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Answerman - Why Is Japanese On-Screen Text Missing From Movies?




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chronos02



Joined: 25 Feb 2009
Posts: 267
PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 11:43 am Reply with quote
Short answer: They don't care enough about their products.

It's as simple as that, otherwise they'd push the release date when noticing such things. I would understand if it were some sort of pun that goes unnoticed unless the translator is very versed on Japanese, or the occasional easter egg that is unrelated to the movie/series safe for the director or some staff member being the same, or the production cometee or whatever. But in this case, at least, it's not an easter egg, but almost one of the aspects that deffine Hideaki Anno, kinda similar to how Shaft adds tons of text in split second flashes during the monogatari anime series, or their shaft head tilt.

This is where it's noticeable that the companies that buy licences don't care too much about what they licence and more about squeezing those eggs as much as possible. It's pretty obvious they're not a charity organization, but being a little more careful wouldn't be that bad, and in fact, it would increase their popularity with the fanbase, since not many companies take that additional step. But in the end, who cares? They aren't the ones creating the movie or series, they simply buy that licence for X territories, and they are the only ones that can sell the product over there, so they have Zero competition. It'd be completely different if several companies could licence the same movie or series, the quality of some would be miles better, while others would focus on speeding the release... I guess I just described fansubs, ha!
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5823
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 12:05 pm Reply with quote
chronos02 wrote:

It's as simple as that, otherwise they'd push the release date when noticing such things


I think Justin had an article why that is not feasible for anime.
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Arale Kurashiki



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 750
PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 12:21 pm Reply with quote
Wow that sucks, about the bluray thing.
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luffypirate



Joined: 06 Oct 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 12:28 pm Reply with quote
Matisse EB.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4074
PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 12:47 pm Reply with quote
I was wondering what all that subtitles were about... I kept looking for the signs they were translating out of habit. Considering how bland the scenes were, just how much of the screen did the text cover? And it was red, right? That would fit the oddly beige color scheme.

And since I watched a rented DVD, it's not a "Region A" BD thing.
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mrakai



Joined: 30 Oct 2003
Posts: 40
PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 12:55 pm Reply with quote
The theatrical release (also coordinated with Funimation) had all of the block japanese (Anno Pro) subs.

I enjoyed the movie but not having the Japanese block text or even trying to replace it with similarly styled English is a bummer.
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Romuska
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Joined: 02 Mar 2004
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 4:18 pm Reply with quote
I think this might be the last time I ever pre-order a blu-ray from Funimation. Had I known the movie was pointless edited like this I wouldn't have bothered. I might have even assumed that it wasn't their fault if they didn't do this for pretty much every anime they release now.
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor


Joined: 25 Oct 2003
Posts: 7580
Location: Wales
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 10:34 am Reply with quote
Romuska wrote:
Had I known the movie was pointless edited like this

This is pretty much exactly the opposite of what has actually happened here.
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 10:56 am Reply with quote
Just to confirm, is the on-screen text in question the same feature as the bold, white-on-black intertitles that littered Evangelion?
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DerekL1963
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Joined: 14 Jan 2015
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Location: Puget Sound
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:22 pm Reply with quote
chronos02 wrote:
This is where it's noticeable that the companies that buy licences don't care too much about what they licence and more about squeezing those eggs as much as possible. It's pretty obvious they're not a charity organization, but being a little more careful wouldn't be that bad, and in fact, it would increase their popularity with the fanbase


Once again the nit-pickers among the fanbase vastly overestimate their numbers and influence.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 1:07 pm Reply with quote
Shiroi Hane wrote:
Romuska wrote:
Had I known the movie was pointless edited like this

This is pretty much exactly the opposite of what has actually happened here.


And also the very example of the statement in the answer that to a non-fan, this sounds like a pointless nit-pick.

I haven't seen the movie, but it sounds like it's comparable to that joke in The Simpsons where Comic Book Guy asks for an Itchy & Scratchy animator to be fired because Itchy hits the same xylophone key but makes two different pitches.
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mrsatan



Joined: 06 Jul 2005
Posts: 909
Location: Olympia, WA, USA
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 7:39 pm Reply with quote
I don't really understand what is going on here, but as long as everything is translated, and translated correctly, I don't care.

This movie was very annoying to watch in the theater because you had English subtitles overlapping with Japanese text all over the screen. Removing the Japanese text is what I would also have done as well to reduce the clutter.

There are certain times though where the licensor does a terrible job in translating things like credits. They will often mis-romanize people and company names and mistranslate the jobs these people did. Others (like Funimation) feel they're entitled to credit themselves for everything, highlighting only a few Japanese staff at the very end of the credit roll. Because we all know that a typesetter at Funi is more important that the director, creator, and cast of the original Japanese work. Rolling Eyes

Most companies however do a pretty good job, however.
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Brutannica



Joined: 18 Mar 2007
Posts: 256
PostPosted: Thu Aug 10, 2017 5:06 pm Reply with quote
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