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Hey, Answerman! - Futile Devices


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vashfanatic



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 3489
Location: Back stateside
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 5:59 pm Reply with quote
WOW.... I didn't write in with Paranoia Agent as my sought-for rescue because I figured everyone would. Guess I was wrong...
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Dop.L



Joined: 23 Mar 2007
Posts: 713
Location: London
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:15 pm Reply with quote
The subtitles Viz applied to their release of Honey and Clover were DIABOLICAL! Not only did they transpose family and given names which a friend of mine who is a professional translator tells me a good translator wil never do (and indeed, the people who translated the manga for Viz did not do), but they even got the names mixed up on several occasions, so the given name in the subtitles was NOT the name of the character mentioned!

I bought the damn DVDs. I bought all three sets of them. I was so glad something like Honey and Clover got a DVD release I wanted to support it in the hope that other similar shows might get a release and that quality anime will win over fighting and fanservice...

But when I want to WATCH Honey and Clover, I still watch the fansubs. The fansubs don't make me want to hunt down the translators and give them a good kicking...

(Also, the Viz release cut out Moon River, which may have been too expensive but it's damn relevant!)

Anyway, that's my example of fans doing something better than the pros.

Then again, I'm told that DVD translation pays peanuts these days, and good translators can't afford such a low paid job.

Chocolate cake is quite nice, I think.
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:24 pm Reply with quote
@vashfanatic, I was thinking the same thing, where's the Paranoia Agent love? Then again, the question wouldn't show up for me last week or I would've sent in one for Paranoia Agent.

As for this week's question, I think fansubbers sometimes do a great job with picking good fonts and font colors for a show, not just the yellow same font you see on the professional releases. Sometimes it makes it easier to read for me. And doesn't stand against the color palette as much as the yellow does (case in point, Toward the Terra, fansubbers used a blue font, Bandai did the yellow, I bought Bandai's release though because it's a great show, but I wish they'd used the font and font color the fansubbers did).

And some of them won't put the -san and -kun stuff in, I usually prefer that. Case in point, Baccano!, that series takes place in America, why did Funi bother to put all the -kuns and stuff in there when, if it were taking place in America and speaking english, they wouldn't be there? Pretty sure the fansubs I saw just went with "Czes", not "Czes-kun", not to mention Funi italicizing the honorifics, calling attention to them even more, ugh. It's just that these honorifics aren't necessarily part of English, sure -san can translate as "Mr." or "Mrs.", but just translate that, Funi, don't be lazy and just put -san there! I think you should be able to convey seniority with dialogue and word choices, not just throwing -kun or -sama on there. I know some people like the honorifics for feeling more "authentic" or something, but I really don't since we don't have equivalent words for them in English, I already know the series is from Japan and might even take place in Japan (or alternate Japan) y'know, now make it be like normal English when it comes to your subs!
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KENZICHI



Joined: 16 Oct 2010
Posts: 1101
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:26 pm Reply with quote
Oh yeaaaaa. Just ASKING the fansubbers to stop scanlating will have a greater effect on getting them to stop than just simply suing the site. Uh, huh. Rolling Eyes

The ones that really need to be treated w/ respect are companies like Funimation not fansubbers. I don't see them as 'villians' at all. They're doing whatever they can to help their sales and I see no problem w/ it.
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Jozoiscute



Joined: 25 Oct 2007
Posts: 252
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:29 pm Reply with quote
Unfortunately, I was one of those few people that didn't get to see last week's question. If I had, there would have been one particular answer:

Hamtaro, Hamtaro, HAMTARO.

Why is it VIZ has had this license forever and yet, no box sets, no updates, no...well...ANYTHING!!!

Anime cry

I was one of those little kids that grew up on Hamtaro.
....while most of you are probably rolling your eyes, I would LOVE to have a decent copy of the series....(if nothing else) to show it to my children someday.

A close second would have been a tie between: Unico, The Dog of Flanders movie, Tama and Friends, and Urusei Yatsura.

Very Happy


Last edited by Jozoiscute on Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:34 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 3627
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:33 pm Reply with quote
Mmmm, cake. My mom makes a delicious amaretto cake, a local italian restaurant used to have an awesome white chocolate mousse cake, but they don't anymore unfortunately, and my local bakery makes a great raspberry brownie cake. In greece I also had a great slice of white chocolate blackberry cake. Those are my favorite cakes. Now I'm upset that I don't have any cake in the house :/

And there was something about anime?
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vashfanatic



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 3489
Location: Back stateside
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:44 pm Reply with quote
classicalzawa wrote:
As for this week's question, I think fansubbers sometimes do a great job with picking good fonts and font colors for a show, not just the yellow same font you see on the professional releases.

It's not just the yellow. Funimation's release of Baccano! used white all the time... including over the white text of the next episode's title in the previews so you literally could not read the subtitles. Nor did they ever differentiate who was speaking which subtitles when two people were speaking at once... well, it's not like fansubbers subtitle things perfectly by any means, but clearly the technology is out there to do a far greater variety of highly-legible subtitling fonts and colors than in the past. I think a Crunchyroll staffer even brought this up at a table discussion with Funimation, that many companies use technology years behind what is available.
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bj_waters



Joined: 18 Apr 2006
Posts: 234
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:49 pm Reply with quote
Dang, if I knew that's what the Answerfans! question was, I would have totally written in for Samurai Pizza Cats (thought I know that is such a reach). The question wasn't posted with the article and I forgot to check back during the week to see if they fixed it.

