Konichiwa to the KOR Project FAQ. Here, I'll try to answer all your questions about the Project. If there's something missing, or something you think should be here, email me at doyama@skule.ecf.utoronto.ca

1. Why did you start the KOR Project?
2. What equipment does the Project use?
3. How come the scans aren't perfect?
4. Why does this page change pratically every day?
5. Why not use the JPG format?
6. Why are the translations not EXACTLY what I've seen in other translations on the net?
7. Why not have one big zip file?
8. Why are these only 2 colour GIFs? What ever happened to grey scale?

1. Why did you start the KOR Project

Actually it started rather innocently. I thought of it when my friend wanted to start reading the Ranma 1/2 series. However, she can't read the original Japanese, and she can't read any of the Cantonese ones either. And finding this stuff in Canada is about as much fun as getting a root canal. Of course I directed her some of the Fan-Fiction translations available. However, when really looked at it, I thought 'Geez this is kinda dumb.' This is no offence to those translations. They're great. I just thought the concept of reading this text file in conjuction with the comic was rather silly. Or worse, what if you couldn't even get a HOLD of the manga! You'd be stuck with boring text, never fully appreciating the great KOR experience! So I thought, why not combine the manga with these nice translations. I have all the tools here. So the Ranma 1/2 Project was born.

Afterwards, I decided to expand the Project's scope to encompass KOR. It seemed like a natural transition at the time. It's also my secret ambition to bring down our webserver with all the hits I hope to get ^_^

2. What equipment does the Project use?

The project has some not-so-up-to-date equipment at it's disposal. The scanning is done with a Relysis scanner we have in our lab. Don't really remember the model number. Well it's hooked to a pidly 486-DX33 so no editing gets done there. After the files are scanned, they're put on disk and sent to my SUN Sparc10. From here, I FTP them to my home computer, an awesome P-90 16Mb RAM, 2MB VRAM ATI Mach64, 1GB HD system. Once edited they get FTP'ed back to these pages.

I believe that our web server is a DEC Alpha running at 166Mhz with 128Mb RAM on a T1 line. But then again I could be wrong.

3. How come the scans aren't perfect?

The Project has just gotten started. Of course there's many wrinkles that need to be ironed out at the start of anything this awesome. As time goes by, I'll find better and more efficient ways to do things. Be patient with me, and you'll see things improve.

4. Why does this page change pratically every day?

Uh.... I guess it just shows how much time I have since it's summer. Well I always look back at this page at least once a day. And I think 'Hmmm. What can I do to make this better?' So a few thing pop into my mind, and I just do it right then and there. Some things, like spelling and grammar, I see only afterwards, so I edit them too. I also get lots of suggestions from helpful people on the net. This page is for you!! If you got a suggestion/gripe/improvement don't hesitate to email me and speak your mind.

5. Why don't you use the JPG format?

Good question! First we have to go into what the JPG format does to an image. It destroys it. Well of course to the human eye it doesn't make that much of a difference but that's what it does. Now for photographs and such, JPG is great. For line art, it's not so good. The destructive nature of the compression is unsuited for line art. Another reason is that these are 2-colour images, again unsuited for JPG.

But the main reason is that I'm sacrificing a certain amount of image quality, for disk space. I don't have much, so I have to use it sparingly. You'll agree that although they don't look 100% great, it's enough to convey the story and make you laugh, and isn't that what it's all about? :)

6. Why aren't the translations EXACTLY like what I've seen on the net?

Well there's a few reasons for that. First, I haven't looked at any translations myself very much (since being Japanese I never needed them). So I translate them myself, on my own judgement. Second, sometimes the translations are a bit too literal. While the translation technically is correct, sometimes I feel that it doesn't really convey the original intent. I try to use my own knowledge of Japanese culture and mangas in the translations. Thirdly, I'm limited by the bubbles themselves. I could make the text stetch over the bubbles, but then that would ruin the effect of reading it IMHO. So sometimes I will simplify dialouge to only the important stuff to fit in a bubble. Fourth, sometimes the translation REALLY depends knowing the Japanese language, and everything is lost in the translation, like puns and play on words. I sometimes change these too.

But on the whole, I do try and preserve the essence and the spirit of the manga. If you have any better translations for what you see, don't hesitate to email me with your suggestions. If you could point out spelling/grammar stuff too that would be helpful. At 2am in the morning, those things kind of become secondary.

7. Why not have one big zip file?

Again disk constraints. Already my diskspace is overflowing with stuff. But I am experimenting with something right now. Whether it stays will depend on how well it goes.

8 Why are these only 2 colour GIFs? What ever happened to greyscale?

Yes I've heard of greyscale, but the 2 colour thing was done on purpose. One again is diskspace, I have little and I can't slap too much on the server without arousing suspicion. We have an 'academic-purpose-only' policy for school computers (yeah right! whatever!) So I try to keep diskspace down to keep Big Brother happy.

Second was for your convenience. In this smaller format, each episode is about 1Mb, so it's pretty compact and easy to transmit over the crowded internet. The greyscale JPGs were 3.5-4Mb in total. So I just though I'd make it easier on you all by making it smaller.