I apologize for the long wait, but my routers have gone crazy and at the moment have a flaky internet connection. Anyway, I sort of have a IRC channel set up on the WyldRyde network at #SanityEnds. I had trouble registering my channel and nick on EFNET and Quakenet, so I went with some random server. I'm actually kind of glad I found WyldRyde because among other things they are anonymous in that they mask the whois info of all users on their network.

The easiest way (IMO) to connect to IRC, especially for you n00bs out there who have never used or *gasp* heard of it, is to go to http://chat.mibbit.com and do the following:

1. Wait for it to load in your browser.
2. Use the "IRC" drop down menu at the top and scroll all the way down until you find the "WyldRyde" server and select it.
3. Type in your nick in the "Nick" field.
4. To the right of the "Nick" field type into the "Channel" field the following: #SanityEnds
5. Click "Go" to the right of the "Channel" field.
6. You should be in the chat room now.

There is also a Firefox IRC addon you can use, but I would recommend MIRC or even trillian to access IRC separate of a browser.

At the moment, anyone can join the channel. The channel will serve the purpose of a) donation projects, b) current projects, c) anything else hentai related.

I'm NOT stopping the work I do. I will continue translating, albeit in private, for the perceivable future. What does "private" mean? It means I'm not making public what I'm translating nor am I distributing any patches that I translate. I am leaving that up solely to the donors/trustees. If they want to claim credit for them, fine, I don't care.

With that said, I really appreciate the dozens and dozens of emails I've been getting expressing both gratitude for what I've done and worry that I might be stopping.

I was thinking about setting up a private IRC channel for donors and those I trust so you can know what I'm working on and be able to collectively commission future projects. I'm not sure if IRC would be the ideal place for everyone, however.

Also, I just activated a bunch of new users who signed up recently. Sorry for the delay and sorry if I missed you. This site is getting spammed like crazy.

I think that's about all for now.

Here is a snippet of the story from DLsite (http://eng.dlsite.com/work/=/product_id/RE064478.html). I'm not posting any images as copyright law is retarded.

========================================================================
In the solar system, there is a cold war going between Neo Terrors (Group of the Earth) and New Soral (Group of space colonies).
There is a neutral third party known for its strong military power: Cordelia is a fortified city which is constructed on a secondary planet of the Uranus. There, renowned general Alicia Viewstream and the imperial heir Maya Cordelia decided to build an alliance with the New Soral.

The main character, Dino Dirasso, is a secret agent sent from Neo Terrors. His plan to prevent the alliance was radical: making use of the secret brainwashing lab in the new battleship called Yekel, he starts the brainwashing modification and personality destroying training of the two women!

This is the 5th release of the Anime Lilith: an adventure game on the theme of brainwashing and crowning with movie!
Secretly train the female general Alicia who is feared as the demon of Cordelia and the imperial princess Maya and turn them into convenient female pigs!
Even under the effect of brainwashing, they try to resist with sheer force of will.
========================================================================

================================================================

私は有限会社AKABEiSOFT2（暁WORKS）の司城憲幸（憲yuki）と申します。
ブログを読みました。

ご理解してくださって本当にありがとうございます。

外国での無断流通により日本で制作を禁止する動きがあります。
でも私たちはゲームを制作を続けたいと思っています。
そのために日本人の協力も、そして皆様のご協力も必要です。

いつの日か正しい流通により、
沢山の人にゲームを楽しんでいただける日が来ることを願い、努力していきます。

こうしてお話できる機会を得たことを嬉しく思います。
本当にありがとうございました。

================================================================

Here is my translation of that (forgive me if I messed up his name).

================================================================

I am Noriuki Shijyo of Akatsuki Works. I've read your blog.

I am truly thankful for your understanding.

There is a move to ban our work in Japan because of illegal distribution in foreign countries. But, we feel we want to continue making games. It is for this reason that both Japanese cooperation as well as everyone else's cooperation is necessary.

I hope and strive to see a day when everyone can enjoy our games through legal means someday.

I'm glad that I had the chance to be able to talk to you like this. Thank you so much.

=================================================================

The email does come from Akatsuki Works and it appears that this Mr. Shijyo indeed works for them. I did a search and it appears that I'm not the first that he's contacted in regards to distributing translation patches for their games. So, by all accounts this is real.

