Re-Encode Review: [Hatsuyuki] Akame ga Kill! (Episode 01)

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This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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Hatsuyuki ga Lazy.

.

Explanation, for the uninitiated:

Spoiler for

jean-chan-san-senpai
The details:

The what?

Re-encode reviews are different from my normal fansub reviews in that they cover low-effort re-releases of an official sub release or another group’s subs. I will cover all, or most, of the relevant changes made in these posts, and explain whether or not I think the re-encodes are worth waiting for. Usually they won’t be, but perhaps your time is worth less than mine.

Feel free to take whatever you want from my posts. I’m not gonna force you at gunpoint to follow my recommendations, though I would if I could.

 

 

Things to note:

All images are hyperlinked to their larger-sized equivalents. So if you want to see a larger version of an image, open it up in a new tab or something. All encode comparisons are done in PNG, while all other images are in JPG.

 

CR/Crunchyroll refers to Crunchyroll.com, a North American anime streaming service that licenses shows to stream.

Funi/Funimation refers to Funimation.com, a North American anime streaming service that licenses shows to stream, and translates them with garbage, gibberish English.

HS/HorribleSubs refers to HorribleSubs a Native American subtitle-releasing group that takes whatever official sub providers stream and releases that shit on torrents.

Time cost (episode #): x hours, x minutes. | This is how long it took the re-encoders to release their version, as compared to when the original version was released.

 

 

“You’re wrong, but I’m too afraid to comment on it, so I’m just gonna whine about you on /r/4chan/, that’ll show you!”

As always, if you have any complaints or questions about my reviews, post in the fucking comments section. I let every dumbass with an internet connection post, including fansubbers. Make a game of it if you want: you win if you make me admit I’m wrong on anything. Feel free to use any logical fallacies you can think of, I’ve seen them all on this site. But if you don’t entertain me, I’ll just ignore you, and then you lose.

Come, play for my attention.

 

 

Is it truly a re-encode?

Yes.
Yes.

 

 

The English

+comma, -English

Not sure what Hatsuyuki’s fetish for commas is all about, but it certainly ain’t natural.

[HorribleSubs]
[HorribleSubs]
[Hatsuyuki]
[Hatsuyuki]
[HorribleSubs]
[HorribleSubs]
[Hatsuyuki]
[Hatsuyuki]
Are people who can comma properly really that rare, these days?

 

 

… -> .

[HorribleSubs]
[HorribleSubs]
[Hatsuyuki]
[Hatsuyuki]
Hatsuyuki cut down quite a bit on the ellipses from the CR release. Not a bad call…

 

 

Minor improvements

[HorribleSubs]
[HorribleSubs]
[Hatsuyuki]
[Hatsuyuki]
 Hatsuyuki’s release ain’t all bad if you ignore the grammar. Most of the edits they made either made the Crunchyroll lines better or, at the least, didn’t make them worse.

[HorribleSubs]
[HorribleSubs]
[Hatsuyuki]
[Hatsuyuki]
That being said, Hatsuyuki made so few of these edits that unless you were looking closely for differences between the two scripts, you wouldn’t find any.

 

 

 

The Visuals

Encode.

Normal:

You lose definition with the Hatsuyuki version. Cue encoders trying to explain why that’s a good thing.

[HorribleSubs]
[HorribleSubs]
[Hatsuyuki]
[Hatsuyuki]
Screenshot comparison link: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/83195

 

MAD VR (because people whined):

Spoiler for

MadVR

What the fuck makes any of you think this is gonna see widespread adoption among anime fans? Like hell anyone’s gonna follow a fucking setup guide to watch anime when CCCP works just fine. Until this hits the CCCP suite or becomes easy to install, don’t expect to see it in any of these reviews.

As a note, Hatsuyuki offers their release in 720p MKV and LQ AVI, whereas Crunchyroll/HorribleSubs offer 480p, 720p, and 1080p MKVs.

