Archives: Torch Song Ecology

777-Triple Seven- Phase 3: Party juseyo!

Hello, I’m Hatsumi, better known as Hats/Hatsu/Mimi and Stiletto Heels’ machismo Admin slash Head Translator. In reality, I’m just an oddball who went to sleep with headphones and a pair of dusty New Balance sneakers on. If it wasn’t for that darn water bug that went stealth ninja mode in my bedroom!

Water bugs occasionally sneak into our house during the summer. One was crawling its way toward my bed. My ears still twitch from remembering the sound of it rustling over the loose mail that was scattered on the carpet. *rubs ears* When I turned on the lamp, it disappeared. When I turned it off, it creeped back. By the fourth time, to my horror, it was gone without a trace. I glanced at my alarm clock – 4 AM! My eyes were like washed up sandbags. I was drooping over the side of the bed from exhaustion. So as a precaution I shimmied my feet into my sneakers and put my headphones on to cover my ears and went to sleep. I figured it couldn’t burrow its way into my ears if I didn’t wake up, but if I did, I’d at least have my shoes on to stomp the hell out of it.

Yep, that’s me. And I’m supposed to be in charge of this team? Hah. More like everyone ELSE here is helping making me look like I’m doing a decent job. Thanks, Team.

You’re next

Last weekend, my younger brother got married. He invited friends and family over to celebrate. The wedding was decided only a month ago so we had to organize it in a rush. My mother, who can’t handle stress, almost went mad with worry but our efforts paid off. It was beautiful. However, I have to admit that I could do without all the hints that I should be the next to be getting married. Our family is catholic so we were raised with the idea that everyone should aspire to marriage and children, preferably in that order and before the age of thirty. That’s why, ever since I passed the age of twenty-five, the allusions have become frequent. My father usually goes for relative subtlety but my mother, more straightforward, prefers implying very directly that the life I lead is worthless because I haven’t made the same choices as her. My sister-in-law has inadvertently made things worse. I love her. She’s a cheerful and straightforward person and I miss her when she’s not there. However, she keeps teasing me by repeating “You’re next!” with a laugh and I don’t think she realizes it doesn’t amuse me at all.

Speaking of the wedding, one of the highlights of the night was

When it rains, it pours

Since this is my first post, in lieu of an introduction, let me share one of my tribulations with you. A few weeks ago, towards the end of August, I had the chance to go on a trip in Canada. Let me tell you, backpacking in British Columbia is an amazing experience. Definitely on the “list of things to do before you die”. That being said, it’s probably more enjoyable when said backpack is something more than a small carry-on luggage, as was the case for me. When I landed in Vancouver, I had the pleasure to find out that my suitcase “had been delayed”, as the airline put it. Since they handed me $100 and told me it would be delivered on the following day at my hotel, I thought it was not so bad. However, the day came, then the night, and there was still no suitcase. And while Vancouver is an amazing city, in which I would love living for a while, there is a lot more to see in BC, which is why I decided to go on with the tour I had planned.

So that’s how I ended up travelling around Vancouver Island for almost ten days with next to nothing with me. On the bright side of things, I got to visit the local laundromats, which I wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t needed clean clothes so badly. Waiting under the inquisite glances the local women threw at me was a wonderfully weird experience I’m not likely to forget anytime soon. All in all, I had a great time and I like travelling light anyway, but as I wrote to Hats, I probably never felt more accurately how little we need to survive.

Now, on to the releases:

Ane no Kekkon ch.9 – I will only say one thing: I don’t think Yori’s tactic will work.

Torch Song ch.3 – New chapter of Torch Song Ecology!

And to finish, an important announcement:

We opened our new forum a few weeks ago. Thanks to Lilanar and Hats’ hard work, it looks pretty good so feel free to come discuss our projects and get to know us better.

“Day before yesterday I saw a rabbit, and yesterday a deer, and today, you.”

