I have no idea. But the thread in AnimeSuki (http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=42265) has prompted me to start this spinoff blog from my main blog. This blog will primarily focus on a pretty big hobby of mine: fansubbing and fansubs. It'll probably be a mish-mash of various entries on anime fansubbing and fansubs, if I ever decide to make good on updating this blog (refer to http://chaos4everxq.blogspot.com and note the time delay between my entry in January 2005 and the entry following that to know what I'm talking about).
Ideally, this blog would be about:
1>fansubbing: the ideas behind it and the requisites of a good, great, excellent, exceptional subtitling job; and how to fansub: the methods and requirements for the various jobs in fansubbing. Actually, I'll be limited to a few job positions, for obvious reasons to be stated in a little bit.
2>fansubs: not to be stressed as much, but this would most likely fall under brief anime reviews. I won't go for an episode-by-episode synopses here, unless there's a series that really catches my attention. Definately no screenshots. There are plenty of sites that do that. You might as well go find the raws if you want those. And you can get them on Winny or Share. Or http://www.tokyotosho.com or http://www.tokyotosho.info.
----------------
Enough with the formalities and establishing ground rules. I'll most likely be breaking them before the month is out. Here's a bit of my background in the fansubbing scene:
My first animation experience was with Astroboy on Canadian television when I was a wee kid in elementary school. After that, I ran into Full Metal Panic! and Serial Experiments Lain in college, but I was still not fully aware of the existence of this so-called anime (though I had heard of this mysterious entity). My Singaporian friends introduced me to Last Exile and Naruto early 2003 despite my continuous ridiculing, and I promptly ate my own words. I continued to watch anime and leech via bittorrent until around late summer of 2004 when I donated my office computer bandwidth to Anime-Kraze in the form of the XDCC/iroffer bot A-Kraze|aoi_sora when they had a severe bot shortage. (I think most of their bots were hacked boxes, and mine was the only one of two? legit boxes.) Anyway, I eventually discovered that aoi_sora was actually bad japanese, and the name was eventually changed to A-Kraze|aozora. It still serves for the most part. 5.7-ish TB contributed and counting. It may be the slowest XDCC bot to ever grace the fansubbing scene, but damnit, it's the little bot that could.
I finally decided to jump into fansubbing late 2004. I initially tried for an editing position with manga (go figure), though I certainly knew my English was nowhere near editor standards. I
then joined up with Anime-Kraze as QC (Quality Checker/Quality Control). It was certainly a very enlightening experience in discovering really how fansubbing worked, and it also improved my English quite a bit (or so I'd like to think). It also trained me to finally see what everyone meant by "good" subs and "bad" sub work. After several months of QCing for Kraze (a group of really great folks), real life grabbed me by the throat and fansubbing/QCing was not a priority anymore. QCing, imo, was a great segway into knowing what was out there in the fansubbing world, but I just couldn't keep up with the group demands (which, imo, also cut into trying to learn a new job). What really broke the camel's back, as they say, was QCing Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid for Bakakozou and moving out away from home. I was effectively inactive July 2005, and I stepped down from QC August/September 2005. Many other fansubbers would sniff at six months of fansubbing. I would too, but I QC'd about 50-60 series episodes/OVA episodes by a rough and conservative first order approximation and two or three movies (feel free to correct me, Kraze, if you guys still have the logs). Series worked on include Monster, Samurai Champloo, Gankutsuou (1 ep), Otogizoushi (1 ep), Tsubasa Chronicles (season 1), KARAS (ep 1), Inuyasha Movie 3, Kumou no Mukou Yakosoku no Basho, Xenosaga, Speed Grapher, and a few others.
I continued to distro despite stepping down, having disappeared from the scene for about a year to deal with research and graduating (yes... I'm still in grad school... but I'm graduating this semester!). Because of my foreseeable graduation day, I had entertained the notion of getting back into fansubbing toward the end of 2006. Though getting back into fansubbing as QC would have been very tempting, I had determined that it would be nice to create something for a change, instead of being that poking finger behind the non-QC staff. I had been experimenting with the .ASS scripts on and off since the winter of 2005. I hated timing, though I liked doing karaoke styling, computer's too crappy to do high calculation encodes, and my English still sucks. So I figured that typesetting would be my next job.
