Castle Shikigami has gone official. How does it compare to iwakura.p’s version? Let’s find out!

Posted by cj_iwakura on

shiki1jpps2 shikiconcept

In case you haven’t guessed, I’m kind of a fan of Castle Shikigami. This very group’s first project, and the REASON IT EXISTS, is Castle Shikigami.

Myself, EsperKnight, and a freelance translator named Cckerberos decided to take it on, and the rest is history.

Or is it?

Yep, through some ritualistic mumbo-jumbo, CoS has actually gotten an official release on Steam.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/582980/Castle_of_Shikigami/

I was as shocked as you. What’s next, Ougon Musou-oh. Yeah.

Anyway!

Despite that most of the internet seems to not be aware that there IS a fan translation, I happen to recall vividly, having edited the damn thing.

There’s a billion reviewers out there talking about Shikigami’s gameplay, so I’m going to talk about the most important thing(well, at least to me): the story.

As most of you hopefully know, Shiki 1’s first US release was… less than optimal.

Yeah. All the story was removed. So we translated the PC version to fix that.

And now Degica’s put their own spin on it. So without further ado, let’s compare.

Fan Translation

Degica Translation

Nitpicks aside, the Degica script does convey the meaning of Kohtaro’s dialogue. But it lacks kick. Kohtaro’s never that calm!

It’s a solid translation. But it lacks flair. (Also, notice the Degica text is left-aligned and doesn’t fill the bar. That’s a forced thing in the translation. We fixed it in our version. Degica did not. You’ll see it in our version of Fumiko’s text below, likely a line we didn’t correct, as it required manual updating. )

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Again, the sentiment is the same. The delivery isn’t.

Also, have some Engrish. Shiki tradition, right?

 

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I gotta give them credit for that. It comes across as very clinical and autopsy-like in tone.

So in short, they made a valiant effort. It’s not perfect, but I applaud them for bringing Shikigami’s story to a wider audience… even if most won’t even notice it.

alfathanks

7 responses to “Castle Shikigami has gone official. How does it compare to iwakura.p’s version? Let’s find out!”

  2. Here is my two cents: while I am yet to read any of Iwakura translation works, I can surely say that most official localization teams are terrible enough to cry bloody tears because of what they do. So whenever some small fan translation team cancel their project as a result of those guys announce, I know that this is worst thing that can happen for both the fan translation team, and their readers.

    Fan team are usually:
    1. Faster. Some time ago I seen another fan translation team, which did great job by translating great portion of lines per week.They canceled their project as soon as official announced their own. And what I see today? Russian fan-translation is bumped out of nowhere, and official localization is nowhere to see.
    2. Better. Fan teams always give their soul for any translation they work, while any most official do half-assed work.
    3. Correct. You (probably) never find any mistakes, distored words or even words that never existed in original.
    4. Free. Even if something above is not applies to translation you just finished reading, remember – it is completely free of charge enthusiastic project whose members expectations is a simple gratitude for their hard work.

    Reply

  3. Hey Mr. Iwakura. I found your translations through neogaf, (lurker, not a member yet), and I gotta say I’m really excited for the projects you’re working on. I’ve always been interested in getting in on the ground floor of romhacking/translations, etc. I was wondering if you had any tips in regards to someone who doesn’t have any experience but really wants to learn?

    Thank you, keep up the good work!

    Reply

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