[quote name='PrarieD0G']What does it matter if it's a fansub or licensed? A lot (almost all?) of licensed shows were once fansubs anyway. They're the same show. Sure, the DVD releases have "professional" translations, but they also have butt-ugly fonts, no karaoke, and sometimes translations are too "Americanized" so that they sound natural, but also lose some of their original meaning. You also don't get the TL notes that explain cultural things.
Upside to DVDs are that the video and audio quality are usually better. But even that is ceasing to be the case these days, with newer fansubs being released in 720p.
I'd take a fansub over a licensed release version of the same series almost any day. Personal preference.
I still always buy the DVDs if I like the show and want to own a legit copy of it, though. Also, if you're *only* into dubs, then the above arguments don't really apply, heh.[/QUOTE]
Haha, I guess we are entering this argument now.
I'll take a licensed release over a fansub any day. The type of font doesn't bother me, and it doesn't take away from the show; subtitles are just subtitles to me—I have no preference. As far as I know, every DVD I have has the opening and ending songs in English and in romaji, so I don't see your point in saying that they never do. In regards to natural sounding English, then that is exactly what I want; I am anal about grammar, spelling, and syntactical structure. If the English doesn't sound right, then the translator messed up.
Anyway, I would assume that you would be making this argument for English dubs, since some English dubs change the Japanese translation to make it either fit the flaps better, sound more natural, or change a joke so that English speakers would understand it. I have no problem with this, but I guess I could see why some people might. I don't have much to say about translation notes, since I usually watch the English dub, but every subtitle only DVD that I have watched has had translation notes.