Kirby's Rainbow Resort

As some of you may know, in 2012 was Kirby's 20th anniversary.
HAL released Kirby's Dream Collection for the Wii, and it came with a booklet showing some behind-the-scenes info and art.
What some of you may DON'T know is that, around the same time, HAL released a "Kirby Encyclopedia" book, just like "Hyrule Historia" from the Legend of Zelda series.
It is called "Hoshi no Kaabii: Pupupu Taizen", or "Kirby of the Stars: Pupupu Encyclopedia" in English.
Note that "Kirby of the Stars" is the series' name in Japan (here we just call it "Kirby") and Pupupu comes from "Pupupu Land", Dream Land's original Japanese name.
So, I guess if this was released in the west, it would be called something like "Kirby's Dream Encyclopedia".
While Hyrule Historia did released in the US as well, the Kirby one never left Japan.
Some info about it could be found in the web, along with some scans, but the full book was never posted or translated on the internet.
A lot of Kirby fans always wanted to see this book, since it has a lot of exclusive artwork and info about all the games and much, much more.

Well, yesterday I came across this video on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_MWne62_EE
This guy has scanned THE WHOLE BOOK and posted it for download.
You can view it here:
http://imgur.com/a/OwoS4
I actually recommend download it as a full zip file.
You can download it by going to the bottom of the post, clicking in "post options" and then "download album".

The scan may not be the best but it is the only one I found in the whole internet and the quality is REALLY good.
It's even better if you download it as a full album as I said.
So, yeah, we finally got the complete 240 pages of the book in high quality.
Now, Kirby fans in the whole world (not just the Japanese) can enjoy it.

Well, sort of... it's all in Japanese, obviously.
Yeah, looking at the pretty pictures is nice and all but... WHAT IF we could actually read it?
This is a book I'm pretty sure every Kirby fan would be interested in.
It has info on all the games, on the anime and even on three manga series released in Japan.
Of course, it has some spoilers for all the games AND the anime, but, since this was released in 2012, there is no info about Triple Deluxe, Rainbow Curse and Planet Robobot whatsoever.
So, don't worry, you won't be spoiled for these more recent games.

So, I thought about making a translation project.
Yup, the whole book.
The whole problem is... I don't know Japanese.
So, I need A TEAM.
We're going to need translators, editors, and all these stuff.
I CAN'T do it alone (even because I don't know Japanese).
This is a big opportunity to all Kirby fans.
We can't let is pass.
It's a ambitious project, yes.
It's going to give us a lot of work, yes.
It will take a long time to be finished, yes.
But, LOOK AT US!
This site may be still recovering, but there are Kirby fans spread all over the internet.
We are a major force. We, as a fanbase. translated 77 episodes of the anime, for god's sake!
And that's WAY more complicated than translating a picture book.
If we reunite everyone again, we can do it.
So... who wants to join the project?
Does anyone here know Japanese or know somebody who does?
I was thinking about Ivy J. Spyder and StarFumu, since they've been on the OpHnK for so long.
But I don't know if they would be interested in translating a whole book which is mostly about the games (it does have anime info too, even if it's just a little).
Well... we got to start somewhere.

What we are needing now :

Translators
Image Editors
Grammar Fixing
Supervisors (and most important, Kirby fans that know the Kirby-verse well, so we don't make any contradictions)

If you don't know Japanese, or can't help with any other thing in the project, don't worry, you can still help us out by spreading the word.
Spread it on the Kirby Reddit, spread it to the Hoshi no Kirby subbing team, spread it on other Kirby sites, spread it everywhere!
If we're willing to do this, we're going to need the most help we can get!

So, anyone interested?

Special thanks to xXMeteorXx on YouTube for actually buying the book and posting it online.
If it weren't for him, we couldn't do this. Also, his channel is pretty cool, you should check it out. :)

_________________
We NEED to keep Kirby fans united!
The Kirby franchise is getting better than ever with almost one game a year.
They are packed with content, and a lot of fanservice and references.
Kirby fans are still alive and aware, but the community can't die.
Let's make this place the #1 Kirby site on the internet again!
Let's revive KRR and all of it's features.
The fans want it, the users want it, and even the OPHnK subbing team is back.
Let's make Rainbow Resort great again, as it was in the early and mid 2000's.
TOGETHER, WE CAN DO IT!!!

