Anime has been and is to this day a very big part of my life. Neither the malicious screams of "weeaboo!" nor the frowns of society can change that. Today I'd like to share my experiences with anime. As such, the read may become a bit long, so buckle up (or change the channel)!
Like a lot of people, the first anime I ever watched was Dragon Ball Z. I believe the year was 1994. I was about 6-years-old and in first or second grade at the time. It was my cousin who got me deeply infatuated with this series and consequently anime. At the time, the show aired once a week in Japanese on the International Channel. I believe I first started watching during the Namek saga. It was very different from the cartoons I was used to at the time (mainly the stuff on Nickelodeon).
I am not exactly sure what got me hooked so hard onto Dragon Ball Z. The Japanese voices of Gokuu and Gohan did not exactly appeal to me; they were quite squeaky. On top of that, I did not understand anything they were saying, as there were no subtitles. But I was hooked. Perhaps it was due to my cousin's influence. Every time I would go to his house, I'd see Dragon Ball Z merchandise all over his room (posters, figures, wall scrolls), and he would make me watch his recorded episodes of the series. When I think back upon it, I'm not sure I really liked the series at all at the time. I was just, more or less, trapped. But I'm glad I was. It was through my cousin's fanaticism and Dragon Ball Z that opened up a whole new world to me.
Later on, when the show was dubbed on Cartoon Network in 1996, I developed a new immense liking for the show. I was able to catch it from the beginning and understand what was happening. The first time Gokuu turned Super Saiyan I almost peed my pants--the excitement I felt was out of this world!
Who remembers this show?
The second anime I ever watched was Ronin Warriors. I believe it aired while I was in second grade, in 1995, and it was dubbed. Now this show I was genuinely into. For one, I could understand what was going on; two, the characters were interesting; and three, omg that sexy white armor!
Sadly I don't remember too much about this show. I just remember waking up early every day the show aired and being completely entranced by it. I need to pick it up and rewatch it some day!
I wanna be the very best!
Pokemon started airing in the U.S. in 1998. I was a fifth or sixth grader at the time. I believe it was my neighbors, who were around the same age as me, that got me into watching the show. And man, what an effect it had on me.
I made sure to (force my parents to) buy the Nintendo Gameboy games and collect tons of cards. The Pokemon games were something special. As a kid there was nothing quite like it. Hell, it wasn't just the Gameboy games. I remember buying one of those Pikachu pet thingies that you would violently shake for some inane reason I don't remember. Well, I guess you could say it was training for what was inevitably to come (puberty).
My most vivid memories of Pokemon were constantly getting my cards stolen by my friends. Those were sad times. Another distinct memory I have of the show was the episode where Pikachu and Ash were about to part ways. That may have been the first time I ever got teary-eyed watching a cartoon/anime.
Fruits Basket, Kare Kano, Fushigi Yuugi, Ayashi no Ceres
I first got into fansubbed anime when I entered high school. A friend downloaded some series and passed them on to me. They were the four anime above. When I think back upon it now, it's kind of funny--they were all shoujo anime (anime catered towards young females). It's even funnier when you realize that this friend was a really buff masculine dude. Totally unexpected.
In any case, this was a turning point for me. I fell in love with each of these anime, especially Fruits Basket. My name, Souma, comes from that series.
Through the introduction to fansubbed anime, I realized there were tons of anime out there for me to watch, and not just the popular mainstream dubs that aired in the U.S. As such, I searched desperately for them. Towards the end of my search I found the motherland... IRC servers and channels dedicated to fansubbing anime!
My idol.
The first anime I ever handpicked and watched on my computer... and my God what an absolute amazing series this is. Great Teacher Onizuka, one of anime's very best. For those of you who don't know it, it's about a former gang lord turned teacher. It's full of comedy, morals, tears, masculinity, and pure awesomeness. To this day I've rewatched this series at least five or more times, and the Live Action version was pretty interesting as well.
The door to fansubs was officially open for me... so what happened next?
My fansubbing experience begins.