When it comes to fansubs, I admit that I like karaoke, or at least being able to see the japanese words of the song next to the english translation. Alternating between the japanese and english per episode has never really done it for me.

As for manga though, I think I prefer the professional because they're more willing to do research to find the obscure facts that help bring out various elements of a series. I'm not saying scanlators don't do it, but professional companies are more consistent with it (especially Del Rey!).
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ArthurFrDent



Joined: 05 Aug 2008
Posts: 466
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:52 pm Reply with quote
dude! cake, now I'm hungry...

but since it's my birthday tomorrow, Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte will be had, because it's tradition... That'd be Black Forest Cherry Cake.

on the other hand? Short Skirt and a Loooooong Jacket, Cake. That'd be nice too.

somehow missed last weeks question... essentially there are things that I know exist but have never seen, like Urusei Yatsura... which I could get from Right Stuf! for a princely sum of money... so even if OOP, it could be had. There are tons of things that I'd prolly like, but have never heard of, so ignorance is something like bliss I guess.

There are things from a couple years ago that I'd love to see on disc like Natsu No Arishi, but they've been Crunchyrolled, and I don't suppose there is enough interest. But could you even call that a rescue, when it's never been licensed?

Just give me all the frelling anime, damnit? Is that good enough? How about Utena? All Macross? I know the reasons they are not in the US, but that makes it all the more important to get 'em here, IMHO...
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vashfanatic



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 3489
Location: Back stateside
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:57 pm Reply with quote
ArthurFrDent wrote:
How about Utena?

It's been rescued. Rightstuf is even getting the remastered video. They promise it will come out later this year. I hope it is as epic as I want it to be (Utena is one of my all-time favorite series).

EDIT for epic typo.


Last edited by vashfanatic on Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:57 pm Reply with quote
@vashfanatic
Good point, the white's even worse, at least with yellow it stands out against most of the stuff in the background, but half the time white just blends right in. So I'd say that yellow>white for sure, but I still don't get why they use such outdated technology as you said. I feel like Funi by far the worst subs in the industry right now, and if you don't like the dub for a particular show, then you're screwed because their subs are damn near illegible at times. I have minimal complaints on Bandai, Sentai, and Media Blasters subs by comparison.
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nokishoff



Joined: 11 Oct 2009
Posts: 31
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:58 pm Reply with quote
Retracted

Last edited by nokishoff on Fri Jun 24, 2011 12:28 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Reaper gI



Joined: 05 Oct 2009
Posts: 299
Location: UK
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 7:02 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Funimation needs to get it together and pick up Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's, because, DANG. I don't understand why they didn't pick it up with the first one - as a direct sequel that manages to step up all of the action and drama that made the original great, and is now conspicuously rare, it seems like a no-brainer. I'm in the market for a copy of both shows myself, and Funi could take a vacuum to my wallet if they managed to bring back "Raging Heart" (I file "Raising Heart" under Nice Tries along with with "Arucard").

FUNi picked up A's together with the first season. They're both going OOP now. A's just sold out faster.

It's the clasic problem of not having the original script when translating, only the audio track. It's confirmed as Raising Heart in Striker S's OP. And fixed to that in A's's subs.
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shoddyworksucks



Joined: 28 Jan 2011
Posts: 21
Location: San Diego, CA
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 7:14 pm Reply with quote
My personal choice for a much-needed license rescue was Vampire Hunter D (1985). Urban Vision is basically dead, and they don't even sell the DVD on their own store anymore.

The first question of this week's Answerman seriously got me riled up. Terrorist attack? REALLY? This is the kind of screwball nerd bombast that seriously undermines any real discussion or critique. Comparing a for-profit company attempting to protect their license to a cell carrying out possibly deadly, illegal acts in the attempt to undermine a nation, culture, or institution is beyond ridiculous. If you are a fansubber in this day and age releasing subs of shows already licensed in the U.S., you have to be aware of the possible consequences. Same goes for the people downloading these shows.

I have downloaded fansubs before, so I'm not trying to be holier than thou about it, and I agree with his response: its not the best route for Funimation to take, but it is their choice to make. I just don't like the incendiary nerd-rage that follows news of this kind.

Oh well, enough of my opinion; this was another quality column.
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GWOtaku



Joined: 19 Jul 2003
Posts: 678
PostPosted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 7:15 pm Reply with quote
I like this column, and I know how easily fansub discussions explode around here. But look: that first answer smacks of wanting it both ways. It really doesn't work to call FUNimation's anti-piracy lawsuit a "Dick Move" only to then list off reasons why it's a justified and understandable action to take. As observed, being "nice" got them absolutely nothing. But somehow they're supposed to continue that so as to not rock the boat and spark meaningless complaining on the internet? What's the use of PR toward individuals that have no intention of ever buying their product, or even giving it a small amount of online ad revenue? That's the crowd that's ignoring or subverting simulcasts that they have access to. And that's behavior that's very distinct from subbing a show a year before anybody's licensed it.

Call the lawsuit meaningless, fine. It might be that in the end. Just don't criticize FUNimation and/or Toei for exercising their rights simply because simulcast rippers refuse to go away. There's no real argument here against that, just a sigh of resignation at the situation. A third party can afford that attitude. But these people are trying to make money, earn a living, make a profit so they can produce and sell more cartoons.
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