A look to the past.
U know, this has been poking me lately…
i’ve remembering those days when i was getting into fansubing, how easy used to be, i mean, around that time, the only things involved in the word “FAN-SUBING” were:
Translation, Timing, Edit, QC and then to encode, where, i’m not kidding, the word encoding “unlike nowadays” meant open VDub, “some liked to use VDub-Mod”, add the subtitler filter, select the ssa script, and some bitrate with xvid, or divx, whatever was fine, nobody cared, there wasn’t any fabulous tsing, or fabulous karaokes, hell there weren’t any drama involved in this biz, yes, there’s always been snobberish and elitism, but the point is that, it was nice, whatever u did, ppl thanked us, even more around the yearo 2000-2001 “what personally i call the dark times” where there were hardly any fan subbed videos being rlsed. if u dun believe me, check out anidb and watch all the anime that came out in those years, u’ll see that the subbing date was WAY past the emission date.
hence: First Kiss Monogatari: the ova was rlsed sometime in january 2000, yet it was subbed around 2003, i was involved in that !.! “OLD SCHOOL PLS CUM BACK”
and there are a lot of cases just like that, fansubing actually made its blast late 2002.
btw, dun ask my suber name of that time coz i wont say it.
well, going back onto biz…
then again, fansubs started to appear “in a massive way” around if i recall correctly late 2002, but i still remember my first time in this, it was a rly nice group, sleepingbull, we did a nice shoujo animu, 100% pure romance/drama, if i’m not wrong, we were the first group working on this show, named hmmm “boys…be” or something like that, then here’s when imma start this “look into the past”.
let’s laugh a lil 
when i was being trained by a friend “i will always thank him for that” i recieved this installer, of a software called “SubStationAlpha” i was like, WTF IS THIS SHEAT,
how do i cook this? and then right after that, i got this audio file, “WAV+MONO+8bit” i think it’s been so longo that i’m not sure anymore, if those were the specs.
anyhow, the guy went, ok this is what you do, load the audio, and start timing “god bless you”
was funny like hell, it took me a whole life to time 1 episode, i got bored right away, but at the same time was distracting, fun, and it didn’t matter how bad i was, or how m uch i sucked, it was still ok, and ppl still thanked our efforts, it felt nice. now that was real FAN-subing, doing it for the lulz, no stress of u gotta be perfect, or u know the rest.
there were a few groups b4 2002, but ver few indeed, the reason was it that actually, i’d like to think this way: fansubing made its real dayview, the very day somebody who knew japanese, found somewhere, or somehow, the installer of substationalpha.
from there on, fansubing as the time passed, became in something more and more complex, at some points, SOME OF US, really think that is not FUN anymore, make a mistake and ppl literally hang you up by the ballz. in one word, “they crucify us” well actually 3 words, but whatever.
IRC channels USED TO BE so fun, so great, you could actually chat with the fans, about the show, about whatever, without some funny guy showing up out of nowhere and start syaing, you guys sux, u guys are the worst fagsub around etc etc etc. you should learn from this and that group a thing or two, or ur subs sux, well u know the point.
hell, i’m sure that even making this post is gonna be motive of trolling, this is the webz after all, well, the new webz, it wasn’t always like this.
going back to the irc thingie, nnowadays, irc channels have 100+ ppls inside, but out of all those, only the same 9 or 10 guys are regular chatters, the rest is just theree, waiting for a topic change, announcing a new rls, or waiting for a bot to spam a new file addition, most of all those users are botlers, is so funny that kind of depress me at some point, i mean, where did fansubs go wrong?
what we did wrong? why the fans turn from being nice grateful ppl to be ungrateful elitist bastards, when did we start thinking this is a job, and not a hobby?
i dunno the answer to that, and maybe never will, but hey, this is only my own personal thoughts, i have to say that i had fun writing all this, and if u made it all the way down here, u have my thanks. since i think i only have a couple of seasons left, since i’m planning to retire once we finish asu no yoichi.
so see you whenever we rls toradora 11-13 XD
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December 29th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
You guys shouldn’t feel pressured by fans; since you guys are basically anime fans as yourselves (who knows Japanese and are willing to subtitle it for everyone). Keep up the good work!
