Hokisareta: Cleaners? Typesetters? WOT?

Good day all!

Tis I! Kaori!

It's that time of the month again!

No, not that... I mean that time where I update this blog.

Ahahahahahahahahaa...

It would be more funny if it weren't so sad.

ANYWAYS!

I wanted to bring up the fulfilling roles of the cleaner and the typesetter today,

because for some reason, there seems to be a lack of these two incredibly

important roles in the scanlation community.

But Kaori-sensei! What is a "cleaner" and a "typesetter"?!

Oh alright, I won't go into the actual beginning of the scanlation community,

so I'll just go over the basics.

So what are these roles that almost no one cares about?

Let's go over the people that bust their arses off for you!

Raw Provider - This person brings you the untranslated work straight from whence it came. They usually do the unbinding, and scanning, and sometimes prep work to get it to its high quality state before the actual cleaners and typesetters get to it. (For more reference on the raw provider, please read my previous post on the hell I went through during this process.
Translator - The person who translates every little thing on the page. Everything. Every. Little. Thing. Arguably the most important job of a scanlation group.
Proofreader - The grammar Nazi that makes sure the translated script reads normally. As in everything makes sense, and flows smoothly from one speech text to the next, and that the translation script is clearly labeled for the typesetter. (I added that last bit myself, please do this for the typesetters proofreaders!!!)
Cleaner - This guy is the one that strips the manga of all the original text. The cleaner's job is to prep the manga for the typesetter, meaning this person removes all the japanese (or whatever language is there) from the page, usually including the sound effects (SFX... although some groups don't bother > > lazy....). Must be proficient in Photoshop (or equivalent). Most of the time, cleaners must also be able to re-draw, although again, some groups have this as a separate job, though most cleaners can (or is forced to) re-draw.
Typesetters - This person takes the translated and proofread script and puts it on the manga. Typesetters need an extensive font collection and also a bit of a creative mind. SFX requires patience and a keen eye, because the text must be pleasing to the eye as well as CENTERED (FOR THE LOVE OF ALL MANGA, CENTER YOUR DAMN TEXT!) My philosophy with typesetting is that the translated work should be as close to the original work as possible in order to retain the mangaka's hard work. So choosing the right font and matching the sfx as much as possible is respecting the mangaka's work.
Editor - This person does the job of a cleaner and a typesetter (Example - ME). Most people usually "specialize" in either cleaning or typesetting. An editor can do both cleaning and typesetting. A multi-tasker and extremely proficient in Photoshop (or equivalent).
Quality Checker - The final checkpoint. This person checks that everything is perfect. All the t's are crossed and the i's are dotted. The manga cannot be released without going through this person. The quality checker is usually well versed in the other jobs (proofreading, cleaning, typesetting) because they fix all the tiny errors. This is an extremely important job because the quality of the scanlation group is usually dependent on this person.