Saint October 10 - Love is a Shuraba

In this episode, Reverse strikes Kotono on two fronts, with both involving food supply attacks and two sides of a love triangle Kotono never even knew she was in. More of Saint October's heartfelt absurdity abounds, and remember folks, the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference!

Torrent [CRC=]

Only one episode of mbt&l-w translations to go, then it's two Dyslexic-only episodes.

Lovely Idol 09 - Idols, Never Idle

Someday, I swear I'll manage to release more than two episodes in a month. There's really no excuse, considering I work about as much in a week as people with real jobs work in a couple of days. Anyway, here's Lovely Idol 09, including all of its many insert songs. The girls continue to work towards the vaguely defined standards of their agency, while finding some time for revelations and self-discovery along the way. And at the end of the episode, the opening shot of Teh Real Drama Plot is fired.

Batch (Nyaa) || Batch (BakaBT)

Saint October 09 - Corporations are people, my friend!

This episode has the Goth-Loli detectives investigating the megacorporation that literally towers over their fair city, and we the audience find out a bit more of what Reverse is all about. But despite getting a little help from an inside connection, it turns out that investigations aren't always best executed under the lights of a TV studio.

Torrent [CRC=6BDB108B]

Koihime Musou OVA v2/720p

So, remember that Koihime Musou OVA I released awhile ago where I fixed up an HKDVD-level script? Well, I decided to take a look at the R1 subs to see how well they agreed with my finished product. And as it turns out, there were a lot of differences, enough that I thought a v2 was justified. In addition to translation corrections, I also cleaned up the scenetiming and joined some lines where the timing was too fragmented. And this re-release marks another milestone: the first 720p release by ReDone. However, even as I upgrade my technology to make 1280x720 watchable, I still won't be neglecting the low-res world.

P.S. Despite the in-video credit, the encode was actually done by DmonHiro. I got the file from a Hungarian group, and didn't realize they'd remuxed Dmon's release until I was looking around in MediaInfo for bitrates after releasing. I will also be releasing DVD v2 and Blu-Ray 720p versions of the Shin Koihime Musou OVA.

Lovely Idol 08 - Telepathic Talent Management

I always thought that celebrity managers/agents were all about helping their clients maximize their star power and earning potential. Under that assumption, managers would tell would-be stars what they should do to succeed, or what they should not do to avoid failing. But it appears that Sweet Fish follows the philosophy of "say that there's a problem, but don't say what it is or how to address it." And meanwhile, the girls get to hang out in an all-expenses-paid company dorm while they guess at answers. Doesn't seem like a great business model, but what do I know? But on the upside, girls hanging out in dorms (at least in anime) means communal bathing scenes, and this episode features less steam in the DVD version than the TV broadcast. No real nudity, but hey, take what you can get I guess...

Batch (Nyaa) || Batch (BakaBT)

Saint October 08 - Bowling for Arcanabine

Finally getting the next installment of Saint October out, not that it was particularly difficult. The Goth-Loli Detectives take up bowling, and meet up with a talented if unusual instructor who has ties to the girls' shadowy enemies. But through their confrontation, one key fact is learned.

Torrent [CRC=0B051899]

Lime-Colored Ballad X Cross 01 - A New Era for Harems

So, the title of this post contains the title I would have released this series under, if I were releasing it. But I'm not. Instead, the Winter 2005 sequel series (generally known as Lime-iro Ryuukitan X Cross ~ Koi, Oshiete Kudasai) to Lime-Colored War Tales is being released by the fine folks over at Kiteseekers. Only the first two episodes were ever subbed back in the day, so this has been a long wait for at least some viewers out there. The series stars the same voice actor who played Tonagura!'s Yuuji Kagura as Kyoushirou Inukai, the hot-blooded but somewhat dimwitted commander who takes over as the teacher for a new group of Raimu-controlling girls at Amanohara Girls' Academy. From the glimpses I've seen of later episodes, this series seems to replace the first series' goofy silliness with over-the-top insanity. And of course, there is some fanservice, though apparently nothing on the level of Senkitan's added scenes.

However, the absence of the ReDone tag doesn't mean I'm not involved, as I will be doing translation checking and editing to keep some consistency with the original series, and to make the scripts as good as I can. And the silver lining to the 8-year delay is that we'll be getting high-quality, all-DVD-source h264/.mkv releases, rather than mid-quality warpsharped XviD .avi TV releases with an 8-year gap before anyone manages to put together a DVD version.

Relevant links are at Kiteseekers' site. I probably will not cross-post each of their releases here, so keep an eye on their blog.

(Disclaimer: picture is not from ep 01 or the encode Kiteseekers is using.)