You know when something you once thought was fun, now is source of anxiety and guilty conscience? I can’t shake off the feeling that this scanlation project falls into that category and I guess that’s why it’s so hard to update… And lately it’s probably because I’m feeling nauseous 24/7, morning sickness my ass. It’s also a lie that it disappears after the 12th week. Let me tell ya it’s sucks to be knocked up, it’s the worst thing I’ve ever experienced. Week after week feeling sick non stop, it’s hell! Sometimes I feel like an abortion is the only sane alternative, why putting yourself through this shit voluntarily? But… I’ll just have to endure… And sometime this year we will hopefully have chibi dragon if all goes well. To Jossi, pregnancy is apparently tummy and boobs. Though cheeky, he’s got a point since my boobs have grown from a nice B-cup to a D-cup. Let’s just say that he’s a lot more excited about that than me, I miss my old ones. And I’m afraid where this will stop, apparently they grow even bigger after the baby dragon is born and you have to feed it.

I do want to finish Keppeki at least, starting with the release of chapter five. I’m ashamed to confess that this actually was finished months ago. Time flies… even when you don’t have any fun. I’ve written this before (which is now long ago of course), but in my opinion the second volume is even better than the first. And in the first chapter an old acquaintance makes her return! What will Sata do?! I wondered if anything could be more adorable than this, then I read chapter 6. Oh my God, Sata! You’re too cute! You’re cute BUT I don’t want my kid to have OCD, it seems to be enormously stressful for everyone involved.

Thank you for all the comments.  Also I should apologise not only for abandoning the site but my email account too… At least it’s nothing personal, I’ve treated everyone in the same way  …which is an excuse? …hmm.

Anyway to get your dose of hysterical cleanliness obsession/love comedy, click on Keppeki under projects. Also, beware of the N.Y. greeting (^_^;).

This is my favourite chapter in the first volume, hell it might be my favourite chapter including the second volume. There are several reasons I like it although it’s always a culture shock from me to see “nanpa” which is so common in manga… I have a feeling we don’t talk to strangers in the streets no matter how good looking they are in Sweden. If you asking for anything else but the time or directions chances are that the other person will think there’s something wrong with you. I wonder if it really is common that girls hit on guys they see in the street (and the other way around of course) in Japan. Sadly I’ve yet to go there so I haven’t had the opportunity to see for myself if it’s true. And oh, everything I wrote about Sweden is false if there’s alcohol involved, then all the normal rules seem to be overruled. At least for some, I’m pretty controlled even when drunk. Though, of course nothing that comes out of my mouth will be of any value but that’s like a natural law when it comes to intoxicated people.

Gyaru and yanki are mentioned in this chapter. It’s quite fun to look at pictures of different gyaru and there are a lot of material on the internet I think. I like the more extreme ones best actually, because they’re not trying to look pretty which is a nice change. But they do want to shock it seems… Some say gyaru resemble punks but I don’t know… the punks I’ve known spent like 10 $ on clothes per month not hundreds of $. Not that I’ve known that many punks though…

And speaking about yanki, there’s a video from Peter Bjorn and John’s latest album that’s pretty funny. You probably don’t know who they are if you’re not especially interested in indie music. I think they’re pretty good, but I happen to like indie music and electro pop. Anyway I don’t pretend to know how to extinguish yanki from bosozoku, they look pretty similar to me. But the people in the video have motorbikes so maybe they’re bosozoku? Or not. Anyway it’s a fun video.

aya: Nice art! I’m actually kind of envious because I can’t really do anything like that myself. I’ve only learnt the necessary things to do scanslations and nothing else. Although I would like to be able to, I know it requires much hard work to be good and so far I’ve been too lazy.

lys: Thanks for the pity \(^_^)/!!! Also, I’m glad there’s someone out there who likes my ramblings.

Hmm, I kind understand what you mean with Skip Beat, 21 volumes (and still going) are quite much… I’m also a little reluctant to buy really long series… at least in the beginning. But I did buy the whole Kenshin series in one batch though…

But it’s so true that there are types of characters that you like in fiction which you couldn’t stand in real life. I think the tsundere is an example of that. I like tsundere characters, but in real life… I’m not so sure. I mean they seem kind of… socially incompetent for using a nauseating expression. I don’t think I actually know any tsundere in real life… Though there have been times I’ve misunderstood people thinking they were much harder to get to know than they actually were.

