Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni Chapter 17

This is technically a combined release with Electro Majutsu, the last scanlator of this series. Before I go any further, I must make it clear that we are NOT picking up this series. Please DO NOT email me or comment asking for the next chapter. Hoshi of Electro Majutsu didn't like the pressure of scanlation and dropped the series, posting a script for Chapter 17 instead of a full release. I had agreed to help him with the series just before he dropped it, and then he gave me permission to use his translation for this chapter. I think an anonymous scanlator posted a version on a reader, but there was no download and the quality was poor. I thought fans of this series (myself included) deserved something better, so here it is.

Higanbana Chapter 17

I got the raws from an anonymous scanner, so the quality isn't quite as high as we usually strive for here. The translations were so literal that I think the meaning gets lost on a few pages. I did my best to revise the script as well as I could without being able to read the Japanese text.

If you haven't read the first sixteen chapters, or if you want to refresh your memory since it's been about seven months since Chapter 16 was released, I'll post links to where you should be able to download all of them. I must warn you, this series deals with severe bullying, sexual assault, and other intense themes in a middle school setting. Some readers may find the content disturbing. Having said that, the series gives an insightful look into human nature and behavior, and it makes some interesting statements on both the dangers of bullying and the importance of forgiveness.

WTDND - Chapters 1-6
Higanblabla - Chapters 7-9
Electro Majutsu - Chapters 10-16

This chapter ends the Nonomiya arc, so I don't have a problem leaving it here. There are no cliffhangers or anything like that since this series is so episodic. I really hope another group will pick this series up and give us more than a handful of chapters before dropping it.

Maken-Ki! Chapter 55 Raw

Life as we know it didn't end, so here's the new Maken-Ki! chapter. Finally! Special thanks to DeathsUncleBob from Oppai Scans for helping me get this one done.

http://www.mediafire.com/?a136li24k0zg1c9

There you have it, the final raw chapter of 2012. I'm not sure if we'll have anything else for you before next year, but I may scrounge something out of the "abandoned projects" folder. I wish everyone the happiest of holidays. If nothing else, enjoy your time off from work or school.

Triage X Chapter 32 Raw

I am very sorry it took this long, and that it will be even longer for Maken-Ki!. I've been so busy over the last few weeks that I have hardly had time to sleep, much less work on this stuff.

http://www.mediafire.com/?okbhusuo9u9xcjz

I have a bit of news for you. I could have announced it earlier, but I didn't want to make a big deal out of what could be nothing. Before I say anything, I want to emphasize that what I'm about to say contains a lot of speculation. Please DO NOT start rumors around the internet using this post as a source. With that being said, there is a request on page 3 of this release (next to the ad for the BD box set) which is asking for artists to help Shouji Sato's studio with drawing. HOTDcups tells me these types of ads are not unusual, but they do not usually appear in the magazine like this. Assuming Shouji doesn't just need help for Triage X, this could mean he is about to start working on something additional and needs the extra help. The date in the ad is January 8, so we'll have to keep an eye on what develops in the next few months.

As of yesterday, Scans of the Dead has been operating for two years. I really can't believe it has been that long. I have very much enjoyed these last two years, thanks mostly to all of you readers. Without you, there's no reason for me to do any of this. I hope the next two years will bring just as much growth and excitement as the last.

Monthly Dragon Age - January (12/9/2012)

No Highschool of the Dead next month.

If you're still reading, good for you, because there is still a bit of HOTD news. There is no new Japanese Full Color Edition coming out, but there is a new Blu-ray box set coming out on December 21 (according to Amazon--the advertisement in the magazine says 12/28). It looks like it will have all 12 regular episodes and the OVA, along with some bonus features like a 32-page booklet with illustrations. The current price on Amazon is around $230 before shipping, so I'm not sure how many of you will be willing to spend that kind of money. I'll try to have more information when I post Triage X raws later in case anyone is interested.

As part of their 40th anniversary celebration, Monthly Dragon Age has had special cover designs and color page tributes for much of this year. This month, they included a booklet that has bath scene color illustrations for some of their most popular series over the years. Triage X seems to have taken the place of HOTD as Shouji Sato's number one series, because the latter isn't in there. I'll include the Triage X and Maken-Ki! illustrations with their respective raw chapters.

I announced a couple of weeks ago that Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni ended, and it looks like maybe I was wrong and it was really just the end of an arc. There was a new chapter this month; however, it doesn't seem like a new arc is starting, and there was no date for the next chapter. It might have just been an omake chapter the artist put in to fill the last volume. I would like to see the series continue, though it would be better if it would get picked up by another group.

There's been a theme in the magazine over the last few months that I've noticed and decided to call the Absurdly Lewd Oneshot of the Month. These oneshots, one of which I told you about in October, appear to be the magazines attempts at blurring the border between shounen manga and hentai. It started with a oneshot featuring characters who fought each other with sex toys, and this month it has grown into the most explicit sex scene (between two girls, no less) I have ever seen in something categorized as shounen. I can't even post pictures because I would have to classify this site as having adult content.

Anyway, this months raws will be much tamer by comparison. I'm really busy, so it could be a few days before I post them. See you then.

 

Yen Press Announces Highschool of the Dead Color Omnibus 2

At this year's New York Comic Con, Yen Press announced a second Highschool of the Dead Color Omnibus. I'm not sure if they gave a release date, but Amazon has it coming out on July 30 of 2013. This second omnibus will include Volumes 5-7 (I assume in full color) as well as the art book.

This is a surprising move, and I'm not too enthusiastic about it. As far as I know, there has been no announcement about Japanese color editions of these volumes. I suppose it's possible the announcement will be in the next issue of Dragon Age, but NYCC was almost two months ago. It doesn't seem like Fujimi Shobo would approve of Yen Press making the announcement that long before them. They could have said something at the various Japanese anime conventions, but then I think there would've been something on their site or in the magazine if they had. While I think more Japanese color volumes are very likely in the future, I can only guess that Yen Press is jumping the shark and publishing more color volumes without waiting for the Japanese versions.

