I’ve been quiet on this blog for a while, and by the end of this post you will understand why. (It’s all good news, don’t worry!)
I Translated a Mushoku Tensei Book!
So… After I left ANN, I got into the manga and light novel translation sphere. Translation was always something I dabbled in, like when I worked on Mari Okada’s autiobiography, but now I have more time to dedicate to it. I like translation because I can do it on a flexible schedule while focusing more on my personal life—plus, some of the jobs can be genuine passion projects.
Mushoku Tensei is one of my favourite light novels ever, so you can imagine my delight when I got the opportunity to translate Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation – Recollections. This is a short story collection originally written to supplement volumes 1-10 of the main series. Although it doesn’t advance the main plot or anything, it’s got some of the funniest scenes in the entire series, so I highly recommend it to any fan!
I expect that this will be the only Mushoku Tensei novel I translate. The main series is already completed in English, and although I did get an offer to translate a separate side novel, it did not fit with my schedule. I am just happy that I got to work on something related to one of my favourite series—definitely something to tick off the bucket list!
Judging For the JNC Original Light Novel Contest
A few months ago, J-Novel Club held its inaugural light novel contest. It got hundreds of submissions, and I was involved throughout the process as a guest judge. By now, the finalists are public. I can’t tell you yet which submissions I liked the most or who will win the overall contest, so I recommend you give the previews a read yourself.
Being involved in this competition was a really interesting experience. I got the opportunity to read some incredible light novel-inspired works that I would never have encountered in the traditional sphere. But it does mean that my time for reading Japanese novels or watching anime has been very limited these past few months. My backlog is languishing!
Anyway, I am excited for when the winners are announced at Anime Expo, and I hope you are too. I would have come to AX personally to participate in the JNC panel, but life circumstances prevented that, because you see…
I Am Having a Baby This August
Yeah, this is definitely the biggest thing happening in my life, haha. I’m gonna be a parent!
If you’d told me even three years ago that this was where I would end up, I’d have been incredulous. But after moving back to Australia, I started feeling strongly that this was something I wanted to do. Being able to buy my own house was a big factor, and my family is there to support me as well, for which I am very grateful.
It didn’t necessarily come easy, though. Shortly after I moved back, I discovered that I had a cancer in my left ovary, which not only made it physically impossible to conceive but it would also have eventually threatened my life. Fortunately, the surgery went well, and I had a healthy pregnancy a few months later, but the whole experience was very humbling. Whether it’s childbirth or even just plain old survival, life is never something to take for granted…
In any case, I’m really hoping that this last stretch of my pregnancy remains uncomplicated, and I’m looking forward to starting this new chapter in my life!
A Quick Light Novel Recommendation to Finish Things Off
Although I haven’t had that much time to read light novels lately, I want to cap off this post with a shoutout to a series I’ve been getting into lately: Tsukimichi: Moonlit Fantasy.
Hanashi Media, a new publisher, put out an English version of this popular isekai series a few months ago. It really took me by surprise how fun the translation was. Even if the plot wasn’t 100% my kind of thing, especially as it goes on, every single joke landed. The dialogue is snappy, and I always enjoy an MC who takes absurd events in stride. I haven’t been too impressed by the anime’s second season, but I recommend the novel for anyone who loves a good comedy (isekai or otherwise).
Anyway, that’s all for now! I know that each of these things probably deserved their own post, but I hope you can forgive me for being busy :D
Take care, everyone!
Frogkun.com 
Glad surgery went well, best wishes for coming baby and being mom.
Thank you!
First of all, congratulations in advance for becoming a parent!!! I hope you the best in this new stage of your life.
You know, when I finished reading this post I through how much time has passed. I also asked my self, Since when I’m following Frog-kun?
You can count with the fingers of a hand the times I leave a post in this blog but I’m following your articles since more than a decade.
I think I found your blog while reading a few of your fanfics in ff.net. That dark one of Oreimo. And I think the first article of the blog I read was one about Gon and Killua relationship.
One of the few post I made was one to ask you to send me that imouto novel you wrote. Now I remember that I never leave a review about it but I really liked it.
Somehow, I got all nostalgic and leave a post even if I’m always too lazy to do it.
Again I hope you achieve all your goals and be absolutely happy.
Wow, thank you! I can’t believe you’ve been around for so long. It’s been an honour! And I appreciate the well wishes – I hope you achieve all your goals too.
Congratulations on becoming a parent and good health to you and your baby! You have always been one of the rare anime bloggers whose opinion I truly value.
Aww, thank you! I appreciate it.
Congratulations Frog-Kun! I’m kinda new around here but so happy for you baby and your situation
Hope a healthy pregnancy for u😭😭
Thank you!!
Glad your surgery was a success. I wish you a healthy pregnancy and good luck to you and your future family :3
OMG Lilypad! Congratulations! On all the things!!! That’s SO MANY things to celebrate! I hope you take care of yourself and I wish you all the happiness!
Again I just wanted congratulate you on your pregnancy. And also congrats on translating a Mushoku Tensei book and getting to be a judge for J-Novel Club’s first light novel contest. Glad you’re doing so well!
Congrats on becoming a parent and judging the contest! (This is actually the first time I’ve heard about you resigning from ANN though, so…I clearly missed the memo. *hand behind head*)
Since I’ve admired you so much from afar, I’d like to deliver my own news: I have my own light novel translation coming out in July (Sister Kiss 2 with Tentai Books). “Intense” is really the only way to describe the time I spent with it, but I think it advanced my translation skills by leaps and bounds.
As a fellow parent still just trying to figure it all out, many congratulations!! Wishing you a safe rest of this part of the journey, and I look forward to reading any updates in future, whether it’s about anime, translation, parenthood, or anything in between. :)
I’m a lurker who doesn’t exactly follow you directly, instead over time I’ve been linked to individual blogposts of yours by just simply browsing the internet. So what I’m about to ask could have been covered elsewhere before, many times.
I’m really curious about your life of Japanese, if you will. Did you grow up learning it through childhood? Did you go to school for it? Self learn? A mix? And rather than just answering the origins directly, I’m more curious about the journey it took to get where you are in it. Any difficulties and weakpoints you might’ve had in it, how you view yourself right now, and how it affects the way you live your life. For example, you mentioned reading the translation of Tsukimichi, do you still often experience translated works (LNs, games, anime) even though you know the language?
I’m asking a lot of questions that I don’t expect straight answers to, but instead to paint the picture of the overall question I’m getting at, which is just wondering how Japanese has been and continues to be for you- a successful translator. Many other translators I respect are often very covet about their Japanese, in a way. Which is a shame, because I want to pick the brains of people who have acquired this difficult language. The only ones I ever really see who are too vocal about the language and their experiences/thoughts with it, are the Japanese learners. But they’re still chugging on the railroad, what I’m really curious about are the ones who had “made it.” The translators. Frog-kun.
If this has already been covered before I apologize, and would kindly ask to be pointed to where it’s been spoken about.
Sorry for the belated response! And I’m sorry that I can’t answer all your questions in detail, because that would take a long time. So I will just go over the gist of my Japanese learning history in bullet points: