Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There

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How did you find reading "Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There" ?

It was good! Please do more!
201
99%
It was interesting.
1
0%
Not as good as I thought.
1
0%
Boring. Not touching it again.
1
0%
 
Total votes: 204

wellis
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Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There

Post by wellis »

This is now the feed back thread for "Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There" at http://www.baka-tsuki.org/project/index ... ught_There
Please tell us what you think of it.

-------

I am a long time reader of the light novels that have been translated on this site, but a first time poster in this forum. I have always had high appreciation for the translators of this site, since they allow many interesting books and light novels to be translated and read by many in the West. Honestly I joined because I want to see if there is any possibility of translating a light novel (at least I think it is a light novel due to the covers of the volumes) I discovered.

The language of the light novel is Japanese, but I only know about it due to its covers( Volume 1 & volume 2, and volume 3). I don't have the actual raw novels with me. How do I petition a Baka-Tsuki staff member to verify if a novel is licensed or not? I ask this because the Project Petition Guidelines mention about that. I do not think this light novel series has been licensed because prior to my discovering about the light novel series, I had never heard of it, but that doesn't mean anything.

Many of these questions probably have obvious answers and will probably make me look stupid, but I do not want to make any mistakes while asking whether or not this novel could be petitioned for translation. If these questions are in the wrong part of the forum, I apologize since I am new. I hope I can have fun on this forum and not annoy everyone here.

EDIT: Well I found out this is just a normal novel with no pictures. Still would there be a chance for translation?

Moved to Future Project Suggestions - TGM
Last edited by wellis on Thu May 26, 2011 4:30 pm, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: Introduction and questions

Post by Doraneko »

Welcome. :)

Haven't heard of this before but the premise certainly sounds interesting.

Technically it is far from "light" in terms of weight and price (~1700 yen x 4 books is certainly a financial horror). Considering that it is not published under any of the light novel labels, it is as much a light novel as Harry Potter is.

The summaries remind me a bit of Zipang, with modern Japanese soldiers going through some sort of higher dimension portal into an alternate world. The difference is that Zipang sticks close to history, while this one explores the fantasy world.

A little bit of research shows that the author is a former JSDF officier, so I assume more serious depictions of arms, strategies and military institutions. Apart from the good ratings, the Amazon reviews also mention that there is a good degree of focus on international politics. In fact the published version is said to be a watered-down one compared to its online serialization (which sadly had been removed after the books hit the shelves).

Securing a dedicated and competent translator (who has to be well versed in military terms) is probably the hardest part. Still I think light novel fans who are into military and fantasy stuff would love it.

An online PV for anyone interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hn5V_qjKiI&feature=fvsr

EDIT: Found the samples in the publisher's site.
Book 1: http://www.alphapolis.co.jp/dreambookcl ... 042448.pdf
Book 2: http://www.alphapolis.co.jp/dreambookcl ... 042743.pdf
Book 3: http://www.alphapolis.co.jp/dreambookcl ... 002773.pdf
Book 4: (Not released yet)
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wellis
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Re: Introduction and questions

Post by wellis »

Thank you for replying. Still do you know how to create a poll, and prior to my posting of this novel did you ever hear of it?

Also what do the 3 samples you posted talk about?

Considering the Project Guidelines want raws, what happens if you do not have any raws with you? Does someone else get them or something?
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Re: Introduction and questions

Post by Doraneko »

Since I'm also pretty new here (registered just a month ago) I'm also not familiar with how the polls here work. Maybe you have to PM one of the mods and ask them to open one for you.

Regarding the samples, each of them is the first 60 pages of each book. They can give you a pretty good idea on what the story is about.

As for the raws, you may have to persuade/sponsor your translator to order a copy of the book. Still, considering that the whole story had been online for an extended period, at least until the book was published, it is very likely that it is still floating somewhere in the internet.

I only learnt about the story from your post. But since I enjoyed the sample of vol.1, now I have a copy of the book with me. The depth of the story is certainly more than your conventional light novels, given the adequate length and greater artistic freedom (this is originally an internet novel after all).

The scale of the story and the SDF focus reminds me of Hiro Arikawa's Library Wars and SDF Triology. As for the story, it has a flavour of Shouji Gatou (famous for FMP). The setting is in particlar similar to Cop Graft, another decent work by Gatou sharing a similar world with a portal linking the fantasy kingdom and the modern world, and with heroines from the fantasy world interacting with real-life soldiers. But then the focus of the two are drastically different. Gatou's story is a more personal one, focusing solely on character development, but this one feels like the Western epic fantasies, placing an equally great focus in establishing the fantasy world and illustrating international politics.