There was a group who was in need of editors. The group was called Phoenix-Anime (currently inactive). Something about me: I love getting deeply involved in things I have a profound interest in, and after asking what exactly the role of an editor entitled, I felt I was up for the job (editors clean up grammar/spelling mistakes for the most part).
The first series I ever edited was Avenger. Sadly, the series was not all that great and Phoenix-Anime, at the time, was going through trouble and consequently went inactive. They ended up only releasing one episode of Avenger.
But I was already hooked. I loved editing and felt it was the perfect job for me. I wanted to help create the fansubs that I loved so much. With those thoughts in mind, I scoured the lands of IRC and applied for editing jobs whenever I saw positions open.
Fansubbing, like gaming however, does not always go the way you want it to. I had a brief stint with the remade Shinsen-Fansubs (at the time called Aoi-Anime I believe) and Miyuki-Fansubs before I had to break off my relations with them. They were not giving me any jobs. It seems they were overstaffed (then why recruit people, right?). I was not about to sit around and do nothing. I had to find another group.
I found an opening, and wow was it huge. If I remember correctly, I was about 15 or 16 at the time. The year was around 2004. At the time there were three giants in fansubbing: ANBU (anbudom), AonE (animeone), and A-Kraze (anime-kraze). To my luck, Anime-Kraze had an opening for the editor spot. It was a long shot, but I applied for it.
Like most groups, they gave me an editing test. I was to edit an episode of some anime and write down the reasons of my edits every time I altered something. Pass or fail would be up to the head editor and another prominent editor at the time.
My editing was not perfect. There were some technical grammar stuff that I did not really understand at the time, but they were few. There was one thing that separated me from the rest of the crop, though: my consistency. By keeping my edits consistent throughout, the head editor witnessed the potential I had and ultimately gave me the job.
Success!
At the top.
I was given two projects, Yugo the Negotiator and Area 88. I had never heard of them before, but that was fine with me. Admittedly, working on shows that I'm not as interested in is a lot easier for me--I don't spoil interesting shows by repeatedly watching their episodes over and over again.
An incident occurred with the very first episode I edited for Anime-Kraze. Looking back, I'm not sure if it was for better or for worse: I had achieved a perfect edit.
What does this mean, exactly? Well, like a lot of products, fansubs go through a process of Quality Checking after translating, editing, timing, typesetting, and encoding (unless you're a bad speed subber). Quality checkers make sure that the final product does not have any mistakes lingering. Editing mistakes are among the most obvious to spot for quality checkers. A perfect edit means there were absolutely no grammar or spelling mistakes and every line was "in character" so to speak.
It was really mind-blowing. It would be like a rookie coming in and winning a Starleague. But this just set expectations enormously high. I remember our head translator, runpsicat, who was one of the two best translators in all of fansubbing at the time (the other was ANBU's crustol), bragging to members of other groups about me. It only lead to disappointment when my subsequent edits would be not-so-perfect. In fact, that was the only time I had ever achieved a perfect edit.
A new door.
Eventually, drama would cause me and a couple others to part from Anime-Kraze. We left on not-so-good terms, and in retrospect it was my immaturity at the time that lead me to my departure from the group (remember, I was around 15-16). I know now that it was silly and it is one of my small regrets.
Prior to the drama, however, I had met the leader of Kaizoku-Fansubs, a group that continues to sub One Piece, through runpsicat. After my exit from A-Kraze, I managed to land a spot in Kaizoku-Fansubs.
The way they handled editing in K-F was quite different, though. Edits would always go through the head editor and be dismantled. The feeling of not having much control over my edits was disheartening, and coupled with the fact that this was the time I was getting hooked into online gaming, I officially quit as an editor.
But fansubbing with runpsicat and dythim (K-F's leader and head translator at the time) really changed my life. They commanded a lot of respect. It was the internet, but they had an aura about them that intimidated me immensely and caused me and everyone around them to pay them a great deal of respect. Influenced by them, I began devoting myself to studying Japanese and made it a goal to become a translator.
