Behind the English Script of LoveR Kiss: Translator Discusses Process and Practice

LoveR Kiss Endless Memories was released on 27th November 2025, bringing the popular romance visual novel series to English-speaking audiences for the first time. Frontline Gaming Japan’s editor-in-chief, Johann C.K., handled the English translation in its entirety. We sat down with him to have a candid discussion about the challenges and approach behind translating a title of this scale, as well as his thoughts on preserving authenticity in the translation.

(Interviews conducted by Frontline are usually handled by Johann himself, so we had a behind-the-scenes staff member conduct this interview instead. Some answers were edited after the fact for clarity. The interview was originally conducted in Japanese and the source text can be seen here.)

Interviewer: Let us begin. To start off, could you tell me what your role was in bringing LoveR Kiss Endless Memories to English-speaking players?

Johann: I handled the entire translation of 750,000 Japanese characters entirely on my own, manually translating the entire script.

Interviewer: That’s impressive. Translating that volume alone must have been a massive undertaking. Can you walk me through your process and how you approached such a large script?

Johann: The biggest project I had handled before was smaller in comparison, at 450,000 characters, so this was quite a jump in size. We were running on a very tight schedule too, with multiple milestones that had to be reached so I had to allocate a number of lines – 300 – to translate each day, and aimed to stay ahead as much as possible in order to allow for any possible issues that might pop up. Thankfully, none did.

That being said, I should note that while a few issues where incorrect message IDs were being pulled were found after release, those were implementation issues that are completely outside the responsibilities of a translator.

Interviewer: It sounds like a very disciplined schedule. With that many lines to manage daily, how did you handle maintaining consistency in character voices and tone across the entire script?

Johann: It wasn’t very difficult. The characters are pretty well-defined to begin with, so all I needed to do was match the tone to how they speak in Japanese: Nanatsu and Yumina are very casual with the player character, for example, while Riria is almost always polite and speaking in a prim and proper tone, and Crysta is also polite but also more reserved.

Interviewer: That makes sense. So you relied heavily on the original characterization to guide the English dialogue. Did that ever create challenges when trying to convey nuances or cultural aspects that don’t have a direct English equivalent?

Johann: This was discussed with the client, Dragami Games, beforehand, but we agreed that since LoveR takes place in a Japanese setting with Japanese characters and is a game in a quintessentially Japanese genre, overseas fans would probably not be looking for a “jelly donuts” style localization, and that preserving meaning and nuances would be the top priority.

As such, authenticity was a top priority, and so things that don’t have a direct English equivalent are either left as they are or conveyed in a way that the meaning is clear. Honorifics and words like “senpai” are left intact, and in cases where there would simply be no better way to convey the meaning within the character limit, I went with parentheses, like “(politely)” to differentiate the different ways of saying “good morning” in a polite manner without forsaking the tone of the characters.

Interviewer: Could you elaborate a bit on that last example—the different ways of saying ‘good morning’ and how you handled it in the translation?

Johann: The scene in question has Riria, who is always polite, saying “ohayou” – good morning in a neutrally polite manner to the player character. The PC replies with “ohayou gozaimasu” which is an even more polite way to say it, and Riria expresses discontent, as that would imply he is placing her above himself. She wants him to address her as a friend, so he switches to “ohayou” which puts him as her equal.

Both “ohayou” and “ohayou gozaimasu” are reasonably polite, and Riria, having a posh upbringing, almost always speaks in a prim and proper manner, and I sought to preserve this tone throughout her dialogue. In other cases, one might contrast the two ways of saying good morning by having the less polite version – Riria’s – sound more casual, but that would be absolutely out of character and inappropriate in this case.

At the same time, English lacks a direct equivalent for the subtle differences in politeness conveyed here – trying to make the PC’s good morning more formal or polite would be absolutely out of place and sound sarcastic. I thus resorted to the parentheses to convey the idea of what is going on without imposing unnatural phrasing, preserving the tone of the characters. This choice ensures that the dynamics between the characters remain faithful to the source material, rather than being flattened or misrepresented simply for English convenience.

Interviewer: That’s a really thoughtful solution. So the parentheses were a way to preserve both the nuance and the character voice, even when English doesn’t have a direct equivalent?

Johann: That’s right.

Interviewer: Did you make any localization changes to the script?

Johann: Not in the way many think localization works. For example, the Japanese script simply refers to “Nihon-buyo” as-is. This is not a term that is known widely to a western audience like “senpai”. You can still determine from the context that it’s a type of dance, and one can tell that it’s a traditional type of dance upon seeing it later on, but I wanted to convey the traditional aspect immediately, so I inserted some context by changing it to “traditional Nihon-buyo dances”. This does not rob the original script of its meaning, but instead adds crucial context to ensure that English-speaking players have the same knowledge as Japanese players at the same time. Localization only means adapting something for a different audience so that they can understand it better, and does not necessarily mean completely rewriting it to fit their culture.

