Thread: SW Doujin (Sukoshi Wakeari)

It's here! I've had so long to think of what to type here while working on this project, but now that it's time I think I'll keep it short so you can get to the good stuff.

SW ("Sukoshi Wakeari" meaning "there's a reason why") is an OLS doujin. "But why is this coming out while you have the manga to work on?" I hear you ask. It's a compilation of design works for the Outlaw Star anime/manga, OLS 2, OLS 3, Angel Links & more. It'll also give you an idea of why these emotes exist: The manga progress hasn't been impacted in any way, I've been working on this off & on for ~1.5 years.

Since this book primarily consists of design documents/sketches with notes from Ito, a lot of it obviously doesn't read like dialogue. Much of this work was probably never intended to be seen publicly, so a few things don't make perfect sense but I've busted my ass working over the translation time & time again to localize it into something coherent.

Without spoiling anything, there are alternative main character designs, ship designs and plenty more to sink your teeth into. Don't skip out on reading this! Btw, this is my first time debinding/scanning a doujin!

Last but not least, let's give credit to the Scanlation crew before digging in!

Zemekis: Project Lead - Editor/Scanning/minor image touch-ups/beer drinker

Pachio: Translator - This wonderful son of a bitch spent so many Saturday nights with me getting this translation done. I really worked him ragged on this one and can't thank him enough.

Awaz: Typesetter/Cleaner - Saved my ass numerous times on cleaning the pages & did another fast, high-quality job with the typesetting.

Mantis: Poster scan/Lore Consultant/Sushi Provisioner - Y'all already know him! Thanks for the poster (i ripped mine a bit during debinding...) and helping me make sense of a few pages during translation such as the Way of the Dragon stuff. I wouldn't have known about SW without Mantis. He also donated sushi to the cause once or twice for dinner on translation nights.

Kiki: Translator - Help w/ 2nd opinions on some lines & SFX we missed on the first pass.

In the wise words of Gene Starwind: "LET'S GOOOO!!!"

SW: Sukoshi Wakeari

Might I suggest that you load up Mantis' Outlaw Star OST playlist in another window while reading?

P.S. The .pdf isn't the highest quality available. There's a fair amount of compression that goes on when compiling images into .pdf format. If you'd like to read using the huge-ass files (>1GB), PM me.

This was a brilliant read. Although I already knew all the secrets held in this book, it's very satisfying to actually see the book in English. I love the chosen fonts. I saw you mentioned Outlaw Star 3 in the OP, but that was just an alternative concept for the second ship, right?

Anyway, I think there's a lot of people who'd really love to see this so I'll share the thread link around.

I already brought up the different (to the well-known Sword of Wind) Outlaw Star 2 plans in the past at various places in the Outlaw Star communities. To be honest I'd say that section of the book is both a fascinating and disappointing read. Disappointing because the second season sounds like a nice sequel, which makes it even more of a shame that it was dropped.

Excellent work from all involved.

Fantastic read, and super well done! Thank you guys so much for the translation of this material. I always wondered why it seemed like they were always trying to replace the Outlaw Star (the ship) in these hypothetical sequels, the ship being upgraded sounds way more coherent.

EDIT: I'm a little perplexed at the character towards the end, Akashya. I've seen uh questionable material with a shadow Melfina before, was this something that was well-known and I just never happened upon it or just a coincidence? Also Ito really was wanting them to do a DBZ fusion dance, wow lol. Either way, really like the design iterations of Aisha and some of the characters who I presumed just evolved into other characters. Very cool!

I know I'm late for the party but I was looking forward to this and I have to say, I am not disapointed. Lots a great artwork and a look into what might've been. Some of the stuff with Aisha was pretty interesting. Funny that she was supposed to rock sunglasses in the earlier sketches. Also, there was something that read "She transforms into animals like this". The fact animals was plural sounds like she was going to have more than just her weretiger form at one point. Oh and lol at this Suzuka note

We should put a men's dress shirt on her to show off her boobs.

This is important, dammit!

Originally Posted by Cardboard Marty

EDIT: I'm a little perplexed at the character towards the end, Akashya. I've seen uh questionable material with a shadow Melfina before, was this something that was well-known and I just never happened upon it or just a coincidence?

Well, there's a couple of possibilities. First, it's possible that this character appears later into the manga. I can't say for certain because I've put off reading most of the remaining manga pages (including the extra chapters) to this day. Fortunately they'll be translated in the near future, so we'll have an answer then.

