This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.
Kamisama > Tonari >>>> Sukitte. ITT: Facts.
Table of Contents
Release Information
Episode details.
Release format: MKV (332 MB, 8-bit)
Japanesiness: Honorifics.
English style: American English.
Encoding details: http://pastebin.com/J5ps85yk
Speed: Faster than the “simulcast”.
External links.
Group website: http://anime-koi.com/
IRC channel: #[email protected]
SubCompare screenshot comparisons: http://www.subcompare.com/kamisama_hajimemashita/
Commie’s fansub reviews: http://notredrevie.ws/autumn-2012-reviews/#hajimemashita
Visual Review
Karaoke.
Opening. Fit the credits perfectly. No complaints here at all.
Rating: Great.
Ending. Despite some readability issues with the white color, this karaoke was pretty good. Colors changed consistently, k-timing matched, and the fonts were intelligently chosen.
Rating: Good.
Typesetting.
The “Kamisama Hajimemashita” part was done by the animators.
Ladies and gentlemen: art.
The fuck does “Squkk” mean?
Yeah, they did quite a few signs.
Other.
Why do this?
Subs are placed kind of low and could do with some \N management.
Script Review
Karaoke.
Because she’s has disappeared? Well edited, Anime-Koi.
Main Script.
Their ellipsis standard appears to be a work in progress.
Stuttering standards aren’t in place either.
Are these the children of “the fire demon” or are they fire demon children? I seriously can’t tell with these fucking subs.
Much like Vlad the Impaler, this is a title. So capitalize it.
Ask your average westerner what image a “crow goblin” brings to mind and I guarantee you they’re not thinking of this:
They’re thinking of this:
Go with something like “crow spirit” instead. Hell, I’d accept “karasu tengu” with a *gasp* TL note. But this? This doesn’t work.
At this point it looks like the only consistency in this release is failure.
What, like you’re gonna fuck it? Playing life on hardcore mode, I see.
Nice timing. And by “nice” I mean “terrible”.
What? That’s not what she’s saying at all.
“then promise me that you’ll return Tomoe to normal if I can find him.”
How do you misinterpret this?
This isn’t a question?
No.
Results
Watchability: Watchable.
Visual grade: A
Script grade: C
Overall grade: B-
“Unpolished” is the word that first comes to mind when describing these subs. Anime-Koi is the only fansub group doing the show though, so if you don’t want to wait for the 6-day “simulcast”, you’ll be fine enough with this release.
For me it’s TOnari > Sukitte > Kamisama, although Sukitte is pissing me off lately since most of the characters have apparently undergone brainectomies. No matter, Tonari is clearly the best of the 3 and it’s not even really close.
Really? Tonari is the one that has been pissing me off lately, I’m starting to hate most of them.
I really can’t decide whether Tonari or Kamisama is superior.
Kamisama is more laid back and entertaining while Tonari’s character developments are more interesting to folllow. Guess, I’ll decide after they concluded the relationships (oh, but Sukitte still sucks)
Kamisama ( ¬‿¬)
I’m no Manga reader, so I can’t tell, but since I’m a sucker for supernatural stuff, I’m sure it will turn out this way (even if only by a noselength)
Thanks, Dark_Sage.
Late comment is late.
I like their typesetting. Wish legal subbers had enough money to throw at that, although I wouldn’t go so far as to hope for karaoke, haha.
I may or may not be working on KamiHaji for That Company. If you’ve ever been curious about why there are delayed simulcasts, well, I can’t speak for KamiHaji specifically but they’re usually due to one of three things:
1) Japan insists
2) Materials are constantly sent over very close to broadcast and we put in some time padding to make sure we don’t have to delay episode releases multiple times
3) (and this one makes me the most sad :( ) Materials are scheduled to come in right before or during the weekend. Translators are freelance so they can work from home, but subtitlers are not. This effectively delays the simulcast date by 2 days.
The more you know, I guess.
Is typesetting something that could be fixed just by hiring typesetters? I’ve been told by a CR employee that Flash isn’t adequate but getting away from Flash will be hard because JP studios are convinced Flash is the most secure way to stream.
I suppose you could hardsub signs. Is there any reason streaming companies don’t do so?
Funi hardsub everything, so I don’t think it’s really an issue of delivery technology.
I was always under the impression that the whole softsubbing thing (fansub + official stuff included) was down to viewer enjoyment. I personally don’t understand the necessity to turn off the subs/signs, but I think that’s why. Also, I’ve noticed on CR that they update scripts if there are errors that make their way into the final releases, so I suppose that’s one plus point of the softsub system. Not sure why they don’t hardsub the signs though – maybe it’s something to do with the Japanese companies being precious about their videos? I dunno, only taking a wild stab in the dark there.
It’s probably just not seen as the professional way to do things. A lot of people believe that subtitles should obviously be subtitles and nothing else.
I always figured softsubbing was more to make life easier for the people who have to sub it. It’s not like it makes much difference to the viewers either way, but it sure as hell is a lot easier to sub something when you can get encoding out of the way ahead of everything else and don’t need to re-encode the video any time you need to fix a sign.
The main advantage for fansub groups is that it’s easier to fix errors, as Xythar said.
The advantages for viewers is that you can make better screenshots and that foreign language/BD groups can easier rip the subtitles for their releases. It also makes patching with xdelta feasible.
I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that Funi/CR would have to commercially license each font that they use, if applicable. Which I’m sure you know, can become quite a costly endeavor.
Either that or hire a font designer, but if you make your fonts in-house, that’s pretty time consuming, which would lead to further delayed simulcasts. Unless you softsub like CR, in which case they can just have a speed release and a few days later have the more professional looking release with well-done typesetting.
Problem is the current method works and it works fine.
I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that Funi/CR would have to commercially license each font that they use, if applicable. Which I’m sure you know, can become quite a costly endeavor.
Either that or hire a font designer, but if you make your fonts in-house, that’s pretty time consuming, which would lead to further delayed simulcasts. Unless you softsub like CR, in which case they can just have a speed release and a few days later have the more professional looking release with well-done typesetting.
Problem is the current method works and it works fine.