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Let's read Japanese manga live on VocaVerse Discord!

uncreepy

👵Escaped from the retirement home
Apr 9, 2018
1,618
Hi, everyone. I have an idea for a VocaVerse Manga Club and would like to share my idea and get feedback from those who are interested in manga and/or learning Japanese so I can plan the first session.

Note: This idea will be carried out through Discord's voice/screenshare feature. You do not have to participate in narrating, you can observe quietly. If no one wants to speak, I will read/translate everything for the audience, so the show will go on no matter what!

BACKSTORY
A few years ago, I was part of a Google+ manga club where the leader would screenshare a manga and everyone would take turns reading one page. Each lesson was once a week and lasted one hour.
The manga selected were ones written for teenage readers, so all kanji contained furigana (that means all kanji have the pronunciation written in hiragana next to it). We read things like Seven Deadly Sins and Resident Evil, for example.

furi.png
Example of furigana (hiragana pronunciation by each kanji).

In short, if you can read hiragana, you can read the entire page regardless of if you understand the meaning (pronunciation/reading practice is fun/builds confidence!). The person reading the page would try to translate the speech bubbles into English to the best of their ability, and other members would help them out/explain vocab and grammar if they didn't know how to translate parts.

MY IDEA
I want to bring this style of live manga translation to VocaVerse's lovely Discord channel. But I need feedback from people who are interested in participating/observing (will get to that shortly). Here is how I think our club will function:
1) I will be the leader for the most part, I guess, and will be keeping track of whose turn it is to read.
2) I pick out 3 or so manga ahead of time for members to choose from. I think I will have people vote on which they want to read the most and do this to figure out which genre/books you all like.
3) I want to create translation notes on a document ahead of time, but I'm not sure when I would provide these notes (like after the lesson or something so people can study it?).

HOW IT WORKS
1) All manga will be legal, so no sketchy scanlations. They will be free previews from publishers' websites or manga I rent from Amazon Kindle Unlimited. (Feel free to suggest titles you know that contain furigana!)
2) You can enter/leave the session at any time, it isn't required to stay the whole time.
3) You do not have to read if you do not feel comfortable doing so. Anyone can join whether they know Japanese or not. We will read in Japanese and then translate to English, so if you just want to see some cool manga that might not be translated officially yet, watch us budding translators in action. If you have a low level of Japanese or aren't confident in speaking, you can just observe until you feel like jumping in at a later point.
4) The club will meet once a week on the same day/time. But things can change if a lot of people are busy or if we figure out that the time we all decide on ended up needing to be adjusted.
5) The first session will definitely have set up time for people to test out their mics/figure out how to access the Voice channel and make sure everything works properly.
6) We don't have to read the same manga each time we meet up. We can rotate between titles or drop ones we don't like anymore.
7) I'm not sure if, depending on people's time zones/availability, we will end up having it more than once a week but in 2 different time slots (ex: one on Tuesday morning, one on Saturday night), depends on feedback.

MY QUESTIONS FOR YOU
1) What time/day works for you? (Please tell me your timezone.) I go to sleep at 8 PM Central Time, so it can't be really late at night.
2) How long do you want to read for? I think up to one hour maximum is reasonable, but we can start small and try something shorter, like half an hour so people can get used to the club.
3) What manga genres do you like to read? Cute shoujo stories, actioney shounen manga, something serious? Please let me know if there is a subject offensive to you that you want me to avoid (ex: can't handle horror).
4) Do you plan on reading out loud, or do you think you will just watch?

Edit: Would you be okay if I recorded the stream and posted it to YouTube privately or something if it turns out okay/enough people are interested but can't make it?
 

cafenurse

Still misses Anri Rune
Apr 8, 2018
1,803
22
USA
This sounds fun! I'd be interested
1. Fridays and saturdays work best for me, those are my days off. I'm available in the afternoon and evening (EST)
2. Half an hour sounds good to me
3. I prefer more cutesy slice of life stuff (like k-on) but I'm not picky, any genre is fine.
4. I'll probably just watch im self conscious lol. maybe read later on.
5. Sure, posting to yt is fine
 
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TheLemonKing

*When the citrus is too sour*
Jun 26, 2020
5
Rotting in Vocaloid Jail
I am totally down for this!

