Fansub Review: [UTW-Vivid] Suisei no Gargantia (Episode 02)

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This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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And more Gargantia. I seriously don’t get why this series is so loved.

Table of Contents

Release Information

Visual Quality

Script Quality

Results

Release Information

Episode details.

Release format: MKV (522 MB, 10-bit), MP4 (220 MB)

Japanesiness: No honorifics.

English style: American English.

Encoding details: http://pastebin.com/9cDg63iy

Speed: Quick (<48 hours)

Note: UTW-Vivid’s working off the BD version, so the actual Ending isn’t included.

 

External links.

Group website: http://utw.me/  http://horriblesubs.info/

IRC channel: #[email protected]       #[email protected]

Fansub.co screenshot comparisons: http://fansub.co/suisei-no-gargantia/

Subbusu screenshot comparisons: N/A

 

 

Visual Review

Karaoke.

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_02.13_[2013.04.20_02.30.58] [UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_02.42_[2013.04.20_02.31.06]

Opening. The colors match. Not a big fan of what Japan chose for the colors, though.

I did like UTW-Vivid’s a bit better than Commie’s, mostly because the font was smaller, making it less obnoxious when the credits showed on-screen.

Rating: Okay+.

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_22.56_[2013.04.20_02.52.44] [UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_23.28_[2013.04.20_02.52.36]

Ending. This isn’t especially out there, not that I’d expect it to be. They chose right with the text placement being above and below the preview.

Rating: Okay+.

 

Typesetting.

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_03.32_[2013.04.19_22.37.45]

This is a sign.

 

Script Review

Main Script.

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_01.07_[2013.04.19_22.22.34]

The fuck is an aide representative?

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_01.18_[2013.04.19_22.34.32]

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_12.26_[2013.04.19_23.59.03] [UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_12.27_[2013.04.19_23.59.22]

Like Commie’s release, UTW-Vivid’s use of these fonts seems cool at first, but which fonts are used appears to be decided at random. Not the best way to go about things.

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_01.52_[2013.04.19_22.35.44]

If you’re relying on the subs, you’re not gonna get who she’s addressing here.

The intent: She wants Ledo to drop his weapon, and Chamber’s pilot to exit from the cockpit.

How it’s written: She wants Chamber’s pilot to drop his weapon (unclear whether she means the one she sees the robot has, or she wants him to drop whatever weapon the supposed pilot has inside the cockpit) and exit from the cockpit.

You shouldn’t have to read around the subs to get what’s going on.

“You, drop your weapon. And you in the Yunboro, come out of that thing.”

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_03.57_[2013.04.19_22.38.25]

“most contact” would be more appropriate here. There really wasn’t much interaction, unless you count Ledo slapping her ass. And I honestly consider that more contact than anything.

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_05.53_[2013.04.19_22.50.54]

It hurts, it hurts, it hurts

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_05.54_[2013.04.19_22.51.05] [UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_05.57_[2013.04.19_22.51.26] [UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_05.59_[2013.04.19_22.51.36][UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_07.01_[2013.04.19_22.54.45] [UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_07.05_[2013.04.19_22.54.24]

Colons aren’t just things your dad stuck his dick into when he was drunk at night. (Justify it all you want, he knew you weren’t his dead wife.)

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_06.51_[2013.04.19_22.53.24]

This line is perfect if you roll with the assumption that Chamber sent a number of distress signals at one point prior to this conversation and then stopped.

Of course, that’s completely wrong, so I guess the line isn’t perfect after all.

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_14.04_[2013.04.20_00.01.35]

What do they say about quotes again? Oh yeah,

“Quotes are easier than your mother.”

A fact that has clearly stood the test of time, although she has not. Because she’s dead. Like I said two screens ago. Thought I’d fuck with my fansub review continuity? Bad guess; it’s Dark_Sage all the way down.

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_15.09_[2013.04.20_00.09.47]

She’s talking about boats/fleets. A pirate is not a boat or a fleet.

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_17.20_[2013.04.20_00.45.47]

Wise words, except their entire way of survival is built on pulling up abnormal artifacts from the sea. So yeah, I’m gonna have to call bullshit on this translation.

