Fansubbing dying

Lately Sindalf’s been telling me that I’m killing fansubbing. His reasoning is that I’m translating too much, not leaving space for any “new blood” to enter the flow. There are multiple problems with this reasoning.

The first thing is that there never has been a time when there was no competition. Although both Whiners and 8thSin stopped reviewing, I’m doing my best to look at all groups who are doing original translations. Just see my review of Aidoru’s Shinsekai: they’re a fresh group and yet they managed to put together a great release at first try. They might’ve been a bit slower than others, but quality-wise they provide a valid alternative (unlike Hadena, who’ve been around for ages, and are still incapable of releasing anything watchable), and I hope they’ll continue to do so. New groups and more competition is always good. Groups and people improve with experience a lot (except when they refuse to learn from their mistakes).

Then don’t forget about simulcasts. There are seasons when only 1-2 possibly good shows are left untouched by the streamer companies like Crunchyroll. Some fansubbers take the easy route and edit simulcast scripts, but that results in the translator’s job disappearing. Some others decide to make their own translations, but believe me when I say that it’s really disappointing when you work long hours on a script, and yet you have no chance of winning against simulcasts in quality, speed or download counts. Some others (me included) decide to compete for those few shows left and provide the best possible quality in the shortest possible time. It’s not easy. Those who can’t or don’t want to do either of these, vanish.

And in a world where you either edit simulcasts, compete with simulcasts and editing groups, or stick to unsimulcasted shows with great competition, many people do give up. Please new translators, don’t give up. Fansubbing needs you! Join a group that has at least one translator able and willing to help you grow, and be determined enough to endure when /a/ denounces the fruit of your hard work as a stinking pile of shit. Just look at this season: simulcast providers refuse to provide any stream dates even as shows air, and even (possibly) great shows are left unsubbed. It’s a shame. Pick something up, translate it if you can, release it, and I’ll review it for you. If it’s good enough, I’ll recommend it.

Actually in this environment groups with a stance independent of simulcasts are the best off. Commie just edit the simulcasts if the show is picked up by a company or do their own translation if they have a translator free. EveTaku are doing their own translations even for shows simulcasted (maybe only using the “official” scripts to check, I don’t really know what’s their exact policy). New translators, come on and save fansubbing! I’m doing 7 shows this season, and honestly, that’s pretty much my limit. I’m looking forward to seeing more new, good groups like Aidoru emerge.

 

 

This entry was posted by Vale.

41 thoughts on “Fansubbing dying

  1. I honestly don’t know how you can juggle 7 shows at once with such high level of quality. I’m struggling to find time to translate two shows (and children’s shows at that). In any case, I just want to say thank you for being such a boss.

  2. You and your reviews are basically my life saver since Whiners and 8thSin disappearing.
    Can’t help much (besides saying thank you) in those fansubbing thing, but I hope you doing well in here and RL. =)

  3. Fansubbing will not die even if it is killed.

    Hell, it has been dying like twice a year on average, for nearly a decade now.

  4. Woah 7 shows? o_O. Didn’t know you were doing that many. What are all of them? Hopefully one is Magi ._. LOL.
    I have to agree with you though, I’m seeing shows like Psycho pass, Code:Breaker (Doesn’t really have any great group, and Idk how good Hatsuyuki is, Seitokai no Ichizon 2, and Magi (Please say you’re doing it xD.)

    • I wish groups used their own translations instead of using CR, but it’s a pain competing with CR speed. You put tons of effort into the show, just to get out downloaded by like 15k+ (Horriblesubs) downloads.

      Forgot to say that :P.

      • Not all, but yeah most are; however, I prefer my subs done by a group (Personal opinion.) I think I had like 6 shows from you guys at Commie though.

      • I must be the only one who wants to watch the best release regardless or where it came from or who worked on it.

      • Did you mean “You?” Couldn’t tell if that was directed towards me or you. If it’s towards me, yes that is pretty much how I go I pick the best releases, could give a rats ass what group it is. I only go for like 5-7 main groups.

