| Hear me out. Most of us can't read, speak, or understand Japanese, so we all need English subtitles. But surely, there are times when subtitles spoil the big reveal or even plot twists seconds before the character fully finishes speaking? And then you're just sitting there, pretending like you're gonna be shocked or excited. Like, the subtitles spoil the name of a new unknown mysterious character, or when the subtitles show you the full joke, and you've already finished reading it but still have to wait for the characters to do their skit. Thoughts? Do you guys hate when subtitles do this, or don't you care because it's just a few seconds? But you're basically spoiled moments before the actual spoiler, if you get what I mean. |
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| I never noticed that so far, usually I adjust my reading speed to the talking speed, but they sometimes talk too fast for me, so I rewind and reread the subtitles more often than finish reading them too early. Either way, I don't really care if I read something a second before they actually say it. Even though reading subtitles can be detrimental to immersion, listening to dubs can also be detrimental to it, if they are heavily localized and poorly adjusted to the animation, and if one isn't used to Japanese characters talking English, it ruins immersion almost entirely. |
ZarutakuYesterday, 8:09 AM
This dance is the pinnacle of human achievement. |
| "But surely, there are times when subtitles spoil the big reveal or even plot twists seconds before the character fully finishes speaking?" It doesn't really matter to me too much. |
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| Literally never happened to me. Perhaps you read too fast. |
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Spoilers, in visual media, have never affected me.. so subs spoiling some big scene next frame, is kind of an impossibility.. |
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| Can't read, speak and understand Japanesee agreeon that, although I've seen some anime titles raw understanding most of it. [If I remember 70% of language is non-spoken language] Despite that subs/dubs/raw/or subs of language I can't read, none of them broke immersion nor enjoyment of a title. |
| Why should I care about subtitles in anime when I don't even watch anime for the plot (most of the time)? I am watching anime primarily for the flashy visuals anyways. |
| the faster the subs come out the faster the story concludes. need for speed |
| 'But surely, there are times when subtitles spoil the big reveal or even plot twists seconds before the character fully finishes speaking?' I'm not one to care about spoilers in general anymore, so a couple seconds of latency isn't going to bother me, if I even notice at all. |
| It's just a delay of some milliseconds... |
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| I have no such issues, for I watch the dub. Comedic timing certainly can be messed up when you are left to read at your own pace, that's even an issue in manga... |
This dance is the pinnacle of human achievement. |
| I've never felt spoiled by subtitles. I've never felt they ruin immersion either, aside from when they cover something I really want to see. Frankly, considering how shit my attention span is a lot of the time, it's a damn miracle I can sit through anything with subtitles. Maybe it works in my favor, because it forces me to pay attention. |
JustMaya said: Hear me out. Most of us can't read, speak, or understand Japanese, so we all need English subtitles. But surely, there are times when subtitles spoil the big reveal or even plot twists seconds before the character fully finishes speaking? And then you're just sitting there, pretending like you're gonna be shocked or excited. Like, the subtitles spoil the name of a new unknown mysterious character, or when the subtitles show you the full joke, and you've already finished reading it but still have to wait for the characters to do their skit. Thoughts? Do you guys hate when subtitles do this, or don't you care because it's just a few seconds? But you're basically spoiled moments before the actual spoiler, if you get what I mean. I am one of few Western Consumers who don't have much need for Subtitles when watching Japanese Anime simply because I can understand the language spoken. Though the times I have watched Anime where subtitles happened to be forced to be viewed either by being hardcoded on some VHS tape or simply watching something with friends who do not understand Japanese and there is no English Dub Alternative for all of us to watch together, Subtitles are still completely annoying to see for a person like me. For one thing even Official Subtitles that come with an Official Physical Copy of a Japanese Anime either on DVD or Blu-ray aren't always accurate and will often times be transcribed simply just to localize things for people to understand better. Even "Fansubs" at least from my own experiences in the three and half decades of consuming Anime can be far worse too. It would be the equivalent of watching something being spoken in English but having a flood of text on the the screen constantly with words that don't match up with what is actually being spoken. I can imagine that would be annoying for anyone to experience trying to binge watch an entire season that way. I personally have gotten head aches before in the past trying to watch a full Japanese Anime series like that. It should also be noted if one completely relies on subtitles, humor can be lost as well. I once tried to watch a full Japanese Anime series I had not seen before once with the sound off relying on subtitles alone and the humor just didn't hit the right way... I learned this by re-watching the series a few months later without subs on and found it 10 times more humorous to watch just relying on the spoken Japanese language even sometimes not paying much attention to the screen. This is something I have also found that English dubs can offer to this medium for those who don't understand the Japanese language spoken, making the experience far more enjoyable when trying to watch things in a social setting with others where the humor will actually stick for everyone. Text constantly on the screen is beyond an annoyance too. Subtitles by default obstruct the actual animation experience. The way I view it would be like having a large on-screen display (OSD menu) constantly being displayed on the screen while trying to watch something. Subtitles for Japanese Anime completely ruin immersion in this aspect for me since most of the time one of the main key factors about this medium is to appreciate the animated action sequences. When there is a bunch of text on the screen it literally ruins the immersion of any action being displayed in any medium when it comes to subtitles. |
