize games. A lot of money. Testing and especially voices are expensive. They sometimes goes over the cost of the rest of the project. Voices also involve changes in the contracts with within Japan, such as the ones made with voice actor agencies.

LGJinnai: Do you think fan translators that have tried to promote buying the official Japanese releases of games instead of pirating them have helped the industry?
bamboo: I think that fan translators were not helping us at all, until last year, when NNL started helping us with ef. So I think that cooperating with fan translators is an effective way to develop the market… Although, I still feel negatively towards fan translators who translate without the approval of the companies. But I am looking forward to releasing Dengeki Stryker to the Western market — it’s made a bit with the Western market in mind.

yeahorsomething: What is your favorite beer?
bamboo: I actually don’t like beer/alcohol that much!

Kittaka_Fuyuka DEARDROPS ranked 194th in PUSH!!’s 2010 PC Bishoujo Game Sales Ranking. Was it a failure?
bamboo: DEARDROPS didn’t fail! It was…profitable.

girlsinspats: Would you consider selling character goods/related merchandise (from COSPA or other manufacturers) of games you have released in the MangaGamer online store?
bamboo: COSPA is doing international sales on their own, so we probably won’t be involved. We might make our own products though. Like goods for conventions. But we don’t have anywhere to ship them from.

Asceai: Is there a MangaGamer ita-sha?
bamboo: No, but there is an OVERDRIVE ita-sha.

(No question)
bamboo: We won’t be bringing many guests this year to AX, sadly.

hikarisc: When is the next chat?
bamboo: I would like to do this kind of chat twice a month.

Astraea127: How would you make VNs/bishoujo games appeal more to Western audiences? Would you start from licensing more all-ages games to absorb people into it?
bamboo: I don’t know how we would suddenly expand the VN market in the west, but I would like to start with a title like Go Go Japan that is acceptable to everyone.

Nuriomarayana: Any details on Go Go Japan? Will it be sold at AX? When will it be sold online? Have you determined the exact price?
bamboo: Go Go Japan probably won’t make it to AX, but we are planning to release it by this fall.

Asceai: Do you like natto?
bamboo: I like natto! Didn’t expect that question, lol.

Diffor: What’s your favorite, breasts or butts?
bamboo: Oppai. I like middle oppai.

StromIV: What are the chances of other games being sold as boxed hard copies instead of download?
bamboo: There are plans to release hard copies of other games, but I can’t say which titles yet.

Minimoto714: Which eroge do you recommend the most?
bamboo: Of course the most recommended eroge are OVERDRIVE games!

NintendoManiac64: Tsundere or yandere?
bamboo: I don’t want to end up in a situation like in School Days, hanging out with a yandere girl, so no thank you!

LGJinnai: Do the English sales of VNs seem to be going in the right direction?
bamboo: The sales of English VNs are steadily increasing, but it’s not enough to convince the companies. We aren’t getting paid to do this by the way.

wizzlewiz: Have you made a profit on any MangaGamer titles? Conversely, have you lost any money on MangaGamer titles?
bamboo: Titles like Shuffle and Koihime were pretty profitable. So I guess well-known titles do better. Kira☆Kira surprisingly did well too.

LGJinnai: What do you have to say when people say that the price in US dollars is too much, as it is the same as buying a physical game for PC or console systems?
bamboo:We are carefully adjusting the prices of the games based on the original prices and costs. Of course if the market expands, we can lower the prices…

Nuriomarayana: Any chance of seeing Kanon in the West officially?
bamboo: Visual Art’s current isn’t interested in the overseas market… but since their president is a business person, if there is a high demand for it…?

(No question)
bamboo: Like I said before, Japanese companies are small, so it’s hard to answer to demands such as “Release the games quicker!”, but we are working hard on it. I would like to hold sessions like this in the future, and try hard so that overseas fans can enjoy bishoujo games as well. Please support MangaGamer! Who’s going to AX by the way? Please bring your friends to the AX panel – it’ll probably be held on the 3rd day! tororo danchou will be there too.

Counter_Arts: I wish I could go! I’m in Canada though…
ch0ux: Me too… Being in Canada sucks that way.
bamboo: It’s unsafe to own eroge in Canada, so be careful!?
(People stated where they are from, there were viewers from all over the world, including Latin America and South America, though most of the people were from North America and Europe)

bamboo: Thank you for your time, we’ll do this again! I’ll post the next schedule on the forums when it’s decided.

MangaGamer’s official blog (NSFW) also has an overview of the Q&A session in a more narrative format.

The message, translated into English, reads:

It has been a long while, so I guess everyone has already given up on me, right? I can finally say that people have been correct to have done so. I am truly sorry for having caused various problems for everyone.

I regret to see these very delightful several years come to an end like this, but
it seems that even if I were to try to fulfill all these promises at this late hour, there wouldn’t be any point. After all, I’m too embarrassed to even show my face, so there’s nothing much more that I can do.

There’s no real way for me to truly apologize, but I sincerely hope you all understand.