What worries me is that it seems Yen Press will be coloring the manga themselves this time. In the first omnibus, they really only reprinted the Japanese versions. I never bought the English version and thus can't say much about the quality, but I've heard good things, including a positive review by Shouji Sato himself in a rare site update. I have very little faith, however, that they can produce the same quality if they don't have a Japanese version to work with. I sincerely hope they are at least in communication with Shouji Sato or getting some sort of instructions. If they work independently, I fear we will get the same poor quality they gave us in the regular volumes. The fans of the series don't deserve that again.

Perhaps there will be an announcement in the next Dragon Age, and this will just be a case of Yen Press being too eager to announce their English version. We'll just have to see in a couple of weeks.

Maken-Ki! Chapter 54 Raw

Based on the end of the last chapter, I thought Ouken would get right back up, but I guess he's going to be down for a while. It looks like his grandson will be more than enough for Himegami, though.

http://www.mediafire.com/?novx57c21xf465u

Our next release will probably be a proper release. That is, it won't be a raw chapter or a scanlation using another group's translations. It's something we've been working on for a while. I'm not giving you a date yet, I'm just saying that will probably be the next thing you see here.

Triage X Chapter 31 Raw

The pseudo-zombie corpses are on page 18. You can look and see if you agree with me that they bear an uncanny likeness to the HOTD zombies. There's also a new bad guy in this chapter who fights with a spear like Rei's mother. Perhaps Shouji Sato wanted to show off some spear fighting he never got to include in HOTD before it went on hiatus. On the other hand, maybe I'm just looking too far into this, and it's all just coincidental.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2i1d7a2mojj747f

Maken-Ki! is coming soon.

Monthly Dragon Age - December (11/9/2012)

No HOTD next month, but it looks like Shouji Sato is missing it a little. In this month's Triage X chapter, he added a pile of corpses that look suspiciously like zombies. I actually had to look closely to make sure they were plain corpses. That has to be a good sign.

There's not much to say about this issue. The extras are Triage X and Maken-Ki illustrated card folder things (I'm not really sure what their purpose is). Anyway, there's nothing new, but I'll scan them and include them with the monthly raws.

I'm not sure if any of you are fans of Full Metal Panic, but there is a new series starting next month called Full Metal Panic Zero. I'm guessing it's a prequel.

Raws for Triage X and Maken-Ki! will come tomorrow some time. See you then.

Maken-Ki! Chapter 37 Full Color

 
As you may remember me mentioning, the October issue of Monthly Dragon Age came with a Maken-Ki! booklet, called the Hatsudashi Namashibori Book (I'm not sure what that name means), which contained full color versions of Chapter 37 and the first chapter of Maken-Ki! Kai! among other material. I scanned Chapter 37 along with the covers and some illustrations. This was a side chapter titled "drink & meet" that originally celebrated the anime's release. Enjoy this full color scanlation.

http://www.mediafire.com/?8sml9h3f5u7n2s4

As usual with my Maken-Ki! scanlations, credit for the translations goes to Hidoi, who originally scanlated this chapter. I got some help again from DeathsUncleBob over at Oppai Scans, who did the typesetting for me, so a very special thanks to him.

What I did not include from the booklet (a lot, as you'll notice in the table of contents) includes Chapter 1 of Kai!, some concept art, and an interview with Takeda Hiromitsu and the artist of Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai. The only thing worth releasing wuld be the Kai! chapter, but that series is not being scanlated yet, and I don't want to post a raw version.

I'm not sure what our next release will be. We're working on a few things, but there's no set time for completion. See you later.

Maken-Ki! Chapter 52 and 53 Raw

 
In my last Dragon Age update, I said I was just going to skip Chapter 52 and move on to this month's chapter. Well, I got some help and decided to release raws for 52 after all. DeathsUncleBob from Oppai Scans. He did most of the work on this chapter, so make sure to go to his site and thank him. I've mentioned the site before, but for those of you who don't know, DeathsUncleBob releases scanlations of the Maken-Ki! volumes. If you want to see it in higher quality and uncensored, go check Oppai Scans out.

Chapter 52 - MF


And now for then new chapter. I was wrong last month when I speculated that we would have at least one more flashback chapter. There are only two pages of it in this one. If I could read Japanese, I would probably have known that. Anyway, for those of you wondering, the answer is yes, Himegami does get very naked in this chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 53 - MF

Triage X Chapter 30 Raw

This month, we meet a pair of new enemies. As you can probably guess, one of them is a scantly-clad female with a great set of torpedo tits, and, of course, she is a skilled fighter. Shouji Sato really seems to be fond of masked villains lately.

http://www.mediafire.com/?uml8ld3346tlbpm

I still plan to post Maken-Ki! Chapter 53 raws, and it still will probably be Monday at the earliest. See you then.

Monthly Dragon Age - November (10/9/2012)

 

No news of Highschool of the Dead. It wasn't mentioned or even advertised. It will not return next month. I don't expect anyone to be surprised by that.

I shoul have the raws for Triage X Chapter 30 posted sometime today. Maken-Ki! will take a bit longer. I decided not to do Chapter 52 because I've been too busy. I'm going to try my best to do Chapter 53, but it might not be done until Monday. The important thing is you can look forward to my high quality raws this month and not worry about getting them from a site that forces you to register and post in their forum.

For several months now, Dragon Age has been featuring one or two new series each month. Obviously, they have to make some room in their lineup to accommodate all these new series, and it looks like they chose this month to do it, with three series coming to an end in this issue. The first is "Kyo-Ami," which I don't expect many people to care about since it's never been scanlated. "Perowan! - Hayaku Shinasai! Goshujinsama" also ended, and it is being scanlated, though the group is so far behind that they aren't quite halfway to the end yet. I read this series, but I'm indifferent about it ending. It's not that great, you just don't often see a series with a dog girl...or with a foot fetish as a major theme. Both these series have been known for a respectable level of ecchi, but neither made much of an effort to show off in their last chapter.