PS: Are you guys doing Akikan as well as Asu no Yoichi?
December 29th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
woops cross off the “as” in my last post >.>
“anime fans ->as<- yourselves”
December 29th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
i’m drunk as hell so at some points i make no sende ;.;
December 29th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
fuck 14 coors lifht and cunying
December 29th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Yey, I made it all the way down. Built up emotions F10? :p
Yep, I get what you’re saying. I actually have some good ol’ fansubs here and they’re just plain subs. No karaoke, no stylish typesetting, but everybody was happy with it.
Me, I couldn’t care less about the kara. Unfortunately, some idiots base the entire quality of a fansub group on the kara.
Awesome Karaoke = Awesome Fansub
And it’s stupid. You guys can strip of the kara or maybe just time them like any other text. It’s all fine. :p
December 29th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Thanks for the stuff you guys do!
December 29th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Thank you for all you hard work. I have enjoy all the work you have done. And don’t let those people who attempt to bring you down get to you. If they believe someone else could do it better well by all means let them dealt with the other group or groups. You are doing a service to use to do not know japaness to subtitle it. It is not your job and as you said its you hobby. You should not have to treat it like a job unless that is the career field in which you like to get into. I thank you again and your welcome for reading your message to the bottom. I hope you continue to enjoy what you do.
December 29th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
It really is sad seeing people bash this and that group for their work, and it’s sad seeing some fansub groups acting like their hobby is a serious competition. It’s supposed to about spreading enjoyment of the shows, not about who can get the higher download count, isn’t it? Honestly, I’m grateful to any group who releases shows I want to see, even if their releases are full of grammatical and spelling errors or are missing a couple things, until I’m fluent in Japanese, anything that helps me understand a series even a little bit more deserves merit. It’s even better when there’s a group like you guys who make sure that your releases are of such great quality. Don’t worry too much about trolls/whiners, for every person who complains there are probably at least 50 more who are thankful but say nothing. Happy New year guys ( ＝ ω ＝.)
December 29th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Cool post. Let’s do that for the new projects, no kara and plain yellow sub.
December 30th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Seriously I feel very funny that even professional subtitling work does not have karaoke, it just alternate between translated song lyrics and the romanji between episodes. I still wonder why fansubs use karaoke, it like of no use. I wonder who the hell is the guy who first started the karaoke trend… But anyway another fansub group called gg does not do karaoke but they still receive good ratings, so karaoke really isn’t everything you know. What matters is clean encodes reasonable release times and consistent effort.
December 30th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Takashi, stop bitching and get back to work =P
Learn to spell or learn to use a spellchecker.
Some of us don’t actually fansub for fun =P Some of us fansub because we’re sick and tired of seeing some of the crap that comes out from some of the really crappy groups.
December 30th, 2008 at 2:13 am
I laughed out loud.
Karaoke is overrated btw.
December 30th, 2008 at 2:14 am
Fansubbers are way better than professional subbers. I bought original DVDs for series I love and I must say that at times, I really hope these professional subbers should learn how to sub the fansub ways. Most of the time, there were no explanation on certain phrases where fansubbers would put a TL note, no signs and of course, no kara. I am so grateful for the hardwork all the fansub groups have done and to date, I have yet to complain to any groups for lateness, no kara, or errors because I for one, have absolutely no idea how to sub. And I know you guys are doing it for the love of anime and you guys have that four letter word called LIFE.
Thank you. <3
December 30th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Thank you for this interesting view at the past, I read i all. You guys at AniYoshi are great! Thank you for all your subbings
December 30th, 2008 at 5:08 am
lulz emo f1ber
December 30th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Well, here’s my thanks for both Ga-Rei and Allison & Lillia – They’ve been some of my favorite shows of the last few seasons, and after seeing the undescribable anonymous subs for the last load of episodes of Allison & Lillia I can tell you guys that I’m incredibly greatful that you released it.
