Dark Translations' Feature: Music of Japan
Nephrinn :: Monday Dec 1, 2008, 14:07
GAM
Another Japanese pop band that have a really nice upbeat sound. I've only listened to one of their albums (Amai Yuuwaku), but I would say at least half of the songs on it are fantastic. Here are some youtube links to them:
メロディーズ
純潔～Only
愛情オアシス
甘い誘惑
愛の船
Dark Translations' Feature: Hentai Game Preview
Nephrinn :: Friday Nov 28, 2008, 15:04
Black Package Try's newest dark rape brand is an immoral adventure depicting severe female slave training. The heroine is mostly tied up and broken through training scenes, making her appear charmingly seductive! What hidden desires will you discover as the training drama unfolds in the training room?
Story:
Mr. Sousuke had inherited his father's vast fortune, who had practically controlled the world as a businessman. But, Mr. Sousuke had never felt the same inclination or fascination as his father had in increasing his fortune. During such time, Mr. Sousuke gained a strong interest in training women from attending similar wealthy businessmen's parties who had showed him their female slaves. However, Mr. Sousuke had become engrossed in torturing women and utterly destroying women's lives in great numbers. And out of this happiness that Mr. Sousuke had found, wandered a nosy journalist, who Mr. Sousuke was all but obliged to sink his teeth into...
The Heroine:
Name: Hitomi SaekiA freelance journalist. She has exposed many, primarily, govermental financial scandals with another famous reporter, who she's now going out with, Dane Toku (?). Because of her strong sense of justice, she tries to get Dane to spill any information, even unlawfully. Dane, won over by her, is rarely ever able to give her the information she wants. Now, she fixes on Mr. Sousuke, the world famous prominent wealthy man, and tries to get in touch with him and find any clues about Mr. Sousuke's rumored dark history (the truth of how he ostracized his father and established a slave trade of confining and raping women), but she gets caught by Mr. Sousuke and exposed personally to that truth.
There are two other women characters that play minor roles of torturing the herione and being subservant to Mr. Sousuke. The purple-haired girl (the slave) tends to get really jealous and the blonde is kind of mysterious and partly there to just have fun.
I think that's about it. It's you're typical slave training game. The graphics look pretty nice and it looks like there's a considerable amount of nefarious activity, so it should be at least decent. It's due out the 12th of December.
Dark Translations' Feature: Japanese Grammar
Nephrinn :: Wednesday Nov 26, 2008, 12:49
The many forms of か.
The particle か in Japanese is mostly known for performing the function of a question mark, but it actually has many other uses in Japanese grammar that aren't always immediately apparent or explained well enough in grammar books.
I want to quickly outline some of these uses as some of them have been harder for me to grasp than others.
1. Subtle question mark. Sometimes, か is used at the end of a sentence, but only infers a question or raises doubt. In writing, you can tell the difference between a direct question and subtle question from an actual question mark following か. If no question mark is present, then か is probably being used subtlety or raising doubt (guesswork).
2. An embedded question. This is one I've struggled with, but you don't see it used too much. A good example would be "昨日何を食べたか忘れた。", "I forgot what I ate yesterday". Notice the か before the verb "forgot".
3. Choice. Another one you don't see used too much, but it's important to be aware of it. This is one of the easiest ones to detect because it uses multiple か's to distinguish between the choices. "This OR this". At the end of each "this" would be a か to indicate choice between the two.
4. "Whether or not". This one is probably used the most out of all the ways of using か. It's actually easy to detect because it's almost always used at the end of the first comma in a sentence. So, it would be something like, "whether or not he was up to it, he still did it." Be aware that it isn't always the case, and when a comma isn't used, the part AFTER the か should probably be interpreted first. For example, "先生が学校に行ったか教えない?", "Won't you tell me whether or not the teacher went to school." Note that it's rare for this form of か to be used in a question.
5. Forms questions from words. か is also used with words to from the classic questions who, what, when, where, which one: 誰か, 何か, いつか, どこか, どれか.
