The Animmortals’ Guild is for those who are passionate about anime and preserving physical media, and are looking to volunteer and provide their own contributions for Project ISOwned (PISO). With the overwhelming presence and convenience of anime streaming services today, what many may not know is that not all anime are available to stream because of licensing, and the list of anime currently being streamed on any given anime streaming service can regularly change without notice or warning. This can include anime that are (or were considered) popular, niche, well received by viewers and critics alike, or are simply classics from any decade and/or genre. Fortunately for those who prefer watching anime on DVD and/or Blu-ray instead of streaming to get around this issue, physical copies and sets of anime (including those not or no longer streamed on any anime streaming service) are still out there. Perhaps you might have some (or a lot) in your possession right now.

While the quantity of physical copies or sets of anime currently available are vast in many cases (though it still varies from one anime, publisher, or distributor to another), there’s the issue of disc damage or wear and tear (human-induced or not), disc manufacturing defects, data corruption, and/or disc degradation (disc rot). Depending on how one manufacturer, distributor, retailer, consumer, or anyone else up or down the chain takes care of the physical copies or sets, the discs’ integrity can vary. These issues (and others that weren’t included nor discussed here) introduce the risk of anime (whether in physical or digital form) being potentially lost to time and/or neglect, and people might unintentionally risk erasing parts of anime history and lead ourselves into a dystopian future of “owning nothing” if they’re not careful.

That’s where our guild steps in, to try and prevent (or delay) both from happening. Our goal is to collect physical copies or sets of anime (we can them AnISOs) that either we ourselves have acquired with our own funds or are donated to us by guild members, and preserve the discs from those physical copies or sets for as long as possible by creating 1:1 digital copies/backups of the discs (or as close to it depending on the discs’ condition), hopefully before the discs’ integrity degrade further. Once the digital copies/backups are inspected and verified, they’re then stored indefinitely in private servers where only the Project Administrator has access to.

Digital copies/backups of anime stored in the servers are never publicly shared to respect the copyright owner(s) of the original work(s). Other items (physical goods) that may be included in a physical copy or set of any anime are also preserved. If you’re willing to become an anime collector and physical media preservation enthusiast like us, you’re highly encouraged to join our guild. If you own physical copies or sets of anime that you’re willing to donate and would like for them to be responsibly preserved, or if you’d like to offer us any other kind of support in preserving anime and their history, you’re also encouraged to join. Together, our guild can ensure that any anime, no matter how old, popular, niche, or obscure, can continue to be viewed and enjoyed by anyone for years, decades, or even centuries to come.

What are the minimum tech specs on my system to apply for the AnISO Collector & Ripper role?

Below are the minimum tech specs that must be met or surpassed on your system if you’d like to volunteer as an AnISO Collector & Ripper:

