Anime and Manga Thread Vol. 1: Visions of a God

Finished up Gad Guard today. The animation is solid and so is the soundtrack. It's about a bunch of kids who end up acquiring robots that only they can control. The rest of the story is about them figuring out what they should do with said robots, getting more information about what the robots are and where they come from, and discovering more about themselves.

The story is decent, but you will be annoyed by most of the characters at one point or another. Some of them are too whiny, and all of them are WAY too emotional about their robots.
 
This place is dead again. Anyway, my pace has stayed consistent, and I plan on trying not to change that pace in the coming future.

So, tonight I watched Barefoot Gen 1. It is an incredible movie. The movie is beautiful and depressing. If you do not already know, then Barefoot Gen is about the Hiroshima bombing through the point of view of Gen—a child. I recommend this movie to everyone, but I especially recommend Barefoot Gen to those who liked Grave of the Fireflies, since the movies are somewhat similar.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='Razzuel']This place is dead again. [/QUOTE]


I'll be watching more anime in the next week or so. My job is sucking the life out of me at the moment.
 
I rewatched Haunted Junction last week. It's still as great as I remember (I even got a little teary eyed by the end). It's a shame that the manga went on for 13 volumes, but the anime only got 12 episodes. It's even more of a shame that we'll never see the manga. I'll have to add it to my list of 'manga to translate after opening a manga company with my lottery winnings'.

I started watching Saikano the other day. I'm not sure I'm enjoying it that much. I would've watched more today, but I was so exhausted after the first day of classes.
 
Moved in at college this past Saturday, so I finally got a chance to watch some crap again today.

Bakemonogatari, Sora no Manimani, and Canaan. All of them are pretty great, surprisingly. I think I'm going to just stick with fansubs for a while now.
 
Macross Frontier: Awesomest anime in space ever. EVER.

What do you like in Sora, Prarie? I know a lot of people like it, but I never really got into it.
 
[quote name='PrarieD0G']Bakemonogatari, Sora no Manimani, and Canaan. All of them are pretty great, surprisingly. I think I'm going to just stick with fansubs for a while now.[/QUOTE]

Why would Bakemonogatari being good be surprising? Bakemonogatari has the same director as Moon Phase, so it has to be good.:D

Also, why are you only going to stick to fansubs? You have plenty of licensed shows at your disposal do you not? I mean Kurau isn't going to watch itself you know.;)
 
Fansubs are superior to licensed shit anyway, and maybe he wants to talk to people who aren't stuck in the past, so that's probably why.
 
[quote name='Razzuel']This place is dead again. [/QUOTE]
Hasn't really been anything I've wanted to see in awhile.

[quote name='DarkSageRK']Fansubs are superior to licensed shit anyway[/QUOTE]
That's a load of BS.


[quote name='ChibiJosh']I started watching Saikano the other day. I'm not sure I'm enjoying it that much. I would've watched more today, but I was so exhausted after the first day of classes.[/QUOTE]
Saikano is an amazing show.
 
*You don't know what you're talking about.

I was trying to be polite. I thought breaking the news that you don't shit would be tough on you.
 
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/read 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.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='DarkSageRK']I thought breaking the news that you don't shit would be tough on you.[/QUOTE]

That's not true. I took a nice, healthy poop this morning.

[quote name='PrarieD0G']What does it matter if it's a fansub or licensed? A lot 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 is usually better. But even that is ceasing to be the case these days, with newer shows being released in 720p.

I'd take a fansub over a licensed release version of the same series almost any day. Personal preference.[/QUOTE]

Some fansub fonts are *far* uglier. Readability is the only thing that should matter. Karaoke may be flashy, but it's also completely unnecessary, and most people can't even read the Japanese portion. "Americanization" of the translation depends on the person subbing the show, and is equally likely to happen in fansubs (not to mention the prevalent grammatical errors and typos in fansubs, or when they just make a line up if they can't translate it, which happens far more often than you'd think). If a literal translation makes a sentence sound awkward, that becomes a problem. Translation notes are sometimes included in DVD releases, just like they're sometimes included in fansubs. The only thing I'd concede as being superior is the nice video quality of 720p releases.

What do official DVD releases have over fansubs? A better translation, superior video quality, extras, and in most cases, an English dub track. Yeah... DVDs win. It's not that I'm against fansubs, and some can be quite nice in quality, but the idea that fansubs are a superior product is just asinine and uninformed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lol. Better translation? What? You're shitting me, right? Maybe you don't know anybody who speaks Japanese, but I do. And I know a lot of them. None of them have said that the licensed shit is more accurate than fansubs.

I only watch dubs so I don't have to deal with the shitty subtitles that come on the DVDs I buy. For professionals, it seems none of them know English either.
 