Thanks for sharing this! A lot of really cool art that I haven't seen before! The Anime model sheets were really fascinating too, I haven't seen any official art of Silica before.

I'd help with scanning, but a quick search shows this book going for over a hundred dollars, so, until I can find it at a much lower price, I can't do much.

_________________

I was once known as "MarxHat."
You can get a signature or avatar like mine here!
Check out our Kirby Manga scan project!

It seems the scans are already all up on the first post actually! They just need translation.

_________________

Signature by KirbStomp!

Ah, I meant if anyone wanted an pages in particular in higher quality.

_________________

I was once known as "MarxHat."
You can get a signature or avatar like mine here!
Check out our Kirby Manga scan project!

Higher quality scans would be appreciated, but it's not necessary and I don't want to force anyone to spent money on something just for the sake of it.
But if you are interested on buying the book anyway, and want to provide better quality scans, you're totally welcome. :)
But we're needing translators the most.
Spread the word to everybody you know and eventually we'll (hopefully) get somebody to help us.

_________________
We NEED to keep Kirby fans united!
The Kirby franchise is getting better than ever with almost one game a year.
They are packed with content, and a lot of fanservice and references.
Kirby fans are still alive and aware, but the community can't die.
Let's make this place the #1 Kirby site on the internet again!
Let's revive KRR and all of it's features.
The fans want it, the users want it, and even the OPHnK subbing team is back.
Let's make Rainbow Resort great again, as it was in the early and mid 2000's.
TOGETHER, WE CAN DO IT!!!

I made a PSA on Kirby Reddit. I can also ask Meta Naito if he can help out because he knows Japanese.

Oh, thank you very much!
We can't start the project without translators after all. :)

_________________
We NEED to keep Kirby fans united!
The Kirby franchise is getting better than ever with almost one game a year.
They are packed with content, and a lot of fanservice and references.
Kirby fans are still alive and aware, but the community can't die.
Let's make this place the #1 Kirby site on the internet again!
Let's revive KRR and all of it's features.
The fans want it, the users want it, and even the OPHnK subbing team is back.
Let's make Rainbow Resort great again, as it was in the early and mid 2000's.
TOGETHER, WE CAN DO IT!!!

I was so happy to see the book finally scanned, and even thought about setting off to translate, seems I wasn't alone in this so I'll definitely help.

I have some basic Japanese knowledge but not even close to enough to be able translate properly, however I've got extensive experience in Photoshop and image editing, I'd happily take the grunt of the editing work.

What is really important we get is organization, if we properly plan things out and set a system we can focus more on actually translating and editing and make the process smooth sailing from the beginning. So before we set out to translate anything we really should plan it all out.

Things to consider:

1. TYPESETTING: everything involving how we're going to be editing the images in, we'll most likely have to set up guidelines and some kind of image everyone can follow should they want to help.
   -What font should we use? We'll probably need multiple for certain scenarios, main body text, headers, titles, etc.
   -How will we handle the many vertical texts? A lot of the book is written vertically which works in Japanese, but not so much in English, more of an issue with titles than blocks of text
   -Backgrounds, redraw or not? The book is very visual, with text on top of backgrounds and overlapping over many colors. How will he handle this? It will probably be reserved for special cases, so we might have to design a non intrusive text border.
   -Scan oddities. This one isn't so bad, but the pages are distorted, specially around the edges, so there's things to consider depending on how bad a page is.

• TRANSLATION: This is a giant book, and translating it all won't be an easy task, these are mainly organization concerns.
  -Editing and double checking. We will need to run these translations through at least 2 people to make sure everything looks alright and nothing is lost.
  -Will we translate everything? This is pretty big, there is a lot of content, some of which is more interesting than the rest. For my personal opinion, unless they have behind the scenes details, we could really do without translating the 37 pages worth of anime episode summaries, do the text relating to concept art at most.
  -What about unreadable text? There may be instances that due to the scans and small print some text is unreadable, do we have anyone with access to the book that might be able to clarify?
  -What about the easily translated stuff? By this I mean game titles or names of characters/enemies. Some of these things have specific localized names people in the west know them for, so we'd have to also cross check with the wiki for their official English names. I also know how to read Katakana, and recognize these characters, so a lot of the translation work on labels could be easily avoided by having editors do it.

