Macross delta Novel Volume 2 Translation.

[Captain Global]

Hi everyone, after finishing Gubaba’s translation of the first volume of the Macross Deta novelization, I decided to give it a go and try reading the rest.

After buying the novel on bookwalk and being able to read it in the form of some horrible translated images, I found It had quite a bit of interesting details and recontextualized some scenes with wonderful characterization. Hence, I decided to do a better translation and improve the presentation to share it with the community.

 

There are however two disclamers:

First, this is a machine translation, my only merit here is working on the presentation and revising errors and spelling. Full respect to all the guys that have been translating directly from Japanese all these years, you are my inspiration to bring this here.

Second, if this post violates any rules regarding copyright and piracy in the server let me know.

 

I plan on uploading semi-regularly the rest of the chapters once I can streamline the translation and revision process. I can also share the methods I use and the ones I’m trying, furthermore, I would like to see more people contributing to translations.

I’m aware the use of machine translation poses some dilemmas, but being able to understand the master file books, interviews and now Ukyo Kodachi’s novels has made me fall in love again with the franchise. Now I just want to share it and help enrich the fandom and the overall conversation.

Any sort of corrections critiques will be really appreciated as it is my first-time sharing content like this.

Avaliabe here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lUzru6LZZWIbHzAacsI8n-0ZYuW2_w-gt1OwkJ8v0mw/edit?usp=sharing

[Captain Global]

First Intermission is up, featuring a cameo from Macross The Ride and curious political thriller tone. 

Hope you enyoy it. 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KLpHzXEXkhn_IKHcN8Y-Xv4Ae4Np3zDPqorG5dg7D_g/edit?usp=sharing

[Bolt]

Intriguing stuff. Thanks for the reading material.

[Seto Kaiba]

Machine translation has clearly made some progress in recent years.  There's not nearly as much "my hovercraft is full of eels" in this as an attempt a few years ago would've had.

That said, I kind of feel like Kodachi is reaching way too hard to try to make connections to other Macross works in this one.

Spoiler

Chelsea Scarlett's story arc had a pretty satisfying conclusion in Macross the Ride with her finally settling into a career she loved as a successful professional air racer.  After she'd lost her career as an idol due to circumstances beyond her control and having her career at SMS cut short because she wasn't cut out for live combat.  She earned that closure at the end of her story.  Dragging her out of that career a few years later and forcing her into the role of a politician is kind of a dick move, narratively.

 

[Captain Global]

6 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Machine translation has clearly made some progress in recent years.  There's not nearly as much "my hovercraft is full of eels" in this as an attempt a few years ago would've had.

That said, I kind of feel like Kodachi is reaching way too hard to try to make connections to other Macross works in this one.

  Reveal hidden contents

Chelsea Scarlett's story arc had a pretty satisfying conclusion in Macross the Ride with her finally settling into a career she loved as a successful professional air racer.  After she'd lost her career as an idol due to circumstances beyond her control and having her career at SMS cut short because she wasn't cut out for live combat.  She earned that closure at the end of her story.  Dragging her out of that career a few years later and forcing her into the role of a politician is kind of a dick move, narratively.

 

Yes indeed, with machine translation a whole world of possibilities has oppened, but I fear it kinda makes these fan works les valuable.

When it comes to Kodachi, I feel rather than adding new elements to the story the value of his novels is his ability to connect everything to past works. In the following chapters there are even more interesting stuff, but nothing new at the end of the day.  

Spoiler

I have yet to read The Ride, but from what I know it really is weird to see Chelsea as a politician. The idol to military contractor to air racer to elect official pipeline is strange indeed.

However, I really like this political take on the Macross Universe. There are some excerpts on the Master files when they talk about proposed bills for limiting abuse of less advanced civilizations that really seemed interesting.

Wish Kodachi had continued with this line in a hypothetical third volume.

 

[Seto Kaiba]

5 hours ago, Captain Global said:

Yes indeed, with machine translation a whole world of possibilities has oppened, but I fear it kinda makes these fan works les valuable.

Machine translation is a tool like any other.  What you can make with it will reflect your experience and the patience and care you put into its application.

I don't think it makes fan works less valuable in any way.  Careless use of it can create some frustrating misunderstandings... but so can careless manual translation.

