yirba: Is Dengeki Stryker confirmed as a MangaGamer release?
bamboo: Yes, we’ll be selling Dengeki Stryker on MangaGamer so please look forward to it!

bamboo: We won’t be able to make it for AX, but we are making this game for everyone overseas…
(At this point, showed off the cover art for Go Go Nippon.)
bamboo: Go Go Nippon!
bamboo: So choose 1 of the two heroines and visit all the places in japan
bamboo: A bit erotic ^^
bamboo: The game itself is complete so hopefully i can show it in action soon
bamboo: Iphone application is strict as (censored by JustinTV) so even if its a bit erotic, it gets rejected
bamboo: For those who have difficulty coming to Japan, we made this game to kind of experience what its like here

hamusumo: How much is the planned game time of Go Go Nippon?
bamboo: The game is kind of like a guidebook, so it’s not that long, but I’ll let you know when I actually play it throughly
bamboo: Maybe we can make patches that does this in that in the future =P
bamboo: Yes we’ll be selling it online at a cheap price

(Below are the front and back covers for Go Go Nippon, from screen captures taken from the stream)

drmchsr0: Say, are Kamen Rider questions valid now? :3c
bamboo: I dunno much about Kamen Rider but if its something i can answer. lol

(no question)
bamboo: Hoping well continue to make games for everyone who is interested in japan but can’t come here
bamboo: We’ll be holding a panel at AX to have sort of a meeting with everyone
bamboo: We’ll be answering question along with Tororo Dancho from Circus and tell you some updates from Japan

asceai: Will the Japanese text work for people without Japanese OS/locale in the release?
bamboo: We will be testing the Japanese part for Go Go Nippon but its not final yet

hikari_sc: has companies in japan recovered from the earthquake, how is the scheduling of games like ef coming along?
bamboo: There was a big impact from the earthquake and directly affected us
bamboo: You can say the recent slow release of MangaGamer is mostly because of the quake
bamboo: Sales in Japan has gone down too

drmchsr0: Oh wait, here’s a serious one. How is Bill 156 and Ishihara’s recent comments gonna affect the future of Overdrive and MangaGamer? D:
bamboo: Isihara’s comment and bill has little to do with MangaGamer

yirba: Will we possibly see the MangaGamer mascot (Comko) in games? :-P
bamboo: No plan to including our mascot in a game at the moment
bamboo: I did see the image on 4chan with our mascot being naked and was laughing with everyone

hikari_sc: When do you think Japanese developers will start making games with internationalization in mind (ie: writing it in such a way so it can easily be ported to other languages)
bamboo: There are some developers who are interested, but it all depends on the demand and what they consider a success in oversea sales
bamboo: We need to make a good basis for business for that, for us to succeed in such circumstance
bamboo: We actually have Dengeki Stryker and Go Go Nippon with the oversea fans in mind

furbysbadday: Might we see more Higurashi?
timpkmn89: Alongside Furbys comment, will we ever specifically see Higurashi Rei, the series epilogue?
bamboo: If there is a high demand for Higurashi Rei, yes

(no question)
bamboo: i would like to study English too, so someone show me a cute English speaking girl, btw

snowballer: How’s the progress with âge going?
bamboo: Negotiation with âge is going steadily

miragecg: Have you contact with “old” eroge maker (like Mink for example)
bamboo: Sorry I don’t have much connection with Mink
bamboo: I only know developers that started in the early 2000s

drmchsr0: How do you view 999’s success in the US? Are you planning to do something like that in the future?
bamboo: In relation to 999, since we are releasing Kara no Shoujo, we are looking forward to see how much that will sell

swiftnissity: Whats happening with the comics section of the website, its empty right now.
bamboo: The comic section of MangaGamer should be opening soon
bamboo: I’m personally not in charge of it, but we are planning that and the video(anime) section

