Today marks five years since 23 May 2019, the day I first made the very hesitant move on Tumblr to translate content for Wind Boys!.
Right off the bat, I feel like I ought to address the elephant in the room, whether we like it or not:
“I wonder how many more years I’ll write such posts for?“
You’d think that by now I’ll have run out of things to say every translations anniversary, but that isn’t true at all. As a matter of fact, every year has been so different.
When I’d first started translating Wind Boys!, it was during the very early stages of pre-release. I’d never even translated anything else in my entire life. All I had was an understanding of Japanese, a huge load of concert band knowledge, and the ridiculous amount of free time that only a college student would have. Shy and hesitant, I’d stalled for five whole months before daring to share my translations online.
One year into translating Wind Boys!, I’d been so hopeful for the game’s release, and happy that my translations were getting around.
Two years into translating Wind Boys!, I was buzzing about the fact that we were finally getting a release date.
Three years into translating Wind Boys!, I was busy translating almost everything in the story, excited to spread the game around to everyone who was willing to give the stories and content a read.
Four years into translating Wind Boys!, I’d burnt out. I was busy with life, and I’d spent all my free time translating, and it was a period of time when I was demoralised that there were some translations that no one would read at all.
And now here I am. Five years into translating Wind Boys!. Except that rather than translations, I’ve spent the whole of the past month since the end-of-service announcement desperately trying to archive content. So that Wind Boys! can still have a future, through translations.
It’s already been five whole years that I’ve been translating this game for. That’s half a decade! Nearly a fifth of my life. Through the years, that college student with a lot of free time on their hands has now become a middle school teacher with barely any time for rest, and yet they’re still just spending all of their free time on translating content for this series.
Do I regret it? Do I regret spending the days of my youth doing this? Is this all for nothing now that the game is over? Perhaps, if you’d asked me back when I was stressed and burnt out and no one was reading my translations last year, the answer may have been different.
Now, however, I’d look at it the way Ijeong would. You wouldn’t think that a springtime of life spent in high school is pointless just because it will come to a pass someday, right? That is my response to those questions. I’d never dream of regretting translating for this fandom. Sure, there were tough times, but it’s because I never gave up, and never let go, that even as this game approaches the end of its lifespan, I am content. Because I’ve done everything that I can.
Funnily enough, I’ve received a lot of messages of gratitude recently, through the WinboTL feedback survey I administered. I didn’t think people were really appreciative of what I’ve done, because nobody tells me that normally, but looking at the thankful messages from everyone, about how my work has helped them to discover or get into this fandom, makes me so, so happy. And when people tell me they’d like to continue reading translations post-EOS, it makes me so fired up to continue what I’ve been doing all this while.
This is turning out to be what’s probably my longest translations anniversary post ever, but in light of recent events there’s just…so much feeling and emotion that I’d like to convey to everyone. I’d like to end it off soon, but before that, just one final thing.
I’ve mentioned before a long time ago that I deliberately first posted translations on this date, because it’s Mashu’s birthday. It makes the date of my translations anniversary easy to remember, and a big reason why I chose Mashu is, although he isn’t my favourite character, he plays the timpani just like me.
In line with that, some of you may remember a time when the URL of this website was izumitani.wordpress, and that a reason why I changed it to the current kuttsuriya.wordpress is that I wanted the name of the site to relate to my favourite character, Aoto.
Now notice how fitting it is, then, for this to be the final Wind Boys!’s card to ever be released:
Mashu playing in Kuttsuriya, for his birthday.
It makes me wonder if it was intentional in some subtle way. One can dream.
Anyway. I’m sure there’ll be a sixth anniversary of Wind Boys! Translations, with yet another completely different experience of translating game content that once existed, but no longer will. I hope I’ll still get to see you all when that happens.
Until then, for the last time ever while the game is alive, I hope that you can continue to support the game all the way until its end of service in a week’s time. Thank you for being with Wind Boys! Translations, whether you’ve been around since the start, or only just heard of the series recently. I’ve fallen in too deep and I don’t feel like getting out yet, so I’ll continue to see you all for the predictable future that ends in a week’s time, and for the unpredictable future that will begin from then on.
Stamff
23 May 2024
Side Note:
1. I’m still looking for people with card stories to share so that I can complete an archive! If you have non-permanent cards of the following characters, please DM me on @moltoarticulate on Twitter (currently X): Minato, Takara, Osei, Hibiku, Sogaku, Atsukage, Tsugumi, Reito, Ijeong, Toki, Junta, Kojiro, Mashu, Mikio. Thank you!
2. I’m not actively looking for money here, but do consider tipping me for my work. Time is money, and I understand that although I’ve put in all of time into this hobby, not everyone has the time to enjoy it. So even if it’s just a little…here’s my Ko-fi. 🙇🏻
Stamff's Wind Boys! Translations! 