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I warned you this would happen. Instead of being a good person and translating more Oregairu or something, here I am translating the Aldnoah.Zero novel. I regret nothing!
To copypaste what I wrote on the site itself…
This is a bit of an unusual project for the Nano Desu team. As you might be aware, Aldnoah.Zero is an anime-original project, so the light novel I have chosen to translate here is not the source material upon which the anime is based. It’s actually a prequel novel released alongside the anime Blurays. I highly recommend you watch the anime first before you read the novel. None of these materials spoil the second season, so just watching the first season is fine.
Also, the light novel is not the only thing I’ve chosen to translate for your reading pleasure. Here is the full list of material which will be translated on the site:
Aldnoah.Zero EXTRA EPISODE 01: A manga focusing on Slaine’s backstory.
Aldnoah.Zero EXTRA EPISODE 02: A novel focusing on Inaho’s backstory.
Aldnoah.Zero EXTRA EPISODE 03: A drama CD featuring an alternate universe story.
Aldnoah.Zero ARCHIVEZ: Cast interviews and storyboards.
You’ll only find chapter 1 on the site for now, but I’ve actually finished the entire novel already, plus the manga. It’s all part of my maleficent plot to get you to subscribe to the site for further updates.
Honestly, I think translating something completely different was what my soul needed to recover from the burnout of translating Oregairu every day. Watari has an idiosyncratic writing style which can be really difficult to capture effectively in another language. I only realised this fully when I translated Aldnoah, which was really quick and easy to translate despite the kanji being a lot more complex. I hope the major stylistic differences in the prose come across through my translation.
Also, even if you aren’t a big fan of Aldnoah, I hope you find the material on the site worthwhile! The novel is a short read and contains some interesting worldbuilding. The manga is full of delicious Slaine suffering. The drama CD features Slaine as a transfer student at Inaho’s school, where he works together with Inaho to save Asseylum’s lunch. It is pure genius, trust me.
Since we’re on the subject of Aldnoah, I spent the past week writing a fanfiction. I seem to have fallen into a habit of writing fanfiction about things I translate. I wrote it because I thought the second season was stupid. The summary is a major spoiler for the anime, so let’s just say it assumes that what was supposed to happen at the end of season 1 actually happened. The focus is more on interpersonal relationships and political intriguing, not Inaho being awesome. You might find it interesting, who knows.
(I say all that, but I actually like Inaho. What can I say? He’s cute when he smiles.)
![[Vivid-Watashi] Aldnoah Zero - 05 [D3A0C9CE].mkv_snapshot_20.04_[2014.08.04_10.34.25]](https://fantasticmemes.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/vivid-watashi-aldnoah-zero-05-d3a0c9ce-mkv_snapshot_20-04_2014-08-04_10-34-25.jpg)
That’s pretty much all the news for today. I’m pretty eager to start working on Qualidea (Watari’s next LN project) once I get the remaining Aldnoah translations out of the way. But as I mentioned before, I do want to take my time so I don’t suffer burnout again.
As for the blog, I do have some post ideas brewing. I want to review some of the new LN titles released by Yen Press this month, for instance. I bought the No Game No Life eBook the other day and it’s… certainly something, I have to say. I also have a huge anime backlog, but what else is new?
Frogkun.com 
As possibly Aldnoah’s biggest english-speaking fan (we’ll see if I still feel that way after I see Season 2), I’m really looking forward to this. Thanks for the hard work!
>”Aldnoah’s biggest english-speaking fan”
>hasn’t seen season 2
See, there’s your problem, mate ;)
But yeah, I hope you enjoy the translations and stuff!
I trusted you and you sided with Inaho. WHYYY-
Also the fanfic is really good! Read all three chapters and will be awaiting the next, as the Rank5Ninja!
Isn’t it possible to like both? Why does it have to be one or the other? :(
Anyway, I’m glad you enjoyed the fanfic!
The characters you focused on in your fanfiction were pretty much who kept me watching through the back half of Aldnoah Zero, so I found your work quite interesting, perhaps more so than the translated “official” piece. I say this as someone who has to admit to not really reading fanfiction these days, although the days when I did read it and the sarcastic commentaries themselves in fan-fictional form called MSTings just might have influenced early and later reactions to Inaho, first when he seemed more interested in pedantically correcting the presumable love interest, and then when everyone else on his side of the story seemed more there just to talk about and tell him to his face how swell he was…
Heh, that’s an interesting thing to say. I did actually quite enjoy the official novel, but there’s a certain freedom you get with fanfiction that is impossible to achieve through translating. You can focus on the things you found most interesting about the original and ignore the things you didn’t like.
Funny how you mention MST. Making fun of Inaho is something I have also done through fanfiction form, though I never actually posted the thing on Fanfiction.net. But whatever, here’s the excerpt: https://fantasticmemes.wordpress.com/aldnoah-zero-fanfic-excerpt/
Personally, I think Inaho is strangely endearing in a neurotic sort of way…