This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.
Lazy mode.end
Note: In the interest of saving you time, I cut out the last letter in NyanTaku and will refer to them in this review as Nyantak. You’re welcome.
Table of Contents
Release Information
Episode details.
Release format: MKV (331 MB, 10-bit), MKV (393 MB, 8-bit), AVI (198 MB)
Japanesiness: Honorifics.
English style: American English.
Encoding details: http://pastebin.com/s9fvLQMa
Speed: Slow (>48 hours)
External links.
Group website: http://evetaku.com/blog/
IRC channel: #[email protected]
8thsin’s translation critique: N/A
Ji-hi’s screenshot comparisons: http://www.ji-hi.net/su12/sao/
SubCompare screenshot comparisons: http://subcompare.com/sword_art_online/
Commie’s fansub reviews: N/A
Visual Review
Karaoke.
Opening. This is pretty great karaoke… for the first few lines. The top line slowly moves to the left and the bottom line moves to the right. Pretty cool effect but it gets boring quick. Combine that with static colors and you have a relatively boring karaoke.
Rating: Okay.
Ending. The colors switch in a pleasing fashion and the karaoke’s centered at the right spots.
Rating: Good.
Typesetting.
Tighter than a feminist’s vagina. Learn how to use a fucking space bar. It’s the biggest key on your keyboard for a reason, you fuckwits.
Nyantak is so desperate to be Japanese that they’re even slanting their typesetting.
This is as consistent as the tectonic plates beneath Japan.
Holy shit, Nyantak, your typesetting is so fucking bad. I bet you can’t even cut yourselves right. Go ahead, prove me wrong.
Nyantak was the only group to handle this properly. Don’t fucking sub what the guy’s saying when it’s in the fucking title. Good choice on not making this screen look like shit.
Script Quality
Karaoke.
“I described/portrayed/painted numerous skies.”?
I don’t think this is what the song says, simply because it makes no sense.
You overcome obstacles and reach goals. You don’t overcome goals.
Main Script.
Should be “close-combat”. Not a big deal though.
Japan’s so banzai they research computers in their clubs. Hey, let’s play a game. It’s called “How do I translated anime?”
Say we have a scenario where kids in Japan join a club focused on computers. Do you
A. Translate the club’s name literally, satiating waps as you drop your self-respect through the floor?
or
B. Translate the club’s name decently, comparing the club to the closest thing we have in the western world (going to use America here because American English is fansubbing’s standard), which is a “computer club”?
If you chose A, the bleach is in the cupboard; help yourself.
I think you dropped this (> ‘.‘)>.
Not feeling this. Ain’t gonna count it against Nyantak but I do think it should be changed to something like
“Still worried about what happened back then?”
Not liking this order. Just make it all one sentence.
“I don’t think… that there’s any meaning to it.”
Nice try, but you can’t outdon’t’cha a Minnesotan.
This shit needs to be don’t’cha or don’t cha. I may accept dontcha, but then you’re going nonstandard on already nonstandard English. Tis a risky game to play.
When italics cause your word to connect with the next one, add an additional space so it still looks decent.
Results
Watchability: Watchable.
Visual grade: C+
Script grade: B+
Overall grade: B
This is the best Sword Art Online release so far, but that isn’t really saying much.
That’s really odd… none of the typesetting looks that tilted on my end: http://puu.sh/M4eb http://puu.sh/M4eJ
Did someone change the fax before release? Or is this another one of those weird filter issues?
Swear to god I added that fucking filter GotWoot made me.
Looks like the shear is being applied in the opposite direction… Hard to tell without knowing exactly what happened.
Well, just checked the final script, and the fax is different from what I had on every single line. No idea how that happened.
Looks like someone typeset/checked the typesetting using Libass{OSX/Linux}~ Thought it looked wrong and “fixed” it.
BTW, recommending VSfilter as one and only subtitle renderer is like saying that you must only watch anime in windows, which is kinda not fair.
It’s clear from this review that there are some cases where the typesetting will be correct on either vsfilter or libass, but not both. In that case, there’s not much more you can do other than go with the majority and typeset to vsfilter.
In any case though, I don’t bother testing typesetting on libass for the same reason I don’t care about making SD, hardsubbed or 8bit releases. It’s enough effort just targeting my own environment without worrying about everyone else’s.
You can abuse bugs in the renders to feed different lines to VSFilter and libass and then have the libass dev complain to you when he fixes some but not all of the relevant bugs.
WAT.
Are you saying you go with the majority or that you do whatever you feel like? If you wanted to make your release render for the majority of viewers, you would have never bothered with the 10 bit bs. Even if you target your own environment, I seriously doubt it was already set up with 10 bit.
Don’t you blame this on libass, shit looks slanted on that too.
Grade: F-Tier
???
