I’m a freelance translator doing translation as a hobby since 2015, my main hobby is translating independent/doujin comic/doujin posted on social media for the artists, hoping it would help get their work to be seen and understood by more people.

In late 2017, I got into Virtual YouTubers, and thought I could use my skills to help Virtual YouTubers I really liked to be noticed by foreign viewers. At the time, YouTube had a really simple subtitles/closed caption tool and anyone can submit subtitles for a video as long it’s open for community contributions.

In mid 2018, I started a Virtual YouTuber translation community with good friends in Virtual YouTuber communities in order to make a neutral community for translators who needed a place to organize or collaborate translations. Because YouTube changed their policy on subtitles/closed caption submissions, we’re also forced to work closer with the content creators.

Wakaba-tan

Wakaba-tan was initially made for April Fool’s joke in 2018, but since the “fake” release had a good reception, I thought I should keep her even after April Fool’s ended because a virtual mascot/character spreading awareness about Virtual YouTubers really seemed like a good idea. (It still is).

Wakaba-tan is a direct reference to the “-tan” mascot culture popularized by OS-tan and Wikipe-tan. Wakaba-tan is the mascot for Wakaba Translations, and the Virtual YouTuber translation group, New Leaves Translation.

New Leaves Translation

New Leaves Translation is a community of translators made in May 2018 in order to make a neutral place for translators to gather and collaborate on translation projects around Virtual YouTubers. Usually, translators who are into a certain Virtual YouTuber would collaborate with other translators in their own communities, but not all communities have enough people to support translation projects.

Currently, the community has over 100 members with translators from various countries, and oversees the #VTuberEN hashtag on Twitter to help people and content creators to share and find subtitled/translated videos.

The community doesn’t take credit for any translation projects, and every translator are responsible for their own work. Members are also expected to uphold the quality for their translations, in order for the content creators to take the translators from this community seriously.