At the moment I am not an active fansubber. For the most part I am too busy with school and the daily events in my life. The only real translating stint I had was being a translation checker for Anime-Destiny on their Gash Bell project, but that was towards the later episodes of the series and did not go so well for various reasons. I do, however, translate for Kaizoku-Fansubs' One Piece a couple times a year when I do have time. K-F remains to be a special part of me because they were the last group I edited for and because One Piece is currently my favorite series.
It's been a long adventure, and it's far from over. I don't think I can ever stop watching anime completely. Perhaps one day I will return to the scene as a translator, but that remains to be seen.
Feel free to ask any questions about anime/fansubbing if you're curious! I left out a lot of things because I didn't want to talk about every anime I watched and every little detail. ^^;
For anyone looking for recommendations, you can check my list:
How do you not have Ergo Proxy on that list? I am saddened. But, good stuff thanks. Uh, give Ergo Proxy a watch it's slow at start up but give it some time. On top of how good it is, one of the main characters is voiced by the guy that did Illidan from WOW and he also did War from Darksiders.
wow our tastes our so similar, the first anime I watched was Ranma 1/2 or Fushigi Yuugi. Do you know if there is any money to be made subbing anime? Almost all the licensed anime subs I've watched have been horrible, how the hell do these people get their job?
On April 03 2011 10:13 Terrakin wrote: Do you know if there is any money to be made subbing anime? Almost all the licensed anime subs I've watched have been horrible, how the hell do these people get their job?
Pretty much the entirety of the team that translates for Crunchyroll's simulcasts are ex-fansubbers, and get paid. In fact, there are very, very few good, active translators left in fansubbing because they all work for Crunchyroll.
Zergneedsfood: Nausicaa... I don't remember why. x.x I made my list a few years after I watched Nausicaa so the rating for that may be inaccurate. I should rewatch it again because I know I enjoyed it. And yeah, as far as genre goes I love everything as long as it's interesting, moe included. ^^ Or rather, moe especially keke! :D I'll watch Madoka when it's finished being subbed. I plan on marathoning it because I hear it's really good. ^^
Exia: Oh wow, I was always told to watch Ergo Proxy, but somehow it just got lost in everything. I'll put it on my Plan to Watch list so I remember. ^^ Thanks!
Terrakin: As far as I know, translators are the only ones who can make money fansubbing anime, though that's rare because fansubbers don't tend to ask for money. As far as actually working for a company, though, I'm not really sure how that works, but I would think they have a similar process with translating, editing, timing, typesetting and encoding, so if you have the skills the company's looking for, I'd try there.
On November 22, 2010, ten missiles strike against uninhabited areas of Japan, claiming no victims. This apparent terrorist act is referred to as "Careless Monday" and disregarded by most people. The series begins three months later, with a young Japanese woman named Saki Morimi visiting Washington D.C. as part of her graduation trip. When she gets into trouble, a mysterious Japanese man, who introduces himself as Akira Takizawa, helps her through it. The man appears to have no memory and is completely naked, carrying only a gun and a cell phone charged with ¥8.2 billion in digital money. While they are coming back to Japan, they learn that a new missile has hit their country. Akira discovers that his phone is part of a game and that he himself is one of the participants. The game consists of twelve individuals, dubbed Seleção, who are given ¥10 billion to save Japan.
On April 03 2011 12:32 Ushio wrote: GTO was definitely good but on some occasions it dragged on a bit. Still good though. Can't believe you haven't seen the sequel to Clannad!
He's currently watching it I believe.....or he put it on hold. One of those.
It's always interesting to read about other people's experiences with anime because so often it involves series and shows that you've never heard about... and I am one of those people who shout WEABOO
I hated fansubbing. It feels like a world of attention-whoring and yet, no one's really thankful for what you do, they just download and go away. The rest is just "come to my IRC channel so I can boss you around"
One of my friends is Japanese and he decided to translate some stuff for fun. I think his group broke up, and he had 3 leftover scripts for Sensei no Ojikan. I decided to try subbing it. I did everything but karaoke (because I hate karaoke) and I just ran the basic encode because I had no idea what all that filtering stuff was. I handled editing/QCing/timing, and to my surprise I finished an episode in 2 hours... making me wonder why groups would take weeks to get something out.
