kendama

My mind is totally blank… or rather, I don't have as much time to write about trivialities. I know this thing is supposed to be about trivialities now that I am confident that nobody bothers to apply to us from here.

 

(Actually, some people do reach our tests from the links posted here. As they are goo.gl shortcuts, I can have analytics regarding where people click on the links, and about 10% of all who download our test do it via Batoto. Fancy that!)

 

(By the way, we beat Chibi manga in number of views here. Now only Phoenix Serenade's left… but the difference is diminishing so slow that I don't think we'll beat them until 2020 at least. Oh well, second place is just as well. Not that this place serves any grander purpose, anyway.)

 

So, for now, just our recruitment:

 

Well, we still need typesetters, for at least two series:

 

- Psychic Odagiri Kyouko's Lies (synopsis; releases) - a seinen mystery comedy by the same author of Liar Game. Chapters are 30 pages long on average. Finished in Japan at seven volumes.

 

- God, you bastard, I wanna kill you! (synopsis; releases) - a seinen dark comedy. Chapters are 30 pages long on average.

 

- Alcohol is for married couples (synopsis; releases) - a seinen rom-com. Chapters are 15 pages long on average.

 

(Our test is at https://goo.gl/vQuPZA )

 

Applicants should bundle their tests in a compressed file (ZIP, RAR, 7Z, whatever), upload it to a cloud service and either post the link in our home page (http://bit.ly/2kC40Zk) or send it to me as a PM (Wraith at deathtollscans.net). We expect you to be able to do a chapter in a week (it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be required to do so - it will depend on the project, though we expect proofreaders to be faster than the other team members). We've had compatibility issues with GIMP files before, so we require applicants to use Photoshop.

People with experience who want to bypass the test on account of having samples of past work will have the test replaced by an actual chapter of the series they want to work on. This still means it is a test: if you fail, the chapter edited by you won’t be used. It’s high risk (having an entire chapter discarded because you didn’t pass), high gain (working on something that will actually be used instead of a test). People without experience can’t take that route, at least in principle. (If you contact me and I am in a good mood, I may let you have a try at your own risk, but don't count on it.)

 

We also need a proofreader for a bunch of our series. Applicants should contact me for test options.

I was shocked to find out in Wikipedia that musical notation as we know it is just a little over than a thousand years old, when traced to its recognisable roots in the notation used by the Catholic Church to make Gregorian chant uniform and reproducible. Byzantine music notation, which also survives to this day, is a little older and perhaps related to the Ancient Greek systems.

 

What's more shocking is that whenever we see people playing music in ancient settings, be it in film or anime or TV series, it's mostly a total invention, perhaps based on traditional (recent) music of that setting. We don't really know how even the Greeks played music, and while some cuneiform tablets explaining how to sing Sumerian chants did survive to this day (the Sumerians invented the diatonic scale, apparently), their interpretation is controversial. And we don't know a thing about Egyptian music. Eastern notations have survived better, though.

 

Interestingly, opera was developed in Florence at the ending of the 16th century as an attempt to reproduce Greek drama. It was part of the revival of Classical culture that took place in the European Renaissance. However, opera bears no resemblance to Greek drama at all.

 

Now, let's get controversial about scanlation. Specifically, about scanlation morality.

 

I normally say that because Death Toll humbly keeps to obscure series, we don't really have a problem with any of our projects getting licensed, but that's not strictly true. Several chapters of Ouroboros have been DMCA'ed away from Batoto, which means that some English-language publisher must have licensed it… and is sitting on the license.

 

So, my question is: are there shades of grey in scanlation? Can we say that some pirates are worse than others where breach of intellectual property is concerned?

 

People who say there is may have all kinds of arguments in their defence, but from my years as a reader of manga and scanlator, I've recognised at least a few different behaviours:

 

i. Some scanlators are against monetising their work in any way. They don't collect donations and don't get ad revenue.

 

ii. Some scanlators stop working on a project if it gets licensed, even if they don't personally receive a C&D letter and know the licenser will take years to catch up to the point where they stopped, readers be damned.

 

iii. Some scanlators don't allow rehosting of their work. Some will allow Batoto, but not other aggregators. One even deletes their older chapters as they release new ones, allegedly not to harm publishers.

