Hey guys, Reigokai here.
Been a while since I have done one of this. It is because I have pretty important announcements to make.
First of all, let’s begin with the bad news…
I am not feeling QualiA… Yeah, I actually said it. I am the type of guy that has pretty flexible tastes. The story of World Reformation, I enjoyed it a lot even when I knew not many shared the same opinion. I even translated it all and it was a heck lot of fun.
Sadly, I don’t feel that same ‘umph’ from QualiA anymore. More so when the chapters are failing to portray Makoto as the veteran he is supposed to be. Yes, he does say some smart stuff, but his actions simply don’t match his experience.
I would have liked if this had been a battle where the MC actually made preparations but the overwhelming power of a God trumped all preparations he made in ways humanly impossible to prepare for, showcasing how hopelessly difficult it would be to reach God levels and defeat them. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. It felt really strange how the author seems to be trying to avoid Makoto from actually acting at all. And I am not talking about story wise, but the way the story is told is somehow telling me that the author simply doesn’t know how to shape Makoto in the world, as if he himself is wary of using Makoto. I feel like it wasn’t the God that was restraining Makoto, but the author itself.
In short, this may not be my style, but I have to say with vexation…that I have to drop QualiA. I simply don’t feel the author will surpass my expectations. The author tried to hype up the battle, yet barely even showed anything new about Makoto. Instead, he showed how flawed he is in basic preparation. It wasn’t Godly intervention, I think a regular intelligent person could have trumped Makoto, that’s how lacking it was.
As an author, I would have at least first showed how powerful a character can be (since that’s how he was introduced), then show that all those measures mean nothing to Gods. Of course, the author did try, but he ultimately failed and I feel it won’t be going above it. It is truly a vexing feeling.
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Now for the good news. I actually had a story I wanted to translate beforehand, and maybe some remember I mentioned it before. But because a translator had taken it, I decided on pulling my hand from it. I have now decided that I will be taking in under my wing!
I am talking about Maou-sama, Retry!
Oono Akira, a working adult that can be found anywhere was transported to a different world while logged into a character known as the “Demon Lord” in a game he manages. There he meets a child with a disabled leg and they begin to travel together, but there’s no way that others will leave a “demon lord” with such overwhelming strength alone.
While being targeted by countries and saints that are trying to subdue the demon lord, they cause turmoil wherever they go.
Demon lord on the outside, normal person on the inside, a misunderstanding type fantasy!
I know there’s already a translation for it, but the latest chapter was 4 months ago. I will be translating from chapter 1 without using the other translation as referrence. Not because I want to treat it as it doesn’t exist, I actually invite you to go read it, but I want to enter into the names and keywords in the story and actually get familiar with the writing.
I read a bit of it, and I could tell immediately that it was more difficult to translate than the ones I have done before, so it does take a bit of getting used.
Here is the website for the other translator: https://www.blobtranslations.com/demon-lord-retry/
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I know this was incredibly sudden, but this is something I have felt since a few chapters back. And I honestly waited for the big climax of the arc to see if it would change my vision, and the latest chapter was the clincher that cemented it.
Dropping a series was a difficult decision. I actually treat the stories I take under my wing like my children, and the ones that know me for a long time would know this. I get really into the story and enjoy them a lot. But when I begin to force myself to find something to enjoy from it, I know there’s something wrong.
I am considering on finishing the first arc first before moving onto Maou-sama Retry.
Again, I am truly sorry for this sudden decision, and I hope that you guys will still continue to follow along in my future translation.
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The story started off decent but true it didn't seem to be going anywhere with the mc. Glad to see you pick up another work though. I'll be binging it once you get out more chapters.
XOXOXO
Well, yeah i feel the same as you, it's like off for me. When i read today's chapter i think "really? Is that it?" And i think i should stop read Qualia.
P.S : sorry for my bad english xD
Hm... that sucks, but you're the translator...
If you don't like it then you don't have to translate it.
I see...
I've stopped reading Qualia for a while now since It already felt off, He doesn't feel like he have the wisdom that came from his age... or maybe the author is not old enough to have that kind of wisdom to portray...
Maou sama, I've read the manga, and I've been waiting~
I think there will be an anime too?
anyway, good work~ and thanks~
same here but just going to read it anyway lol
That's a real shame, since I kinda liked this series and your tls are great.
Rant start.