The site glitched when I originally posted the review. Lost a good chunk of it and forgot to change the grade back. Thanks for the catch.
http://youtu.be/YNSxNsr4wmA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-vgTy5YMZg
B+ is not bad.
It’s on the higher end of what I had expected. (:
>A. Translate the club’s name literally, satiating waps as you drop your self-respect through the floor?
Isn’t that what people pick Evetaku, etc. for?
(☞ﾟ∀ﾟ)☞ O U
I’ve always been surprised at how many experts on translation style don’t actually know any Japanese.
Hope you don’t mean me :(
Also is that a yes?
TL note: It means you have as much a clue what you’re talking about as the random leechers who circlejerk about “literal vs. liberal” all day.
But you don’t need any Japanese knowledge to see the problem with that line.
Just like how you didn’t need any Japanese knowledge to tell me how accurate CR’s translations are, amirite?
In any case, you weren’t talking about that line. You were talking about our group in general, no? Shockingly, you have pointed at one clunky translation on one line in one episode. Did you have something more general to say, or is that all?
oh DAYUM.
Just speaking about your group’s reputation, brah.
Reputation for awesomeness, you mean?
Who cares about reputation, anyway? Commie has a terrible, terrible reputation but I quite like the releases I’ve seen from them. (Chihaya, Berserk, Guilty Crown…_
oh snaps
slurp slurp slurp
PC Research Club -> Computer Science Club?
People have computer science clubs? Where?
PC research is boggling my mind though. Maybe I just don’t understand the context. What kind of activities are the norm for Japanese schoolkids in such clubs?
*shrug* I’d imagine it would be some kind of club where they program software. A generic “computer club” doesn’t really say anything about what they’re doing, and “PC research” makes it sound like it’s actual work, hence my suggestion. But yeah, would need some sort of TL to explain what exactly this club is supposed to be doing to localize it properly.
It’s not an uncommon theme in anime. Hell, the computer club in TMoHS comes to the top of my mind. It’s a club for computer enthusiasts — programming, building, circlejerking, etc.
Computer science is both a wide and diverse field, but it’s really not so much about programming. That’s just a skill that everybody learns. It calls to mind the theory of algorithms, data structures, databases, computation, networking, information theory, and so on. There are some more applied topics as well, but something like computer graphics is often not lumped in. But I’m no computer scientist myself.
Those don’t sound like things that most people would have a club about. (Computer club? Linux users group? Computer games club? Sure.) Anyhow, it’s no big deal. It just looked weird to me.
>PC Research Club
http://i.imgur.com/zCLvx.png
Here’s a thought. Why don’t you guys actually review the show/anime. I mean, I wouldn’t have downloaded La Storia if the sub wasn’t made by you guys. Review the show/anime then suggest the best fansub. Example, I’m watching Natsuyuki Rendezvous, fansub by Taka. Is Natsuyuki Rendezvous any good? Is Taka the best fansub for the show? Something along those lines.
Thank you for all the work. I enjoy these Fansub Reviews.
Can’t tell if trolling or just stupid…
Probably just stupid
Wow. Thank you for that fine comment my good and personal friend. You and I have known each other for years. I miss the times we would drink and pass out. Good times. Good times.
They’re both afraid of what would happen if I started reviewing anime. They’d devote all their time to this site and become soulless hunks of flesh and nutbladder. Tis not a punishment to be doled out lightly.
‘Tis.
t’is
tits
Hmm, my taste is superior. I suppose I could throw up an anime review in an hour or less.
I’ll think about it.
Considering how well your previews turn out, I’m not sure how that’d go down… At least it’d be bloody interesting!
Even better… do it every week, so we can know what the episode is about. And link images to your points. And link to 4 other reviews of the same nature.
We just need a name for it…
I know, Dark_Sage’s Episode “Ick:” Anime Blog!
I dunno man. I remember there was this one guy who entered the aniblog tourney and really ripped into blogs like that. D_S would definitely want to watch out for that guy if he did something like that.
Ah, that fuckerspaniel’s probably some ultimate evil with no logic or followers.
I think this would be a great kickstarter to D_S’ life, I bet he’s good enough quality to apply to Metanorn and be a staff writer!
D_S is better then all those staff writers put together, but thats just my personal opinion
With some practice, maybe. He’s just not kawaii or objective enough to be on par with such standards, desu~
As D_S had said before, episodic blogs are really just fluff. Sure, he has a good writing style, but that wouldn’t count for much if he was regurgitating the events of a show. He does, however, occasionally proffer his views on entire series, which are interesting and a good read. I must say though, that’s not a trait exclusive to him, and I can’t say he’s the best in the business.
That ‘is’ happens to be awfully close to that ‘superior’.
I think you’re gonna need another space.
