Symmetry
The ending — our chance to see how all the stories radiate outward from a single point, like spokes on a wheel. The deeper meaning of this series is realized by our nameless main character as he navigates his own conscience. In the end, all the stories stand alone as reminders of what might be happening in the lives of the strangers around you. I hope you enjoyed this atypical story, and for anyone just picking it up — it’s best read in one sitting!
Shikou Shounen v02 c11 [DL @ Mega or MediaFire]
Shikou Shounen v02 c12 [DL @ Mega or MediaFire]
Huggles again to Ximena for all her edits, Den for translations, Ianu for QC, and ryuujii for her early edits 🙂
You’ll find I like to vary genres, so next up we have a (mostly) lighthearted shoujo drama about clones, Merikuron no Namida. I’ve been a fan of the author for a decade, ever since I read her early works, which were really the first manga I read that evoked emotion (almost cried, there). Most of her early works are licensed, so I’ll recommend her first — Sorayume no Uta.
Also a note that I just finished translating Aoi Uroko to Suna no Machi. It’s raw and beautiful, and I can’t wait until we finish Merikuron and start releasing it. Me finishing that means that Ximena and I had a secret meeting to decide what I’ll translate next, and we picked Ultrabaroque Deprogrammer. I’ll get started on it, and hopefully no other groups are planning that one 🙂
Thanks for translating the whole series. I unexpectedly enjoyed it more than I thought it would. I also read in the last post that LSD is going to translate more of Ando Yuki’s works – I’m glad! I like her work, as well. I also wonder if anyone here has read Sugiru Juunana no Haru? It’s a short, dark/horror josei and while it’s already been fully translated, it definitely fits in with LSD’s overall theme. Plus I love Ono Fuyumi’s stories – Kokushi no Shima is also another dark, shorter work of hers (but illustrated by a different artist than the aforementioned series) that’s slowly being translated, but I’m not sure if the current group translating it will continue it. Not that I’m suggesting LSD take it up, but I wanted to mention Ono and her stories (she’s best known for Ghost Hunt and Twelve Kingdoms) since they are also great.
Anyway, just wanted to share and thank you again for translating Shikou Shounen into English!
I actually haven’t read anything by Ono Fuyumi — I pretty much only read what I translate. That burns me out on manga, and any other time beyond that I tend to do novels or games =D I’d bookmark her works as maybe potential projects, but yeah, all her stuff seems to be done/in progress O.o
I did see the Ghost Hunt anime a while ago, that’s gotta count for something!
As for Ando Yuki, I just released the rest of Fushigi na Hito (4 stories) through my other group (The End). That was in progress before I opened LSD, hence why it got released there instead of here =D Go have fun with it~
Yeah, I just wanted to rec/share them! She utilizes different artists for her stories (though she is primarily a novelist), and doesn’t care that much about writing romance – she excels at mystery and horror instead.
Ghost Hunt’s anime is a good adaptation! I prefer the manga mainly because of the final arc that was never animated along with a revelation that I found to be one of the saddest back stories I’ve heard in recent years. (Also, the anime changed Mai’s character way too much, but I digress.)
Oh, yay! I’ll have to go read the rest of Fushigi na Hito asap! I really enjoyed the first two, and I had it on-hold all this time since I wasn’t sure if the rest would ever be translated any time soon. Thanks so much!
For some reason I can’t reply to your reply, so I’ll reply here >.>;
Yeah, I really did love the Ghost Hunt anime. Not that I remember it too well (it’s been forever), but just remembering that I liked it means I really liked it =D
And Fushigi! Actually, it’s funny, but I think the stories are in order of how good they are =D Story 1 is the best, followed by 2, then 3, and so on. Maybe you’ll disagree, but… I was amused 😉
Oddly enough, I can’t reply to your more recent comment, either. Anyway, glad you liked Ghost Hunt!
I finished reading the rest of Fushigi na Hito, and I also think the first two stories are the best. What I especially liked about the second one was how we were reading about a fictional couple reading about a fictional couple within their universe, lol.
Thanks so much for finishing this! I’m sure it’ll be a lovely reading experience.
You’re doing Ultrabaroque Deprogrammer!? I…was speechless for a bit there. That’s the best manga-related news I’ve hear in a long time! I’ve had my eye on that one for years, but my slow and plodding Japanese lessons (self-taught, because Japanese classes in my country either suck or are way too expensive, and not even by Japanese tutors) and lack of skill at any foreign language apart from English means I despair of ever being proficient enough to read without furigana. So seeing non-stereotypical seinen/josei picked up makes me exceedingly happy. Aoi Uroko looks good, too.
