Fansub Review: [FFF] Noragami (Episode 02)

January 17, 2014 by Dark_Sage

This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

So I take it this is a show FFF likes.

Release Information

Visual Quality

Script Quality

Results

Release Information

Episode details.

Release format: MKV (416 MB, 10-bit)

Japanesiness: Honorifics. “Ayakashi” as “Phantom”. Japanese names like “Yato” not translated to “Bobby”.

English style: American English.

Encoding details: http://pastebin.com/Sqk8T2U7

Speed: Quick (<48 hours)

Translation style: Funirip.

External links.

Group website: http://fffansubs.org/

IRC channel: #[email protected]

Visual Review

Karaoke.

Opening. The color scheme in the first bit of the OP caught my attention, but the unexpected (though well thought-out) effects sold me on it. Brilliant fucking karaoke.

Rating: Great.

Insert auto-tuned rap was not subbed. I’m disappointed Japan’s wise insights were not shared with us.

Ending. I’m not the greatest with color, but going with not-white here made a lot of sense when you take the screens at a whole. There’s definite shading going on here that the kara complements. I quite liked it.

Rating: Good.

Typesetting.

Though this doesn’t match the effect of the scene, the dominant color does change as the title rolls in.

That typesetting is so fucking clean and delicious-looking I just want to spend a bunch of time staring at it like an anorexic. Nice job, FFF.

I’m glad you guys didn’t localize the phone number this time.

I would’ve been interested in knowing what these symbols meant. Actually, I still am interested.

If you had the sign already done, I’m not seeing why it couldn’t be copied over to these screens.

Script Review

Karaoke.

I much liked the ED TL.

Whatever happens I will surely call out your name
Your heart is all jagged
So you hurt anything you touch
Those eyes that frown at everything
They are saying “I’m here! See me!”
Someone was laughing at you
So you put that barrier around yourself
But I’ll reach in there with my hand
And bring you out
If you don’t have words, just grasp my hand
And don’t let go
I want you to know that you
Are not alone any more

Now, this isn’t something along the lines of a fotc TL where actual songwriting takes the front (working in rhymes, matching syllables, etc.) but it was rather clearly written. And that’s at least worth something when the best I usually hope for from song TLs is everything being spelled correctly.

Main Script.

Stiffer than a kid’s corpse.

I don’t know how much you can actually do with this line, though. The problem is that it needs to convey such a large amount of information (she doesn’t want people to find out she likes wrestling, she’s still in school, and she – although this is false – also is involved in the performance arts) in such a short amount of time… and it’s all completely wrong. They think that having a hobby (that she actually doesn’t have) while trying to hide a secret about herself is tough? Come the fuck on. Nobody’s that pampered.

The best I could come up with without spending too much effort is “Balancing studies, the performance arts, and keeping her martial arts love a secret…” {it just barely fits}. Again, I’m not huge on it, but at least it’s passable.

What time is this line referring to? There’s no context for the “next” piece make any sense.

You can’t “treat” someone with awe or wonder. You can regard them with a sense of those, though.

“You should regard me with a sense of awe and wonder!”

Good (Edits)

Funi had “fluffy-fluff”. This is a very good change from “fluffy-fluff”.

And no, it wasn’t exactly a common-sense edit. DDY had “flappy-fuzzy” and Hatsuyuki completely ignored the fun with a “soft, fluffy” translation.

Funimation had “useless members of society” in place of “deadbeats”. Funimation TLs suck.

Funi’s lines made little sense and actually served to ruin the scene’s punchline.

But you said not to judge things… by how they look!

>This is how you follow my teachings?! Don’t try so hard!

A-A-Also, just as a side note… I just lost my body!

>Try harder with that!

Good thing FFF went the right direction here.

Results

Watchability: Definitely watchable.

Visual grade: A

Script grade: A-

Overall grade: A-

This was a very solid Funimation edit. I wish I could point out more of the positive changes they made, but it’s a little difficult to compare scripts when working with Funi’s hardsubs.

Regardless, you’re getting a high-quality release with FFF’s Noragami, and I have no problems recommending them for Noragami.

Of course, there are three other groups subbing this series – Sekinin, DameDesuYo, and Hatsuyuki – so it may be the case that FFF’s is not the definitive version. But until I get all those reviews out of the way, I don’t think you can really go wrong with choosing this release.

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27 thoughts on “Fansub Review: [FFF] Noragami (Episode 02)”

Qrius

January 17, 2014 at 1:47 pm

>I would’ve been interested in knowing what these symbols meant. Actually, I still am interested.

I didn’t watch the thing, but those don’t really look like Japanese? So I guess you can’t blame FFF for not providing an explanation as to what they are?

All in all it’s good to see a proper release for this show. Despite all the criticism it looks promising enough to me.
Reply
- Dark_Sage
  
  January 17, 2014 at 1:52 pm
  
  They sorta look like rounded off kanji to me. If I’m wrong though, I’ll update the review accordingly.
  
  And yeah, the Noragami anime is better than the manga so far. They cut out a lot of the cruft that annoyed me.
  Reply
  - BlackDragonHunt
    
    January 17, 2014 at 2:34 pm
    
    It’s the show’s title (in kanji) written in an old style of calligraphy (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_script ).
    Reply
    - Dark_Sage
      
      January 17, 2014 at 2:36 pm
      
      <3 <3 <3
      Reply
    - Qrius
      
      January 17, 2014 at 3:10 pm
      
      I stand corrected :)
      Reply
  - Nyangoro
    
    January 17, 2014 at 2:38 pm
    
    Those symbols should read “Noragami.”
    