[UTW-Vivid]_Suisei_no_Gargantia_-_02_[h264-720p][739A99E9].mkv_snapshot_18.11_[2013.04.20_00.47.27]

There’s a slight difference between “words” and “concepts”. For example, UTW-Vivid’s editors clearly know what “proper English” means, but I think the concept of actually using it sometimes escapes them.

 

 

 

Results

Watchability: Watchable.

Visual grade: B

Script grade: B-

Overall grade: B-

Unlike Commie, UTW-Vivid understands what voice is, and makes sure the characters sound in English how they come across in Japanese. Beyond the errors I mentioned, the script is pretty solid. I’d say they’re the go-to group (assuming Hadena doesn’t bring their A-game), even though they had to resort to some pretty sketch tactics to get more downloads than Crunchyrip groups. (Nyaa staff actively deleted any torrents that went up before UTW-Vivid’s release, deleting comments when people called them out on it, which is what my Nyaa post was all about.)

I find it sad that they don’t believe they can compete with quality when they clearly can, but I guess you can’t expect much from people whose sole sense of self-worth is derived from how many people download their translation of a 24-minute cartoon.

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115 thoughts on “Fansub Review: [UTW-Vivid] Suisei no Gargantia (Episode 02)”

  2. Woah. Never knew that UTW was so competitive… they’ve been consistently one of the best fansub groups out there… so I don’t know why they’d need such an underhanded method in gaining downloads…

    Reply

  3. Haha, oh wow. Didn’t realize they use such a loser tactic, then again I don’t care about this series. It’s still hardcore pathetic to desperately want the DLs from the few thousands retards, that go straight with the first release despite the quality. Well, if they need to rely on that ┐(￣ー￣)┌

    Reply

  4. i dont really care about all that other stuff but your claim that horriblesubs delayed their rip to let utw-vivid release first is really impressive when you consider that utw-vivid released episode 2 before it aired on tv/was on cr

    so
    uhm

    right.

    ps if anything is ‘delayed’ on hs its because the ripper breaks a lot and a certain person sucks

    Reply

  5. >HorribleSubs delayed their rips so UTW-Vivid could be the “first” group to release, and Nyaa staff actively deleted any torrents that went up before UTW-Vivid’s release, deleting comments when people called them out on it.
    I think you’re making shit up here.

    Reply

    • To be fair, when every single HorribleSubs release except for Gargantia is released completely within ten minutes (that is, the 480p to 1080p spread only amounts to ten minutes), and only one show doesn’t follow that pattern (480p is released, then 2 hours later the 720p/1080p are), it seems kinda off. Apparently it was a ripping script issue, though, and I trust the guy who told me that to have enough pride to not bother lying about that. Review updated.

      Reply

  6. “I’d say they’re the go-to group (assuming Hadena doesn’t bring their A-game), even though they had to resort to some pretty sketch tactics to get more downloads than Crunchyrip groups.”

    I believe ‘it’ should be the correct pronoun here. Considering that you even refer to UTW-Vivid as a group in the text, it’s clear that you consider a fansub group to be a collective noun, requiring for singular verbs to be used when a group acts as a unit. (Also, you meant to use ‘sketchy’ and not ‘sketch’)

    “Unlike Commie, UTW-Vivid understands what voice is, and makes sure the characters sound in English how they come across in Japanese.”

    You even use singular verbs right before the portion of the text that I first quoted.

    The last sentence is fine since ‘people’ is the antececent.

    This is a good review, and I very much doubt that Hadena will do a better job.

    Reply

    • I refer to groups in the singular/plural depending on how the wind blows. You’ll probably find that discrepancy across every review I’ve made. :s

      If I had to choose one or the other, collective noun would be the way to go, but depending on the line, I like to switch it up. Just me playing with the language. If it’s a bit annoying, though, I’ll be more consistent in the future. I never paid it much mind.

      Reply

      • Since you’re aware of it, I won’t bring this up again. I did notice that you do this very often, but asking about the reason for this lack of consistency didn’t occur to me until yesterday.