Guys, your translations are definitely top-tier, so switch to plain subs and scrap any karaoke and you’d probably be my favorite group in an instant. Seriously, almost every karaoke effect I see is too distracting from the very pretty openings we see these days (Ga Rei’s is a perfect example), and anyone who judges the fansub by the karaoke quality is (and I’ll just have to be blunt with this) an idiot and their opinion is not worth taking onboard on the matter.
I mean seriously, as an example someone watches the first release of a show as stunning as Ga-Rei(okay, maybe not the first in the case of ga-rei), and the first thing on their mind is to shout at you guys for not making letters and symbols at the top of the screen (which they probably don’t even understand) explode flashily and obstruct the animation enough (or at all). Is that the kind of person you should listen to?
But really, you’re not going to please everyone, so just do whatever’s easiest for you all without making a mess of the translation (like you seem to be doing so at the moment) and any complaints directed at you will completely unfounded and idiotic.
And in case it got lost in that rant, thanks for your hard work – really.
December 30th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Where did fansub go wrong? Well, I’d say the only mistake the fansubing world did was a inevitable one: becoming popular.
If you deal with a small number of people, the complains will exist, but they will be very few to the point people just ignore them. Increase the number of people and the number of complains also goes up, now they are harder to ignore.
Also, not being a small and somewhat despised community anymore, we now have to deal with things such as, spoiled children, dumbasses, people who just can’t understand that this is a work made by fans to fans.
I was a fansuber for about 4 months, timing and translating. Gave up because I felt that what I was doing was pointless. Even though I was regularly at the IRC channel, I never got any feedback from viewers.
This situation is not only the viewers fault though. Things have escalated in a weird way due to stupid actions by fansubers themselves. I’ve seen fansubs claiming to own a series because they started it first, and fighting with other fansubs to drop that series due to this absurd reason. I’ve seen fansubers flaming other fansubers work. Now we complain that the viewers are flaming our work? Many of us gave the bad example first.
December 30th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Hell yes i agree with you. The only thing that a fansub needs is a normal translation (i am german speaking but i watch anime with english subs, learning and fun yeah) and i dont need colored subtitle. I dont need freaking effects on the intro, after the 2. ep i dont watch the intro anymore. Just a translation of the text. I dont like spell errors, but i can look over it. If i like an anime that much, that some lack of “style” in the fansub disturbs me i go to buy the DVD of it (if avaliable).
What i really hate is that the groups are fighting over one series so that another serie which is maybe not so popular (“OMG NARUTO”) got not subbed. Why did Fansubbing start? Because there was no english sub or dub of it!!! I think Naruto, Pokemon and all the other shows will be dubbed, still there are some groups who are subbing it.
As an example KAIBA a wonderful but not usual anime was near dropping of the fansubgroup because there were to less downloads and i nearly missed that great anime because i dont think it will come out on DVD in english. I myself translated some anime from english to german and after i got some bad response i said, ok if you dont like it i dont do it. I CAN WATCH anime in english and i dont need someone to blame me for a translation mistake (why are they watching german subbed anime if they are better than me). Now i look more anime and got less stress. I hope it doesn’t happen here too. I love your fansub. THANK YOU very much.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I think torrent sites were one of the biggest reasons why the fun in the IRC channels died down. Although torrents made it easier to distribute anime, people can just dl and not even bother to go to IRC. And a lot of other people made good points about fansubbing just getting popular – the more popular it gets the less personal it gets. The more expectations people have because they’re not reliant on your subs and can go to the five other groups picking up the series.
I say who gives a damn. If you fansubbed for fun as a hobby then continue doing it for fun and ignore everyone else.
December 30th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Nice post you wrote there very informative. I appreciate all fan-subbing work that people do. Watching anime for me is like I’m killing two birds with one stone, I get to be entertained and learn some Japanese. Karaoke is only good if you take the 90 seconds to watch and listen to the intro. Watching the karaoke for me has become seldom, however I only watch it if the music is good.
