So after 7.5 years of scanlating Kingdom, we’ve decided to bring this chapter of our lives to a close.
Sense Scans is scrambling right now to organise a new translator, editor and typesetting team to pick up where we are leaving off hopefully without any delays to the next chapter (apply at their website at: https://sensescans.com/), and while I regret not giving them more notice, this decision has been in the works for some time.
Turnip Farmers began as a random Skype conversation back in 2013 between gongitraped to me (oshit) that effectively went like this:
ggr: “Hey you fuck, let’s translate this manga”
oshit: “Dude, wtf, I’m bored but not THAT bored. wth”
ggr: “It’s great”
oshit: “The heck is it?”
ggr: “Kingdom”
oshit: “I read like 10 chapters 2 years ago or something”
oshit: “That manga fkn sucks”
ggr: “If you keep reading, it’s amazing”
oshit: “We’re too fkn old for this wtf”
(At the time, I had graduated from university the year before and was floating in between Malaysia and Singapore on work internships. I’m over 30 now, a veritable dinosaur as far as the average age of a scanlator is concerned.)
ggr: “Trust me, you gook. I’ll translate and you can figure shit out”
oshit: “Literally what. the. fuck.“
And so, the very first chapters of Kingdom were released after reading a brief tutorial on how to even use Photoshop out of a capsule hotel in Downtown Singapore.
We’ve come a long way since ripping shitty raws off Japanese p2p networks, and perhaps the scanlation of 600+ chapters of a random Japanese manga by a pair of morons from Sydney, Australia could speak for itself but this is my last post damn it so I’ll type whatever the hell I want.
Part of the reason for us even starting to scanlate Kingdom was gongitraped’s insistence that this manga was genuinely something good and that it was ridiculous that no one had bothered to bring this to the English speaking world when something like 300 chapters were already out in Japan.
I bow down to his wisdom. It’s crazy to me how the Kingdom audience and fanbase has grown over the years to now even having an entire subreddit and discord of users yelling at each other about the most inane shit.
And yet, this is also partially one of the reasons we’re comfortable with leaving now, on this note.
Scanlating is stressful. Scanlating a weekly series even more so. I’ve lost count of the number of arguments we’ve had from the very beginning regarding Japanese vs Chinese names or using suffixes to even recent spats in the last few months about organising time to do all of this even in the middle of a vacation.
At a certain point, you really ask yourself what you’re doing all of this for. I live in the US now, on the other side of the world from gongitraped; “why am I waking up at 4 a.m. to typeset this chapter before going to work?”. And as far as both of us are concerned, there’s really nothing that drives us to do this any more other than the fact that we’ve been doing it for a while and perhaps are halfway decent at it by now.
We’ve accomplished everything we set out to do which was simply to bring attention to a manga that in 2013 was undeservedly unknown in the West. We’ve lit the fire so to speak and hope the community will continue to tend to the flame. Whether it’s Sense Scans that continues to carry the torch or some other group of anonymous pirates or Kingdom actually gets licensed some day, I think I’ll be able to look back on this period of time and be happy that we had a pretty good run at it.
Thank you all for your support over the years. Some of you have been leaving messages in our comments section for aeons and while I rarely reply, know that it was definitely appreciated.
Joining all the rest of you in F5-ing for the next chapter and signing off,
– oshit
P.S. Some last words and a video from gongitraped:
“Holy fk I spent more years on this than high school” (Grade 7-12 in NSW)
Thank you Oshit and Gongitraped. Good luck to you both. Catch you two on the subreddit hopefully.
Also goodluck to all the commenters here, from Tyr to the guy who used to complain about the delayed chapters. Hope to catch you all on r/Kingdom.
Thank you for your service, guys. All the best in your lives going forward.
Thx for all this years off amazing work ^^
I can’t thank you enough for letting me read such a wonderful work up until this point. I wish you all the best.
Check this out guys, there are always someone better
https://sensescans.com/reader/read/kingdom/en/60/656/
That you’re still commenting here is proof that you love the turnips, you big dummy!
I know this because, I havent brought myself to remove the link to this page on my web browser…
The difference is, I can admit they were a huge benefit to my life, and thank them for it… and all your little brain can muster is insults, to show your love. How sad for you.
Turnips, again, thanks, and all the best in your non-translating(sob) days
*all your little brain can do
Tyr going out on a double post, bitches!
