First off, since the last update was so large, part of it is still not available for direct downloading. In a few days, I'll be putting up volume seven of Change 123 and the last volume of Bio Meat... I'm just trying to cut down on download server rape, you know, being a good Samaritan.

Ok... I've gotten LOTS of emails ever since Christmas... and I mean, like, well over 100. This all came as quite the shock to me, as I tend to get four or five emails a week from you guys asking a question or telling me a download is broken, but running into the triple digits is kinda freaky. And to make matters worse, I was actually on an offline vacation starting on Christmas afternoon until New Years (detoxing from the month that the xmas release took... this doesn't mean I was out of town, just refusing to go online... video games mostly, great fun, but I digress), and so I didn't check my email or go on the forums here for almost a week... and BAM, landslide of unread messages. So I haven't answered the vast majority of them... I'll be doing that when I have free time at work this week.

And as I mentioned, the Christmas release actually did get started on the 26th of November... so everything that you got from December 1st through to the 25th was all completed in the month of December (which means that we could technically do it every month, but yeah... I'd lose all of my beloved staffers if I did that... I'm pretty sure I nearly lost a few anyway). We didn't hold out on you, making releases slower than we had to to give you a big release on Christmas or anything lame like that... that's just not our style here at SC. Special releases are in addition to normal ones. That's a very important rule for me. Just thought I should make that clear to everyone.

And now to the manga (sorry about the long talk ahead of the important stuff... I wonder what got into me), this is the first release after a vacation, so you know, it's not as full as normal, but we did manage to get some buzz words in there. Things like 'new project' and 'full volume'. The new project is Sumire 17!! (it includes the '!!', I'm not yelling), which debuts with chapter one today, replacing Metroid in our project line up. Next, we have Deadman Wonderland chapter 13, a re-edit that starts us into the high quality scans for volume four. And that final buzz word I mentioned means you're getting the entirety of Lucu Lucu volume five, which comes out to nine chapters of demons acting stupid. Not bad for three days worth of work. Special thanks to Wolfgang and Cosmos who pulled more than their own weight these past few days.

For those of you who love the outbreak horrors, waiting for that new project to replace the now finished Bio Meat must be a killer. But worry not, for it will come to you next week. Cheers.

There were some staff members who wanted to give some words to the fans this Christmas, so we'll start off with that. For those staffers that aren't listed... I didn't see your message in my inbox or on the forum... just drop me a line and I'll put you on the list~

There are, of course, many more people behind SC than those listed above. I actually put a call out this morning for messages, so a lot of people who had already finished what they needed to do for this release were sleeping or with family, and we wish them all the best this holiday season and hope that they have a wonderful time.

NOW. Manga. This is a biiiiig release, my friends. Actually, it weighs in at 450 MB, roughly 9 volumes in all, I guess, and almost every project that SC is working on has been represented (I even snuck in some Himizu). This doesn't match up to some of the chapter numbers that we put out in the old days, but in terms of time spent, this year certainly takes the cake, my friends... we easily spent 600 man hours working on this batch, and probably considerably more than that. But enough about all that, let's get to the numbers.

Bio Meat is finished. Chapter 77 through 105 are in the torrent to the right. I hope you guys enjoy it, and look forward to a new Survival Horror in January.
Metroid is finished. We're releasing chapters 15 and 16 today.
Change 123 has 11 chapters for you guys, and vertainly accounts for a huge percentage of the time that this release took. As always, SC doesn't skimp on quality to give you quantity, and I hope that you enjoy this as much as it stressed us out giving it to you.
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer is being released through the end of volume 2, which comes out to 4 chapters.
Lucu Lucu makes a glorious return, with all of volume 4 available for you this wonderful Christmas Day.
Deadman Wonderland comes back with a really freaky vengeance... so grab chapter 18 right now.
Saijou no Meii volume 1 has been completed, meaning two chapters are waiting for you.
Crazy Maniax returns with the first chapter of the next short story.
Doubt volume 3 re-edits have been started, and chapter 10 is available for viewing.
Himizu returns with chapter 15. This one will be moving up on the priority list come January. (rejoice, vocal minority)
Shiki chapter 10 is out, meaning that now we've got, like... 11 chapters of Shiki done. >_>
And last but certainly not least, Franken Fran comes drilling into this holiday release with 3 new chapters, a color page, and the knowlegde that we are now totally caught up to the Japanese magazine releases. Cheers to that.

Er... this always happens on Christmas, so I'm going to stop you. If you're like 'OMG, this is awesome, I must donate my xmas monies now!!', you should wait. I'm going to be refreshing the list of donation gifts in the next few days, and I want to make sure that no one misses out on something that they may actually want (there's all kinds of stuff, so you just never know). So yeah, hold onto any money you'd like to donate, let it percolate in your mind for a while, and come back next week and decide then. It's just generally a good rule to not donate on impulse anyway.

From our SC manga family to your's, may you have a wonderful holiday, and enjoy the gifts.

The staff convinced me not to have a release both today and tomorrow and just to hold everything until Christmas Day... but I can still make a release today, so there. This is kind of like a sneak peak at the xmas release, only less chapters, less series, and less stress. I hope you all enjoy it, and remember to drop by on the 25th to get your presents.

