Fansub Review: [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors (Episode 07)

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This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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I’m putting Nyaa-exclusive content like this back into scope for my reviews. I hope you appreciate all the qaultity that this is going to bring you.

Table of Contents

Release Information

Visual Quality

Script Quality

Results

 

Release Information

Episode details.

Release format: MKV (330 MB, 10-bit)

Japanesiness:

Yes, it's this bad.
Expect it to be like this throughout.

English style: American English.

Encoding details: http://pastebin.com/179hPtzY

Speed: Slow (>48 hours)

Translation style: Crunchyedit.

 

 

External links.

Group website: http://mirlosubs.wordpress.com/

IRC channel: N/A

 

 

Visual Review

Karaoke.

This episode didn’t have an OP.

 

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_21.01_[2014.06.05_21.48.51] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_20.43_[2014.06.05_21.48.22]

Ending. By making the kara difficult to read, I have to say they were doing a favor to literates.

Rating: Bad. But I thank them for it.

 

 

Typesetting.

Lower your expectations before you click the spoiler. No, even lower than that.

Spoiler for

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_01.42_[2014.06.05_21.22.43] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_01.43_[2014.06.05_21.22.32] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_01.43_[2014.06.05_21.22.50] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_02.05_[2014.06.05_21.23.32] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_02.09_[2014.06.05_21.23.40] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_05.44_[2014.06.05_21.29.17] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_05.56_[2014.06.05_21.29.33] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_06.04_[2014.06.05_21.29.52] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_12.12_[2014.06.05_21.38.13] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_18.14_[2014.06.05_21.45.06] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_18.18_[2014.06.05_21.45.28] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_23.23_[2014.06.05_21.51.22] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_23.26_[2014.06.05_21.51.29] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_23.47_[2014.06.05_21.51.55]

If you didn’t listen, it’s your own damn fault.

 

Other.

The dialogue is color-coded for each character…

And often hard to read.
…resulting in many casualties on the readability front.

 

 

Script Review

Karaoke.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_20.36_[2014.06.05_21.48.08]
“I knew we need to reach an understanding”
[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_20.43_[2014.06.05_21.48.22]
“The laughter have faded into the distance”
[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_21.01_[2014.06.05_21.48.51]
“I would had quickly let go of this intolerable tomorrow,”
I’m not sure which suffered more while I was transcribing those lines: my fingers, my eyes, or my brain. Maybe I should self-medicate with more liquor. Alcoholism, ho~

 

Main Script.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_00.12_[2014.06.05_21.20.26]

For some reason, Mirlo likes adding dashes for stutters where there are none, and skipping them when stutters actually come up in the dialogue.

Either they don’t understand what they’re doing, or they do. I’m not sure which would reflect worse on them.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_01.35_[2014.06.05_21.22.13] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_01.37_[2014.06.05_21.22.21]

If you’re looking for dialogue that reflects normal human conversation, you won’t find any in this godawful blend of English and late-term abortion. Even bile would go down smoother than these lines, which is helpful, since watching this release will certainly make it come right up.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_01.51_[2014.06.05_21.23.09]

even if -> even though

There is an overwhelming amount of patchwork fixes required for this script to be even half-usable.

If this were a horse, the best option would be to put it out of its misery. But since it’s a fansub release, the best option is to simply put Mirlo out of their misery.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_02.09_[2014.06.05_21.23.40] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_02.12_[2014.06.05_21.23.50]

There is no “first place” in the lottery; it ain’t a goddamn track meet.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_03.03_[2014.06.07_16.47.16]

A someone like you?

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_02.46_[2014.06.05_21.24.51]

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_03.44_[2014.06.05_21.26.33]

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_04.42_[2014.06.05_21.27.41]

Whenever they can, stock translations are jammed into the show with all the grace of a skullfucking.

And then there’s that misguided devotion to making sure every time a character’s name is heard, it’s reflected in the subs directly. This leads to scenes like the third one here, where characters are talking about each other like they’re not there.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_09.43_[2014.06.05_21.35.13]
And by “names”, I mean anything with honorifics. Because that’s how Japanese works, right?

