Due to changes in my life, I regret to announce I will not be releasing any more subtitles for the foreseeable future. I absolutely loved to contribute to the community, and it saddens me that this period of my life has to come to an end, but the long hours of fan work simply do to mesh well with my current situation.
I will still be around on tumblr, but just as a leech (mostly). Feel free to message me if you have any questions, I may be slow to answer though.
All subtitles have been reuploaded (as of 4 June 2026). Please enjoy!
I did not expect I would ever bother with tunisian crochet, at least not anytime in the near future, but of course this cute little crochet kit I bought randomly decided I needed to challenge myself.
I'm talking about this little fox basket, still a work in progress (The turtle is not part of the kit, obviously, but currently living in my half finished basket.)
Anyway, learning a new way of crochet wasn't on my to-do list, so I initially considered just cheating and using single crochets instead, but then I convinced myself to at least watch a tutorial before making my decision.
I soon learned tunisian crochet is certainly different, but easy enough to pick up. Of course I started questioning myself when the whole thing started rolling up on itself (this was not shown in the tutorial!), but according to the rest of the internet that's just the nature of the thing it seems.
So, a few more bits and pieces to go (and some sewing), but then I'll have a cute little basket!
Hello everyone, long time no see! I'm back again, hopefully to stay, with a random life update.
About a year ago, I had the random urge to learn myself how to crochet (again) and eventually bought myself a unicorn crochet kit, at every Duchie's favorite discount store, to get myself started.
Everything that could go wrong, probably went wrong.
The internet was right, I quickly learned I cannot count. (So much frogging went into that first piece! But I got the hang of the counting now, mostly.)
I did something weird with the thin metal hook that created blisters on my fingers. (Hooks with an ergonomic grip were soon purchased at the same discount store. I absolutely love them. Problem solved.)
No one told me crochet has an inside and an outside. So, of course most of my early plushies were assembled inside out! (Obviously, I'm not making that mistake anymore.)
But, all in all, I think my first projects turned out pretty cute.
It probably took me a few months to realise the inside-outside issue, so many of my early plushies shall unfortunately look a little off for all of eternity.
All of the above were crochet kits. After I got the hang of the basics, I started scouring the internet for ideas and decided that the obvious place to start was a most ambitious project. The Hungry Caterpillar playset...! Which included a bit (or perhaps, a lot,) of freehanding.
But look at it! Isn't it gorgeous!
Either way, this new hobby is still going strong and I've amassed a far too large yarn stash in the meantime.
I'm planning to share more of my crochet, old and new, in the future. So, if you're interested, stay tuned!
Hello, hope you're doing well! I know this is a long shot but I recently noticed most of the mega links no longer work and I was wondering if you had taken then down on purpose and if not if you would consider sharing again. No worries of course, thank you for everything
Hey, I only noticed your message now.
For those wondering what happened to the subtitle download links:
Unfortunately, it seems I missed the notification that Mega was about to delete my account due to inactivity.
Therefore, at this moment, all the download links are unfortunately down.
I will try to re-upload all the subtitles as soon as possible.
However, trying to locate all of them on my drives may take a while. If I am being realistic, it will probably be a few weeks before everything is up again.
Earlier this week I suddenly started noticing a strong fishy smell in one particular part of my house. I didn't think much of it at first, must be the ventilation system picking up on something outside again. It happens. Alhough I could weirdly enough only smell it in the one part of my house not connected to the system... raising some question marks. After a while the smell disappeared, so I forgot about it.
Two days later I suddenly smelled it again, and I realised the fishy smell somehow seemed to coincide with the moment I ran my laundry. But for whatever reason the smell didn't linger anywhere near my laundry machine. Making me wonder whether it was just pure coincidence? Either way, I could not locate the source of the smell and it disappeared again after a while, so I let it rest.
But today, when I turned my laundry machine on, it appeared again! All right then, this is no mere coincidence! This must be related!
My husband's initial internet search only gave him results about smelly laundry machines, because that's just what happens when your only search terms are "laundry machine" and "fishy smell". So I decided to tell google my house started smelling fishy if I ran the laundry and the top search result all said something along the lines, "Don't ever ignore a fishy smell in your house! It could be a sign of serious electrical issues! Your outlet might be on the brink of catching fire!"
