@sam-pinansky Thank you. Best of luck in the future.

@darktwilight So everyone knows, there are in fact bonus stories that were included as store bonuses with My Next Life as a Villainess in Japan, but we have not had any luck licensing them. As such, we are unable to translate and include them in our ebooks.

Second, it's possible that not all short stories that were released with the web novel will be officially published, meaning those we would have no chance of being able to include.

@terrence I copied those sentences with the reworked punctuation into DeepL, and got a completely different, and much worse result:

I've been trying to keep my face relaxed and smiling, and my facial muscles have hardened.
I heard a noise and looked down to see Destiny mimicking me by rubbing her cheek.
Damn, I thought it was a bit cute.

Then I realised that I had it set to English (UK), since I normally try to conform to British spelling when I write. But apparently, on DeepL, choosing English (UK) as the target can give considerably worse results than choosing English (US).

Starting V2. Will add some thoughts here later.

So Shimamura is dealing with both parents in the intro, hers and Adachi's. I feel like their home life and social interactions were such an integral part of who they were as characters last volume, but only hinted at mostly, so it's good to see these parental figures in a more full view this time. Adachi's absent mother is painted negatively, but the forced half-assed change Shimamura seeks is also painted negatively. Shimamura can't put into words what the ideal mother is because it's something more intrinsic, and once you put words to it, it feels hollow. I wonder where they'll go with all this.

Shimamura's mother on the other hand is a piece of work. She likes to tell her little sister not to be like Shimamura, and one of the values she tried to instill in Shima was "don't embarrass the family". I can see how she and Shima are going to come at odds should Shima start dating Adachi at any point. Shima's mom also physically assaults her in anime fashion (bonk to the head; pushes her in the pool)... Yeah, not a fan of this character.

Little alien chick and little sis of Shima meeting is cute. More of that wholesome friendship could be fun. I do wonder what the alien's deal is (I feel like they're going to do something cheesy later and say that the bond of Adachi and Shima birthed her or something... I don't know). Her alien companion is also still out there apparently, curious who or what that is (watch it be a dog or something).

Now we're on to Adachi struggling to ask Shima out... On a date... On Christmas. Good luck my in
denial friend. x)

Sometimes the character behavior in the LN seems a lot more juvenile than they were in in the WN. On the other hand, the story works a lot better overall in the LN.

@mbuono I'm no expert on Japanese culture either, but he sees the others as adopted family and still children. He made a men's bath for himself anyway, but the kids insisted on joining him.

@Roy-Nukia for a moment, i thought this was a series from JNC so i thought you were start to say "dont release spoilers" or similar things. It took sometime to understand that was the translation.

@BartzBB FYI, Sam being in Japan doesn't help the regular people working from home get their work done any faster ;x

@piisfun said in Didn't I Say to Make My Abilities Average in the Next Life?!:

The most recent volume had a nasty cliffhanger of an ending.

Why would you cut off right before a battle?!

Because it sells more copies of the following volume that way.

My bad, didn't realized we're two volumes behind now.

@Dawnaxis said in Yuri Advice:

Seriously Seeking Sister! Ultimate Vampire Princess Just Wants Little Sister; Plenty of Service Will Be Provided!” as yuri, but I haven’t read them yet so I can’t comment any further.

It's a good story, but much more like Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear or FUNA's Abilities Average than Sexiled. You can probably find a yuri subtext if you look hard, but it's low key.

I’m against what can be considered hard core. Avoiding incest (up to cousin of first degree) and underage are a must. Of course the act has to be consensual. Following these guidelines it would be nice if J-Club could publish more adult novels.

I can't say I'm particularly surprised. JK Rowling and JRR Tolkien are also only known for stories set in the universe of their creation. I'd be game for other stories set in the same 'bookverse' . A prequel? i.e. The story of the intrigue around the coup and the purge. Or, adventures that are contemporaneous but in a neighboring kingdom?

@hopebestman said in When do you think they'll start of The Unwanted Undead Adventurer: Volume 8?:

I am asking this question for LDM vol 14 but well, still waiting...

I was wondering about LDM myself this morning. I understand we have to wait on the author, then the Japanese publisher, then the negotiations with JNC, then JNC scheduling the work, then the team doing enough work to release part 1. But I want it nowwwwww (whine).