Regarding the End-of-Service Announcement
If you’ve been following the Wind Boys! Official Account, you’re probably already aware by now that the game will terminate its service on 30 May 2024, Thursday, 2pm JST.
In all honesty, I’m not upset (at the moment). Probably because I’ve noticed how the Japanese side of WinBo Twitter (currently X) have been doomposting about the end of service ever since news of the delayed May preview came out, and it frankly made me have my suspicions, too.
Or maybe I will be upset in due time, perhaps, but it hasn’t sunk in yet.
Because there’s no time to be upset when there are still WinboTLs to be done.
Regarding the Future of Wind Boys! Translations
If you ask me, Wind Boys! only truly dies when we all forget about its existence.
This wonderful world of Ibuki that the team at DMM Games has very kindly built for us, as well as the brilliant cast of characters that come along with it, can continue to live on if we continue to give it our love.
Those of you who have been around since the start may remember how the game got its production delayed twice. The first delay happened because of production schedule, and right when they were almost ready to release it, COVID struck, causing it to delay again.
Throughout that period of time, the developers of Wind Boys! did their best to ensure that we would never forget about them. They came up with Wind Comics, Character Relationship Charts, and more on Twitter, just to keep us occupied. So that we can still be well-fed even before the game’s release.
And those of you who were around back then may also remember, that I was there too. As an idiot with absolutely zero translation experience, with nothing but a tremendous love for concert band, who stepped up to translate all the pre-release content in hopes of feeding the English-speaking community as well.
Even after the game’s release, I’ve worked to translate in-game content for those who didn’t understand Japanese, so that more people could get to know and love Wind Boys!, and so that those who already do can continue loving the series.
Of course, all beautiful things will become memories of the past one day. But our springtime of life certainly isn’t over just yet.
With the end-of-service announcement, the plot of Wind Boys! will be coming to a premature end. However, there is still much to be done in terms of Wind Boys! Translations, don’t you think?
I hope you all love the boys of Ibuki High School Concert Band as much as I do, because I’d love to continue delivering translations of past content to you all the way I always have, as long as you’re up to give it a read.
Regarding the Future of This Blog
My goal is to translate as many stories as I can, and everything if possible, from the game. It’s always been my goal, end-of-service or not.
Now, given the current situation, if I can manage to pull that off, this blog will become a document of everything that Wind Boys! has had to offer. It’ll take time of course, but I’d love for that to happen.
With that, I’d need your help in a few ways:
1. Readership must continue. I don’t ask for you to continue reading my translations if you’re already ready to drop the content, but I’d like to know if people would still be interested in what I’ve been doing all this time.
2. Card story archival. I don’t have all the card stories, but if there are any characters that you love, I’d seek your cooperation in sharing video recordings of their card stories with me. I’ll gladly translate them for free, as long as you’re willing to wait. Credit will also be offered where due.
Whether you’d like to embark on this project or not, I’d greatly appreciate it if you could participate in this survey below. It’s about your views on Wind Boys! Translations so far, and whether you’d be open to assisting with recording stories so that content isn’t lost after the game ends.
Finally
If you’ve made it this far, really, thank you very much. I truly appreciate it…! I’ve always felt very alone in working on Wind Boys! Translations so it’s strange to me that I’m asking for help now, but just knowing that people out there are reading my translations and getting into Wind Boys! makes me feel a lot less lonely.
Thank you so, very much.
Bestest regards,
Stamff