Misha: I love Samurai Champloo, I even got a DVD box with Swedish subtitles. By the way I would like to take the opportunity to warn anyone against buying that DVD box, the subs sucks. I remember sitting there thinking I could have done it 10 times better myself, which I probably could! Which doesn’t say much of my skills, it’s just that bad. The fan-subs I’ve watched are so much better but they are in English and I bought it because I wanted them in Swedish. It’s true it was dirt cheap but I’d rather pay a little more to have a quality sub. I don’t mind watching without subs but that’s not an option for everybody and it’s really ruining a great series so I was quite annoyed.

Mio: Åh, Mio min Mio. I was very glad to read a comment on the Swedish version, I’ve been a little nervous about it since I haven’t gotten any feedback until now. Schysst! I’m happy you like it.

Thanks to everyone who has been so nice and patient and given me friendly encouraging messages rather than the bashing I kind of deserve. Thank you for being understanding. I will try to be more structured in the future so that this won’t happen again.

Well, what can you say. It’s been a while since the last update (^_^;). Really, this is not a pace I’m satisfied with so I will make an effort to speed things up from now on. The picture above is me getting my ass kicked for taking so long.

Though I hope there’s someone who will feel sorry for me… Oh, my God how much author comments I had to translate. That’s right, shower me with pity. Some of  Tobina’s comments are fun, but sometimes they don’t make any sense (to me) and it’s been a pain trying to read the handwritten text at times. I’ll be honest: I have no idea if I translated those comments correctly. And I don’t care anymore! I hope I got it right, but then again I might not have but let’s leave it at that. But personally I like the omake, who wouldn’t be tempted to hit that kind of teacher? And also Yui’s miracle break dance is not to be missed! Aww…

But now to something more serious:

I don’t know about you, but when I saw this I made up my mind, I’m definitely gonna make a Senda-GO and go cosplaying when the opportunity arises! Gureito! I’ve never cosplayed before and frankly, I’ve never had any desire to do it either so I thought that cosplaying was something I never would do. But now I found something that really allows me to live out my dark, hidden fantasies. Let’s see, I have to purchase the necessary items + a gakuran and I’ll be all set! Though I’m not sure that Jussi (or anyone else I know) will be as big hearted as Sata’s friends so I might have to go alone (T_T). Oh, I almost forgot the hat, the mask and the sunglasses, these three items are also indispensable. Wouldn’t want anyone to recognise me… This is why Sata is perfect to cosplay for people who feel too embarrassed or don’t like cosplay (of course all of you brave, hard core cosplayers won’t hide behind a mask though) you will be the centre of attention but still safely anonymous! I know it sounds almost too good to be true but here is the opportunity you all been waiting for.  So LET’S GO!

Skip Beat. Somehow I can’t resist it even though there are several things about it I don’t like so much. For example the art is not to my taste at all, I especially don’t like how the male characters look. The story tends to drag on and I kind of thought that volume 20 was boring. I felt that the manga was losing pace so I wasn’t tempted to watch the anime until I read volume 21 which made me change my mind because it was really entertaining in the way Skip Beat is supposed to be. I asked Jossi if he wanted to watch it too since we usually watch anime together but I didn’t really think he would like it (I meant it’s shoujo). But it turns out he liked it a lot, I suspect he even likes it more than me (^_^;) Yesterday he complained about that it ends soon… But I also hope there will be another season, it would be strange for it to end where the anime is now.

It occurred to me that Skip Beat resembles a shounen manga, in the sense that it’s about practicing and getting better. The film sets are like battle grounds and the spectators give commentary like in Bleach or Yakitate Japan. Another thing I noticed is that I don’t hate Shoutarou… He’s a hilarious character, a male bimbo in the truest sense. And I kind of understand him even if what he did to Kyoko indeed is unforgivable, but the way she was beckons the worst qualities in people I believe. If someone deny themselves all the time and never say what they want and never argue even if they’ve got the right to be angry I think you get an urge to test  how far you can go before you get a reaction. I kind of recognise that feeling in myself, I have a tendency to get mean if someone is too timid and never say their opinion. Of course that’s my problem and not the other person’s and I have really no right to be mean just because of that (and I really try to control that). Still people who never say what they want can seem dishonest, you don’t know what they’re really thinking and that makes it hard to like them. My general approach is to be friendly to everybody though, there’s no need to be rude without a reason.