        Reply

  7. I was hoping I’d never have to comment on this blog again, but that kind of misinformation really crosses the line.

    >HorribleSubs delayed their rips so UTW-Vivid could be the “first” group to release

    We were the first group to release ep1 because we already had it translated off the Himado streams in advance and CR’s “simul”cast is actually 4 hours after the TV broadcast. In the end, we released 5 minutes before HS. Big whoop.

    We released ep2 a day or so early because the BDMVs for the promo BD finally came out, so there was no further reason to wait.

    Unless you want to accuse us of conspiring with Crunchyroll themselves to delay their simulcast by 4 hours, this accusation holds no water. It’s not like HS are the sole people capable of ripping CR anyway.

    >and Nyaa staff actively deleted any torrents that went up before UTW-Vivid’s release, deleting comments when people called them out on it.

    No, torrents were deleted because they broke the rules for being Himado upscales. This torrent was muxed to a straight Himado rip and is still up, despite being uploaded a good five days or so before our release:
    http://www.nyaa.eu/?page=view&tid=421954

    This reason was clearly stated repeatedly on the site, on IRC, and in the ‘reason’ field for the deleted torrents. Just because you’re butthurt that Nyaa deleted a few shitty comments you made doesn’t mean there’s some Machiavellian plot to suppress all dissent.

    Before you get all triumphant about how you managed to get me to come back here, I’m only reading this article at all because no less than 3 people have linked it to me on IRC in the space of about 10 minutes. It’s pretty disgusting that you need to resort to outright lies to get page views these days, but it’s your blog, so I guess you can write what you like on it. Don’t expect a further response from me.

    Reply

    • Oh hey, Xythar. First off — and forgive me, but I’m obligated to say this — eat a dick.

      Okay, now that we have the formalities out of the way, let me address your criticism about the Nyaa issue (because I already humbly apologized for attributing to malice what was the result of stupidity):

      It takes a lot of chutzpah for you of all people to act like Nyaa staff are grand arbiters of justice and fairness. It’s a cabal of fansubbers who are desperately focused on remaining relevant in a world where only a handful of people on /a/ care about brand names attached to releases. “Rules” are created and applied based on whether or not it will positively affect the in-house circlejerk.

      1. Groups are promoted to top-quality status based entirely on such equitable policies as “Oh, Xythar edited Group X’s release? Let’s ask him if he thinks Group X had the best release.” or “encode quality is the only thing that matters, so it’s time to compare jpegs! Wow, looks like the group with Nyaa staff beat out the one without Nyaa staff. How’d that happen?” I wish I could attribute this solely to stupidity.
      2. Don’t tow the line, get your comments deleted. (For the record, I’ve never silenced anyone’s whining.)
      3. Your policies are entirely protectionist — “unapproved” releases get deleted (like, oh, Gargantia). And let’s not forget there’s no noticeable difference between some “fansub” releases and “re-encode” releases, yet if the “re-encoders” don’t have a group name you like, they get lowered status (red re-encode) for it and the “fansubbers” get to act like they’re completely above that.

      And you know what, that’s fine. It’s your (well, Nyaa’s) site, so do whatever you want with it. But at least have the integrity to own up to the fact that you have none, you sycophantic sissy.

      Reply

      • Uh, I don’t know if it’s just me, but this is beginning to look like some major butthurt on your part, Dark Sage. If they really were being protectionist and all, I’d have expected them to nuke that torrent Xythar linked (which you seem to have conveniently ignored).

        Don’t mind me, but it just sounds like to me that you’re butthurt about losing trusted status on Nyaa.

        Reply

        • I care insofar as I deigned to respond to the Nyaa Defense Force’s comments. If I knew calling fansub groups out on the bullshit they pull like this would rankle so many feathers, I’d have done it more often.

          They nuked previous iterations of that torrent, BTW, but I guess so long as they eventually let it through, all’s well in Nyaaland. Perfect site, amirite? Hold onto your dreams, shiny eyes.

          Reply

          • I was there when the whole thing happened. All the iterations they nuked were upscales. The Nyaa staff even went out of their way to work with Alduren to produce a non-upscaled release that wouldn’t get nuked.

            For the record, it’s not like I disagree that Nyaa’s site isn’t the fairest site out there. But you’re simply blowing this way out of proportion and creating drama where there isn’t any.