Byeeeee
@Tyr: Ignore this Boruto dimwit, he’s been a troll for a while now.
@Boruto: Fuck off!
Who would dare ro delete the bookmark for this? And another question, who even needs it? When I type a “t” in the bar it direct me instantly to turnipfarmers. lol
Nothing against Sense and thanks to them for continuing with it but quality has dropped noticeably.
Turnip Farmers, you will be missed!
Bro, I’m too paranoid to use autofill lol.
But now that you said this, will I be stuck with this damn bookmark forever?
What have you done???
Thank you, guys.. All the best for you mymen..
thank you so much.. you did a great job. will always miss your work.
600+chapter is not easywork..
We will miss you..
Thank you so much for your dedication and hard work. If not because of you guys, I wouldn’t have enjoyed this manga. All the best!
Thank you.
i keep coming back here every week…
even though i know theý are gone…
miss those f5 army…
Bro, you are not alone. I come 3 or 4 times a day and I know they won’t come back.
F5
F5 Army at the ready!
Thank you, gentlemen, for all your hard work. It has been quite the journey, I’m sure.
You surely brought this manga to the attention of the English speaking world (myself, being Brazilian, would have never found it without your generosity).
So, once again, thank you very much.
THANK YOU!! F5 ARMY SALUTE TO THE COMMANDERS HOOOOO :’)!!
THIS AND A TEAM WILL ALWAYS BE MY FAVORITES SCANLATION GROUPS! BEST WISHES AND MANY BLESSINGS IN EVERYTHING YOU DO FROM NOW ON ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Still pop up here now and then….
Btw oshit, you not to old. I’m 45 and free. I read kingdom for a long time too. Before traslated by you and stuck at volume 48 or something.
How happy when i got your translation back then.
Hope a successful and free out there so you can do everything that you want
F5, slow
Thank you for the tons of funs! Farewell! Say hi to Rokuomi in the next world for us all! Oh wait…
Holy sh*t! I’m only seeing this now.
I guess this will be my first and last comment on your site (I’m sorry) but just wanted to say thank you both for all your hard work. We all appreciate it. I most certainly do.
I hope you all are staying safe, and living a happy(-ier) life knowing that you brought so much love to kingdom and it’s fans.
A big, big thank you!
Its been a month since the fall of the turnip army.
I now wander the web, f5ing for sensescans. But its not the same: its not an army there, just a buncha dudes stuck together, waiting.
The last rumors i heard said that most of my comrades went to discord… but that army, i think id get in too deep.
So, i’m just gonna wander the plains… maybe i’ll come across some village who needs me to f5 against bandits…
Some of us still check back every once in a while, F5 ronin.
Ah, yes, the sad fate of a ronin. But still, even if you have lost your daimyo, it`s important to not lose your f5-spirit. Then even in a remote village you will be able to remain true to yourself and to the legacy of turnipfarmers!
Tyr
Dunno if turnip are reading this, but another, more active thank you/a note on what you gave me.
I just binged netflix’s “a queen’s gambit,” and, the mc in it is an “instinctual” chess player.
It reminded me of how kingdom reminded me of chess, lol. I always liked it, but, like shin in war, i was pretty bad when i tried to do it the “usual” way, by thinking 5 moved ahead. But, every so often, i’d play instinctually and mop the floor with an opponent.
Well, i was inspired by kingdom and a queens gambit to try again. Been years, but, i went online to play a game.
The first was an easy win. In the second, a guy used the one opening i could never crack, even tho i instinctively knew it was crackable.
This time, i cracked it even tho he was really good… thinking instinctually.
Its still thinking… but, instead of trying to envision all possible outcomes, you play trends and possibilities, you deny your opponent the ground/moves/game they want, and/or set traps you know they’ll take.
I gave my enemy a chance to take either a bishop or a knight, seemingly for free… they bit, putting the queen out of position and vulnerable… couple of moves later, I check-forked, took the queen, endgamed slow and methodical.
Even rusty a f it was the best game i ever played. (I still suck, on the grand scale. But it was a personal milestone only lol)
Thats really down to kingdom, and you. I’m smarter now. We all are- at least, those of us not too busy whining to pay attention! Lmao
Double posting again bc fuck it!! Who’s left to annoy but die hards? Yall get it!!
Whats crazy is, that match, i did a “duke hyou vs gohomie’s dad”
I threw out pieces, seemingly recklessly at the start… Then baited his queen (read: wei chariots) to come far out…
Then, cavalry charge for the win, sacrificing the whole way until till checkmate.