It was a lukewarm, sluggish Tuesday afternoon. The kind where chins rest heavy on elbows, and eyes gaze dreamily out the expanding window toward puffy, white clouds that resemble rabbits one moment and deer the next. Lou Reed’s Coney Island Baby drifted lazily from the stereo speakers on my writing desk. A rustle of a whey yellow caught the corner of my eye. I turned and found my best friend leaning over me, one arm gripping the back of my chair, while the other held onto her sun hat, which rested quietly against her leg. Her head was bent slightly in amused concentration.

“What are you listening to?” she said.

“A song,” I said.

“What song is that?” she said.

“Coney Island Baby, I said.

“Never heard of it,” she said.

“Not many people do,” I said.

“But remember the princess who lived on the hill
Who loved you even though she knew you was wrong
And right now she just might come shining through
and the –

– Glory of love, glory of love
glory of love, just might come through”

I expected her interest to immediately shrivel and for her to leave, but she didn’t. I hesitated, thinking she would yank me up by the arm and twirl me away like Lien and Hai in The Vertical Ray of the Sun, but she didn’t. We just quietly bend our ears. I yawned and rested my chin in hand once again, ready to stir up visions in the clouds. Clouds that looked like rabbits one day, deer another.

In the windowpane, as if dissolved into the animal-mold clouds, was her tender, white reflection.

The song ended, the phone rang somewhere, she dissolved into the living room, and I remembered that it was time to queue in the releases. You’d be lucky to know where the title of this post comes from. Remember: It’s the original author’s first name. Do not forget. Google it. It will come in handy in time for reading.

I wouldn’t have known of this beautiful story if not for Rahxephon and my love of all things mecha when I was a teenager. Thank you, otaku boyfriend, thank you. Today made me remember the fragility of time and of this compassionate love story.

It’s already fall, but it still feels like summer.

– & (and) v2, ch.8: Okay, I have to say, this is totally NSFW. But finally, an adult romance portrayed with all the clumsiness, awkwardness, and vulnerability without being gratuitous or just plain stupid smut (where limbs are bent in all sorts of weird positions)! Still, it sure gave me and Lilanar a WTH?!@#$*%! moment, and I’m sure you won’t escape punishment either.

– Ane no Kekkon v1, ch.5: I felt my heart squeeze over the exchange Maki and Yori had in the library. Quite a stark contrast from the first chapter, where one had to suspend a little belief at the circumstances momentarily. I think this is going to get even uglier. It’s that broiling, anxious feeling you get from watching a trapeze artist fly off the pedestal board toward a swinging trapeze bar.
***NOTE: A slight hiccup during Quality Control. This chapter is actually missing a page. Unintentionally, of course. We’ll re-post this chapter with all the pages intact shortly.

– Torch Song Ecology v1, ch.2: Only the second chapter, and I feel already that the Ikuemi Ryo trademark has lived up to its reputation once again. Of course, the general atmosphere is dark and seething, reminiscent of Kiyoku Yawaku’s later chapters but a very, very different tone from her recent shoujo, Principal. I’m not sure how she’s able to gravitate between these two series without being a little bipolar.

In Celebration of Our 4-Year Anniversary: The Legend of “Steamy Heels”

July 31, 2013 marked four years of scanlation for the team. ┗(｀ー´)┓ ┏(｀ー´)┛ Let’s hope we’ll be able to keep going for another four! In celebration of our anniversary, I’d like to present a fairy tale for you. One that brings wonder, excitement, havoc and mayhem, and of course, many releases too!

[strums lute]

Once upon a time in a faraway land called the Kingdom of Steamy Heels, there was a lonely queen named Stiletto, who had an insatiable love for Josei. In order to feed her desires, she locked up a group of editors, proofreaders and translators in an extremely high tower with doors made of fire, and placed creatures called Josei-a-fans to guard the doors. These Josei-a-fans were infamous for traveling together like a swarm of locusts. Faceless and shapeless, they took the form of a cloud of dust, and whenever a work of art was created, they would swarm up and snatch it away for Queen Stiletto’s vault, leaving only a trail of Critique bugs in their place.

