Recently I got a hold of the original Digital Devil Story trilogy by Nishitani Aya. It's a horror-scifi book written in the 1980s that has a cult following, and spawned one of the largest Japanese RPG series around, Megami Tensei. (Which is also the title of the first book) I've always liked that series and was glad to get a chance to read where the whole thing spawned from.
However, I noticed there's not a lot of information about the original book in English; almost all the information is on the series of video games. It's not surprising that the book never made it over here as it's a niche title even in Japan, and -- it needs to be said -- somewhat trashy fiction.
So, I've decided to start translating the book. I've translated lots of stuff before, but never a novel, so I thought I'd just try my hand at it; also this will hopefully be good practice for the Kentei exam I'm planning on taking in December. I'm not the world's most fantastic translator, so if you have the original and have any suggestions for improvement, let me know. My ultimate goal is to translate all three of the Digital Devil Story novels: Reincarnation of the Goddess, Warrior of the Demon City, and Demise of the Reincarnation. Realistically it'll be a miracle if I even get through the first book without losing interest, but you never know.
So, for those that are interested, this blog is a place to put my translations. Hopefully doing so doesn't violate any copyrights. (If you can demonstrate otherwise, let me know and I'll take the translations down...maybe replace them with plot summaries or something) And of course, in the (very unlikely) event that an official translation comes out, this entire blog will be pulled immediately. My translations are going to come out slowly, whenever I have free time, so don't get too pissed if you want the next chapter immediately--though you can feel free to nag. :)
Note that this is not stellar fiction. It's very beer-and-pretzels horror, and there is some awkward writing in some parts, though it gets better the further you progress. This is not terribly surprising though, as apparently this novel started as a random story posted on a BBS. However just because the writing is not great doesn't mean it's not entertaining. :)
This translation is from the Favorite Edition, which was re-released in the past few years. If you're interested you can buy it here at Amazon Japan. It's all in Japanese, of course, but if you enjoy this translation please consider buying it to show your support to the publisher. I've never seen the original edition, but from the first sentence of the book I can tell that it's been updated somewhat. Plus, it's got pictures. :)
Enjoy!
57 comments:
Thanks a lot for doing this.
It's really nice to finally be able to read the novel.I saw the old OAV which is said to be based on the novel, and it was pretty interesting (considering it's time frame)and i'am really curious on what was the original story like.
Your efforts are greatly appreciated Masakado,hang in there.
Thanks.
You will never believe how grateful I am to you.
Wow i feel like i owe you some sort of shrine in your honor. I never thought i would get to read these books in an english translation. Thank you so much
Thank you so much for putting the time and work into this project. I was also wondering if the Favorite Edition of this book that you link to has all of the novels "Reincarnation of the Goddess", Warrior of the Demon City", and "Demise of the Reincarnation". Much thanks!
Dunno how long ago you asked this, since I didn't check this post recently, but yes, the Favorite edition does have all three books. It's well worth the money!
Thank you, the books looks really interesting.
Hi,
Probably we have a space/time gap between us. Nonetheless, I want to thank you for translating this.
So... Thank you for doing this! o.o'
Ba-bye
very cool of you to do this. thanks a bunch. interested in checking this out. big fan of series. cheers
If it's not too much trouble, will you be able to translate a few excerpts from the old PC98 Megami Tensei game?
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm2408501
Each scene is real short so it's not like the NES game.
Thanks in advace.
I love you for doing this
Wow...
Thanks a lot for doing this! You're a life saver for me as a Megaten Freak!
May God bless you for the good you did! (Sorry, my hyperbolism came out)
Thanks heaps.
As a relatively new fan of the series, I couldn't be more interested in this right now. Greatness :)
I also am a fan of Megami Tensei and am very happy to be able to read the original story. This is quite a gem. Thanks for making it available to all of us who wish we could read Japanese but don't have the time to learn. Thanks again for all your hard work. I appreciate it!
-dave
THANK YOU.
THANK YOU SO SO VERY VERY MUCH ;A;
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE EFFORT.
THANK YOU MAN!!!
You just make wishes and dreams come to reality ;-;
thanks from all brazilian fans of megaten series ! i'm very very grateful ! tnx one more time !
Just discovered this blog recently, and wanted to say thanks. Like a lot of American fans, my knowledge of the Megami Tensei works begins with the Playstation 2 games, and it's cool to get to see the original book. It's total trash, but it's FUN trash. And Kyoko's death in the prologue is downright creepy.
Thank you very much for this!!
I'm chilean and able to read books on english and basic japanese, so your translation will be very appreciated here!!
keep the good work!!!
Thank you so much for all this!
