It's been a long time since I dreamt about flying
.
The title actually sums up pretty well this project for me: It’s been a while! ^^ Over three years since I posted a raw scan of this book:
At first I didn’t dream about scanlating it: it's a beast of a book, nearly 180 pages long, full of ancient names and archaisms. But I was so enchanted with it that after a few months I rolled up my sleeves and got to work on translation. It wasn't easy, but it was a great challenge and I had a lot of fun with it. But it got harder and harder along the way and finally somewhere around 100 page I stuck. It wasn't that dialogs suddenly got more difficult. It just turned out the book I loved so much wasn't actually that good...
When I first "read" it three years ago, I had only praise for it, listen to my post from back then:
An epic tale, well written and composed with great skill, compelling portrayal of a fugitive, avenger, but in fact a very confused man. I really love Magoichi in this story, that he's not any superhero, but so human, fragile, so full of emotions. I think there's a fair dose of psychological truth in his characterization.
All in all it's an amazing book, one of the best doujinshis I've read.
I was impressed, as you can see. ^^ But it’s pretty clear that I didn't read into the book too much, more like browsed through it and was understandably awed by the top notch art.
After months of toiling over translation and reading the book through and through, I can say it has some of the most epic action scenes I’ve seen in a doujinshi.
And for them alone it's worth reading.
The main problem with this book is that it tries to be everything at once: a heroic war tale with dynamic action scenes, psychological drama - heart wrenching story of a man who lost everything, juicy romance with a bunch of existential questions and even a touch of metaphysics thrown in between.
And all that doesn't work together so well. The proportions are all wrong - almost half of the book take explicit sex scenes, which throw the plot completely off its course, distract the flow.
So the whole book seems like a bunch of detached episodes, separated scenes not very well tied together.
It doesn’t help that the plot spans many years, a whole decade can divide one scene from another(pay attention to the dates thrown here and there or else you may get lost).
So the book is uneven, the pace jerky, we go from dynamic action scenes to never-ending inner monologues of the main character wallowing in despair, with a break for a session of sex therapy. ^^ Because that’s what sex seems to be for here, those chance to chance meetings with Keiji, always in some shed off the road, in the middle of nowhere, seem to serve Magoichi as a remedy for his pains, invariably putting him back on his feet, focused again on his purpose. But it’s hard to call it a relationship and that’s the reason why the story doesn’t work so well as a romance either.
Which doesn’t stop it from being unbearably sentimental at times. And it really wouldn’t hurt if Magoichi’s inner thoughts got cut down in half - he certainly talks a lot in his head, but he really doesn’t have that much to say. ^^’
The book is a co-work of two excellent aritsts - Yamada Sakurako and Izumi Yakumo (Micromacro and GD Mechano) , and maybe that’s the source of the problem. It looks like they tried to divide the story evenly between the two of them, so that each one had a little action, some slower parts and a nice love scene. The effect is that the story seem to go from one culminating point to another, all of them happening by the middle of the book, from where the tension goes steadily downhill.
So what’s good about it?
The action scenes are in my opinion the strongest side of the book. The opening sequence by Yamada is excellent, putting us right in the shoes of the main character, a fugitive, hunted and cornered, the feeling of oppression getting almost palpable. It’s worth to read this book if only for the action scenes by this artist to see that she is capable of more than just porn. The fight and battle scenes she drew for this book are really great.
But they still stand second to an amazing scene in front of the burning Honnou-ji temple by Izumi Yakumo which is a little masterpiece.
All that makes me wish that those two great artists drew a regular doujinshi, leaving off the whole yaoi angle, just retold the story of Magoichi as it was created by the game’s authors. Because this book is the best when it follows the original story most closely (like in the Honnou-ji scene). I stand by what I wrote 3 years ago: Magoichi is a unique character, a warrior who lost everything, his home, his troops, haunted by guilt, once strong man, suddenly broken and unsure. Constantly on the run, trying to flee from his nightmares, but even revenge doesn’t free him from despair and emptiness within himself. It's a shame this rich, in-depth portrayal got soften to better fit yaoi stereotypes.
Fortunately both the beginning and the end of the book are pretty good, although completely different in mood. In a way, the ending is the most calm and peaceful part of the story, which finally regains its focus. It’s strangely anticlimax, devoid of drama. But not of gravitas, with mysterious Fuuma appearing out of nowhere like some messenger of doom.
He’s only a minor character here, but certainly one of the most interesting. A strange demon-like creature, following Magoichi’s struggle, malicious voice laughing at the futility of his efforts, sometimes just a mean spirit, sometimes an ominous presence, reminding him that he can’t avoid his fate. You should already know I love this character, but it was this book that started my fascination.
And last but not least: the art. Simply amazing.
An interesting tidbit for the end: the title seems to be taken from a poem “Dream” by a Japanese contemporary poet Michiko Yoshihara. A fragment of that poem was also put on the inner side of the cover.
Anyway, if you like nice fights, epic outdoor scenes, exquisite drawings, drama or hot yaoi - you should enjoy this book. But don't expect a perfect mix of those elements.
Title: Tobu yume shibaraku wo minai/It’s been a long time since I dreamt about flying
Artist/Circle: Yamada Sakurako and Izumi Yakumo (Micromacro and GD Mechano)
Fandom: Sengoku Musou 2
Scanlated: by me
Characters: Saika Magoichi, Maeda Keiji, Fuuma Kotarou, Oda Nobunaga
Genre/Rating: Yaoi, drama, serious
Download - Mediafire
You may share and repost this book but you have to credit Divine Squids as a source (a link to this community would be nice :) and keep the credit page inside the folder intact. Thank you! ^^ Password to rar file: wasteland
The title actually sums up pretty well this project for me: It’s been a while! ^^ Over three years since I posted a raw scan of this book:
At first I didn’t dream about scanlating it: it's a beast of a book, nearly 180 pages long, full of ancient names and archaisms. But I was so enchanted with it that after a few months I rolled up my sleeves and got to work on translation. It wasn't easy, but it was a great challenge and I had a lot of fun with it. But it got harder and harder along the way and finally somewhere around 100 page I stuck. It wasn't that dialogs suddenly got more difficult. It just turned out the book I loved so much wasn't actually that good...