But in the end I got 2 thank you emails and 10 "when's the next one coming out" or some sort of criticism. Yeah, I don't really get it. I was kinda happy when Pioneer licensed it so people would stop bothering me.
I actually stopped watching most anime starting several years ago. After watching enough of it, the directing seemed... contrived. Like I could tell when they would use certain shots, or say certain lines. Character archetypes would stick out like a sore thumb, and I was also disheartened at how characters were made to explicitly appeal to otaku. I was also really disappointed when I'd watch an action sequence and I could identify all the techniques they'd use to avoid animating it.
I can still watch all the old stuff I used to watch, but even then I started finding myself getting really annoyed with the voices...
Eden of the East 東のエデン Higashi no Eden is the best series I have seen recently.
I thought Eden of the East was pretty good, especially the music (school food punishment is amazing). But I think it's been a bit too overrated amongst the fansubbing community.
i thought eden of the east was megaboring.
i think of the animes i've seen recently either panty and stocking or bakemonogatari was the best.
Bakemonogatari is amazing. ^^ Great voice acting cast and just an absolutely awesome series overall.
GTO was definitely good but on some occasions it dragged on a bit. Still good though. Can't believe you haven't seen the sequel to Clannad!
I've seen about half of it, I need to finish it soon. x.x
It's always interesting to read about other people's experiences with anime because so often it involves series and shows that you've never heard about... and I am one of those people who shout WEABOO
Weeaboo4lyfe.
kainzero: I know exactly how you feel. A lot of leechers rarely show any gratitude to fansubbers and subbers often undergo a lot of criticism/scrutiny. But if you actually like fansubbing such things are trivial. ^^ And about anime, it does seem that way, doesn't it? Not only that, I haven't been into anime all that much recently because there aren't as many awesome series. There seem to only be a couple interesting ones per season, and the rest are generic cliche stuff.
Why is your rating average this high? And why did you rate .hack//Sign a 4?
Other than that, who do you think are the best sub-groups(translation-wise)?
I rate anime based on how entertaining it is and not purely on story/character development/etc. I'm easily amused so I guess that's why. ^^; I thought .hack//sign was extremely dull and boring. Maybe it's just me.
The best sub-groups at the moment are Eclipse and Frostii, I believe, with Eclipse as the overall #1. Static-Subs is also good. A-Kraze/AOne/ANBU are not that active these days so I can't really include them amongst the best, but their quality is usually good. I think runpsi and crustol retired though so their translations are not up to par with their past works.
There are a handful of other decent/good fansubbers I think. umai and m.3.3.w come to mind, but nothing else is really popping out to me at the moment. I hear a lot of groups nowadays use Crunchyroll subs so, as far as translations go, that's not bad I don't think.
Why is your rating average this high? And why did you rate .hack//Sign a 4?
Other than that, who do you think are the best sub-groups(translation-wise)?
I rate anime based on how entertaining it is and not purely on story/character development/etc. I'm easily amused so I guess that's why. ^^; I thought .hack//sign was extremely dull and boring. Maybe it's just me.
The best sub-groups at the moment are Eclipse and Frostii, I believe, with Eclipse as the overall #1. Static-Subs is also good. A-Kraze/AOne/ANBU are not that active these days so I can't really include them amongst the best, but their quality is usually good. I think runpsi and crustol retired though so their translations are not up to par with their past works.
There are a handful of other decent/good fansubbers I think. umai and m.3.3.w come to mind, but nothing else is really popping out to me at the moment. I hear a lot of groups nowadays use Crunchyroll subs so, as far as translations go, that's not bad I don't think.
Hm, yeah. You have to not appreciate a lot of things then. But the anidb ratings say it all: Rating: 6.90 (4629) Tmp. Rating: 6.61 (354) Review Rating: 8.11 (18)
That means the people who put some thought into the anime(otherwise you wouldn't write a review), really liked it. Also, it won the ARC award back in 2002.
Ah, I know both groups and always prefer their subs. Never heard of Static-Subs but I looked at what they translate and well, that's not something I watch. ANBU is still pretty active and together with Ani-Kraze, they are known as well. Watched several anime with subs from those groups. For some reason, even though I watched AonE's subs, I never really took notice of them.