hikari_sc: what motivated you to get into eroge development? Was it difficult to start a company? What do your friends and family think about your job?
bamboo: I was originally a creator for Playstation game, but I was tricked into joining a bishoujo game company!
bamboo: My friends and family are like, do what you like
bamboo: Since I sing songs and stuff as well as make games, I’m in a bit dif situation
bamboo: It takes a lot of work to make a company, but i was able to make a living for the past 10 years by doing so
bamboo: I was happy to see a fan who said he liked Kira Kira when i was about to get on a Taxi at AX btw

miragecg: Are you planning to coming to European Convention (like Japan expo in Paris France)
bamboo: We participated at the Japan Expo several years ago, but since it wasn’t truly an English speaking environment, I’m iffy about it
bamboo: So we are concentrating in the American market for now
bamboo: I personally love USA too

thedoddler: There are a few new guest companies coming to AX this year that do not currently have games in English (like Clochette). Is it possible that these guests may get English language versions of their games at some point in the future?
bamboo: There is a possibility that companies like Clochette will release game for us, but
bamboo: We are just taking guest companies to AX to show them how the American market is like
bamboo: So it’s like a future investment to show them around and get them interested

bearhunterx: A lot of unofficial translations are getting picked up for official releases lately(Demonbane, ef, School Days, Kara no Shojo). Does the threat of an unofficial release floating around make negotiations with companies easier?
bamboo: It depends on the companies. and since the translation quality varies, we have to check it thoroughly anyway
bamboo: and of course the Japanese companies are suspicious about the unofficial translations
bamboo: and since the priority for the Japanese releases come first, the oversea market become secondary
bamboo: reminder. MangaGamer is still in the red…
bamboo: so please purchase our games
bamboo: and if you can, try to help us by boycotting illegal download sites

swiftnissity: Are we able to know which is Mangagamer’s worst selling game? Since Koihime Musou was supposedly their best selling game.
bamboo: Koihime is our number 1 selling game with Shuffle coming close
bamboo: Worst selling game is a secret =P

hikari_sc: What plans do MangaGamer have against piracy?
bamboo: Kill them all j/k

hikari_sc: What is your most memorable moment in an eroge? Who is your favorite girl in all the games you have played so far?
bamboo: my favorite heroine in a bishoujo game is Multi from To Heart

omonomono: Totally random topic: I bought Good Smile Company’s B.G.M. Nendoroid Petit set volume 0. Is there going to be volume 1? I would love a GSC Kirarin figure that’s slightly bigger lol. Or other characters from the game.
bamboo: I would personally like to release vol.1 of the Petiet Nendoroids, but it depends on if GSC says yes

swiftnissity: Has MangaGamer considered releasing updated re-releases (D.C > D.C.P.C for example) or are they out of the question?
bamboo: If there is a high demand for D.C.P.C, we can… but at the moment not really
bamboo: It is costly for us to localize one title and if it fails, it hurts us bad…

miragecg: Are you planning to make overdrive titles goodies (like figure and such) available to sale for us westerner via MG Website?
bamboo: We don’t have any plans to sell overdrive goods overseas
bamboo: Because of customs, we have difficulty sending made in China merchandise to the US too

dave1278: Given the current sales count for Koihime Musou is there a chance of getting Shin Koihime Musou (with or without voice)? ie are Baseson happy with the current sales to continue?
bamboo: We don’t have a plan to release Shin Koihime Musou at the moment, but since the sales were good, I’m sure we’ll start talking about it sooner or later
bamboo: About the voice acting issue: since the voice actor agency are hard headed, they demand a lot and thus there are some games without voices

(no question)
bamboo: Evangelion’s Shinji (Ogata Megumi) is voice acting for Dengeki Stryker
bamboo: She’s a really awesome person so respect her!