• Media Decoding
  • VLC Media Player installed in your system.
  • To view AnISOs ripped from DVDs (MPEG-1/2; 480p @ 24, 30, or 60 FPS): Any CPU with SSE2 supported; Any GPU with MPEG-2 hardware decoding support.
  • To view AnISOs ripped from HD Blu-rays (H.264; 1080p @ 24, 30, or 60 FPS): Intel CPUs with Intel HD Graphics 530 or newer; AMD CPUs with integrated graphics or newer; NVIDIA GeForce 600 series or newer; AMD Radeon HD 5000 series or newer.
  • To view AnISOs ripped from UHD Blu-rays (H.264; 4K @ 24, 30, or 60 FPS): Any CPU or GPU with AVC 5.2 hardware decoding support.
• DVD/Blu-ray Ripping Software
  • MakeMKV BETA installed in your system.
  • For installing and running MakeMKV BETA:
    • Windows systems: Windows XP or later, either in x86 or x64-bit.
    • MacOS systems: x64 (Intel-based Macs) or ARM64 (ARM-based (M1-equipped or later) Macs) Mac OS X 10.7 or later; Note that MakeMKV isn’t digitally signed by Apple, you might need to adjust gatekeeper options in order to install the program.
    • Linux systems: Linux x86 or AMD64.
    • 512 MB of RAM, while 1 GB is recommended; MakeMKV will run on computers with low memory amount but ripping speed will be very slow.
    • 10 MB of hard drive space for program files.
    • Adequate hard drive space for ripped content; ripped DVDs typically takes 6 GB of space on a hard drive, while ripped Blu-rays typically takes 30 GB (or more when ripping 4K Blu-rays).
  • Other important considerations when running MakeMKV BETA:
    • Using the program is time-limited and it will stop functioning after 60 days; however you can always uninstall the program then redownload the latest version from the MakeMKV website, which will reset the expiration date. Alternatively, you can purchase a license which allows you to keep using the program forever, even after updating its version; however, they reserve the right to disable any specific registration key in future versions on extraordinary circumstances.
    • Computer administrator privileges are required on Windows to run the beta version, this is a limitation of the Windows SCSI application programming interface; eventually MakeMKV will not require administrator privileges to run.
  • Additional software that can work alongside MakeMKV to further enhance its capabilities:
    • Java Runtime Environment (JRE) executable for opening/ripping some UHD Blu-rays.
    • CCExtractor executable for extracting closed captions/subtitles from DVDs (and other compatible types of media); note that this is a mandatory installation for adding English subtitles from DVD AniSOs onto Blu-ray AnISOs that don’t have English subtitles (see AniFlex Guild’s Admission Requirements > DVD Subtitle Implanter, or see Guild FAQ).
• DVD/Blu-ray Ripping Hardware (for MakeMKV BETA)
  • Recommended disc drive: ASUS BW-16D1HT UHD Friendly Internal 5.25″ SATA Disc Drive
  • IMPORTANT NOTE: Using the ASUS BW-16D1HT on ANY disc drive firmware version MUST be flashed (using a disc drive firmware flashing software) directly to ASUS BW-16D1HT disc drive firmware version 3.10MK to enable LibreDrive Mode and allow UHD Blu-ray ripping.
  • If your PC case doesn’t support internal 5.25″ disc drives, here are some recommended external enclosures that you can buy:
    • NexStar DX USB 3.0 5.25″ External Enclosure
    • OWC Mercury Pro 5.25″ External Enclosure
    • ICY BOX IB-550StU3S 5.25″ External Enclosure
  • For other recommended disc drives, patched disc drive firmware files, and disc drive firmware flashing software: Read this MakeMKV forum guide.
  • To learn more about LibreDrive and compatible disc drives/firmware for enabling LibreDrive Mode: Read this MakeMKV forum guide.

COMING SOON

The AniFlex Guild is the first sister guild of the Animmortals’ Guild. This guild for those who are looking to provide contributions for [redacted]. Because this guild is for an undisclosed project, further details about the guild cannot be shared as of this time though you can learn more about what members of this guild can expect to do by checking out the Guild Roles section.

What exactly is the DVD Subtitle Implanter role? What does an AnISO Handler need to do when they’re doing that role?

To clarify, the DVD Subtitle Implanter role is adding English subtitles extracted from a DVD copy/set (with English subtitles) onto a Japanese Blu-ray copy/set (without English subtitles). This process is only applicable for anime that have English subbed DVD copies/sets and don’t (yet) have an English subbed Blu-ray version, but a Japanese (non-English subbed) Blu-ray version exists. At the same time, this will upgrade the video quality of the final video files for the anime to be preserved from 480p (DVD quality) to 1080p (Blu-ray quality) though both the DVD and Blu-ray AnISOs will be kept intact. One anime that falls under this category as an example where this role is needed is “Recently, My Sister Is Unusual” (Saikin, Imouto no Yousu ga Chotto Okashiinda ga). This anime has an English subbed DVD set from Discotek Media and has no Blu-ray equivalent, but a Japanese Blu-ray set exists. Note that a live-action movie adaptation also exists on Blu-ray that is English subbed but for all intents and purposes, we’re only referring to the original anime version.