Nadia, just above me, has a point. I think Ono Fuyumi’s works are pretty much in line with LSD’s tastes (especially the ‘strange, dark’ part). Not the popular ones – Ghost Hunt, Shiki and Juuni Kokki – so much, but the others: Sugiru Juunana no Haru, Toukei Ibun, and possibly Kokushi no Shima, though GGS’ glacial pace is preventing me from reading the latter before scanlations have been completed.
Hmm…and how about Urushibara Yuki? Her works are strange and lovely. And there’s Nishioka Kyoudai for strange and dark, though their style might be a tad violent for LSD. Takemitsu-Zamurai is lovely and strange. Petshop of Horrors (the first series): lovely, strange and dark. Undercurrent: lovely and strange. Satougashi no Dangan wa Uchinukenai: strange, dark. Ningen Shikkaku: strange, dark. Ditto for Marie no Kanaderu Ongaku, Vandemieru no Tsubasa, Rakia, Nigeru Otoko, Mimizuku to Yoru no Ou, and Pandora Hearts, though I suppose that last one may be too mainstream.
Ooops, I got carried away. Sorry about that! (Lessons learned: never get TreePeony talking about non-mainstream fiction!)
(Btw — I’m Marcelene from the previous post; thought I’d comment under my WordPress ID since I’m following you guys now ^_^)
Ugh, how did those italics get there? Sorry about that, I know it sucks to read when the font’s weird.
That’s a surprise. I actually started working on UD in 2010 at my old group. Scanned and translated the first bit of it. But at the time, I was working on too much. Considering the relative difficulty of UD, I didn’t want to start it knowing I wouldn’t be able to do it at a good pace. Now I’ve finally got time and an amazing editor, so I can take a stab at it. I’m both surprised that anyone else was looking at it — and amazed that really no one’s done any of Asada Torao’s works (still!).
Thanks for the recommendations. I don’t really read manga outside of what I scanlate, but I’ll check and see if those mangaka have any unscanlated works, and if they look interesting I’ll toss them on the potentials list =D
Actually, I don’t like the majority of manga that get scanlated into English: they’re just too mainstream for me, which is why I started learning Japanese in the first place. I know it’s ‘cos scanlation’s mainly something teenagers and college students do and quickly grow out of once they become older and/or their tastes become more refined, and that as a reader I have no right to complain, but it doesn’t stop me from painstakingly going through Amazon Japan for less stereotypical titles at least once a month. I have a huge list of them for when/if I ever become sufficiently skilled at reading Japanese ^_^
I didn’t mean to bother you to read anything or pick it up for scanlation, and my original recs were really more for any LSD fans who might look through these posts, but I do recommend you check out Urushibara Yuki’s stuff, at least. Especially Mushishi (fully published in the US), which is incredibly lovely. And your mention of liking tragic romance means you’ll probably enjoy Marie no Kanaderu Ongaku, Vandemieru no Tsubasa, and Ningen Shikkaku, which are short ( 2, 2 and 3 volumes, respectively) but psychologically complex and weird enough to give me chills.
Thank you for bringing us this wonderful series in its entirety, and with great translations/editing! An incredibly enjoyable read. I loved the last chapter, where some of the other chapters were tied in, and where the protagonist had to grapple with his conscience (though, “Good Morning” gave me quite the bout of feels; I’m always weak to failed-reunion stories). I hope Fujiwara-sensei does more gentle, thought-provoking works like this one (instead of her jarringly violent ones, even though they’re also thought-provoking, heh) I’ll definitely be looking out to the series you’ll be releasing next.
(thank you for giving us Fushigi na Hito, too!)
(also much thanks to the comments above mine for all the manga recs 🙂 )
Thank you for all the hard work! This series was definitely one of the most unique series I have never read. Everything just make so much sense in the end and it really was like a puzzle! Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful piece with us. And can’t wait for the next project! (Also I was wondering is there any way to download Sorayume no Uta? Because I tried to look for it, but in vain … hah…)
Thank you once again and all the future projects look so interesting! (And the potential projects!) You have such interesting tastes. It’s wonderful! Thank yu for bringing us such unique series!
Yes, a puzzle! <3
Sorayume… the place to go is Madokami, but they seem to be moving servers currently. I upped my copy of Sorayume to a temp folder if you want to nab it. It's one of the first things I ever translated, beware 😉
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/dkleh0dp99vga/_Temp
thank youuuu~
Yipee! Now I can finally (?) read this!!1 thx m8 lm4o
Related to the above, me, me, I like Ono Fuyumi!!!1
btw, where does Pen to Chocolate fit in? :V
Minelauva is editing PtC, but she’s pretty busy. I’ll probably ask my other editor pals if they want to take over or share (she doesn’t mind). We’re not going to start releasing till we know we can do consistent releases~
Thank you! More FUJIWARA Kaoru is always a good thing.
I also mirrored the files on BakaBt.