Original Japanese text from Kuwabara Mizuna's official site. A Divine Red short with special appearances by Takaya and Naoe written by sensei in February 2000 for the "Uesugi Domain Goyoutashi" (no idea what that is)

Japanese to English translation by me.

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The topic: "A Certain Samegao Castle at Arai City shall be hosting the festival known as 'The Legend of Echigo's Wild Kagetora - The Winter Encampment' it seems, and apparently there is going to be a play about Kagetora during the festival."

( For more silliness )
Happy New Year!
With 25 more chapters to go (MoB Vols. 17-19), I hope to finish translating the Karin arc before the end of 2010.

Original Japanese text from Kuwabara Mizuna's official site. Sensei wrote four "petit novels" for her site's third anniversary in 2007 based on Divine Red, ILEGENES, Schwarz Heart and Mirage of Blaze. I decided to translate the ones for DR and MoB.

Japanese to English translation by me.

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( A Stormy Night - Divine Red )

( A Stormy Night - Mirage of Blaze )

I just feel like putting in my two cents about the Divine Red drama CDs after reading two rather scathing reviews of them. While I agree that the casting choices for Renjou and Kei in particular aren't exactly the best, I feel like sticking my neck out for Takewaka-san here.

One fan who was introduced to DR via the drama CDs remarked that the performances did peak her curiosity of the story but upon delving into the novels, she found that the portrayals of Renjou and Kei lacked the depth of their novel counterparts. Fans who have read the novels beforehand are for the most part disappointed in the drama CDs and can't understand why sensei didn't suggest a change in casting for the subsequent drama CDs. After all, we only found the perfect Naoe and Takaya in the third MoB drama CD. Furthermore, most fans want Hayami Sho to voice Renjou.

I don't deny that I'd love to have Hayami-san as Renjou however I do feel that Takewaka-san managed to bring Renjou to life in the third DR drama CD. It's quite apparent that sensei was trying to avoid the impression of a Naoe/Kagetora redux in the characters of Renjou and Haibara (even if Seki-sama is using a lower voice for Haibara).

( Renjou and Naoe, are they similar? )

The (tentative) title for the new MoB prequel is Biwajima Hime (琵琶島姬), to be released on February 1st. From a quick search, Biwajima was the name of a castle in Echigo. It was ruled by Usami Sadamitsu, who was one of Uesugi Kenshin's chief retainers and apparently died in his attempt to kill Nagao Masakage supposedly on Kenshin's orders. Nagao Masakage was Kagekatsu's biological father and apparently Kenshin adopted Kagekatsu after his father's death. Seems like the new prequel will be focusing on the Uesugi clan this time, perhaps Kagekatsu will be making an appearance? I need to start reading the MoB prequels.

*

Divine Red is indeed ending, it's mentioned in sensei's 08/01 diary entry. However she's currently working on an extra side volume, so technically speaking there are two more volumes to go. I'm still not very happy, but I'll wait until I've read the novels before I decide if sensei is ending this series prematurely.

*

By the way, does anyone know anything about sensei's two-volume series イルゲネス -The Genetic Sodom ILEGENES- published last year? I can't find any translations or information but I'm interested since it looks like a science-fiction piece. I've listened to the audio drama, which was released together with the Vassalord 'Baby Crisis' track, and have no idea what's going on (there's some kind of war and ILEGENES seems to be something important). Hmm.. the postcard that came with the drama CD made it look a bit like a Western actually.

Japanese to Chinese translation by Tang (and Dongdong for certain segments). Chinese to English translation by me.

Main Cast
	Renjou Hibiki Kazuragawa Kei Haibara Yuugetsu Nitobe Arata Okuda Kazukiyo Kurumiya Wataru Watanabe Keigo Sasaki Youichi Chuuguuji Sakura Otowa Keiko Mamiya Kyouko Ikebe	Takewaka Takuma Sakurai Takahiro Seki Toshihiko Miki Shinichirou Onosaka Masaya Suzumura Kenichi Tachiki Fumihiko Yamagishi Isao Tanaka Atsuko Igarashi Rei Sakuma Kumi Iijima Hajime

Drama CD Download

(Track 01 - Survivor)

( Track 02 - Edge of Cliff )

( Track 03 - Colosseum )

Somehow I feel like I've butchered Shakespeare's language in this piece, hopefully there won't be any egg-throwing from Shakespeare enthusiasts
( Track 04 - MACBETH from the grievous moon )

(Track 05 - Get the Dog Heart)

( Track 06 - My Dear 'Auguste' )

( Track 07 - Le Sacre du Printemps )

This is almost like a summary of Vol 5

Japanese to Chinese translation by Tang. Chinese to English translation by me.

Admittedly, jumping from Track 1 to Track 5 in my translations doesn't exactly help make the story any clearer ^^; but here's a little background information on Nitobe. In the 2nd Aka no Shinmon Drama CD (in the track titled 'Triangle'), you'll hear Nitobe feeling rather resentful that he wasn't nominated as one of the candidates for the role of Auguste. Nitobe portrayed Auguste in the first production of Divine Red, and he recalls how he had really become 'one with Haibara's soul', and how he wouldn't mind sleeping with Haibara but that standing on his stage is already like having sex (well, Nitobe was kind of drunk)... Anyway, Haibara is planning a second staging of Divine Red and has two actors in mind for the role of Auguste: Wataru and Kei. Nitobe is trying very hard to get Haibara's attention again. One thing that he doesn't know is that Haibara deliberately inserted the extra character of Clevino, which is not found in the original story of Scarlet and Black (or Le Rouge et le Noir) - knowing full well that Nitobe would target this role to go up against Kei - for the sole purpose of reviving Nitobe's acting abilities, since his arrogance has caused his skills to become sloppy over the years.

You may download the track here.

Cast

Renjou Hibiki Kazuragawa Kei Haibara Yuugetsu Okuda Kazukiyo Chuuguuji Sakura Nitobe Arata Mamiya Kyouko Ikebe

Takewaka Takuma Sakurai Takahiro Seki Toshihiko Onosaka Masaya Tanaka Atsuko Miki Shinichirou Sakuma Kumi Iijima Hajime

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( Translation... )

If you listen to the next track, you'll see that Nitobe takes Haibara's words a little too literally by attempting to throw himself onto the railway tracks à la Fujisaki -_- He's pulled back by Renjou and Okuda though. Something I found morbidly amusing in the novels was when Haibara asks Renjou and Okuda if Nitobe has gone and died yet when they meet at the last showing of Macbeth (which infuriates Renjou; Okuda stays very cool). XD Haibara doesn't actually want Nitobe to die, he just has a scary way with words... :o)

Japanese to Chinese translation by Tang. Chinese to English translation by me.

I guess most people aren't too familiar with Divine Red (Aka no Shinmon) since it's a rather little-known series of novels by Kuwabara Mizuna (well known for Mirage of Blaze), but I felt like translating this. :)

You may download the track here.

Cast
Renjou Hibiki Kazuragawa Kei Haibara Yuugetsu Watanabe Keigo	Takewaka Takuma Sakurai Takahiro Seki Toshihiko Tachiki Fumihiko

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( Translation... )