            Reply

              • And you actually believed the bullshit that a bunch of angry people who couldn’t tell the difference between an upscale and a proper Bluray encode came up with? I must say I overestimated your intelligence. Or you let your prior biases blind you.

                Go and ask the Alduren guy what actually happened before you continue to perpetrate baseless lies to everybody’s detriment.

                Reply

            • What FrenchGuy is saying is pretty much true. However, D_S isn’t exactly wrong. This was hardly conspiracy or fascism, but nyaa staff did no good for their users or the site’s image how they handled it. I was in the chatbox for a lot of this furor, and for balance’s sake I’d like to note a few points.

              SCRIPT (2 versions):
              v1 Alduren script: close to unintelligible for much of dialogue. Mods rejected Shades’ original [AnimeFAGGOT] 02v0 720p offer, requesting both frankenvideo & Englibberish fixed. Reasonable, then thing get a bit lamer.

              v1.5 Alduren script: more readable, but far from well-written. Some Hadena-shaming gems:
              “I must take back the times that i’m not late with deliveries.”
              “At this time, more than adequate footage to break the status quo is prepared.”
              “At this time, your metabolism will be wounded.”

              After the v1.5 script was approved to replace the original as a stand-alone upload (for people to use freely with raws that nyaa rules don’t allow), Shades made several further muxes for offers (this being the only EngSub SnG 2 available, he wanted users to be able to enjoy it). I got to grab the important ones in the moment between posting and deletion and see some of the commentary.

              Timeline:
              1. [AnimeFAGGOT] 02v0.5.mkv (~300mb 720p Himado upscale), deleted due to nyaa rules). Understandable, if a bit frustrating for many.
              2. [AnimeSTRAIGHT] 02v0.5.mp4 (~150mb 360p re-encode, hardsubbed mp4, deleted since it wasn’t the ORIGINAL 360p webrip, also mentioned the 720 existed in its description).
              This was also somewhat reasonable modding, but again, lame, because NOBODY could find the original webrip of the BD’s anywhere, and nyaa kept deleting every raw as well as these.

              Then FINALLY, someone manages to dig up the original webstream, in all of it’s disastrous 37MB tragedy.
              3. [AnimeFAGGOT] 02v0.7.mkv (~37MB 360p ORIGINAL webrip, meeting all of nyaa’s requirements. DELETED.)
              Ok now this makes no sense. Why did they do it? Apparently Shades included a sentence in his release description that read: “If you need direct download links or more information, please use the information url.” The URL included in the post information is his anime website, which also hosts DDL’s of that compliant release, as well as the older 720p ‘upscale’. However the upscale was NOT mentioned anywhere on the nyaa post and no DDLs were linked directly from there either in this post.

              Even still, it seem that the mods chose to delete this torrent for violating the rule that “Only trusted (green) accounts can post DDL links in their uploads.” However, any user can post their group’s website in the site field of their torrent, which is all that happened here. If it was really such a big deal, the offending sentence with the word DDL could just have been removed and the torrent left intact, but it was erased yet again.

              Centuries later, after hours of everyone’s time was thoroughly wasted, we got the same exact 37MB webrip muxed with the same v1.5 subs, posted by alduren the subber instead of Shades:
              [Alduren-Fansub]Suisei no Gargantia 02 [Webrip][640×360].mkv (Only difference: zero mention of any DDLs existing at all, no web link of ANY kind in the info or description.)

              And to quash the UTW conspiracy ideas… this fifth and finally accepted release was uploaded 4 days ahead of UTW’s TV 02 torrent. So really inept conspirators, or no conspiracy.

              What it really boils down to is: Does that 37MB rip really look better on my 1080p monitor than the 300MB (still shit) 720p upscale? Was this worth all the inconvenience for users, creators, and mods to follow the rules to the letter and beyond? Would it have hurt anything to keep the iffy 720p version (or at least its raw, deprecated red as a re-encode, for the 4 days until the TV air?

              After all, the TV version aired with a completed ending (Commie had it at least), and fixed/improved animations, so for once the HD is actually an improvement over the BD, since the BD was a free prerelease.