The last series that ended is "Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni." I'm a bit disappointed by this one. It's a great series with a unique art style, and it is one of the few Dragon Age series that doesn't focus on high school romance and fanservice, but rather explores deeper emotions and darker subjects. I am sad to see it end, but maybe a group will pick it up and finish the scanlation now that it is a project with a definite end.

Each month, Dragon Age allows a few uncensored nipples at most, but some issues are different. Some issues seem to push the limits of what they can get away with. This is one of those issues. Just for fun, I counted the uncensored nipples, and I got about 17, not including the many that are half-concealed or not drawn with enough detail to be explicit. Most of them came in a single oneshot, which incidentally deals with sexual situations throughout. Even outside of the oneshot, I was surprised at the ecchi content in this issue.  Really, though, it's what should be expected from a magazine that specializes in series drawn by hentai artists.

Look for Triage X later today.

Triage X Chapter 29 Raw

Back to the main story this month after last month's side chapters. Part of this chapter takes place in a strip club, but apparently nothing had to be censored. That is, unless some of the girls' tops were meant to be transparent, which doesn't seem to be the case. Anyway, there's more fanservice than usual in this chapter. Enjoy!

http://www.mediafire.com/?zhra31en1rz9cnv

For those of you waiting for Maken-Ki! raws, it's going to be a while. You'll probably be better off looking somewhere else because I simply won't have time to get it done anytime soon. If you're wondering, it is another flashback chapter and it looks like there will be at least one more after this. I'll try to scan it as soon as I have enough free time, but I can't say when that will be. See you then.

Monthly Dragon Age - October (9/7/2012)

As usual, there's no news in this issue about Highschool of the Dead returning. There is, however, a spread called "Highschool of the Dead World Report," which gives a little information and some pictures from AnimagiC in Germany and the Japan Expo in France. AnimagiC seems to have had a larger HOTD presence than I expected, with plenty of cos-players and even a zombie makeup booth. It doesn't look like there was much going on at the France expo. I'll include the scans with this month's Triage X raws.

The Maken-Ki! booklet that came with this issue turned out to be a lot like the Paisorojii. The only differences are there's not a doujinshi section and the entire thing is in color. Even the black-and-white character concept sketches are outlined in color. There are two full color chapters this time. One is the first Maken-Ki! Kai chapter, and the other is the second half of Chapter 37.5, a side chapter called "drink&meet." I may eventually get around to scanlating drink&meet with Hidoi's script, but I won't be able to do the other since nobody is scanlating that series yet. It's going to be a while before I get around to it, though. I'm extremely busy right now, and there are other projects that come before this.

Since I am so busy, it's probably going to be a few days before I have a chance to scan this month's Triage X and Maken-Ki! raws. Hopefully, I'll have them up by the weekend. See you then.

Mediafire Issues and Complete File

I finally got around to uploading the HOTD Complete File in one part if anyone wants it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ukyib747wuyfd09

There was an issue with the Mediafire links recently that may have caused some of you to be unable to download anything. My Mediafire account ran out of bandwidth even after I took the DDL links down. I added more bandwidth, so the issue should be resolved now and downloads should be available.

I don't want to beg or force you to donate or anything like that, but I never expected to have to put in money other than what I spend on importing raws to keep this site running smoothly. My goal has always been to make things as easy and convenient as possible for all of you. You can help me do this by donating. Any amount, great or small, is appreciated, so please help if you can.

Maken-Ki! Chapter 51 Raw

Another flashback chapter. It looks like there will be at least one more before the main story returns. Hopefully, this flashback isn't just Takeda Hiromitsu's way of stalling while he works on the plot because I really want to see the battle with Ouken. Then again, some history is always nice.

http://www.mediafire.com/?rf8m0ubinass1ty

The announcement on the title page says Volume 9 will be released September 8. Also, next month's issue of Dragon Age will come with a 68-page booklet which looks like it will be similar to the Paisorojii. I may scan some stuff out of it like I did with the Paisorojii, but I'll have to wait and see exactly what is included first. I'm hoping for some new illustrations.

See you soon.

Triage X Chapter 28 and Extra Case Raw

The first chapter is actually a side chapter, but I'm calling it Chapter 28 since I'm continuing XLG's numbering method for this series. The second is another extra case. I think this is more of a break in the arc rather than the beginning of a new arc.

 http://www.mediafire.com/?jyt6m741avgb82d

From what I can tell, neither of these has much to do with the main story. Chapter 28 has another bath scene, but you'll have to wait for Volume 6 to see the good stuff. Unless this series goes on an unexpected hiatus, I would expect that to be out in January.

Maken-Ki! is coming soon.

Monthly Dragon Age - September (8/9/2012)

Sorry for the lateness of this update. It didn't get delivered Friday, so I had to wait through the weekend.

As many of you know, this was a big month for Shouji Sato fans. In addition to a new chapter in this month's issue of Dragon Age, Triage X was featured on the cover and got a few color pages at the front promoting Volume 5 and the art book, both of which were released on the 9th along with this issue. I'll include those with this month's raws. There are actually two shorter chapters this month instead of one normal one. One is a side chapter which I believe is technically Chapter 28, and the other is an extra case.

The coolest thing about this issue is the companion to Shouji Sato's new art book, Lightning Pop, called "Lightning Pop β" (for those of you who care, the β is the Greek letter Beta, not to be confused with the German ß [Eszett]). This companion booklet provides sketches of a lot of illustrations, both old and new, from the art book. I had planned on scanning this, but it ended being much longer than I anticipated (around 100 pages). So I don't know what I'm going to do with it now. I most likely won't scan the entire thing.

I don't feel like starting a new post, so I'll just cover the art book here.

I'm happy with how it turned out. Just as I expected, there aren't many new illustrations, but many of the old illustrations are rare and may be new to a lot of people. About half of the book is dedicated to HOTD, including illustrations from the volumes, Dragon Age, other art books, and various other places they've appeared over the years. Triage X and Fire Fire Fire have significantly smaller sections, and then there is a miscellaneous section at the end which includes Futari Bocchi Densetsu and various illustrations he's done outside of his series. Overall, it's a very nice collection.

