January 6th, 2012 
AstroNerdBoy Hey gang! Well, the new year kicks off and India is back with a roar. So, that’s why my Twitter has suddenly, mostly gone dead, why I’m not playing Skyrim like I’d like, and why my blog is suffering as a result. ^_^; During my next window of opportunity, I’m going to really have to get busy, starting by finishing my review of A Certain Scientific Railgun anime.
In the meantime, Ultimaniac provided a hilarious comic strip about manga and anime adaptations, which I’d like to share with you guys (click to enlarge).
*lol* I will confess that “bentou” has been showing up a lot in my writings. ^_^; (To be fair, “bento” shows up a lot in Japanese restaurants.)
BTW, if someone knows the author (haven’t heard back from Ultimaniac on this), let me know so I can throw a link their way. ^_^
Not sure if there will be a blog post tomorrow or not. 🙁 Nature of the beast, I’m afraid. I’ll try to right the ship on my next break.
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lol, sorry for not answering back, I didn’t go back to the post. Also sorry to say I don’t know who made it. I happened upon on a thread on /a/ a couple days before I shared.
Anyway the guy that came up with this is a genius for reflecting the feelings of anyone who watch subbed anime nowadays…
Though there´s the point of the subber/scanlators, that since the world is a elipse, are always searching for someone with good translation skills in their webpages/credit corners… this world sure is a cruel place…
Setting that aside…
Happy new year and good luck with Railgun! and thanks Ultimaniac…
see ya
mr.poneis
First one: Streaming/online, commercial sub translation
Second one: Fansubbers
Third one: Steven Foster dub
If you can read #2 without needing the footnotes, does that mean you’re in danger of resembling SNL’s Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show knockoff?
Hi, you got me curious about what does it mean India is back with a roar. Is that a line from somewhere?
Also sorry to say I don’t know who made it.
Ah. Bummer. Well, someone will know. ^_^
Anyway the guy that came up with this is a genius for reflecting the feelings of anyone who watch subbed anime nowadays…
For sure. ^_^
Happy new year and good luck with Railgun!
Thanks. ^_^
First one: Streaming/online, commercial sub translation
Not always. In the past, that was FUNimation’s level of subtitles. Now, their subtitles are closer to #3 as most of their titles these days have dropped honorifics. And a lot of anime companies still operate under the assumption that Japanese honorifics in subtitles will bring about 3rd Impact so…*_*
Second one: Fansubbers
Some, yes. However, there are some fansub groups that are #3. *_* Irritates the heck out of me when I am made aware of it, but these groups tend to be “we are going against the grain because that’s cool.” Whatever.
Third one: Steven Foster dub
*ROFLOL!* Oh, that was funny and I needed the laugh for sure. ^_^
If you can read #2 without needing the footnotes, does that mean you’re in danger of resembling SNL’s Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show knockoff?
*lol* Possibly. ^_^; And yeah, I didn’t need the notes, but then after a decade of watching anime in Japanese w/ subtitles (well, more like nine since I started watching English dubs, but who’s counting? ^_~ ), I should have picked up a few things. ^_^
Hi, you got me curious about what does it mean India is back with a roar. Is that a line from somewhere?
Me. ^_~ I work IT, so I have to deal with application teams in India, all of whom think their tiny piece of whatever is the whole. Now that the holidays are over, they’ve come back, more annoying than ever. *_*
First one: Streaming/online, commercial sub translation
Not always. In the past, that was FUNimation’s level of subtitles. Now, their subtitles are closer to #3 as most of their titles these days have dropped honorifics. And a lot of anime companies still operate under the assumption that Japanese honorifics in subtitles will bring about 3rd Impact so…*_*
Okay, I need to respond to this. Before I do I just want to note that while I respect you’re opinion on honorifics I do generaly disagree with the amount of sensitivity you have with liberal translations. In this specific case you noted how Funimation has dropped honorifics in most of their subtitles. This may be true but given the fact that I weekly watch their subtitled stream of One Piece I’m inclined to defend them. While hardcore fans get up in airs with specific translations of names (something that they tend to correct in later subs)they tend to keep alot of the various verbal tics and subtleties of the the vast amount of the cast. Their dubs are another story, but I’ve never encountered anything from them that has come off subtitled like example #3.
Second one: Fansubbers
Some, yes. However, there are some fansub groups that are #3. *_* Irritates the heck out of me when I am made aware of it, but these groups tend to be “we are going against the grain because that’s cool.” Whatever.
Fansubbers also sometimes do this that commercial anime companies wouldn’t dare do in today’s fandom (unless intentional). For example in the finale of one of my series that I watch fansubbed (online because there was no legal stream of it) there was a point where a character is subtitled as replying “You’ve got to be sh*ting me?” but it sounded like he said something closer to the much more appropriate “Oh?!” or “Really?”
Maybe, I’m looking too much into this but I”m a little confused with the titles?
The “you” in the right column is referring to general anime/manga fans. But who is this “you” that is referring to in the middle column. Maybe I’m out of touch with the other fans, but would more hardcore fans be the only ones who would favor this semi-“translation” that still leaves changable words in the original langauge. My guess it is referring to translators, specifically fansubbers, because no American company will dare translates like this.
…but I’ve never encountered anything from them that has come off subtitled like example #3.
Probably not.
I understand how fansubbers/scanlators can get names wrong and the like. I’ve seen it happen, and the early Fairy Tail manga volumes make sure to mention that the names here are the official ones from the manga-ka.
Still, my support of FUNimation started when I discovered how they treated subtitles. Now, they have someone different in charge of that, and they clearly are stuck with a whacked notion that honorifics are scary, evil, confusion, etc. for people willingly seeking out Japanese audio tracks. *_* In 2012, I find this unacceptable. That’s just me, and yeah, I’m probably hypersensitive to it. ^_^;;;;;
For example in the finale of one of my series that I watch fansubbed (online because there was no legal stream of it) there was a point where a character is subtitled as replying “You’ve got to be sh*ting me?” but it sounded like he said something closer to the much more appropriate “Oh?!” or “Really?”
Well, fansubbers have varying degrees of accuracy, depending on the translator’s actual Japanese knowledge. Heck, I’ve had pros tell me that a room full of Japanese translators could be given something to translate, and none of them would produce a translation identical to anyone else’s.
…who is this “you” that is referring to in the middle column.
That would be critics of those who want honorifics in adaptations, whether manga or anime subtitles. They feel that there should be zero Japanese in an English adaptation (’cause we can’t allow any more filthy Japanese into the vernacular), so the inclusion of honorifics and certain Japanese terms sends them into a fit. Their comeback is, “Well, if we have honorifics, then we should have all kinds of other words untranslated too.” The Japanese terms left untranslated in the middle column are the most frequent ones used in the comeback.
Sometimes, fansubbers will go for the middle column in their adaptations, but to be honest, I’ve seen all three used, depending on the fansub group/translator.
Sometimes, I think that is warranted. For example, while I don’t think that “baka” should ordinarily be left untranslated (even though I find it a humorous word, especially “bakayarou”), in Negima!, having it left untranslated as the title of the “Baka Rangers,” which is exactly how they are called in the Japanese version, using both Japanese and English, is the right choice.
The deep, CLAMP manga Gate 7 has a lot of Japanese terms that really defy proper translation/adaptation. Sure, one could force-translate them, but the better choice is to use the original terms, and that’s what the official manga release has.
FUNimation used to use some additional Japanese terms back in the day. The only reason I bought Yu Yu Hakusho was because of that. Had Inuyasha been done the same way by Viz (it was done this way by the fansub groups, because it demanded it), I would have bought that instead. Viz refused, so I refused to buy.