Hidamari Sketch Yon-komi manga (Sunshine Sketch)
 

Hidamari Sketch
ひだまりスケッチ
Genre (j) - yon-komi, seinen
Genre (e) - comedy, slice of life

Plot Summary: Yuno enters a special high school for the fine arts and moves into a special boarding house, the Hidamari apartments. There, she makes friends with a group of eccentric girls, and they simply live together and go to school. There, Yuno meets her extremely eccentric teacher, Yoshinoya-sensei and start to walk towards her dream of being an artist.

Manga-ka: Aoki Ume
Serialized in: Manga Time Kirara Carat
Publisher: Houbunsha
English Lisence: Yen Press

ひだまりスケッチ 1 (1) 蒼樹 うめ (2005/10/27)
Hidamari Sketch vol 1. released Oct 27, 2005
ひだまりスケッチ 2 (2) 蒼樹 うめ (2006/12/27)
Hidamari Sketch vol 2. released Dec 27 2006

Status: Ongoing?
-courtesy ANN & Amazon.jp

For those of us who are totally enamored of Hidmarai Sketch. As noted below by Dop, this title has been licensed by Yen Press. I have seen their version of Black God, and I find no glaring problems with their printing, binding or translations, so I think they will probably do well with this manga.

In the short 10 pages of this preliminary chapter, we get 3 pages of regular, full-page manga, and 3 pages of 6 4komi, along with delightful character intro pages. We mostly see Yuno's character and we get introduced to Miyako as well, and a brief glimpse of their future roommates and sempai, Hiro and Sae. The art is not quite as clean and graphical as Azumanga Daioh, but still very clean and neat, with some of Aoki-sensei's loose, sketching style on a single-page gag with Yoshinoya-sensei.

I think this is going to be a very good manga to follow, and a delightful compliment to the anime, helping to "ground" the almost surreal style of Shinbo's anime sensabilities. It wouldn't go badly if a publisher were to licence this, I don't think, what with the success of Azumanga Daioh. 4komi can certainly be successful as we know.

Have a read of the forum rules :) As long as the manga isn't licensed (in an English speaking country) then you may post links to groups who are doing scanlations. Once licensed, then you may not link or discuss scans, translations, groups. Oh, we don't like raws either (licensed or unlicensed) :)

The anime of Hidamari Sketch is my favourite from this season, so I would like to see the manga. It would be interesting to see this mix of regular manga and 4 komi.

oh damn... we're (shintani) also scanlating the manga...

Better odds of someone finishing then.... yay for choice!

O.O really? Heheh, I'm translating Hidamari Sketch manga for Mobots :p Chapter 1 should be done soon, but after that' I'm on holiday for a 5 weeks.

It's quite easy to translate and the chapters are short, so I don't see why it would be difficult to see through to the end ^^

I haven't watched the anime yet, but this series reminds my of my favourite series, Azumanga Daiou, so it's a great pleasure to be working on this.

Oh.. I've lost count over the years of people with excellent intentions starting projects (not just anime or manga) and then Real Life grabs them by the throat and they just fade away. So I figure the more people working on a topic the better. I've been piddling with translating Yotsubato vol 4-6 and recently with Kodomo no Jikaan --- but I seem to go to great lengths to avoid *finishing* any of it (some ADD quirk about finishing projects).

I've read mobot's HS ch00 and its good stuff! Unfortunately, although I am handy with GIMP, I don't think I can do as great job as what aznricekid did with page 2...

BTW, I changed the OP to reflect the additional info.

Don't give up, endy! I really want to see your version!

According to ANN the manga has been licensed by Yen Press under the title 'Sunshine Sketch'

I shall definitely be buying that, and only hope that this will help the chances of the anime being licenced.

OP post is changed to note the new info and I removed reference to scanlators. I can't imagine this anime getting a license, but I certainly hope it will too. I will "vote" with my money by buying a copy or two of the manga when Yen releases it.

Well, purchased the manga the other day and didn't get a chance to look it over until now and after I prepared for any nutbladder shattering effects (that in the end, were futile). I must say, I'm quite pleased. This would probably be my first title from this particular publisher, but if the quality of their releases is consistent, I might just check out their other licensed series - especially S.S. ASTRO and Sundome (lol, cocktease).

