Officialsubs Review: [Sentai] Yamishibai – Japanese Ghost Stories (S1&2)

Yes, both seasons.

 

Japanese Ghost Stories & American Whiskey

I didn’t spend 10 minutes on making the Spookymore banners for them to go to waste. So enjoy a Friday of frightening fun. Well, so long as the post-family reunion drinking allows me to stay sober enough to write. Edit: I am way too drunk to review anything else. Looks like Spooky Saturday is a go.

Still, it’s late enough. Have a terrifying trip before the macabre main course:

 

 

 

Review Time

For all the caps, the visual quality’s kinda shit cuz I went with Leawo to play my BD (thanks, China). Will be using MakeMKV for the rest of Spookymore.

Knowing that it’s a talisman is a given. Knowing what the talisman says is not. One of the goals of a localization is to provide a similar experience for your viewers as a native audience would have. And that means ensuring that depicted text is translated.

Here? Well, you’d better fucking guess if you don’t already know.

Before you (hypothetically) ask: Yes, this is a recurring issue throughout the Sentai localization of the series.

*could

You can google “can vs. could” if you wanna fix your ESL understanding of the language, but I don’t have three paragraphs to waste on reiterating how to fix this issue that pops up in every other review. This shit’s as basic as an Attack on Titan cosplayer.

The S1 ED is untranslated. Expecting any more from a 120-minute, $35 msrp release would apparently be way too entitled.

I sincerely doubt Sentai’s subtitling software is so fucking broken that they can’t manage a fucking é.

Sign tracking is entirely non-existent — if the image that’s being translated moves, the subs will just straight disappear. But where to? Shit, I’m spooked.

The typesetting — when Sentai can be assed to actually do it — sucks.

And when they can’t? Well, it doesn’t feel like all that much of a victory.

Sentai’s visual impairment isn’t relegated to the signs either. Top font’ing skills here.

While not incorrect, generally it is “school bells” that are referred to as “ringing”.

I had a line for this, but I’m about 5 minutes from passing out, so you’ll have to come up with it yourself. Just know this shit ain’t something any native would say.

“It’s here”? He’s looking for the first floor, not an object or something. “I’m here.” or “I made it.”

More like “his entrance exams”.

Straps is a perfectly legit term to use, and is probably the most accurate. But in my experience with public transport, these are more commonly referred to as “handles” or “handrails”, despite how retarded “handrails”, taken in context, actually is.

That’s not how hospitals work.

The sub timing is not particularly QC’d. The above line is extended several seconds past where it should end. If you skip the ED every episode, you won’t notice this, but if you’re autistically reviewing the grammar of officially translated subtitles for series that no one cares about… well, yeah, it might pop up on your radar.

Not quite strong enough for a girl who’s been plagued by a curse.

“Am I cured now?”

you -> you’d

The full thought spelled out is “If you would like to keep those binoculars, why don’t you keep those binoculars?” Using “you like” would mean he’s thinking “If you like to keep those binoculars, why don’t you keep those binoculars?” which would mean he’s retarded.

The ED that they actually managed to translate (season 2’s) is basically Youtube-tier gibberish.

*that

Either the editor/QC didn’t watch this episode, or they don’t speak English natively, because this & that are pretty distinct fucking words.

One of the things that editors need to realize is that just because certain grammar rules exist, doesn’t mean they need to be followed to the fucking letter.

In the above line, the forced pauses interfere with the natural cadence of dialogue. Show a little bit of independent thought here, onegaidesuyone.

Learn your fucking ordinals. Nobody would speak these lines as written.

Yamishibai has 3-and-a-half minutes to tell a fucking story — nothing’s ever “forgotten”.

forgotten -> left behind

You will need internet access to appreciate how weeb this translation is.

The grandma’s speaking in both lines. Since she’s reiterating her first line in the second, it should be something like “Yeah, he definitely would be.”

Way too fucking flippant. Remember, the Japanese are a people of respect & tolerance™.

Okay -> Will do.

Thus by trading one throwaway phrase with one that has slightly more lasting value, the subtitling world is saved. …can I pass out now? Seriously.

 

 

 

Rating Time

In terms of what this whole review means for you, dear reader, you will probably get through this show without noticing anything amiss, or at least without letting it trouble you. As usual, Sentai’s QC seems to be limited to a script pass rather than actually watching shit through, but for a series where the episodes clock in at sub-4 minutes each, that’s not exactly a deal-breaker.

As for the show, Yamishibai is like spooky ghost stories for the under-10 crowd. Some of the episodes manage to hit a 7/10, but most hit far below that, so the highest I’m willing to give it is a 4. Even if I can recommend Sentai’s subs as tolerable, this BD is worth about $10 to the standard purchaser. I would not recommend paying more unless you somehow have even worse taste than me (in which case, god bless).