When it comes to how English subs from DVD AnISOs are added onto a non-English subbed copy/set on Blu-ray AnISOs, first of all they’ll coordinate with AnISO Scouts and AnISO Collectors & Rippers to obtain both the DVD copy/set and the Japanese Blu-ray copy/set of any anime that require subtitle implanting (which was aforementioned above). Once they’ve received the ripped AnISOs with the extracted DVD AnISOs’ English subtitle files from AnISO Collectors & Rippers, they’ll add those subtitle files onto the Blu-ray AnISOs using MKVToolNix. Afterwards, they’ll check the added subtitles with the Blu-ray AnISOs by playing the video files in VLC to see if the correct ones were added. Once they’ve checked that the correct subtitle track(s) are present for all Blu-ray AnISOs, they’ll send those AnISOs to AnISO Inspectors for final inspection and verification.

In the event that the DVD AnISOs contain a single but long video track and thus only has one or two extracted subtitle tracks (which does happen on some DVD copies), they must decouple the AnISOs then copy the subtitle files to all decoupled AnISOs so they have the subtitle track. Then they’ll edit the subtitle files per AnISO by removing unnecessary subtitles and editing the timestamps to match the timing during playback of the decoupled AnISOs. Afterwards, they can proceed to add the subtitle tracks onto the Blu-ray AnISOs.

What are the minimum tech specs on my system to apply for the AnISO Handler & AnISO Inspector roles?

Below are the minimum tech specs that must be met or surpassed on your system if you’d like to volunteer as an AnISO Handler or AnISO Inspector:

• Media Decoding
  • VLC Media Player installed in your system.
  • To view AnISOs ripped from DVDs (MPEG-1/2; 480p @ 24, 30, or 60 FPS): Any CPU with SSE2 supported; Any GPU with MPEG-2 hardware decoding support.
  • To view AnISOs ripped from HD Blu-rays (H.264; 1080p @ 24, 30, or 60 FPS): Intel CPUs with Intel HD Graphics 530 or newer; AMD CPUs with integrated graphics or newer; NVIDIA GeForce 600 series or newer; AMD Radeon HD 5000 series or newer.
  • To view AnISOs ripped from UHD Blu-rays (H.264; 4K @ 24, 30, or 60 FPS): Any CPU or GPU with AVC 5.2 hardware decoding support.
  • To view encoded H.265 AnISOs in 8-bit depth: Intel 6th generation CPUs or newer (excluding “F” SKUs); AMD Ryzen 7000 and 9000 series CPUs (with integrated graphics); NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 or newer; AMD Radeon 5000 series GPUs or newer; Note that decoding H.265 AnISOs in 10-bit and higher bit-depth may require more recent hardware.
  • To view encoded AV1 AnISOs: Intel 11th Generation (Tiger Lake) CPUs or newer; AMD Ryzen 6000 series mobile APUs or newer; NVIDIA GeForce 30 series GPUs or newer; AMD 6000 series GPUs (excluding the RX 6400, RX 6500, and RX 6500 XT) or newer; Intel Xe and Arc GPUs or newer.
• Metadata Handling, AnISO Decoupling and Subtitle Implanting
  • MKVToolNix installed in your system.
• Media Encoding
  • Handbrake installed in your system.
  • To encode the Source AnISO(s) to H.265 AnISO(s) in 8-bit depth:
    • For iGPU encoding: Any Intel CPU with Intel Quick Sync Video (7th generation Intel Core i3/i5/i7-7xxx processors or newer); any AMD Ryzen APU with VCE or VCN (Ryzen 2000G series or newer); encoding performance will vary based on the specific model and the number of CPU cores and GPU compute units available.
    • For dGPU encoding: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 or newer; AMD Radeon HD 7790 or AMD GPUs with VCE 3.0 or newer.
    • Note that encoding H.265 AnISOs in 10-bit and higher bit-depth may require more recent hardware.
  • To encode the Source AnISO(s) to AV1 AnISO(s):
    • For iGPU encoding: Intel 14th generation (Meteor Lake/Core Ultra) CPUs or newer; AMD Ryzen 7000 series (Raphael) desktop APUs or newer; encoding performance will vary based on the specific model and the number of CPU cores and GPU compute units available.
    • For dGPU encoding: NVIDIA RTX 40 series GPUs (Ada Lovelace) or newer; AMD Radeon RX 7000 series GPUs (RDNA3) or newer; Intel Arc Alchemist (Xe-HPG) GPUs or newer.