"Um, okay... electrical issues, huh? Outlets possibly catching fire. Very well... Then, let's be a bit weird and smell the sole electrical outlet in that one part of my house that smells really bad right now, but is like a floor away from my laundry machine. I seriously doubt that will... HOLY CRAP, THAT THING SMELLLS FISHY!!"
And thus I immediately turned my laundry machine off, and called my father in a panic to ask for advice on how to proceed, because my brain refused to think clearly. He very calmly advised me to turn off the electricity and check the situation behind the outlet.
"Yes, of course, that makes sense."
A quick check revealed two of the wires had basically melted together... and the whole electrical situation behind our outlet was in fact one that should not exist in the first place.
One trip to the hardware store and with some advice from the expert there my husband stocked up on everything we might need to fix this safely. It took us like an hour after that, but everything is reconnected again and in de much safer way, we are told. The outlet still smells somewhat fishy, but I can't feel a sizzling heat radiating from it anymore, so that's probably the smell baked into the insulation of the wires...? We will have to keep an eye on it for now. As long as the whole room doesn't start smelling fishy again I think we're good.
Aside from the fact that the whole wiring was a bit wonky, this probably happened, because my laundry machine was plugged into the wrong outlet. (So the wires were getting too hot on a regular basis?) I was pretty sure the outlet I used was a seperated one with it's own circuit breaker, but... guess not. So, to increase the changes this might not happen again, I now plugged the laundry machine into the outlet that is in fact separated from the rest of the floor(s).
Ugh, I'm so tired now. Its probably going to take me a at least week to recover from this...
This morning I awoke to a working phone, I used the toilet and then... it was dead.
Or rather, it started having a seizure. Once in a while, it buzzes, or flashes me a green screen with a blue and red square. Aside from that, it's just black. I cannot turn it off, I cannot reboot it, I can only wait for the inevitable moment that the battery runs out and it will stop to live... Considering it is fully charged, that may take a while. (The internet diagnoses it as a hardware problem, so there is literally nothing I can do.)
And just like that, my whole plan for today was thrown out of the window. No going for a walk, enjoying the clear weather, playing Pokemon Go, and doing some shopping. Instead I'm just sitting inside the house, in a bit of a daze, not entirely sure what to do.
IT'S SO WEIRD!
This must be the first time in years that I actually feel cut off from the world. Which is insane to say when I still have a working Wifi connection and laptop to access it. But... I can't tell you how many times I have thought to myself today, "Let's look that up," just to realize I do not have a mini-computer in my pocket that will allow me to do just that!
There is also the realization that, with my phone in this braindead state, I have no convenient way to contact my husband. First, I cannot call him. Although we do have a landline, we never connected a phone set to it. Second, Web WhatsApp is currently useless, because it's currently not connected and I need my phone to do that. Third, he doesn't check Facebook Messenger consistently enough to use it as an alternative. Fourth, the same with email. Fifth, I cannot even text him, because reviving my previous phone also failed. It refuses to charge/turn on.
In short, I can only wait for him to come home from work, so I can inform him I want to go shopping for a phone this evening.
Last year I was in a rut. A burnout occupied me most of the year, and I don't think I released any subtitles at all! I simply could not find the energy to work on anything. I did release a couple of novel translations (on a side blog), but wasn't quite as consistent as I had hoped.
So, for next year... let's try to change that! Let's at least finish the subtitles for Tenden (Tousute)! I'm more than halfway there already! How's that for a New Year's resolution?
If I put my mind to it, I'm pretty sure I should be able to do it! Can't stay in this rut forever! It's going to be a slow and steady process though. So, don't get your hopes up just yet. I don't want to spiral right back into burnout again!
Speaking of New Year's resolutions, last year I said I wanted to read 100 books this year, of which 20 would be in Japanese...