 

 

Font

[Hatsuyuki]_Akame_ga_Kill!_-_01_[1280x720][A0A5E9CB].mkv_snapshot_00.24_[2014.07.11_22.54.26]

If your punctuation cuts into your subs, you might wanna look at a new font.

 

 

Typesetting.

[HorribleSubs]
[HorribleSubs]
[HorribleSubs]
[HorribleSubs]
[HorribleSubs]
[HorribleSubs]
vs.

[Hatsuyuki]
[Hatsuyuki]
[Hatsuyuki]
[Hatsuyuki]
[Hatsuyuki]
[Hatsuyuki]
Pretty clear Hats takes the win here.

 

 

Karaoke.

[Hatsuyuki]_Akame_ga_Kill!_-_01_[1280x720][A0A5E9CB].mkv_snapshot_02.49_[2014.07.12_00.18.03] [Hatsuyuki]_Akame_ga_Kill!_-_01_[1280x720][A0A5E9CB].mkv_snapshot_03.07_[2014.07.12_00.18.29]

OP kara.

[Hatsuyuki]_Akame_ga_Kill!_-_01_[1280x720][A0A5E9CB].mkv_snapshot_22.32_[2014.07.11_23.54.30] [Hatsuyuki]_Akame_ga_Kill!_-_01_[1280x720][A0A5E9CB].mkv_snapshot_22.57_[2014.07.11_23.55.22]

The ED kara was decent, excepting the unclear font and collisions. Better than nothing, I guess.

 

 

 

 

..

Time cost (episode 1): 4 days, 12 hours, 26 minutes

Worth waiting for?: lol

The improvements here are not nearly pronounced enough to justify a five day wait. Try the original or go with an edit that had effort put into it.

41 thoughts on “Re-Encode Review: [Hatsuyuki] Akame ga Kill! (Episode 01)”

      • Actually, I’ve got a good offer. The comments section is wide open, so if any Hatsu staff wanna let anyone reading this post in the future know just how long it took y’all to copy-paste Crunchyroll’s subs for episode 5, you can update them with your progress here.

        Man, sometimes my generosity is just too much~

        Reply

        • As i’m acquainted with Hatsu i can explain something for you although i will not be speaking for them.

          You’re right that the wait might not be worth it for the changes made but that’s because they don’t rush their people.

          Should they at times? Yes but it’s not the fault of the leader/other high ranking people. They do their best so you shouldn’t just blame the whole group, they do original TL’s too and those are good.

          Reply

          • Thanks, but the Russian one is broken and the bakashots won’t let you do comparisons without an account, which you can’t create. Looks like future readers are just gonna have to deal with it.

            Reply

              • I’m sure the link’s fine, the Russian site’s just broken.

                As for bakabt, I fucking hate that site. Guess I’ll have to make an account there again then. Though, uhh, I think I’ll wait till a later post. Not feeling like wasting time tonight.

                Reply

                • Yeah, tried the Russian site just now and it apparently can’t load the images I uploaded for some reason.

                  Also, I have no idea how good/bad/awful the bakabt community is, but I don’t really care about them anyway so whatever.

                  Reply

          • As a BakaBT mod, I’d just like to remind you that our comparison website is for internal use only. I go on there to purge irrelevant comparisons every few weeks and it’s amazing how much rubbish is there.

            Reply

  4. Madvr can get ride of almost all the banding from CR raws. Error Diffusion dithering help out with aliasing and NNEDI3 upscaling on 720p beats CR 1080p.
    Not to mention that it will need a strong processor for it to not just skip half the frames making it look like a PowerPoint slideshow.

    Reply

      • There’s a setting in processing -> artifact removal: reduce banding artifacts. I wouldn’t go so far as to say “almost all the banding” though. It really depends on the scene, the source, and the setting.

        Technically you could also select the display, claim that the native display bitdepth is something lower, and thus have all the output dithered to that (check dithering settings), which could also mask banding a bit, but I wouldn’t go there.

