Ryuoh no Oshigoto!:Volume 1 TL Afterword
Well, this isn’t part of the original package.
But I sure want to say a few words here.
‘Ryuuou (or Ryuoh as the official Romanization) no Oshigoto!’ is a shogi series that won first place in the LN Kono Sugoi last November.
If you google the results, most of them are news headlines that go ‘See which light novel beats Re:Zero for the top spot (looking at you, Crunchyroll).
Well, I can’t say the clickbait is there without reason, especially since I translated the titles back on animesuki.
I too was skeptical about it, but it’s not because of shogi.
My utter contempt and hatred of lolis have been well documented in the LN translation circles.
So why did I end up translating this one?
Again, it was due to a bet.
And as an advice to the readers:
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I play some chess, Chinese Chess in particular. Rankings aren’t particularly high, but should be above average, I should say.
For me especially, there’s a group of people who often gather at the park, playing chess, and I would join them on Sunday afternoons to play (win) some (most) games.
Just so happened that my old classmates in junior college (that’s high school to you) know where I usually hang out. Of 10 guys I make friends with, 9 are lolicons (if we’re talking about the girls, 7 are shotacons, 3 like older guys, so I’m kinda friendzoned…).
……Having no friends is better than having them as friends.
Anyway, almost everyone knows that I do translation of LNs, though their knowledge is somewhat twisted in a sense (most think I’m the site owner of Baka-Tsuki for some reason…I’m too lazy to correct them. Then again, these are the guys pestering me to translate Sword Art Online 5 years ago. Good grief).
So someone brought out a shogi board that day, and we started chatting about it.
Fiend: “So, there’s this shogi series I want you to translate…”
Me: “Okay, thank you for your services.”
Fiend: “And it has lolis.”
Me: “Most readers are just going to read it for the lolis anyway…”
So I played a bet against him, with me giving up a chariot and a horse as a handicap. Unfortunately for my life, I lost.
And thus, I had to learn how to play shogi, get some experience, and do my own research for the sake of this project.
I mentioned on BT that I could finish it in one week, and I could…until stuff happened.
It might be hard to believe, but I could have gone for at least 200 translator notes for this one volume if I want to list all the stuff to be noted. This is mostly because there are real-life basis for the characters and settings, with lots of information provided by the Shogi Association
For example, did you know that there is a teenager who actually won a title in his teens? Not the Ryuuou title, but close enough. The name’s Noboyuki Yashiki, who won a title at the age of 18.
Do you know that while Yaichi has numbers in his name, there’s the legend Hifumi Katou, the name Hifumi literally being ‘one two three’.
Do you know that there’s an idol unit comprising of female shogi players in real life? Harajuku shogi
Do you know that there is a foreigner who started playing shogi after watching Naruto? Her name is Karolina Styczyńska.
As I said, translating will take me a short while compared to the research done.
And yet I feel it pales in comparison to the research work done by the author.
I feel it was easier for him to write ‘Nourin’, despite all the ecchi, given that he grew up in Gifu. For all Sengoku Era buffs, it’s called Inabayama.
So him putting in the effort (together with the staff at GA Bunko) really is something admirable, I feel.
Then again, what I call research is actually ‘letting myself get too carried away’.
I know I’m supposed to just translate, but there’s so much I want to learn, so much I want to see.
By the time this volume appears on Hellping and BT, I might have stopped translating.
For I shall be on a journey (for self-enlightenment /s)
As for the future of this project, I have no doubts that it will have an anime adaptation. Of the 6 volumes that are released (6 will be released soon), there are already 3 drama CDs. That’s a lot of promotion.
That, and most Japanese are lolicons.
I hope this volume will inspire people to learn more, and translate…
༼ つ ◕◕ ༽つ translate majo ༼ つ ◕◕ ༽つ
Teh_ping (siew dai) – May 1st 2017.
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