Haeleth
Autumn, 2010

The original message is as follows:

　　　　ずいぶん経ったので、皆はずっと
　　　　前から私の亊を見限ってくれたの
　　　　でしょう。それは正しいと、よう
　　　　やく認めます。いろいろご迷惑を
　　　　掛けて本当に申し訳ありません。

　　　　とても楽しかった数年間がこの様
　　　　に終わったのは実に遺憾とするが、
　　　　今さら約束を守ろうとしても意味
　　　　がないと思われます。どうせ合わ
　　　　せる顔もないから、これ以上は出
　　　　来ません。

　　　　お詫びのしようもないが、どうか、
　　　　ご理解だけは是非ともお願します。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ハレス
　　　　　　　　　　　　２０１０年、秋

Haeleth, originally with the ROM hacking community, is most well known for having started a translation project for Key’s popular game, Kanon, in 2002 or shortly before. This was one of the first attempts at translating such a game (the project for Radical Dreamers started probably around a year or so earlier), at a point when the visual novel translation community hadn’t yet split off from the ROM hacking community proper. The translation had a few releases from Haeleth until it was postponed indefinitely in 2006, or at least until he could secure the permission of the original copyright holder. This translation was eventually finished and released by Non-directional Translations, with several leaks involved along the way. Haeleth also ran a set of forums called the “gemot”, in which people could discuss about his projects and related interests and where registration was not needed for posting (The reason he gave for allowing guest posting was that registration doesn’t prevent a determined individual from posting and that he had liked the way 2ch worked).

Haeleth contributed to several other translation projects, including narcissu and its sequel. He was also behind various pieces of software needed for translations of games, including tools needed to disassemble and recompile games running under Visual Art’s’ game engines AVG32 and RealLive, as well as PONScripter, a fork of the open source engine for running NScripter games, ONScripter. PONScripter added better internationalization and font support and was used originally in the translation for narcissu -SIDE 2nd-. He eventually started gradually disappearing from public view of the visual novel community, contributing less and less to PONscripter and the slow narcissu -SIDE 2nd- project before finally posting the current message on the website after a long period of silence.

Kanon is a romantic visual novel wherein the reader takes the role of Yuuichi Aizawa, a Japanese high-school student, as he moves north to live with the aunt he used to spend the winter holidays with. From this low-key beginning, the plot branches into a number of alternative paths, each of which uses the school romance framework to explore the work’s themes – memories, miracles, and the everyday supernatural – from the perspective of a different character.

Kanon was the first game created by Key and was released in June 1999, ranking second in Japan’s national eroge sales charts at the time. It has since been ported, remade and reprinted a total of nine times, selling over 300,000 copies of the game in total. The game’s legacy however is much larger than an impressive number of reprints, as Kanon has officially spawned five printed novels, both in adult and all-ages editions, fifteen drama CD’s, two manga series, two TV anime series, an OVA animation, ten music CD’s and singles and large amounts of merchandise. It has also inspired a huge amount of doujin manga, computer games and musical arrangements.

The translation of the Kanon visual novel was started somewhere in 2001 or 2002 by Haeleth with intermittent partial patches released in September 2002 (10%), May 2003 (25%) and June 2004 (57%), at which point most of the game was translated and half of it was edited. At this point progress became rather invisible to the public, until in September 2006 Haeleth announced that due to moral issues he had decided to stop working on the project until such time as he could get official permission from Key to translate their game.

While many people were disappointed by this, it did not take a long time for other people to step up and continue where Haeleth left off. Non-Directional Translations restarted the project based on an internal build released by Haeleth to his beta testers, and finished translation a year after Haeleth had announced his closing of the project.

In April 2008 another beta version was leaked, this time by some member(s) of Non-Directional Translations and to the general public. NDT finally released their first teaser patch in December 2008, which was quickly followed by translation patches for each of the five story routes in the game as they were finished.

The final translation patch now released by NDT is designed to be used with the adult DVD-ROM reprint of the game: Kanon Standard Edition. Unfortunately it will not work with the original CD version of the game, which used the AVG32 engine as opposed to the modern RealLive. The patch is reported to be compatible with Kanon Standard Edition for All Ages, but no support will be provided for this version. The patch does however have the ability to turn the adult Standard Edition into an all-ages version.

The following is a translation fo the diary entry in question:

This is my second post of the day. If I miss the June 26th deadline for the next issue of visualstyle, please blame it on this. (laugh)

Currently, there’s talk of releasing a version of Itaru Hinoue’s artbook overseas. Unfortunately, there are no plans to release that version domestically. We’d need to attach English explanations for this artbook, but the English translation process has been a painful uphill battle.

Recently, the lyrics “Okinawa~ Okinawa~” and thoughts of Miyakojima have been circling around in my head, making it quite difficult to work on English. If I don’t revive my English brain quickly enough, I’m going to collapse from my brain overheating.

By the way, if we just stick a sample line into a machine translator…
“この画集の表紙用に描き下ろされたイラストです” [This is an illustration drawn specifically for the cover of this art collection.]
becomes
“It is an illustration that drew for the cover of this picture collection and was lowered.”

It feels like I’m on a 100-game losing streak here…
Of course, if the artbook were just translated like that, I know we’d end up with some bizarre creation. And this is why I’m translating directly, even while my brain is overheating. The result is totally like a typical unpolished English translation produced by a Japanese person… (cry)

Someone~ please translate this into English~ (cry)

The post also includes an screenshot of the editor’s desktop, including the current work-in-progress opened up in Notepad. Sample translations include:

• 本画集の表紙用に描き下ろされたイラスト、『リトルバスターズ！』より神北小毬。
  This illustration is one written only for cover of this Art book,Komari Kamikita(LittleBusters!).
• タイトル発表時に公開された小鳥のイラスト、髪の毛の変化が何を表しているのだろうか。
  This Kotori’s illustration was open to the public.It is a title announcement.Changing of her hair.What does it show?
• 『visualstyle』2009年1月号の表紙を飾った小鳥のイラスト。
  This illustration is cover of [visual style](January 2009 issue).

UPDATE: A recent post on June 5 indicates that they have currently received at least 500 orders for the artbook. There was no indication in the post of where the orders were coming from.