1. I'm okay with anyday tbh, but I can only do it in the morning or late afternoon. Those are the times I have the most free time on my hands (GMT)

2. A half-hour works just fine.

3. Any genre will do but I have a leaning towards corny BL mangas.

4. I'll probably start out as a watcher since I don't know how to read japanese ;-;

5. You have my consent to post it to YT

:yokuneruko_lili:
 
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Twillby

Longtime Listener
Apr 8, 2018
392
33
US
This actually made me get over my Discord shyness enough to join the server
1. Any day and pretty much any time since I have too much free time a flexible schedule
2. A half hour sounds good
3. I’m all over the place genre wise, but I kind of prefer to avoid anything with a lot of violence or horror (more psychological-type horror might be okay though)
4. There’s a part of me going “YES!” but it’s a very small part so I think it’s fair to say I plan on just watching first
5. YouTube recordings are good with me!
 
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uncreepy

👵Escaped from the retirement home
Apr 9, 2018
1,618
Thanks for the feedback so far, everyone! (I got some on Discord, too.)

It seems the consensus so far is 30 minutes and that no one other than me is planning to narrate at this time. (That's okay, some people might feel more confident after watching how it goes.) People in similar time zones to me prefer the afternoon, but I know some users who are in Europe wouldn't be able to stay up that late, so I will try to figure out about possibly having more than one session, but I'm not entirely sure yet.

I ended up not being able to sleep at all last night because of thinking about the manga club. So I ended up creating an Amazon wishlist with potential books we can read (mix of shoujo and shounen stuff, nothing overly violent, leaning towards cute/funny). I selected one manga by myself for the first session so that I could just get to planning how to translate/explain the Japanese without having to wait for feedback so that I can sleep at night. I will ask for people to decide what we read next time, okay?

The comic I picked is called Kami Kuzu Idol and it's about an idol duo. (I've never read it before, but skimmed the contents and it seems good for all ages.) The main character can't sing/dance/isn't personable at all, the only good thing about him is his looks, so he barely has any fans... That is, until the ghost of a female idol who died in an unfortunate accident possesses him!

preview.jpg
Random image collage.

I started to write a few notes about grammar on a Google Doc that everyone will be able to access soon. I'm going to assume that most of the "club members" have little to no experience with understanding how Japanese grammar works, so I will focus on that. (Learning vocab is one thing, but I think understanding grammar in order to grasp the meaning of a sentence is more difficult to learn on your own.)
 
Sep 21, 2019
1,401
I really love this idea! Also, late response is late, haha. The manga you’ve picked out sounds interesting, and I look forward to seeing what it’s all about if that’s for sure what we end up doing.

And to answer your questions from the OP (in case it’s still necessary, lol):

1. Afternoon works best for me and any day is fine. My timezone is EST.

2. A half-hour is good for me!

3. I’m good with just about any genre, with the exceptions of harem and horror.

4. I’ll probably start of watching. I don’t exactly have proper quiet.

5. You have my consent to pist
 
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uncreepy

👵Escaped from the retirement home
Apr 9, 2018
1,618
Update: I did an impromptu reading ("soft" manga club opening, if you will) of a different manga called Kainushi wa Akuma (Master is a Devil) at 8 AM central time as a test to see how to record and if the translation format was okay. For the other book, Kami Kuzu Idol, I have prepared notes/asked my Japanese friend to explain difficult grammar to me so that I can explain it to you all. But for Kainushi wa Akuma, I did no prep and therefore met some words I was unfamiliar with and a couple grammar things I couldn't properly explain. That's okay, though, I don't think it's necessary to have a perfect reading session. Here is a recording of the stream (please note that we had to restart while I explained the translation of the title and re-record, so there are a few minutes missing in the beginning):


It was kind of awkward getting started first, I was really nervous, but it went away by the 2nd page or so. Also, it was meant to be about 30 min, but I forgot to keep track of time (found out OBS keeps track by the end, though) and everyone wanted to know what happened next, so it ended up being close to an hour long.
 

cafenurse

Still misses Anri Rune
Apr 8, 2018
1,803
22
USA
Glad to hear it went well! I'm so excited for this. Will you be letting us know when you have the day/time picked here? I don't check the discord very much so I'm afraid I'll miss it.
 
