GOTH

[HolyCow]

I've read two of the six stories and so far, it's pretty good. Granted, it's nothing like Higurashi, but its dark. Very dark. It deals with the dark side of human nature, and it does a very good job of pulling you into the criminal/psychopath's world.

[the_naming_game]

Another 2.5 pages -- the story rhythm (and my translating speed) just seems to fall on those lines... I'll see about doing another 2.5 pages a little later today, but it's somewhat interesting having a consistent page count update.

- It seems that last evening, Morino was at her favorite coffee shop. The owner wasn't nosy, and the shop was gloomy and quiet, she said.
- She was drinking coffee that the shop's owner had poured, while thumbing through the pages of "Cruel Tales of the World."
- Suddenly, she heard the sound of rain. She looked outside through the window to see a furious evening shower coming down.
- Morino watched the customers standing up to leave, sit down again. They were likely thinking to wait a little in case the rain stopped.
- At that time, there were five customers in the coffee shop, not including herself.
- Morino left her seat to go to the restroom. On the way, she felt something strange under her shoes. On the floor of black wood, someone had dropped a notebook, which she had happened to step on. She picked up the notebook and put it in her pocket. Apparently she wasn't planning to return it to its owner.
- Even returning from the restroom, the customers were regarding the scenery outside through the window; their number hadn't changed.
- She could tell the fierceness of the rain by looking at the clothes of the shop owner, who had gone outside for a moment for some errand. They were completely soaked.
- Morino forgot about the notebook and returned to reading.
- The rain stopped, and once again, the sun came out.
<!-- p012 -->
- Several customers stood up and left.
- The summer sun's rays quickly dried the road.
- It seems that it was only after she had returned home that she remembered the notebook, and read the contents.
- "I went to the restroom twice. The first time, no notebook. Immediately following, the rain started; the customers were fixed. [e.g. no customers entered or left] I stood up the second time, and this time, the notebook had been dropped. The murderer was in that shop. The murderer lives in this neighborhood." [original Japanese is 犯人 "criminal"; "murderer" sounded a little more natural to me in English.]
- She made a fist in front of her.
- Two corpses were found in places 2, 3 hours from the town we lived in. One couldn't ignore the possibility that the murderer lived in this town.
- But still, it wasn't realistic to say that.
- This incident had doubtless been talked about far and wide. Much was still unresolved, and there were seekers-of-the-bizarre still interested in it. It had been discussed all across the country, even in elementary schools.
- It had become overly famous.
- It was hard to believe that the murderer would be living here.
- "Couldn't this notebook just be a work of imagination based on the news reports?"
- "Just read the the rest of the notebook."
- Welcome, please come in. It was with that kind of feeling that Morino spoke.

- 8/5
- I gave a ride to a female named Miguchi Nanami. ["female" sounds colder and more clinical than "girl" or "woman"]
<!-- p013 -->
- I met her at a soba restuarant near S mountain.
- Going to the forest on the south side of the mountain, there was a Shinto shrine.
- I took her into the forest.
- ............

- Inside the forest, the owner of the notebook stabbed a knife into the abdomen of the female named Miguchi Nanami.
- According to the contents of the notebook, her body had been destroyed. In meticulous handwriting, the way both her eyes had been plucked out, the color and luster of her uterus, had been described.
- And then her body had been disposed of in the forest.
- "Are you familiar with the name Miguchi Nanami?"
- Morino asked. I shook my head.
- There had, as of yet, been no reports of the discovery of Miguchi Nanami's body.
<!-- end story 1 (暗黒系 GOTH), chapter 1 -->

HolyCow:
The last time I looked, I couldn't find anything resembling a continuation. There are three novels that I know of. One is the original, the other, I believe, is a two part repackaging with half the stories in one novel, and half in the other. The one thing you might be able to hope for is if Otsuichi has similar characters in any of his other novels. He seems to do mostly dark stuff, so it's not impossible...

ja wikipedia, "GOTH リストカット事件"

『GOTH リストカット事件』（ゴス リストカットじけん）は、乙一の小説である。大岩ケンヂによって漫画化されている。

本作を2冊に分けた文庫本　GOTH リストカット事件　夜の章（角川文庫：ISBN 4044253048）（『暗黒系』『犬』『記憶』を収録）GOTH リストカット事件　僕の章（角川文庫：ISBN 4044253056）（『リストカット事件』『土』『声』を収録）が発売されている。

また本作はグループSNEの妖魔夜行シリーズを目指して書かれたものである。

translation, sort of.

