Translation review: [GetBack] Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures 01

GetBack gave me an impression on their blog that they’re very confident in their own skills. Let’s see how much of it is real.

So apparently they forgot to mux the fonts. Thus I won’t comment on derped typesetting.

Translators tend to forget there’s more than one kaihou in Japanese. 介抱 is the right one here. Line’s correct. (I didn’t point this out in other releases, because I don’t know the context, and he could be possessed by the mask for all I care, making 開放 a valid option.)

Erina’s a totally typical English name, isn’t it? Oh wait, it isn’t?

I don’t think “diverge” is the right word. Their fates get entangled.

No. Dogs being subservient is what disgusts him.

There’s nothing about confidence here. He says 自身 (jishin, oneself) and not 自信 (jishin, self-confidence).

Ending lyrics there. Not that they had to translate it.

Conclusion: Great

The translation is good. There are only a few mistakes, though those are quite bad. On the other hand, it’s very literal, and the English of the whole release is just off – and I don’t mean the 19th century English, it’s the phrasing and the editing in general (but I won’t include that in the translation’s rating). The translation’s okay, so you can understand the story from this.

This entry was posted by Vale.

14 thoughts on “Translation review: [GetBack] Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures 01

  1. Sorry to intrude all butthurt,
    I am a total amateur who has never translated for anime. I’m only the translator because we couldn’t find one who had the time, or even a translation-checker; and I bust my ass to make a presentable script. I was wrong if I gave the impression we wanted to make high-quality subs because of anything but devotion to the series and fandom. A release targeted at fans of the series and anyone they can get to check it out that won’t be turned off or given bad impressions by troll subs.
    We clearly need help! An encoder! A /real/ translator or someone willing to check the script! A raw provider!

    And about the lyrics,
    I’m 99% confident that the lyrics are right. I couldn’t find a copy of Fragile (I did look in a few shops), and Yes do not have official lyrics on their homepage. Consider that the other groups may have looked at the same inaccurate lyrics, maybe on a Youtube video? I judged the lyrics from Rock Band 3 are right, since Harmonix would definitely have not screwed it up on their end:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=097rXEgE_cY&t=1m5s
    It’s a great song, and I love the “bloody” gradient style that my typesetters cooked up for it.

    Thank you for the legit criticism and taking the time to review the release. The work being considered “great” for my very first release, despite amateur mistakes, is an honor.

    • For what reason do you automatically assume that your competition, the more prominent of three, produced subtitles to troll the masses?

      Perhaps you presumed that the group name automatically made the designated translator of the show was doing this as a means to be a troll? Perhaps you hadn’t considered the disposition of the translator, or even asked about their motivations for doing what you perceive to be a great injustice to this show?

      Your issue is your pompous, assumptive nature, and you need to realize that not everything is done with ill-intention. You earn little pity from Ton Petty.

      • gg actually are spiteful subbers who intentionally do what they do to anger people and amuse themselves. They have done this with many shows. They’re not trying to be creative. They are only where they are because they are fast. If someone released faster than them, they would be the ones in the spotlight with the most people downloading. Leechers are fickle like that.
        I’m sorry I sound pompous.

          • Maybe you’re not, personally. But the level of petty, destructive trolling they and their subgroups do indicate a great deal of it.
            Why anyone would want to be a part of them, unless you’re some kind of saint who truly loves fansubbing and wants to be part of a fast group, is entirely beyond me.
            I don’t mean to burn bridges… but this is an established fact. They’re not the only ones who are like this, but they certainly use their speed to smear as much hatred as they can on fans.

          • You are delusional.

            Good luck finding help. With your group, and otherwise.

        • Dude, you seriously don’t know anything about gg. And considering how many people from all across the fansub community are in or otherwise involved with gg, you should be careful about painting them with so wide a brush while at the same time begging for people to help you. When you’re new and want to get into fansubbing, the stupidest thing you can do is go around burning bridges before you’ve even established yourself.

          I’m not saying this because I feel personally insulted by your comments, I’m simply giving it to you as advice. Get to know the people behind the subs before you start mouthing off about them.

          For the record, all script decisions regarding gg’s JoJo were made by the translator, who AFAIK hasn’t even worked with gg before this season. For that matter, have you ever once tried actually approaching him with your grievances? He seems willing enough to respond to people’s questions and complaints on the blog.

    • I see. I must have been thinking of the somewhat later part of the song rather than the earlier bit.

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