Actually, I had always wanted to do typesetting ever since I got interested in fansubbing back in 2004. I had hoped that I would return to fansubbing after I defended, but what really drove me back earlier than I had expected was the airing of the show Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora (or Kyoshirou to Towa no Sora -- Kyoshirou and the Eternal Sky), which is a supposed sequel to Kannazuki no Miko, a personal favorite series of mine. As much as I'd like to work with Kraze again, this was one series I could not pass up. I am now currently working as a typesetter with We're IN Denial (aka WinD).
Oh yes... contact... you can usually find me on the Rizon IRC network irc.rizon.org. I usually idle in #anime-kraze and #windfs
And the clock ticks on for the next entry...
Monday, January 29, 2007
New blog on fansubbing/fansubs
Time to initiate by reposting a very, very old blog post of mine from back in early 2005.
The best anime series from 2004 (review taken from my account at animenfo.com):
Kannazuki no Miko. As I attempt to update this review for the series, I just can't think of anything that I can say that would do this series justice.
In all honesty, Kannazuki no Miko has redefined my criterion as to what good anime could and probably should be. The storyline moves quickly. Flashbacks are rare and don't dwell. Visual hints matter and foreshadow events to come. Characters have a real emotional depth to them.. and you seriously care what happens to them next. Emotions fly unhindered; tears flow freely both on and off the screen. While the anime runs, as if out of control, to the very end, there are the motifs that holds the whole series together -- the emotions that linger -- and the catharsis that anime rarely ever gives.
What is even more astonishing is that the way the series accomplishes these elements -- so simply and in such a well defined manner, yet there is a complexity that cannot be avoided.
Although, the standard anime motifs of love, destiny, and loyalty permeate the series so much among the heroines and hero, they cling to their emotions, angst, and uncertainties despite their relationships with each other -- only to submit to inner turmoil when their bonds amongst each other are tried. Only then do they look into themselves to find what they truly want, to build the resolve accomplish what they set out to do, and to finally become complete and truly happy at the end. But to really talk about the main characters in such a way would deceptively simplify the core of Kannazuki no Miko --
How does Oogami Souma negotiate his love for Himeko and his desire to protect her from the Orochi, though he himself is cursed as one? How does Kurusigawa Himeko negotiate with her newfound beau and with her insecurities, vulnerabilities, and dependence as she walks behind Souma and Chikane? How does Himemiya Chikane deal with her fate as the Tsuki no Miko and with her affections for Himeko that increasingly become a solo performance? And how are all of their fates really tied to Orochi?
To judge the series based on action or on the Orochi is a mistake. To watch the series just for the mecha, the action sequences, and the other Orochi would completely miss the point of the series. The series doesn't care about anything else other than Chikane, Himeko, and Souma, especially Chikane and Himeko. What each character experiences progressively through the series builds and enhances each character's development like how the petals make the flower. The series is honest. Emotions are brutal to the characters and to the viewers. No one character, nor the viewer, is left unscathed, and everything and everyone is connected to such an extent that nothing is left unaffected by the different events in the series. The music that is equally honest and simple, and reflective of each character takes the series to a different level and it creates an even more forceful emotional impact, even when the music is listened to by itself on a soundtrack disc. This honesty is what makes Kannazuki no Miko and its characters so believable, especially with Chikane.
The series finally builds to the climatic final episode that, with the unchanging and unwavering honesty that has been present throughout the series, allows the series to end with a bittersweet perfection, the best way possible, that leaves a longest lasting impression that, even after several days, I have not gotten over (though I could have preferably done without the last minute after the final credits -- but with it is just as good).
Kannazuki no Miko is one of those very rare diamond-in-the-rough series that, after experiencing it, just leaves you speechless. I have not seen any other series that has had this much of an emotional impact on me that has resulted in a longing for an intangible something the characters themselves experienced in the series. What they feel is what you feel. What happens to them happens to you. But after everything is done, the tension from the fast-paced storyline, the raw emotion that comes from each character, and the final conclusion that successfully releases the build-up make this series unparalleled as a true emotional experience.
However, I will agree that Kannazuki no Miko is not for everyone. The shoujo-ai that exists in this series is mostly directed at a male audience and, even then, is not widely appealing concept. Even I was turned off from it and very confused when I saw the first episode, since it was something very unexpected. I must encourage an open mind if you watch this series, especially for the first four or five episodes. Underneath some fluff and strange elements is a truly unique story whose elements have never been successfully performed individually in other series on the level that Kannazuki no Miko has reached. (To fully reach the story and to receive its full emotional impact, I suggest watching one or two episodes a day. No more, no less.)