[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.
 
As far as translations go, I don't even speak Japanese, and sometimes I can pick up on stuff that's translated differently than it should be to give it a more "conversational" tone (from watching so many fansubs that do it more accurately). In the dubs, it's necessary, but I'm not a fan of when they do it in the subtitles as well. It also annoys me a little when honorifics are left off names. That's just me though.

I'm not saying that fansubs are always superior. I also think it's a mistake to say that DVD releases are always superior (ie. I think Funimation's subs aren't bad most of the time. ADV's kinda stink though). I'm just saying that I prefer fansubs, in most cases.

Whatever you like is cool.

/end pointless argument that will never end because it's totally up to personal preference. =P

EDIT: Oh yeah, and to answer your question about Sora, DarkSage, I just like it because I think it's funny. And I sorta like the whole astronomy thing. It's pretty silly overall, I know, but I still like it for some reason. I wouldn't think it would be your kinda show though.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='DarkSageRK']Lol. Better translation? What? You're shitting me, right? Maybe you don't know anybody who speaks Japanese, but I do. And I know a lot of them. None of them have said that the licensed shit is more accurate than fansubs.[/QUOTE]

I speak Japanese, you stupid fuck. I speak it well, and so do many of my friends, some of whom *are* Japanese. We can pick out far, far more errors in an average fansub script than we can in licensed releases.

[quote name='DarkSageRK']I only watch dubs so I don't have to deal with the shitty subtitles that come on the DVDs I buy. For professionals, it seems none of them know English either.[/QUOTE]

Oh snap, son, that's clever! I see what you're doing, though. You have that whole "Screw those American companies, I watch *real* anime, translated by *real* fans!" shit going on. Cute, but so very wrong. You don't know shit, kiddo.
 
[quote name='darksagerk']oh, i'm sure you do know japanese. I'm sure you're sugoi kakkoi at it. Ah, the wapanese. So kawaii~[/quote]

Aww, baby's jealous.

豆腐の角に頭をぶつけて死ね。　:D
 
Is not! Are you implying that I just copy/pasted random characters from your post in an effort to make it seem like I know Japanese too? That's low, Kirin! Libelous, even!
 
[quote name='DarkSageRK']Is not! Are you implying that I just copy/pasted random characters from your post in an effort to make it seem like I know Japanese too? That's low, Kirin! Libelous, even![/QUOTE]

I'M CALLING YOU OUT!!

To get back on track, I finished Gun x Sword last week. Mostly mediocre, with occasional moments of brilliance. The first half feels like a slightly better version of Trigun (ugh), and the second half became much more compelling. Not great by any means, but it wasn't terrible either.

Right now I'm watching all of xxxHOLiC dubbed for the first time, and it's bloody fantastic.
 
I prefer xxxHOLIC/Tsubasa Chronicles as a manga. The anime seems to drag a bit.

I really had fun with Trigun so I'll check out Gun X Sword.

Right now I'm working through Hajime No Ippo, good times.

As for the Japanese thing, I lived in Asagaya for a time when I was dating this Japanese girl for 5 years. I've watched anime for nearly 18 years now, and I've taken exactly one Japanese class (not for credit). I can get around Tokyo a bit and have cultural understanding of a lot of things, but I have nearly 0 kanji ability unless I go grab a dictionary and pore over the stroke order.

Fun Fact:

The Vietnamese used to use Kanji-type characters for their language until monks showed up and intro'd them to latin characters. They still use these characters making their language much more typeable/readable around the world. Pronouncing it though.....about 100x harder than Japanese.
 
[quote name='Kuroi Kaze']I prefer xxxHOLIC/Tsubasa Chronicles as a manga. The anime seems to drag a bit.[/QUOTE]

Agreed, both manga versions are superior, especially in the case of Tsubasa. The xxxHOLiC anime is still highly entertaining on its own merits, however, and the dub is stellar. This is my second time watching the show, and I think I prefer it in English.
 
I've heard that the manga is better than the anime for pretty much anything done by CLAMP. I may not even bother with the anime versions... Or should I? If I end up doing both, I'd probably read the manga first though.
 
In regards to the "which is translated better" debate, I think no matter what you're not going to agree with every editing choice that is made. Although, licensed stuff has gotten a lot better. Rewatching Haunted Junction was a fucking eye opener to that. I didn't know a lick of Japanese back when I first watched it, but I've gotten decent enough at it over the years, and I cringed many times at the translations that were chosen with that.

[quote name='Kirin Lemon']Agreed, both manga versions are superior, especially in the case of Tsubasa. The xxxHOLiC anime is still highly entertaining on its own merits, however, and the dub is stellar. This is my second time watching the show, and I think I prefer it in English.[/QUOTE]

I concur.
 