swiftnissity: Any plans to work with Baseson~Spice~? (The bl branch of Baseson)
bamboo: We don’t have any plans for BL titles because i don’t really know how well it will sell…

zalas: Over here, when people think games, they think gameplay. What do you think about bringing out more games with gameplay?
bamboo: About games with gameplay, it is difficult because porting it is a lot of work, and the game company needs to be really interested and has to help us
bamboo: I personally would like to make a bishoujo game like Fallout 3… if i had such money

tdavis0079: Oh yeah, speaking of Nakano, Go! Go! Nippon 2 needs a trip to Nakano Broadway. Such an awesome place.
bamboo: Yeah, we would certainly add Nakano Broadway in the next version
bamboo: We are planning to update it with patches, maybe $5 a patch?
bamboo: Try to think of it as a DLC pack for X-box or the likes

drmchsr0: Are there any plans to negotiate with Illusion?
bamboo: Doesn’t Illusion have a English page of their own? Not really sure but…
(some discussion of Rapelay by the commenters at this point)

jjjlmx: Are there plans for more Overdrive music theme games?
bamboo: Yes OVERDRIVE is planning to make music related game in the future for sure
bamboo: As long as I’m still interested in playing music

bearhunterx: Do Overdrive games have a better profit margin, since you don’t have to negotiate with other companies?
bamboo: The profit margin for our game is still the same….
bamboo: OVERDRIVE is an experimental release, using a lot of our resource

drmchsr0: Is MangaGamer gonna sell VN OSTs?
bamboo: Is there a high demand for Soundtrack releases?
bamboo: We are worried about piracy
bamboo: Since it would probably be uploaded on an illegal site as soon as it goes up.
(At this point, a bunch of discussion on demand for OSTs by the chatters)
bamboo: Thanks for the comments though, really happy to know that American fans care about my songs.
bamboo: I’m really against piracy so i would appreciate if you tell your friends who download from those sites that it is hurting us btw

nuriohin: Are there any plans for Limited Editions of OVERDRIVE’s titles?
bamboo: We’ll see how Da Capo LE sells before releasing other Limited Editions for now

amorim: Are there any updates about ef?
bamboo: Minori told me we should have something to look at soon
bamboo: Sorry about the delay (although i have no control over it)
bamboo: Minori is taking everything seriously

y10nrdy: It’s the general consensus that the only thing MangaGamer is lacking is hard copy versions of the games. Are there any plans to release packaged editions of your upcoming releases?
bamboo: We are negotiating about future hard copies, but ideally would like to release all our games in package form
bamboo: The most difficult thing is though, is how we are going to sell it
bamboo: Since there isn’t really a concrete selling route other than conventions

bamboo: Ok, that is all for today
bamboo: We will be using this site again in the future, and hopefully you can visit us again
bamboo: We will try to make the announcement early next time
bamboo: Thanks for joining us at such a late time
bamboo: It is a small market right now, but i would love to expand it so please continue to support us
bamboo: See you at AX for those who are going to be there, and if not see you here again!
bamboo: Thank you~

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.

On 4chan’s /jp/ Otaku Culture forum today, MangaGamer translator kouryuu answered a number of questions about various topics. One topic discussed was sales, which as he has said in the past, had continued to be less than expectations. However, the back to school sale at the beginning of this month “helped a fair amount actually,” and he hinted that in the near future MangaGamer may do another sale with different games. Interestingly, during the sale, despite being 10 euros cheaper at 14.95 euros, the all-ages version of OVERDRIVE’s KIRAKIRA sold significantly less than the 18+ version which was priced at the significantly higher price point of 24.95 euros. The all-ages version of KIRAKIRA sold so few during the sale that kouryuu said that “you could count the number sold on your hands.” Also, it was mentioned that Navel’s SHUFFLE! had still sold nearly twice as much as the next highest title, and that Soul Link had been a poor seller, selling an amount not too different from the sex romp titles, and that the additional effort being put into each game now had not yet led to a significant increase in sales.

For future games, kouryuu said that it is very likely that MangaGamer will bring over OVERDRIVE’s upcoming title, DEAR DROPS, but it is unlikely that there will be a simultaneous release. In response to a question about Navel’s Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai, kouryuu said that, to his knowledge, MangaGamer had not heard much from Navel recently, and this is why they had not yet made any announcements regarding the sequels to SHUFFLE!, despite the fact that they are interested in bring over these titles.