Spoiler

For instance, the recent discussion of the correct designation of Aisha's VF-19 from Macross 30 as an example of machine translation fails or my own gaffe with the Master File statements about the VF-1's fuel system where I mixed up propellant capacity and reactant capacity as an example of a manual goof.

The risk of errors is higher with the machine translation, but for a quick-and-dirty summary it's at least "good enough".

One thing I really love is that it has driven a massive improvement in OCR capabilities.  There was a time, long ago, that I was stuck manually transcribing every book I worked on one character at a time (often with a magnifying glass).  Now I can just plonk the book I'm working on under my fancy laser book scanner and let the machine transcribe a whole page in just a few seconds that I can paste right into my working file and have the original text side-by-side with the translation with minimal effort.

 

5 hours ago, Captain Global said:

When it comes to Kodachi, I feel rather than adding new elements to the story the value of his novels is his ability to connect everything to past works. In the following chapters there are even more interesting stuff, but nothing new at the end of the day.  

  Reveal hidden contents

I have yet to read The Ride, but from what I know it really is weird to see Chelsea as a politician. The idol to military contractor to air racer to elect official pipeline is strange indeed.

However, I really like this political take on the Macross Universe. There are some excerpts on the Master files when they talk about proposed bills for limiting abuse of less advanced civilizations that really seemed interesting.

Wish Kodachi had continued with this line in a hypothetical third volume.

 

Perhaps the one thing that chapter does well that the series didn't (because the arc was jettisoned to a gaiden manga) is explain that Windermere IV's grievances with the New UN Government were legitimate.  

The TV anime and movies never really delves into why the Windermereans wanted out of the New UN Government as badly as they did, though even the novel here kind of glosses over that as frustrating as the Windermereans found the New UN Government's [restrictions on/control of] fold quartz extraction frustrating the restrictions were set for very good reasons like discouraging any more idiots from unsealing canned evil in Protoculture ruins and preventing the proliferation of a material that can be used to make planet-killing bombs.

[Captain Global]

46 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Machine translation is a tool like any other.  What you can make with it will reflect your experience and the patience and care you put into its application.

I don't think it makes fan works less valuable in any way.  Careless use of it can create some frustrating misunderstandings... but so can careless manual translation.

  Hide contents

For instance, the recent discussion of the correct designation of Aisha's VF-19 from Macross 30 as an example of machine translation fails or my own gaffe with the Master File statements about the VF-1's fuel system where I mixed up propellant capacity and reactant capacity as an example of a manual goof.

The risk of errors is higher with the machine translation, but for a quick-and-dirty summary it's at least "good enough".

One thing I really love is that it has driven a massive improvement in OCR capabilities.  There was a time, long ago, that I was stuck manually transcribing every book I worked on one character at a time (often with a magnifying glass).  Now I can just plonk the book I'm working on under my fancy laser book scanner and let the machine transcribe a whole page in just a few seconds that I can paste right into my working file and have the original text side-by-side with the translation with minimal effort.

 

Perhaps the one thing that chapter does well that the series didn't (because the arc was jettisoned to a gaiden manga) is explain that Windermere IV's grievances with the New UN Government were legitimate.  

The TV anime and movies never really delves into why the Windermereans wanted out of the New UN Government as badly as they did, though even the novel here kind of glosses over that as frustrating as the Windermereans found the New UN Government's [restrictions on/control of] fold quartz extraction frustrating the restrictions were set for very good reasons like discouraging any more idiots from unsealing canned evil in Protoculture ruins and preventing the proliferation of a material that can be used to make planet-killing bombs.

Yes, with the master files I've been experiencing a massive overhaul in OCR. However I find most models still have difficulties with verticaltext in japase, especially with images. I've been also translating some Kawamori interviews and sometimes it get's messed up. 

And regarding Windemere I agree, in their own manga motivations are way clearer. I supose like many thing with Delta there were a lot of ideas and chracters but not enoguh time or perhaps talent on the part of the several writers to get everything developped. 

[Captain Global]

Also, Chapter 2 is UP: Jungle Conspiracy 

With the infiltration in Voldor and some details about their feline phisiology. 

Hope you guys enyoy it 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ubS_ySYcrqW-RLZA2UUiiPghexhb6e5PuwHkpA-cbKY/edit?usp=sharing

Edited 18 hours ago by Captain Global