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uncreepy

👵Escaped from the retirement home
Apr 9, 2018
1,618
I was thinking 6:30 PM - 7 PM (might go over by 10 min or so) central time on Friday the 3rd. How does that sound?

I kind of think if would be fun to do random ones in the morning (8 AM central time), but I'm not sure. Or at least pick a day like Monday or something for that. It's just that I'm impatient/pumped about reading Japanese, that's part of the reason (aside from wanting to test the recording tech with a small audience out of nerves) that I didn't announce it to anyone except whoever was online on Discord the night before.
...Or maybe if I've got a hankering for Japanese that badly, then i should just record it privately and upload it to YouTube. I dunno!
 

Wario94

Passionate Fan
Jan 5, 2019
207
29
1. For me, my timezone is the Pacific Time.
2. For reading, I say whatever you want to.
3. For me, I like to read shounen, slice of life (like Azumanga Daioh) and harem manga.
4. I will watch it first though.
5. Like everyone ask, I'm okay for post it on YouTube.
 
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Jikyusan

Producer in Training
Apr 8, 2018
34
26
USA
jikyusan.carrd.co
Just a reminder that today at 6:30 PM central time I will be reading the idol comic. (It'll only be like 6 pages.)

Edit: Check out this timer to see what time it is where I am Time in Wisconsin, United States
Aww man, I missed it. Maybe I could join in the voicechat sometime. I've been meaning to switch my Discord account link on VVN to my main Discord account and rejoin the server under it.
 

uncreepy

👵Escaped from the retirement home
Apr 9, 2018
1,618
Thanks for everyone who showed up and listened to me reading/explaining. You all made my day much better and it was very fun.

Some of you might have noticed that during the last 2 readings, I kept apologizing for how I explained and how my voice sounds. The reason is that while talking, I had a voice in the back of my mind telling me I was doing a very bad job. I realized that everyone has been nothing but encouraging and kind about the sessions, so I need to be more confident! I reviewed the recordings again and it hit me that the sessions went pretty good and weren't as horrible as I kept feeling they were.

Anyway, here is the recording of last night's video:

Note: I realized that no one else's audio is recorded but mine (was like that in the last video) because of the settings I picked for OBS. So when I laugh/answer questions, I am not insanely talking to myself, haha. ^^;

Here is the Google Doc with notes:

Sorry the notes are pretty messy.
 

uncreepy

👵Escaped from the retirement home
Apr 9, 2018
1,618
Sorry for skipping last week, was working on a project diligently.

Anyway, this is sudden, but I will be reading the intro to Mozaik Role on Sunday (19th) 6:30 PM central time. The intro to the book is a dream sequence, so I will read that.

I will try to go back to a proper weekly schedule after this/announce things better.
 
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uncreepy

👵Escaped from the retirement home
Apr 9, 2018
1,618
Just a heads up, I still have to post the recording of the last session, but I want to let you all know that I need a short break from the club. I am having some health problems and I feel so stressed and depressed that lately I can barely muster up the energy to stay at the computer for long periods of time or put effort into talking with friends. I really like doing the club and I really like chatting normally because it's fun, but I feel like it's impossible to focus until I can get an appointment to talk to the doctor. I will give you all an update once things get better again.
 
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uncreepy

👵Escaped from the retirement home
Apr 9, 2018
1,618
Here are the notes from Mozaik Role. (It's a bit short/messy.)

The session was about an hour long, but it only took half an hour to read the planned pages, the rest of the time we talked about other books and casually chatted. So I cut out the chatting part for YouTube. As a reminder, I only record my own voice, so you won't hear others in the chat.



I felt like it was fun reading this and I genuinely like Mozaik Role, but it had some vocab/grammar that was definitely too complex/abstract for beginners and difficult for me to explain in English. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I also feel like I should try to keep picking stories that are more stupid/silly/weird like the previous books rather than ones with a serious atmosphere like Mozaik Role. It seems like everyone can loosen up easier when the book is quite stupid/surprising. (Don't worry, I have a lot of silly stuff lined up.)

I still feel pretty glum, but I want to try to transition into getting back into doing the readings anyway. So I will probably start writing some notes on something soon and let you all know when we will read it.
 

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