Forum - View topicThe Art of Closed Captioning
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Narutofreak1412
 Posts: 338 |
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In germany they sometimes only put closed caption on a DVD/BD, because reading subs with additional infos as a person with good hearing is less inconvenient than reading normal subs as a hearing impaired person.
In germany some fans also complained about this, because nowadays a lot more DVDs and BDs have forced subs, and we got the response that is has something to do with the rights. One of our publishers explained that they usually buy the rights for a german dub and for the japanese version with german subs. They are not allowed to do anything beyond that, so a japanese dub version without subs or a dubbed version with subs on it would require buying additional rights. Also if someone in germany is selling bootlegs of a japanese version without german subs or with subs in another language the companies can't do anything about it, because it doesn't infringe the specific rights they bought 
I don't know how it is in US, but if the problem lies in japan with more producers nowadays only selling the rights for specific versions, it could be the same reason. |
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peno
Posts: 349 |
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Actually, if those things are real bootlegs, then they not only can do something, but even should, as the local right holder. On the other hand, if those are titles legally released in other countries/areas, then yes, they can't do anything. But those are not bootlegs, those are called imports. |
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Narutofreak1412
Posts: 338 |
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But they only hold the rights for the japanese version with german subs and the german dub version. They have no rights for a raw version or a version with subs in another language (usually english/chinese). I found a seller located in germany on ebay that sells and ships Naruto bootleg sets (not copies of original DVDs, but it was like 600 episodes + all movies & OVAs for 70 bucks on discs which looked like they were burned at home), immediately messaged the german publisher of Naruto (KSM), but was told that they sadly can't do anything against it unless they sell a version with german dub or japanese with german subs. For the same reason they can't go after most of the german illegal anime streaming sites, because these sites either only offer english subs or german subs of later yet unlicensed episodes. |
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dragonrider_cody
Posts: 2541 |
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That's possible. It also varies from company to company. For a long time, Sentai was able to avoid locked subtitles by simply geolocking their discs (locking out playback on machines that are labeled for countries besides the US and Canada.). They were able to do this for some publishers that insisted on locked subs on funi releases. But eventually, pretty much every company in Japan has insisted on locked subtitles for everyone, with the only hold out appearing to be Toho. Sentai locking subs on DVD's may be a little overboard, but it's also possible that some of their contracts require that as well, and they may just lock everything as a safeguard so that nothing slips through. Without seeing the actual contracts, we'll never really know all the details. It would be nice if Sentai and Funimation would add subtitles to the dubbed audio tracks, but it is possible that there aren't reasons beyond just creating a second script and track. |
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rizuchan
 Posts: 974 Location: Kansas |
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Argh how could I completely miss another opportunity to complain about Funimation (and apparently Sentai too??) not allowing subtitles turned on with the English dub!? I've been ripping all of my physical media and watching them through Plex/kodi so it's not usually an issue, but I don't think that's feasible for most people.
It's always been a pet peeve of mine, but I was legit angry about it this Xmas when I bought the Cowboy Bebop blu ray set for my dad who's hard of hearing. Luckily he's watched Cowboy Bebop probably 100 times now (I wish I was joking) so he has most of the dialogue memorized, but still. If Funi's gonna have to start closed captioning everything, hopefully they can include those on the physical discs. ...I'd still really like the option to have the translation subtitles with the dub too though. Best of both worlds. Additionally, Funi needs to turn the volume up on the dialogue track just a smidge. I swear voices on their dubs are too quiet and occasionally get drowned out by the BGM. #Justhardofhearingthings? |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11335 |
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I've complained about this for several years now, to the point of nearly soapboxing. It used to just be a problem on their trailers, but over the last year or so it's bled over into their series proper in streams as well, and now even onto disks, as you say. I can kinda understand a licensor insisting that English subs be locked on for the Japanese audio, but I still can't fathom why they would care that someone might watch the English dub with English subs on and demand that not be an option. |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9832 Location: Virginia |
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For what it is worth, The Asterisk War volume 1 from Aniplex allows you to have the subtitles present while you listen to the dub. (the first volume at least, I haven't watched the others). It figures they would be odd man out.
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Touma
 Posts: 2651 Location: Colorado, USA |
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I have been complaining for several years about the Funimation Blu-ray dub dialog being lower than the music and SFX. That is one of the reasons why I watch the show on DVD if I have it. At least part of the problem may be a compatibility issue with my player, which is rather old, but I have no problems with other discs. I will be glad to see closed captions become standard.
Answerman did a column on this. If I remember correctly he said that the Japanese insisted that the subtitles be locked to the audio, people listening to the Japanese audio see the subtitles, people not listening to the Japanese track do not see the subtitles. I do not remember if the article explained it more. |
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traitorAIZEN
 Posts: 94 |
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Those yellow subtitles are the most appalling thing ever, imo.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11335 |
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This is what the 11/2015 column said: "If the disc doesn't allow you to watch the dub with the full subtitles turned on, however, I encourage you to write to the American publisher and let them know that's important to you. It's something that many DVD producers just don't think about, but it's often essential for fans that have hearing problems." So apparently that particular problem lies with domestic authoring rather than contractual obligation. Even though he specified DVD in that sentence, I'd imagine BDs are the same since the article was about BD lockouts. |
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bin1127
Posts: 148 |
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So why were the dubbing scripts thrown out? Wouldn't the media company want to keep a archive it just like how networks archived the actual captioning? It seems like something that's pretty useful you can sell for money or some future company would definitely want.
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Buster D
Posts: 81 |
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In Japan, there are quite a few anime seies that air with Japanese closed captions, particularly golden time series and late night anime on TBS and Fuji TV. There's also some made by Chinese fansubbers (they usually have some mistakes but aren't too bad). These are quite useful to advanced learners of Japanese in addition to the hard of hearing. But the vast majority of these CCs are never released on DVD/Blu-ray for whatever reason. A lot of these CCs are archived on sites like Kitsunekko, but it's a PITA to re-time them unless you use them with the raws they originally came from. Plus there's a lot out there that's never been archived.
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