This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.
And now EveTaku’s up for Boku wa.
Release Format: MKV (102 MB)
Japanesiness: Honorifics. “Senpai”, “Aniki” used.
Font: Small and has noticeable shadows. Why? ;_;
Note: The episode is only 11 minutes long.
Typesetting.
Easily the best of the three releases so far.
Good stuff. Cutting it a bit close on the second screenshot, but it works well.
Nice title.
Yeah, I’m liking it.
Yes, this is exactly what I was looking for on this screen. Well fucking done.
Karaoke.
Again, they did the best here.
Insert/Ending Song/Closing Song.
The ending/closing were both k-timed. Romaji/Kanji included for the ending/closing songs.
Script.
In-depth criticism provided in the comments section. Will clean up this post’s criticism later today.
Strong? Oh yes, he’s sure strong at cards. ._.
“Jeez, Kodoka, you’re too good.”
You know the drymouth you get after chugging the rest of the whiskey in the bottle? Doesn’t quite compare to the taste I got while looking at this part.
It is NOT acceptable to string three separate sentences together with ellipses. This kinda shit makes me want to break out an ice pick and play “carve the fail away”.
I…
…
*reaches for the ice pick*
Watchability: Quite watchable.
Overall grade: B+
Mistakes in the script and a slightly irritating font combined with great typesetting and decent karaoke still creates a strong contender for the best Boku wa Tomodachi release. Compared to Commie, I’d say the typesetting and karaoke give it the edge for best release. My recommendation therefore is to get EveTaku’s version.
I guess I’ll shove together a TL Party tomorrow night since this is the OVA and there won’t be another episode. I think you’ll find it to be interesting.
>> “This portion will be done soon.”
Kobato is the chuuni character. She’s convinced she’s a vampire from an anime she saw. I thought the fancier word choice suited her.
>> “IRL fulfillment”
リア充 is internet slang, hence the translation.
I thought the proper translation of リア充 was “normalfag” D:
Oh yeah, that reminds me of that one time you wouldn’t let me use “normalfag” in one of my scripts, DS. I’m still going “FFFFFFuuuuu” over that.
There is no “proper translation” of internet slang. I chose “IRL fulfillment” because the term refers to people living fulfilling (充実した) lives in the real world (リアル). In this case he’s surrounded by pretty girls (and a trap) and having lots of fun, hence “IRL fulfillment”. I’m less familiar with the usage of 4chan slang, but your translation may work just as well; I wouldn’t know.
Granted on the IRL part.
But I’m really not feeling the “portion” portion. Combined with the awkwardness of the entire line (reading it out loud I just can’t feel it), I really can’t pass it by. Assuming the standard speech for vampires is fancy-sounding phrasing, you have a lot more choices than what you used.
Why not? “I shall be complete with this half soon.” <- Secret tip. The instance you use "shall", the speaker becomes 10x more mature, which will fit your requirements.
Well if you accept that, then your original criticism that it’s not what a young girl would say no longer applies. As for whether it’s still awkward, I think that’s arguable, but clearly you disagree. :
Just for future reference, I for one don’t allow trolling in any release I’ve worked on. If you see internet slang in our subs (like the “IRL fulfillment” in this case; I also used “orz” back when we did the BakaTest OVAs), that means there was Japanese internet slang involved in the original. We’re not a group that thinks inserting random memes makes you witty.
I’ll update my criticism, but I’m still not 100% on that line. It seems my argument hasn’t really convinced you, though.
You don’t need to agree with everything I say. In fact, I don’t expect agreements on every criticism in every review. But if I am unable to articulate my thoughts, that means I’m not doing a very good job.
So let me try to phrase this in a better fashion:
In terms of common speech, I don’t hear portion used in this sense — i.e. part of an edifice. Citing Merriam-Webster, I think it’s clear that portion isn’t the right word to use here. Not to say it can’t be used (certain scenarios I can see it being used in, but they actually tend to be more casual speech than formal), and somewhat hypocritically I don’t think M-W has it perfect here, but I think other words would be more effective instead.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/portion
Moving onto the rest of this one line, it’s very wordy — and not in a “vampire-esque” way. There’s “pretentious wordy” and “stammering wordy”. Yes, I’m making that all up, but I’m not feeling the way the line is pronounced. The line wants to stop at “This portion should be done soon” and adding an “as well” into it causes a forced continuation. I really don’t know how to describe this without asking you to try saying the line out loud so you can notice the inconsistencies in the phrasing.