              Honestly it just struck me as a bunch of ridiculousness over nothing. My opinion is meaningless anyways, but I’ve just heard too much misinformation floating around, so I thought I’d post what I saw for myself so everyone could see this was a complex situation that was handled poorly, but not maliciously or conspiratorially.

              So let’s calm down, and appreciate that flawed as it is, nyaa is also a great resource for us, so a constructive dialogue will benefit the community more than secessionist rage.

              inb4 “TL;DR – go read up on Eotenum with Commie.”

              Reply

              • So now that the truth’s out, I think it’s only fair if Dark Sage has the balls to own up to his mistake, apologize, and at least amend his accusation of conspiracy.

                It just saddens me when people perpetrate lies because their eyes are clouded with bias. People actually believe what you say, Dark Sage.

                Reply

                • When I’m wrong, I admit it, but I’m not wrong in this case.

                  You can’t change reality with your tears, though I invite you to try.

                  Reply

                  • “All forms of logic and common sense scream that this whole conspiracy thing is false, but I’m not going to admit I’m wrong because my… my… my gut feeling!”

                    You’re a riot, Dark Sage. My tears of laughter sure won’t change anything, but at least I enjoyed them.

                    I concede this little joust to you. Anyone stupid enough to still believe your little conspiracy rant after evaluating all the evidence deserves to be fooled anyway.

                    Reply

                    • If you can’t handle reality, do us all a favor and take yourself out of it. Fansubbers have been pulling shit like this since as long as I can remember.

                      If it’s such a shock that fansubbers aren’t the gods you think they are, maybe I should make some articles on the scene to demystify shit a bit. You’re obviously not the only misinformed moron on these internets.

                    • Well don’t look forward to too much. But I can do some articles on the scene, sure.

                      Now’s not a good night, but I’ll bat some ideas off myself at work tomorrow.

                    • I thought us fansubbers were renowned part being 50% fansub, 50% dorama-inducing. It’s always all been about wars of words, rage-quitting and slagging off the other guy :D

                    • Oh boy, can’t wait to see those articles. Always wanted to give fansubbing a shot but felt like they gonna bully me and imma cry like a little girl etc., plus I don’t know shit about it.

              • So wait, why do nyaa have these rules? Why don’t they just stick [upscale] as the tag at the end so that the discerning viewer can decide for themselves rather than have Big Brother over there deciding what they can and can’t watch?

                Reply

      • >And let’s not forget there’s no noticeable difference between some “fansub” releases and “re-encode” releases

        Now you’re sounding like some clueless hater on /a/. As someone who has actually worked on fansubs, you really should know better. And do you really think the remake policy is a bad thing?

        The Gargantia raw(s) were deleted because they were upscales and against the rules. As mentioned elsewhere, even “established” groups have had their stuff deleted for breaking the rules in that regard, and NT staff worked with Alduren so he could put up a release that won’t get deleted for rule violations. There is no “conspiracy” to be found here – just consistent enforcing for rules that have been in place for quite a while.

        Reply

        • Mind telling me how this example qualifies as fansubbing? http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Hadena_Maoyuu_Maou_Yuusha1.jpg

          If encoders are fansubbers, and a re-encode puts in more effort than Hadena put into that script, why isn’t the Deadfish release labeled alongside Hadena’s?

          And while you’re here, I’d love for you to tell me how HorribleSubs et. al. are considered fansubs and not just re-encodes?

          I don’t mind the little clique you guys have set up over there. Really, I imagine the whole dick-sucking thing is quite enjoyable. Just don’t bullshit people with claims about how you’re holding groups to some high standard of quality and that you’re coming up with rules and decisions solely with the interests of the anime community at heart. Reality is transparent as fuck.

          Reply

          • >Hadena

            Well… Let’s just say that the main reason they’re still around on NT is that they haven’t done any blatant rule-breaking of their own. Which is actually pretty surprising considering that we’re talking about Hadena.

            HorribleSubs aren’t considered “fansubs” (and the trusted status sure isn’t limited to “fansubbers” either), they’re direct, unmodified (save for overriding fonts) and automatic stream rips. They don’t encode anything either, all the video comes directly from CR, FUNi etc.