I'm not completely satisfied with how the sizes of some of the illustrations were dealt with. A lot of illustrations got their own page or were combined with others in single pages or spreads, but others were reduced in size and bunched together on some pages. I guess it's better that they did it this way, though, rather than cut some of them out completely. Other than that, I think it looks great. If we scan this, it will probably take quite a long time, so I would recommend buying your own copy if you are able and you want to see it. It's definitely worth the import cost.

Since I got this issue late, I won't be able to get started on scanning Triage X and Maken-Ki! right away. I'll do my best to get them up within the next couple of days, but I can't promise anything. See you soon.

Triage X Volume 4

Triage X Volume 4 is here. This is the first release that HOTDcups and I worked on together. Expect more to come.

Bitupload (no longer active; see below)


The chapters in this volume were already scanlated by XLG before they dropped the series, but this is a new translation by HOTDcups. It has the higher quality of the volumes, and the bath scene is totally uncensored. This also includes extras such as early concept sketches and weapon profiles. Enjoy!

We had to use an alternate file host (Bitupload) to upload the volume in one part due to Mediafire's size limit. As you may have noticed, we typically use a much larger page size than most groups because it produces higher quality images. The downside is that it makes file sizes large, and in some cases the files are too large to upload to an easy and trustworthy file host like Mediafire. Sites that allow larger file sizes usually have delayed download, limited file lifetime, and other restrictions that can make them a pain to use. I would like to ask you to please donate so we can pay for a service that will allow us to upload files without size restrictions and host DDLs. I think this will make everyone's experience better. Any amount helps, and any extra donations will either roll over to the next month's payment or go to purchasing the next Monthly Dragon Age. Thanks in advance.

Volume 5 will be released August 9 along with the art book and the September issue of Dragon Age. We should get started on Volume 5 much sooner than we did Volume 4 since we've already planned on scanlating it. I think a surprise release or two may come before that, though. I'll have my usual Dragon Age update and monthly raws in about a week and a half. See you then.

UPDATE: 
There was a problem with the upload, so I upgraded my Mediafire account with faith that you guys will donate. Please help us out if you can.

Mediafire

UPDATE 2:
It seems there was a problem with the DDL, so it's a normal Mediafire link now. While I try to work out the problem, you can use this torrent to download the volume. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Torrent

AnimagiC 2012: Shouji Sato on the HOTD Hiatus

Over the weekend, Shouji Sato attended the AnimagiC 2012 anime convention in Bonn, Germany. The convention was July 27-29, and Shouji was there autographing on Saturday and Sunday. He also held 30-minute Q&A panels on both days. In an earlier post, I said it would be interesting to see if Shouji gives any news about the HOTD hiatus since the question would obviously come up. Well, after vigorous searching, I finally found the following information from the panel. It's a bit ambiguous, but it at least tells us more than anything in over a year.

As we expected, Shouji was asked about when the manga would return from hiatus. He answered that he is busy right now working on Triage X and doing research for future Highschool of the Dead chapters. This research involves studying weapons, vehicles, and other things so he can draw with the high level of technical detail for which he is known. He asks that fans be patient and give him time to bring us the same high quality we have come to expect.

This answer seems to put the long delay on him rather than Daisuke Sato. To me, it sounds like maybe Fujimi Shobo wanted Triage X to be monthly to boost its popularity, they chose to put HOTD on hiatus because it would be too much work for Shouji, and now he is doing the preliminary work for chapters Daisuke already has planned out so it will be less work when HOTD returns and Triage X doesn't then have to go on hiatus itself. That's just speculation, though it does sound more plausible than other theories I've had in the past. In any case, things are looking very hopeful now that we know work is being done on the series.

He was asked various other questions during the half-hour panel. When asked if any main characters will die (like in other zombie media), he replied that he doesn't know, which makes sense since he isn't the writer. He did say he hopes the main group will survive, though. He was asked how long Shido would be around in the future, to which he again responded that he doesn't know but hopes he will die soon. Someone asked him if he liked Takashi, and he does but says his favorite character is Kohta Hirano. This is obvious to me considering their shared fascination with guns.

In a question unrelated to HOTD, Shouji was asked when he started drawing. He said in grade school he became very ill and had to stay home for a long time. He couldn't do anything active, so he started to draw a lot and really liked it.

This information came from ~Abbadon82 at deviantART, an attendee of the convention. You can see the original post here.

Triage X Volume 4 will be ready very shortly. Look for it within the next day or two. See you soon!

Maken-Ki! Chapter 50 Raw

We get some history in this chapter. Apparently, the connection between Takeru and Himegami goes back many years.

http://www.mediafire.com/?36r0zaib6kray3y

The next release here could be the first collaboration between HOTDcups and myself, or it could be next month's raws. It all depends on when we finish our current projects. I'll hopefully have news for you in a couple weeks from the AnimagiC conventions. We'll have to wait and see whether it's good news or more disappointment.

Triage X Chapter 27 Raw

Ampoule Zero unite!

http://www.mediafire.com/?455woll998qmzzj

For those of you who may be wondering, I don't know when Triage X Volume 4 will be ready, but I can tell you that it will be released here when it is. In fact, all future releases of Triage X will be released here. HOTDcups and I work on the same stuff and work together a lot, so we have decided to officially join forces and use Scans of the Dead for all releases that would have been on Torpedo Tits. This means all future Highschool of the Dead scanlations will be released here, that is, when the hiatus finally ends.

I don't think I'll get Maken-Ki! up until tomorrow. Someone already posted it somewhere. The only reason I'm still going to scan it is because that version was low quality and the place where it was posted requires you to register and post in the forums before you can download, and when you do download, the file hosts all require waiting and captchas and they bombard you with ads, and I don't think anyone should have to deal with that stuff.

See you soon.

Monthly Dragon Age - August (7/9/2012)

I'm not going to be creative this time. There's no Highschool of the Dead next month or in the near future.