COMING SOON

Akane’s Occult Research Club ~Interuniversal Branch~ is the second sister club for the Animmortals’ Guild. This club is for those who are passionate about anime, media preservation, helping anime fans and enthusiasts gain access to anime that haven’t (yet) received any official English localization, and are looking to volunteer or provide contributions for Project Rewritten. While there’s a great catalogue of anime that have official English localization, meaning they’ve been English subbed and/or dubbed with the discs’ packaging being redesigned for the North American market, there’s still a lot of anime out there that haven’t (yet) gotten the same treatment. These include anime that are English subbed/dubbed in anime streaming services but aren’t in physical copies (if those exist), and/or are Japanese exclusives (for now) and haven’t been exposed or formally introduced to audiences in North America (or any other region for that matter).

There are various reasons why some anime haven’t gotten an official English localization in digital and/or physical form. One likely reason would be licensing, and a common situation under this context would be when a streaming and partial commercial license was acquired but not a full commercial license nor rights. Licensing an anime to create an English localized version also depends on a streaming service/company’s financial and/or legal situation. Another likely reason would be the overall lack of interest either by the streaming service/company or by the general audience, especially if the anime is niche or obscure. These barriers (and others that weren’t included nor discussed here) not only prevents attracting more audience (especially those with niche preferences), but also and to reiterate what’s aforementioned from the Animmortals’ Guild, introduces the risk of anime (whether in physical or digital form) being potentially lost to time and/or neglect, and people might unintentionally risk erasing parts of anime history and lead ourselves into a dystopian future of “owning nothing” if they’re not careful.

That’s where our club comes in, to try and prevent (or delay) these from happening by creating digital copies/backups (we call them RAnISOs) of English-subbed anime from “master sources”, acquiring their respective non English-subbed AnISOs (if they exist) by collaborating with members of the Animmortals’ Guild, and providing partial English localization on the non English-subbed AnISOs, primarily by creating, implanting, or sourcing English subtitles, before all related media are stored indefinitely in private servers where only the Project Administrator has access to. In the future, these modified AnISOs will hopefully become the foundation needed for creating official English localized anime.

Digital copies/backups of anime stored in the servers are never publicly shared to respect the copyright owner(s) of the original work(s). RAnISOs that were used for creating, implanting, or sourcing English subtitles are permanently deleted once the subtitles have been added onto the previously non English-subbed AnISOs. This club will provide the opportunity for anime fans and enthusiasts to see new and interesting content that aren’t typically seen outside of Japan and/or anime streaming services, regain access to previously loved English-subbed/dubbed anime that disappeared from anime streaming services due to licensing and/or lack of interest, and most importantly to save affected anime from disappearing from memory or history simply because no one bothered to give them the same English localization treatment as the others. If you’re willing to become an anime and media preservation enthusiast like us, you’re highly encouraged to join our club. If you own physical copies or sets of non-English subbed/dubbed anime that you’re willing to donate and would like for them to be responsibly localized and preserved, or if you’d like to offer us any other kind of support in preserving anime and their history, you’re also encouraged to join. Together, our club can ensure that any anime, no matter how old, popular, niche, or obscure, can continue to be viewed and enjoyed by anyone for years, decades, or even centuries to come.

“Sigh… I’ve never felt more exhausted and embarrassed in my life writing all of that to anyone out there who might read this, and to a completely different universe from ours no less. But for the sake of my club, I hope everything I’ve written will be enough to ‘rewrite’ the fate of those neglected anime. Wow, even that sounded embarrassing. I blame Kotarou for making me write all this, interuniversal communication just isn’t my thing.”