[quote name='PrarieD0G']I've heard that the manga is better than the anime for pretty much anything done by CLAMP. I may not even bother with the anime versions... Or should I? If I end up doing both, I'd probably read the manga first though.[/QUOTE]

I much prefer the anime versions of Cardcaptor Sakura and Angelic Layer to their manga counterparts, so that's not always true. xxxHOLiC and X TV (avoid the X movie like the plague) are also well worth watching. Tsubasa and Chobits don't fare so well in comparison, but they're both still more entertaining than a lot of stuff that gets discussed in these anime threads.

... Which reminds me, god, I effing love Cardcaptor Sakura.
 
[quote name='PrarieD0G']I've heard that the manga is better than the anime for pretty much anything done by CLAMP. I may not even bother with the anime versions... Or should I? If I end up doing both, I'd probably read the manga first though.[/QUOTE]

You should watch the anime of CardCaptor Sakura too.
 
[quote name='Razzuel'] 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.[/QUOTE]

I'm half/half on this debate. On one hand I'll buy the dvds to support the companies. However, I hate the sickly white/yellow fonts some companies use especially when on a bright background since it makes it illegible to read. Fansubs are nice in that good ones will use fonts of different colors (sometimes for different people who are speaking at once) which contrast against the background so they stand out and are legible. I understand there's no financial incentive for official releases but those little touches are nice. It also makes me more inclined to watch fansubs despite already having the official dvds.
 
[quote name='DarkSageRK']Fansubs are superior to licensed shit anyway. [/QUOTE]

jcag.jpg
 
[quote name='Chronis']Anyway, as for the professional vs fansub font argument, there is one very important thing that nobody is mentioning. With fansubs, the captions are applied directly to the video, so they can be designed anyway the subbers want. With professional translations, the captions are on a completely separate track on the disc than the video portion. All they are is a text dump in a section of the disc that any given DVD player can read and display while similtaneously running the video. So they can't be designed all fancy-like because they aren't applied to the video directly. They are simply read and show up on screen on the default font that all DVD players use. So really, you can't blame licensing companies for the "boring" fonts with no karoake ball when they have no control over that. Now, unless you guys are willing to start playing more for DVD releases that have completely different video tracks so one can come with all these fancy font effects applied directly, I think that this complaint is a moot point.[/QUOTE]

Dammit! You beat me to it. I was on the verge of posting something similar.

Anyway, I just finished watching Barefoot Gen 2. The movie was fantastic. It is still portrayed through the point of view of Gen, but Barefoot Gen 2 takes place three years after the Hiroshima bombing. The movie focuses on how everyone is making due with the conditions that were brought upon them by the bombing. Barefoot Gen 2 does not have the immense amount of emotional power that the first movie has simply because the first movie focuses on the bombing itself, which is absolutely horrifying. However, Barefoot Gen 2 still has a great amount of emotional power, and it is beautiful and depressing nonetheless.

Any media that can make me cry holds a special place in my heart; both Barefoot Gen and its sequel were able to do just that. I totally recommend that everyone watch these movies.

I guess I can even tie this into this licensed subtitles argument. Barefoot Gen is licensed by Geneon. I thought the subtitles were wonderful. The text was on the screen for the perfect amount of time, the yellow font never got in the way, and the English translation was perfect—I never spotted any grammatical errors or spelling errors whatsoever.

Barefoot Gen Right Stuf Link
 
Regardless of whether or not the licensers can do anything about the ugly fonts, it doesn't change the fact that they're ugly. :p But I'm just being picky about that. It doesn't bother me as much as the lack of TL notes and sometimes questionable translations. Anyway, it's all personal preference, so who really cares.
 
[quote name='PrarieD0G']It doesn't bother me as much as the lack of TL notes and sometimes questionable translations.[/QUOTE]

Again, questionable translations (and blatantly wrong translations, for that matter) occur *far* more often in fansubs. If a sentence sounds awkward, a translator isn't doing their job properly. A completely literal translation is not always the best or most appropriate.
 
Yeah. If licensing companies can't produce titles with good visual quality it's a... problem with the fansubbers? Yay, logic.

This is why I like this anime thread. Brings out all the special people.
 
Alright fine. I prefer the often wrong fansubs then! You actually speak Japanese, so I can't say that you're wrong. Lol. I can agree that a completely literal translation is not always appropriate, but I guess I just like that fansubs usually read pretty well without sounding too "Americanized" or whatever. I know that they definitely have errors, but they get the point across.

It also largely depends on which fansub group you're getting your stuff from. You can't really generalize and say *all* fansubs have a ton of errors. I stick with the good groups, if I can help it (MAL helps with that).
 