What about groups like Triad, KAA and THORA? I'm pretty sure Triad translate the shows themselves, but I don't think the other two do. Do they get the subs from Crunchyroll or from somewhere else?
Another question, about that "perfect edit". Is it really that hard? I mean, in my native language, I make like 1 1/2 mistakes every 1500 words(under pressure) and when I read something(not my own text), I easily spot the mistakes. That's why I'm wondering...is there something special which makes it harder or so?
Isn't Eclipse dead in the water? They were great but they're not exactly active. Though I believe they do a lot of stuff behind the scenes as well and some members still do things here and there.
Anyway, I dabbled a bit in scanlation myself, trying to learn Japanese. Did that for about a year, mostly keeping to myself. I tried to fansub a recap episode to try it out but it's just too tedious for me. Plus, I really like those parody comedy doujins (not 18+ ones, they're boring to translate). Nowadays I'm a one-man group that translates maybe one doujin every three months. Usually a really obscure one that I really really like. It kindof bothers me that there's no native English speaker to edit, but the ones I have worked with were annoying to say the least.
As for the lack of originality, I'm a steady fan of Shaft works and it's unusual to say the least. It's not even the visual gimmicks as much as the difference in directing those gimmicks and their (not so non-existent!) coherence. Though it differs a lot per series and sometimes works and sometimes fails.
What about groups like Triad, KAA and THORA? I'm pretty sure Triad translate the shows themselves, but I don't think the other two do. Do they get the subs from Crunchyroll or from somewhere else?
Another question, about that "perfect edit". Is it really that hard? I mean, in my native language, I make like 1 1/2 mistakes every 1500 words(under pressure) and when I read something(not my own text), I easily spot the mistakes. That's why I'm wondering...is there something special which makes it harder or so?
Triad is pretty dead these days, but if I remember correctly they were on the upper echelons of fansub quality, about the same level as Static-Subs. They were pretty good.
KAA is a DVD ripping group. Their subs come from the DVDs, so the translations are "professional quality," whether that is to your tastes or not. I think they may have subbed some stuff themselves? Not too sure about that. KAA has a bad reputation in the fansubbing community though. Something about their encoding. I don't really understand the details as I just focus on translating/editing, but their stuff is decent to say the least. I don't mind watching their rips at all.
THORA is all blu-ray. Very, very nice quality. As far as their translations go, they take their subs from other fansubbing groups (like gg, with their permission), so their translations vary from project to project, and usually you have a couple of choices to choose from. I like THORA. Their episodes are so huge though, but I guess that's the price one must pay for quality.
Isn't Eclipse dead in the water? They were great but they're not exactly active. Though I believe they do a lot of stuff behind the scenes as well and some members still do things here and there.
I think they're only working on one project at the moment. They're starting to become like Anime-Kraze, I suppose. Once at the top, but now slowly becoming more and more inactive. Hopefully they don't disband entirely, because I really love their work.
I'm not a manga fan myself, ironically. I only read Ippo and One Piece at the moment. I hear translating manga is easier than translating anime, though, because the words are laid out in front of you. But sometimes it gets a little confusing because you can't hear the tone of the characters so you're not sure what's implied. ^^;
And I know how you feel about editors. From my experience, most (seriously, MOST) editors are quite presumptuous. A tough bunch to deal with, probably because they think they are the most educated.
Edit: Whoa, big fail.
Oh, sorry, forgot to address the perfect edit question.
It is really, really hard. Usually there is always at least ONE mistake. The thing with editing is that there are typically multiple ways to portray a line. Editors and quality checkers, and even translators at times, often argue about the best way to portray a line. To get through a check without a single complaint is quite the feat. It's also quite easy to just make a simple grammar mistake here and there, no matter how many times you go over it, for me and the people I've worked with, anyway.