Well, let's just say I didn't make it. (Unless I include manga volumes in the count.) The total count of novels read stopped at 60. That is less than in 2022 (80 books) and 2021 (69 books)!! And here I was thinking I could do it! (Let's try again in 2024?)
Looking at the list, I lost interest in reading somewhere in the middle of the year. Probably because I was trying to read Japanese novels, but my mind was too tired to commit to it. In the end, I finished only 7 Japanese books. (...it's something.)
It seems the first 6 months of 2023 were completely devoted to rereading Ascendance of a Bookworm. (The last book of the series was released in December. The ending is very satisfying.) In April I ran out of English-translated volumes and started on the Japanese volumes, but... I lost the motivation to read consistently.
It was only in August that I picked up the pace again, soon after I bought a bunch of new books at a second-hand store.
The most notable entry of 2023:
"Pride & Prejudice". I finally read the book after all these years! I must have bought it over 10 years ago, but somehow never opened it! I was quite all right. The story is good, but the writing was a bit long-winded, I guess>
"The Longest Memory". I was forced to read it in high school but did not enjoy it back then. Upon rereading the book, I can only say I was too young to appreciate it back then. I think it is actually a pretty good read. Although somewhat depressing.
"Hitler's Daughter". A book that my husband was forced to read in high school. I remember picking it up before, because the title sounded intriguing, but then only reading a chapter or two. Well, I finished it this time, and, it's good.
"The Apothecary Diaries". The latest addition to the list of Japanese light novels I've fallen in love with. It's kind of sucks I'm caught up with the English translations already... either gotta wait for more translated chapters or find out if Japanese ones are floating around.
Other books on 2023's read list are worth mentioning: "The Invisible Library" (Genevieve Cogman), "There is No Dog" (Meg Rosoff), "Papertowns" (John Green), "A Tale of Time City" (Diana Wynne Jones), "Murder at the Bookstore" (Sue Minex), "A Three Dog Problem" (S.J.Bennet) & "The Thursday Murder Club" (Richard Osman).
Have I ever told you I absolutely hate weddings? I absolutely cannot fathom what people like about them. Why do we throw lavish parties just to promise someone that we plan to spend the rest of our life with them! There is absolutely no added value there. They are just an absolute waste of money! Nothing enjoyable about them at all. Long and boring ceremonies, ridiculous speeches that expose every stupid thing you ever did, annoying dress codes, mediocre food... Do I need to go on? I personally don't see the point.
Getting married is one thing, but a wedding...
Do you know what's worse than attending a wedding as a guest?
It's planning a wedding!
And there isn't even anything to plan! Or, rather... There wasn't supposed to be anything to plan! Other than contacting the city hall and getting the legalities of the ceremony sorted.
Ah yes, I'm getting married...
Thankfully my fiancée has always agreed with me that weddings are a waste of money. So it was never going to be a lavish party. Just a small group of guests, a short ceremony, and then dinner in some restaurant. Anything more and I'd probably not survive the day without some kind of meltdown.
To increase my survival rate, the restaurant has turned into "homemade cake and drinks in our living room after the ceremony".
It was all supposed to be simple, but then the questions started coming in. And it started driving me insane! As I feared, people have expectations of what a wedding is supposed to be... and I'm not having it!
What are you going to wear?
I'll probably order some dress online. One I might also wear in daily life. I'm not buying some expensive wedding dress for a 15-minute ceremony and a "reception" in my own living room! (Fiancée is aware of this.)
What's the dress code?
I don't fucking care. Just wear clothes. (Fiancée insisted on at least telling our guests to dress neatly.)
When will you send the (official) Wedding invitation cards?
I'm not sending any! Fuck off! It's a waste of money. You get an email or a text. Deal with it! (Thought we agreed on this, but then Fiancée said he wanted to send a physical card to his parents, because they love cards... After initially refusing to make an exception for such a ridiculous reason, I begrudgingly agreed to let him send invitation cards to our parents. I reminded myself it is his wedding too. I don't get to decide everything by myself. I still think the cards are unnecessary.)
Where are going for your honeymoon?