Well, since no one has said anything about Barefoot Gen or its sequel, then I am assuming that that means no one else has seen the movies?

Anyone?
 
[quote name='Razzuel']Well, since no one has said anything about Barefoot Gen or its sequel, then I am assuming that that means no one else has seen the movies?

Anyone?[/QUOTE]

I also enjoyed Barefoot Gen. Congratulations, you like something good for a change! ;)
 
Fansubbers are the worst. Their annoying awful transliteration made me stay away for good. I think I watched the 1st ep of NOIR fansubbed, and they used something ridiculous like "Mirireru" for Mireille. "Raito" in Death Note is the other example I can think of.
 
FYI, bro, that's how the Japanese say it. I don't know how you expect them to magically know everyone's name perfectly after simply watching an episode, especially when the Japanese can't pronounce their fucking ls.

Also, Noir sucked.
 
[quote name='DarkSageRK']FYI, bro, that's how the Japanese say it. I don't know how you expect them to magically know everyone's name perfectly after simply watching an episode, especially when the Japanese can't pronounce their ing ls.[/QUOTE]

In Death Note's case, the manga had been around for far longer than the anime, so there wasn't any excuse for getting the names wrong. Often times the proper romanization of a name will actually be on the official website for a show, or at least in the filename of an image of the character. Most naming errors occur because of lazy fansubbing. Just sayin', bro.

[quote name='DarkSageRK']Also, Noir sucked.[/QUOTE]

Says the person who loves Elfen Lied. :rofl:
 
Noir was pretty slow...I actually didn't finish it, and I finish everything.

I tend to fall in the "give me literal translations that aren't perfectly correct in English and let me do the rest of the translation in my head" camp. I have no friggin' clue how someone like Kirin can even watch dubs. My own level of Japanese is enough for me to swear them off forever.
 
[quote name='Kuroi Kaze']Noir was pretty slow...I actually didn't finish it, and I finish everything.

I tend to fall in the "give me literal translations that aren't perfectly correct in English and let me do the rest of the translation in my head" camp. I have no friggin' clue how someone like Kirin can even watch dubs. My own level of Japanese is enough for me to swear them off forever.[/QUOTE]

Agreed about Noir, but I actually made it to the end. The fantastic soundtrack helped, I think, but just barely. Bee-Train so rarely produces anything worth watching.

You and I might be able to re-translate in our heads, but that doesn't work for 99% of the population, unfortunately. And what's wrong with enjoying a good dub? Sometimes the English dub ends up being superior to the original Japanese audio. That's fine if you prefer everything in Japanese, but it's not like that's the only "correct" way to watch something. I don't see how a person's Japanese proficiency should make a difference, either.
 
[quote name='DarkSageRK']FYI, bro, that's how the Japanese say it. I don't know how you expect them to magically know everyone's name perfectly after simply watching an episode, especially when the Japanese can't pronounce their fucking ls.

Also, Noir sucked.[/QUOTE]
Thanks bro, I know. First of all, doesn't the show take place in France? Shouldn't that be a tipoff that the name of the character from France might be French? Second, just because it's the best they can do, doesn't mean it's good. I'm saying it's bad precisely because all they have to go on is what they hear (and their generally inferior knowledge of the Japanese language.)
 
Noir wasn't set in France. It was set in blah-land from what I could tell by the scenery. But how do you expect anyone to know French names? It's not like someone watches the show and goes "Oh! I want to get her name super, super perfect so I'm going to look at this French baby name registry!" I mean, seriously, get off it. The pros have scripts to translate off of. They don't even have to think.

And generally inferior? Cuz I hope you realize you're calling tons of native Japs inferior. I guess you wouldn't get it, though. You must think of all fansubbers as some bored white, American guy sitting in his basement, tossing back a couple beers and chugging out something ready for release in two hours. ur smrt.

And what exactly makes the pros better? All I'm getting is "BAAWWW the names aren't perfect and I think the Japanese don't know their own language. ;_;" Have you seen the pros' scripts? They have those guys translating for Crunchyroll and they're fucking terrible. Watch Shangri-La sometime and tell me it's good. Seriously, try it.


Jesus fuck, Kirin. Get off it. I like Elfen Lied. You like Utena. I get it. You don't know what makes something good. I'm still watching that shit, BTW, but it's getting fucking hard because every episode is stupid, monster-of-the-week filler. You know what makes an anime terrible? When you have to play it on double speed to stand watching a single episode of it.
 
[quote name='DarkSageRK']:whee:[/QUOTE]

I love how you manage to pull the most random, retarded shit out of your ass when faced with reasonable discussion. Is it necessary to be *this* inflammatory? Is this what Elfen Lied does to people? Would you like a pacifier?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top