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REVIEW: By the Grace of the Gods vol. 1-3




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LegitPancake



Joined: 26 Jun 2017
Posts: 1311
Location: Texas, USA
PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 3:52 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
What's a little different here is that writer, Roy, apparently isn't native Japanese; he mentions moving to Japan and being shaky about the language in the Afterword of the first volume, and further comments that he originally started writing as a tool to remedy social isolation, rather than because he actually aspired to be a novelist.

I wonder if this is a mistranslation or I'm missing something, but on amazon JP, the author description says something like "Roy was born and raised in Japan, and he moved to the United States 10 years ago aiming to become a game creator. Currently working part-time and job hunting in parallel with writing activities." So maybe he recently moved back to Japan and felt his Japanese may be rusty? Idk.
Anyways, I enjoyed the Funimation sneak peek of the first episode, and I'm interested in reading the novels someday.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3592
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:08 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
What's a little different here is that writer, Roy, apparently isn't native Japanese; he mentions moving to Japan and being shaky about the language in the Afterword of the first volume, and further comments that he originally started writing as a tool to remedy social isolation, rather than because he actually aspired to be a novelist.

...Perhaps you might want go back and read the afterword again, because that's NOT what it says at all. He moved overseas from Japan, and there suffered cultural differences, language barriers, and loneliness.

Otherwise a nice review, but that's a major reading fail...

@LegitPancake Not a mistranslation, the afterword is translated correctly, just a reading failure by the reviewer..
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18519
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 4:32 pm Reply with quote
Blanchimont wrote:
Quote:
What's a little different here is that writer, Roy, apparently isn't native Japanese; he mentions moving to Japan and being shaky about the language in the Afterword of the first volume, and further comments that he originally started writing as a tool to remedy social isolation, rather than because he actually aspired to be a novelist.

...Perhaps you might want go back and read the afterword again, because that's NOT what it says at all. He moved overseas from Japan, and there suffered cultural differences, language barriers, and loneliness.

Otherwise a nice review, but that's a major reading fail...

Sorry, no. It never says in the novel that he moved overseas from Japan, just that he "moved overseas." Given that he's using an English-sounding name, I don't at all think you can automatically infer that he is native Japanese moving to a non-Japanese country.

Below is an exact quote from the relevant Afterword:
Quote:
Having moved overseas, I was struggling with language barriers and cultural differences; the passing of time leaving me estranged from my friends and feeling lonely. When I look back on it now, I could have just used Facebook or some other kind of social media. However, I didn’t use anything like that and, for some reason, submitted works to Shousetsuka ni Narou instead.

I hope I get some comments. Will I be able to reply to them properly in Japanese? That was how I saw my work as a means of communication.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3592
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:04 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
Sorry, no. It never says in the novel that he moved overseas from Japan, just that he "moved overseas." Given that he's using an English-sounding name, I don't at all think you can automatically infer that he is native Japanese moving to a non-Japanese country.

Uh, perhaps you should direct that advice to Theron as well, as he clearly states this;
Quote:
he mentions moving to Japan
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
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Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 5:31 pm Reply with quote
Blanchimont wrote:
Uh, perhaps you should direct that advice to Theron as well, as he clearly states this;
Quote:
he mentions moving to Japan

Point taken; that was inferred rather than stated directly.

If there are are other sources out there that make it clearer that he was talking about a move to the U.S. then yeah, I'll admit that the inference described in the review was wrong. However, I will absolutely dispute that the Afterword alone makes that clear.
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Joa



Joined: 25 Jul 2015
Posts: 99
PostPosted: Thu Jul 30, 2020 9:52 pm Reply with quote
I think the translated afterword is just badly worded. Based on the Japanese afterword, what he's saying is that he started writing on Narou because he wanted to have Japanese interactions since he had trouble interacting with people in his new country.
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