 

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_04.58_[2014.06.07_16.51.12]

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_05.02_[2014.06.05_21.28.19] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_05.07_[2014.06.05_21.28.29]

With dialogue like this, I fear that only an acid bath would be enough to cleanse the cancer. Wonder if Mirlo would go down with the script?

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_07.59_[2014.06.05_21.31.57]

How? How does a story “sound painful”? All these goddamn near-misses with actual English add up to a mind-shattering experience. I bet Mirlo’s so fucking incompetent they’d miss even if they stuck a shotgun barrel in their mouth and fired.

Prove me wrong, Mirlo.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_09.45_[2014.06.05_21.35.21]

Surpsisize me.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_10.19_[2014.06.05_21.36.05]

Every line in this release makes me want to rip Mirlo’s urethra out and strangle them with it.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_11.39_[2014.06.07_17.14.56] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_11.42_[2014.06.07_17.15.03] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_11.46_[2014.06.07_17.15.12] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_11.48_[2014.06.07_17.15.20]

Nicely done, Mirlo. I doubt the scene was supposed to make sense in Japanese, either. The show is pretty deep, after all.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_11.51_[2014.06.07_17.15.37]

Placement word.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_12.32_[2014.06.05_21.38.45]

With such a large vendetta against grammar, you gotta wonder what the back story is. Were Mirlo’s parents killed by a library? Or was Mirlo institutionalized for many years after their English teacher caught them jerking off to pictures of dead cats?

So many possibilities.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_13.58_[2014.06.05_21.40.17] [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_14.00_[2014.06.05_21.40.24]

All the giggles.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_12.27_[2014.06.07_17.49.34]

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_15.41_[2014.06.05_21.42.18]

This isn’t how you, comma.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_17.42_[2014.06.05_21.44.25]

In olden times, people used to throw retarded babies down wells. Perhaps our ancestors had the right idea. Wonder if it’s too late for Mirlo.

[Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors - 07 [720p].mkv_snapshot_19.08_[2014.06.05_21.46.27]

I thought the only tumblrtards subbing this show were Mekameka.

 

 

 

Results

Watchability: Hardly watchable.

Visual grade: D

Script grade: D-

Overall grade: D-

By virtue of being a Crunchyroll edit, the subs can sometimes be understandable, which is the only thing saving Mirlo from an “F” score. But there is no reason to wait for this over Crunchy’s release, considering Mirlo’s concerted effort to make the subs unbearable.

And let this be just another reminder why you shouldn't trust MAL scores.
Let this be a reminder why you shouldn’t trust MAL scores.

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84 thoughts on “Fansub Review: [Mirlo] Mekakucity Actors (Episode 07)”

  1. “I can’t it anymore…”
    This reflects how I felt towards the end of reading this. It’s seriously a miracle that not all of my brain cells have been killed off.

    Reply

  2. The users on MAL are a bunch of fucking trolls. I wonder which idiot actually looks at those sub group votes for reference.

    Reply

    • Most people who upvote on MAL won’t even look at the release and upvote if it’s not said group. In this case, Commie gets all the downvotes. I dropped the show so I can’t say much for any of the subs.

      Reply

    • If it’s a show that’s older than a few seasons I’ll generally check MAL/aniDB just to see who actually subbed it but that’s about it.

      Reply

    • I’ll usually look on MAL when a show first comes out and then wait to see who is actually subbing it. I don’t have Time to check each release on my own, and often times crymore is to slow with their reviews. Typically, the top rated subs on MAL are at the very least passable.

      Reply

      • If you frequent this website, you should be looking for better than passable, though.