Because of its unique nature as an anime series and its success of conveying this unique nature, Kannazuki no Miko has now taken the top slot of my favorite anime of all time. Subsequently, I believe that this series is also the best of 2004 and I strongly recommend this series to anyone who wishs to try an anime series that is very different from mainstream anime.
The best anime series from 2004 (review taken from my account at animenfo.com):
Kannazuki no Miko. As I attempt to update this review for the series, I just can't think of anything that I can say that would do this series justice.
In all honesty, Kannazuki no Miko has redefined my criterion as to what good anime could and probably should be. The storyline moves quickly. Flashbacks are rare and don't dwell. Visual hints matter and foreshadow events to come. Characters have a real emotional depth to them.. and you seriously care what happens to them next. Emotions fly unhindered; tears flow freely both on and off the screen. While the anime runs, as if out of control, to the very end, there are the motifs that holds the whole series together -- the emotions that linger -- and the catharsis that anime rarely ever gives.
What is even more astonishing is that the way the series accomplishes these elements -- so simply and in such a well defined manner, yet there is a complexity that cannot be avoided.
Although, the standard anime motifs of love, destiny, and loyalty permeate the series so much among the heroines and hero, they cling to their emotions, angst, and uncertainties despite their relationships with each other -- only to submit to inner turmoil when their bonds amongst each other are tried. Only then do they look into themselves to find what they truly want, to build the resolve accomplish what they set out to do, and to finally become complete and truly happy at the end. But to really talk about the main characters in such a way would deceptively simplify the core of Kannazuki no Miko --
How does Oogami Souma negotiate his love for Himeko and his desire to protect her from the Orochi, though he himself is cursed as one? How does Kurusigawa Himeko negotiate with her newfound beau and with her insecurities, vulnerabilities, and dependence as she walks behind Souma and Chikane? How does Himemiya Chikane deal with her fate as the Tsuki no Miko and with her affections for Himeko that increasingly become a solo performance? And how are all of their fates really tied to Orochi?
To judge the series based on action or on the Orochi is a mistake. To watch the series just for the mecha, the action sequences, and the other Orochi would completely miss the point of the series. The series doesn't care about anything else other than Chikane, Himeko, and Souma, especially Chikane and Himeko. What each character experiences progressively through the series builds and enhances each character's development like how the petals make the flower. The series is honest. Emotions are brutal to the characters and to the viewers. No one character, nor the viewer, is left unscathed, and everything and everyone is connected to such an extent that nothing is left unaffected by the different events in the series. The music that is equally honest and simple, and reflective of each character takes the series to a different level and it creates an even more forceful emotional impact, even when the music is listened to by itself on a soundtrack disc. This honesty is what makes Kannazuki no Miko and its characters so believable, especially with Chikane.
The series finally builds to the climatic final episode that, with the unchanging and unwavering honesty that has been present throughout the series, allows the series to end with a bittersweet perfection, the best way possible, that leaves a longest lasting impression that, even after several days, I have not gotten over (though I could have preferably done without the last minute after the final credits -- but with it is just as good).
Kannazuki no Miko is one of those very rare diamond-in-the-rough series that, after experiencing it, just leaves you speechless. I have not seen any other series that has had this much of an emotional impact on me that has resulted in a longing for an intangible something the characters themselves experienced in the series. What they feel is what you feel. What happens to them happens to you. But after everything is done, the tension from the fast-paced storyline, the raw emotion that comes from each character, and the final conclusion that successfully releases the build-up make this series unparalleled as a true emotional experience.
However, I will agree that Kannazuki no Miko is not for everyone. The shoujo-ai that exists in this series is mostly directed at a male audience and, even then, is not widely appealing concept. Even I was turned off from it and very confused when I saw the first episode, since it was something very unexpected. I must encourage an open mind if you watch this series, especially for the first four or five episodes. Underneath some fluff and strange elements is a truly unique story whose elements have never been successfully performed individually in other series on the level that Kannazuki no Miko has reached. (To fully reach the story and to receive its full emotional impact, I suggest watching one or two episodes a day. No more, no less.)
Because of its unique nature as an anime series and its success of conveying this unique nature, Kannazuki no Miko has now taken the top slot of my favorite anime of all time. Subsequently, I believe that this series is also the best of 2004 and I strongly recommend this series to anyone who wishs to try an anime series that is very different from mainstream anime.
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