In the wake of GDC 2018, I can finally announce my involvement with what’s undoubtedly the most remarkable project I’ve ever worked on: the somewhat legendary visual novel 428: Shibuya Scramble.

Kajiya Productions tapped me to be the translator on this title, and I have to say I was completely blown away–not just that I was being brought on to the project, but that the game was actually going to be released in the West at all, roughly a decade after the fact! It’s one of those games where, if you knew about it, you’d probably already figured any chance of it being released outside of Japan had come and gone years ago.

Suffice it to say, this was an enormous undertaking to translate! The total amount of text is equal to roughly three average-length novels, and with five different storylines all intertwining (with all the different branching paths therein based on player choice), there was a lot to keep track of and a lot of constant checking that the pieces were all fitting together properly. Thankfully (and I say this honestly, on my own behalf, not for any corporate plugging), the story and the characters were both so fun and engaging that it almost never felt like a chore to work my way through–though as you can probably imagine, a project of this size took a very long time to get through, and it’s not like every day was just sunshine and puppies.

It was an honor to get to work on this, which isn’t something I say lightly. As a translator, I’ve had to translate plenty of games and other pieces of media that I didn’t personally enjoy (and some of which I actively disliked), but this game hit the sweet spot of what I personally enjoy in a story, insofar as tone, humor, drama, and characterization go. By the time I was finished, I’d spent so much time with these characters and this world that I could hardly help but feel some sort of connection with them, and I’m thrilled that, in a few months’ time, a whole new English-speaking audience is going to be able to experience this story for the first time.

I’ve had novels of my own published, but I still think that, of all the projects I’ve been able to put my name on, 428 is the one I’m the most proud of.