I'm from argentina, and it feels like a miracle to read these novels in english. Keep up the fantastic work!
Do you ever plan on tackling "Demise of the Reincarnation" ever? It's 2009 now, and I stumbled on this site while looking for a translation of the original magaten games.
I really appreciate your hard work in translating these books for the rest of the world to read, but like a junkie needing his fix we come back yearning for more.
Anyway, just seeing if this project is still alive.
Thanks for supporting a series NOT released in the U.S.. As many know, it's hard to find info on the megaten franchise but I beleive it would make a great transition over here if they actually had the balls to do it.
I am releasing the soundtrack to the NES games through my distribution company if anyone wants to purchase it directly from em for only $5 hit me up at my blog www.makellbird.info or follow me on twitter.com/makellbird
I love you.
You are a legend and a god
These books are the perfect completion to a perfect series
you've got a really noble goal.
i wish you good luck.
I think I love you.
Many thanks, i really wanted to read this book since i like megami tensei games.
thankyou so much. is there anyway to download all the test in one? THANK YOU FOR TRANSLATING :)
Hi! I was just wondering if it would be possible for me to translate your work to Spanish. Some users on my blog have posted the link to your site, and since your translation is really interesting and important piece of the Megaten franchise, I wanted to expand your work to a spanish audience (of course, the credit will always go to you, your translation and your site). I just want to give my readers an "acceptable" translations so the fandom can grow even more.
Let me know if I have your permission and I'll start working on the translation asap!
Thank you very much for your attention and your work. I'll be waiting for your answer.
fucking spic faggot
Am I blind or the translation is stalled? Please translate more! I really like your translation and the megami tensei franchise!
I know this is probably 3 years too late, but if you DO still view this, and want a push to get back to translation, here it is! I can't find the third book anywhere, do it'd be much appreciated if you did it :3
Thanks for doing this! You've given fans a rare opportunity!
Bro. You are awesome, bro.
Thank you for all your hard work
It would be good if you could make a pdf of the whole thing...just a thought.See what you can do.
Thanks a lot for this very good job !
A class act man! Highest support! I'll be sure to direct my friends into reading this (at least the ones into the franchise). Love you man! :D
Hello there! I'd like to join the general tone of the comments here: I really appreciate the effort yuo've put into this. There's a big SMT fanbase out there that's interested in reading these books, so thank you so much for translating them!
I took the liberty of making ePubs of both of the volumes you've already translated. You'll find them here:
http://wikisend.com/download/509626/Digital Devil Story_ Reincarnation of the Goddess - Aya Nishitani.epub
http://wikisend.com/download/182316/Digital Devil Story_ Warrior of the Demon City - Aya Nishitani.epub
And now, for the naggind part :-D Is there any possibility you can translate the third and last book in the series? I'd reaaaaaally love to know how the story ends. Also, I'll gladly make the ePub file when you do.
Thanks again for this amazing work, and hope to hear from you soon!
Thank you so much, Masakado. I hope you can come back soon to translate the final book. :) 7/31/13
I would love to talk to you about kickstarting your translation, email me!
THANNNNKKK YOUUUU
Hey! What do you doing? WAKE UP!!!!!
Hey! What do you doing? WAKE UP!!!!!
Hello I was wondering if book 3 is being translated or not, kinda noticed these books were translated years ago though. Its too bad after all this time nobody else tired doing book 3..
Thanks for taking the time to do this
I'd love it if you translated the last one, please. Or at least get someone else on the job.
At any rate, thanks for doing the two. We fans of semi-obscure Japanese shit often have to make things happen ourselves. I'd be translating shit too, if I knew the language.
I am shocked and aggravated why this has not been officially translated and released in America even though its the source of such a popular and awesome franchise. I am grateful for your efforts to translate them! I will gladly compensate you with a nice paypal donation. It would be ideal to have all three books translated with original artwork put in and released in a pdf and possibly a hard copy! Hope you complete it my friend, You are our only hope to bring the source of SMT to light.
This is amazing! Thank you so much for you time and effort to put all this together!
Wish you sis the third book, tho.
Your work is impressive and I feel really grateful that you did it!
I don't see anywhere on here where I read what you translated
Hi, I'm an Italian guy and I was searching for an italian translation of the 3 original DDS books, but as you can imagine it doesn't exist. So I'm here to ask if i can take the work you have done and use it to do an Italian translation (I and my friends haven't decided yet if is better to do a translation directly from Japanese [we don't know someone that knows Japanese] or , if you let us, from English to Italian [or maybe we can create a translation looking on both of them]). Obviously we will write your name and link this blog.
Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
You sir, are an absolute legend.
Post a Comment