 

In this scale of morality, we have weird combinations. Mangacow are widely considered a pariah by other scanlators of webtoons, in that they won't hesitate to steal other series, monetise their piracy unashamedly and don't allow rehosting even though they rehost earlier chapters by other groups of works they have stolen. Mangastream also monetises their work aggressively, but delete older chapters and don't allow rehosting. Psylocke Scans drops works that are licensed, and allows rehosting, but they take donations.

 

From my ivory tower what I see is an ethical jumble impossible to sort. My view is that once you've become a pirate, it's like being pregnant: you can't be half pregnant, and you can't be half a pirate. Either you are, or you aren't. Meaning, no one has the right to be judgmental: you can choose how you want to conduct yourself in scanlation, but any pretence to have a higher moral ground must be dropped. (Mind it, I'm not saying any of the above examples has ever voiced any such pretensions or been judgemental.)

 

If you drop series once they are licensed, that still means the chapters you've released up to that point will have subtracted a readership from the licenser, reducing their bottom line. In cases like Ouroboros, a mystery series, we may even be the cause the licenser doesn't proceed to make releases, for even if we did drop it, who would want to re-read cases in which the culprit is already known?

 

If you don't allow rehosting, you're just washing your hands like Pilate. In the Internet, saying "Don't reuse my stuff" is pretty cynical, because everyone knows it will be reused anyway. The work will be rehosted, and you know it will.

 

And to be perfectly honest, I don't care whether the aggregators like Mangafox and Kissmanga get money off scanlators' work. They do provide a service, after all: it's thanks to them that I don't need to visit two dozen different scanlators' websites to find the manga I like, can be notified when there are updates in my projects and have a social platform to discuss the chapter. I don't see how "being sensitive to readers' and publishers' demands" sets Batoto apart from others. Again, one can't be half-pregnant.

 

If you don't take donations or get ad revenue, that doesn't really excuse the fact that you're still pirating someone else's work. At Death Toll, the reason we don't take donations is purely pragmatic: we don't want donators to feel entitled to make demands on what we scanlate and on our release pace. And I scratched AdSense because I find ads annoying.

 

I can understand behaviour that is grounded on tangible outcomes. The three-month rule prevents scanlation races and redundant work, and reduces the stress level in scanlation. But any rules that are self-imposed in an attempt to be a little cleaner about scanlation sound poorly justified in my opinion.

 

Then again, that's just an opinion.

 

Well, we still need typesetters, for at least two series:

 

- Psychic Odagiri Kyouko's Lies (synopsis; releases) - a seinen mystery comedy by the same author of Liar Game. Chapters are 30 pages long on average. Finished in Japan at seven volumes.

 

- God, you bastard, I wanna kill you! (synopsis; releases) - a seinen dark comedy. Chapters are 30 pages long on average.

 

(Our test is at https://goo.gl/vQuPZA )

 

Applicants should bundle their tests in a compressed file (ZIP, RAR, 7Z, whatever), upload it to a cloud service and either post the link in our home page (http://bit.ly/2kC40Zk) or send it to me as a PM (Wraith at deathtollscans.net). We expect you to be able to do a chapter in a week (it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be required to do so - it will depend on the project, though we expect proofreaders to be faster than the other team members). We've had compatibility issues with GIMP files before, so we require applicants to use Photoshop.

People with experience who want to bypass the test on account of having samples of past work will have the test replaced by an actual chapter of the series they want to work on. This still means it is a test: if you fail, the chapter edited by you won’t be used. It’s high risk (having an entire chapter discarded because you didn’t pass), high gain (working on something that will actually be used instead of a test). People without experience can’t take that route, at least in principle. (If you contact me and I am in a good mood, I may let you have a try at your own risk, but don't count on it.)

Now, keys. I only managed to understand how a pin tumbler key works by reading (cursorily) the wiki on them. Apparently, the mechanism was devised by the ancient Egyptians, and it's quite ingenious. In any case, the whole field of key and lock design is quite impressive, and I'd guess very meticulous minds applied themselves to developing the first principles. So much so that the most widely used types of key nowadays are still variations of the Egyptian pin lock and the 18th-century lever lock. A key and lock pair are only as safe as the door they protect, but lock picking strategies have been developed for all kinds, and they also make an interesting read.

Do you know what the greatest weakness of Death Toll is?

We don't have anyone checking out full magazine raws as they come out, in search of new stuff.