I've read some of the critiques regarding the story and imo they aren't totally fair. Yes, he has loads of experience from 7 summoning and holds inmense power, but he is not someone who holds complete control over every situation and he doesn't want to either. He has a laid back personality and lacks that over-paranoid trait some characters have that makes them want to consider every posible circumstance, but that is not really a failling on his part, that's just his personality. Also, leaving behind whether taking more extreme actions are in line with his personality or not, if he had taken more control over the situation by taking out the granny earlier or what have you, that would mean he would have had to take over a singnificant part of the kingdom . Handing out punishment on his own means he has taken upon himself an authority that would be akin to that of a minister. That is not what he is there for nor what he wants to do. Basically his actions are tied by politics and by how he doesn't want to overstep his boundaries. I do understand the frustration with the developement though, even when I don't share it.
Rant end.
Anyway, I respect your decision Reigokai and will wait patiently for this next proyect.
Now I'll go back to the land of the lurk, may you all have some good reads and a good life.
Oh yeah. Now that I think about it, he might not have all his memories of his past summonings.
That aside, I did actually appreciate how he felt more human than monster a lot of the time. The other Makoto is an actual abnormal monster. This one is just a guy who lost touch with reality, but also holds fast to his humanity in some ways. For someone overpowered and normally unrelatable, this is great.
I'll also give that he can't just go around killing enemies on a whim, because taking matters and authority into his own hands like that is a standpoint of villains and conquerors, neither of which are what he really wants to be.
The problem comes with how his actions and certain decisions don't really reflect as much life experience as they should. He pulls out a lot of interesting and random abilities and powers, but this only means he outguns the enemy, not outmaneuvers them.
Slightly more boring but far more effective approach, in my opinion, is if he knew exactly how to investigate conspiracies and pile up all the evidence needed to convict Erac early on. A supreme level of competence only born from "playing this game through several times already", not merely "New Game Plus".
My problem with the series is the Makoto and the queen refuse to act with any of the agency the setting or author claims they have. From the time our MC decided to invest in the Prime Minister arc, the ruling royal family knew:
1) The Bad Guys - Prime minister and royal magician.
2) Their crimes - In no particular order: attempted assassination of the king, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder, attempted brainwashing of the heroes, mass poisoning of the capital, attempted exploitation of holy rituals / country secrets for personal gain (and by extension kidnapping and conscription of non-subjects), theft of royal property, multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon, attempted terrorist bombing, embezzlement, multiple counts of conspiring with a foreign power, kidnapping (again) and openly threatening the life of someone under the direct protection of the queen, high treason, human sacrifice, attempted demon summoning, poisoning of castle maids, attempted murder of the princess, etc.
3) Their political strength - Those nobles in that one meeting.
4) Their military strength - Third knight division. (Bonus points: On your payroll and technically answer to you.)
Add to that what we had:
5) Enough military strength to slaughter the third knight division if they don't immediately surrender.
6) Enough evidence to arrest everyone involved, and enough to convict most / all of them.
7) No particular need for evidence. Such is the power of a ruling monarch.
8) A reputation for taking decisive immediate action (so we're told).
9) A perfect political stance to clean house. Queen had temporarily absolute power, and had no particular need to keep her activities hidden. So long as she openly and publicly relinquished control to her husband, fear among the noble households would be kept to a minimum.
10) An aspiring god killer of an MC.
There was no reason for our cast members to have sat on their hands, waiting for the prime minister to openly revolt. None. Makoto goes from one crisis to the next, talking about how he always follows up, and then doesn't. The victims start their recovery, the villains are left in power, and the status quo returns. Problem is the status quo is headed for an open bloody revolt, and everyone on our side knew this. The only thing this arc taught us about the staring characters, Makoto and the Caril, is they refused to act. At this point, I am convinced if both of them walked in a desert for a week without water, only to end up at a normal, healthy well, both of them would sit there unmoving until either someone came around and filled a bucket with water for them, or dehydration claimed them.
The arc should have lasted 15 chapters, not 50. The queen's love was hurt. He was hurt and dying while she could do nothing but watch. Once Makoto gathered any sort of proof against, she should have moved against the prime minister. Makirus gets wind of it, and slips out before Makoto can properly finish his dragnet. The queen is humanized and acts consistently with her stated characterization, the initial villain is defeated, the longer term villain escaped without undermining the MC's competence, a whole lot of suffering is avoided, and we move on. Add a time skip afterwards to the heroes finishing their training, and have the MC come clean. Same spot narratively, and short enough that maybe our translator doesn't burn out.
This is how you rant proper.