We're not going on a honeymoon. We're still planning to visit Japan later this year, but that's got nothing to do with the wedding! (Fiancée has been calling our planned trip to Japan a honeymoon since before he even proposed though. It's not! We would still go, even if we weren't getting married.)
By now, every mention of my wedding is sending my anxiety levels through the roof, leaving me instantly exhausted!
This is why I didn't want a wedding ceremony! Just let me sign the paperwork and let's call it a day!
Yes, I get people who have questions. And yes, some of them make sense, but... when an Aunt, who isn't even invited, asked to be sent a wedding invitation card anyway... that blew my fuse! How does that make sense! I'm most definitely not sending invitations to people who aren't invited!
What also doesn't help is the fact that I wasn't given enough time to adjust to the idea of having a wedding. Yes, we originally planned to get married in September, but since my brother (who lives in Japan) was supposed to visit around that time. But when he still hadn't booked his tickets in begin July, I pretty much started assuming we would be delaying the wedding till next year, because time was running short and the city hall likely wouldn't be able to accommodate us on such short notice.
Lo and behold, my brother suddenly booked his plane tickets and somehow the city hall still has two dates available in September. So, a week before I'm to leave on a two-week camping trip my fiancée starts arranging the paperwork to get married in September after all. This is mid-July! We're getting married in the first week of September! I had to fill out the legal paperwork on my phone while camping!
The moment I returned home it was time to start considering what I would be wearing that day. After telling myself over and over again I'd buy something from within the country, I ended up ordering from Yesstyle after all. (Because it's so pretty and not too expensive!) I seem to do this every time a wedding comes up, be it my own or someone else's. I tell myself to get something from within the country, or at least within Europe, but then I end up ordering from Yesstyle after all, because they just always seem to have what I'm looking for. And each time I'll be eating myself up, because the delivery time is gonna cut it really close. So, if the dress doesn't fit, I'm screwed. And the tracking code isn't much use either, as I clearly won't be showing any updates until the package is basically on my doorstep already. (It's been stuck on "prenotification received" for nearly a week now.)
Ugh... best day of your life. Who came up with that! My own wedding is more likely to be the worst day ever, and I'll be glad when it's over.
I'll try to enjoy it, I will. But I fear the worst...
I visited Leiden last Wednesday and I never noticed this before but...
How on earth did a single, roughly 1km long shopping street (Breestraat) end up with 7 bookstores!?
How on earth do all of those stores survive! Sure, some of them specialize in secondhand books and one is a comic book store, but... that's still 7 bookstores competing in a single street!
I only ended up visiting 4 or 5 of them and... I bought only one book I somewhat planned to get. My wallet absolutely hates me now.
Just saying, I was planning to get maybe two (or three) books. Depending on the prices.
Books I was looking for and considered to possibly buy if available:
The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik
Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
Terciel & Elinor by Garth Nix
European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman by Theodora Goss
The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman
Visiting the stores I considered I might want to get:
The Sinister Booksellers of Bath by Garth Nix
Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
What I ended up buying:
There is no dog by Meg Rosoff
Dear Reader by Cathy Rentzenbrink
Scarlet and Ivy: The Lost Twin by Sophie Cleverly
Scarlet and Ivy: The Whispers in the Walls by Sophie Cleverly
Papertowns by John Green
De Aardmagiër by Anne West
By the Grace of the Gods (Book 1-4) by Roy
Books 1-6 are all secondhand books, costing me roughly €6,5 a piece. Which is the only reason I could "afford" to get that many.
De Aardmagiër (#6) the one I sort of planned on getting, but did not expect to find. Owned it (and the other books of the series) at some point in time, but I cannot seem to find them anymore. I suspect one of my siblings may have claimed them. So, I'm trying to collect them again, because I absolutely loved the series as a child. Unfortunately, the books are hard to find.
By the Grace of the Gods I bought because they were priced down and came in at €6,5 a piece as well. I quite enjoyed the anime, so I figured I'd try the light novels.
UPDATE: I finished "The man who Died Twice". I am currently considering to finally pick up and read that copy of "Pride & Prejudice" I bought like 10 years ago and then never touched.
