Forum

Disclaimer: The following post represents my personal views as an anime fan and should not be construed as official philosophy of AnimeNewsNetwork or any of its other staff. Zac, Tempest, feel free to "meta-moderate" this if you feel it's out of line, but I've based this criticism of Viz on objective evidence.

The Xenos wrote:

Amen. I hate the myth propagated by rabid fans that somehow fansubs are more professional than.. well.. professional translations and subtitles. They often cite a bad official release here and there, but in general, they are professional and just well done.

Okay, I royally messed up in my previous post and overgeneralized about fansub viewers, as sabriyahm made clear. I didn't mean to do that, but I also never said that fansubs were necessarily "better" or "more professional" than professional DVDs. If somebody comes in here claiming "Fansubs are sooo much better," I'll pull out something I have on fansub and on DVD and show where the DVD did things better.
However, imho the pros might be able to improve their status in the eyes of fansub viewers and have a chance at better sales if they took a few cues from fansubbers. They don't have to start throwing Oniichan's about, but Funimation has included honorifics for quite some time and the sky hasn't fallen. I know pro translated scripts have plenty of language/cultural notes, but most companies don't bother to include them on the DVDs, despite the minimal effort and disk space required. Many people also like the positioned/styled text translations on fansubs, and while some companies do this (ADV/RightStuf/AnimEigo), some think it's too much effort to position signs or even to translate them at all. I know DVDs can't do fancy karaoke/font tricks, and I don't hold that against them. I always looked at karaoke as a bonus even in fansubs; as long as English/romaji/kanji, English/romaji, or just an English translation of the songs is present, I'm satisfied.

I do know some fansub viewers online and IRL who in an "all things being equal" situation of being able to watch a fansub or a DVD (or rip thereof) for free, will still take the fansub. If people don't even want to watch a pro DVD version of Series_389 for free, is there a snow-rabbit's chance in hell they'll buy it?

And for those decrying fansubs as "incomplete" or "inaccurate," it's not like Viz is exactly the master of complete and accurate translations. We're not talking "a bad official release here and there," not that there should even be bad professional releases in the first place. In fact, practically every Viz release I own or know of is flawed in some way:

Ceres, Celestial Legend: No translations for OP/ED. (I've also heard this is the case for Inuyasha and Maison Ikkoku, but I haven't seen those. I can't comment on Flame of Recca, Boys Over Flowers, or Hikaru no Go, either.)

Key, the Metal Idol: No song translations at first, though they were added in later--my memory's a little vague on the DVDs overall, but I do remember an instance where they left in an over-literal "Big Sister!" in one of those "kid calling an unrelated girl 'Big Sister" moments, resulting in an awkward bit of subtitling. Apparently the DVDs for KtMI were a big v2 anyway:

In an old editorial, Justin Sevakis wrote:

Companies: Put some work into your product. It's very obvious when a company doesn't really care about a project, because the work is usually very sloppy. Subtitled versions usually suffer quite a bit. Viz's subtitled version of Key the Metal Idol, for example, was simply pathetic. There is no excuse for a commercial product that does not look as good as a fansub-- PERIOD.

Full Moon wo Sagashite: Sign translation ignored, no secondary subtitle track, so anyone watching the English dub without subtitles has to find that "subtitle" button on their remote or listen to songs left in Japanese audio that they (probably) can't understand.

Bleach: Generally good, though some question the translation for leaving many terms like Zanpakutou and Kidou in Japanese (="incomplete translation").

SaiKano TV: No song translation, many signs omitted, subtitles fail to explain certain language quirks, leaving viewers who don't know Japanese scratching their heads.

SaiKano OVA: Subtitles are roughly 70% dubtitles that approximate the content of the English dub, and are littered with more spelling/grammar errors than what should be acceptable for a professional release. No song translation for the closer, either. See 18:30 of episode 1 if you don't believe me on the dubtitling.

Quote:

Japanese audio: Gomen nasai. Eigo seiseki anmari dakara, yoku wakaranai. [ごめん　なさい。英語成績　あんまり　だから、　よく　分からない。]
English audio: I'm sorry...I-I don't get it...I wish I could understand you, talk to you...
Viz subtitles: I'm sorry. I wish I could understand you. To talk to you...
Fansub A: I'm sorry. My English grades aren't that great...so I don't know what you're saying.
Fansub B: I'm sorry. I did poorly in English class, so I don't understand too much.

Now, can anyone else on these forums who knows some Japanese (and it's not a hard line) honestly say that the professional version is more accurate? Then again, I guess I've been so spoiled by all the bells-and-whistles of fansubs that I unfairly expect professionally-made subtitles to actually reflect what characters are saying in Japanese.

Viz's FMA manga doesn't fare much better.

So yes, I am concerned about Viz doing Death Note, especially given the large amounts of onscreen writing that will most likely be ignored. I'm willing to pay for anime, but if the professional releases turn out "unprofessional," I'll be paying the least amount possible.