Prison Battleship - Patch Hotfix #2
Nephrinn :: Tuesday Nov 25, 2008, 19:00
If you don't succeed the first time, try, try again. :P
I THINK I fixed most of the animation problems this time. Specifically, the ones listed in this post by rabidchibi (thank you once again). Additionally, many of the typos and mistakes rabidchibi brought up have been fixed as well.
The new patch is now dated November 26th.
Prison Battleship - Patch Hotfix
Nephrinn :: Tuesday Nov 25, 2008, 15:43
Thanks to anon for pointing out that one of Lieri's animated scenes had a bug in it that made it play nonstop. I've since corrected it as well as a few names left untranslated and uploaded a new patch.
Dark Translations' Feature: Culture of Japan
Nephrinn :: Tuesday Nov 25, 2008, 10:21
Believe it or not, Japan is among one of the few advanced countries who are for the death penalty rather than against it. They went against a 2007 UN resolution to temporarily cease executions when a majority was for it and Japan's Minister of Justice has actively sought for executions. And it's not just Japan's government pushing the death penalty; over 80% of Japanese surveyed in 2004 thought that the death penalty was necessary in some cases.
An example of Japan's overwhelming support for the death penalty comes in an April 2008 case where a man was given the death penalty for a crime he committed when he was 18, which is considered a minor in Japan (less than 20 years old). His crimes were horrible (murdered a mother and her child, raped the mother), but it was still considered a highly unusual punishment for a minor. Indeed, even in America, a minor probably would not be given the death penalty for such a case.
In May 2009, a new lay judge system is scheduled to start that will have citizens judging guilty or not guilty and be determining sentences together with official judges in serious criminal cases. Many believe that this will have even more of an influence on handing out the death penalty, so those sentenced to death is expected to continue to rise. Already, 47 were sentenced to death in 2007, which was the most since 1980.
However, there may be another, albeit, somewhat silly, solution to serious crime in Japan: "Death Row Land". While Japan has always been held in high regard for being one of the safest countries in the world, heinous crimes have been on the rise, which has garnered so much support for the death penalty. But, a civil group, who strongly opposes executions, suggests building a "Death Row Land"; a kind of "zoo" where people pay fees to get in to look at mass murderers rather than animals.
Many people think that there will be human rights issues, but the director of the civil group says serial killers and mass murderers don't deserve human rights and that they most likely won't have long to live with the new minister in charge of handing out death penalties. The director goes on to say that the idea sets an example as a warning to others until they are executed, much like how in the Edo period criminals were dragged around the city. This may even bring more comfort to the families effected.
The admission fee may be controversial as well, but the director makes a good point in suggesting that the fees could be used to pay for the upkeep of the prison and the prisoners, which could be of some relief to tax payers. Additionally, if enough money is made, the money could be sent to the victims' families and warrant keeping the prisoners alive longer.
Interestingly enough, the director states that because people have "twisted curiosities" about these criminals, some of which are more well known than stars, there would be more than enough people willing to go see them, especially for some of the more infamous killers. The big problem, which the director did not address, would be the potential for people to go on mass killing sprees so that they could become famous and get a spot in "Death Row Land".
So, what does everyone think about Japan's stance on the death penalty and the possible construction of "Death Row Land"? I think that if there were only one place it would work, it would be Japan. I know that it would probably never happen in America because of all the fuss it would create, but it's an interesting idea.
Prison Battleship - New Patch! Dlsite Giveaway...
Nephrinn :: Monday Nov 24, 2008, 18:47
I apologize for the delay, but it's finally here! Day 4 of the women's voyage aboard Battleship Jasant is now complete! I didn't get much of a chance to go back through and correct anything, so by all means post in the forums any mistakes you spot. The animated scenes should be fully translated as well. And the patch should be localized for non-Japanese operating systems.
Also, please check out this post in the forums to have a chance at winning a free game from the English dlsite. There will be two games being given away, one for donors and one for non-donors, so be sure to check it out.