Did we read the same story? That might be our disconnect. I read a story mainly about two characters, one of which was said to have an impulsive side and wasn't afraid to pick fights, who on paper had absolute control of an entire country. The country seemed like it was an old and waning power, but there wasn't any economic crisis observed, so this sentence is moot. The other had multiple lifetimes of experience, including "dealing with types" like the prime minster. This character wasn't being watched by the opposition, and could operate in total secrecy. This one might have tried to kill god at some point. Despite this, both characters deferred all agency to the opposition, and were seemingly content with only reacting to the villains actions. What story did you read? Remember, most of the prime minister arc fallowed Makoto. Outside of a few tension building scenes, Makoto was right there with his intangible spell.
1) I could point you to Wikipedia's list of assassinations and point out there is real world historical precedent of it working. I could point out I never once mentioned having them killed, and explicitly mentioned an arrest. Instead, I think I'll point out that we're dealing with a Middle Ages styled fantasy monarchy. The queen doesn't have "political opposition," she has "subjects." If you're caught not doing your job and you actively undermine your boss' job, you don't expect to come out on top. You turn over any company property you have and walk out the door. Don't worry about your last paycheck; we'll mail it to you.
2) I'm pretty sure Makoto was collecting evidence as he went along. If not, Niva supposedly was. Unless you're arguing they're even more impassive than I gave them credit for. In which case, thanks for arguing my point?
3) Caril knew, as far as those in her government was concerned. She told the MC so. Makoto later confirmed she was right when he was watching the next scheming meeting hosted by Erac.
4) The point is they can't openly revolt if you deprive them of their arms. They could try, but it'd be closer to half a dozen old men yelling than a planned military takeover.
5 - 9) How's that any different from where we ended up? With fewer casualties, because our heroes acted sooner (or at all)? Also, again with the violence. Why do you have murder on the mind? Wouldn't it be easier to move against the rebelling nobles after you've had the not-yet-rebelling knights report to the training yard, and had them hand over their swords? Just so we're on the same page, "move against the nobles," doesn't mean, "slay the infidels."
10) I've always figured if you have the time, energy, and drive to try and take out an unchanging, unkillable being that controls the very rules that define your reality, the schemes of an old brainwashed man should be beneath you. Or you really should take your pills again. Either or. (Plot twist: Makoto never went to other worlds, he actually just suffers from Schizophrenia.)
> No one would trust a queen who goes killing her political opposition on the fly and then uses excuses like “but they were the bad guys, trust me”.
I mean, it worked for Stalin. Also, we're talking about a monarchy, not democracy nor republic. Finally, I implied it before, but it didn't matter if the nobles feared her as long as she publicly and openly relinquished control. Everyone would know she can't order the mass arrest of nobles, and her position as queen would have protected her from attacks. It'd also protect the king. "Take out my hubby and I'm in position take out you."
> [S]he couldn’t use Makoto’s evidence because of the fear of the people realizing that he was a monster.
She has a dedicated spy network. Does it really matter if it actually came from Niva if we say it came from Niva?
> You just don’t like how everything developed and that’s fine.
Agreed. I felt it meandered too much, and in the process the characters acted against their stated goals, acted against their stated backgrounds, and required a supposed Deus ex machina and/or the general incompetence of our protagonist to set up a future villain. In the process a whole lot of people got poisoned and stabbed, and I'm not entirely convinced all of them survived. At the very least, I don't remember Makoto healing any of the stabbing or well poisoning victims.
>You think you could have done a better job at doing the story
You really shouldn't put words in other's mouth.
> [T]hat doesn’t mean he can have control of every situation nor that he wants to.
Except that he did want to. He wanted to, and he screwed up. He says so. From the latest chapter, "It has been a while since I have messed up this heavily."
Looking at other posts, the only really standout scene in this arc for others was the lizard hunting. Is it because it was a bit of straight forward, fast moving action? Was it because it showed some potential character growth for Makoto? Up until this point he was still mourning his first love, who died in his arms and on his sword, but showed signs of starting to move on. Was it because it featured another girl for the harem? Because it had an old lady with no romantic interest towards Makoto? Either way, we needed more of that and less of him using Final Fantasy's Mirror Items.
I think the problem comes with too much backsitting. As an expectator we have a priviledge that is not shared by the characters of the story. They don't know all we know and their actions are tied by constrains the expectator doesn't need to consern himself with. I'd ask you not to criticise the characters from what you know as the reader, but from their position in the story.
Now, to address your points.
1) They are the "political opposition" and you want them killed. That's a no-no.
2) Alleged crimes with no evidence to back that up. It's not that they didn't want to punish them, it's that they had no grounds to do so.
