A month has gone by since I decided that I wanted to up my game and become a better translator, and started translating Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu 「イリヤの空、UFO の夏」 by Akiyama Mizuhito for an online group. Things are a little different; no longer can I plod along as placidly as I have done with Eda Yuuri’s Koushounin series, and the added pressure from the knowledge that at least one other person would read it and correct it is a rather welcome prod in the back.
Iriya no Sora is a light novel series with four volumes that was first published in 2001 (16 years ago! This is ancient!) and was even nominated for an award. It is a title which some have declared the best light novel they have ever read.
that butt
Demographic of this novel: male.
This is starting to feel like the majority of all non-BL light novels, from my futile attempts to look for a ラノベ that was not specifically targeting males, but yet not BL. I just… can’t… do… the that dramatic moment in which some guy falls into some girl’s cleavage, or try to describe marvelous view after some wind blows up someone’s skirt. Those scenarios might be more difficult to do than Hyoudou x Mebuki sex, which was already hard enough.
I think I only picked Iriya no Sora off the ‘teaser’ section on the site because I got tired of looking around and it was the only title in that section which didn’t sound too silly and whose plot didn’t seem to revolve only around young love.
Anyway.
This ラノベ was actually pretty hard to swallow at first, probably due to the fact that I tend to not warm up to wimpy male leads which a medley of female characters fall in love with for no good reason and damsel-in-distress type female characters with their nosebleeds and fainting spells. Which. Unfortunately. Appears in BL too. Just not too often. That, and the fact I had to swap out progress with the Koushounin series in order to rush to where the previous translator left off. (Mebuki, Hyoudou, wait for me!)
I found the first thirty pages or so positively insipid, probably because Akiyama-sensei’s plot/character development hasn’t worked its magic and Asaba’s indecisiveness and overthinking tendencies weren’t exactly cute.
But somewhere near page forty things began to get interesting, with the appearance of Akiho and Suizenji, both fairly likeable characters. Also, the nostalgic talk of UFOs, extraterrestrials and aliens reminded me of my childhood when National Geographic used to frequently play UFO related documentaries (cue dramatic music). Plus, slow start to the novel aside, I actually like Akiyama-sensei’s prose. By page sixty I was ready to forgive Asaba for almost beating a hasty retreat on a girl that was drowning in a pool, and by page seventy I was hooked on the unfolding intrigue.
Looking forward to working on chapter two! And finishing it, which will probably take me a good two or three more months. がんばりマックス!
茉莉花の独り言 