Socky ♥

Here is chapter 167! It's up to you people to download it or not since Volume 20 (ToykoPop version) has already been scanned by BYAAAH. I will most likely continue with Volume 20 as stated in my update status in the last post below. (Unless something happens that makes me continue from Volume 21 instead…)

Grab the version 2s of Chapter 165 & 166 if you haven't done so in my previous post. >_<

Anyways, Chapter 167 link here: 
http://www.mediafire.com/?mgngkxt1vfj


 
TL Notes (rawr~):

~ Page 4 – Shido mention something about gathering the rest of the Shiki clan together.

Note that the Shiki clan (or Shikizoku clan (I got used to using "Shiki" so that's what you all will see in the chapters I scanlate. =X)) is made up of the Haruki (春木), Natsuki (夏木), Agi (秋木) and Fuyuki (冬木) families/clans. The first Kanji of the 4 families' names represent the 4 seasons with "Haru" (春) being Spring, "Natsu" (夏) being Summer, "Aki" (秋) being Autumn (I used "Agi" in the scans because of that's what the name is supposed to be pronounced as) and "Fuyu" (冬) being Winter.


 
~ Page 10

Just in case some people ask… I used the romaji "chuukaiya" (仲介屋) when typesetting the part when Hevn answers her phone and introduced herself. It just means something like a "negotiator", a person who mediates jobs between high-paying clients and retrievers, which is basically what Hevn's job is about.


 
~ Page 14 & 15 (Double Page) – The whatever-CCD-is cameras part.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge-coupled_device

Not explaining this. Just putting this link for people who are interested to know what it is. I hate Physics-like stuff. =(


 
P.S. Sorry if I seem to take a few days for a chapter to be released! >_< *Tries hard to not exceed one week per chapter*

Chapter 167 Status *DONE*

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  Cleaning - 100% *DONE*
  

  
  
  
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  Translating - 19 out of 19 pages *DONE* (I'll try to start on it soon... There're a lot of hard to translate stuff in this chapter.) Edit on 6 Sep: Blame Pandora Hearts too... Somehow I got addicted to marathon-ing this series since yesterday @_@ xD
  

  
  
  
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  Typesetting - 19 out of 19 pages *DONE*
  

  
  
  
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  QC - 0% (Ehh... Did I QC the chapter? o.O *Must have breathed in Himiko's perfume*)
  
  
  (10 Sep 2009) Note: I will still be continuing with Volume 20 >_< (I really wanna do a full volume and that was why I decided to do Chapter 164 hahas. =P) But life has been a busy lately. So bear with me for slow translations! >_< I will release 167 as fast as I can! Now if only I can stop fangirling over random stuff from Kuroshitsuji, Pandora Hearts and Junjou Romantica and ... =X
  

  
  

I realized that I have to release version 2 for both chapter 165 and 166… T_T I'm so sorry people… I *cough*forgot to merge the double pages*cough*… Slight translation changes to chapter 165 and also change of raws for that chapter as well… No other changes to chapter 166 except that I merge double pages together. (I suck at merging, seriously.) There will hopefully be no more version 2s in the future. So sorry again for my noob-ness! >_<

Anyways, I love all of you peeps for your comments! If I ever need extra help in scanlating this series, I'll definitely go get them! (Through either MangaHelpers or some of the fellow scanlators in the group I am now with.) Thanks for all your advice and encouragement and cookies! xD

Chapter 165's V2 here (because MsLaundry didn't know what she was doing when translating this chapter.) :
http://www.mediafire.com/?i0jlynmemw2

Chapter 166's V2 here (because MsLaundry forgot about the existence of double pages. =.=):
http://www.mediafire.com/?jji4ayzdwzm

I've decided to re-scanlate chapter 164 after reading through the scans posted in MangaFox and also after reading the comment made by bubba1652. (Thanks for liking my work! <3) >_< I actually wanted to just use GBsubbs translations and simply typeset them into the raws, but I ended up re-translating everything!!! I think I'll release another version of chapter 165 using the raws I have now instead of the crappy-hard-to-typeset one that was released. (Not to mention I found minor typesetting mistakes that I didn't really noticed beforehand.) But that won't really be a top priority until I finished chapter 167 translations which I will start on soon. Chapter 164 killed me with all the facts I needed to look up not to mention that I started translating and editing like 85% of it yesterday at 10pm all the way till 5am. (This is what happens when you have tons of free time and have no school/work on Thursday.) =D