Next month is still exciting, despite there being no HOTD. Shouji Sato's new art book, which now has the official title "Shouji Sato Artworks: Highschool of the Dead & Triage X LIGHTNING POP," will be released on August 9, and I can't wait to get mine. On the same day, Triage X Volume 5 will be released and, as usual, the September issue of Monthly Dragon Age. Next month's issue will feature Triage X on the cover, and the extra will be a booklet that is a supplement to the art book. It looks like it will have sketches and stuff of the illustrations from the art book. There's a lot to look forward to next month.

That's really all I have to say about this month's issue. There's not much else going on right now.

There's an anime convention in Germany this month called AnimagiC on July 27-29, and Shouji Sato is supposed to attend and do a panel. Here's the site (in German):

http://www.animania.de/animagic-ehrengast-sato.html

If anyone reading this lives in Germany and will be attending the convention, I would like to ask for your help. I would greatly appreciate it if someone who will be at the convention and at Shouji Sato's panel can give me updates about the panel so I can post any important news here. I know people are going to ask him questions about the status of HOTD, but I can't rely on someone taking a video or something. I personally don't think he will give us any new information, but it's good to be prepared anyway.

I'll post Triage X and Maken-Ki! raws tomorrow sometime. See you then.

Complete File Chapter 4 - Caelum

Well, it has been 1 year and 19 days since my first HOTD Complete File release. It has taken much longer than I ever intended, but here, finally, is the fourth and last chapter of the anime guide book.

http://www.mediafire.com/?acvd1bjofcklutl

Or if you prefer the entire book, here it is in two parts:

Complete File Part 1
Complete File Part 2

This one is much shorter than the others and focuses on the "Drifters of the Dead" OVA. There doesn't really seem to be much point to it other than to promote the OVA. This book was released shortly after it.

If you weren't around for my original Complete File release, I said that I won't be translating it, and I doubt anyone else will either. It would be much more work than it's worth, and it probably wouldn't look that great. If you want to know what any of the names or titles are, ask me and I'll help you if I can.

There's another project other than Triage X that's being worked on right now, but I'm not going to say what it is just yet. You'll find out what it is soon enough. See you soon.

Maken-Ki! Chapter 49 Raw

Takeru shows off his true strength. I can't wait to see him when he takes the power-suppressing wristbands off.

http://www.mediafire.com/?enhu73evobit633

Hidoi is still sporadic in their releases of this series, even with the help of Japanzai. While you're waiting on new scanlated chapters, you should go check out Oppai-Scans. DeathsUncleBob over there has been using Hidoi's translations to scanlate Maken-Ki! volumes, much like I did with HOTD Volume 6. The volumes have never been scanned before, and this series was censored a lot in the monthly releases, so head over there if you want high-quality uncensored scans.

I'm going to try to get the Complete File finished sometime this weekend. There are only twelve pages left, so it won't take long. See you soon.

Triage X Chapter 26 Raw

Arashi and Mikoto finally arrive at the NEO TV building. Now the real fight can begin.

http://www.mediafire.com/?ip1d8db27i22zbe

Volume 4 is getting closer to being ready. There's still work to be done, but I don't think it will be too much longer. In case you didn't know, Volume 4 doesn't include any chapters that weren't already scanlated by XLG, but the quality is much higher and there is no censorship. Also, there are color pages and the usual stuff that comes in volumes. Volume 5 will be out on August 9, the same day as the art book, so you'll have to wait a little longer to read new chapters.

Maken-Ki! Chaper 49 will be up soon.

Monthly Dragon Age - July (6/8/2012)

Name that tune!

I woke the same as any other day
Except there was no news of the Dead

Sorry, but I'm getting tired of saying the same thing every month. It's nice to get creative now and then.

Anyway, a new series started this month that I've been excited about. It's called Bakumatsu Alien, and it's by the creator of Otaku no Musume-san, which is notable as being a seinen series that ran in Dragon Age until a few months ago. This new one is a supernatural historical series, a huge jump from his last series. It looks really cool and I'm hoping it gets picked up soon, though I'm not holding my breath.

This was a fairly short issue, and there's really not much else to talk about. All the regular series had full chapters this month. Raws for Triage X and Maken-Ki! will come some time tomorrow in that order. See you soon.

TV-animation Complete File Chapter 3 - Effugium

The third chapter is finally done. Only one more chapter left after this.

http://www.mediafire.com/?hrjalhgaaqcvrdn

This chapter, like the last one, has a variety of things. First is a long interview with Tetsuro Araki, the director of the anime. If you can't read Japanese, you probably won't be interested in that part. There's also a guide for each episode and for the opening and ending sequences. The coolest thing in this chapter is the Ending Gallery at the end. It shows many of the illustrations that appear as photos on the bulletin board during the ending credits with either the original manga illustration it was based on or an anime sketch next to each illustration.

The last chapter is much shorter than the first three, but I can't promise I'll have it done any sooner. I probably won't start working on it until after my usual Monthly Dragon Age update. It's really short, though, so it won't take long when I do start on it.

Dragon Age comes out a day early this month, but I probably won't get it until Monday because of the weekend. See you then.

Triage X Chapter 25 Raw

The NEO TV hostage crisis continues.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?vuaugb8bh8de7g1

The Special Assault Team of the police force moves in to rescue the hostages, the wolf man is finally unmasked, and we see a new antagonist. After the last chapter, I was sure Arashi and Mikoto would join the fight soon, but there's no sign of them in this chapter. I guess we'll have to wait until next month to see the full Ampoule One team together again.

Maken-Ki! Chapter 48 Raw

I decided to do Maken-Ki! first this month since it seems to be more popular.


http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?f8e9c9x8vkco7e7

Even though Hidoi has resumed scanlation of this series with the help of Japanzai, their releases are so sporadic that I have no plans to quit posting raws yet. If they do catch up and start releasing scanlated chapters soon after they come out, I will probably just start doing spoilers or previews or something.

As I mentioned before, there was a chapter of Maken-Ki! Kai!! in this issue. If I do scan it, it won't be for a while. The next chapter of the main series will be in next month's issue. I'll have Triage X up a little later today.

