Season 2 - Episode 10/10 Janet Hsu localization director that has worked in the video game industry for almost two decades. Janet chats about the English localization of the Nintendo DS Game Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors by director Kotaro Uchikoshi from Chunshoft. Localization by Aksys Games with translation by Nobara Nakayama and editing by Ben Bateman. "Nine Hours: You only have 9 hours before Junpei and the other 8 kidnapped drown. Numerology, music composition and logic puzzles are just a few of the 32 plus obstacles that stand in the way of their freedom. Nine Persons: Unco ..read more

Season 2 - Episode 9/10 Wesley O'Donnell is a freelance Japanese to English translator living in Japan. He's worked on a variety of manga and light novels with penchant towards fantasy and comedy. Wesley chats about the amazing characterization and comedy in the English localization of Nindento's Paper Mario and the Origami King. "The kingdom has been ravaged by an origami menace! Join Mario and his new partner, Olivia, as they battle evil Folded Soldiers, repair the damaged landscape, and try to free Princess Peach’s castle from the clutches of King Olly in this comedy-filled adventure." T ..read more

Season 2 - Episode 8/10 Taylor Drew is a translator, writer, and manga proofreader based in Tokyo. She writes book reviews for her personal blog A Basket of Words and also does interview translations for Febri. Passionate for all things written and everything to do with Northeastern Japan, she chose to talk about the award-winning Tokyo Ueno Station by Yu Miri and translated by Morgan Giles. "Born in Fukushima in 1933, the same year as the Emperor, Kazu’s life is tied by a series of coincidences to Japan’s Imperial family and to one particular spot in Tokyo; the park near Ueno Station ..read more

Season 2 - Episode 7/10 Erica Friedman is the Founder of Yuricon and has run the world's oldest and most comprehensive blog on Yuri, Okazu, since 2002. She has edited manga for JManga, Seven Seas and Udon Entertainment, most recently Riyoko Ikeda’s epic historical classic, The Rose of Versailles. Erica is the author of By Your Side: The First 100 Year of Yuri Anime and Manga, out now from Journey Press. She chats with us about the English translation of the manga for Whisper Me a Love Song, by Eku Takeshima, translated by Kevin Steinbach, edited by Tiff Ferentini, with lettering by Jenn ..read more

Season 2 - Episode 6/10 Stephen Meyerink is a freelance Japanese to English translator, writer, and author who has worked on video games, books, albums, manga, and more. He is a massive fan of video game music (in terms of both a historical practice and a listener), loves cooking (and eating) all kinds of food except meat loaf, and Final Fantasy. He joins us to chat about the English localizations of 1998's Final Fantasy Tactics and 2007's updated localization Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, which was translated by Tom Slattery and Joseph Reeder. "In days now long past, the War ..read more

Season 2 - Episode 5/10 Alexander O. Smith—who goes by Alex—is a translator, writer, and photographer living in Kamakura, Japan. As a translator, he's worked on games like Final Fantasy 12, novels in the fantasy, sci-fi, and mystery genres, and manga. He's written for Magic: The Gathering, DeNA mobile games, Ori and the Will of the Wisps, and is currently writing at game studio Camouflaj on an unannounced VR title. Alex chose to chat about the sci-fi novel—which later became a blockbuster movie staring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, Edge of Tomorrow—All You Need Is Kill, by Hiroshi Sakurazaka an ..read more

Season 2 - Episode 3/10 Mercedez (Meru) Clewis (they/their) is a Japanese to English translation and localization editor working primarily with light novels and visual novels, such as Idea Factory’s Cupid Parasite. They’re also a pop culture critic, anime and manga reviewer, and a freelance journalist, contributing to websites like Anime Feminist and the Anime News Network. Mercedez chose to chat about Spring 2021’s Super Cub, an anime produced by Studio Kai based on the Super Cub novel by author Tone Kouken. "A lonely girl's eyes are opened to the many possibilities when she buys a Honda Su ..read more

Season 2 - Episode 2/10 Kaylyn S. Wylie (she/they) is a Japanese to English media localization specialist working primarily with video games. You can see her work most recently in Ender Lilies and Artesnaut. If you’d like to catch what she’s up to, you can find her on Twitter where she gushes about Quagsire, shares her gaming hyperfixations, and frequently talks about the topics of accessibility and equality in the industry. "Welcome to a new world! Take on the role of a hunter and slay ferocious monsters in a living, breathing ecosystem where you can use the landscape and its diverse inhabi ..read more

Season 2 - Episode 1/10 Christina Rose is a video game and manga translator who enjoys demystifying the J-E media translation industry and its practices for people new to the field or looking to break in. Final Fantasy XIV is a sci-fi/fantasy MMORPG that has been running in some form or other since 2012, making it nearly ten years old! The most recently released expansion at the time of this podcast is Endwalker, and the expansion right before that is Shadowbringers. Christina discusses the Shadowbringers content, with only minor spoilers. "Warriors of Light, embrace the darkness and forge a ..read more

Season 1 - Episode 10/10 Daniel McCalla is a Japanese to English video game translator and (occasional) editor. During his four years as a freelancer, he worked on titles such as Phantasy Star Online 2, Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, Dragon Quest XI S, and Ender Lilies. He now works in-house at Capcom as part of their localization team. In this episode he chose to chat about The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, which was released in English (and sadly English only) for the first time on the Switch, PS4 and Steam in 2021. The localization was directed by Janet Tsu, with English localization ..read more