"GOTH: Wrist Cutting Incident" is a novel by Otsuichi. Ooiwa Kenji did a manga conversion.

The original work is being sold as two separate paperbacks, "GOTH: Wrist Cutting Incident; Yoru's chapters" (Kadokawa Books: ISBN 4044253048) (includes "GOTH" "Dog" "Remembrance") and "GOTH: Wrist Cutting Incident; Boku's chapters" (Kadokawa Books: ISBN 4044253048) (includes "Wrist Cutting Incident" "Dirt" "Voice")

The original work was also written and targetted for SNE Group's "Ghostly Movements in the Night" series.

(There's probably a spoiler in the reason they call him "Boku" but... let's not think too deeply about it.)

So basically, Yoru's stories are 1, 3, 4; and Boku's stories are 2, 5, 6 -- and there doesn't seem to be anything added from the original. A cursory look didn't reveal that the 2-part recompilation had any extras like illustrations. (come on, you know you want them!)

Otsuichi doesn't seem to go the series route, but he's fairly prolific; on his wikipedia page, I counted about 20ish novel titles (not including recompilations), 3 magazine works, and 3 screenplays.

Still, I think it'd be interesting to read a multi-volume work with interesting characters like those in GOTH. If he ever decides to do one...

small correction
from p009 in the last update:
- We would always seek out episodes of such misery that you'd want to hang yourself upon hearing them.
changed to:
- We would always seek out episodes such that you'd want to hang yourself out of misery upon hearing them.
original Japanese:
- 悲惨で、聞いた瞬間に首を吊りたくなるエピソードを常に求めていた。

The change is more precise to the literal meaning of the Japanese. (I'm not confident enough to speak of "sense" though) In practical terms, it doesn't change much, and I probably missed some larger issues somewhere, but oh, what's that shiny thing?

[HolyCow]

Hmm the_naming_game, do you wanna get a project started on this? I've read the novel and I say that it's very, VERY interesting. How bout you do story 1 (GOTH) while I do story 2 (Wristcut)? I love the 2nd story, it's bloody intriguing

If you're serious about this, we could get a project page set up. I'm also keen to get this translated

[TheGiftedMonkey]

Haha! I like the name of the second story.

[HolyCow]

I've just checked out the manga version of GOTH, and other than finally knowing how Morino looks like, I'd say that it's less interesting than the novels. The Wristcut case was kinda watered down in the manga, and you just don't get that psychological thriller feel when reading the novels.

I'll be posting a translation for Wristcut soon, so stay tuned

[the_naming_game]

small correction
Based on what's in the next few paragraphs, the first sentence of page 6 was misinterpreted.
- About 20 days after the end of summer vacation, on a school day, I finally met Morino.
changed to:
- About 20 days after the end of summer vacation, on a school day, for the first time in awhile, I spoke with Morino.
original Japanese:
- 夏休みが二十日ほど過ぎたころ、出校日でひさびさに森野と顔を合わせた。

Alright then, carry on!

<!-- start story 1 (暗黒系 GOTH), chapter 2 -->
- My first introduction to Morino was when we ended up in the same class upon graduating to the second year. I had felt from the beginning that there was someone else like me, living life unconcerned with others. Even during break time, even walking the halls, she would always shun others. In short, she didn't seem to like crowds.
- In our class, I only noticed this with Morino and I. Even so, I didn't coldly regard our classmates' merry-making like Morino did. For me, <!-- p014 -->if someone struck up a conversation, I would reply, and to smooth the mechanism of human relations, even joke. I did the minimum required to have a normal life.
- However, the superficial socializing, and the smiles I gave to my classmates, were essentially lies.
- From our first conversation, Morino had seen through to that part of me.
- "Could you teach me how to make that same expression too?"
- One day after school, Morino had stood in front of me, expressionless, and said that. Maybe she was scoffing at me inside. That was around the beginning of May.
- After that, we would talk from time to time.
- Morino only wore black. Everything, from her long, straight hair, to the tips of her shoes, was wrapped in darkness. In stark contrast, her skin was whiter than anyone's I had seen; her hands were as if made of porcelain. There was a small spot under her left eye, in a similar design to that of Pierrot, giving her an atmosphere of black magic. [Pierrot, French clown, black teardrop under one eye.]
- It's not that her face was less expressive than that of normal people. For example, when happily reading a book about the horrific murder of 52 women and children in Russia. There was no trace of the deathly green face she had when in the midst of noisy classmates. Rather, her eyes sparkled.
- Only when talking to Morino would I not fake my facial expressions. If I was talking to someone else, they would probably wonder why I had such a blank, unsmiling expression. When talking with her, there was no problem with that.
- Perhaps she had similar reasons, because during idle times, she would choose to speak with me.
- We both disliked standing out. In the classroom, we were hidden in the shadow of our boisterous classmates; <!-- p015 -->we quietly lived our lives.
- And then, summer vacation came, and then I came to read the notebook.

