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Fansubbing groups, past and present

 
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Chung



Joined: 04 Mar 2002
Posts: 79
Location: North Carolina, USA

PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2002 4:26 pm    Post subject: Fansubbing groups, past and present Reply with quote

Is it just me or does it seem that a lot of fansub groups have all but died, lately? Seems as if the only one's putting out in any consistency are a.f.k. and AJ. More like an exaggeration there... But it still does seem there's a decline in the fansubbing community. Maybe it's just me combined with the timing of the holidays... One thing's for sure.. there are quite a few more groups than there were 2 years ago...
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xo
Site Admin


Joined: 09 Feb 2002
Posts: 466
Location: Los Angeles [comcast]

PostPosted: Sat Dec 28, 2002 7:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The fansub community dynamic has been interesting to follow. It's always in a state of flux it seems, sometimes for good and sometimes for bad.

One bad thing: as the number of groups has increased, there's been more of an atmosphere of competition leading to rushed releases and saturation of effort on certain series (how many Gundam Seeds?) while other, perhaps less popular/mainstream languish.

One good thing: joint efforts. This can only help - more people on the job, harmonious cooperation between groups, quality output without the duplication of effort- it's a win for everyone. I recently watched an e-f/animeone encode of Azumanga Daioh and I was stunned by the video quality in a <140MB file. Legible subtitles, fluid translations, nice use of text placement and color- it was a joy because my standards and expectations have gone down without my even realizing it. Not to say that this was directly due to the joint effort (e-f is one of the oldest groups I know of and I've come to expect excellent stuff from them), but it couldn't have hurt.

As for consistency, I think some of the newer groups are pretty good: r-f's Hikaru No Go's and r-b's Witch Hunter Robin release pretty regularly. Those two seem focused on the respective series and not spreading themselves too thin like some others. This seems to be generally the case - groups handling fewer series seem to do a better job of it.

There's also the effect of the old/more established groups taking longer with each release - because a given episode may have already been released multiple times from other groups, maybe the couriers who post on Usenet may decide not to post it. Or, because you/I have seen the episode come by, perhaps by 4 different hot shot new groups, when one appears from a slower group a week later, it might not even register.

I don't know where I'm going with all this, but it's pretty obvious I've given it waaaayyy too much thought Confused

-xo
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earthdark



Joined: 21 Feb 2002
Posts: 73

PostPosted: Mon Dec 30, 2002 1:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My personal theory is that almost two years ago when E-F hit it big with Vandread, many kids (I use that term literally) caught on to the glamour and decided to jump in. Some graduated from highschool and didn't have the time nor effort anymore, and some just got tired of the power politics and the sheer idioticy that goes on behind the scenes, and some just got bored of anime. No group stays in the sun forever...
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Chung



Joined: 04 Mar 2002
Posts: 79
Location: North Carolina, USA

PostPosted: Tue Dec 31, 2002 3:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've not been into anime as long as many of you.. but I wish I had been.. many good things have come and gone before me.. but I dont know if Vandread was one of the kickoffs or not, but I'm sure most everyone has noticed that anime has been heading more and more mainstream, lately.. it's kinda disturbing to me, really.. I'm somewhat a purist towards anime, I guess you could say. No video cuts, original japanese track, with accurate translations (not adapations). That's how I like my anime.

But yeah, it's almost disconcerting to see so many translations of the same anime... rather clouds of the newsgroups as well. I've gotten into the habit, for those selections, of chosing a secondary group... download their version if they're ahead incase primary doesnt finish.. ie: Pita Ten and Rave. ... R-F is a split of E-F, I'm pretty sure.. incase you didnt know. Most of them are the same crew that was working on HnG in E-F.. so things should've stayed pretty consistent.

I'll admit, I've thought about forming a group... my own standards are high.. maybe too high. I've got access to someone who knows Japanese and English equally and is willing enough to do it as well.. but would it be benefitting the chaos? or adding to the chaos? But ah well.. who could tell.
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LaughnCynic



Joined: 16 Jul 2002
Posts: 105

PostPosted: Tue Dec 31, 2002 5:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

XO wrote
Quote:
One good thing: joint efforts. This can only help - more people on the job, harmonious cooperation between groups, quality output without the duplication of effort- it's a win for everyone.


Agreed! I have to say that many of the collaborative fansubs I've watched are among the best quality wise. I'm never dissapointed by the output of joint efforts by the likes of HQA & ANBU and others. I have a few of the E-F & AonE Azumanga Daioh episodes. Very nice indeed. The rest are also joint effort encodes by 'Triad' (NLA, Ishin, A-F?) that I found quite good.

Chung wrote
Quote:
I'm somewhat a purist towards anime, I guess you could say. No video cuts, original japanese track, with accurate translations (not adapations). That's how I like my anime.


Ditto!!! Censorship Sucks! Dumbing things down the 'Hollywood' way for the american market just pisses me off to no end. Sad One of my favorite (most hated) examples is the little 'in' cyborg joke in the opening of Ghost in the Shell that the dub just totally cut out and replaced with Politically Correct drivel. Mad

Chung wrote further
Quote:
I'll admit, I've thought about forming a group... my own standards are high.. maybe too high. I've got access to someone who knows Japanese and English equally and is willing enough to do it as well.. but would it be benefitting the chaos? or adding to the chaos? But ah well.. who could tell.


If you and your friend really have the time and inclination it would probably be better to contribute your help to one of the established groups who's work you admire. Hang out in thier irc channel for a bit and see if it's an ego fest or good folks working together to put out a good fansub. If it's the latter then offer your services. Smile
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