        Funny how dramatically the opinions of those on MAL often conflict with Dark_Sage’s. Look at BB, for instance. Hatsuyuki on top (what?), Underwater second, and DDY fourth behind HS. So many people on there just blindly go with groups, or vote others down, based on their name, and MAL is also full of people who wouldn’t know what makes a good release. Also wouldn’t put it past some groups’ members to go on there and up vote their own releases and down vote the competition. So I don’t really think MAL can be trusted as a reliable source of opinions on subs, except for identifying the really terrible releases, which you should be able to do on your own.

        Reply

  3. Don’t you want a somebody to love?

    Don’t you need a somebody to love?

    Wouldn’t you love a somebody to love?

    You better find a somebody to love.

    Reply

  7. I’d like to see if Mirlo actually sees this. It would be interesting to see Mirlo defend this script over a regular CR.

    Reply

  9. MAL’s users vote by hate.

    “I hate group X, group X is doing this anime. Oh, there’s a group Y doing it too. Never heard of it… but they are surely better than group X, right?”

    That’s how it goes.

    Reply

  10. Unfortunately, there just aren’t good review sites out there anymore.

    anidb – In the graveyard. Nobody reviews or votes anymore.
    MAL – Too much vote based off of group names.
    Nyaa – A+, Trusted, Regular, and Remake aren’t based on what they say, but how much the staff likes you.
    bakabt – Slow as molasses to review, makes some really incompetent choices.
    Crymore – Prefers to trash releases to get drama and get traffic as compared to actually reviewing good releases.
    notredreviews – Biased to hell and back.

    I miss ji-hi. :(

    Reply

      • What I dont’ get is anyone expecting totally unbiased reviews.

        The process is, while mostly impartial, also partially subjective, especially when it comes to giving editing feedback. The taste of the reviewing editor will play a part on their grading process.

        One editor review might give a script an A, but another equally capable editor could give that same script a C, simply because it doesn’t match up to what he believes is correct editing, in terms of anything from flow/nuance to characterisation choices.

        tl;dr – Editing reviews are a waste of time if you’re trying to get a full impression of something. Use it as a basis for your choice, and check for yourself.

        Reply

    • Why don’t you start your own version of ji-hi, Kristen? After all, it only involved screencapping junk – there isn’t any real way you can ‘bias’ that.

      Reply

      • ji-hi was only ever useful in picking a group with the font and encoding you wanted back when people were releasing .avi files. Maaaaybe also terminology if you were lucky.

        I don’t see why it’s held to such a high standard now. Dark_Sage provides a LOT more screenshots if that’s all you want.

        Reply

        • And actually, those screenshots just go to prove how little difference there actually is between the simulcast streams and today’s fansubs. But each to their own.

          Reply

          • Trying to use those votes as an indicator for quality is pointless. People are biased to vote for what they chose to watch.

            Reply

        • http://fansub.co/no-game-no-life/

          I guess none of them found their way to that particular comparison. Or Black Bullet, Captain Earth, Mekakucity Actors, or pretty much anything they have actual competition on.

          Unless the definition of “Commie fanboy” means “someone who watches Commie over HorribleSubs”, which I guess would somehow make me an Anime-Koi fanboy.

          Reply

          • Not sure why you’d pick that comparison out of those four to try to prove your point when Commie releases significantly slower… I agree the fanboy comment was thoughtless, though.

            Reply

            • Fanboy doesn’t necessarily have to be negative. I mean, I freely admit that I was a Lunar fanboy back in the day. Just means Commie are pretty popular – but then I don’t really follow today’s fansubs and generally watch everything on CR :D

              Reply

                • They translate the signs and from what I’ve seen, even colour match them. Sure, it’s not as fancy as what some typesetters do on their releases, but I don’t really watch anime to see onscreen text transformed into a work of art :D

                  Reply

                    • As I say, to each their own. I started watching anime when .rmvb was still a thing, so yeah, signs not being TS perfectly doesn’t bother me really.

                • I just want to put out there that, when they try, Commie has some of the nicest typesetting out of all fansub groups. Commie’s weakness really does (generally) lie in the editing department and their lack of any QCs.