On the other hand, I left “stamina curry” as-is even though it might sound awkward to English speakers: The original script provides enough context clues for players to have an idea that it’s a dish for big eaters. Some localization advocates might argue that changing it to something more familiar to western audiences – perhaps hot dogs or burgers – or just changing it to a large curry would be the “correct” approach here, but it’s a real dish and I didn’t want to change that. A player could simply look it up on their phone, see that it’s a real thing, and maybe even consider looking for a place that serves it in their country or eat it in Japan if they visit. Changing the name would rob them of the chance to learn about a new Japanese cultural marker.

Interviewer: It really shows the care you put into keeping the characters authentic. With a project of this scale and complexity, I imagine your background must have played a big role—could you tell me a bit about your experience and how it prepared you for this kind of work?

Johann: That question could be pretty hard to answer, as I have a pretty complex background. Where should I start?

Interviewer: I understand—it sounds like there’s a lot to cover. Maybe a good place to start is with your language background and education. For example, where did you study Japanese, and how did you become fluent enough to handle professional translation work?

Johann: Well, obviously, my first language was English, but I got interested in Japanese media at a pretty early age, in primary school. I’d say my first exposure was through video games on the Mega Drive and then the Sega Saturn. It’s hard to explain why, but as a kid I just liked Japanese games more than western ones, and getting internet access at an early age just accelerated that because I got to learn about all sorts of games that I wouldn’t otherwise know about.

Johann: I started learning on my own through internet resources and textbooks I found in stores in secondary school and was proficient enough to read manga by the time I got into high school. I enrolled in a language school around the same time as entering high school and aced the JLPTs, and decided that I’d go to Japan for university. I did, and I’ve been here ever since.

Interviewer: That’s an impressive journey. Could you elaborate more on your time at university in Japan and what you did after graduation that led you toward professional translation work?

Johann: Well, first of all, in university I primarily studied sociology while dabbling in whatever other subjects I took an interest in like psychology and anthropology. I should note of course that I was enrolled as a regular student meaning that I was treated like a regular Japanese student taking all my classes in Japanese – this was not one of those exchange programs where someone comes over for six months and is coddled with low level English language classes about Japanese culture.

I also joined the university’s manga research club, and I guess I’m actually still a member of my sociology professor’s academic society (gakkai), though I don’t manage to engage much these days, maybe once a year at most. I’ve actually been asked if I can contribute something to the professor’s book, which is due to be published in 2027, but I’m still mulling over what I would write if I were to take it up.

Anyway, in my last two years in university I was really unsure with what to do after graduating: I did have a general idea that I wanted to be involved with video games, and did participate in job hunting via the traditional shuukatsu system, but the seminars for new graduates I attended did not really feel right, not quite fitting what I wanted to do.

I ended up inspired by Hirasaka Yomi’s novel series Imouto Sae Ireba Ii – I’d been a fan of Hirasaka-sensei ever since reading Nekuroma in high school – and decided to take a leap of faith and pursue a non-traditional career path, and gave up on shuukatsu entirely. Instead I considered starting my own company to handle translations for video games: by this point I had grown very confident in my abilities, as I was fluent to a native level – I mean I did get through university and pen a thesis. I was also fully capable of easily noticing the many issues plaguing the industry, and as I had always felt that bad translations and over-localizations were disrespectful to the source material, I really wanted to contribute to getting rid of them.

Interviewer: That makes a lot of sense—it sounds like you were motivated both by passion and by a desire to raise the quality of translations in the industry. So you decided to take a more entrepreneurial path rather than follow the traditional route. How did you get started with your own company and begin working on professional game translations?

Johann: Well, I didn’t, because I was still a foreign national at the time and there are many hurdles to a foreign national starting their own business which made it unrealistic. But a former schoolmate of mine had a former schoolmate who was already an entrepreneur, and starting their own company, and introduced me to him. That was how I first met Fujimoto-san (Value Architects CEO Fujimoto Ryutaro). We talked a bit and he suggested that instead of me starting an entire company, I could try running it as a division inside his company which would forego all those hurdles, and I agreed, investing in the company in return. It turns out starting the business was just first of many hurdles, though: When approaching potential clients, the next issue was how I had no solid achievements or results in game translation I could use to demonstrate my capabilities, and I lost count of how many times I was turned down for a western translation firm that went on to localize a game with bizarre slang and twisted plot points.

It was on Fujimoto-san’s suggestion that I try and start a gaming news website as a side gig to the translation, and though neither of us knew it at the time, it turned out to be a brilliant idea. I started Frontline Gaming Japan and branded the translation business as part of the Frontline label under it.

Doing work in gaming media helped me build connections, and some devs, knowing about my English fluency, started to consult me on related issues. Eventually, this resulted in me being able to cycle back to the translation business, providing aid with second opinions, overseas expansion, even acting as a go-between for negotiations with overseas entities.

Unfortunately, while I can’t say much about them due to NDAs, some of the projects I worked on never saw the light of day which meant I was still suffering from a lack of achievements I could show to potential clients. Now that it’s finally out, LoveR Kiss is the first major Japanese-to-English video game project I can point to as a concrete example.