- Following the school day, after we met at the station, we boarded a train headed for the base of S mountain.
- Both for meeting outside of school, and seeing Morino in normal clothes instead of the school uniform, it was the first time. As usual, she had chosen dark colored clothes. I noticed from her glance, that she must have thought the same about me.
- The inside of the train was quiet; it was free of crowding. Without talking, we both started reading. She read a book about child abuse; I read a book written by the family members of a famous juvenile delinquent. [彼女は児童虐待に関する本を読み、僕はある有名な少年犯罪の犯人の家族が書いた本を読んでいた。]
- Upon getting off at the station, we asked an old woman working at the tobacco shop in front of the station, how many soba restaurants there were near S mountain. We learned that there was only one, and that it wasn't far. Afterwards, Morino made a sharp observation.
- "Tobacco kills many people, but tobacco vending machines snatch away and kill that old woman's livelihood."
- An especially clever reply didn't seem to be necessary, so I ignored her remark.
- We walked along the side of the road until we reached the soba restaurant. The road began to slope upwards; it was curving near the mountain side.
- The soba restaurant was part of a row of restaurants at the base of the mountain. Business looked to be bad there; the atmosphere was lonely, without many people or cars. The soba restaurant's parking lot was completely empty, yet even though it might as well have been closed, there was still an "OPEN" sign. We went inside.
<!-- p016 -->
- "Ah, so this is where the murderer met Miguchi Nanami."
- Morino looked around the restaurant as if sightseeing someplace famous.
- "Excuse me. I'm just speculating; what you would call the hypothetical stage. Since whether it's true or not is what we came here to find out."
- I ignored her and read the notebook.
- It was written with a blue ballpoint pen.
- Inside the notebook, there was more than just the accounts of the murders of the three women. In addition, the names of a few mountains were written. That was on the first page, so it seemed to have been written before any of the accounts of the women's murders.
- In front of the names of the mountains, there were markings like ◎ and ○, △ and ×. For the three mountains where the bodies had been disposed of, ◎ had been marked, so I inferred that maybe this was a list of mountains that were convenient for disposing bodies.
- There were no indications as to the owner of the notebook.
- There had never been any thought of giving the notebook to the police. Even if we didn't do anything, he would be caught sooner or later.
- If we sent the notebook to the police, perhaps the murderer would be caught sooner. And the number of victims in the end would probably be less. Obviously, there was an obligation to give this to the police.
- Unfortunately, our consciences didn't bother us for acting as if we hadn't picked up any kind of notebook, and keeping silent; we were cruel, reptilian high school students.
- "If there's a fourth victim, that would definitely be our fault."
<!-- p017 -->
- "That's terrible."
- Morino and I slurped at our soba while having that talk. She didn't have any "That's terrible" face; her voice was casual, as if only interested in the soba of a second-class restaurant.
- We asked about the Shinto shrine at the soba restaurant.

Stopping at the "We went inside." would have made it another clean 2.5 page break, but going inside a restaurant isn't that great of a continuation. Going to Shinto shrine = suspense!

HolyCow:
Assuming you mean the manga, it's been so long since I read that, that I've forgotten some of the spoilers, though not the big ones. Wristcut is definitely going to be interesting, especially based up on what you said.

I'm all for making this into a project. (Though ETA for story 1 for me is ... a month, ack.) I'm not sure of the process to get a new project approved, but I'll just ask around, and if nobody objects, I'll just go ahead.

TheGiftedMonkey:
Re: mountains; it's possible that the names are the first letters of actual mountains, so "H mountain" would be "Huji-san" or Mount Fuji. Guess it's time to look into some maps of Japan...

On a (somewhat) related note I haven't been able to find much GOTH doujinshi except for this (non-H) oekaki site.

[onizuka-gto]

I'm all for making this into a project. (Though ETA for story 1 for me is ... a month, ack.) I'm not sure of the process to get a new project approved, but I'll just ask around, and if nobody objects, I'll just go ahead.