            Generally speaking, re-encoders also do nothing beyond automatically converting existing releases into hardsubbed ones. This includes all Deadfish releases, so even with that sloppy excuse of a job that Hadena did on the CR script, it probably still took more active effort than your average Deadfish re-encode.

            Reply

  10. > conspiracies and drama

    meh.

    > “Excessive contact with the abnormal is profitable to no one.”
    > Wise words, except their entire way of survival is built on pulling up abnormal artifacts from the sea. So yeah, I’m gonna have to call bullshit on this translation.

    I don’t know about the translation, but the context is that Chamber’s a vastly different (and “abnormal”) find than what they’re normally salvaging. They’re not exactly pullling a Ledo up out of the sea every day. They’re presumably salvaging Earth technology from the ice ages or before, whereas Chamber’s a modern-day superweapon from the stars and shit. It’s some old dude leader being cautious.

    Reply

    • I sort of get where they were going with it. However, where it falls apart is that the salvagers really don’t know shit about the ancient(?) civilizations whose stuff they’re bringing up. I mean, even spaceships are just legends to them. How advanced can they really be where a mech is so “abnormal” compared to everything else they’re fucking with?

      Reply

      • Everything else they salvage presumably has been sitting in the water for years and years, could well be rusted or otherwise degraded. Also, you don’t need to be able to understand the salvaged goods to be able to classify them to “within the normal range of stuff” and “not within the normal range of stuff”.

        It’s not even anything to speculate about, anyway. Their usual disassembly tools didn’t work on Chamber. The colony’s not abuzz about weird shit going down and they’re not holding multiple meetings discussing wtf to do, on account of an everyday occurrence.

        And for that line, they’re actually talking about Ledo. Fairlock’s responding to Amy, who says that they should listen to Ledo. A kid who doesn’t look anything like them, doesn’t speak their language, comes from the ocean, and shows up with a shiny mech isn’t abnormal?

        I don’t know if it’s a good line or not, or if the translation is right, but you gotta be shitting me if you don’t think that they’d consider him abnormal.

        Reply

  11. With the whole “Nyaa staff actively deleted”, I can’t really say if it’s true or not, but please cause more drama. It’s funny the way people react to it. I mean it’s just fucking anime, It’s like their life was on the line.

    Reply

      • Mind telling me what’s supposedly false about Nyaa staff deleting torrents when groups released faster than UTW-Vivid and then deleting comments when called out on it?

        Reply

        • Nyaa staff have always deleted upscales. Established groups like FFF, rori etc. who released using raws that broke the rules have had their releases removed until they did it correctly.

          I also doubt UTW would resort to abusing their so-called powers like that anyway. They’ve gone against big and small groups alike and never resorted to cheap tricks like that. I don’t see why they’d delete some no-name work “to get more downloads than Crunchyrip groups,” as you accuse them of. They’d steamroller the other groups anyway, much less some anonymous subber, and I’m sure UTW is aware of that. If they really were such insecure people, why haven’t they sabotaged or nuked more of their competition in their years of subbing?

          The fact that the Nyaa staff deleted all the upscaled raws but left the Alduren script and the non-upscaled release is also powerful proof. It doesn’t take a genius to see that they were after the upscaled raw, not the competing subber’s work.

          I’m pretty sure nobody really cares and Dark_Sage will probably just dismiss all this as baloney, but as they say, “it is easy to accuse but difficult to prove one’s innocence.” I can only hope my observations will serve in some way to convey the truth in the midst of all this needless drama.

          Reply

    • I wasn’t expecting this kind of backlash, really. I figured UTW-Vivid would at least have the balls to own up. Guess I overestimated the quality of their character.

      Reply

    • Nyaa staff is made up of a wide variety of gg, UTW, and Commie staff (just posting generally recognized fansub brands). Affiliated groups also have staff on Nyaa. As long as your group contributes to the greater fansub circlejerk, you have a place on Nyaa.

      I should also mention that those groups are mostly interchangeable, and the wars on /a/ over “Commie is better than gg” “gg so troll UTW so best” “UTW wapfags, gg is best”, etc. etc. are entirely irrelevant because it’s the same general staff on the most prominent releases, hence why I’m loathe to make “group A >>> group B” posts, because it only matters which staff are on a release and not which brand is slapped on the release.