Senri Akane (via Mr. Technogiri’s Interuniversal Communicator)

What are the “master sources” that a RAnISO Handler must be subscribed to?

RAnISO Handers must be subscribed to one of these “master sources” to create RAnISOs: Crunchyroll, HIDIVE, or both. There may be other compatible master sources available which are likely suited for niche audiences, but the quantity or quality of content may be limited and therefore aren’t typically recommended subscribing to, unless if sufficient evidence is provided to justify using an unlisted master source. It’s also possible to create RAnISOs without subscribing to a master source but in most cases, the amount of free content available is very limited and you’ll have to deal with the frequent ads associated with viewing free content. For an ad-free experience and to access all media a master source has, it’s recommended to subscribe.

What are the minimum tech specs on my system to apply for the RAnISO Handler & RAnISO Inspector role?

Below are the minimum tech specs that must be met or surpassed on your system if you’d like to volunteer as a RAnISO Handler or RAnISO Inspector:

• For RAnISO Handlers
  • OBS installed in your system.
    • Minimum tech specs to run OBS: for Windows systems: a DirectX 10.1 compatible GPU, and Windows 10, or Windows 11; for MacOS systems: an Intel or Apple Silicon (M1 or later) CPU, an OpenGL 3.3-compatible GPU, and macOS 11 (“Big Sur”) or later; for Linux/Unix systems: an OpenGL 3.3-compatible GPU, and X window system or Wayland.
    • To record/encode video on OBS using systems with NVIDIA GPUs (NVENC): NVIDIA GeForce 750 Ti, 900-series (Maxwell), or higher (minimum); NVIDIA GPUs with 6th generation NVENC (Turing), which includes the GTX 1650 (rev 2) and higher (recommended); note that the GTX 1650 (rev 1) contains 5th generation NVENC.
    • To record/encode video on OBS using systems with AMD GPUs (Advanced Media Framework/AMF): See the AMF plugin documentation.
    • To record/encode video on OBS using systems with Intel integrated graphics (Quick Sync Video/QSV): Intel Core-i-CPU 2xxx (Sandy Bridge) or newer; note that recording/encoding performance and compatibility using QSV depends on your Intel CPU.
    • To record/encode video on OBS using MacOS systems (Video Toolbox/VT): On Intel-based Macs, recording is supported in H.264 by following these instructions:
      1. In OBS Settings > Output, set the Output Mode to Advanced.
      2. Switch to the Recording tab.
      3. Set the Encoder to Apple VT H264 Hardware Encoder.
      4. Set the bit rate to match your video settings. Here are some suggested bit rates:
         • 1280×720 @ 30fps: 3000 Kb/s
         • 1280×720 @ 60fps: 6000 Kb/s
         • 1920×1080 @ 30fps: 8000 Kb/s
         • 1920×1080 @ 60fps: 16000 Kb/s
    • To record/encode video on OBS using MacOS systems with Apple Silicon (M1 or later equipped): For Apple Silicon-based Macs, recording is supported in H.264, HEVC, and Apple ProRes. The steps for recording are provided above.
  • DaVinci Resolve installed in your system.
    • Minimum tech specs to run and use DaVinci Resolve:
      • Intel Core i7 (from any recent generation), or AMD Ryzen 7 (from any recent generation) CPU.
      • 16GB RAM
      • An Integrated or discrete GPU with at least 2 GB of VRAM, supporting Metal or OpenCL 1.2, and latest drivers installed.
      • macOS 11 Big Sur or later (for Mac), or Windows 10 Creators Update (for Windows).
      • HDD with sufficient space.
    • Recommended tech specs to run and use DaVinci Resolve:
      • Intel Core i9 (from any recent generation) or newer; AMD Ryzen 9 (from any recent generation) or newer.
      • 32 GB or more, especially when using Fusion (for VFX).
      • An NVIDIA or AMD GPU with 8GB VRAM or more.
      • SSD with sufficient space, Direct Attached RAID (DAS), or Network Attached RAID (NAS) connected via ethernet (2.5GbE is recommended).
  • VLC Media Player installed in your system (to see other requirements when using VLC, see the minimum tech specs for RAnISO Inspectors below).
• For RAnISO Inspectors
  • VLC Media Player installed in your system.
  • To view AnISOs ripped from DVDs (MPEG-1/2; 480p @ 24, 30, or 60 FPS): Any CPU with SSE2 supported; Any GPU with MPEG-2 hardware decoding support.
  • To view AnISOs ripped from HD Blu-rays (H.264; 1080p @ 24, 30, or 60 FPS): Intel CPUs with Intel HD Graphics 530 or newer; AMD CPUs with integrated graphics or newer; NVIDIA GeForce 600 series or newer; AMD Radeon HD 5000 series or newer.
  • To view AnISOs ripped from UHD Blu-rays (H.264; 4K @ 24, 30, or 60 FPS): Any CPU or GPU with AVC 5.2 hardware decoding support.
  • To view encoded H.265 AnISOs in 8-bit depth: Intel 6th generation CPUs or newer (excluding “F” SKUs); AMD Ryzen 7000 and 9000 series CPUs (with integrated graphics); NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 or newer; AMD Radeon 5000 series GPUs or newer; Note that decoding H.265 AnISOs in 10-bit and higher bit-depth may require more recent hardware.
  • To view encoded AV1 AnISOs: Intel 11th Generation (Tiger Lake) CPUs or newer; AMD Ryzen 6000 series mobile APUs or newer; NVIDIA GeForce 30 series GPUs or newer; AMD 6000 series GPUs (excluding the RX 6400, RX 6500, and RX 6500 XT) or newer; Intel Xe and Arc GPUs or newer.

