Back then where I only read Jp WN with its irregular update... We accept it with open heart on whatever translator feed us... 3 month? Still no update? We still have faith on translator until he/she tell us his/her difficulty (nowdays the update stop few days... Someone already spam a thread fearing translator drop the series)
I started reading translated novels even though i don't know that they're translated novels. I started really researching this stuff when i learned that SAO was from a light novel. Didn't read it tho.
Hurr..... You know, there used to be a time when there were no aggregators; no big sites for translations of any kind. Our kind dwelt in the hidden caverns of the internet.... BBS boards, at first, way back in the days; even before I was active. Point is, the people involved were incredibly few. I had just gotten interested in manga when this was going on; I was still a brat. By the time I ran out of Swedish translations, I asked my dear father if he knew how to get more; he supplied me with some, here and there. It was the reason I became as proficient in English as I am. I lost interest for a couple years, and by the time I started reading again, the scene had blown up something fierce. Still no real content aggregators, though. But MSN groups dedicated to scanlations had started showing up, and the quality had a meteoric rise. No more misunderstanding a chapter entirely, or missing words.... Or just empty chat bubbles (which was the fucking worst when it happened. Why the fuck would you spread that chapter around, if you just couldnt be arsed translated everything? Fuck you, I hope you get an aneurysm, whoever you are). If I remember correctly, this was around the time One Piece had just reach the Skypiea arc, or not that far into it at least. It was also a couple months after that, that the companies first started causing trouble for people. DMCA takedowns and such. It was the worst when a group of high quality scanlators got taken out, because often, they were the only ones for that series; once their group was shut down, if they didn't start another one up, or you couldn't find them again, you'd lose everything. In the end, once the MSN groups died down, real sites dedicated to it started showing up. I was only a leecher, though, so as for the goings on, and how it all came about, I can't really say. I kept reading manga and watching anime, and in the end, one day.... I stumbled over baka-tsuki. It was still in its infancy at the time; I don't even remember which novel it was that I read first. It didn't hook me, though, so I left. When I stumbled over it again, it had grown rather fiercely. I started reading through novels based on IPs I recognized, and now I'm here. Well, that's it. Take it with a grain of salt though; this is just from memory, after all. I'm sure the timeline is all messed up.
Brother! I'm the same, though not anymore since the update low and the flow of the stoey became predictable~
Lol remember the good old days, was it high school? Mine was definitely Tate no Yuusha. Then I kinda lost count at how many and what comes after what anymore. Well, its only a few years later that I found NU. Baka tsuki was my lifeline 4 novels then but guess not anymore XD. I don't really care CN, JN, or KN anymore. As long as I have novels to read, my day is brighten up.
The first one I read was "a certain magical index" followed by "utsuro no hako to zero no maria" and then "sword art online" on baka tsuki.
I started from anime and soon there weren't anymore to follow. I went to manga to further explore my fantasies. My luck wasn't overly good because the first novel I tried to read wasn't any good, and this kept me from novels for a period of time until I met LMS and Coiling dragon. I read it as if I was in a trance. It was back in the days of Spcnet, where now people only go for the old wuxia novels. Now without reading any updates on my novels, I feel a tinge of anxiety. This tells me that I am badly addicted.
This was way further back than spcnet. I'm not really clear on when spcnet came about, but BBS boards were basically the start of what is the web. I'm actually very curious about how my father went about getting me the manga that he did manage to get; transferring images back then wasn't something too easy, you know. Besides the costs for data usage, and the occupied phone line, the speeds were...... yeah >_> He went through a lot of effort just to satisfy his kids hobby. I love my father dearly for all the effort he put in.
Ahh...let me see... i started reading LN on baka-tsuki since 2008 when i heard that baka to test was published on the site but was focused more on manga/s and anime. around 2009 was when i alternated between manga,anime, and LNs when Chromed Shell Regios came around then this continued on until 2012 when i heard on Batoto forums about SPCNET.. where i read Jean's translation on "a step into the past" then "the deer and the cauldron"... but the hook line and sinker was when he-man translated stellar transformation followed by Ren translating Coiling Dragon.. and the rest was history~ <3 but still lurks from when ren started wuxia world until now xD
I first started on baka tsuki with campione and then I started branching out I pretty much read the interesting ones and watched the anime and compared them. I was disappointed many a time
Discovering them for the first time is a memory that'll never fade. It was a true "Jackpot!" moment. Everything is so.... convenient these days, ain't it? You can just google anything, and there'll be a site for it. Used to be you had to fight for your manga and anime, your movies and comics.... These brats don't know what they have... or how much pain we had to go through to get it for them
lol yes at the same time i'm SO grateful things are easier these days ;n; back then i connected to the internet through a telephone line, so if the phone rang i was screwed xD and i saved my pics and info in floppy discs, because my pc was slow and old and with small memory and shared and it didn't have a cd recorder, and my countryside connection wasn't the best either, loading pages with too much animations made it get stuck with loading for 20 mins or more... heck, no wonder i have anxiety issues now. so now i can google things in my mobile and save stuff in mini SDs and i can read all i want wherever i am, mostly, and google translate HAS improved somewhat since back then too, so if you can find the raws of whatever story you need to find, then you can spoil yourself a bit. ah, yes, life has gotten better.
I don't know if life has gotten "better", though. I would use the phrase "more convenient" instead. Certainly it's a lot less stressful than it used to be. But at the same time, the Wild West days of the internet were certainly a more satisfying time. I don't think most have realised it yet, how much the internet has truly changed society. Those of us old enough to have been around when the internet wasn't a thing, or was only just coming out, are the only ones who truly know. When fogeys use the words "new world" to describe the information age, kids dont get it. They don't understand those words are in no way exaggerated. The internet fundamentally changed the world and society. And humanity still hasn't adapted. We're still in the confusion stage; most people were around back before the net, and we can't quite adapt. It won't be over until the generations grown up with *this* internet are the majority. When those of us who were around at the start are gone. For now, I don't even know if we'll survive this new era. It's pretty scary. Well, that's just how I feel tho. Hope the kids manage to fix the world we old people left for them :d
i'm the kind who hides in this new online world, tbh. but yes, the world is so dependant now of the internet it is a bit scary. i mean, i use the web mainly to read or watch stuff, but now business and important matters and some levels of education and many services can be handled online and idk how to feel about that. in my country even some comercial receipts have to be handled online, and that's stupid because it forces small beginning business to hire someone/a company to help them settle and handle these things. like people are trying to live fully through the internet. (i don't really blame them, it's fucking fun and convenient) (the best drug)