Somehow I feel that you will have a much easier time finding a translator for Cop Graft, but I digressed. Anyway good luck in finding a translator for the project. :)
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wellis
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Re: Introduction and questions

Post by wellis »

Doraneko wrote:Since I'm also pretty new here (registered just a month ago) I'm also not familiar with how the polls here work. Maybe you have to PM one of the mods and ask them to open one for you.

Regarding the samples, each of them is the first 60 pages of each book. They can give you a pretty good idea on what the story is about.

As for the raws, you may have to persuade/sponsor your translator to order a copy of the book. Still, considering that the whole story had been online for an extended period, at least until the book was published, it is very likely that it is still floating somewhere in the internet.

I only learnt about the story from your post. But since I enjoyed the sample of vol.1, now I have a copy of the book with me. The depth of the story is certainly more than your conventional light novels, given the adequate length and greater artistic freedom (this is originally an internet novel after all).

The scale of the story and the SDF focus reminds me of Hiro Arikawa's Library Wars and SDF Triology. As for the story, it has a flavour of Shouji Gatou (famous for FMP). The setting is in particlar similar to Cop Graft, another decent work by Gatou sharing a similar world with a portal linking the fantasy kingdom and the modern world, and with heroines from the fantasy world interacting with real-life soldiers. But then the focus of the two are drastically different. Gatou's story is a more personal one, focusing solely on character development, but this one feels like the Western epic fantasies, placing an equally great focus in establishing the fantasy world and illustrating international politics.

Somehow I feel that you will have a much easier time finding a translator for Cop Graft, but I digressed. Anyway good luck in finding a translator for the project. :)
One last question, what are the politics like? Is everyone presented as Grey and Gray Morality, or is it more like Black and Gray Morality? This question pertains to the Earth nations. For instance what is the US asking Japan about?

Also how is the Empire from the fantasy world portrayed?

I should have asked earlier, but while it's a lot thicker than most "light novels" does it still have some illustrations inside each book like light novels, or are these books just words all the way through like normal novels are?

Finally here's an image/fanart about this series: http://imageshack.us/m/848/7588/13219426.jpg
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Re: Introduction and questions

Post by Doraneko »

wellis wrote:One last question, what are the politics like? Is everyone presented as Grey and Gray Morality, or is it more like Black and Gray Morality? This question pertains to the Earth nations. For instance what is the US asking Japan about?
I haven't read that far, thanks to the paper on Japanese robotics law that I have to clear this week (Asimov fans would love this but frankly it is not that fun writing an academic paper out of it with legal mumbo jumbo). Regardless, long SF/Fantasy stories usually take a long time to develop the storyline before getting into the meat. I have read around 80 pages and the protagonist only just met the elf girl.

For the international politics, the author takes a Japan-centric view and leans towards the right (a regrettable thing indeed) but as a whole it is quite believable. It is said that control over the wide and undeveloped fantasy land with resources not too different from the earth may tilt the international power balance, as it was during the colonization era. Every country was therefore watching closely on every move Japan took and is anxious to take a share.
Spoiler! :
Japan therefore was particularly careful to avoid falling into any pit hole, giving the powers excuses to intervene. It mostly stuck to its peace constitution and focused largely on the defence. The international status quo also prevented anyone from doing anything too radical, at least at the beginning of the story.

China, South Korea and North Korea verbally condemned Japan for repeating the mistakes of military aggression during WW2 but so far have withheld from doing anything else. The ASEAN didn't make any move, but was expected to join China and the two Koreas in condemnation and action if Japan showed any opening. EU was busy selling arms to Japan.

The trigger-happy US president (obviously a parody of Bush) initially planned to involve militarily, but was pushed back by his advisers due to the strain of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US was also slightly suspicious at Japan and worried that a joint US-Japan expedition would have detrimental consequences if Japan ended up doing anything funky. The final conclusion was only to assist by providing arms and ammunitions, but the president made it clear that the US must watch closely and take military action if necessary, as well as actively involve in any research being taken place in the area so as to secure future development contracts.