First, it seems that the dimensions of the release are no different to that of it's Japanese counterpart. Using a volume of AzuDai to compare, it's actually a little shorter than it, though is just as wide. Although the English release actually contains 8 pages less than the Japanese one, I am assuming they just cut out any ad space that was present in the original release. I kind of found it surprising that Yen press did not have any of its own ads to replace, which can be sort of a plus in my book. Assuming this without a raw on hand, it's all there and nothing has been omitted from the release.

Second, and if you know me well enough, I was quite pleased that it retained the colour pages at the beginning of the volume, and there seems to be now sign of any crappy resizing, a la Tokyopop style. In addition, like AzuDai, any translator notes - cultural info and the like - is left to a page at the end with the corresponding page numbers. One thing in particular that struck me as interesting was they didn't edit out any of the sound effects. I've heard some criticisms about Broccoli Books "taking shortcuts" and doing the same, but it really doesn't take anything away from Hidamari Sketch - compared to something more "involved" like Galaxy Angel or Murder Princess. So yeah, other than that comment, I have no particular opinion about that little detail.

As for the actual content, there really isn't a lot to say. My exposure to Hidamari Sketch, like I imagine many of us westerners, was first to the anime adaptation. Other than events being presented chronologically, it's really no different from its adaptation. Yuno and Miyako take their entrance exams, move into the apartments, etc. - it's all there. Though the one situation where it shows THE UNDER-AGED CONSUMPTION OF ALCOHOL™ was omitted from the anime adaptation. Again, this is usually the case when most series cross over to another televised medium, regardless of culture. The liable-to-injury wide faces are also present, which is an indication that the adaptation really stuck well with Ume Aoki's designs.

One criticism that seems to be prevalent in most reviews for this release is that all that the series seems to have going for it is the fact that it's cute.

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/157...iousjp7.th.jpg

Well duh. We all kind of eat that stuff up anyways (don't deny it!), so there really isn't any point railing on it.
Not to say that the series doesn't have its own merits other than that. Like most manga under the slice-of-life genre, there are happenings/issues that one can relate to - meeting deadlines, worrying about one's weight (I should really start playing baseball again), one's financial situation (broke post-secondary students, can I get a "hell yeah"?), etc. - that I think is handled well enough in the manga. One particular story that I liked in both the manga and the anime adaptation was the chapter about one's dreams, and what becomes of them when one's situation in life changes. Miyako's words to Yuuno were very comforting and I think its something we should all keep in mind.
But yeah, it's very cute - so what? :p

Overall, a very satisfying purchase. What gets me is it's an ongoing series - I am both happy and sad with this detail. Seems the second volume is due in 5 months. I've noticed that in recent years, even NA releases of ongoing series are getting to be pretty caught up with their Japanese ones. Shat, even AMG seems to be getting there. I'm looking forward to the second volume, and will keep my on this publisher - they've grabbed titles like Higurashi and Bamboo Blade :D.

Hmm...this thread could be renamed "Sunshine Sketch" if deemed necessary by the mods. Just a thought. I'm hoping the post will deliver my copy tomorrow. I have a copy of the j-tankoubon, so I will be comparing them side-by-side and see what's what.

gimme my copies, you thievesssesss

Compared it to the raw moonland version, and it seems the actual NA cover would be the dust-cover jacket (obviously) and the front and back covers under would be pink-hue images of Yoshinoya-sensei and the principal.
So yeah, other than that, the release is pretty much 1:1.

I got volume one last week and I really enjoyed it.
Yen Press have done a good job here and I'm eagerly awaiting volume 2.

(now, if only someone would licence the anime!)

Well, I decided to take a little break from playing Persona 4 and finally buckling down and reading volume 2. Don't worry, I'll probably turn on my PS2 again when I'm done typing this out.

Once again, we're treated with the original colour pages. The release is already looking good. There was one instance where the editing of a panel was exceptional - in the one titled "camouflage". If they can pull this off well, I'm wondering why they can't do anything about the signs like I explained in my last review.

Now, one thing really bugged me with this volume. In the one titled "Always told that..." the first panel explains it all.
What. The. Shit. I quickly jumped to the tl-notes at the back.
Really. FFS, why not just use "I'm home" or "welcome home"? Don't gimme shit about it not fitting! They shrunk the text for Yuno's "tadaima" so it isn't outside of their ability to! References to food and places is alright, but something where it isn't even culturally distinct (ie. nothing weird about welcoming someone back) is pretty absurd.