Download Link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?yiutydiomjy



Notes On This Chapter:

On page 11, Paul's explanation on the history (sort of) of the clans/tribes of Shido's and his enemies' can be further elaborated in the links below if you are interested to find out more!

http://www.jref.com/culture/origins_japanese_people.shtml


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_people


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navajo_people




On page 14 whereby Shido asked Madoka about what she used in the tea she prepared, what was stated was that she used Ylang-ylang. However, I have never heard of Ylang-ylang being used in tea!!! >_< However, it does have soothing properties and such. 

More information on Ylang-ylang here -> http://www.answers.com/topic/ylang-ylang


P.S. Off to watch Umineko episode 10! xD  tata!~

Chapter 166 of GetBackers! I got my hands on better quality raws which made my work easier! ^^ Thanks to everyone who commented on my previous post! =) I've decided to scanlate this series until someone does it on a regular basis or until there's an official request telling me to stop or something.

I apologize again for any translation mistakes or whatsoever. (I suck at translating their skills' names or whatever you call it…) Kindly bear with me! =X I hope I get the time to release this series weekly. You people can check for status updates on my Twitter or on this blog (if I do update). 


Download Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?ny2yntza1mm

P.S. Keep the comments coming! Your little words of thanks really help a lot! =)

I am thinking of slowly and painfully scanlating this series since no one is doing it. (For the right reason… ._.) Anyways, I am not sure if I want to do this series because it is actually licensed in English. Can all of you just leave a comment and tell me what you think? (Namely, should I start scanlating this series until someone returns and does it OR *touch wood* I get some C&D notice telling me to cease.) It will be helpful if anyone can provide me with higher-quality raws that aren't so hard to work with and also inform me if you find out any chapters that have already been done since I don't really do repeated work. >_<



For now though, just download the chapter and enjoy it. There should be some mistakes though since I was translating it half-asleep and contemplating smashing my laptop because the raws are so bad that I have to strain my eyes a lot while typesetting and cleaning. I didn't do a perfect job, just enough for it to be able to be read properly. Oh, if you find out any translation errors, such as things like characters' names and their skills and whatnot, drop me a comment too please so I can correct it in future releases. (IF I work on it.) By the way, if my translations don't match the official releases, I won't really bother… I'm just scanlating this because I do know tons of people want to read it in English and yet may not be able to afford to buy the manga. 


And ya, I need to re-read this series >_< I have only vague ideas of what I am translating when doing this chapter. The last time I read GetBackers was like a year ago and I stopped at erm... Volume 19. =X


It'll be wonderful if someone can upload it to MangaFox for me or something and also spread the word asking fans to give their opinions on whether I should work on this series. =)



For your information, Volumes 1 to 19 are scanned by BYAAAH and someone did Volume 20 chapter 1 and it's on MangaFox (which is chapter 164 I think… Hopefully I didn't get the chapter numbering wrong. =X)


Oh ya, I almost forgot the download link:
http://www.mediafire.com/?t1emde3m25l

Note: Please do not remove the credits. Thank you! =P

Good news doesn't just come in pairs (my As have ended and there is Kuroshitsuji scanlations!), I also got my hands on Kuroshitsuji Volume 5 and Detective Academy Q "Premium" Volume! I'm currently euphoric with joy… Before I go off to read both the books (though I have already read Kuroshitsuji Volume 5 before with Internet raws), I shall release Chapter 17 of Kuroshitsuji! While translating this chapter, I almost thought that this was my Secondary school teacher's idea of a history test… Most of the harder to translate parts have to do with the history of India. I regretted throwing away my textbook because I turned into a frantic piece of laundry trying to remember what I have learned during the middle of the night when I am too lazy to switch on my internet modem. Translator notes at the end of this post, not really important to know to actually get the gist of the chapter but it's present to clear up doubts about the India culture and religion! (These stuff are a tad sensitive so it's best to clear up what Yana Toboso was trying to bring across.)



Summary ~> Agni is a SUPER-HUMAN! He can actually make the useless servants of Ciel's become useful?! O.O Also, a peek into Agni's past and why Soma is so anxious about finding Meena!