ColourWheelYesterday, 11:15 AM
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| No offense, but I enjoy anime mostly for its animation rather than its plot. The plots of most anime do not interest me. I do like the detailed and fluid animation, however! |
| The only thing I find irritating about it is when the subtitles reveal a characters name several episodes before the name is actually supposed to be revealed. I feel like if it's your job to create subtitles for content you should at least pay better attention to what you're translating and how you're translating it. Sometimes they can ruin a big moment too. |
Reply to Guilmon1
I watch with subtitles almost everything, I am used to it and most of the time subtitles try to not spoil
Guilmon1 said: I watch with subtitles almost everything, I am used to it and most of the time subtitles try to not spoil Same here, unless the subs go a little dater than I can read, then I rewind abit and pause in case I miss any sort of detail. |
| Is it really a spoiler if you are a second behind? Besides that's the inevitable nature of subtitles due to the differences in English and Japanese |
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| It is hard for subtitles to avoid this, they even have to subltitle when one character interrups other or something happens. Sadly I still cant undertand so I have to either watch dub (sue me) or jsut stick with it. More problematic is when some subtitles makes no sense or when the fact that you are not enjoying the scene because you have to put your attention on the subtitles so you missed part of the joke/moment. |
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| Who said anime subtitles are actually spoilers? According to whom? |
| I watch anime raw, so i don't have this issue when it comes to anime. However, I play Japanese mobile games, and sometimes will read the Japanese text faster than the spoken dialogue. it doesn't really matter. |
| You can buy lossless digital music from your favorite Japanese artists on https://ototoy.jp/. The songs are all DRM-free and you can re-download your purchased albums as you wish. Show your support to your favorite artist if you can! ps. if you are looking for Japanese albums, you have to search it in Japanese (not romaji). Just copy and paste the name. For those who want to learn Japanese through anime Resources for learning the language |
| Subtitles kind of take away from how much you can pay attention if you fluently understood Japanese which is part of why some people prefer dubs but I think it doesnt get too in the way since it also makes you pay attention at all times since you cant just look away while watching. I never really read the subtitles at the speed it spoilers anything, though sometimes sentence order changes could do that messing up timing of character reactions and whatnot |
Reply to traed
Subtitles kind of take away from how much you can pay attention if you fluently understood Japanese which is part of why some people prefer dubs but I think it doesnt get too in the way since it also makes you pay attention at all times since you cant just look away while watching. I never really read the subtitles at the speed it spoilers anything, though sometimes sentence order changes could do that messing up timing of character reactions and whatnot
| @traed I tend to watch English dubbed anime whenever possible. I only watch subtitled anime when there is no English dub available. How about you? |
Reply to DesuMaiden
@traed I tend to watch English dubbed anime whenever possible. I only watch subtitled anime when there is no English dub available. How about you?
| @DesuMaiden Subs majority of time since there is more variety of voice actors and i dont like how many English voice actors sound for female characters. Also the lip sync is closer. |
Reply to traed
@DesuMaiden
Subs majority of time since there is more variety of voice actors and i dont like how many English voice actors sound for female characters. Also the lip sync is closer.
Subs majority of time since there is more variety of voice actors and i dont like how many English voice actors sound for female characters. Also the lip sync is closer.
| @traed well, where do you watch your subbed anime btw? |
Reply to DesuMaiden
@traed well, where do you watch your subbed anime btw?
| @DesuMaiden The from internet on my computer of course |
Reply to traed
@DesuMaiden
The from internet on my computer of course
The from internet on my computer of course
| @traed i thought your computer was broken? |
Reply to DesuMaiden
@traed i thought your computer was broken?
| @DesuMaiden It is but everything is a computer even a calculator is a computer. |
| I've definitely had moments where this happened but it's so rare that it doesn't really matter. Plus I know enough Japanese now that the subtitles are more of a guide than something to constantly pay attention to. |
| It's happened a few times, unfortunately. It has sometimes "ruined" scenes. However, sometimes, there's just no other way to do it. I've seen a few instances where they cut sentences in two to keep the timing of the reveal, but it breaks the pace of the reading, and more so, gives you less time to read/you need to concentrate specifically on the writing, rather than what's on-screen. However, it's better than not understanding anything due to audio mixing, so I have them on even in English. At the end of the day, I would prefer a general understanding of something. |
| It depends on how fast you read your subtitles. So fast readers often get spoiled in certain instances. |
| There is no proof the subtitles contain spoilers, JustMaya. |
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