Monthly Dragon Age - June (5/9/2012)

No Highschool of the Dead next month, and no news on when the hiatus might end. No one should be surprised at this point. I'm going to do things a little different with these monthly updates starting with this issue. Instead of just talking about HOTD, Triage X, and sometimes Maken-Ki!, I will be giving news and information on other series as well, primarily those that are being scanlated and deserve attention.

First is "Kore wa Zombie desu ka?," which has been the focus of Dragon Age because of its second anime season called "Koreha Zombie Desuka? Of The Dead." There's an announcement for the Limited Edition Volume 6 of the manga. It looks like it comes with Volume 6 with a different cover, a BD featuring unaired anime material (OVA), a booklet with new manga, and a special case for the BD. You can pre-order until July 10, and it will be released on October 20. You can find it on Amazon Japan.

The latest Dragon Age series to get an anime adaptation is "Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai." This was announced last month, so you probably already know this if you read the series. There's nothing particularly great about the series, in my opinion. It's kind of similar to "Highschool DxD," so if you liked that series, then you may want to check out this anime when it airs in July.

Speaking of Highschool DxD, that series and "Saikin, Imouto no Yousu ga Chotto Okashii n da ga." only have short omake chapters this month. Maken-Ki!, on the other hand, has a full chapter and a second full chapter for a side arc called "Maken-Ki! Kai!!" It takes place in the past when Minori, Aki, and the other teachers were students at Tenbi. It was originally in the first issue of Age Premium, which is Fujimi Shobo's online magazine. It looks like there's going to be another chapter of Kai next month, but I can't get Age Premium because it's apparently only available for Apple and Android devices bought in Japan. I probably won't scan the raws for this one, and if I do it probably won't be for a couple of weeks. I will, however, give you the raws for Maken-Ki! 48 and Triage X 25 later today or tomorrow. See you then.

TV-animation Complete File Chapter 2 - Orcus

I got this one done a bit quicker than I expected.

This chapter is called "Orcus," and it mostly contains profiles and information for locations, vehicles, and weapons. There's also a nice selection of anime illustrations from various magazines and other stuff. Many of them were in the HOTD art book, so those of you who downloaded my very first release (or got the raws from Torpedo Tits) will recognize them. The last page is a list of zombie movies, games, and books. It basically says you should supplement the anime with these things. Some of them are directly referenced in the anime and manga, and I guess the others were inspirations for the anime staff or the series in general. For those of you who don't know, "Bio Hazard" is the Japanese title of Resident Evil.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?96484z6bearz82i

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but my scanner isn't quite big enough for the huge size of the Complete File, so a little portion of the top and bottom of each page is cut off. Nothing important is lost, though. I think I should get the next chapter out in roughly the same amount of time as this one, which was around three weeks. I'm moving on to Triage X Volume 4 now, and I won't start on the next chapter of this one until that's done.

I'll try to keep you updated on how Triage X is coming along, but I probably won't say anything more about it until my part of the editing is done. That's all I'll say about it for now. See you later.

Triage X Chapter 24 and Maken-Ki! Chapter 47 Raws

Both of these are really exciting chapters. It's too bad we probably won't get to read either one for a while.

Triage X Chapter 24 raw:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?dhddub8w5op8u6d

Maken-Ki! Chapter 47 raw:
http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?q5u3wa1jz1y9rnh

The epic battle continues in Maken-Ki! with a focus this time on Himegami and her fight. In Triage X, we learn a little about Dr. Mochizuki's past and how he is connected to Oriha and her mother. I'll be excited to read both of these chapters (and all of the untranslated ones for that matter) when they finally are translated. I don't know right now how fast we'll get Triage X done, and Maken-Ki! is an even bigger mystery. I would almost prefer that Hidoi just drop the series so someone else can pick it up. They don't seem to be making any progress. I would offer to help them clean if I weren't so busy. If anyone has any experience cleaning/redrawing manga and wants to see scanlation of the series continue, go to the Hidoi forums and offer to help.

The next thing you'll see from me will probably be the second chapter of the Complete File. It shouldn't take too long since it's way shorter than the first chapter. See you soon.  

Monthly Dragon Age - May (4/9/2012)

There's not much to say about this month's issue. First of all, Highschool of the Dead will not be returning next month, and there is no information yet on when it might be back.

I'll have raws for Triage X Chapter 24 and Maken-Ki! Chapter 47 posted within a few days. I'll probably wait until I finish both of them this time and post them together. Look for them soon.

Triage X has been licensed by Yen Press if you haven't already heard. This means XLG will no longer be scanlating the series. Since Yen Press won't even begin releasing volumes until later this year, they presumably won't release Volume 4 for a year or more. HOTDcups and I have been talking, and we will be picking the series up. I won't give any more details just yet. I'll give you more information after we get started on it.

TV-animation Complete File Chapter 1

Remember a long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away) when I said I was going to scan the Highschool of the Dead anime Complete File? Well, I gave you half of the first chapter after a long delay and then seemingly forgot about it. I actually didn't forget, I just didn't have time to work on it. I had to rescan most pages and basically start the whole thing over, but I finally have the first chapter, titled "Mortalis," done in its entirety. So, finally, here it is:

http://www.mediafire.com/?oq5lys0vbjctnyc

In case you don't know, this is the guide book for the HOTD anime that came out in April 2011. It contains character profiles, information about weapons and vehicles, cast and crew interviews, episode guides, and more. The first chapter is about characters, both major and minor, and it has interviews with the major voice actors. I'm treating the Complete File like an art book, which means I am leaving it untranslated. The only things I would be able to translate by myself anyway are titles and names, but you won't be missing much without those.

Amazon is now selling Shouji Sato Artworks, so I will be able to get a copy for sure now. I probably won't scan the entire thing, but I will scan any new illustrations that it contains. It ended up costing a bit more than I had been hoping, so I just wanted to ask you to please donate if you can. I may have to pay separate shipping for this and the September issue of Dragon Age even though they caome out on the same day, so I would appreciate any help you can give.