Well here I am writing too much again… (I pretend to care, but in the end I won’t stop anyway, well I’m not forcing anyone to read…)

Jiu-Jiu by Tobina Touya has also been serialised, and I heard it first from you lys. And it’s good news! I’ve read the first chapter, and I think it has potential. I think I like Sarashi Asobi a little better but maybe I’m biased.

Kt: You have good taste \(^_^)/. I haven’t read so much of Takao Shigure’s works but I have the latest manga Isshoni Neyou yo (Let’s Sleep Together) . . …Eh? Really, that’s what it’s called… But it’s really sweet, nothing dirty. Hontou ni.

aya: I looked at the graphics you had made with the Love You art and I think it looked fine. Just keep on practicing. And thanks for the encouraging words.

And that’s what I want to say to everybody who’s written comments, thank you! It’s my energy source.

This chapter marks the end of volume 1 of Keppeki, next volume is even better in my opinion and much more romantic vV.

And yeah, I think I can safely say that next chapter of Love You will finished within next week, so please look forward to that!

I was aware that the second volume of love you (thanks for letting me know anyway) was due in February and I’ve ordered it but it hasn’t arrived yet. I hope she will be able to keep up the quality… But I’m not particularly worried, I’m sure I won’t be disappointed. But I’m still not finished with the translation of the the last chapter of the first volume so I should worry more about that… I’m working on it though.

Uwah! Katla just got a batch of some of her favourite manga, who has time to do scanslations and upload new chapters now!? Wah wah wah, Kamisama Hajimemashita 2, Dengeki Daisy 4, Natsume Yuujinchou 7, Black Bird 7, Innocent Dragon 6, Nanako Robin 2, Kimi to Boku 6 (I totally missed this when it came out, probably ’cause it’s shounen). Ah, but just because I’m so kind (and because the new chapter of suki tte  happen to be finished) I’m going to wait a little before I start to read and update first.

As promised I’ve updated both the English and the Swedish version of Say I love you. Though I’m getting little insecure about the Swedish one… Ah, well.

The new chapter… I think it’s moments such as this, when it doesn’t feel enough to say “cute!” or “fan va gulligt!”. You want to shout “kawaeeeh!” and “Gaah!”, at least I do… Of course there are some parts that definitely are not cute, but the contrast only make the cute stuff even cuter.

I’m not the least bit cool when it comes to manga, I always make a lot of noises if I really like the manga (because I’m easily embarrassed) which annoys Jossi, my boyfriend. But I don’t care of course since one of my favourite hobbies is to annoy Jossi.

I actually started to watch anime before I started to read manga. My favourite anime this season has to be Casshern. I love the style and the characters and the story but I think it’s the mood in it is perhaps the most important factor, I love the melancholy. Of course if the other parts aren’t good enough you won’t get emotionally attached but they are so I get goose bumps all the time… Generally, I seldom watch shoujo based anime. I like anime like Casshern Sins, Ergo Proxy, Gankutsuou, Samurai Champloo, Darker than Black, Mushishi. So it’s actually the reverse from manga. But I do have some shoujo anime favourites like Fruits Basket and Ghost Hunt. Speaking of tsundere… (like I have in previous posts) maybe Naru in Ghost Hunt is the epitome of tsundere but then of course he’s overwhelmingly “tsun” and very little “dere”, there’s very little that’s soft about Naru but it still there which makes it even more precious.

Probably what I liked the least about Ghost Hunt was the ending. ‘Cause it really ends abruptly and ultimately almost nothing gets revealed. I’ve read all the manga but the releases are so slow (and apparently it ends at the next volume). So I thought I’d buy the books and read them but then I found out they are out of print. Why?! And no, I won’t be paying 9,000 yen for a used book that should cost 600 yen at the most, especially right now when the yen is so incredibly expensive. I wonder why they don’t print it any more, I mean she’s a pretty famous writer… They even made an anime, even though that was based on the manga it should’ve sparked some interest for the original books. It’s disappointing.  Now I’ve read some fanfiction and spoiled it for me. Not that I care anymore, I don’t seem to be able to get hold of the books any time soon so I’ll just go ahead and read the fanfiction anyway. But if they decide to reprint the books I’ll probably buy them anyway, I generally don’t like spoilers but I won’t let it stop me from reading the books either.

