Crimson Flower is Moving to WordPress!

New URL:  http://thecrimson-flower.com/

Crimson Flower is moving to WordPress. This move was planned when we were still called Omari's Sister, but the task was so daunting that I kept putting it off. But now that we have so much content, finding series and oneshots using the Blogger platform is nearly impossible. Hopefully the new menu structure and tag cloud will facilitate search and discovery. It turns out that we have done a CRAP TON of oneshots. So if you've only read a few of our oneshot, now's the time to binge for days.

Please leave some feedback on the new blog. Let me know what you like and don't like.

As for this blog, it will be kept open, but there will be no new posts. All new posts will be made to the blog on WordPress.

Another Family Health Emergency -- breaking until April 1st

There's another health emergency in my family. I will be out of town and in a rural area that most likely will not have cellular data for me to access, so I couldn't upload CF projects if I wanted to. I will, however, use the two weeks to read as much unlicensed manga as I can and write up some reviews when I get back. Barring another of the issues, we'll start releasing soon after I get back in April.

I will make an effort to get the "Sabaku no Harem" Lala Special oneshot out this week before I leave. Thank you all in advanced for understanding. I am hoping for the best... but... well. Everyone, cherish you families and remember to call and visit your grandparents.

If there are any specific short series (under 5 volumes) or oneshots that you want me to read, please leave your suggestions in the comments.

New Blog -- Kuroneko's Lovely Mangas

I've decided to make the Crimson Flowers blog a scanlation only blog. Therefore I pulled all the non-scanlation posts over to a new blog and started posting on that blog tonight. The blog is called "Kuroneko's Lovely Mangas". Here's the link. The main focus of this blog will be anime and manga reviews, series and oneshot summaries, and shoujo and josei manga news. The first new post has just been posted here. It covers highlights from Betsuhana issue 1/2015.

January 2014 Statistics and Announcements

January went pretty well. We finished "Magnolia" and "Wild Wing".  I wanted to get some of "Rex Fabula" completed, but I didn't have time to do the translations. However, image editing continued in the background, so progress is being made. Anyhow, here are some statistics from last month:

Top 5 Releases:

1. Magnolia Chapter 38
2. Kanojo ni Naru Hi Another Chapter 2
3. Wild Wing Chapter 4
4. Magnolia Chapter 37
5. Oneshot: Kuma-san to Issho

Top 10 Visiting Countries

1. USA (CA, NY, MA, WA, FL)
2. Canada
3. France
4. Indonesia
5. Germany
6. Malaysia
7. Australia
8. Italy
9. Singapore
10. Russia (Greetings, Russian!)

And now for an announcement:

• I have the "Kanojo ni Naru Hi" Extra chapter from Lala magazine. Unfortunately it was printed in the WORST part of the magazine, so the raw is unusable. We have decided to wait for the "Kanojo ni Naru Hi -- Another" tankoubon in the hope that the extra chapter will be reprinted there.

Banner Submissions -- Don't Steal other Artists' Artwok

I love receiving and using banners from fans. However, I was informed that one of the banners I was using used artwork from an artist who doesn't like her artwork used without her permission.  The person who sent the banner claimed it was their own work and removed the original artist watermark. So... just to be clear... if you are scouring Deviart Art or similar sites for artwork to use in a banner:

1. Make sure to ask permission from the artist before using the image.
2. Please make sure in you e-mail or communication that you tell the artist you are using the image to make a banner for Omari's Sister website.
3. Do not remove any of the artist's watermarks.
4. When you send banners to me, please tell me where the original artwork came from.  Please include a link or an e-mail address so I can verify the origin and clear permissions.

If you are confused about what is "your" artwork or creation, here are some questions to ask yourself.

1. Did I draw or paint the base image myself? Yes -- It's yours, No -- It's not your, clear permissions and credit the artist.
2. Did I find some artwork I like and then altered the image by cropping, applying filters, and adding other artistic elements? Yes -- the base image is not yours. Clear permissions and credit the artist.  

(Yes, I see the irony in all this... but just do it.)

Thank you for Taking the Oneshot Survey!

Thanks to all of you who gave us your input on your favorite mangaka. It looks like my instincts are on track and we are well on the way to preparing a nice selection of oneshots for the 4th anniversary of Omari's Sister and the rest of 2013.

Our plan is to release complete collections of oneshots from our favorite mangaka. This means we will do our own versions of oneshots that may have already been released along with some that have never been released in English. I know some of you don't like that, and I invite you not to read oneshots you've already read if it bothers you that much (In other words, please don't send me nasty-grams. They will fall upon deaf ears and I will ban you from commenting and blacklist your e-mail address.). However, I feel that we have good reasons do our own versions.  Here are some of them:

• Many of the older oneshots are not easily available on the internet because the group closed and the group's website is gone.
• The closure of Mega Uploads disappeared a lot of oneshots.
• Some groups do not allow non-English retranslations, and we have partners who want to translate particular oneshot into their own language.
• Some of the oneshots will be done from the tankoubon instead of a the magazine = high quality images!
• I've never read any of these oneshots completely.
• It would be weird have an incomplete of set of oneshots.
• I truly love the work this group produces and we should do whatever beautiful thing we like :3
• To hell with the unspoken "no duplication rule" amongst shoujo groups.

We wouldn't be releasing our own version of oneshots unless we felt we had some value to offer. Still, if you don't like repeats, then feel free to ignore the oneshots you've already read.