I don't know when I'll finish Chapter 2 of the Complete File, but it won't take nearly as long as this one took. In the meantime, I would recommend buying your own copy at Amazon or another online store. The shipping is costly, but it's definitely worth it.  

Maken-Ki! Chapter 46 Raw

I told you I would finish this chapter way sooner than I did the last, so here it is.

http://www.mediafire.com/?0d3uko2ppo3rd4w

Not a lot happens in this one, but we do learn more about Takeru's past and his connection to Inaho. Hopefully, the action will resume next month.

I'm sure most of you know this by now, but Hidoi~! finally released their scanlation of Chapter 41 with the help of Japanzai. Unfortunately, they don't seem to be working any faster on getting Chapter 42 or any other chapters done anytime soon, so I will continue to post raws for now. If they catch up to me and start releasing scanlated chapters within a week or so of their original release, I may drop it, but we'll see if that ever happens.

With this, I'm pretty much caught up on everything I have to scan until next month's issue of Dragon Age. Stay close, though, because I may have a surprise between now and then. I won't say anything about it now in case it doesn't work out. See you soon.

Triage X Chapter 23 Raw

It's another exciting chapter. The situation at the TV studio continues to become more dire.

http://www.mediafire.com/?5grbhrx3qjl4ahk

This month's issue of Dragon Age is exceptionally lewd, with a ridiculous amount of nudity, sexually suggestive situations, and bath scenes, which is saying a lot considering their general leniency with mature content. If you read Highschool DxD, I think you'll be very satisfied with this month's chapter. Unfortunately, Triage X didn't meet the standards set by other series, but there does seem to be a little more sexiness than usual. Anyway, enjoy.

Monthly Dragon Age - April (3/9/2012) and Maken-Ki! Chapter 45 Raw

No Highschool of the Dead next month, but there is still plenty to talk about in this issue.

First, there is an advertisement for the new game Lollipop Chainsaw which includes the illustration that came with Triage X Volume 4. I'll include a scan with Triage X Chapter 23 raws, but in the meantime gringe from XLG posted a scan at Danbooru. Besides the fact that Rei and Saeko are playable characters (or costumes), this game actually looks pretty fun, and I plan on buying it. The release date is June 12. I was concerned that the North American release wouldn't include the anime characters since there is no Premium Edition as there is in Japan, but I found out on the Lollipop Chainsaw Twitter account (via this Siliconera article) that all costumes will be available in all countries. I'm sure they will be downloadable add-ons that cost extra money, but it's better than importing the game from Japan.

There's also an advertisement for the new Shouji Sato Artworks art book. I'll include this with Triage X later as well. It seems there is no way to order this online yet. The advertisement is actually a form that you have to fill out and send or give to a store in Japan to pre-order the book. If this is the only way to get the art book, then I don't think I will be buying this one. Importing from Japan is expensive enough, and paying for a proxy service to buy it for me would just make it too expensive to be worth it. It seems it will mostly be old illustrations anyway, so there won't be much new material to see. Hopefully it will become available on Amazon or somewhere else that delivers overseas so I can buy it.

The raws of Triage X Chapter 23 will come later today or tomorrow. I don't know when I'll post Maken-Ki! Chapter 46, but it won't come as late as last time. Before I start on it, I'm going to finish my part of the editing for FCE Volume 1. You should know this doesn't mean Volume 1 will be done soon, it just means it will be a lot closer to being done. My part of the editing will be done, but HOTDcups still has to do the typesetting and more editing before it's finished.

Finally, here's the raws of Chapter 45 of Maken-Ki!:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?3zwor2mpv0nzd3w

Sorry for the long delay. If you could see how busy I've been lately, you would understand and maybe even commend me for getting anything done at all. 

Triage X Chapter 22 raw

Here's the latest Triage X chapter:

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?x688e2r6zl8s0f9

Shouji Sato is really jumping right into this new arc. It's already getting exciting, and this is only the second chapter. It's too bad we'll have to wait until Volume 5 is released and scanlated before we can read it.

On the title page, it says Volume 4 will be released on March 9. This was announced last month, but I don't think I mentioned it before. On the first page, there is some text that mentions TV. I thought this might be an announcement for a Triage X anime series, but I realized that this chapter, like the last one, takes place at a TV broadcasting studio.

I probably won't get Maken-Ki! finished until sometime next week at least.

Monthly Dragon Age - March (2/9/12) - Disappointment

For the first time since I have been getting Monthly Dragon Age each month, HOTD isn't mentioned anywhere in the magazine. Not even once. I guess my prediction that we would at least have a date for hiatus ending when Heroine vs Heroine ended was wrong. No HOTD in March. Oh well...

I don't know when I'll have the raws for Triage X Chapter 22 and Maken-Ki! Chapter 45 done. I don't have a lot of time to work on them at the moment. Most likely I'll post Triage X in a few days and then Maken-Ki! sometime this weekend or next week.

I wish I had better news. 

Maken-Ki! Chapter 44 raw

With this, I will have posted all of the raw Maken-Ki! chapters available right now. Chapter 45 will be in the next issue of Dragon Age, and I'll have the raws posted sometime in February.

 http://www.mediafire.com/?6hno38yyj9zhkwo

If any of you have editing experience and would like to see more translated Maken-Ki! chapters, Hidoi~! needs more cleaners so they can continue scanlating the series. If you think you can help, contact them in their forums. I would help offer to help them, but I'm far too busy right now. I'd hate to see them drop this series.

I'll have my regular update when I get this month's Dragon Age in about a week and a half. See you then.

Maken-Ki! Chapter 43 raw

Here's the first of the two raw Maken-Ki! chapters I have. I did something different with the leveling than I did on the previous raw chapters. I tried to get it as close to the actual magazine paper as possible. Basically, what you see is very close to what you would see if you had a physical copy of the magazine.

http://www.mediafire.com/?06wh1623av6objt

I'll have the next one up soon.