Colourful Japanese expression I stumbled upon when I translated ch 3 of Love You: Kingyo no fun which literally means goldfish droppings and it’s used to describe a clingy person. So the next time someone’s bothering you, you can say “Piss off, goldfish crap!” or something like that (>_<).

Thanks for the nice comments! I had no idea Tobina Touya has a new series in Hana to Yume. This is great news, thanks for letting me know! I hope it will be as good as Keppeki. And thanks aya for the link to Hazuki’s blog, actually I hadn’t visited it before. Very cute pictures!

Well, I’m going to shut up now. Really. I hope you will enjoy the new chapter as much as I did.

Now I’ll stop. Promise.

Hi, Katla desu. Keppeki chapter 3 is up. New chapter and a new character, the more you think about it Sata’s cleanliness obsession is pretty tragic actually… Not to say that I can’t laugh at it, but that’s me: I love to laugh at other people’s weaknesses but I’m actually extremely sensitive when other people comment on me (I’m joking …hopefully or else I would have to start to despise myself and then I would get overly self-conscious which would lead to loss of appetite, excess drinking etc. and soon I would have to drop out of college and end up on the street working as a hooker, smoking crack, abusing my children who wouldn’t know who their fathers are and eventually the social services would take custody of them. Which essentially would mean I wouldn’t be able to do any more scanslations because of 1. Lack of resources (manga and computers cost money) 2. Location problems, I obviously wouldn’t have a flat and I need a relaxing working environment and good music when I’m doing scanlations, a cup of Darjeeling is nice too.  3. Lack of motivation since I’d probably other more serious matters on my mind.) Anyway I do love a good manga, and to me Keppeki is just that and I always get happy when I see other people who also like it… I hope Tobina Touya gets an opportunity to write another continued series and not just one-shots or even better if she could continue on Keppeki… Maybe I should write to Hakusensha and threaten to slash my wrists if she doesn’t, I sure it will be very effective \(^_^)/

I don’t know if this post is the best place to bring this up but I’ll do it in any case (I’ve probably should have done it sooner but that’s a different story). I just want to say I’m very grateful for the offers to help me but at the moment I’d rather keep things as they are mostly because I want to keep things simple and that I think it’s fun both to do the translation and the editing etc. and because I’m mentally challenged.

Answer to the question about which font I use in I love you: If you mean the dialogue font it’s SF Arch Rival, it’s a good font for me since it has all the accents required to write in Swedish. For the narrative I use Segoe print which is a Microsoft font… I realised… I want to change it, but I won’t… By the way I use Firefox as internet browser and Thunderbird as email client, I’m not overly fond of Microsoft not that I believe they’re much more evil than any other multinational corporation.

I was glad to see there are some who are interested in I love you in Swedish, so I’ve uploaded chapter 1 and 2 of the Swedish version (though it took some time…). From chapter 3 I will update it at the same time as the English version. I’m really curious to know what you think of it, especially in contrast to the English version if you’ve read that. Jossi who’s done the proofreading of the Swedish version said he liked the Swedish better, I guess it’s different to read it in one’s own language after all. So if you have the time and energy I’d really appreciate a little comment.

And last but not least: thanks for all the nice comments. Doumo arigatou gozaimashita. Tack!

Katla is back from her short hibernation. My intention was to update Say “I Love You” before Christmas, but in the end I didn’t have the time before I had to go to my home town. Christmas… for me that’s eating too much and drinking alcohol everyday… I don’t like the feeling of being too full but it’s my own fault. And I know I’ll probably do the same thing next year. But it was nice to hang out with my family, but at the same time it’s nice to be back home now.