In these few years as admin, I have managed to figure a couple of things out. Like, that we need to have a core of series that are released regularly no matter what, at least to keep the team alive. Always to respect etiquette. Never bite more than you can chew, so always keep a balance between editors and translators. Don't overwork yourself or other people.

But one of the things I don't have covered is a rather self-evident truth: unless you only work with forgotten series (like Nanba MG5) or series that other teams dropped (like Shounen Y), the only way to find interesting manga is by taking a look at magazines.

But none of us Death Toll translators does it. This still means we can find cool stuff to release. But we seldom taste the pleasure of bringing something brand-new and interesting to the West (Yamada Yoshinobu's series don't count). Much as I admire other groups, like Psylocke Scans, whose staff systematically combs over magazine raws in search of things they'd like to start, I am also a little jealous.

Not that we are in a position to start new things. We barely have translators to do our current series. But if we ever land in a comfort zone… I'd like to find ways to fish for new serialisations.

Well, for that comfort zone to arrive… we still need a couple of editors.

Redrawers are needed for: (test at https://goo.gl/qfnsc6 . I note below when you can leave the pages marked "DIFFICULT" out.)

- Shounen Y (synopsis; releases) - a shounen supernatural series with a touch of metaphysics. We'll re-scanlate from chapter 01 because the three chapters available were released by a speedscanner. Chapters are 30 pages long on average. Finished in Japan at eight volumes. Leave the difficult pages out.

- Saru Lock (synopsis; releases) - a shounen action adventure. Chapters are short (18 pages) and we have another redrawer, we need someone to share the burden. Include the difficult pages.

And we also need a typesetter for: (test at https://goo.gl/vQuPZA )

- Psychic Odagiri Kyouko's Lies (synopsis; releases) - a seinen mystery comedy by the same author of Liar Game. Chapters are 30 pages long on average. Finished in Japan at seven volumes.

Applicants should bundle their tests in a compressed file (ZIP, RAR, 7Z, whatever), upload it to a cloud service and either post the link in our home page (http://bit.ly/2kC40Zk) or send it to me as a PM (Wraith at deathtollscans.net). We expect you to be able to do a chapter in a week (it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be required to do so - it will depend on the project, though we expect proofreaders to be faster than the other team members). We've had compatibility issues with GIMP files before, so we require applicants to use Photoshop.

People with experience who want to bypass the test on account of having samples of past work will have the test replaced by an actual chapter of the series they want to work on. This still means it is a test: if you fail, the chapter edited by you won’t be used. It’s high risk (having an entire chapter discarded because you didn’t pass), high gain (working on something that will actually be used instead of a test). People without experience can’t take that route, at least in principle. (If you contact me and I am in a good mood, I may let you have a try at your own risk, but don't count on it.)

So, the other day I was reading about whiskers in Wikipedia. Fascinating thing, they are. Their technical name is vibrissae, and they exist in many mammals, both terrestrial and aquatic. It's quite interesting that we are the only primates who have lost them. (Of course, not all whiskers occur in the nose area.) Apparently, they have a specialised area in the somatosensory cortex and are an active area of research by animal neurophysiologists. Their functions are not totally clarified, or rather, they are too diverse to be easily classified.

 

As for scanlation musings, recently we dropped a series and got a minor flak storm from disgruntled readers. Circumstances aside, that was an interesting experience (my first time dropping a series, too), and it led me to realise some readers have a very, very flawed notion of what drives scanlators.

 

Some people pouring contempt onto us accused us of "ragequitting". Others said they had gotten under our skin by their hostility prior to our decision. Others accused us of being cowards who can't take criticism.

 

Amusing, really. They really don't get it. (And not for lack of trying, because we exposed our reasons quite clearly in the dropping notice. They simply elected not to believe us but their own gut feeling of us. Whatever.)

 

Scanlators worth their salt must be impervious to criticism. At least I think so. No matter how virulent it is.

 

Or at the very least, they must be impervious to flak. One reason is that this is a requirement for having any significant web footprint. If you post comments, or show the results of your hobby in the web, you must be prepared for all kinds of response. Many scanlators, perhaps most, know this and don't even bother reading comments on their releases. And if they do read, and engage the readers, they must do it in a way that doesn't result in any feelings of distress.