Hopefully I made my position more clear with this.
Mmm I mean I don’t deny it’s a bit on the clunky side; just making sure we were clear on what I took to be the original focus of your criticism.
Looks like the “as well” was my fault; checking puddi’s original TL, it said “…also be done soon.” The usage of “portion” completely did not catch my attention though, and even reading your explanation it seems like the sort of very minor nuance thing that I wouldn’t find worth changing, even if it did occur to me.
But hey, I’ve also been thinking for a while that we need more proactive editors rather than a TLC who screws with the script while he’s at it (me). Our “editors” are still kinda vaguely lumped with QC and TLC as “people who find typos and make sure we didn’t fuck up anything major” (yes, our group somehow still functions like that). We’ll see once the season proper starts.
I don’t have any qualifications in the English language, but I do have a rather firm grasp of it. To me, portion sounds perfectly fine and 100% understandable. I suppose it’s more of a nit-picky thing than an actual grammatical error.
But of course, if ‘portion’ rubs you the wrong way, there are a myriad of other possible words like ‘part’, ‘area’ and ‘side’ that should suffice as well.
>internet slang in our subs like the “IRL fulfillment”
Inventing a new slang term for the internet? Jeez, Lyger, you’re too strong.
>Our “editors” are…“people who find typos and make sure we didn’t fuck up anything major”.
Sounds a lot like Microsoft Word.
What I’m complaining about aren’t gamechanging lines. The extra translation accuracy you provide is likely more valuable than an editor going over it instead. Please don’t take my criticisms as an indication of you providing poor quality work.
Actar, you’re right. It’s just me overreacting to the portion part, but if a line isn’t working right in my mind, I’m going to call it out. That’s just how I operate.
The thing with editors is that a large portion of us are unclear of our responsibilities as they relate to the script. A lot of people were taught that an editor is only supposed to fix grammar and spelling, when good English is a whole lot more than that. I wish I knew this when I first started editing. :(
Like last season, i will look forward for your Fansub Review and listen for what group i should go for, or at least some of them :3
Yeah, that “friends recruitment letter”, even though I wish they picked a better font, the fact that they actually put that much effort into it… m(_ _)m
Hm… I’m really, really torn over the recruitment letter thing. While it is impressive that EveTaku actually made it work in English, I think that Mazui’s one is pretty servicable as well. It informs the viewer of what is highlighted and keeping the original Japanese text at the same time.
Though it is true that Mazui left the entire letter untranslated… Perhaps a mix of the two? For instance, placing the translation of the text just to the bottom of the original Japanese text?
Impossible. It filled the whole screen. We kinda compromised by not typsetting the first few instances of the flyer and only doing the last one, where the “Recruiting friends” diagonal was emphasized.
Of course the real reason is because I didn’t want to typeset the five flash-in flash-outs + zooming in on the flyer, not to mention the other appearance with a decelerating motion across the screen.
I had the feeling some people would feel two ways about covering up the Japanese text, but that’s why this is a softsub. If you’re that concerned, you can turn off the typesetting at the touch of a button.
You made the right decision.
I’d say Evetaku’s release has the best typesetting– dunno about the translation, though.
The only thing that annoys me is the shadow of dialogues. Still, that just a trivial matter.
“I guess I’ll shove together a TL Party tomorrow night since this is the OVA and there won’t be another episode. I think you’ll find it to be interesting.”
Isn’t Shini still doing this? And isn’t it going to be a series this season?
OVA != series. Different groups on each.
And I was gonna do it tonight/last night, but I was asked by a group to delay the party until they released. ~_~
I thought the OVA was considered ep 00 of the series?
More of an extended preview, using material from Chapter 0 to not throw off channel-flippers when the first episode airs :/
Are you gonna do Doki’s to?
They were probably the group that asked Dark_Sage to delay the translation party.
I watched the EveTaku version but I don’t see the signs you posted here: https://i.imgur.com/5EW5Kmp.png
The file is “[EveTaku] Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai OVA [BF714103].mkv” is this what you watched, or there is another version?