      Reply

      • And this is the way it’s been for many years now (since the days when everyone was in one group and one group only which may have been pre-2003 :o) – and you’re right in a way. It is pointless to make those comparisons… most of the time. But I think it comes down to the way a group works, because every group has a different way of doing things.

        For example, back in the days of SHS, you were more likely to get variable quality from them due to them being such a large and unwieldy beast, but I’ve worked with a number of their staff over the years and they had a surprising amount of good subbers for a group nicknamed Shitsen.

        Fansubbing has homogenised a bit nowadays though, so that there is very little in terms of discernible differences between the quality of groups and maybe more importantly, what they’re likely to pick up (I’m thinking Saizen as sports-oriented, Live-Evil focusing on shoujo/josei series).

        So yeah, maybe better to look out for staff rather than groups when judging quality. But how would your average fansub viewer know about the staff though? Fansub credits are a thing of the past :D

        Reply

        • You know what I want to see? (just as a matter of curiosity)

          One of those collaboration graphs for fansubbers, showing groups and who they’ve worked with. Or alternatively, a much more readable (and useful) figure would be a collaboration graph for fansub groups, with one edge for each member two groups share. It’s next to impossible to figure out which staff worked on most groups’ releases, but it’s not that bad to find out who’s worked with which groups.

          You’d get to look at the degrees of separation. Like instead of an Erdos number, you’d have a Dark_Sage number.

          If anything, it’d be an amusing distraction. Somebody hop to it and get on that, for reals.

          Reply

          • Commie, gg, UTW, rori, Mazui, FFF, and Vivid are pretty much just one big circle jerk of the same people in different groups. They branch out into other groups too, but that’s the main fansubbing amalgamation.

            Reply

            • Yeah, with a lot of them the tag is pretty damn arbitrary. Let’s resurrect Coalguys -> wait let’s just use gg? etc.

              The main point was to get a Dark_Sage number. That’s gotta be worth e-peens or smth.

              Reply

          • You mean like degrees of separation to Kevin Bacon, but with Dark_Sage?

            I think I’d have a degree of two, because I’ve worked in a group or two with people who’ve worked with him in another group. Fansubbing is actually quite a small group of people when you think about it.

            Reply

            • Yeah, somehow I forgot about Kevin Bacon and could only remember Paul Erdos / Erdos number. Shows how in tune I am with pop culture. Also possibly because I can flaunt a lowish Erdos number. Unfortunately for me, nobody gives a shit.

              Reply

          • That would be entertaining, but to do it effectively would mean I’d have to compile hundreds of fansubber resumes into one nice little graph. That’d be near impossible for me to do considering half the scene is so jealous/scared of me I probably couldn’t even grab information from them.

            About the best you can get from me is general sentiments of where people’s loyalties lie, which you’ll get in the upcoming post.

            Reply

  17. >Distress signals were continuously sent, and but there has been no response.
    >assumption that Chamber sent a number of distress signals at one point prior to this conversation.

    Just saying, they were sent off, but in the first episode.

    Source:
    >Dialogue: 0,0:15:33.98,0:15:38.8
    >Distress signals were continuously sent while maintaining your hibernation,

    Reply

    • Nah, it’s very heavily implied that distress signals have been ongoing, not that they happened only during his hibernation. First of all, that’s what makes sense for them to do. Secondly, the previous line is Ledo asking if Chamber’s contacted the Alliance yet. Why else would he need to ask now and keep asking?

      And if it happened over a period of time in the past but is not current, the line might be: “Distress signals were continuously sent, but there was no response.”

      Reply

      • I was just throwing out a point where distress signals were first mentioned. I didn’t see the problem with UTW-Vivid’s particular line if you include the context of the series thus far.

        Also, my prior comment should have had this: Distress signals were continuously sent, but there has been no response.

        Reply

        • Sorry for the double post, but by context, I mean his hibernation period was about 6 months, so stopping once Ledo regained consciousness was what I thought happened, but I’m probably misinterpreting. Even if it happened over a past period of time, I think the tenses in UTW’s line still works. “Chamber still has not received a reply after sending out “RESCUE MY ASS” for an X amount of time.”