The more likely explanation is that a doujinshi artist saw Takehiko Ito's concepts and repurposed the character for hentai. She was usually known as Dark Melfina or Melfia and proved to be a really popular doujinshi character despite Takehiko Ito not making the doujins himself.

I have proof of her popularity. She got an actual figurine that I ended up buying several years back. The most notable thing about her was how bizarrely endowed she was. She had tits shaped like rockets. Alas, one day she took a bit of a tumble and was broken. (RIP, cue Aerith's theme.)

Perhaps one day a brave soul will translate her doujins (I think there were two, pretty sure I own both) so we can better understand the backstory.

LIGHT MANGA SPOILER:

Looks like the character actually does make a very brief appearance in the latest translated manga chapter!

The concept is super cheesy though and I'm not entirely sure what the appeal is (other than the obvious). If I had to guess, this concept was probably very loosely repurposed for the Maiden of the Leyline.

Originally Posted by Mantis

She got an actual figurine that I ended up buying several years back. The most notable thing about her was how bizarrely endowed she was. She had tits shaped like rockets. Alas, one day she took a bit of a tumble and was broken. (RIP, cue Aerith's theme.)

Damn! Any pictures from her pre-tumble days? I really wonder what's the fascination with this character. I had another look through the doujin and it seems like it takes place in the manga continuity if I had to guess (Soi Len and Roi Fong are still roaming around, but Melfina has already joined the crew). I suppose we'll never know!

Also, they were really banking on Suzuka being the fan service gal, this combined with her manga personality really makes me wonder what kind of conversations happened behind the scenes to reform her into a more "modest" character. I can't say I hate the change though!

Originally Posted by Cardboard Marty

I suppose we'll never know!

Awwww, cmon! Have some faith in me, haha! Side materials/doujins are in the pipeline, just not before the manga is finished. We need the complete manga context to really make sense of third-party stuff that references it.

Mantis & I have briefly discussed a plan to get more of the doujins in-hand for me to debind/scan/translate.

Thanks for all the comments/discussion guys! It makes this project feel so much more rewarding.

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Awhhh I didn't mean it like that! Haha, you guys have done fantastic work and I absolutely love the effort you and your team have put into this (and the manga!). I am just super curious about what the thought process behind some of these changes was, but Ito doesn't seem to have any online presence at all.

Originally Posted by Cardboard Marty

LIGHT MANGA SPOILER:

Looks like the character actually does make a very brief appearance in the latest translated manga chapter!

Aha, mystery solved then! I didn't know because I haven't been able to read the past couple of updates yet. (No computer at this time.)

Originally Posted by Cardboard Marty

Damn! Any pictures from her pre-tumble days?

Yup. I went through some backups and found a bunch of merch photos from over a half-dozen years ago, including this one...

Originally Posted by Cardboard Marty

Also, they were really banking on Suzuka being the fan service gal, this combined with her manga personality really makes me wonder what kind of conversations happened behind the scenes to reform her into a more "modest" character. I can't say I hate the change though!

This was a decision made by the writers of the anime adaptation at Sunrise. I can't verify this, but I recall hearing that Takehiko Ito wasn't completely happy about the changes made in the anime. I think this would be one of them. That being said, they did make Suzuka's prostitution anime canon. It was only mentioned briefly though.

Originally Posted by Mantis

Yup. I went through some backups and found a bunch of merch photos from over a half-dozen years ago, including this one...

Jesus lol, thought you might've been exaggerating but nope! Whew!

Originally Posted by Mantis

This was a decision made by the writers of the anime adaptation at Sunrise. I can't verify this, but I recall hearing that Takehiko Ito wasn't completely happy about the changes made in the anime. I think this would be one of them. That being said, they did make Suzuka's prostitution anime canon. It was only mentioned briefly though.

I remember that, and I guess I could understand why he'd be lukewarm on those changes. The manga feels so rough around the edges and obviously way hornier than what we ended up getting with the anime, something that I think these conceptual designs and notes convey fairly well. I think the jury is still out on which version is better since we haven't seen the entirety of the manga quite yet. That being said, I really get the impression that while Ito has fantastic concepts and some great character designs, I'm not sure he really knew how to flesh out these characters. The writers at Sunrise did an amazing job with the material and expanding on it.