On Neko White and other plans

I think this is my 100th post or so on this site, which is as good a number as any to give an update.

First, I would like to thank you all for the support and comments during Neko White’s translation. Well, I call it a ‘translation’, and I do hope it’s good enough to be called that. If there is one thing I learned from working on this — one thing I couldn’t have found out without working on this — it is that this series truly is beyond my level as a translator. There were many, many segments which I wished I could have rendered better, or while retaining more of the subtext. I have tried my best, and I hope that my interpretation of this story has been both comprehensible and entertaining.

Which brings me to other point: I seriously doubt I will start working on another Monogatari novel any time soon. As much as I’d like to translate Kabuki, Otori or Koi, Neko White alone has been completely exhausting. To put it in perspective, I started to work on a translation of Gunslinger Girl halfway through Neko White 66 just to unwind, and I still finished the GSG chapter first.

So, I think what I need to do now is edit Neko White and add a sorely-needed Notes page to provide background on all those obscure references — hands up if you actually got the one about Comte de Lautreamont, I never even heard of the guy before — and while I am at it, I will probably upload it all onto Baka-Tsuki proper so that more editors (ie. other people not me) can get at it.

As for actual translating from here on, I’m quite interested in doing tankoubon releases of Gunslinger Girl as mentioned, beginning with volume 13. I’d also like to finished my snail-paced playthrough of Witch on the Holy Night/Mahoutsukai no Yoru (I’m almost done Chapter 1.5!) sometime before the actual holy night. And as I hear it, Fate/Apocrypha will be coming out at some point, which may be interesting.

tl;dr? If Shaft takes their time with Zenmonogatari (because I really don’t like translating stuff that’s already been adapted unless said adaptation is utter tripe) you may find a chapter of Kabukimonogatari — or Otorimonogatari, I’ll probably put it to a vote or something — waiting for you here a few months from now.

stl;dr? Come back at Christmas, I’ll have something then.

17 comments

  1. John Hong

    Cool. Thanks for your effort! I think I understand what you mean because of the wordplay and the like in the monogatari series. I think a loose translation with some notes would be fine, assuming most people here might read a part and be like “O that was a kanji thing” or something. Even if you don’t work on Monogatari I hope you can continue translating some light novels! Thanks for your hard work.

    Reply
  3. THE SHMUPER

    What about translating Schell:bullets or Mahou Shojo Risuka?
    Just kidding, take your time and good luck on your next translation.
    Thanks for all the effort you did by sharing neko white with us.

    Reply
  5. geep

    A huge thank you for all the great translations and best luck with other projects! It’s sad you wont be doing more volumes of Bakemono, but can’t blame you there, just reading the translation is enough to tell how exhausting it must’ve been. I’ll be sure to enjoy your other projects.

    Reply
  6. igneon

    You are awesome and awesome work translating white neko!! thx a lot. i would be very happy if u keep with monogatari series but do something that u dislike isn’t good or fun. Well good job!!

    Reply
  7. elenrod

    As a fellow translator (though not versed in Japanese, unfortunately. Makes me feel like a n00b that I know only French and German) I appreciate that you tried to translate this nightmare of a series at all. It seems that Nisio Isin wishes his works to be as untranslateable as possible (Medaka Box is now using kanji/homophone-based powers).

    Anyway, otsukare-sama, take a rest. You deserve it.

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  8. blx

    Thanks for translating Neko White, I really enjoyed reading it.

    I have a NisiOmonogatari-related suggestion.
    You probably know about those 5 short stories between Bake and Nise: Hitagi Buffet, Mayoi Room, Suruga Court, Nadeko Pool and Tsubasa Song.
    There are translations for Hitagi Buffet and Nadeko Pool but nobody ever translated the other 3.
    Shaft doesn’t seem to be willing to animate them (they would have been perfect as a nise-BDs extra) and they don’t seem to be longer than an average neko chapter… how about translating one of those every 6/8 weeks?

    Reply
  9. megaroad1

    Thanks for your efforts CanonRap. I’ve done some translating at work myself and know how incredibly hard it can be. I cannot even begin to imagine how much harder it must be with a text that plays with words and meaning like Monogatari novels do.

    Reply
  10. Kirijo

    Thanks for the hard work CanonRap. Really enjoyed following your works, and looking forward to whatever you may put out next 😀 May peace be upon you.

    Reply
  11. naotasati

    I must say i enjoyed the ride while it lasted, translating is serious bussiness.
    In the meantime i will check Baka-Tsuki hoping for some progress, the amount of traductions over there is HUGE and it cant he helped.
    Will track your blog in hope of good deeds, Thanks Canon!

    Reply
  12. jessie

    Thanks for the neko white transalation I really enjoyed, well I imagine that it must be pretty hard because of the puns that the writer uses, but we followed the story as it should be, and I had a great time doing it, so thanks for your hard work…

    Reply
  13. Thanh

    Thanks a lot for your hard work in translating the nekomonogatari. Your translation was incredible for me personally because i’m not really a perfectionist to demand a perfect translation form such a novel as the Monogatari (i’ve tried to translate the kizumono to vietnamese but ended up only half way through because it’s hard to keep the joke as funny as the original ><").
    I'm still looking forward for more monogatari from you though if you're willing to translate the rest.
    Cheers

    Reply
  14. Pold

    Thanks so much for your translation, maybe the translation can be better, but i seriously think you did a great job on this, ill be looking for your translations and good luck with them.

    Reply

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