Interview #8: Hachimitsu Scans

[mochi]

Hachimitsu’s works were among the first that hooked me up to manga back then. I didn't imagine it was a one-person team! That's quite astonishing, considering how much work you put into all those series.
Heartfelt thank'you!

 

[Echo13243]

Holy crap @Tooko you've been doing this yourself the entire time? Hachimitsu Scans was the reason I got into reading manga and then eventually working with a group to scanlate as well. I can't believe that group working on all my favorite series is just one person with a ton of dedication, so I can't thank you enough for doing what you do.

Also have you ever considered receiving help with editing and such? I can't imagine what it's like doing so much for so long without backup (though you do take breaks, so as long as you're not breaking your back over it, you do you I guess)

 

[Tooko]

@Echo13243
Other than when I have done joints in the past, I prefer to work alone because I can set my own schedule. Similar to what _anq said in their interview, there’s a certain freedom from working alone, and as I am very particular about my releases, it’s just easier on me to do it alone. That’s not to say there haven’t been times I’ve lamented that I’ve had to do difficult redraws by myself, but that stuff is more time consuming than anything else. Besides, one of my main reasons to getting into scanlation was translation, and that’s something I would never yield to someone else, but that’s par for the course for any translator.

 

[noh3face]

@Tooko I didn't know you were solo! That makes you even cooler. Just wanted to thank you for ruining my life. I've been following you ever since you started pretty much and my love for josou has ruined me. Thanks 😉. Also thank you for all your hard work!!

 

[teriguu]

Tooko you’re a friggin legend. Hands down. Lacking words.

 

[MentatRadnor]

@Tooko Thanks for all your hard work over the years! I wonder how many hundreds of times I've seen that honey picture by now.

I'm glad you mentioned Higashimura's Yukibana no Tora (https://mangadex.org/title/16620/yukibana-no-tora), I keep checking on it hoping that someone will pick the series up. Maybe it will catch a scanlator's attention thanks to this interview. The raws are so pretty!

 

[felini]

Thank you for your work. Specially kuragehime and moyashimon. 😌

 

[TyrannisMorrisette]

I've been reading your stuff for ages, Kuragehime is one of my favorite manga of all time and I never would have heard of it if not for you. Thank you for all your hard work over the years! I'm always blown away by the quality of your releases.

 

[Nylodale]

Thank you very much, @Tooko, for your large and constant work on Gender Bend manga! We all appreciate it a lot. Your translation works have personally opened doors to a brand new world, and it has influenced me for the better.

I wanted to ask something. I've felt the last few months to be very slow and weak for the Gender Bend manga genre. I started reading this genre a year or so ago. Is it generally this slow? Or did it slow down recently? Is the Gender Bend genre a lot more lively on the Japanese sphere?
Sorry. I'm probably just starved for something new, but I really do want to know.

 

[GarryError]

I love you so much <3

 

[Tooko]

@Nylodale
I alluded to this in the interview, but the number and variety of (good) gender bender manga has declined fairly heavily over the past few years, except for the occasional gem that pops up out of no where. I know that there are other groups doing relatively new series (as in released in the past year) like:
-https://mangadex.org/title/23263/trap-heroine
-https://mangadex.org/title/24702/my-wife-is-a-man
-https://mangadex.org/title/31005/jo...oto-ni-natteru-nekura-to-yankee-ryou-kataomoi
-https://mangadex.org/title/30170/amachin-wa-jishou
-https://mangadex.org/title/32397/naturally-crossdressing-boy

But as for really new series from this year, I don't really know of any, at least none that are being scanlated. It's kind of a shame you weren't reading the genre back in its heyday c. 2010-2013, when there were a vast number of individual series being produced and scanlated. Although things had been declining somewhat since the boom year of 2010, 2014 was really when it started in earnest, since I can only remember a handful of new (good) series every year since then. However, 2018 actually had a lot of new series (I myself picked up 4 gender bender manga that started serialization last year, in addition to a few web comics from pixiv/Twitter), so it goes in cycles with some years being relatively slow, and others having a lot. 2015 was another pretty good year for it, come to think of it. Besides, it was never really that saturated of a genre to begin with, at least historically speaking.

 

[Thaa]

Thanks a lot for all the series you've worked on @Tooko ! Hachimitsu is one of the first groups I remember following way back after I started getting into manga around 2010/2011 and I got to discover quite a few gems thanks to you.
- Have you noticed a change/evolution on how gender themes have been treated over the years ?
- Have you ever considered picking up Nicoichi by Kindaichi Renjuurou ?

 

[Nylodale]

Thank you for answering my question, @Tooko! It really is a shame that I wasn't there back in 2010. I follow almost all of the relatively new series, since I check the Gender Bend tag regularly for new releases, but I'm probably still missing a lot of the older series.

Your guidance was really helpful. I'm looking forward for more of your translation works!

 

[LineaR]

I've been always a fan of your works since 2012!! I never realized that you're just one guy holy hell!! Your translation had always come close to my tastes and whenever you released something i would always read it first!! Thanks for your hard work of all these years and thanks for your dedication to deliver these good gender based mangas!! You're actually the one who got me hooked into Gender-bend lol, not that I'm complaining!

 

[Tooko]

@Thaa
The one major change I noticed was that publishers started releasing autobiographies of trans individuals. Although there may have been others in the past I’m not aware of, it seemed like all of a sudden there were several being released all at once by various publishers. This makes it seem like the topic is starting to be taken more seriously now instead of just being geared towards comedy or sexual representations in fiction, although there’s plenty of that still. In line with this, there started to be more serious fictional manga about the topic, just some of which I’ve done over the years.

As for Nicoichi, I’ve been recommended that a number of times, but I’m simply not interested in working on it as a project.

 

[Vertzi]

Holy-
A one person team??
I've always thought that there were a bunch of people working there!!

I've read so many of the projects you've worked on for years, it never occurred to me to actually look into the group a bit more!!

I always knew that when I see the good old honey wand scanalation page, I'm in for a treat.
Thank you for all the hard work, I appreciate what you do! 😊

 

[thirdworldpcgamer]

Thanks for your hard work @Tooko

Been a fan of Hachimitsu's focus on gender themed manga. I wish more scanlation groups do this for other themes as well

 

[MrEthelWulf]

@Tooko

Really loved your perspective on Gender Issues. Just as I was reading this piece, I came to realise that I've read a lot of work translated by you. For which I'm really grateful! Thanks for your work and dedication in bringing us such good manga.

Also, I know you don't take requests, but there is a crossdressing manga which was dropped by the then scanlators for whatever reason. I really liked the story and it stopped at a blue balling situation. Can you have a look at it? It's Nicoichi.
https://mangadex.org/manga/4020/

 

[Kuki]

@Tooko because of your work, I am now an Otokonoko and my friend refuse to go conventions with me. But I do not regret.

 

[Tooko]

@MrEthelWulf
I do accept recommendations on rare occasions, but Nicoichi is a series I have no interest in working on.