Slime Reader, what it is and how to use it.

Ara ara (OwO) Muggy desu~ jk that’s my shitpost for this entry… Gonna try to limit myself…

Jokes aside, many of you may have noticed that we have recently rolled out our very own reader app called Slime Reader located at https://tensurafan.github.io/. Slime Reader is now our official app for reading our translation of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Of course you can still read it via a PDF or ePUB but our recommended way of reading our translation is the Slime Reader app. Now, you may be wondering a few things such:

• What is it?
• How do I install this app?
• Can use this app offline?
• Why did you even bother?
• How much did this app cost?
• what are it’s features?

Well this post is here to answer all those questions.

What is it?

The slime reader app is basically a glorified e-book reader app with some nice features specifically for reading our translation of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. The main feature is allowing users to choose the name that they want to see (eg: Karrion vs Carion) and sharing of lines in our translation to facilitate discussion.

How do I install this app?

If you are using an Android device. You can simply install it by navigating to https://tensurafan.github.io/ via Chrome or Firefox and then click on the  icon on he upper left of your device then follow the prompts to have it installed on your device. for iOS users, you have to visit the page via Safari and “share” the page and under the share menu there should be an option (you’ll likely have to scroll a bit) called “Add to Home Screen” which will download the app. Since the only iOS device I have is a iPodTouch 4G, you’re gonna have to make due with old OS look but in modern iOS it works the same way.

Can use this app offline?

Yes. You can actually use the app from the web or by installing it but it’s safer if it’s installed as an app (and easier to access too!).

Why did you even bother?

There’s actually a multitude of reasons. On the surface we received alot of feedback along the lines of “Hey why don’t you guys align your names with Yen Press/WN/Manga etc…” and this app is our solution to that. By allowing reader to choose the names that they want to see, we are hoping to offer the best reading experience we can offer.

The actual main reason for this is because recently, a light novel aggregation site (that I wont name) has added our translation to their aggregation. Normally this is totally cool we did it as a fan project and we’re happy to get more exposure however one thing that they did that’s absolutely inexcusable is the removal of the credits and to a lesser extent, the foot notes and comments. This is something we put alot of effort into working on and many individuals had to make sacrifices like free time or in my case, various side projects including my Shizue Izawa cosplay to get this done. That’s why it’s incredibly infuriating that these people would do this effectively stealing our content.

To quote a Gabe Newell

Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem. For example, if a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the U.S. release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable. 

By that notion, it’s easy to see why the aggregation sites win, they offer the convenience of being able to access all of the volumes right there for free and also alot of other Light Novels too. There’s really no reason to choose our version instead where we’re offering the translation but only for Slime and nothing else and not even all the volumes. Overall, our user experience is not as well done as the aggregation sites.

This app is our solution to this problem. We may not be able to offer what the aggregation sites can offer in their large library but what we can offer is an app that has a really nice reading experience, familiar names, themeing options, and URL links to each and every line in our translation to facilitate discussion on media outlets like Discord, Reddit, Facebook, twitter, etc… This is the real and main reason for this app.

How much did this app cost?

On my end, 4 weekends and a few sleepless nights. As many of you know, for my day job, i works as a Front End Web Developer. This just means that I personally have all the skills required to make this app a thing. Hosting also free cuz we host on Github via gh-pages so all in all. All in all, I paid just a few weekends and a couple extra hours of sleep. I’ve given up much more time to work on the translations anyways so another couple weekends aint much.

That’s why we are able to keep this app free and ad-free. We don’t track you or show you ads but in exchange, please make bug reports when you find them… please (>Q3Q)>

What are its features?

As mentioned earlier, you can read our updated revision on the reader. Not only that, you can also choose the terms you want to see. Not every term is chooseable and you’ll know which ones are chooseable as those are underlined. if you click on it, you’ll be greeted to the term chooser menu where you can make changes such as changing “Carion” to “Karrion” for all instances of “Carion” on the page, Nifty!! Of course, I’m only human and I will likely have missed a number of terms and a number of options. feel free to let me know about these via Discord or on Github issues. (Yes I know Ruminas in the YP translation Luminous)

The second feature of the app is to allow you to share particular lines with friends on social media. I specifically added the quote preview into the app to allow for easier sharing so tweet / discord / facebook away ^_^. To get at this URL, all you have to do is long press any particular line you want to share and the URL will show up for you to copy.

Another nice feature I think the app has over the copy cats is that it’s offline usable. If you installed the app, the app will always be available for offline use. If you want to use read it on the go and your don’t have a data plan, this here is for you. The install instructions are up above

Finally we have the standard set of reading features like saving your reading location locally, and choosing different themes (for you OLED display users and those who prefer light theme for some reason). Just look in the menu for the theme setting and location saving is automatic.

TL;DR

There was a copycat who stole our work. In order to make it more difficult, we built our own app to provide a better reading experience than what the copy cats can provide. The result of this is the Slime Reader app. We here hope you all enjoy our translation of That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime as our entire team put ALOT of effort into it. If you want any features added or any terms added/updated do let me know on Discord or on Github. Anyways back to editing / app fixeing UwU…