• ORGANIZATION: This is the biggie, how will we distribute the pages, set aside work and put t all back together?
  I can't be bothered to do points anymore. We'll need to set up some form of submission system, some way to easily give translators the work they need to translate and for them to give it back. Labeling and naming conventions are also really important, we want to be able to know what page we're on and what block of text is being translated, and nothing should get lost of go in the wrong place.

Right now I'm thinking I'll do some typesetting mock-ups so we can all decide on what looks best.

Just a reminder, this is actually a HUGE undertaking, maybe more so than its worth, so the time to reconsider or scale back would be now.


Also I suppose I should introduce myself, hi, I'm new, joined just for this. I actually used to browse KRR all the time many years back, though I never participated in the forums. I'm really happy to see it getting back up and the Kirby community being built again, I always crave some Kirby discussion, specially with just how good the entire series is. Since I went with the same username I suppose I should mention it, you can find me on reddit as /u/dalp3000, I'll be the one giving you long winded paragraphs on the Kirby subreddit and mentioning Shinya Kumazaki any chance I get.

Ugh, don't you know this is the same mistake I made when I wanted to make a Kirby fangame?

Since you're not going to be doing any work, people are going to get angry at you and whatnot.

Basically, you're not going to get any work on this project done. At. All.

I would wish you luck, but we all know this project will fail miserably.

Don't worry, it's a rookie mistake, everyone does it.

_________________
Remind me to put something here later...

If you’re ever feeling lonely, watch this video:
https://youtu.be/mie-3U3H3iY

I'm trying to stay optimistic.
After all, translating a book is way easier than making a game.
I who said I won't be doing anything?
I'm going to edit the images.
Help would be nice, but a translation is all I need to begin working.

_________________
We NEED to keep Kirby fans united!
The Kirby franchise is getting better than ever with almost one game a year.
They are packed with content, and a lot of fanservice and references.
Kirby fans are still alive and aware, but the community can't die.
Let's make this place the #1 Kirby site on the internet again!
Let's revive KRR and all of it's features.
The fans want it, the users want it, and even the OPHnK subbing team is back.
Let's make Rainbow Resort great again, as it was in the early and mid 2000's.
TOGETHER, WE CAN DO IT!!!

You could be a bit nicer.
Not everyone knows how to read japanese, and asking for help is a normal thing.
Genuine fans will work together to make something possible.
Plus, the OP got the scans. They need help with the translation and i'm sure they're fine with editing the images.
They're not "not doing any work". Don't jump to conclusions or you're going to come off as a jerk.

All and all- your post is incredibly demoralizing and comes off as aggressive when this really isn't a one-person thing.
And translating a book is far easier than making a fangame, so that's not a really good comparison.

_________________

Signature by KirbStomp!

I could help with image fixing and general grammar picking. don't know Japanese though.

It seems the activation e-mail was in my junk box. Whoops.

Anyway, yeah, I can help. I've already started the translating process. I had a question. Do you want it to sound like an official English version or do you want it to be more literal and contain the Japanese names?

Fellow fans, no need for fighting!

This project sounds wonderful, and I wouldn't mind helping out so that we can make accessible and spread that rich Kirby history (and ignore that one page with the weird Kirby ability).

My translation skills are limited to an elementary level, although I can't imagine the book using anything significantly more complex than that.

If there happen to be tons of translators around, I'd prefer to be more of a double checker.

Also, first post on Rainbow Resort, so I need to make it as childish as possible!

I know what you are refering to, but it's a slighty different situation. First of all this is not a design project, the problem about those kind of projects is the "I put the idea, you do the rest" behavior that's universally hated (not by me, it's just a common thing, it's even mentioned in the rules like I quoted in that thread); I'm not saying you did this, but it could have been interpreted like this by reading your thread, and that's why I suggested to remove the recruiting part from it.
Here there's not an idea to realize (I mean an idea created from scratch, like the concept of a game), here there's just a book that must be translated, and it's in the interest of the whole Kirby community to have that book translated. In the case of a concept, the person who generated the concept is the director, and he has interest in the project, but other people, maybe (I mean, why should I work on someone else's concept when I could simply make mine ant take all the credits?); in the case of the book everyone can take benefit from the project.