When I first "read" it three years ago, I had only praise for it, listen to my post from back then:
An epic tale, well written and composed with great skill, compelling portrayal of a fugitive, avenger, but in fact a very confused man. I really love Magoichi in this story, that he's not any superhero, but so human, fragile, so full of emotions. I think there's a fair dose of psychological truth in his characterization.
All in all it's an amazing book, one of the best doujinshis I've read.
I was impressed, as you can see. ^^ But it’s pretty clear that I didn't read into the book too much, more like browsed through it and was understandably awed by the top notch art.
After months of toiling over translation and reading the book through and through, I can say it has some of the most epic action scenes I’ve seen in a doujinshi.
And for them alone it's worth reading.
The main problem with this book is that it tries to be everything at once: a heroic war tale with dynamic action scenes, psychological drama - heart wrenching story of a man who lost everything, juicy romance with a bunch of existential questions and even a touch of metaphysics thrown in between.
And all that doesn't work together so well. The proportions are all wrong - almost half of the book take explicit sex scenes, which throw the plot completely off its course, distract the flow.
So the whole book seems like a bunch of detached episodes, separated scenes not very well tied together.
It doesn’t help that the plot spans many years, a whole decade can divide one scene from another(pay attention to the dates thrown here and there or else you may get lost).
So the book is uneven, the pace jerky, we go from dynamic action scenes to never-ending inner monologues of the main character wallowing in despair, with a break for a session of sex therapy. ^^ Because that’s what sex seems to be for here, those chance to chance meetings with Keiji, always in some shed off the road, in the middle of nowhere, seem to serve Magoichi as a remedy for his pains, invariably putting him back on his feet, focused again on his purpose. But it’s hard to call it a relationship and that’s the reason why the story doesn’t work so well as a romance either.
Which doesn’t stop it from being unbearably sentimental at times. And it really wouldn’t hurt if Magoichi’s inner thoughts got cut down in half - he certainly talks a lot in his head, but he really doesn’t have that much to say. ^^’
The book is a co-work of two excellent aritsts - Yamada Sakurako and Izumi Yakumo (Micromacro and GD Mechano) , and maybe that’s the source of the problem. It looks like they tried to divide the story evenly between the two of them, so that each one had a little action, some slower parts and a nice love scene. The effect is that the story seem to go from one culminating point to another, all of them happening by the middle of the book, from where the tension goes steadily downhill.
So what’s good about it?
The action scenes are in my opinion the strongest side of the book. The opening sequence by Yamada is excellent, putting us right in the shoes of the main character, a fugitive, hunted and cornered, the feeling of oppression getting almost palpable. It’s worth to read this book if only for the action scenes by this artist to see that she is capable of more than just porn. The fight and battle scenes she drew for this book are really great.
But they still stand second to an amazing scene in front of the burning Honnou-ji temple by Izumi Yakumo which is a little masterpiece.
All that makes me wish that those two great artists drew a regular doujinshi, leaving off the whole yaoi angle, just retold the story of Magoichi as it was created by the game’s authors. Because this book is the best when it follows the original story most closely (like in the Honnou-ji scene). I stand by what I wrote 3 years ago: Magoichi is a unique character, a warrior who lost everything, his home, his troops, haunted by guilt, once strong man, suddenly broken and unsure. Constantly on the run, trying to flee from his nightmares, but even revenge doesn’t free him from despair and emptiness within himself. It's a shame this rich, in-depth portrayal got soften to better fit yaoi stereotypes.
Fortunately both the beginning and the end of the book are pretty good, although completely different in mood. In a way, the ending is the most calm and peaceful part of the story, which finally regains its focus. It’s strangely anticlimax, devoid of drama. But not of gravitas, with mysterious Fuuma appearing out of nowhere like some messenger of doom.
He’s only a minor character here, but certainly one of the most interesting. A strange demon-like creature, following Magoichi’s struggle, malicious voice laughing at the futility of his efforts, sometimes just a mean spirit, sometimes an ominous presence, reminding him that he can’t avoid his fate. You should already know I love this character, but it was this book that started my fascination.
And last but not least: the art. Simply amazing.
An interesting tidbit for the end: the title seems to be taken from a poem “Dream” by a Japanese contemporary poet Michiko Yoshihara. A fragment of that poem was also put on the inner side of the cover.
Anyway, if you like nice fights, epic outdoor scenes, exquisite drawings, drama or hot yaoi - you should enjoy this book. But don't expect a perfect mix of those elements.
Title: Tobu yume shibaraku wo minai/It’s been a long time since I dreamt about flying
Artist/Circle: Yamada Sakurako and Izumi Yakumo (Micromacro and GD Mechano)
Fandom: Sengoku Musou 2
Scanlated: by me
Characters: Saika Magoichi, Maeda Keiji, Fuuma Kotarou, Oda Nobunaga
Genre/Rating: Yaoi, drama, serious
Download - Mediafire
You may share and repost this book but you have to credit Divine Squids as a source (a link to this community would be nice :) and keep the credit page inside the folder intact. Thank you! ^^ Password to rar file: wasteland