    The symbols themselves are kanji, but are an older form of them.
    
    When kanji was brought over to Japan in around the 5th or 6th century (depending on when you consider it “brought over”), the style that the characters were written in was call “kaishu.” This form originated in the 3rd century in China.
    
    But before that, as you can imagine, Chinese characters took many different forms as their writing progressed. One of these earlier forms was known as “seal script” or “zhuanshu.” Within seal script, there are two main forms, great and small seal script. The great seal script dates back to around 1000 BC and is mostly just the more standardized forms of past scripts before making that transition to small seal script.
    
    The script that Noragami uses looks to be the great seal script.
    
    http://tinyurl.com/k7wr8gu
    Reply
    - Nyangoro
      
      January 17, 2014 at 2:38 pm
      
      Aww, I was ninja’d ;_;
      Reply
      - Dark_Sage
        
        January 17, 2014 at 2:45 pm
        
        No worries, I still love ya. But I’m out of my daily supply of hearts. Would a deformed carrot work? (|====>
        Reply
        
        Nyangoro
        
        January 17, 2014 at 2:50 pm
        
        Well I am hungry…
        Reply
        
        Dark_Sage
        
        January 17, 2014 at 3:03 pm
        
        Sasuga me. Dark_Sage always manages perfect distribution of resources.
        Reply
Fyurie

January 17, 2014 at 1:58 pm

Oh, wow, guess ep1 > ep2 showed some improvement.

What’s up next, my good man? :P
Reply
- Dark_Sage
  
  January 17, 2014 at 2:01 pm
  
  DDY’s Noragami. Then episodic bullshit. I gotta figure out how to spin that post properly though. I’d rather slit my wrists than become like the anibloggers I hate the most.
  Reply
  - Fyurie
    
    January 17, 2014 at 2:04 pm
    
    Pff, there’s a reason episodic blogs suck man!
    
    Is the review queue up to date, by the way? You said the votes kept jumping around, so I don’t know what to think any more. :<
    Reply
    - Dark_Sage
      
      January 17, 2014 at 2:10 pm
      
      Sort of. The next regular review is up to date at least, but I’m probably not gonna do 4 Noragami episode 2 reviews.
      
      The TL Parties are technically up to date, but I’ve been holding off on Nisekoi (despite it being in the top spot for a while) for m.3.3.w’s release.
      Reply
      - Fyurie
        
        January 17, 2014 at 2:26 pm
        
        Yeah, I’d do DDY’s Noragami like you said then switch to another show before you want to cut yourself.
        
        If you’re holding off of Nisekoi for m.3.3.w, is Sakura next, or Mahou Sensou? I know Sakura’s been right behind Nisekoi for a while now.
        Reply
        
        Dark_Sage
        
        January 17, 2014 at 2:29 pm
        
        I already did a Sakura TL Party, so next up would be Mahou.
        Reply
        
        Fyurie
        
        January 17, 2014 at 2:31 pm
        
        Oh, duh, TL parties. I thought you were still talking reviews. I can’t into comprehension tonight.
        Reply
        
        Fyurie
        
        January 17, 2014 at 2:46 pm
        
        I’ll be hoping to see some Sakura reviews this week nonetheless, it’s the only show (bar like one other) I give a crap about this season anyways. :D
        Reply
        
        Dark_Sage
        
        January 17, 2014 at 3:01 pm
        
        I’d look toward Sunday for that.
        Reply
        
        Fyurie
        
        January 17, 2014 at 3:17 pm
        
        Legit.
        Reply
blah

January 17, 2014 at 5:35 pm

i watched ddy for ep2 and iirc they didn’t even change the last scene you brought up, so i guess fff put more effort into that
Reply
Pacific_Eos

January 19, 2014 at 2:53 pm

>What time is this line referring to? There’s no context for the “next” piece make any sense.

Answer: the next narcoleptic episode where she’ll keel over and expose her underwear. She had just exposed her bra falling asleep moments before. “Next episode” would be clearer than “next time,” though.
Reply
cardslash02

January 20, 2014 at 4:13 pm

Whoa Dark! Give me a chance. I was not asked to do Noragami kara until ep 2 came around.

Noragami OP on this ep was only my v1, and I didn’t have time to do the ED, so that ED was simply a placeholder, which is why it is meh.

Starting from ep 3 will by my ED kara.
Reply
- Dark_Sage
  
  January 20, 2014 at 4:23 pm
  
  Pretty sure I said I liked it. The visuals nabbed an A. Didn’t know they weren’t complete yet.
  
  If you’re gonna make the kara even better, great. I often skip OPs/EDs after having seen them a couple times, but I plan to watch Noragami’s through (well, at least the ED).
  Reply
  - cardslash02
    
    January 20, 2014 at 10:19 pm
    
    Okay. Look forward to my improved op and new ED for ep 3!
    Reply
    - Dark_Sage
      
      January 20, 2014 at 11:00 pm
      
      Def.
      Reply
Mitsukai

January 31, 2014 at 12:57 pm

I couldn’t help but notice this in Episode 4:

http://i.imgur.com/nP6tA5b.jpg

And as expected, when someone made a note of it on FFF’s site, Xythar sure did get rather defensive.
Reply

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