Kouryuu also discussed some of the internal changes that have been done to help improve the translation quality of their games. MangaGamer has been focusing on using better translators than their old translators, and allowing more time for editing. The longer amount of editing was part of the reason why the Higurashi answer arcs had not been coming out at the rate originally estimated, which would have been a game a month. As for right now, kouryuu had been working on editing BaseSon’s Koihime Musou and also working on the edited/retranslated script for Edelweiss. In a post a few days ago, kouryuu gave an example of some of the significant changes in the Edelweiss script (double slashes prefix the original translation):

//He seems like he was annoyed.
Sempai sounded really annoyed as he lit his cigarette. He inhaled deeply, and breathed out the smoke.

or

Rei:”No way! They ate my panties!! They’re perverts!”
//Kazushi:”We didn’t eat them!”
Kazushi: “Hang on, we didn’t eat them! Who the hell would eat panties?!”
//Rei:”What!? That’s exactly what you did!”
Rei: “Hah! That’s exactly what you did! I can’t believe we’re so unfortunate to be in the same class as these things.”
Fusen:”Doesn’t it smell bad around here? I need to disinfect it.”
//Husen sprays odor-eater on us.
Fusen pulled out a bottle of perfume and started spraying the air around us.
//Kazushi:”What is this!?”
Kazushi: “Uwah! This reeks! What is it?!”
//Husen:”This is an expensive perfume.”
Fusen: “Hah! Commoner! How can you say that Dior’s Poison reeks?!”
//Kazushi:”Smells like poison!”
Kazushi: “Oh, so it is poison! Are you some kind of wrestling heel now?!” *Cough cough cough!*

There was also some talk about piracy; he mentions that they wish that there were more legitimate sales of their games as their sales were still less than what MangaGamer would like, and that significant piracy continued despite all the internal changes that have been made to improve the quality of their releases. As to physical copies, kouryuu said, “The idea of a physical copy is being discussed pretty constantly. We know people want them, it’s a matter of trying to figure out if and how we can. There are a few ideas going around back and forth right now.”

We decided to catch up with kouryuu to see if there were anything he wanted to add. He replied with the following comments:

I would like to add, that I don’t know the numbers of my latest two translations: Eiden Fantasia and Curtain Call, so it’s possible a difference has started to show there and I’m just still unaware of it.

EDELWEISS BUNDLE PACK & SPRING SALE AT MANGAGAMER.COM
Limited Time Sale starting from April 1st

March 12, 2010 MangaGamer.com would like to announce the bundle pack of “Edelweiss” which includes both the original “Edelweiss” and its spin off releasing on March 20, “Edelweiss Eiden Fantasia”. While individually costing 24.95 Euros for “Edelweiss” and 19.95 Euros for “Edelweiss Eiden Fantasia”, totaling 44.90 Euros, this value set will be available for a special price of 34.95 Euros!

“Edelweiss” & “Edelweiss Eiden Fantasia” Bundle Pack
Manufacturer: OVERDRIVE
Genre: Adventure
Price: 34.95 Euros
OS: Windows XP(32bit), Windows Vista(32bit)
Text Language: English
Voice Language: Japanese
Age Rating: 18 and over

Additionally, MangaGamer.com will conduct a Spring Sale celebrating the Japanese school entry season!!
The following school related titles would be marked off accordingly from April 1st to April 7th.

Spring Sale Date & Time　
4/1　10:00（CET）～4/7　10:00（CET）

“Da Capo”
49.95 Euros -> 24.95 Euros

“SHUFFLE!”
36.95 Euros -> 24.95 Euros

“KIRAKIRA”
36.95 Euros -> 24.95 Euros

“KIRAKIRA All-Ages Version”
29.95 Euros -> 14.95 Euros

ABOUT MANGAGAMER.COM
MangaGamer.com is the world’s first online download site of English translated bishojo games that opened in July 2008. Since its launch, it has offered services where fans can download and enjoy popular bishojo games such as CIRCUS’s “Da Capo” and OVERDRIVE’s “Kira Kira” right from their home.

