iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Thank you! Yes, I hope you continue to enjoy the series!

Well, I've rambled on long enough! If you've reached the end, I hope you found this interesting! I might try to do this for the first few chapters, but we'll see how it goes!! A manga about translation, though. It's hard to NOT want to talk about its translation, ha ha ha!!

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Meanwhile, even though Morisu also speaks in a similar grammatical register to Kisaragi, it's a lot more relaxed, friendly, approachable. So to tease that feeling out, we use "grandma" for him. When matching character voice, we make many minute decisions about word choice.

You might've noticed we use both "grandma" and "grandmother." This is mostly to account for things like level of coldness/formality/speech register in each character's voice. Kisaragi has a somewhat emotionally flat voice and speaks formally, so "grandmother" is good for her.

Another form of future-proofing. Since we don't know yet the mechanism by which permission is granted (is all OoOoOO magic-ie, is it super government beaurocratic-ie?? Both?! Neither??), we tried to write it in a general way that could account for all the possibilities.

Just something I noticed, but every time Morisu "excuses" (if that's the word) Gray's behavior, he never actually apologies in the JP. Normally in EN (and JP too) you would, but since the JP doesn't we shall of course not, either! Passive aggressively judge away, Morisu!

We wanted to preserve both terms. so 1st, create something simple for the fake lang. term (Lamian) then create something that expresses the cool factor/fantasy flavor of the 2nd term ("Snake people language" >> "serpentine tongue.") It also helps diegetically explain the meaning!

...2 terms in 1: literally, "Lamia language" + "Snake people language." That said, the 1st term is similar to the way JP expresses real-world languages. フランス語 (French) is actually just "France language", but we would of course not translate that as Franch (imagine tho, lol.)

Okay, so the JP does this thing where the kanji characters are one thing, but the way they're read is a different thing that isn't normally how the characters are read. (If you wanna Google it, it's called 当て字, or ateji.) That means that we have a language term that is...

...brimming hope (it's communicated that he doesn't expect Gray to improve his behavior), instead of going for the literal rhetorical question, we made it a statement (both often serve the same function anyway), then used "I wish" to express Morisu's tone / intention.

...that's a quick and easy way to express the meaning that isn't cumbersome. Then, with the way we use EN, "a little more" is already expressed in "more" by itself within the context, so just use 1 modifier... Finally, since the original question isn't really one of...

OG: も少し素敵な笑顔で喜べないんスか (LIT: Can't you be happy with a little more lovely of a smile?) Key: This is a joke. It needs to be funny. Also, the idea needs to be easy/smooth to ready. Logically, it follows that your smile when you are happy is your "happy smile," so...

While many daemons in c.1 seem ill-natured, what if some of them end up being more on the neutral- or good-natured side? The JP term too (魔界人, LIT: people of the daemon world) is depicted in various ways in media. So, safer (and maybe cool!) to take the one with more nuances.

So. Why "daemon", not "demon"? While both mean "evil spirit" or a "source of harm", etc., the key difference is that daemons in mythology can also have a more neutral nuance ("a supernatural being whose nature is intermediate between that of a god and that of a human being")

This is also a great way to focus the reader's attention on the sentence's emphasis--that being that the professor is doing cool stuff "with MAGIC"! We of course also use bold/italic font weights to help with this, but sentence structure plays a BIG part in informing emphasis.

OG: 台風で壊れた隣町の橋も魔法で直してくれたって (left bubble, same info, but 1 sentence) It's common to spin off some of the info into another sentence to help structure things in a way that's a bit smoother to read in EN. Since JP/EN have different tolerances for info density.

Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Okay! To commemorate the 1st chapter of Graykeith, I'd thought I'd share a few thoughts about the translation...of the Translator Daemonica!! Depending on how it goes, I might write a separate thread, just talking about the thoughts that surfaced while reading ch.1 as a translator, lol.

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Yes! It will be fun to see how this compares to senseis previous works!

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Pleased to announce that I'm translating Jump's newest title out this weekend, Graykeith: Translator Daemonica. Translating a manga...about translators!! How fitting, ha ha ha!!

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I'll probably write up translation threads for each volume as they come out...! So that's something to still look forward to. (v2 soon!!!)