My opinion on why did fan-subbing is the way it is now compared to 5-8 years ago is because there are more people on the internet compared to 2000 and 2008; also people have more bandwidth than they did before. In those early years I was watching anime on Cartoon Network and my internet speed was a 56k dial-up. A lot of entertainment is going digital and that causes quality to be a severe issue. People who have media servers and keep digital archives look for quality and are picky about formats. Fan-sub groups do this for free and people shouldn’t compare something that you’d normally pay for. People tend to place free digital entertainment quality in the same category as purchased digital entertainment quality and the purchased doesn’t always mean good. I don’t think fan-subbing turn wrong at the junction, it has just evolved.
Humans strive for attention from society by nature. People who complain to fan-sub groups about how 2nd rate or mediocre the quality was, those whiners are 2nd rate bastards who are living mediocre lives. Fan-subbing is hard work, and I do AMVs for fun and to make a 5 min video can take weeks and these groups do translations, timing, edit, QC, encode, and styling all within a week! Critics are just wannabes, they don’t know about hard work, and the internet is a place where perception is reality, an asshole on the net is most likely a conservative asshole in real life.
I’m just one of those people who sit in the shadows and thanks you from afar. If FAN-subbing was called FUN-subbing we would be left with subbing but it’s by fans and to be enjoyed and distributed by fans.
December 30th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I know how you feel… i was a fansubber as well and i know perfectly how it feels when people start bitching at you because your group doesnt release x or y anime or saying your karaokes suck or you fucked up some kara according to them.
It’s shit but hey, back in the days we didnt sub for those pussy ass bitches, lamers and leechers. We did it because it was fun, we loved to and there were still some people that supported us. Keep up your great job, and know that there is still some crew cheering up for you
December 31st, 2008 at 4:35 am
wutz r u sayeng? nidz du gramar chek!1!! firefox ftw!
Anyways, that’s hawt, lol. Fansubbing is funny really. There’s still people there who appreciates your work though, like me, you guys are awesome.
Groups like Dattebayo could easily make a life out of subbing, with thousands of seeders and leechers on their every release, if only they were to accept donations… lol
That’s hawt…
Oh, also, Awesome Karaoke = Awesome Subs, so stfu everyone who says otherwise, lolololololololol…..
December 31st, 2008 at 4:51 am
Oh! Everyone’s posting really long replies… Anyway, I just want to say that I am really grateful that there are great groups like you guys who still care about quality subs and enjoying fansub, please don’t feel pressurize by fans, there will always be others who will be there to support and give their thanks, appreciate what everyone of you have done for free
December 31st, 2008 at 9:20 am
The biggest reasons why the fun in the IRC channels died down is most of fansubbers dont give a fuck about irc users beside their own ego stroking
and few criclejerk fanbois they are mostly arogant assholes for others
casual leechers see that or dont give a shit too
not torrents killed of irc idlers but arogant people
i have seen it on many various chans so i know what i am talking about
fansubbers might serve public but doesnt mean they are above them
December 31st, 2008 at 5:01 pm
tznxenna, you’re a wise person. I feel the exact same ways. Most fansubbers are that way, arrogant asses who only reflect within their own ego, the type that ask them anything and they’ll answer you with a “STFU” and then ban you from their IRC/forum/site. I too have experienced it first hand, and I’m someone that when I ask something, I ask it the nicest way possible.
AniYoshi however, it’s not that way, at least not to me, which is why AniYoshi is my favorite groups among the hundreds I come across with all the time (that and that I love their releases of course).
December 31st, 2008 at 9:14 pm
hell, i appreciate all groups putting effort into this, so that i can enjoy unlicensed anime. i remember the really dark days of paying $50 for an Nth gen bootleg akira sub from some swindler at a comic con, and the last 10 minutes+ wasn’t even on there. i fell out of anime for some years, and i just got back into it here a couple of years ago, and all a i can say, is thanks. hell, i don’t know how to speak nipponese or read kanji. i could probably help edit people’s english, but you guys all make something accessible to me that would otherwise just be eye candy; and get really pretty boring, all the same.
thanks for all the anime and manga, all fansubbers. you all rock.