Specifically for the tangible and intangible resources available in the area, the large gap in technological development, the wide undeveloped land and market, the possibility of existence of rare-earth materials (by analysing the armour of captured soldiers) are all highly attractive. Still everyone also knew that it was no longer the colonial era. The benefits of the above has to be balanced with the loss of educating the local population and the cost of developing basic infrastructure.
Also how is the Empire from the fantasy world portrayed?
It was not much different from any ancient / medieval country that used territorial expansion as a means to garner resources and give legitimacy to their rule. It was a monarchy and the King seemed to be the one that has a final say on military and other issues.
Spoiler! :
The Senate consisted of senior nobles and retired generals and is generally an advisory body. But the Senate did has the power to remove the King and had exercised such power previously for a couple of times. The King's weapon against such was to accusing Senate members of treason by falsifying evidences and locking the troublesome members up before they could kick start the impeachment process.

Do also note that the Empire was not the only country in the fantasy world, although it was the most powerful. Even among these countries, wars were frequent. They only unite when there is a strong external invader, such as the one from the East. (likely the fantasy-world counterpart of the Mongolian troops)
I should have asked earlier, but while it's a lot thicker than most "light novels" does it still have some illustrations inside each book like light novels, or are these books just words all the way through like normal novels are?
No. It is a conventional fantasy novel like Harry Potter in terms of size, price and layout. The only thing that makes it look like a light novel is its cover...
Spoiler! :
(and maybe the fact that two of the soldiers are otaku with a moe fetish over elves)
Finally here's an image/fanart about this series: http://imageshack.us/m/848/7588/13219426.jpg
Thanks. This looks really cool. I certainly wouldn't mind if the publisher hires the artist and add some illustrations inside each book.
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Re: Introduction and questions

Post by larethian »

I suppose the Japanese do need some laws to regulate robots, with all the gundams in their secret bases.
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Re: Introduction and questions

Post by Doraneko »

larethian wrote:I suppose the Japanese do need some laws to regulate robots, with all the gundams in their secret bases.
The fun part is that gundam-like robots are deliberately excluded from the legal restraints.
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空中・宇宙、海底、人体内等を稼働領域とするロボットを対象としない。また、戦場等で使用される軍用のロボットも対象としない。
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Re: Introduction and questions

Post by TheGiftedMonkey »

First off, Duraneko and Wellis, welcome to Baka-Tsuki. When you are creating a topic the poll options will be at the bottom of the page. You should be able to go back and edit your first post and include a poll in there.

Here is one place you can acquire the raws from.

As for licensing in the US, my extensive Google search skills have dug up nothing of the sort.

Last but not least, moved the topic to the proper section of the Forum.

Good luck with your petition, the images make it look pretty interesting. 8)
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Re: Introduction and questions

Post by larethian »

Doraneko wrote:
larethian wrote:I suppose the Japanese do need some laws to regulate robots, with all the gundams in their secret bases.
The fun part is that gundam-like robots are deliberately excluded from the legal restraints.
1.2 適用範囲

(略)

空中・宇宙、海底、人体内等を稼働領域とするロボットを対象としない。また、戦場等で使用される軍用のロボットも対象としない。
:!: :!: :!: :!: :!:
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Re: Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There

Post by YoakeNoHikari »

Oh...what? The JDSF has military robots? Robots that are inside the human body?

. . . . . . . . .
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Re: Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There

Post by Teh_ping »

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Re: Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There

Post by LGear »

A good day to everyone! :D

Been following the hype and the updates regarding Gate. The entire premise hits just the right buttons for me - modern military in a fantasy land being more or less a juvenile guilty pleasure of mine. But from everything I've heard, Gate also takes a more realistic look into the underlying inherent complications regarding such a setting, which makes it even more intriguing. Most of the people I've seen online who've seen the premise (and promise) of the novel are very interested in seeing this translated. And considering that the 4th (and likely final) volume will be out soon, it'll be a good "short" read that doesn't take 20+ volumes to end, while at the same time it's not as "light" as most light novels. Which translates of course to pure winnings :D
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Re: Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There

Post by wellis »

I have to wonder though, considering it's the size of a normal novel, would that create less of an incentive for translation since it's larger than most light novels?

Here are also some samples from the publisher's site:
Book 1: http://www.alphapolis.co.jp/dreambookcl ... 042448.pdf
Book 2: http://www.alphapolis.co.jp/dreambookcl ... 042743.pdf
Book 3: http://www.alphapolis.co.jp/dreambookcl ... 002773.pdf
Last edited by wellis on Thu May 26, 2011 4:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Gate - Thus the JSDF Fought There

Post by TheGiftedMonkey »

wellis wrote:I was able to find what appears to be the original web novel thanks to someone on another forum I frequent: http://www.mediafire.com/?eppz4n1m126abmc (Character encoding is Shift-JIS.)
Is this freely distributed by the publisher/author? Or is this a copy of a purchased version? If it's the latter you need to take the link off the forum.
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