Long overdue, but I finally started cataloging all the books we own... because truly, what's more blissful than leafing through books to check the page count? Or the translator's name? The publisher? (I stopped recording copyright years and edition information at some point because the list got too messy)
To be honest, I decided it was about time after I realized I bought a book I already owned... Still, I'm quite enjoying the process. Leafing through books and recording the information is quite blissful.
And now, after hours of work... I've finally finished listing down all the books... of the first bookcase... A whopping total of 251 books! Oh, and I also cataloged the 7 books floating around my living room! So, that's a list of 258 books in total!
Just 3 more bookcases to go. They admittedly aren't full as the one I started with, but I'm suspecting I'll end up with more than 500 books in total! That's a pretty decent number I suppose. xD
FYI, when I say books, I mean... novels.I have a separate list for all the manga we own. Children's picture books have also not been included in this list (yet). However, there are a few guide bookish books included in the list.
Some notable observations:
We own books in three different languages: Dutch, English & Japanese. (The single French picture book I own is not included on the list yet.)
We do not own a full set of Harry Potter books in any language. In Dutch we miss book 1 & 2. In English we miss book 3 & 4. And in Japanese we miss book 5 to 7. (I'm absolutely sure I owned book 1 & 2 in Dutch, but it seems they went missing at some point. Maybe one of my siblings has them?)
We do have full sets of Lord of the Rings in multiple languages. A full Dutch set and a full English set. We also have doubles of some books.
We own 4 copies of the Hobbit. Two in English, one in Dutch and one in Japanese. (And we also have a graphic novel version!)
I realized I still haven't bought all Narnia books! Even though I said I would... nearly 15 years ago! (I have read all books however, I borrowed them from our public library at some point)
There are roughly 50 books in this bookcase I have not read, but still want to read. About half of them are Agatha Christie books.
The list of books I want to buy has only grown longer! (You evil publisher's, don't add recommendations at the end of a book! You'll make me want to buy more books! I don't have the money for that!)
BONUS: I'm currently reading "The Man who Died Twice" by Richard Osman, which is the second book in the "The Thursday Murder Club" series. I'm only a 100 pages in, but... I absolutely love it! Gotta get the other books of the series too! Seems the fourth book will be released soon.
Hello Riku. I'm trying to buy my first TouMyu stage in about a year, and I cannot no longer make a purpose due to region issues even though I'm using a paid VPN. Any tips? I still have about 1700 DMM points :(
Hey Anon,
I haven't used DMM since the big changes last year, so I'm afraid I don't really have any specific advice.
It appears certain VPNs have been blocked, even paid ones. Some can still pass through, but I cannot tell you which ones from the top of my head. Maybe someone else will be able to tell you which ones still work.
It has been 2 years since Tousute Tenden, and we're still waiting for the engsub title.
Can you please share it with us?
We're really appreciate your effort on translating these masterpiece.
Thank you
Hey Anon,
I understand you are looking forward to the subtitles and really happy to hear that, but as I mentioned in my latest post, I spiraled into burnout sometime last year, and all my translation projects are on hold until further notice.
Since I finished subbing the first half of the show, I have previously considered uploading just the subtitles for the first act, but even that is beyond my mental energy levels right now.
I hope to get back on my feet as soon as possible and finish the subtitles because, in the end, I love the shows and working on them. ^^
Since I had to boot my PC to fill out my yearly tax declaration, I suppose I might as well use this moment to give y'all an update on my life.
The long and short of it, I spiraled down into (what I presume is) a burnout sometime last year and I'm still struggling to get back on the rails. I'm more or less fine, just really tired all day long.
(The persistently terrible weather is not helping! Gimme some sun! I'm like a plant, I need sunlight to survive!)
The days consist of waking up, eating, napping, reading, and gaming. Oh, and chores. Let's not forget the house chores! Anyway, getting anything done at all is a struggle, so I'm cutting corners anywhere I can.
As you may expect, translation projects are very low on the priority list. Frankly, I don't think I've touched any this year yet. As a result, not much has been happening on this blog. I do still check Tumblr once a day, and I will try to answer any asks and messages as soon as possible, but that's really the most I can manage right now. So, if it wasn't clear yet, my subtitle projects are on hold until further notice.