Eh, it's somewhat easier, but there are other limits. The sentences can be a lot more complicated, simply because text form allows for it. Plus, you might have to take small text bubbles into consideration and it can severely detract from the translation quality. I hate cutting things out, even when it's nothing of importance. Also, sometimes you have these really shitty raws (raws made from a cell phone camera T__T) and the author decided to include text intended to be read under a microscope. A deadly combo, does critical damage to translators.
What about groups like Triad, KAA and THORA? I'm pretty sure Triad translate the shows themselves, but I don't think the other two do. Do they get the subs from Crunchyroll or from somewhere else?
Another question, about that "perfect edit". Is it really that hard? I mean, in my native language, I make like 1 1/2 mistakes every 1500 words(under pressure) and when I read something(not my own text), I easily spot the mistakes. That's why I'm wondering...is there something special which makes it harder or so?
Triad is pretty dead these days, but if I remember correctly they were on the upper echelons of fansub quality, about the same level of Static-Subs. They were pretty good.
KAA is a DVD ripping group. Their subs come from the DVDs, so the translations are "professional quality," whether that is to your tastes or not. I think they may have subbed some stuff themselves? Not too sure about that. KAA has a bad reputation in the fansubbing community though. Something about their encoding. I don't really understand the details as I just focus on translating/editing, but their stuff is decent to say the least. I don't mind watching their rips at all.
THORA is all blu-ray. Very, very nice quality. As far as their translations go, they take their subs from other fansubbing groups (like gg, with their permission), so their translations vary from project to project, and usually you have a couple of choices to choose from. I like THORA. Their episodes are so huge though, but I guess that's the price one must pay for quality.
Edit: Whoa, big fail.
Oh, sorry, forgot to address the perfect edit question:
It is really, really hard. Usually there is always at least ONE mistake. The thing with editing is that there are typically multiple ways to portray a line. Editors and quality checkers, and even translators at times, often argue about the best way to portray a line. To get through a check without a single complaint is quite the feat. It's also quite easy to just make a simple grammar mistake here and there, no matter how many times you go over it, for me and the people I've worked with, anyway.
Good. Well, the team is pretty small(now?) but they are going to sub the second season of Kaiji which is good enough for me. Most of the anime nowadays are the same generic *beep*, so translating one good show is better than translating 10 shows I don't care about, for me at least ^_^
I always thought they rip the DVDs and take the translation from somewhere else. Here, the DVD subtitles are pretty horrible, so you would certainly notice that. I never do that when I watch KAA's subs, so I guess it's fine. Or is it? Don't know how good the "professional quality" is. I do like TL notes and honorifics but those are more of an extra.
I'm not really a person who cares about video quality. It is nice but translation>video. Also, my internet sucks, so it takes forever to download something. Anyway, so that means you can't really trust THORA because they could take "bad" subs from time to time.
Another question: *click* This show has four sub-groups but all seem to be DVD rips. So that means their translation is the same, right? What is the purpose of different releases then? Well, the codec is different but still, only because of that? I don't really understand it and about a-S...they have two different subtitles, where does the second one come from? Is it a fan translation? Their website isn't helpful and I don't really have any knowledge about the groups, that's why I'm asking. I often have problems with picking a group for older anime because of that.
So the main problem is your second sentence, about how to portray a line. I guess it's best when the translator, the editor and the quality checker understand each other well, or at least when they have a similar style. When I first joined the internet, I was surprised at how many people can't write properly. Even in the best forum I know(which is way, way better than TL(quality-wise)) people make a lot of mistakes. I don't know but for some reason, I always seem to spot them. They are like a black hole in a field of flowers.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://demoncraiganimecom.webs.com/dragonball-z-f34d.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.animepalm.com/images/ronin-warriors.png)
![[image loading]](http://files.octavarius.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/pokemon1.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/HwhBv.png)
![[image loading]](http://www.fanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/great-teacher-onizuka-01.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.watchcartoononline.com/wp-content/catimg/10.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/BNqjE.png)
![[image loading]](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-rYxgVTIkG5E/TX3rmXsr5II/AAAAAAAAAzU/iwPSjmP8AKo/s1600/1.jpg)
But you may not be a fan of certain genres so you should check out the info on the series first.
). I also ranked K-ON! and Lucky Star as 10.