Click HERE to download the chapter!





NOTE: WTF?! My Microsoft Word stopped working for no reason and I lost whatever Translator Notes I have been typing out for the last 10 minutes!!!!!!!!! GRRRRRRRRRR….. 

This is going to be quite long… But nevertheless sort-of interesting… =D History and translating lessons anyone? =P



~Translator Notes*


1. On page 17, Sebastian told Agni to substitute the meat used for the Cottage Pie recipe with chicken instead of the usual beef and pork Sebastian uses.
HOWEVER, note that Hindus CAN consume pork. They don't eat beef because the religion considers cows to be sacred. The ones who abstain from pork in India are the Muslim Indians. I clarified this already with both Google and other people I know. (Well actually my mum was the one who helped me asked my Indian neighbours… >_< But hey! I did Googled it ok? T_T). Sebastian probably took into consideration the eating habits of both the Muslims and Hindus in India.


2. On page 18, the title Agni gave Bard gave me a freaking hard time in trying to translate it properly.
The words used by Agni were "料理長", which was in the raw and I was like "???" because 料理 can mean food dishes (which brings us back to Bard being the Chef) OR it can mean general household stuff. 長 means the head or leader or you-get-the-picture… I checked with the Taiwan version just to be doubly sure of what I am seeing and it turned out that it is really what it is (what am I talking about? O.o) so I settled on Chef and Supervisor to complement with Bard's job.



3. Page 24. This is what I meant by a history lesson =.=… The Indian caste system.
The manga refers to the religious caste system in Hinduism. The religious word for caste is 'Varna'. Each Varna has certain duties and rights. Each Varna members have to work in certain occupation which only those Varna members are allowed. The highest Varna is of the Brahman. Members of this class are priests and the educated people of the society in which Agni was born in. The Varna after them in hierarchy is Kshatria. The members of this class are the rulers and aristocrats of the society, referring to Soma in this case. After them are the Vaisia. Members of this class are the landlords and businessmen of the society. After them in hierarchy are the Sudra. Members of this class are the peasants and working class of the society who work in non-polluting jobs. The caste hierarchy ends here. Below these castes are the outcasts who are untouchable to the four castes. These untouchables worked in degrading jobs like cleaning, sewage etc.


It might be also interesting to note that the first three castes had social and economical rights which the Sudra and the untouchables did not have. The first three castes are also seen as 'twice born'. The intention in these two births is to the natural birth and to the ceremonial entrance to the society at a much later age. (The second birth of Agni (he was reborn from Arshad to Agni on page 26.) may arguably have something to do with this.)

It is also a bit ironic that one who was from higher social strata actually turned to serve one of lower strata. But that Prince-Butler relationship is what makes the Soma and Agni pair so cute! =)

As for the caste system abolishment in 1950 as stated by the mangaka on page 24, it is not really the case as only the class of the untouchables or outcasts was abolished under Article 17 of the Indian Constitution in 1950. The caste system is currently still existent.


4. Page 28. Whereby Agni suddenly morphed into his comical self.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa was a Hindu religious teacher born in a very poor but pious Brahmin (Brahman) family. He was born in 1836 and passed away in 1886 and was said to represent the very core of the spiritual realizations of the seers and sages of India. It was also said that he reached a depth of God-consciousness and seekers of God of all religions feel irresistibly drawn to his life and teachings. Agni was probably referring to him when recalling his past with Soma. I am not 100% certain that it was Ramakrishna Agni was talking about because I could only made out "Krishna" at the end of Agni's side sentence and it should be Ramakrishna if I read it correctly=) Inform me if I am wrong! However, Ramakrishna is from around that time period so it SHOULD be him =X.


5. Page 29.
I seriously don't know what sort of fish they were having for dinner~ it can be translated to either some weird breed of Tuna or Mackerel. I chose the latter based on my instinct >_<


6. Page 31.

Prince Soma stated that India was ruled by the British. British traders set up the East India Company in the past to trade with India (duh). A revolt in 1857 caused power was transferred from the East India Company to the British Crown and India became a British colony. The East India Company then drove the expansion of the British Empire in Asia. British policy in Asia during the 19th century centered around protecting and expanding India, which was viewed as its most important colony and the key to the rest of Asia.