COMING SOON

The ViNImmortals’ (ViNI) Guild is for those who are passionate about visual novels (VNs) and preserving physical or digital media, and are looking to volunteer and provide their own contributions for Project Localized Otaku’s Trifecta (PLOT). Even with the available sites where physical and/or digital copies of VNs are sold today, what many may not know is that not all VNs are available to purchase because of licensing, they’re a Japan-only release and haven’t yet or never gotten proper exposure to other regions/markets, or simply because the VN publishers have stopped producing and/or distributing physical and/or digital copies or sets of VNs (it’s been designated as OOP). This can include VNs that are (or were considered) popular, niche, well received by viewers and critics alike, or are simply classics from any decade and/or genre. Fortunately despite these issues, physical and/or digital copies of VNs (including those not or no longer sold on any site) are still out there. Perhaps you might have some (or a lot) in your possession right now.

While the quantity of physical and/or digital copies of VNs currently available are likely plentiful in many cases (though it still varies from one VN, publisher, or distributor to another), there’s the issue of disc damage or wear and tear (human-induced or not), disc manufacturing defects, data corruption, and/or disc degradation (disc rot). Depending on how one manufacturer, distributor, retailer, consumer, or anyone else up or down the chain takes care of the physical and/or digital copies, the discs’/data integrity can vary. These issues (and others that weren’t included nor discussed here) introduce the risk of VNs (whether in physical or digital form) being potentially lost to time and/or neglect, and people might unintentionally risk erasing parts of VN history if they’re not careful.

That’s where our guild steps in, to try and prevent (or delay) both from happening. Our goal is to collect physical and digital (preferably DRM-free) copies of VNs (we can them ViNISOs) that either we ourselves have acquired with our own funds or are donated to us by guild members, and preserve the discs/data from those physical and/or digital copies for as long as possible by creating 1:1 digital copies/backups of the discs/data (or as close to it depending on the discs’ condition for physical copies, hopefully before the discs’ integrity degrade further). Once the digital copies/backups are inspected and verified, they’re then stored indefinitely in private servers where only the Project Administrator has access to.

