Popular eroge developer Black Lilith (LiLith on Steam) has allegedly been using a fan translation completed four years ago for their official release of Taimanin Yukikaze 1: Trial.

[UPDATE] RedXVII has received further contact from Black Lilith, this time with them admitting that the translation used for Taimanin Yukikaze 1: Trial does indeed belong to the fan translator.

The developer has issued an apology, promised to remove the translation from the Steam release, and fix the game's script in due time:

RedXVII 様ご返答が遅くなってしまい大変申し訳ございません。

Steamに配信中の『対魔忍ユキカゼ』英語版の翻訳文に関してのお問合せに関しての再々調査の結果をお知らせ致します。

貴殿のご指摘の通り、翻訳文を参照、転用したことに間違いありません。

この場を借りて深くお詫び申し上げますと共に、世界中にLILITHの作品を愛するファンの方が存在し応援して下さる事に感謝致します。

つきましては、貴殿の翻訳文を削除し修正文を鋭意制作中にて、反映の手続に暫しお時間を頂きます事にご理解とご了承をくださいますようお願い申し上げます。

今後ともファンの期待に添えるよう、より良い作品を作り続けて行けるよう精進して参ります。

LILITH制作スタッフ一同

We deeply apologize for the delay in our reply.

After an in-depth investigation of the English translation of "Taimanin Yukikaze" on Steam, we have come to the conclusion that there is no doubt it uses your translation.

We'd like to use this occasion to deeply apologize, and we are truly thankful to all our fans around the world.

We will therefore proceed to remove your translation and fix the translated script. However please understand that this will take some time.

We will continue working hard to create works that can meet our fans expectations.

From all of the Lilith development staff.

[/UPDATE]

The issue of Black Lilith using RedXVII's fan translation of the first Taimanin Yukikaze eroge was first discussed in a VNDB thread; however, in a more recent topic started on the r/visualnovels subreddit, the fan translator himself has decided to point out the incident to the general visual novel community.

The Reddit post explains RedXVII's motivation behind making the fan translation four years ago and goes into detail how Black Lilith's official release of Taimanin Yukikaze 1: Trial uses his translation, even down to the same spelling errors he made in the script:

The gallery of comparison screenshots linked in the thread, showcasing similarities between RedXVII's translation of Taimanin Yukikaze and the Steam release of Taimanin Yukikaze 1, including identical wording and sentence structure in most lines of text, with minor modifications to others:

RedXVII has contacted LewdGamer about the ongoing issue personally and provided logs of his correspondence with Lilith, first providing context to the developer about creating the fan translation and then explaining that their current version on Steam uses the majority of his translation work. The fan translator also mentioned the possibility the eroge developer may, in fact, have been tricked by a freelance translator during the process of releasing Taimanin Yukikaze 1: Trial on Steam's platform:

私は4年前「対魔忍ユキカゼ」という作品の非合法な翻訳を作りました。

私はフランス人、そしてあの時、「対魔忍ユキカゼ」が好き過ぎて、その素晴らしさを皆に教えたかったです。

私は素人で、今でも私はまだ日本語を勉強しています。あの時私はもっと下手な方でした。

それでもいろんな事を学んで、翻訳を完成しました。翻訳自体は無料で、プレイするには原作が必要です

原作がないと翻訳が使えません。私の翻訳はpatch.xp3だけですから。

そこに投稿しました：https://yukikazeacute.tumblr.com/post/145677190142/taimanin-yukikaze-animation-english-patch

改めて、私は原作を無断転載していません。私もdlsiteで「対魔忍ユキカゼ」を買いました。

2020年7月9日に対魔忍ユキカゼのSteam版が投稿されました

プレイしてみたら実は翻訳の6割位が私の翻訳からのコピペです

もしもLilith様が私の翻訳を使いたいなら私は構いません、寧ろとっても嬉しいです

できればクレジットでYukikazeACuteを書いたら私はそれだけで満足です

すがフリーランスの翻訳者に発注しているなら騙されています。

その翻訳者は自分で考えて翻訳しているのではなく、私の翻訳からコピペしています。

私の翻訳はそんなに良くないですが、もしお望みなら無料で使っていただいても構いません。

改めて、非合法な翻訳でしたが、金の為ではなく、ただLilith様の作品が好きという理由でした。

ご返信お待ちしております

RedXVII

Lilith,

Four years ago, I made an illegal translation of Taimanin Yukikaze.

