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Bowl of Lentils

@bowloflentils.bsky.social

2.9K followers 270 following 830 posts

An occasional YouTuber that enjoys talking about video game history and Japanese adventure games. I was also a lead editor on the Sakura Wars 1 and 2 fan patches. https://www.youtube.com/@bowloflentils

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Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 24d

!!NEW VIDEO!!

This time I cover Chunsoft’s Sound Novel franchise, a hugely important series in the history of Japanese video games that served as the progenitor to the visual novel genre and was a source of inspiration for all kinds of developers.

WATCH - www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9BT...

Thumbnail art for "The History of Chunsoft's Sound Novels" video.

Shows a girl wearing headphones while reading a book. The English and Japanese words SOUND (音楽) and NOVEL (小説) are behind her.

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amr al-aaser @siegarettes.bsky.social · 28m

they dropped a proper trailer for the Kamaitachi collab and it's half VN lovers and half confused fighting game fans in the comments
youtu.be/9a5Smsd6YUE?...

Street Fighter 6 x Banshee's Last Cry Special Collaboration Announcement Trailer

YouTube video by Street Fighter

youtu.be

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Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 1h

Hm, I'm not positive but a few Falcom fan sites do list the port on their website (estimating that it came out around October 1984).

tk-nz.game.coocan.jp/ysmusic/scre...

www14.big.or.jp/~nijiyume/fa...

Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 18h

Same! I really loved 428 so I hope we can some day play its spiritual predecessor in English.

Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 18h

Yeah, for sure. The look of the original game is iconic for a reason. Such a shame that we have two English translations of Kamaitachi yet neither one has the blue silhouettes.

Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 18h

Wow, thank you very much for the kind words!

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Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 18h

I remember some old-school fans being upset with Chrono Trigger's re-translation on the DS. Specifically how Frog no longer spoke in Shakespearean English.

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Mato @clydemandelin.bsky.social · 19h

From my book about #Undertale 's official English-to-Japanese translation

I'd like to expand on this for an article on my site, so if you have any examples of "imprinting" situations in fandoms, please let me know

Some quick examples include FF4, FF6, Trails in the Sky, what else?

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Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 1d

This is a two page ad for Kamaitachi no Yoru that features Raita Ryu, an actor famous for playing a detective in Taiyo ni Hoero and who also starred in Kamaitachi's TV commercial. Chunsoft's founder, Koichi Nakamura, was a big fan of the actor and he was even later invited to play a role in Machi.

An ad for Kamiatachi no Yoru, taken from the January 1995 issues of GameWalker.

SOURCE: https://archive.org/details/GameWalker-1995-01/GameWalker%201995%2001/page/38/mode/2up

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Brandon Sheffield @brandon.insertcredit.com · 2d

That silent hillf feeling

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Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 1d

I saw Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cloud recently and really enjoyed it. It came out in Japan last year but was shown in US theaters earlier this year.

Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 1d

I'd read the heck out of that book.

Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 1d

Four RPGs to get to know me.

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Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 1d

The February 1999 issue of Jugemu Magazine contains a comic about the career of Koichi Nakamura, which features a lot of cute drawings depicting the history of Chunsoft. I actually used several panels from this comic in my recent video about the company's sound novels.
archive.org/details/juge...

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Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 2d

In the remake she sounds like a combination of girl boss and dignified professional. But she can also be a little silly and casual, like when she complains about her paper work. Overall, I thought her actress fit the character pretty well.

Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 2d

No problem! And here's a clip of the scene if you want to hear it with the English VO.

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Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 2d

I think Joshua's question works in either version. And Maybella comes off as less casual and more "I'm the boss" when you hear it with voice acting. But yeah, it's not a huge difference. That's just a line I liked enough that it made me double check what was written in the previous translation.

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Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 2d

Yeah, it's a small example but the first thing that comes to mind is Mayor Maybelle's line when she gets the protags out of prison in chapter 1. Joshua asks "Did something happen?" and she responds off camera with "I happened." I thought the line was much more snappy than the previous translation.

Trails in the Sky's original translation for this scene.

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Mato @clydemandelin.bsky.social · 2d

Some old advice about starting big projects (game translation projects in my case, but a lot of it is probably universal)

#gametranslation

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Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 3d

Thank you for the shout-out 🙏

Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 3d

I definitely agree that 1st Chapter's English script is the remake's weakest aspect. However, the previous translation wasn't without its own issues too. In fact, I even prefer some lines in 1st over the original. But yeah, I do wish the remake's script had the same quality of other recent entries.

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GriffithVIII @griffithviii.bsky.social · 3d

Update about the English Moonlight Syndrome fan translation efforts🌕

The entire script has been translated! Now we’re in the middle of editing and reviewing the text in-game to be sure that every line and sub is perfect. We’re getting closer to our goal!

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F_T_B @ftb1979.bsky.social · 3d

New video is up. This one took a while due to the release schedule and difficulty of the first game being higher than expected. It's about Hitoshi Yasuda and the Ghost Hunter trilogy, as well as the various behind the scenes weirdness that caused it to be forgotten.

youtu.be/PWXv0LsT1xY

Forgotten Horror: How early tabletop gaming in Japan led to a forgotten Lovecraftian game series

YouTube video by F_T_B

youtu.be

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RPG Site @rpgsite.net · 3d

With Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven now available on Xbox, we've put together a new feature covering the RPG across platforms going over performance, visuals, and more to help find the best version for you. This covers PS5, Xbox, Switch 2, PC, and more: www.rpgsite.net/feature/1859...

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Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 4d

Nice! Happy to hear my video inspired you to try out the series.

Bowl of Lentils @bowloflentils.bsky.social · 4d

If you're looking for something cool to watch this weekend, I highly recommend checking out @mattobii.bsky.social's latest video on the Sakura Wars movie. This is just the latest in a series of retrospectives Mattobii has done on the Sakura Wars franchise and their all really fun and informative.

MattoBii @mattobii.bsky.social · 6d

NEW VIDEO!

With the massive popularity of the Sakura Wars series, it was only a matter of time before it made its way to the big screen. The movie is also a surprisingly significant addition to the series canon!

... But is it any good?

Likes + shares appreciated!
youtu.be/7K_yognlz50

Sakura Wars Retrospective, Part 8 – Sakura Wars: The Movie

YouTube video by MattoBii

youtu.be

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