Anyway, to end this update on a positive note, the niece and nephew count increased this month! My younger sister gave birth to another daughter, and my sister-in-law gave birth to a son!
hello, since it's toumyu time what is your opinion about how the new title should be written and its meaning :
花影ゆれる砥水
i went for google's choice of Hanakage yureru tomizu, would you choose the same ?
Hey, super late reply, because I simply couldn't find the time and mental energy to sit down and answer. Thankfully, the weather's good today, so I've got some energy to spare.
花影ゆれる砥水 [Kaei/Hanakage Yureru Tomizu]
I don't entirely agree with Google's provided reading, although I cannot say with absolute certainty it's wrong. 花影 can be read as both Hanakage and Kaei. With Toumyu it's always guessing which reading they'll go with. Until the production clarifies itself, I'm afraid I have no conclusive answer for this one. Hanakage might just be the way to go, because I feel it allows for a wider range of interpretations of the title.
For the meaning,
砥水 (Tomizu) is the water used when sharpening a blade on a whetstone.
ゆれる (Yureru) means something like shaking, swaying, flickering, or dancing.
花影 (Kaei) are shadows cast by flowers, in particular, those of cherry blossom trees. Read as (Hanakage) we can also speak of the reflection of the flowers, in my opinion.
Literally that makes something like,
"The whetstone's water that ripples (in) the shadow cast by the cherry blossoms"
or maybe,
"The reflection of the cherry blossoms swaying (in) the whetstone's water".
It kinda depends on how you look at it.
If I translated it a bit more freely, I'd probably go with,
"The whetstone water rippling under the cherry blossom tree"
for now.
Considering the cast, I suppose we're looking at the influence of Honami Kotoku on Toyotomi Hideyoshi's life, (and the other way around?) I presume that 砥水 (Tomizu) refers to Honami Kotoku('s work) and 花影 (Kaei/Hanakage) could refer to "Toyotomi Hideyoshi"? ゆれる (Yureru) would then indicate the influence they had on each other?
Looks like it's been over a year since I posted something on Twitter! O.O That can't be right, can it? I don't remember ignoring it for that long! Oh well...
And my Riku in Japan Tumblr won't be seeing any use until I visit Japan again. Hopefully sometime this year... Plane tickets are rather expensive at the moment, which sucks.
Random Life Tumblr may come back to life once I have anything substantial to mention.
I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season! And I wish you all the best for the coming year!
While checking last New Year's post, I discovered my new year's resolution for 2022 was apparently to read more books written in Japanese.
Looking at my reading list, I finished 17 Japanese books in 2022! That's quite a lot I suppose? More than I thought at least. I just tore my way through the Japanese light novel releases of Ascendance of a Bookworm, because I couldn't wait for the English releases. I didn't realize I ended up reading that many volumes!
By the way, the total count for 2022 is 80 books! That's more than the 69 books that I read in 2021!
Looking at the list, the majority of the books I read were English releases of Japanese light novels.
Ascendance of a Bookworm (My absolute favorite at this moment. I've been re-reading the volumes a few times too many. And I want to read everything again!)
So I'm a Spider, so what? (Has its up and downs, but mostly ups and I'm really enjoying the series.)
The Saint's Magic Power is Omnipotent (Started really well, but the story kinda hit a wall in the last two volumes, so I'm hoping the story picks up again in the next volume. There's still potential!)
Death March to a Parallel World Rhapsody (Not my genre. I only read the first two volumes, because my boyfriend got them, but not my cup of tea)
Other notable entries on the read list are a few of Naomi Novik's novels. A Deadly Education, The last Graduate... I still need to read the latest novel of the series. I also really enjoyed Spinning Silver.
I also made a start on my large collection of Dutch translations of Agatha Christie's books. I bought a load of them somewhere in June/July at €1 a book, but only finished five. I very much absolutely loved the ones I read though!
Then, as far as New Year's resolutions go:
Let's aim to read 100 books in 2023!
Let's aim to read 20 books in Japanese!
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