I'm a french person, and back then I wanted to tell everyone how great Taimanin Yukikaze was.

I was an amateur, and even now I'm still learning Japanese. At that time my Japanese was even worse.

Nonetheless, I learned a lot and managed to complete the translation. The translation itself is free, but owning the original game is still necessary.

Without the original game, the translation cannot be used, since it is released as patch.xp3 file to be put in the folder of the original game.

I posted it here: https://yukikazeacute.tumblr.com/post/145677190142/taimanin-yukikaze-animation-english-patch

Again, I didn't illegally share the original game, and I purchased Taimanin Yukikaze on DLsite myself.

On 09/07/2020, Taimanin Yukikaze Trial was released on Steam.

After playing it, I realized roughly 60% of the translation was simply a copypaste of my translation.

If Lilith wishes to use my translation, then I don't mind at all, on the contrary, I'd be very happy.

As long as YukikazeACute is credited then I'm satisfied.

However, if you've contacted a freelancer for this translation, then you are being deceived.

The translator didn't come up with the translation and instead simply copypasted mine.

My translation is not very good, but if you wish to, you can use it freely.

I made an illegal translation, but I didn't make it for the money, only because I loved Lilith's work.

I will be waiting for your answer.

RedXVII

Sometime during the past two weeks, RedXVII has received an official e-mail reply from Black Lilith in which the company claims it has conducted an investigation and stated that the translation used in the Steam version of Taimanin Yukikaze 1: Trial isn't in fact his. According to RedXVII, Black Lilith has ceased all contact after giving him a single reply.

The translation of Lilith's reply has been provided by RedXVII:

RedXVII 様

「対魔忍ユキカゼ」をプレイしていただき誠にありがとうございます。

調査に時間がかかってしまったために

ご連絡が大変遅くなってしまい申し訳ございません。

お問い合わせ頂いておりました、

当社が現在Steamで配信中の「対魔忍ユキカゼ・体験版」の翻訳についてですが、

確認を行ったところ、翻訳については社内スタッフが実施しており、

お客様の翻訳を転用している事実はございませんでした。

今後とも引き続き、当社の作品をお楽しみいただけるように、

最善を尽くしてまいりますので、どうぞよろしくお願い申し上げます。

その他 ご不明な点がございましたらお問い合わせくださいませ。

今後ともLILITHを何卒よろしくお願い申し上げます。

RedXVII,

Thank you for playing Taimanin Yukikaze

We're sorry for the delay in replying to you, but investigating the issue took some time

To answer your question about the translation of Taimanin Yukikaze Trial, after checking it with the staff at our company, we can tell you that this translation isn't yours.

We hope for you to continue supporting us and our products.

We stay available for any questions you might have

Lilith様

While Black Lilith claims that the translation they used is, in fact, their own work, RedXVII has provided a significant amount of convincing evidence to the contrary, putting the company in a questionable position regarding their development practices. RedXVII has distributed his fan translation completely for free and pointed out legal means to buy the eroge, while also waving any ownership of Black Lilith's property; however, that still more than likely does not give the Japanese developer the rights to use his work in a commercially sold product.

More so than most other Japanese eroge developers, Black Lilith has been vigorously engaged in battling piracy of any kind of their intellectual properties, often issuing copyright takedowns against sites illegally hosting full versions or art galleries featuring CGs of their titles.

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