December 31st, 2008 at 9:22 pm
re: last statement.
that akira, was back in the vhs days…. hell anime was nearly non-existant in the states in the 80’s.
people who are too fing finicky should buy r2 dvds & get dialed in to get brand new raws, and learn nipponese, encoding, etc, and do it themselves for all the posterity they would obviously reap.
January 1st, 2009 at 2:59 am
What, fans with overdeveloped entitlement issues? That just means that you’re popular, luv… I’ve seen it with other fansub groups, too — some self-absorbed leechers come along and get demanding and pissy. The idea that they are getting a *free service* provided by people doing it as a *hobby* out of *goodness of their own heart* never crosses their shallow little minds. Those type of people need to grow the hell up.
Ignore the bastards, and just do what makes you happy. Kara or not.
January 1st, 2009 at 4:19 am
@tt5 (#18):
I’m a bit surprised there are actually people rooting for the English dubs. Most of the time, DUBS SUCK ASS. Between raw Japanese episodes and English dubbed ones, I’d actually choose watching raws if ever no fansub picks it up. I guess I’d have to depend on my basic Japanese. Wait a minute, I already did that for Kiss Dum. :p
@Mega-Japan (#25):
Yeah, there are some groups who are total bastards. A good example is The Triad and some staff from Shinsen-Subs.
But, you should also remember that you’re definitely NOT the only one who asked the same question. As a normal human being, it’s really annoying having to answer the same damn question over and over again, especially when it is already posted that you should read the rules.
Of course, part of it is your approach, but whether it was the “nicest way possible” or not, it was your duty like any other freeloader to abide by the rules of the group you are benefiting from. It’s not so hard. Usually, you get the STFU ban-hammer by asking for the next release and you should remember that asking for project status in most groups is a big NO-NO. By doing so, you’re now forever painted with “stupid leeching n00b”.
The thing with AY is, they’re just really really nice and lenient. We (especially the bitching n00bs) are very lucky for that. However, not all groups are like AY, so we should start learning a thing or two.
January 1st, 2009 at 6:11 am
I haven’t been in IRC forever, i juz joined it recently (these past 2 months, and not a very active one). I admit that i dont really chat too. But way in the past, when i started liking watching anime, it was given to me by my friends who downloaded via IRC too. I don’t know that if its actually subbed by you guys or others (i don’t know much bout history), but to all ‘old’ (lol!) fan-subbers, if it wasn’t for all you guys, i don’t think i would even come to like anime in the first place.
I agree that i don’t mind some karaoke effect, and seriously i prefer that the karaoke effect is not there. Whether the karaoke effect is good or not, it depends on personal view. And if there are over 1000000+ view out there, why bother? If you did enjoy what you do, we will really feel it, even if its due to the fact that there are lousy fansubbers out there.
The fact is if your subs pleases even a minority, even if a lot of ppl still complain about it, you have won. nothing else matters as long as you enjoy it. Victory feels the best if you enjoy what you have done.
*I’m a great noob who knows not much bout fan-subbers world. But i do watch a lots of anime, and i truly enjoy all of em.
January 1st, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Honestly, keep doing the things on your on way and fuck all this complaining bastards !!!
January 1st, 2009 at 8:12 pm
@fuck_off_suiton:
Before anything else, gotta say your name rules, lol.
I’m not the type to ask “when’s the next episode out?”, in fact, when I ask something, I try to make sure it isn’t something that is found easily. Actually, I’ve been hit with the STFU-ban hammer without even asking anything at all. For example, I as at Saizen forums posting something like:
“Nice job guys, keep it up! Hope you don’t slow down!”
And the reply was something like:
“You don’t tell us what to do. We slow down whenever we want to so STFU”
Problem with a lot of groups is that they hate to receive criticism. Let’s be honest, there are groups out there whose work is plain horrendous, but no, you can’t go tell them that or you’ll be cursed for life. Of course I don’t go “your stuff sux” at them, but instead I would say something like “there’s an error here, here and there” and will get the same results and response. An example of this sort of group is Aero.