3) They didn't know who all their allies were, who all their enemies were and who was there to wait and see. Not a good situation to do a purge.
4) Yes, they had some military strenght, so what? They had some political and military power, that's to be expected.
6) I like how you just assert that as if that is true. The problem in the first place was that they had no evidence of anything. Oh, you mean what Makoto says? Sure, the kingdom should completely trust everything the monster says, after all he is incapable of lying and doesn't have the ability to trick others.
5, 7, 8, 9) They do have military strenght, but that doesn't mean they can order them to attack their fellow knights. What do you think a kingdom is? They can do whaterever they want with their country? Why do you think they need a noble class and people appointed to official positions? They even had to bow to the church and accept their appointing the royal magician. Ordering the knights to attack the opposition is uncalled for and could be the grounds for a revolt. Again, that's a no-no.
10) What has that got to do with the problems in the kingdom? He does not know enough about the situation and wasn't even expecting the evil god do to anything.
There was reason for them to stand waiting. No one would trust a queen who goes killing her political opposition on the fly and then uses excuses like "but they were the bad guys, trust me". Again, she didn't have evidence of anything before Makoto appeared and then she couldn't use Makoto's evidence because of the fear of the people realizing that he was a monster. "How did he get those pieces of evidence? Are they to be trusted? Wasn't he just a powerless individual?" thoughts like that would spread among the public.
Actually waiting was the best course of action because Makoto had enough strength to stop the "open bloody revolt" on it's track. and then they would have their enemies show their ploys in public.
Now, It is true that if it wasn't for Makoto everythng would have gone to shit. If Makoto wasn't there, the Queen's inaction would have been unacceptable. Then again, most likely when things turned dire she would have gone back to her crazy warrior days and taken matters on her own hands so, who knows.
In the end the only problem was that the granny escaped. The treacherous ploys were uncovered, the empire retreated, the sick were treated, the royal faction kept their face and trust, the heroes keep on training and nothing of value was lost. The bad guy got more powerful, but that is to plant the seeds for the rest of the story.
You just don't like how everything developed and that's fine. You think you could have done a better job at doing the story and sure, perhaps you could. But that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the story as is.
MC is OP and he has lot's of experience, knowledge and abilities, but that doesn't mean he can have control of every situation nor that he wants to. I feel like that was the point of the arc.
They gave him that authority when they admitted that they couldn't handle their own problems by summoning him.
He had a laundry list of capital crimes she committed. Capital crimes are crimes that warrant death at the least.
Things like torture, human experimentation, brainwashing, acts of terrorism, multiple counts of treason and lets not forget the attempt to summon a world ending monster.
The fact that he didn't kill her or seriously incapacitate her can only be called stupidity.
not stupidity but killing with proof can be consider murder and can be use to turns table and he has that passive about fate or destiny something you can't escape since might be a God's curse.
Y'know Reigo, we're happy if you're happy. I think everyone knows how hard you work to translate these stories, and if one of them is dragging you down then I can totally accept you dropping it. Makoto was kind of... Frustrating from the start? Being a dude who's been transferred six times, you'd think he would recognize threats and move to eliminate them immediately. The whole 'god' thing just felt shoehorned in and that was such a shame (despite it being built up, the payoff just fell flat for me).
As for the new story, I'm quite excited. I've been reading the manga for a while now and it's got a good mix of dark and funny moments. Kinda like morbid jokes, with an extra bit of fluff. Good luck with your new project Reigokai! I wish for the best.
Thank you very much for your high-quality translations! I'll miss Qualia, but I'm definitely looking forward to your new project!
Honestly QualiA kinda sucks. The narrative keeps hyping the MC's abilities without doing much about it, and the parts where he actually gets to show off are pretty...underwhelming... It also feels like it takes itself way too seriously.
Anyway, thank you for everything.
Are you gonna translate the Light Novel? or the web novel? for what I know the web novel was dropped for the light novel.
Thanks for your work btw.
This mostly sounds like good news to me. I've read some chapters of Maou-sama Retry's manga and I admit, I'm fairly interested, so I'm down for this.
I mean, I'll read anything you translate because community memeage and discussion, but yeah, I feel much the same about QualiA's flaws and said discussion...well, there wasn't much to say in recent chapters. Really, the biggest loss is we'll be breaking Reigokai's 2-series long chapter killing streak.
Anyway, bottom line is, full support! Full speed ahead! No regrets or tears, just isekai, memes, and best girls.
...memage? Memeage? Memery? Memeocrity? Any ideas, folks?
Hum... I don't know... Hegememony ?