Um. Um. Um. It would appear that there's also a novelization of the movie. I just saw it on ebay, after which it took about two minutes of consideration before I went ahead and bought it for $14.



And the url for the ebay item, just for completeness's sake.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Utena-LApocalypse-d … dZViewItem

I'm happy to be getting the book, but if sending this baby to anyone else would help it get translated faster, I'd be happy to lend it out.

Oh daijoubu, I'm 2kyuu also, more or less. At least, that's the level I'm taking the on JLPT this year. I've never taken it before, so it should be interesting.... Yes, I know. I lived 3 years in the damn country and never took the test.

*crams frantically*

Dallbun, I saw that novel on ebay last night too, but passed over it....since I've volunteered to do book #2 already I've got my plate full, but maybe someone else can take up the offer? XD WE COULD HAVE THREE TRANSLATION PROJECTS GOING ON AT ONCE The cover of it says "scenario book" so I'm not sure if that's an actual novel or just a bunch of interviews and story snippets...I guess we'll see when you get it.

Last edited by Ger (11-10-2006 10:14:10 PM)

Ger wrote:

*dies* I swear that book took like 10 years off my life. Half the time I didn't know whether to kill Gackt or hug him for his god-awful grammar and roundabout way of writing.

>_>

<_<

* COUGH*


Anyway!

Dallbun wrote:

What? The only second party's legs I see are on the left, and they look feminine.

You know, it took me about ten minutes to figure out what you were talking about...they blend in with the sheets so nicely.

Last edited by Nessy (11-10-2006 10:21:46 PM)

Nessy wrote:

Ger wrote:

*dies* I swear that book took like 10 years off my life. Half the time I didn't know whether to kill Gackt or hug him for his god-awful grammar and roundabout way of writing.

>_>

<_<

* COUGH*


Anyway!

Ahhh.
*KILLS GACKT*

Anyway, I did a quick translation of the summary blurbs of both novels.

First book:
Tenjou Utena, a 2nd year junior high student at Ohtori Academy, wears a boy's uniform and calls herself "boku." Utena, in an unexpected incident, is pulled into the school's Student Council duelling game. The various winners and losers of this game are determined by one called the "Ends of the World." The ones who can participate in this game are members of the Student Council who wear a rose signet ring. Utena meets the handsome young duellist Miki, who hates the duels. With their meeting, new troubles arise.

Second book:
Anthy is the one constantly at Utena's side, like a shadow. Wakaba says to Utena, "Since Anthy came, something hasn't been right. Stop hanging around with Anthy! What the heck is going on? What is that rose signet?" Utena begins to ponder again her friendship with Anthy...But the cold answer is, "it's all just a misunderstanding." Because of this, Wakaba is mired in the duels and loses with Saionji's sword. Enraged, Utena duels with Saionji...


BakaElf, have you read any of the books? I'm not sure if the summaries make it sound like an novelization of part of the anime, or maybe a sidestory-type thing?

When I saw that scan of Touga from the novels I got so excited. I am so excited. We all have to get these, somehow. I mean Saionji/Akio/Touga. Best. Thing. Ever.

Last edited by belladonna (11-11-2006 09:52:40 PM)

Giovanna wrote:

Alas there's no proof Akio's actually there.

There's also no proof that Saionji's actually there. I still believe that it's your own projection onto the picture that's making those legs look like anyone other than Utena's.

Shush with your bitter realities about the picture of Touga on the bed.

I meant that there's no evidence Akio's in the novels at all. He's not in any of the pictures.

I've received my copy of the movie novel I ordered, which was apparently published back in 1999. I'm a little confused about the main contents of the book. At first glance, it appears to be a script, with descriptions of the characters' actions in between the lines. However, even my insufficient knowledge of Japanese is enough to tell me that that's not exactly right. Although the dialogue matches up with the movie perfectly in some parts, in other parts it doesn't. At all. For instance, the book begins with a conversation between Touga and... Shiori?... before moving in to the opening credits and Utena/Wakaba. But it still references things like the Opening Sequence. Overall, it looks like this book is a variation or a previous draft of the movie script, which makes sense given that it was written by scriptwriter Yoji Enokido.

In the front are several crammed pages of color shots of the cast, overlapping each other; I haven't seen some of the pictures in there before. In the back are some pages of character designs which is mostly stuff from the Adolescence Apocalypse Newtype illustration book, but not quite entirely (a very small amount of new character sketches thrown in there, as far as I can tell). There's a prescript by and/or talking about Be-Papas, and a postscript by Yoji Enokido. Also, I found a cheap paper Shiori bookmark with that purple-background naked TV-series Shiori illustration on it, which would be nicer if the SHIORI written across the top wasn't an unpleasant shade of light peach. In the back of the book are a few more pages of script-type stuff that I'm not sure what to make of, but it's divided into smaller sections and makes me wonder if they might not be some form of deleted scenes...

The book's advertised pull-out poster is disappointing, consisting merely of the following three pictures laid horizontally next to each other. And it's small, of course, like the book.

http://www.ohtori.nu/gallery/movie/Art03.jpg
http://www.ohtori.nu/gallery/movie/Art04.jpg
http://www.ohtori.nu/gallery/movie/Art19.jpg

Interesting stuff! I'm still willing to pass the book along to folks if they're willing to translate it. And Giovanni or Yasha, how would I go about scanning all the non-text stuff for addition to the gallery?

Last edited by Dallbun (11-16-2006 10:23:29 AM)

Giovanna wrote:

Giovanna.

Right, I knew that. Yeah.

Anyway, I don't expect I'll have access to a scanner for a while, but I will in January if not before. Any recommendations on scanning pages when they go all the way into the spine? It's not a problem for the character design stuff, but the color pages in the front are like that. I guess I could always cut the spine carefully off the book...

Has anyone tried scanning in Japanese text?

I noticed that ReadIris (a software package that we have at work) has an Asian language module that you can buy as an add-on so that ReadIris can recognize Japanese characters. If this works pretty well, then we could electronically feed in text to some of the online translators that are out there. I'm thinking of using it to translate the guidebook to the Utena Sega Saturn game. Anyone else tried something like this?

Wow that's a mouthful. What's easiest for you? Translating in chunks of ten pages? Attempting full chapters? For now I'd say let's keep it to the forum (start a new thread and I'll sticky), but once there's enough of the material translated to really sink our teeth into (chapter or two), I'd say that sucker needs a website.

I'd be happy to host...hell...build it, myself. Of course it's your work, so what's done with it is thoroughly up to you, but however I can help, please let me know. We need to get this out to fans.

Especially since there's sweet sweet Saionji. (You're translating that one, yes? )

YAY! Fandom really needs more Saionji.

Who wrote the novel, BTW? (Was this covered and I'm retarded?) I mean, Saito did the art, but did she write? Judging from the things she drew, this is the series universe, not the manga one...