Inside Red Hawk Vol. 1: The Big Three

[Red Hawk Scanlations]

Greetings dear readers! The public rarely gets a good look at what goes on behind the scenes in scanslation groups, and so we are beginning a series of articles that will explain who we are, how we work, and hopefully bring the readers closer to the staff members that they mostly only know by names on the credit pages.

Today we are starting off with a piece about the three administrators that each represent one third of the scanslation process. Most of the power and responsibility in Red Hawk rests with this trinity. Each of these men commands their own section of the group and is instrumental in keeping the operations going. They are:

Takadanama – Mediator, Leader, Editor

A Chinese descendant who lives in Indonesia may seem like an unlikely leader for an English scanslation group, and yet Takadanama runs Red Hawk effectively enough to silence all skeptics.

The leader of a scanslation group is the cement that holds it together. Aside from organizing daily operations, it is the leader’s responsibility to manage the conflicts and egos of his subordinates. In order to pull this off, a leader must command genuine personal respect from his staff. Without exception, Takadanama does just that. At Red Hawk there is no heir apparent, no imminent successor. The inimitable founder is the heart of the group—without him there would be no Red Hawk.

Takadanama first formed Red Hawk Scanslations in 2008 out of the ashes of the defunct Noizy Scanslations, bringing with him most of the essential staff that he had worked with before. As their work increased in quality, so too did their popularity. Today Takadanama’s connections throughout the scanslation scene are vast, and his unique background has allowed him to connect with Chinese groups with whom Red Hawk often shares raw providers.

In addition to being the mastermind behind many projects and the final word in all debates, Takadanama is also a master with Photoshop and personally runs the editing department. Many pretenders have come and gone, each fancying themself as the top cleaner in the group, but at the end of the day Takadanama stands above them all as ultimate overseer of cleaning and typesetting operations.

HontouRakuda – Loyalist, Veteran, Translator

In 2008, before Red Hawk Scanslations even existed, when Takadanama was a mere officer at Noizy Scanslations, a recruitment call went out looking for a translator for a new series called Kimi no Iru Machi. It was at that time that a man known as HontouRakuda answered the call.

A fan of Seo Kouji, HontouRakuda leapt at the opportunity to translate a series by one of his favorite authors. Upon joining the Noizy team, however, he soon discovered that translation standards were next to nil and that some of his peers were embarrassingly bad at their jobs. His calls for higher standards were largely ignored, though he was able to start up a nascent training program that never had time to bear fruit.

When Noizy Scanslations collapsed due to ineffective leadership, HontouRakuda followed Takadanama and became one of the founding members of Red Hawk Scanslations. He remains one of the most veteran members of the staff and has since been able to implement the standards he once craved. Every aspiring Japanese translator must first meet his approval before working at Red Hawk.

Today it is primarily his personal loyalty to Takadanama and an enduring appreciation for the works of Seo Kouji that keeps HontouRakuda motivated through periods of lethargy and flagging interest. Together, this dynamic duo represents the Red Hawk old guard and commands great respect from the rest of the staff.

Ichibukai – Upstart, Belligerent, Proofreader

The grandmaster of the proofreading department is also the newest administrator on the block. At his core, Ichibukai is a straightforward technocrat who works in the publishing industry in the United States. He first joined the Red Hawks in the middle of 2010 and has since had a meteoric rise through the group, from an entry level proofreader to one of the most influential voices on the staff within a few months.

Before Ichibukai reformed the department, there were essentially no proofreading standards in Red Hawk whatsoever. Upon being put in charge, the first thing he did was fire every single staff member who had been there before him. He then quickly instituted a rigorous new set of expectations and began testing applicants by the dozens. Of the many who applied, to date only two have secured permanent positions on Ichibukai’s proofreading team—more on them later.

While much of Ichibukai’s success can be attributed to the strength of his own proofreading work, much of it is also due to his ruthless approach to group politics. Direct to a fault, he clashed frequently with other staff members during his ascent and generally came out on top. Where Takadanama makes peace, Ichibukai makes war.

Today Ichibukai is both maker and destroyer of kings. More than one veteran staff member has left the group after rubbing him the wrong way, but newcomers taken under his wing have enjoyed great success. A devoted fan of The World God Only Knows, his primary motivation for working at Red Hawk is his love of the series and an enduring desire to do it the greatest justice possible.