My big question is, is it really as bad as what this guy (and others) make it out to be? Is the hentai industry really that threatened by foreign pressure? I mean, I'm all for protecting hentai if it is, but I find it hard to believe that it's this dire. It's one thing if I was distributing their entire game, but translations do nothing but good in generating sales and interest for their product.

I can only assume that they are scared of the potential of some 13 year-old boy playing an English translation of their game, having the boy's parents see/read that game, and then reporting it to CNN on how Japanese hentai games are corrupting our youth.

Thoughts?

According to the official Lilith blog (http://blog.livedoor.jp/lilith_soft), LILITH-IZM-05 is under production for a September release. It's going to feature a compilation from the recent regular Lilith title 先生を孕ませよう！, work from すめらぎ琥珀様, the artist who did Gang Rape Club, and ZOL, the Lilia artist. They say they'll gradually be releasing more info about it soon.

This begs the question, will we see some Gang Rape Club characters we didn't see in IZM03? And will we possibly see something from Lilia? Only time will tell.

Also, I noticed for anyone who can buy from dmm.co.jp, they're offering a good deal on Prison Battleship 2 for only $12. So, pick it up if you can.

Don't be alarmed if you notice some things being deleted. I've decided to take some advice and do my work away from the prying eyes of the public. Those that need to be contacted will be contacted. Translation patches for any game will no longer be posted here.

So, what will this site become without my updates? I think I can safely still run polls and talk about what you, as the dark eroge community, want to see translated. I will also be updating the main page with the latest happenings and info on games like Prison Battleship 2 and translating what I can about them.

Of course, I can always be reached in private at: nephrinn@gmail.com

That's it for now.

The following was posted in a comment in a previous blog entry:

=====================================================================

私は『Devils Devel Concept』を制作した“暁WORKS”です。
作品を好きになっていただいていることは嬉しいことですが、
翻訳パッチを配布することは禁止しています。

大きく２つの理由があります。

１．本製品は日本国内のみで販売しているものになります。
　　海外の審査基準とは異なるため、大きな問題になる恐れがあります。

２．著作権の侵害になります。制作者の権利を守るための協力お願いします。

ご理解を何卒よろしくお願いいたします。

=====================================================================

Here is a translation of the above:

=====================================================================

I am representative of the work of Devils Devel Concept. I'm thrilled that you like my work, but distributing translation patches is prohibited.

There are two major reasons for this.

1. Products are becoming things that are to only be sold inside of Japan. There is concern that it will become a big problem as a result of the differing degrees in judging standards abroad.

2. It's an infringement of copyright. Please cooperate for the sake of protecting the rights of the person's work.

Your kind and prompt understanding would be appreciated.

======================================================================

So, I ask all of you my course of action. Obviously, they are asking me very politely to stop translating/posting patches for their game. I feel like I have to respect that. But, this is getting a little ridiculous. I'm this close to stopping translating all together because it's only going to be a matter of time before Norn and other companies catch wind of my work and tell me to stop too. I'll have more to say on this tomorrow. It's late here.

I decided to check out a company called Vanadis, who do some rather weird "monster" girl games, and was in the midst of checking what engine they use. It turns out they didn't use kirikiri, but rather .PAK files that much to my surprise work extraneously. In other words, I can extract the .PAK file that contains the script into a "Scr" folder, delete or rename the script .PAK file, and use the "Scr" folder instead. The kirikiri engine has the same functionality, it's just more convenient (and possible) to repackage it into a single file.

This got me thinking, do other engines have this sort of extraneous method? There are many games that can be extracted using the crass tools, so it would open up many more games for me (and others) to translate if it were possible.

Anyway, it seems (at least from the game I checked) the Vanadis games are rather short, but other than the first game they did, are more lighthearted than anything else. But, I guess Norn isn't much better in that respect. I really like their artwork though. Definitely on par with at least Norn. Their first game is about monsters enslaving hot elves by the way. :P

The sample below is a sentence I translated from one of their other "lighter" games that is apparently about a naga girl or something:

Here we are, the website for project "Sanity ends"! I apologise for the long wait but I have had trouble finding time to set this all up. Due to that the looks are not exactly as I would have liked them, but I thought having at least something up would be better than nothing at all.

Please report any odd looks / bugs / interaction on the forums if you can. Sadly I had to rush things a bit so I may have overlooked some stuff. Nephrinn isn't to blame for the late arrival, so don't take it out on him please. My inbox is open for your hate mail ;-)