Actually I was practically finished with the chapter, it was just the proofreading missing and Tengil didn’t have time to do that until the day I was supposed to leave. We probably have a different way of proofreading than most other groups (and it’s probably not the most efficient way), I usually translate and do all the editing first and then send him the finished result and let him read it. Afterwards we discuss it over the phone which usually takes at least an hour. Then I fix the things we’ve agreed on should be fixed and after that I read the chapter like at least 5 times before I upload it, praying there won’t be any misses (which there’ll probably be anyway). We don’t always agree on what should be fixed I should say but usually we come to a compromise at least. This time I was really uncertain so I had my boyfriend Jossi check the chapter too which actually turned out to be a good idea because he found some mistakes. Thank you Jossi, I love you. I’m a little neurotic but not as much as Sata Senda thankfully.

So the second chapter of Say “I love you” is up, what can I say… Yamato you iro otoko! Jossi thinks that Yamato is a bit slimy and Tengil thinks Mei is freaky… Katla thinks Mei certainly is a little scary in this chapter but Mei’s so cute that she’s forgiven and that Yamato is Yamato.

Apparently it’s a little hard to understand who’s saying what at times in this chapter because both Tengil and Jossi asked me about that at the same pages. I didn’t have any problems but that might be because I read it in Japanese and it’s easier to see who it is by the way they’re speaking then. So in other words, Good Luck. Hope you get it right, see if I care you suckers. I’m joking, I’m joking.

Thanks for the comments, I love those (but then again who doesn’t, at least if they’re not spam or flames). The picture in the previous post is creepy I agree… Actually Katla hates insects, well at least wasps, moths, cockroaches, centipedes, beetles, flies, mosquitoes, ticks etc.

I’m not surprised that you agree Yui is cute, here is further proof:

Oh, by the way, I’ve translated Say “I Love You” into Swedish simultaneously. I couldn’t help myself… I wonder if there is anyone who could be interested in reading that. Actually the quality is probably better since it so much easer to translate into Swedish than English. I’m getting crazy at the plural conjugation of verbs in English (in relative clauses and subordinate clauses), I hate it, I’m glad we got rid of that long ago. Of course we have five different plural inflictions of nouns in Swedish with rather vague rules. But that’s easy, if you’re native that is.

You can get Chapter 2 of Say I “love you” under the page with the same name. Hope you’ll like it.

Katla hasn’t been posting much these two weeks… But it’s not like I have been idle all this time because lo and behold: Keppeki Shounen chapter 2 update, yay. I love this chapter and I love Yui! He’s too cute! But you do get the feeling that the weirdoes are gathering around Sata… Of course he’s the greatest weirdo himself so I guess it’s only fitting. Also I can really relate to Sata’s parents (^_^;)

You can find the new chapter under the projects page. Sigh, ever time I read it I found a new mistake… I hope I finally got rid of all of them. But Tengil (my proofreader) does a great job I think, I don’t know what I would do without him.

Relating to the previous post, I realised that while it’s true that I really like Kurosawa as he is, I actually also like male characters who can’t be honest (with their feelings), it may be conflicting but… You know the ones who have a sharp tongue but actually are nice (tsundere). Like Natsume in Gakuen Alice and Toboe in Kamisama Hajimemashita etcetera. I know it’s kind of cliché but we need clichés too. At least I do… (And that’s why we love shoujo manga?)

Oh wait, most genres are filled with clichés. What’s interesting is how you use those clichés and make something interesting or funny or touching or whatever you want it to be and hopefully create something that has something special to it. I think that some things are worse than others (I hate weak heroines for example) and after you’ve read a lot of manga inevitably you will find a lot of it boring. But there’s no need to read the boring stuff. There’s so much out there so let’s read the good stuff and ignore the rest.

Also thanks for all the nice comments! It really makes me happy x2 (quoting Aiuchi).

By the way I’m happy that so many seem to like Keppeki and Say “I love you”. Actually the latter seem to be much more popular, to download at least… And to think so many others than me noticed her hairstyle, I had no idea… I think the main characters are very important to why I like it so much. Mei isn’t the dumb helpless girl that unfortunately is so common in shoujo. And Kurosawa is actually a nice, considerate guy, not some idiot who bullies the girl he’s secretly in love with. I like guys who are kind but not stupid… And if they’re kakko ii too so much the better \(^_^)/.

And Keppeki Shounen… I don’t know why but I feel an affinity with people who like Keppeki…

I’m relieved that the quality of the scans seem to be good enough… I’ll try to keep it up while not taking too long.

Also I fixed an email address so you can contact me. So if you have any questions about hosting and such please send me an email so I have a chance to reply.