 

But the main reason is that scanlation is waaaaay too hard for us to have any other concern than our own motivation to scanlate. I mean, in order to be a scanlator, one has to either master an East Asian language, or a raster graphics programme like Photoshop. I can translate and typeset, and have learnt basic cleaning. None of these learning curves was very flat. The translation one was quite steep, to be honest.

 

Do leechers really think the kind of motivation that makes a person sit for hours in front of a computer to clean, typeset or redraw a chapter, or to translate and proof it, or to check the final product for quality, is the kind of motivation that will be swayed by flak? Does that even make sense?

 

Scanlators are human and they can and do show irritation at persistent, negative feedback. But in the cases I have seen, they normally regain their composure soon. I saw that recently when I was browsing the comment session of Frozen Tile. At a certain point, the scanlator threatened dropping a series after some busybody flooded them with nasty, carping criticism of their terminology. But they soon recouped and decided to just ignore the perpetrator and let them bark in the sidelines.

 

Readers should understand that the decision to drop, resume or pick up a series is one mostly guided by internal discussions. People not involved are just white noise. How could they be anything else when the decision involve how we use our precious free time? Especially in the case of groups that don't take donations or otherwise monetise their hobby (like ours), the very notion of "ragequitting" is quite amusing, to be frank. If readers don't factor in the decision of picking something up, why should they matter in the decision to drop it?

 

At least, that's how I see it. I wonder whether this view is shared by other scanlators.

 

Well, to scanlation matters.

 

Things still stand as in the previous post. We really need redrawers, though we can still sustain our releases with the current team (but they will be slow).

Bump!

 

 

We still need…

 

REDRAWERS! FOUR OR FIVE OF THEM!! PLEASE!!

 

This is our redrawing test: https://goo.gl/qfnsc6

 

For some series you need to do the full test, for others you can leave out the pages marked "DIFFICULT" I say which is which in the descriptions below.

 

So, the redrawers are needed for:

 

- Impossiblity Defence (synopsis; releases) - a seinen mystery/horror series, with a touch of dark humour, very violent. Still in serialisation, with a four-volume backlog. The raws are self-scanned, of high-quality. Chapters are 30-40 pages long. We have two chapters typeset, only waiting redrawing to be released. Include the difficult pages in the test.

 

- God, you bastard, I wanna kill you! (synopsis; releases) - a seinen mystery comedy, also violent. Currently on hiatus in Japan, with a backlog of 14 chapters. Chapters are 30 pages long on average. We also have two typesets for this one. Leave the difficult pages out.

 

- Shounen Y (synopsis; releases) - a shounen supernatural series with a touch of metaphysics. We'll re-scanlate from chapter 01 because the three chapters available were released by a speedscanner. Chapters are 30 pages long on average. Finished in Japan at eight volumes. Leave the difficult pages out.

 

- Saru Lock (synopsis; releases) - a shounen action adventure. Chapters are short (18 pages) and we have another redrawer, we need someone to share the burden. Include the difficult pages.

 

- Rain (synopsis; releases) - it's a shounen mediaeval action fantasy. Chapters are 30 pages on average. Include the difficult pages.

 

Applicants should bundle their tests in a compressed file (ZIP, RAR, 7Z, whatever), upload it to a cloud service and and either post the link in our home page (http://bit.ly/2kC40Zk) or send it to me as a PM (Wraith at deathtollscans.net). We expect them to be able to do a chapter in a week (it doesn't necessarily mean you'll be required to do so - it will depend on the project, though we expect proofreaders to be faster than the other team members). We've had compatibility issues with GIMP files before, so we require applicants to use Photoshop.

 

People with experience who want to bypass the test on account of having samples of past work will have the test replaced by an actual chapter of the series they want to work on. This still means it is a test: if you fail, the chapter edited by you won’t be used. It’s high risk (having an entire chapter discarded because you didn’t pass), high gain (working on something that will actually be used instead of a test). People without experience can’t take that route, at least in principle. (If you contact me and I am in a good mood, I may let you have a try at your own risk, but don't count on it.)

 

I'll use the opportunity to try and recruit members for Cutie Mutie. We need a typesetter and a redrawer. The TS test is here: https://goo.gl/vQuPZAThe redrawer can go with our general test, as this series is considerably easier: https://goo.gl/KIuWmE

 

We also need a translator for God, you bastard, I wanna kill you! The test is here: https://i.imgur.com/blqk3D8.png