The editors who were trapped in this tower were forced to dream up art, and the proofreaders and translators writing, but the amalgamation of individuality created havoc within the tower, and it become a warzone of mismatched pieces and disconnected thoughts. With nothing but Critique bugs to feed their hunger, the editors, proofreadres, and translators became increasingly depressed.

The longtime editors were beginning to feel their limitations: katamari began karaoking to Beyonce (“Bey”) videos in her head; amatsu’sendless smiles and Go-and-get-’em attitude was beginning to lose its fizz; Kelpie and pirato4ka, who both felt largely ignored, began slowly disappearing; Flapper Girl’s mind was occupied with ’30s starlets, Gatsby, and hair jewelry;Lilanar of Dustbowlia, unable to control her daydreaming, would crowd the room with her wild imaginations, which belly-danced their way to life, disrupting everyone’s concentration; and Mine-of-Lauva, remained huddled up in her corner of the tower, suffering from tea withdrawal, muttering the words, “J’ai besoin de thé. J’ai besoin de thé. J’ai besoin de thé.” (But alas! Nobody could understand her, for she was from the Kingdom of Lauva.) The other editors, shuyiin, stellar, Gypsie, Jenn, Ivy, Gazechic, Betakoi, and SwirlyOwl could only look on in despair.

The translators and proofreaders suffered no less: Mimi, bubblesinmysuitcase, otaku_mel, octopus, Mo, niflheim, Miwachan, badtzphoto, kiraxjinwood and cheesecrayon spent the better part of their days fending off the attacks of the evil, script-eating creatures called Mangiwi and Kiwango, who were able to penetrate the towers through their distortion of shadows.

After several years trapped in the tower, these prisoners lamented their fate, but resigned themselves to it and continued to dream up their art and scribble away at their writing, while the Josei-a-fans continued cloud-dust-snatching their work to store in the vault, and leaving behind Critique bugs in their feeding bowl.

But as the days and months and years wore on, the Josei-a-fan guards began to notice the editors, proofreaders and translators. A few of them even fell in love. These ones began to gather up secretly and band together to train to free the imprisoned occupants of the tower. When the day for another Giant Raid finally came, the changed Josei-a-fans separated themselves from their usual swarm of yellow dust of Critique-bug-planting Josei-afans and raced to block their newfound enemies’ ways.

“What are you doing? Get out of our way!” their former partners shouted.

“Over our dead bodies!” the changed Josei-a-fans replied.

In the fierce melee that ensued the changed Josei-a-fans overpowered their enemies and turned out as victors, thus able to free the imprisoned editors, proofreaders, and translators, and destroy Queen Stiletto’s vault, removing all of the stories from within, so that every citizen of Steamy Heels would be able to experience in these exquisite delights:

Delight# 01: 3 AM Dangerous Zone v2, ch.9
Delight# 02: Ane no Kekkon v1, ch.4
Delight# 03: Kiyoku Yawaku v2, Act 3a
Delight# 04: Nigeru Otoko ch.5 — FINAL CHAPTER!!!
Delight# 05: Nobody Cry Story, ch.1 *new*
Delight# 06: Principal v3, ch.9
Delight# 07: Principal v3, ch.10
Delight# 08: Principal v3, ch.11
Delight# 09: Sekine’s Love v3, ch.14
Delight# 10: Torch Song Ecology v1, ch.1 *new*

P.S. An innocent typo from our new typesetter, Gypsie, gave birth to this story. So Gypsie, thank you for sending in an application wanting to join “Stiletto Steam.” And though you are probably clutching at your head going, “No, why’d you tell?!(;*´Д`)ﾉ”, we’d just like to say that we really did appreciate it. ^(#｀∀´)_Ψ

P.P.S. There were many more chapters planned, which did not fall through because of my deteriorating health. (I was down with a fever yesterday and could not finish checking over everything.) I’d just like to say that I appreciate all you loyal readers. We are working hard on more chapters from seemingly dead projects such as Futago, Heartbroken Chocolatier, Tokyo Alice, and Toribako House, along with new projects as well. We hope you will be patient and will continue popping up to check on us from time to time.