      • >You put tons of effort into the show, just to get out downloaded by like 15k+ (Horriblesubs) downloads.
        But why does being out-downloaded matter?

      • @Someone
        Nothing really, but there are some people like that. I just tossed the idea around, it mat be true it may not.
        @Herkz
        I don’t see what’s so hard to understand, I just rather pick Fansub groups over Crunchyroll. It’s just a personal opinion by me, may sound stupid, but that’s how I prefer. Though there’s nothing wrong with Crunchyroll, they just don’t simulcast every show I watch. During the summer I was watching over 20+ Shows, and atm I’m watching 24 again.

  5. Is there any chance you could translate Hyouge Mono? I’m sure you know about the fiasco with the Huzzah translator, and another person who said he would translate just disappearing.

  6. I get your point about Aidoru, but keep in mind that the people behind it aren’t new. Shoujo_Q, the translator, was around for a while. He (she?) is the mastermind behind the Doki Nichijou episode 1 derp.

    In that sense, they’re a much lesser version of rori.

    • I recall that their release for that episode actually beat Horriblesubs, so the speed might have played a big factor.

    • Then think of that AraAraUfufu guy who’s been doing a not-nearly-as-bad-as-could-be job with E7AO. Would be nice if some group managed to recruit him for example.

    • True, that was me; speed-translating at about 4am after not sleeping for about 24 hours, using a truly eyecancerous raw that we couldn’t see the difference between ゲン and ゲソ on (thus resulting in the infamous stick/squid mistranslation).
      Oh, and my every input being modified by the other translator and the editing team, none of whom were native English speakers.

      I’m also responsible for Doki’s Gundam 00 movie; which is regarded as the best release (even better than gg/bSS, which was the first release out) of that particular feature, as well as Doki’s Haruhi movie, which while perhaps not the best release, wasn’t in any way “bad”. I also TLCed Doki’s “OreImo” from about Ep5 onward, which turned out well and TLed Oyatsu’s “PapaKiki” from Ep 2 onward, which was also well-regarded.

      • …so Doki actually had a half-competent translator? After Dmon Hiro stopped working with them, everything I bother to see from them is pretty bad. Nothing of the list you just wrote, simply… why would you work with them? There are better groups out there, this way your translations get overlooked just for being labeled as [Doki]…

      • @erejnion: Because they were the first group that actually recruited me. And, to be honest, at the time I joined they were actually pretty good.
        It was later in my tenure there that Doki got not-so-good, mostly due to Holo stepping back from overseeing everything.

        Doki now is but a shadow of what it once was.

      • >Doki now is but a shadow of what it once was.
        And Doki was always shitty, so that’s saying something.

  7. And don’t forget older shows, because everybody knows that the current season is usually the “worst season ever” anyway. And there are some hidden gems that would well deserve some fansubber attention. At least more than oversubbed shows with >5 groups working on them.

      • Chō Soku Henkei Gyrozetter. It’s a kids car/robot series, but Dai Sato (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Eureka 7, Ergo Proxy) is writing it.

        I don’t expect anyone to pick it up, but the first ep was at least entertaining to my rather limited Japanese. The interesting CGI car choices were worth the trouble alone.

      • I should add that Hyougemono is a good example of fagsubbers, and especially fagsub translators, failing us in an epic way. However hard that show was, it still came with captions when it aired. And the fagsub groups couldn’t even do us a courtesy of giving us Google Translated scripts.

      • @Vale Psycho-Pass isn’t being subbed by anyone. ray-out said they would be doing it, but all mention of the show vanished from their site over the weekend

    • You can look up some websites that have free Japanese lessons. Basically, teaches you the sentence structure and grammar rules. Then all you need is to get your vocabulary up by watching a lot of Anime or other stuff.

  8. Re: EveTaku

    We don’t do simul edits, and we don’t check with the official script. NyanTaku, on the other hand, can do whatever it wants.

Leave a Reply to KoolKidsK Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.