Second, I was not angry at you and especially, I never said the project would have failed, I just said that the project couldn't have started if we were missing a programmer and the well defined concept of the game (that's not just a list of abilities and characters, it should be a lot more detailed, with informations about gameplay elements, art direction, technical stuff and other things - that's the Game Design Document that I mentioned in that thread and it's used by professionals as well http://www.hallab.co.jp/eng/create/process/ step 2 Design Documentation, from HAL Laboratory's website).
If we finished to put "on paper" a solid concept, and if we would have found a programmer, our project could have started... and it still could, it's just that there are lots of things missing at the current state and it's very unlikely to find a programmer that is interested in this.

This said, I'm not a translator, and English is not my native language, so I think the only role I could take is editing the images, though I'm not sure if I could join, since I'm always very busy and I don't know if I'll be able to edit 240 pages. Well if there are many people and I only have to edit about 25/30 pages or less, maybe I could think about it.

Thanks for all the support, everyone! :D You can join the team if you want, Iko.
I'm going to edit the pages too. And I think some others would be able to help us.
I found a translator that is willing to help. His name is TayoEXE.
I found him on YouTube, but he said he is struggling to post here in KRR.
He said he made an account, be when he tries to post, a message appears saying an administrator needs to approve his posts.
I told him to contact an administrator via e-mail, but he hasn't returned me since.
Let's hope him the best.

Anyway, about the translation.
Do you guys think we should translate the game screenshots (or replace them with the international versions)?
I personally think it would be a bad idea (and it would be extra work).
I think the best thing to do is translate the text, but keep the images (game screenshots, boxarts) intact.
But I do think translating the Japanese text in some of the concept art would be nice, so we could understand it better.
Any opinions?

_________________
We NEED to keep Kirby fans united!
The Kirby franchise is getting better than ever with almost one game a year.
They are packed with content, and a lot of fanservice and references.
Kirby fans are still alive and aware, but the community can't die.
Let's make this place the #1 Kirby site on the internet again!
Let's revive KRR and all of it's features.
The fans want it, the users want it, and even the OPHnK subbing team is back.
Let's make Rainbow Resort great again, as it was in the early and mid 2000's.
TOGETHER, WE CAN DO IT!!!

Hmm, it is pretty concerning that our only administrator hasn't been on or responding to emails/pms in nearly a month, but I don't want to start screaming about the forum's apocalypse quite this early.

Anyways, I don't think translating/replacing game screenshots is at all necessary, just translating the text would be a good starting point in my opinion. Then again, I'm not the one translating, I guess we should see what TayoEXE feels comfortable doing.

If posting on the forums really becomes a problem, I could set up a discord chat or something if you all want.

_________________

I was once known as "MarxHat."
You can get a signature or avatar like mine here!
Check out our Kirby Manga scan project!