Bio Meat chapter 77
Change 123 chapter 23
Franken Fran chapter 18 and HQ redo's for chapter 11
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer chapter 12
Metroid chapter 14 (only 2 more!)

So yeah, no release tomorrow, but we've got lots getting finished up right now for the 25th, so look forward to it. It seems SC is finally back in the business of huge holiday releases, and I love it~

Soooo yeah. 'Nother week from hell. Got lots done, though, and some of it is coming to your greedy little hands tonight. Without further time taken from my sleep, this week's release is:

Bio Meat chapters 75 & 76
Change 123 chapter 22
Franken Fran chapter 17
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer chapter 11
Metroid chapter 13

I hope you guys are enjoying the return to a regular release schedule, I know I certainly am.

So yeah, busy week. But enough about me, let's talk about what you're getting tonight.

Mixim catches up again (sorry) with chapters 26 through 31 released. Hoshi no Samidare: Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer comes in with yet another chapter, and, rounding out the release with what will surely be the least popular series I will ever put my hands onto, Change 123 chapters 20 and 21, making up for not giving any to you last week. I hope you all enjoy.

It's late and I'm sleepy, so I'm not really gonna write anything 'clever' tonight.

Doubt chapter 17
Bio Meat chapter 74
Metroid chapter 12
Mixim chapter 25
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer chapter 9

Change 123 will be skipping this week. You'll get two of them next week. No complaning, please. We're training new staff, and part of the process is fixing mistakes. Once everyone's had some corrections under their belt, you'll be receiving twice as much from us as you've been getting for the past few months.

First off. Taru, if you read this, Myth and everyone's worried about you and want to know if you're still alive. And if any of you old timers know who Taru is and where to find him, drop by the forum and let us know how he's doing.

Manga! Change 123 chapter 19 is done and in your hands. And so it's not a single chapter release again, I have a chapter of Bio Meat for you, too.

Doubt may take a little while, though. Our editors had a death in the family and are away taking care of matters. We send you guys all the love in the world and if there's anything you need just say the word.

Update: Sorry guys, it would appear that the torrent for Change 123 is missing the first page of chapter 17 (page 75). That page is available HERE. The file will be uploaded correctly when the direct downloads are added.

Man, has this been one hell of a two weeks, lemme tell you. My day job has been nothing but work, overtime, work, sleep, repeat... and then we went on a two day trip to Utah for Jessie's brother's wedding (which was very pretty and we had a good time, don't get me wrong), so I've gotten like, little to no work done on the manga front lately. And, as is usually the case when I don't get my work done, the manga flow has been a bit slower than usual. Many apologies for that one... but we're back on track now, heading into the holiday release season.

Anyway, if you recall, the plan for Change 123 was a chapter a week, so, since it's been two weeks, we have two chapters for you. Hopefully you enjoy them... and do please compare. Ours would be technically accurate. We've also got Bio Meat chapter 71, and Franken Fran chapters 9 and 10, rereleased in high quality tankouban scans. Finally, we have Shiki chapter 9 for you.

In other news, we're still looking for more photoshop helpers. I've got high hopes for our Christmas release this year, and the more people I have on board to lend a hand, the better. That said, I've been getting a few requests to add secondary jobs like cleaners and typesetters to the available positions... and I figure, why not. If you like to clean but hate to add in all that text, or you just can't quite grasp the intricacies of redrawing, but have a good eye for word placement, then we've got work for you to do. I've got a cleaning test and a typesetting test, as well as a general editing test available HERE (it's the old one). Please do realize that I ask a lot from my staff during the holiday season... if you don't have time to spend doing this 3 or 4 nights a week, of course, I still want your help, but tell me so that I can get all of the schedules put together correctly. On the opposite side of the coin, if you have absolutely no life and really love the projects that we do here, I reeeaaally want you to submit tests for me. One guy with no life can mean the world to the rest of us. Please send completed test pages to my email... it's on the staff page.

And Happy Halloween!
I'm going to start tonight's semi-holiday release with a major coincidence that we didn't plan... and didn't even realize until this morning. Two of our chapters (from two different stories) make mention of the term 'Sokushinbutsu', which is actually a monk who has performed a 6 year self-mummification ritual to attain enlightenment and then dies. Obviously all of this is explained in the releases themselves (in great detail), but I felt like it required a mention here as well. I mean... what are the odds? And on Halloween? Freakin' crazy. I hope you enjoy Change 123 chapter 16 ("You've become a Sokushinbutsu!?") and Lucu Lucu chapter 27 ("You want to become a Sokushinbutsu!?").

Now that that's out of the way, I've got LOTS of other things to give you. Obviously, Franken Fran couldn't be left out of a halloween release, and we've got a chapter of that for you (with more to come soon), followed up by Bio Meat with three chapters, which is... almost appropriate. Coming up, also with 3 chapters, is the newest project on the roster, Hoshi no Samidare: Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer. This also rounds out volume 1. Awesome.

And I've got even more.
The M's! Mixim is two chapters! Woot. And Metroid clocks in with one chapter of its own.

But wait. There's still more.
Saijou no Meii: The Best Skilled Surgeon comes back with chapter 3. Mikoto's back in Japan, let the story begin!

More is actually on the way... some Himizu, Franken Fran, and maybe a few others. Not sure exactly when you'll get them, but a few days seems like a good estimate. Hope you guys had a good week and I'll see you again soon.