I make sure I thank the groups I like to provide some sort of feedback so I’m not the common leecher who like you say, goes to IRC demanding crap.
P.S. I’ve fansubbed before, not professionally/full-fledged or anything but I have an overview of what everything is like and do my best to avoid stupid comments or questions.
January 1st, 2009 at 10:34 pm
@Mega-Japan (#32):
“Before anything else, gotta say your name rules, lol.”
Why thank you M-J. ;p
“Nice job guys, keep it up! Hope you don’t slow down!”
Ah, so I get it now. I believe the part where that particular group got pissed at is this:
“Hope you don’t slow down!”
You see (especially to people who have narrow/malicious thinking), what you said may translate to some sort of “indirect” way of demanding. It can be seen quite clearly seen here:
“You don’t tell us what to do…”
You notice how the dude responded so defensively? It’s a bit hard to explain, but I hope you’re getting the point. :p
If that’s the case, I can’t blame you for that. It just so happened that your well-intended message was twisted by the shallow mind of the receiving party.
So next time, try expressing your message in a way that those retards can understand you.
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:02 am
Someone mentioned in a earlier reply that for every critic there were at least 50 fans who said nothing. I think tt’s probably more than that. So I’m just coming out to say thanks for what you guys been doing.
January 2nd, 2009 at 2:53 am
@fuck_off_suiton:
Yes yes, you’re a wise man, I’ll keep that in mind =P.
@Old World:
You see, that’s actually a problem. When a fansub group is downstraight bad, you’ll see a bunch of users with limited/no knowledge of anything whatsoever, so when they actually smart guy comes and says something that is actually true, he’d get nothing but a banstick.
Once again, an example of this is Aero, no matter how low their ratings on third party sites are (and they’re way low ever for speed subs >.>), you’ll still see people praising them on their comments on their site. Not saying that’s a bad thing, but they should also listen to criticism because there’s a reason while their ratings are low. That and the fact that 90% of their stuff are a bunch of arrogant bastard who think they’re kings at fansubbing.
With that aside, I’ll keep supporting AniYoshii until the day they stop subbing =).
January 2nd, 2009 at 6:52 am
@M-J:
Heh. I’m a girl (that’s the 2nd time :p).
But thanks. ;p
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:32 am
Girls, boys, same thing really… >.>
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Thanks for Ga Rei <3
January 2nd, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Just wanted to thank you for your work. I have been watching anime for a little over a year, so I have not experienced the “Dark Days”, but I still appreciate your work. Don’t mind couple of jerks here and there and look at the bright side, which is the fact, that because of people like you animes became popular(somewhat) and the negative, unfortunately, came with that.
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:51 pm
@M-J:
Indeed. Nice to see the world has one less of a sexist. LOL. :p
January 3rd, 2009 at 1:48 am
You ppl are making us a favor, I give you that, but if you make a favor make it as best as you can, else don’t.
Still there are quite a few ppl that complains about pretty much everything, so if you are making the best you can simply ignore them, anyway they will either watch your anime or won’t, And the worst case scenario is that no one will watch your releases, but if you’re fansubing just because you like, then there’s no reason to worry about no one watching it.
So we come to the part where you asked what you did wrong. Let me tell you that is not what you did wrong, but what you ARE doing wrong, and caring about what people that care about nothing and complain about everthing is.
So if you’re breaking your ass (without breaking it)and putting your soul into fansubing then just ignore em. That’s the best you can do. But please don’t turn into a bithching elitist, just accept your errors when you made em, and try to do always the best, but don’t loose your sleep with what people say.
Cheers, and happy new year.
January 3rd, 2009 at 2:24 pm
@MegaJapan (#35):
Thank you for your kind words
.
January 6th, 2009 at 5:41 am
You guys are great.
Much <3
kara can sorta help one learn new kanji and the meaning or at least the pronunciation. If one could be bothered.
Wish you guys a fun and fulfilling new year.
January 6th, 2009 at 11:46 am
every last word was true there F10, helkl I remember the says of timing via notepad – those were a riot.