WOW! Looks like something happened and a lot of people appeared here suddenly.
I guess these are old posts that weren't approved before.
Anyway, let's begin this:
Thank you for your collaboration!
You can do whatever you prefer.
We do need both translators and image editors, both are important, so if you want to help, you can choose the one you like the most or feel more comfortable with. (Of course, you can do both if you want to, but I don't want to press anyone.) This is VERY important.
Of course, I was thinking about all those things, I was just silent because we didn't entered in a deeper discussion yet.
But I think now it's the time, since a lot of you are willing to help.
First, we need decide WHO is going to do WHAT.
I know that I am going to edit the images, but of course, help would be wonderful, so we can make a list of names of both translators and image editors to fasten the process. Exactly, we do need some guidance as base.
I was imagining to do the most faithful as possible to the original.
I actually don't have any experiences with scanlations, I just had the idea.
So, I guess the most experienced member with these on here should be the "director" of sorts.
I was thinking in using fonts similar to the Japanese ones.
I don't know which one it should be, but of course, I'm all open for ideas and suggestions.
Vertical texts are a problem for me. As I said, I never worked with this kind of thing.
I guess we should look at some fan-translated mangas to see how they handle it and do the same.
Maybe we can just use very small font sizes? I don't know.
I don't think we should redraw the backgrounds or any images to be honest (even the ones from the games or the game's box art).
About the badly scanned pages, there's nothing I can actually do, really.
We can ask xXMeteorXx to re-scan the pages.
He said that he supported the project, but that only depends on him. Yes, it's going to be a hard work, and we need all the help we can get.
Of course, a least 2 translators is necessary.
I was thinking of translating the whole book, but that also depends on the translators.
This is purely a fan project and no money is involved at all.
Unreadable text is another problem.
The scans were provided by xXMeteorXx on YouTube.
If he can provide us higher quality scans, good.
If not, well... the unreadable text will remain untouched.
Yes, the character names on those "image lists" will be by far the easiest to translate.
Even I, who don't know any Japanese, can translate those sections just by knowing the characters' names.
But I guess we will need to check some wikis for some obscure character names in English. Yes, I think we MIGHT handle all this in this topic.
But that will also depend on the users.
When we can confirm anyone to be 100% sure to work on this, I'll update the first post with a list of the people on the team.
About the feedback, we can do this on the forums, simply by posting, or we can talk by personal messages.
But I'm not really sure how we'll do this.
Maybe a site for the project? I don't really know.
We will need some administration on here.
I'm sure I can't do it all by myself. I have no experience on projects like this.
We will need multiple admins and directors.
I just started the idea, that's all. XD
If anyone has an idea or anything, please let me know. That's GREAT!
Please, feel free to show it to us.
I'm working on some mock-ups and image-guides too.
It will certainly help us to begin the project. Well, welcome to KRR!
I'm actually really surprised you just joined us because of this. XD
I grew up with Kirby and this site is very especial to me.
And I feel absolutely great that the Kirby community is coming back and stronger as ever.
This project is our chance to bring KRR and the Kirby fanbase back to the spotlight. I hope it works, at least.
I don't have a Reddit account, but I can't thank you enough if you can spread the word about this project in there. :D
Welcome to KRR, accordingleaf!
We don't have any 100% confirmed members on the team, yet.
If you want to help, feel free to.
But I don't want to force anyone on anything, so, do it just if you want to. :)
Thanks a LOT, Tayo!
So... can I count on you to be 100% on the team?
We do need a translator after all. XD
I was thinking in using the English names but, with a note besides it with its original Japanese name, if different.
For example: "Waddle Dee" we translate it as Waddle Dee.
But "Dream Land" we could use "Dream Land (Pupupu Land in Japanese)". And the same goes for other names and terms things.
Especially in the anime section.
For the games, we can do the same. Example "Kirby Super Star (JP: Hoshi no Kirby: Super Deluxe, EU: Kirby's Fun Pak)".
Of course, we're just doing this once per name. Kirby Super Star should be referred as such in the whole book.
For the text, I would prefer the book the more like a literal translation than a attempt at localization.
I think we should keep the Japanese boxarts, game screenshots and everything else.
But, that's just my vision.
I think we should get in a conclusion on what the other members of the team prefer.
Thanks! Since I'm from Brazil, my English is somewhat bad. So we do need someone to check the grammar. :D

Anyway, thanks for all the support, guys.
Say, if anyone is completely SURE to want to be a part of the team, TELL ME.
I will update the first post with a list of the team with your name, when I can rely 100% that you are, in fact, on the team.
No pressure. This is an ambitious project, after all.
But I do need some help besides translators, image editors and all that stuff.
I need someone else to administrate and direct the project with me.
You know, someone you can count on if any of the members need directions or help.
I can't do it alone.
So, PLEASE contact me or simply post on this thread if you want to participate.
If you want to go in deep details, send me a private message.
Of course, you can help us to by sharing this thread with your friends and Kirby/Nintendo communities.
Spreading the works HELPS, believe it or not.
Thanks again, everybody!
And sorry for my bad English!

_________________
We NEED to keep Kirby fans united!
The Kirby franchise is getting better than ever with almost one game a year.
They are packed with content, and a lot of fanservice and references.
Kirby fans are still alive and aware, but the community can't die.
Let's make this place the #1 Kirby site on the internet again!
Let's revive KRR and all of it's features.
The fans want it, the users want it, and even the OPHnK subbing team is back.
Let's make Rainbow Resort great again, as it was in the early and mid 2000's.
TOGETHER, WE CAN DO IT!!!

I can help...

Please welcome the creator of the Meta Naito fansite! He has registered and will probably help in the translations thanks to his knowledge of Japanese.