Fan Subs in comparison to Licensed/Official Subs, let's be serious

Zalis said:
Blind unawareness of history. Fansubs traded via snail-mail or anime clubs on VHS tapes didn't make anime take off, nor did low-res DivX3 digital fansubs distributed via mailed CD-Rs or arcane IRC fileservers on dial-up connections. It was partly the arthouse appeal of certain movies like Akira and Ghost in the Shell reaching the theaters, but mostly English dubs on North American TV that brought the US industry to its peak years in the early/mid 00s, including some of the hardcore fandom's most hated dubs like Robotech, Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh, and Cardcaptors, as well as some others like Tenchi Muyo, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun,etc.

Forgetfulness said:
He probably thinks that licensing companies in America cannot provide as much anime since some people don't support them.

miereneronaile said:


Eh, I hope not. That would be really sad. To clarify again though, I would really rather the western industry got no larger or more prevalent than it already is anyway. If im going to support anime im going to support the Japanese industry, not the western one..

Akito_Kinomoto said:

What's wrong with the western industry growing?

miereneronaile said:


Well, absolutely nothing as long as it absolutely NEVER has ANY influence on what does and doesnt get animated.

which isnt likely I guess, but im pretty paranoid really..

miereneronaile said:
Edit: I didnt notice the first time reading this but did newsWatch9 actually suggest that the fact funsubs are illegal should actually mean it should be a banned topic on forums 0o?

Wtf?

Zalis said:
Wait, there's an actual difference between official subs and fansubs these days? At least for currently airing anime, plenty of shows are only available via official subs or fan-edited versions of official subs. Note that many of the remaining fansub groups will back off from subbing a show if they feel that CR's subs are good enough.

Are fansubs superior to official subs? I'd say they both have their advantages and disadvantages. Official subs will have at least a minimum level of professionalism and competence, and tend to fall between 6-9 on a 1-10 scale of quality with 10 the best. Fansubs, otoh, can reach higher heights of brilliance, but they also can sink to lower lows -- they run from 2-10 on the scale, with 1 being the HK bootleg quality Zeally described. And I can say this as someone who does know Japanese, and has compared numerous releases: most well-respected, competent fansubs are almost as good as official subs, if not better. There are occasional misheard or missed words, or places where ambiguous context leads to a wrong guess. But keep in mind that pro translators have access to the official recording scripts, can consult with the Japanese producers when things are unclear, and have their translations approved by the Japanese licensor. Those things give pro subs an edge, though when you consider fansubbers' handicap of working with just the audio or unreliable closed-captioning text, coming close is quite the achievement.

But there are things that go beyond the translation, like the editing. This can vary wildly within fansubs and prosubs, but many prosubs tend to go with a "literal-localized" approach. They strip out honorifics and other "flavorings" that hardcore fans like, but they don't do much with the raw text other than (trying to) clean up spelling and grammar errors. And since many pro subs over the years have been translated by Japanese native speakers, you wind up subs that may be accurate, but suffer from stiff, unnatural writing. In essence, the worst of both worlds, as opposed to the Doki "literal unlocalized" approach popular with hardcore Japanophiles, the lol-worthy "liberal unlocalized" tack taken by gg/Commie, or my personal favorite middle-ground "liberal-unlocalized" subbing.

So depending on a particular translator's passion for the project, you could get very eloquent, nuanced subs that capture character quirks and the atmosphere of the series, or you could get bland, barely-altered raw literal translations. And I find more potential for this brilliant editing in fansubs -- compare a.f.k.'s Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Anime-Kraze's Gankutsuou with their official counterparts to see what I mean.

Another topic is timing, which is virtually always better in fansubs. If you know what "flash," "flicker," and "scene bleed" are, you can't not see them in official subs and poorly-timed fansubs.

Replies to others in spoiler tags.

@DramaEnthusiast, RE: Opening Post


@Zeally, RE: dodgy DVD subs


@Jamie-sama, Reverb_Shock, & Higashi_no_Kaze, RE: Subtitle Colors & Styles


@Reverb_Shock, RE: Purpose of Fansubbing


@sedmelluq, RE: making anime popular


@newsWatch9, RE: double standards?

miereneronaile said:
What would worry me is if the entire industry started thinking about what would sell well HERE as well as what would sell well in Japan as a major priority. Im fully aware I am probably a bit to concerned on this topic, but I am going to go right ahead and keep hoping the west never gets any more influence whatsoever on what anime gets made.

gamer2710 said:
That sounds like an incredibly biased perspective coming from a viewer. It can only be a good thing that companies adapt to consumer desires in more than 1 region because that gets them more consumers (i.e. more money). On top of that, if they make something that already appeals to both audiences, then the western distributors don't have to spend too much effort trying to make it appealing because it was already made to be appealing to the western audience.

But you're saying you want them to completely ignore the west as if their love for anime doesn't matter? You want them to ignore you? Dude, what's wrong with you?