        Reply

  6. >install.bat
    >readme.txt

    Yeah, I can totally see how your average anime fan can’t figure this one out.
    Glad to see you fit in right with them. (Though it’s kinda unsurprising seeing as how you refuse to understand what the word “encode” means, despite it being explained to you multiple times.)

    Reply

    • It’s not that people can’t figure out how to install madVR eventually, I just think you’re seriously undervaluing the time of the average anime watcher.

      People still use:
      – illegal garbage quality streams (on ad-infested sites)
      – YouTube (Episode 1 Part 1 of 3, Episode 1 Part 2 of 3, etc…)
      – legal garbage quality streams (Funi, looking at you)
      – Crunchyroll/Hulu/Netflix apps on console or phone
      – VLC
      – Windows Media Player
      – streaming off a network drive to a set top box (if you’re lucky)

      And if you’re luckier, they’re on CCCP. madVR has an extremely limited audience (and similarly, AviSynth, Reclock, etc).

      Heck, I used to be hugely obsessed with maxing out quality myself, but then I stopped caring and now I just throw CCCP on. Someday I’ll resort to base MPC-HC and use their internal subtitle renderer and internal LAV filters. It’s good enough.

      Reply

      • Those are the kinds of people who aren’t gonna care about encode comparisons in the first place, though.

        In fact, most of them probably also don’t care about fansub reviews since they watch all their stuff on streaming services such as those listed above.

        Reply

        • I really think that the majority of readers on Crymore are current/former fansubbers and leechers that are more intimate with the fansub scene.

          Reply

          • When I meet up with people at cons, the vast majority of them say they visit because reading my writing is better than sex.

            Reply

            • Yes, we all believe you D_S. Sure they do, sure they do. I can vouch for this. Your writing makes my eyes bleed urine and diarrhea. Way better than sex right?

              It also seems the vast majority of them love to kiss your ass. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were carrying money around that you got from sleeping with Xythar, and then bribing them to read lines you wrote on a piece of paper.

              Reply

  7. >What the fuck makes any of you think this is gonna see widespread adoption among anime fans?

    KCP (Kawaii Codec Pack) installs as easily as CCCP. In the installer select Highest Tier unless you’re computer is trash.

    Reply

  8. >madVR becomes easy to install

    There’s already a codec pack bundled with madVR built in if you want a simple setup.

    http://haruhichan.com/forum/showthread.php?7545-KCP-Kawaii-Codec-Pack

    0coldhell also gave you these instructions too if you wanted to just get madVR:

    ->download http://madshi.net/madVR.zip
    ->extract it somewhere (program files probably)
    ->click at install.bat

    MPC-HC ->Right click ->options->playback->output->directshowvideo->madVR (screenshot if you can’t find it http://i.imgbox.com/SizqgRl0.png)

    Reply

  9. I use the K-Lite Codec Pack, install XySubFilter and ReClock separately and configure everything myself.

    Pros:
    Latest and greatest of everything

    Cons:
    Potential breakage due to using repo snapshots
    Having to configure everything yourself (one time only)

    FWIW, my setup is based on Niyawa’s MAL guide, but using heavily modified madVR settings.

    For those that are too lazy/retarded/everything must be plug and play, I guess Kawaii Codec Pack is the way to go, though I’ve never used it.

    Reply

  10. mpv with option –vo=opengl-hq gives high quality, too. However the lack of GUI scares away most people ( ¬‿¬)

    Reply

    • The LUA OSD is more than enough ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
      IIRC, there’s a Windows GUI called Baka MPlayer or some shit. I have absolutely no reason to use MPV on Windows nor do I care for a GUI for it, but apparently some do.

      Reply

  11. holymolly that screenshot comparison, Akame pupil in horr is actually clearer than hatsu, which means hatsu actually manage to be even worse than horr?

    Reply

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