Another One Bites the Dust

As much as I hate to turn this blog into a medium through which to discuss my opinions on topical issues, I think this is relevant enough for me to talk about it. Another file sharing site has gone down, though not forcibly as with Megaupload. After what happened with MU, FileSonic decided to retreat and remove file sharing from their site. I think they did this a bit prematurely, but I understand their fear of government prosecution.

I got over Megaupload's demise fairly quickly, but another file sharing site becoming unavailable within a few days is alarming. This could turn into an epidemic with file sharing sites shutting down until there are few left. I don't think the smaller site will shut down unless they start to get a lot of attention when the larger sites go down, but this is still scary. The internet is being affected even though the anti-piracy bills were taken off the docket in Congress.

If MediaFire decides to follow FileSonic's example, all of the downloads here will be down for a while. RapidShare, for one, is claiming they are confident in the legality of their site and will not shut there service down, but I don't want to use them if I can help it. If MediaFire does go down, which I think is unlikely, I will probably start using torrents. I think sharing through torrents will still be safe even if SOPA and/or PIPA is passed.

One last thing. I won't do this often, but I would like to ask for donations to help with the next issue of Monthly Dragon Age. I usually don't have a problem paying or it all myself, but I just spent a lot on textbooks. Whether I get any donations or not, I'll still buy it, but any little bit you can give would help me out. If I do happen to get more than the $50 I need, I'll put it towards the next issue.

I'll see you soon with more Maken-Ki! raws. I have two more chapters to post before I'm caught up.

Megaupload Shut Down

Megaupload, which has been my primary download host since I began here, has been shut down, and I don't think it's coming back. The U.S. government finally took legal action against what they are calling the "Mega Conspiracy" and arrested the founder and top employees for massive copyright infringement among other charges. Due to the seriousness of the charges, I don't think MU is ever coming back. I commend the retaliation efforts of Anonymous, but I don't think there is anything that will undo what has already been done.

So how does this affect Scans of the Dead? First, I've taken all Megaupload download links down. There's no point in leaving broken links up. I'll be uploading most of the material that was only on MU to Mediafire. I won't bother re-uploading older versions or previews. Eventually, I'll try to find another hosting site that I like, but for now I'll only post links to MF. If I have to, I might start using torrents.

This goes without saying, but I am opposed to the SOPA and PIPA legislation. The Department of Justice claims this had nothing to do with the battle in Congress. With this coming only a couple days after the small victory against the acts, though, I have a hard time believing that. In any case, this was probably inevitable as they obviously have enough evidence to make a good case against MU. I'm sure this won't be the last time this happens. I have a feeling this is just the beginning.

HOTD Full Color Edition - extra episode 1 Beginning of the DEAD

Here's the latest color chapter of HOTD. It's Beginning of the DEAD, the first omake chapter. This is something I said I would do when it came out three months ago. I apologize for the lateness.

Mediafire

I'm in the process right now of scanning (and rescanning in some cases) all of the material I have that I plan to release. I probably won't be posting much more here, though, until I get some long overdue work done on the FCE for Torpedo Tits.

Triage X Chapter 21 and Maken-Ki! Chapter 42 Raws

A double release of raws today.

I did the editing on the Triage X much the same as the last chapter of Maken-Ki!, though I did a little more cleaning. You'll notice that I haven't been leveling the colors to make them truly black-and-white. This is because the manga is printed on off-white paper, meaning that making the white completely white would make it a different color than the original. It may not look as nice as typical scanlations, but in keeping as much of the gray mid-tone as possible, you get to see more of the original detail.

Here's Triage X Chapter 21:
Mediafire

And Maken-Ki! Chapter 42:
Mediafire

I got a new scanner that I'm still getting used to. It gives me better quality but also scans slower. As a result, I'll be scanning at a lower resolution on B&W pages, and I will be scaling down my releases to compensate. Currently, the pages in most of my releases are at a 2600 px height. From now on, raw chapters will be at 2400 px or 2200 px. It's still a relatively huge size, so there won't be much of a difference.

There are two more Maken-Ki! chapters that I will be doing sometime this month. I'll definitely have them done before the next chapter comes out next month. See you soon.

Monthly Dragon Age - February (1/7/12)

February, like this month and so many months before, will not include HOTD. The hiatus continues...

I told you last month I thought we were nearing the end of Heroine vs Heroine. Well, I was right. In a disappointing and bizarre twist, however, it's giving way to Shouji Sato's new illustration series, Hero vs Hero. This month's heroes are Takashi and Arashi. I know this doesn't sound too bad, but you may feel differently when you see it. I'll just say it appears Dragon Age is trying to increase their female readership. Here it is:

http://www.mediafire.com/i/?io0rnwisodgaerm

The good thing about this is that neither series has many male characters (especially Triage X), so it shouldn't go on too long. Let's just hope we don't get Guns vs Guns when Shouji runs out of male characters. (UPDATE: The description says this is the last illustration in the series, so it seems Heroine vs Heroine/Hero vs Hero has reached its end.)

The raws of this month's Triage X will come soon, followed closely by the raws of Maken-Ki! Chapter 42. See you soon.

Maken-Ki! Chapter 41 Raw

I know this is a few days late, but Happy New Year. To begin 2012 and the second year of Scans of the Dead, here is my first raw Maken-Ki! chapter. Hopefully it's the first of many.

Mediafire

I'm not exactly sure what's holding Hidoi up on their scanlation. They say they are short on cleaners, but it seems like too long of a long delay if that's the only problem. In any case, there are three more chapters (including the one in this month's issue of Dragon Age) out right now, and I will scan raws of those and any future chapters as long as Hidoi is behind on their scanlations. I will do minimal editing on Maken-Ki! for now, but when I begin releasing Triage X raws, I will do a more thorough editing job. I should have the first chapter posted on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week (Jan. 10 or 11).

I'm about to order this month's issue of Dragon Age, so now would be a good time to donate if you can. I would really appreciate it.

Dragon Age comes out on the 7th this month, so my update should come a bit earlier than usual. It will hopefully be a little less than a week from now. See you then.