SHUFFLE!, the first game released by Project Navel in Japan, is a romance visual novel with five heroines to choose from. The story takes place in a setting where gates opened between the human world and the “Devil” and “God” worlds. The main character goes to a school attended by people from all three worlds, and his life is turned upside down one day by the appearance of the princesses of the “Devil” and “God” worlds, all vying for his hand in marriage, while his long-time female childhood friend struggles to hold onto him.

This game features artwork from Aoi Nishimata and Hiro Suzuhira, and members of the team who worked on the production of this game originally worked on several hit titles from BasiL. This game spawned an all-ages adaptation for the PlayStation2, as well as drama and music CDs. Novelizations and manga adaptations were also made. However, one of the reasons this game is well-known outside of Japan may be the animated adaptations, the first of which has been officially licensed by FUNimation for North America. The game also has two sequels — one intended to take place after Nerine’s ending, featuring time travel, and one intended to take place after Kaede’s ending, featuring a game system very similar to Gyakuten Saiban, or Phoenix Wright as it is called in the states.

Plans to release the game in English were originally announced by MangaGamer at Anime Expo 2009. By that time, the first pass translation was mostly finished, and a translation check was finished shortly afterwards. The game has been ported from Project Navel’s original game engine to Buriko General Interpreter. As with other previous MangaGamer releases, the game uses Courier New, which is a very thin font and may be hard to read over the background. There is an option to make the background more opaque, but that cannot make the background fully opaque. The title menu is animated and the text engine seems to have some new features, such as the ability to change font sizes to fit longer sentences and the ability to apply italics to the font. There are some instances where the text is animated to add more effect to an exclamation. The game download comes with a PDF of translation notes, but translation notes also appear inline in the game, shown below the text in italics.

The translation appears to be quite up there in quality amongst MangaGamer’s other works and reads naturally for the most part, although there are cases where the diction is somewhat odd. For example, shuzoku (種族) was translated as “strain” and shiriai (知り合い) was translated as “associate”. There is also the occasional typo and mistranslation, such as when something along the lines of “I get this strange sensation that the melody that envelopes me is dissolving itself into the cells within my body, making me one with it” was translated to “My body is surrounded by her melody, and I feel strange feeling as if it is melting inside my cell.” In terms of style, honorifics and various nicknames were kept romanized, with inline translation notes to explain them the first time they appear. “Humans”, “Devils” and “Gods” are used as the names of the “strains” and capitalized. The romanization is somewhat odd at times, with お父様 becoming “Otoh-sama”. The translation isn’t as literal as some of the previous translations, and one good example is when あまりいちゃいちゃのんびりしてると予鈴鳴っちゃうわよ was translated into “Don’t take too much time, you lovebirds. The bell will be ringing soon.” Overall, the quality of the script isn’t too bad and is comparable to commercial subtitles for anime.

August 15, 2009 MangaGamer.com is pleased to announce the digital release of “SHUFFLE!”, the first game released by game studio Navel. Set in the world where Gods and Devils co-exist with human beings, the player is able to enjoy love and friendship with colorful characters in traditional visual adventure format.

STORY
“In a certain complex of ruins, two gates have opened.
On the other side lie the world of the Gods and the world of the Devils.
These three worlds are now connected, and this causes a big change in society.

One day, two new families move into the houses neighboring Rin Tsuchimi’s house.
The new residents turn out to be the King of the Gods and the King of the Devils.
Both of them have moved in next to Rin’s house by request of their respective daughters,
who fell in love with him at an early age.

The stage is set for a story that involves Rin’s childhood friend as well as others around him.
It is a tale of hardship and despair, but also one of faint hope.
It is a tale of a boy who, to quote his cynical friend, is capable of becoming either God, Devil or an ordinary man.”

SHUFFLE!
Manufacturer: Navel
Genre: Adventure
Price: 36.95 Euros
OS: Windows XP(32bit), Windows Vista(32bit)
Text Language: English
Voice Language: Japanese
Age Rating: 18 and over

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