I’ll make an anime review for this season:
Watch Campione, Kokoro, Binbougami and SAO.
Drop everything else.
You’re welcome.
>missing Jinrui Suitai
Shit taste confirmed.
You can just watch first 2-3 episodes to decide if you are interested in ongoing show. If you watching Natsuyuki Rendezvous, then you already know if it’s any good. But watching same show with different subs and comparing them is a pain in the ass, so I’m glad to see someone else doing (or not doing) it. So anime reviews by Sage is unnecessary, but season previews is pretty fun.
Plz check overscan mask for kara.
I already argued about this with you. Overscan mask is for dialog, kara is not supposed to get in the way of the animation, and that’s what happens if you pull a Kusion and uses 45~55px of vertical margin.
I agree completely with Sutai.
Wow I never thought I’d say that
Looks better with some vertical cushion, BIATCH.
The L/R margins for the op suck though.
Hm, I’m not convinced by your apostrophe argument. Grammatically, only the first missing letter requires an apostrophe and any missing after that don’t actually need them – and spaces can be dropped at will, almost (reference: “isn’t” etc). I think the safest choice is actually “dontchaknow” because, after all, it’s a slang spelling to mimic an accent.
Being eye dialect, certainly there isn’t a standard spelling. As one word, I’d personally opt for don’tcha, but my preference is as good as yours.
Somewhat ironically, the word is ’tis, not tis.
I don’t quite understand the irony here. It’s ’tis because the first “I” is missing, therefore requiring the apostrophe. Even when capitalised, unlike most other languages (the more you know…).
It’s not really as clear-cut as that. While I agree that in the case of “cha” the apostrophe should be omitted, as it would be in “Whatcha doing?” compared to “What’cha doing?”, I would never advocate culling an apostrophe in constructions such as “He’d’ve done that.”.
I would advocate never using constructions such as “He’d’ve”. Shit is eye cancer.
Hedve sounds great, I agree.
He’dve*
There has to be an apostrophe in there somewhere to signify missing letters :P
Well, I think the main reason it doesn’t work grammatically (rather than aesthetically) is because there’s no such word as “cha” – it’s a slang version of “what are you” etc.
With the second example, I think it’s more likely to be written as “he’d have” rather than “he’d’ve” because they pretty much sound the same anyway.
> When italics cause your word to connect with the next one, add an additional space so it still looks decent.
Dunno why groups are doing that, if the italic for font they’ve chosen sucks (that is, doesn’t exist so Aegi does it automatically), then don’t let ti do automatically and add fax-0.xy by yourself, and see which works the best. Then just r it.
‘Cuz that line looks like shit because the word is way too tilted, not because there’s missing space.
Whatever happened to using {i1} and then, a sneaky {fscx(number)} on the space that follows it? Or is that some aegisub mastery that hasn’t been passed on to the current generation?
Did you actually read the post you’re replying to?
Well, I did up to the point that fax was thrown in (which was why I responded the way I did) – I figured it was just some complicated tag I’d never heard of >__>
He could be a secret admin. I read everything from a sweet dashboard and often don’t know for sure what people are replying to.
Oh, we just don’t care these days. A quick, easy-to-remember fix is best.
Sheer laziness. Tch.
I like to think of it as “efficiency”.
I use fscx140 on the following space when applicable but usually I prefer to just pick fonts that have an italic version in the first place.
I do like the fax idea though, probably gonna start using that in the future.
Just use fsp, or get a decent font.
I don’t think D_S should do anime reviews. An overall season review similar to the season previews would be good, even if it’s just for the shows he watched.
I disagree. My taste in all things is superior. This shall now be a Dark_Sage Reviews Everything blog where I review everything from the last pair of scissors I used to the taste of the popcorn I just had. Spoiler alert: The popcorn was a C-.
Fuck the western world. I’m from a southern, English-speaking country in the Northern Hemisphere.
lol
I’m not from EveTaku. Just trolling. xD
Instead of an equivalent in the western world, ‘the closest translation that makes sense to viewers worldwide’ would be much better.
The western world’s ‘Computer Club’ does make sense though. :P
I’ll both UTWoots’ and NyanTaku’s releases, anyway. Confused which group’s release to watch after reading your reviews.
I’ll download* both…
I thought this was a conversation between different people before I realized it was just some guy that replied to himself 4 times.
That could have been just one comment. Damn sleepiness.
Let him have his …eccentric monologue.
Well, first of all, I think the UTWoots-Release is quite better than NyanTakus. NyanTakus choice of words for some sentences just isn’t to my liking (for example: “clearing-groups”, I like UTWoots “front-liner” a lot more). And the only reason why I read through these reviews of yours is because they’re damn funny. :D
Just my 2 cents.
Kudos on avoiding the use of possessive apostrophes.