I'm sorry for not making it very clear, here is a small link to a small and hidden post that may help you in this matter.

http://www.baka-tsuki.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=936














............

p.s: nice to see your alive again. hope your keeping the IRC channel up.

:p

[HolyCow]

So I'll have Darkoneko create a page for it then? Oh my, this is going to be good...

And on a side note, I'm starting to fall for Morino now. The manga version of her looks really... appealing. Not in a moe sort of way but...

Oh what am I saying. I'm starting to sound like that wristcutter now

[HolyCow]

Moved the GOTH related posts here, since it deserves a topic of its own

Here's the Prologue for Chapter 2, 'Wristcut'.

(Actually it doesn't matter what order do you read them in, since they are standalone stories, but it is recommended you read them in chapter order like the author intended you to)

Prologue

After school had ended, the interior of my classroom quieted down as students gradually left. Just as I was packing up and preparing to head back home, I felt a strange presence behind my back, and only upon turning my head did I realize it was Morino.

“There’s something I’d like to discuss with you before you head home.”

That was how she greeted me. Since I never spoke to Morino throughout the entire day, the last time I had heard her voice would be 24 hours ago.

“I rented a really strange video from my local video store yesterday…”

There was a firm tone is Morino’s voice: It was as if she really wanted others to understand this particular movie. Alas, the only one she ever spoke to in our entire class would be me, and she always did so only when I was sitting alone at my seat. She would never try to talk to me whenever I was having a conversation with my classmates, which explains why she never got the chance to talk to me today until class had ended.

In a corner of the classroom, several girls who had yet to return home began talking to each other softly upon witnessing our conversation. I knew that, without a doubt, they were discussing my relationship with Morino.

Some people had initially thought we were dating each other, until they realized that we weren’t particularly close, even during our conversations. On the contrary, we each seemed to wear condescending looks upon our faces whenever we were conversing, so naturally there were many who wondered what was my true relationship with Morino.

Actually, it was rare seeing Morino speak to anybody. Ever since she entered high school, Morino had avoided speaking to anyone within school grounds. In the classroom, she would try her best to hide her presence, and disappear immediately once the school bell rang. Her preferred way of living resembled that of a submarine in the deep sea.

Aside from when she had to wear our school’s summer uniform, Morino wore nothing but black. From her raven black hair to her jet black shoes, Morino was always clad in black. She probably never liked the light, and it appeared as if she was attempting to embrace the darkness.

I once asked Morino what was her reason for enrolling in this school.

“Because this is the only school that has black uniforms. I thought they looked cool, that’s why I enrolled here. When you mentioned ‘reason’ earlier, it made me think of this.”

Taking a piece of chalk, she wrote on blackboard 2 very large letters: ‘Death’ and ‘Motive’. As she wrote on the blackboard, her slender white hand was exposed from beneath her uniform. Her porcelain skin was so white that it made me doubt if it had ever been caressed by the sun before.

Since Morino was quite beautiful, I heard that many people once tried to date her. However, after that incident not long ago, things began to slowly change. It appeared that a teacher in school had tried to sexually assault her. However, Morino quickly subdued him with a can of pepper spray, before proceeding to beat him up with a nearby chair. I had seen the entire process, and after that I noticed no guy dared to approach Morino.

What I’m going to narrate next is not how I got to know Morino, but rather, something I suddenly recalled upon seeing her pale, white hand.

Those serial wrist-cutting incidents that had happened during early spring had received a lot of attention from the mass media; even I was dragged into that incident.

It all happened back in May. Back then, I had never spoken to Morino before…

[onizuka-gto]

I forgot I made TNG a mod...

meh.

Honestly, Get a avatar already....

[TheGiftedMonkey]

Get a new avatar yourself Oni-kun.

[HolyCow]

Get me a GOTH page already

[onizuka-gto]

Get a new avatar yourself Oni-kun.

How bout this?

[HolyCow]

Hey that looks good Oni

/me runs far far away from Oni while LOLing all the way

[onizuka-gto]

You know, Translators don't really require mod powers on the forum, unless they they....well I dunno, abuse it?

I mean really, it has to be an extreme case, someone who repeatedly misuse the power to edit posts that do not need to be tampered with, just for the pleasure of their own twist sense of fun....

I mean really, where would i find such a person form our saintly little pool of members here?

ahh....such difficulty....