Again, i’m not very good at chess. But hara blows my mind because i can see now how kights=cavalry.
At first, they hang back and support… but if you charge the enemy with them at the right time, they go right through the defense lines.
Kingdom, in chess pieces:
King: Ten/strategist. No battle skills, but if she goes down, all is lost
Queen: Shin/field leader. Crazy battle skills, if she goes down, all is lost
Castle: fortifications. Ok, ten sucks at these, but: they only come into play late in the game, if one player used them better/earlier, they win
Bishops/fortification: archers (archer bros). Long diagonal lines, hitting far away targets. Archers would be in forts too, hence similar movement (w differences)
Knights: Cavalry.
Pawns: infantry. Head to head, they’re evenly matched with any opponent. But if you let them flank you, they win… and if they take ur base camp (get queened) its over.
…chess makes sense now. Thank you!!! Bye again lol
And onw this was your third reply, lol. Keep it up, it was always a pleasure to read the comments here.
Quite an interesting analysis of chess) Say, did you watch
“March Comes In like a Lion”? Main hero is shogi player who is an instinctual type.
Veteran f5 soldier…can’t give up my calling….must f5
Kingdom is an amazing manga! Thank you for bringing it to our lives for the past 7.6 years!
Thank You Oshit and Gongitraped. I really enjoyed your translation of an amazing manga! Thank You very much.
Thank you for all your hard work Kingdom has given me a glimpse of how amazing primordial times were and how willing ancient armies were willing to get their point across I’d like to do my best and give back to the manga that has provided me with an intense ambition
Miss you :*(
Hello,
I have stopped reading manga in general since a few years but i can say that this was one of the few ones with good story. I had read until 458
Your over the top quality work has contributed a lot to the manga be it in scanlation or translation.
Thank you for all your hard work.
I hope you guys will be happy.
Thank you for all the happy years!
Since you’ve picked the Kingdom I’ve been reading your scanlations. Thank you for those years of effort they are much appreciated!
Thank you for your work. I’ve had really good times thanks to you. What an adventure ! Your translations were read all over the world !
Have a nice life 🙂
Thanks bruh
oShit oShit oShit….
i guess, i will keep F5ing here..
F5, F5, F5
Thank you! Dziękuje!
Thank you dear….
I loved this manga since I stumbled upon it….
Although I knew u were translating and i read it in Wuxiaworld , I never appreciated you…. For that, I am sorry…!!! It is said, u will not know the value before it’s gone…. This words are true….
Sadly and lovingly, thank you🌹❤…
Take care and best of luck for your next adventure…
## not Wuxiaworld,…. It’s ## mangapanda…
Sorry for mistake….
Thanks for the years of service, mates!
For some reason I always had an inkling there was something distinctly Australian about your Kingdom scanlations and now I know!
From one fellow Aussie to another – rest well in your scanlation retirement.
I get out of the covid and I see that …thank you, thank you so much for everything guys … i wish you have a good life … thanks again
thank you for your work all this years
Thank you for all those years of work kind sirs, you are great generals of the heavens truly.
F5 army salutes you o/
So I guess no one has been commenting here because there were 420 comments. I’ll take the bullet and ruin that so y’all can go back to writing stuff. Also I F5ed the sensescans site a billion times the past 2 days 😦
F5
So it means?… No more kingdom next episode?…. Been waiting for it… But…..
Thank you so much for your hard work and skills….
You people had been a part of my journey in this world…. Thank you so much….
Here it is:
https://sensescans.com/reader/read/kingdom/en/61/664/page/1
Hi guyssss….
How are you doing?
I just want to say how thankful I am for your work on this translation.
I’m from Belgium and this Chinese manga has helped me god knows how many times. I have stop counted how many times I’ve cried reading that manga because of how good it is.
I’ll nearly 29 now and the souvenirs I have from this manga thanks to you are amazing. What an amazing story that push me to discover China but also awaken the general in me.
Love you guys, thanks for everything !
Mathias
F5 F5 F5 F5 F5
f5 army
F5
Thanks a lot for your hardwork guys discovered this serie only recently and am very grateful that some fellas took’the time to translate that without earning anything in return. Cheers from the community !
Thank you for bringing me to this series, all for all your work! I’ll miss reading people’s comments!
Yes, I miss that too.