Interviewer: Earlier, you mentioned that you were a foreign national when you graduated from university. I know that’s changed since then—could you elaborate on that and how it’s affected your career path?

Johann: It actually hasn’t changed anything at all. I always planned to naturalize, and did so at the earliest possible chance. I actually purchased a house in Tokyo before doing so, partially because I thought it would help with my application, but also because I always intended on staying here for the rest of my life.

Interviewer: That makes sense—it sounds like your decision to naturalize was part of a long-term plan to fully establish yourself in Japan, both personally and professionally. To change the topic, it sounds like Frontline really helped you establish yourself and build the connections you needed. Besides LoveR Kiss, what other kinds of work have you been involved in within the translation and gaming space?

Johann: Well, like I said before, I can’t say much about most work due to NDAs, but I’ve also helped with translation, interpretation, research, and copywriting for some other games that I can’t really talk about. I also fully handled the English-to-Japanese translation for the tabletop miniature wargame Eisenfront, and helped with exhibiting it at various events in Japan. And aside from all that, I’ve also been helping out with consulting gigs in the larger company whenever English language proficiency is needed, like handling translations and interpretation for an insurance company implementing a new American-made CRM system needing to communicate with American engineers, doing IR research and penning Japanese language reports for a petroleum company, and just last month I helped with E-J and J-E interpretation for a client exhibiting new robotics solutions at an event in Korea.

Interviewer: That’s quite a diverse portfolio, spanning games, tabletop, corporate consulting, and live interpretation. With work this varied, where did you gain the skills and experience to handle such a wide range of projects?

Johann: With corporate work it’s usually pretty straightforward and relatively easy. Of course, mistranslations and errors can lead to very real consequences due to the stakes involved, but for the most part if one is competent and fluent enough I feel that it’s not that difficult. Fiction – games in my case – are far more difficult because they require a lot of genre literacy. Familiarity with games in general, the sub-genres, the series involved or the works that influenced them – all of this is needed for a competent translation.

I said just now that the industry is plagued with bad translations, but I also feel that to some degree that it can’t be helped. Translation requires literacy in more than just language, but hunting down a different translator with the right skillset for each project just isn’t feasible. It doesn’t help that many translation boutiques just hire people with basic fluency and no actual genre literacy at all – that’s how we get the kind of bizarre translations that turn “critical rate” into “affinity”.

I went off on a tangent but in my case, I consume a pretty large amount of media and have been familiar with Japanese subculture since I was a teen. I hung out and posted on 2channel in high school, frequently visited Tokyo throughout my youth accompanying my father, who at the time had a high-up position in a big Japanese company (he’s retired now), and have been attending Comic Market for 15 years and counting. I’ve participated in doujin events both as an attendee and exhibitor, and I’m familiar with numerous genres and the communities surrounding them, and the language they speak. I don’t get all of the obscure references in, say, Himuro no Tenchi, but I’d say I get around 75% of them.

Interviewer: Can you tell us more about your experience that establish genre literacy, particularly in the category of romantic novel games like LoveR Kiss?

Johann: I’ve been playing novel games since I was in secondary school, starting with To Heart 2, and have played hundreds since then. I actually even dabbled with making my own with KAG/Kirikiri in high school, and though it was frankly amateur rubbish I have no intention of showing, I actually did manage to get pretty good at scripting flags and branching paths at the time. I’m especially a huge fan of Maeda Jun’s works, and actually have canvas prints of the box art of Kanon, Air, Clannad and Little Busters, and of 31A from Heaven Burns Red in my house.

Interviewer: It’s clear that your experience with visual novels goes far beyond just playing them, and your personal engagement with creators shows a deep appreciation for the medium. To wrap up, given your extensive background in Japanese language, culture, and genre literacy, what do you hope players take away from your translations, particularly with a game like LoveR Kiss Endless Memories?

Johann: Above all else, my translation prioritizes the authenticity and nuance of the source material. You can’t please everybody, and there are bound to be people complaining that the text doesn’t sound “natural” because they are coming at it from a narrow Eurocentric or Americentric view of what people ought to sound like. But Japanese people and characters aren’t European or American, and assuming that they ought to speak as such is misguided. I’ve personally encountered similar presumptions, such as when a western individual insisted on correcting my pronunciation of my own, Asian, last name. Experiences like that reinforced my belief that translation should respect the source language and culture, rather than forcing it into preconceptions rooted in foreign norms.

Interviewer: That’s a very clear philosophy, and it really highlights the care and thought you put into your work. Thank you for taking the time to walk us through your process, your background, and your approach to translation. I hope that readers and players will gain a much deeper appreciation for the work that goes into bringing LoveR Kiss Endless Memories to an English-speaking audience.

Johann: Thank you.

LoveR Kiss Endless Memories is available on the Nintendo Switch, GOG, DMM, and DLsite. All versions of the game include language options that allow the player to switch to English.

Johann also previously discussed the translation of LoveR Kiss Endless Memories on his Twitter account: The thread can be found here.