I swear, this is like two steps from the typical "Narutard" scanlators, which the Jojo community has given an example of what they can do to manga...

Yeech. Okay, I might be exaggerating, but it's sloppy work if they can't make something like that work in english.

I hope there isn't some sort of quota these dudes have to fill. I also hope the disappearing and reappearing of honorifics was a matter of style to fit character's speech patterns rather than them suddenly becoming sloppy and inconsistent.

My nitpicking aside, overall I'd say it's a satisfying release. I was sort of surprised this release didn't include the ads or preview chapter for another work in the latter pages. The actual manga content is about as much as SS Astro, so I figure they would do the same. However, knowing the state of SS Astro in Japan, that was probably the ideal series to use to try and bait them into others.

Keep at it, Yen Press!

Ah, it's probably b/c "okaeri" and "tadaima" don't just mean "welcome home" and "I'm home" straight across like that. Sure, they work, but there's not a 1:1 translation. It's not like "tobira" which is pretty much "door" (or at least "portal").

But also consider the order they come in. In English, it's acceptable for this to happen:
"I'm home."
"Welcome back!"
But this doesn't fit nearly as well:
"Welcome back!"
"I'm home."
Saying "I'm home" *after* someone has already greeted you (in English) is just strange. Oh, sure, people do it out of reflex sometimes, but it's a mistake. I'm guessing here, but I'll bet this kind of thing was behind Yen Press' decision to do it that way.

I wish I could remember the fan-scanlated manga one-shot, but there was this story where this closed-off kid was eventually able to open up and say "ohayou gozaimasu" to his classmates. The problem was, just TLing that phrase as "good morning" didn't capture what was going on in that manga. B/c it actually means more than that. It's an acceptance of the people you say it to, an embracing of them (metaphorically), saying not just "good morning", but "I'm glad to see you, you're a part of our world together."

Good god are we picking nits or what? I agree, Yen is doing a very good job. I wonder if they might do Aoki Ume's other project: Tetsunagi Kooni. ^_^

They could have been a little more creative. If order was a problem, then maybe something like:
Maybe throw in a couple adverbs. "Finally home", something.
Transitive stuff aside, it still isn't a culturally distinct concept. I say we save tl-notes for those sorts of things.

I remember Nojay talking discussing something like this. Typesetting helps in these situations.

Dude, it's my money. I will do as I please :V

Update for the manga list:

ひだまりスケッチ 3 (3) 蒼樹 うめ (2008/2/27)
Hidamari Sketch vol 3. released February 27, 2008
ISBN 978-4832276819

ひだまりスケッチ 4 (4) 蒼樹 うめ (2008/12/25)
Hidamari Sketch vol 4. released December 25, 2008
ISBN 978-4832277625

Link to the publisher: http://www.dokidokivisual.com/comics...ex.php?cid=260

Volume 3
 

Well, Sunshine Sketch volume 3 was released late last month. I got around to reading it just recently, along with that GA Design class one that just shipped. I think I'll review the latter when I'm done with it (ie. next time I have to go to the can). Now, back to SS.

Just to list off the usual neat things found with their releases:
- Colour pages
- Consistency in their translations
- TL Notes
- A visit to my penis engine mechanic for the usual nutbladder checkup

Editing was top-notch in this release. By Jove, when there was space for text in an image, they actually printed in that space. Looked very neat and professional - best example would be the text-messaging segments. They even managed to cram in Yuno and Miya's notes to each other (oh, exploitable).

Compared to the other two volumes, this one probably has a lot more of the moonspeak wordplay the Japanese seem to love, and they seemed to have handled it well for the most part. I was actually curious as to how they would deal with the "Bara bara" thing, and well, I guess there really isn't a way to truly localize that one. Oh well :V

Overall a worthwhile purchase and it puts us one volume away from being pretty much up-to-date with the series in general. Though there doesn't seem to be a release date for volume 4 - I guess they've also got to tighten their belts due the times we're havin'. Nevertheless, I'll be keeping an eye on it. Keep up the good work, YP!

Aside: Now the next steps needed are a third season and/or getting the completed anime licensed. Also, has anyone played the DS game? After 6 months in-game I got frustrated because Sae seems to be blasting me at everything. The quiz minigames are no help, either :V