Moving on... I have all of the issues of Lala, Lala DX, Lala Specials, Hana to Yume,  and The Hana to Yume released since July 2007 (they occupy a room in my house).  I spent several days collecting the raws for all of the oneshots from our favorite mangaka. Our collection will be extensive and this project will never be completed :3.  Haha! That means it will be an ongoing project as mangaka continue to create.

Our first focus will be on relatively new favorites Nao Tsukiji and Mika Kajiyama. Then in June we will turn our attention to Hakusensha's mangaka.

New Series Announcements

These 3 series wrap up our Spring and Summer new Series Announcements! They, along with the other 3 projects we've announce, will start this month or in April as we complete "Furou Kyoudai" and "Kemono Kingdom: Zoo". We've already begun working on these series and they have enough support within the group, so they've got momentum.

 "LLLL" is 1 volume (4 chapter) supernatural series.

"Nanatsu no Kururi" is a 2 volume series from josei magazine "Itan". I'm still trying to decide whether to release in on OS or Bakeneko's Lair.

"Gensou Kajin" is a 2 volume short series that I've been lusting after for a while, but I've kept on the back burner because it's challenging in every way. But I think it's worth the time and effort, and I look forward to working on it (I imagine this will mainly be a Kuroneko003 production since I can't bring myself to ask anyone else in the group to share the pain.)

We've also got some oneshot compilations lined up for our June/July 4th anniversary party (Take the survey to help us prioritize the oneshot release schedule). W00t! And that wraps up plans for the next 6 months! And this nearly completes our transition to being a short series/oneshot group ("Magnolia" and "Pochamani" will be our only indefinite series going forward.) If you'd like volunteer for Omari's Sister to help us get these series and oneshots out, please see our recruitment notice (LINK)

Not Happening New Project Announcement: "Boukyaku no Shirushi to Hime"

Sorry folks. Basically the effort to do this short series fell apart.  It's too cute (in a very juvenile sense) and the amount of effort needed to put into can't be justified in the face of other projects. We're very burnt out on difficult redraws. Hopefully a shoujo group that skews towards a younger audience will pick this series up. If you are interested, a one person "group" translated chapter 1.

No worries though, we've got "Megane no Incubus" and "Kurogane Girl" coming at you very soon :). We're also resuming "Wild Wing" and we've got two short Mika Kajiyama projects, in addition to "Ore to Atashi no Kareshi-sama" coming soon. Hopefully this basket of goodies will make up for the disappointment.

Now that we've got a translator working on it, I can announce this new project:

"Boukyaku no Shirushi to Hime" (literally "Decapitated Head of Forgetfulness and the Princess" -- we'll work on a better title translation) -- It's two volumes volumes long and we will be releasing it monthly starting this month ("Fushigi no Maria-kun" allowing, of course.)

Announcement: "Pochamani" Volume 2 Tankoubon Coming out After March

Much to my disappointment, "Pochamani" Volume 2 isn't coming out in March, which moves the soonest it could come out to April. We have enough tankoubon chapters to last until March with monthly releases.  I do have the magazine versions, but Hana to Yume print quality ranges from pure crap to medium.  I don't want to compromise the quality we've got from the tankoubon, but at the same time, I know there are some of you who really don't give a crap about the translation or image quality and just want anything now, first, (because you're DYING).  Now that I’ve written this,  I realize I don't care about the "fans" who don't give crap, because "fans who don't give a crap" is an oxymoron. Hopefully, the tankoubon will be released in April and this won't be a problem, but if it comes later, unless the raw is medium quality, we will resume "Pochamani" when we get the volume 2 tankoubon. Yes, and "Pochamani" will be presented in high quality loveliness as it should :3 (Though I would feel bad if some people chose to look at crap scanlations because they couldn't wait... but those are those people's eyeballs and those people are sad children with no impulse control.)

Akagami no Shirayukihime has been Transferred to Fallen Syndicate

Well, that was quick! Yes, we are transferring "Akagami no Shirayukihime" to our friends at Fallen Syndicate.  The transfer is immediate, meaning they will handle the release of chapters 35 - 37 using our translations and high quality raws.  After that, we will have no further involvement in the series. As for Akidzuki Sorata's future one-shots, they will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. We do know there are other groups who like Sorata-sensei's stories more than we do, so I think we would wait and see if those group translate the one-shots before taking any one of them on.

We realize we are moving on from our most popular series, but popularity and hits were never our goal, and honestly AnS popularity had become a burden. We felt we couldn't drop the series earlier because we feared the wrath of fandom.  Unfortunately, this led to resentment and hate towards a series.  As a scanlator doing this as a hobby for free using the money out of my own pocket, it's very stressful to dread working on a series.  This is supposed to be fun, and working on AnS hasn't been fun for me since the pirate arc ended. 

I want to thank everyone who's supported the series so far. I was hoping we'd get to the finish the series, but my hopes were dashed after AnS was transferred to Lala.  This is a double edged sword.  It's great that AnS can go on indefinitely, but at the same time it's horrible AnS can go on indefinitely. Unfortunately, for us in the US, the longer a series runs, the more unlikely it is the series will be licensed.  Also, series that run on indefinitely usually fizzle out rather than ending in a satisfying matter.  I hope AnS ends on a strong note.

Now that the transfer is set, please support Fallen Syndicate's efforts.  If you only visited Omari's Sister for AnS, we encourage you to try some of our other series, though I admit since AnS was never really our style, our other series and one-shots are nothing like it.  Haha!  Everyone else, please stick around for the future.  We have some great new series and one-shots waiting in the wings and we will be resuming some neglected series very soon ("The Ghost Apartment Manager" and "Zoo"!!!)