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I finished translating it... So sad to see it go, but it was an honor. I hope you guys enjoy the rest of Secondhand Sisters as it comes out! I will miss your writing, Battan-sensei ;-; ちょうど『けむたい姉とずるい妹』5巻の英訳を提出しました。ばったん先生の素晴らしい作品が翻訳できたこと、一生の宝物になると思います。またとない機会をいただけて、本当に光栄でした。ありがたや・・・！

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Reposted by Mei Amaki☂️

Alyssa Weldon @alyssaweldon.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Andria and her husband suffered a terrible loss last night as their house burned down. They both made it out, but lost all of their things and three beloved cats in the fire. Please consider donating/sharing with others. Andria is such a kind person and amazing translator. gofund.me/b49a76f41

gofund.me

Donate to Help Andria and Nik Recover from House Fire, organized by Alyssa Weldon

Andria McKnight, a veteran translator, is facing a heartbreaking loss afte… Alyssa Weldon needs your support for Help Andria and Nik Recover from House Fire

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

@/thatmangadude.bsky.social interviewed me about manga and stuff the other day!! Thank you so much for the nice chat! Sorry that my mic that was awful, ha ha xD You can watch here~! www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjMk...

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Very much so! I can’t wait!

Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Ha ha, what a coincidence. I'm translating the last volume of Secondhand Sisters where "they" go to Izu, while in 2 weeks I'll be visiting a friend at Izu to take my first work break in months. We will swim... Lots of swimming...

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Aww thank you!! I’m glad you enjoyed! Here’s to creative translation!

Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

あわわ！！先生ご本人に直接見ていただけるなんて感激です！ばったん先生の言葉選びのセンス、日本語本来の美しい響きを余すことなく表現されててもう本当に大好きなので、こうして翻訳の機会ができたことめっちゃラッキーです。今回はわりとシンプルな説明中心な感じのスレッドでしたが、2巻以降はもっと膨らませて、細かく解説し、益々次が読みたくなるような説明ができたらと考えてます。これからよろしくお願いします！

ばったん @battan8.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Reposted by Mei Amaki☂️

うわー気づかなかった…！翻訳をしてくれた方が色々解説してくださっている🥹ありがとうございます！

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진 | jin ✨ @secretforests.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

i LOVE these sorts of translation details as a language enthusiast ahhh importantly, this is why we can't AI our way through translation (or mtl for that matter); it won't capture these nuances, especially for languages like jp/kr!

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Aw, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'll be doing a bit more comprehensive translation thread for v.2 as well!

Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Looks like the recording of the panel that I assisted Red String with for the online BL convention, Citrus Con, is now up on their YouTube channel! My first time doing public speaking out of school, and I was very nervous, but I'm trying to get better ;-; www.youtube.com/watch?v=-02l...

youtube.com

Red String Manga Industry Panel 〖 Citrus Con 2026 〗

YouTube video by Citrus Con

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Aww thank you. You’re quite deft when it comes to these types of things, I’ve always thought. They picked the perfect person for this!!

Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I'm translating both of these!! Drawn Deep - a BL story that explores childhood trauma (really done well, in my opinion), and The Chronicles of Leende (Lay-en-Day,) a lush fantasy about REVOLUTION!!!

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Congratulations!!! That’s amazing!! Best of luck with it, and I can’t wait to see how beautifully you do it!!!

Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Thank you so much to whoever gave me these lovely Screentonies this year! It's made my day!

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

What Petteri said. And as part of that concern, since they're on app stores, they're worried about things like nudity getting them taken off the platform. It sucks of course as a reader, though...

Aila @aila.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Reposted by Mei Amaki☂️

Went to Fuji bakery this weekend and saw they had caneles. It just so happens I lettered a manga recently that featured them and Assam milk tea, so I’m living the e manga like the need I am. This is The Gentleman, the Cat & the Tearoom by Molicoross, coming out in November from Kana.

Tea setup with a canele, tea pot, cup of tea and a Japanese manga called The Gentleman, the Cat, and the Tearoom by Molicoross

Close up of the manga featuring characters being served canele and assam milk tea

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I didn’t even notice until you pointed it out xD!

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

I'd say for us it was the way it was paired with the illustration specifically that made it feel like a literal translation would be lackly. I don't believe 再会 inherently has a negative connotation by itself.

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Ferburton @ferberton.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Today's a good interview for those interested in manga translations! On the Electric Transit we have an interview with Mei Amaki who is a freelance manga translator. Go check it out! #comics #manga electrictransit.wordpress.com/2026/06/19/m...

electrictransit.wordpress.com

Mei Amaki Interview

Mei is a manga translator who has worked all over the industry. From large publishers like Viz to boutique publishers like Star Fruit, Mei has plenty of experience. Thanks for agreeing to an interv…

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Mei Amaki☂️ @amaki.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Thank you! This post has reminded me to get back to finishing my website!