                  Reply

        • Those aren’t really voting on who’s best, the poll question just asks you; “Which group’s releases are you watching”? Completely 100% unbiased. The only reason they’re watching a said group is because they saw the screenshots for THEMSELVES and prefer those translations. There is no fanboy bullshit over there. They rarely even leave any comments at the bottom.

          Reply

            • Yes it is an unbiased decision, as long as you aren’t unfairly prejudiced against Chihiro it is COMPLETELY 100% UNBIASED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
              Not enough exclamation marks? Watch Kill La Kill.

              Reply

          • Mind sharing with us exactly how do you know they didn’t vote with a bias towards their favourite group?

            “Which group’s releases are you watching?”

            I’d say Underwater. I never visited that site before. I just voted Underwater, and like me many people did the same. You can’t expect anything close to unbiased on the Internet.

            Reply

            • You don’t get the point the votes don’t fucking matter. You choose what you want based on the screenshots. Nobody gives a shit about the votes. You can see errors, translations, the fonts, and video quality and choose for YOURSELF. If you want to copy what everybody else is doing and like a tard that’s on you. And the reason I said 100% unbiased REVIEWS and not VOTES is because whoever runs that site doesn’t type anything. Thus the unbiased review because there is no review.

              Reply

            • Fan votes are not biased. The information is presented as is, and it makes no recommendations or sorting based off of the fan vote. The fan vote is also hidden from view by default, so you have to either vote or click “view” to get the results. Those who click “view” before looking at the comparison are those who would be biased in the first place.

              A good comparison website should:
              1. Be extensive in what it review. If you are just reviewing magical girl shows, you are going to be seeing the same groups a lot.
              2. Be fair and consistent. Saying “What are you doing in a place like this” is a pretty bad edit and can be flagged, but it should be mentioned for every group that does it, not just 1 or 2 that you don’t like.
              3. Not be afraid to pull a surprise. Just because the majority downloads UTW for Kami-sama no Memo-chou, don’t be afraid to say “Chihiro was by far the best group” like this site did back in the day.
              4. Stick with stated criteria and stay consistent. For instance, when Xythar went back and changed some CGi releases like Hanasaku Iroha movie to be “re-encode” for taking subs and putting it on a similar source (BD to BD), but refused to demote THORA’s Time of Eve which took Chaos-MII’s subs and put it on a similar source (BD to BD), this shows bias. Even if he can try to make excuses for it.

              The more of your opinion you interject into a review site, the more probability there is of biases coming to light. That’s why, for review sites, we need to be careful.
              From best to worst:
              1. Not using a review site, watching all episodes by yourself.
              2. Screenshot comparison sites, like Ji-hi.
              3. Analysis sites, like here or NotRedReviews.
              4. Fan vote sites, like anidb or MAL.
              5. Single release sites, like bakabt.
              6. Sortable release sites, like Nyaa.

              Reply

                • Nyaa wouldn’t be so bad if it was just their ridiculous A+ bias. The other 3 categories should be no-brainers.
                  Trusted – Tells the downloader that the file is legit, you’re not going to get a virus or trolled.
                  White – Tells the downloader that this is an original file.
                  Remake – Tells the downloader that this is either a re-encode to a different format or that it is placing subs on a different encode of similar source.

                  Instead, they are almost using it as a tier based system to categorize “We like you, we’re neutural about you, we hate you”.

                  Reply

              • >Not be afraid to pull a surprise. Just because the majority downloads UTW for Kami-sama no Memo-chou, don’t be afraid to say “Chihiro was by far the best group” like this site did back in the day.

                Actually, he said Monokage was the best, just that their releases were extremely difficult to get a hold of so don’t bother and go with Chihiro. And you say “back in the day” like Dark_Sage is afraid to do it now, but he did just recently rate the ChihiroDesuYo NGNL release over the Underwater-FFF one.

                Reply

              • >Saying “What are you doing in a place like this” is a pretty bad edit.

                It is? Aside from the missing question mark, I can think of a ton of situations where that exact line would fit perfectly.

                Reply

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