Digital copies/backups of VNs stored in the servers are never publicly shared to respect the copyright owner(s) of the original work(s). Other items (physical goods) that may be included in a physical copy of any VN are also preserved. If you’re willing to become a visual novel collector and physical or digital media preservation enthusiast like us, you’re highly encouraged to join our guild. If you own physical copies of visual novels that you’re willing to donate and would like for them to be responsibly preserved, or if you’d like to offer us any other kind of support in preserving VNs and their history, you’re also encouraged to join. Together, our guild can ensure that any VN, no matter how old, popular, niche, or obscure, can continue to be played and enjoyed by anyone for years, decades, or even centuries to come.

COMING SOON

COMING SOON

The ViNISO Fan Translation (ViNISOFT) Club is the sister club for the ViNimmortals’ (ViNi) Guild. This club is for those who are passionate about visual novels, media preservation, helping visual novel fans and enthusiasts gain access to VNs that haven’t (yet) received any official English localization, and are looking to volunteer or provide contributions for Project Localized Otaku’s Trifecta (PLOT). While there’s a great catalogue of VNs that have official English localization, meaning they’ve been English translated by a publisher of EN localized VNs and have been redesigned/reworked for the North American market, there’s still a lot of VNs out there that haven’t (yet) gotten the same treatment. These include VNs that are English localized in digital copies but aren’t in physical copies (if those exist), and/or are Japanese exclusives (for now) and haven’t been exposed or formally introduced to audiences in North America (or any other region for that matter).

There are various reasons why some VNs haven’t gotten an official English localization in digital and/or physical form. One likely reason would be the overall lack of interest either by known publishers that sell English localized VNs or by the general audience, especially if the VN is niche or obscure. Even though there are people, VN fan communities, and even companies that work hard on creating English translations/localizations of VNs via patches (both official and unofficial), they’re severely outnumbered by the vast amount of VNs out there and trying to find sufficient manpower and budget to modify, translate, proofread, debug, or playtest VNs can be difficult at times.

Depending on the manpower and budget allocated per project, getting a single VN localized can take months or even years. In worst cases, progress can come to a complete standstill or worse still the project can get cancelled. These barriers (and others that weren’t included nor discussed here) not only prevents attracting more audience (especially those with niche preferences) and limit the amount of VNs readers (particularly us here in the west) have access to, but also introduces the risk of VNs (whether in physical or digital form) being potentially lost to time and/or neglect, and people might unintentionally risk erasing parts of VN history.

That’s where our club comes in, to try and prevent (or delay) these from happening by acquiring digital and/or physical copies (we call them ViNISOs) of JP localized VNs from various sources by collaborating with members of the ViNimmortals’ (ViNi) Guild, and providing partial English localization on the JP localized ViNISOs, primarily by creating an English translated version of the JP localized VN, before publishing for anyone to access and all related media being stored indefinitely in private servers where only the Project Administrator has access to. In the future, these translated JP localized ViNISOs will hopefully become the foundation needed for creating official English localized VNs.

Digital copies/backups of VNs stored in the servers are never publicly shared to respect the copyright owner(s) of the original work(s). This club will provide the opportunity for visual novel fans and enthusiasts access VNs that haven’t (yet) been translated by known publishers of EN localized VNs, regain access to previously loved VNs that disappeared from VN publishers due to licensing and/or lack of interest, and most importantly to save affected VNs from disappearing from memory or history simply because no one bothered to give them the same English localization treatment as the others. If you’re willing to become a visual novel and media preservation enthusiast like us, you’re highly encouraged to join our guild. If you own physical copies or sets of JP localized VNs that you’re willing to donate and would like for them to be responsibly localized and preserved, or if you’d like to offer us any other kind of support in preserving VNs and their history, you’re also encouraged to join. Together, our club can ensure that any VN, no matter how old, popular, niche, or obscure, can continue to be played and enjoyed by anyone for years, decades, or even centuries to come.

COMING SOON

COMING SOON