          Reply

          • Why would he ever stop sending out distress signals?

            “Oh, Ledo woke up, guess that’s good enough for now and ever. Hope we get rescued soon.”

            No, let’s be serious, he’s gonna be sending them out continuously.

            Reply

            • I get that Chamber is an AI program that can think for himself and could continue sending out the signals, but he’s also programmed to adhere to Ledo’s orders and follow his plan of action. I thought Chamber just gives out suggestions and conducts a programmed course of actions when the pilot is incapacitated. I don’t remember if Ledo told him to continue sending out distress calls. Maybe this is a stretch on my part, but if you send out a distress beacon out into the vacuum of space, it’ll continue to travel like a wave should even if source stopped signalling after a while.

              Reply

              • Distress signals are sent until a response is received. That’s because — get this — it indicates the sender is still in trouble. Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not inclined to give UTW-Vivid enough credit for them to calculate out how distress signals work in space. You’re stretching.

                Reply

  18. >assuming Hadena doesn’t bring their A-game

    They’re paying you, aren’t they?

    Also, I didn’t notice the alternate language fonts being used at random. One is for the offworld language when heard by onworld dwellers and vice versa. At least, that was pretty clear to me.

    Reply

  19. I can’t remember the last time an anime has left me speechless (probably 8+ years).

    D_S must be a serious M to enjoy Valvrave.
    The whole time I was watching it I kept thinking about Gundam and Code Geass. gg’s (unnecessarily) liberal troll subs didn’t make it any better.

    But meh, to each his own. I suggest letting someone else decide what show to sub if you ever decide to pick another one up after the Hyobu Kyosuke thing, though.

    Reply

  20. “Extensive contact with the desperate is profitable to no one.”

    This line is indeed awkwardly TL’d, as you conjectured. With my limited knowledge, what I’m hearing comes across more like this:
    “Prolonged association with the desperate and cornered benefits neither party. Not at sea nor in space.”
    But I could be totally off the mark here.

    Kinda miffed they went with Yunboro/Yunboroid when it’s an easy jump to write phonetically as Jumboro/Jumboroid, which makes vastly more sense. Katakana’d again…

    Reply

  21. Sometimes I think this is all a grand scheme by all parties involved to use drama to make fansubbing look more legitimate `3`

    Reply

  22. For the first time UTW-Vivid let CR release episode 3 before their release. Two possibilities: they had delays OR they saw you pointed this NyaaTorrent thing and did something to show that they aren’t cheating to get most downloads for their releases. Sneaky peeps.( ¬‿¬)

    Reply

    • I know you aren’t really for cereal, but…

      Source for first two episodes was pre-release (or promo?) BD, which contains only the first two episodes.

      Subsequent episodes are presumably using TV airing as source, so releasing later in the week isn’t such a surprise.

      Reply

      • First episode are TV release, but at that time CR still aren’t announced they will pick Gargantia, so UTW-Vivid become first.
        Second episode are using blue-ray rips, so it is faster than Horrible-subs.
        Third episode CR already catch up and Horrible-subs could release faster

        Reply

  24. Where the fuck is Hyobu. Forget about editing Henneko, I want my homo espies.

    Reply

  25. I didn’t want to watch Valvrave cause I’m usually no big fan of mecha, but after you praised it I decided to give it a try. And it turns out that it’s really good so far. But I don’t understand why you wouldn’t like Gargantia, cause they seem similar to me. Plus Uro Gen is behind Gargantia and I love him.

    Reply

    • They’re not similar. Gargantia is your typical “soldier with advanced technology realizes technology can’t replace the true quality of humanity — the heart” generic bullshit. If I wanted to douse my eyes in a vial of cancer, I’d just watch Avatar again.

      Valvrave is just full-on, balls-out action. It’s awesome. And I don’t think they’re gonna throw any shifty morals down my fucking throat.

      Reply

      • You realize that Valvrave is typical “oh no I’ve become a monster” wartime bullshit, right? Only with hackneyed plot contrivances just to give the MC enough motivation to last a fucking episode.

        At least Gargantia does what it does, you know, well. Ledo alone is already a more realized character than anyone in Valvrave’s sorry cast of nothing.

        Reply

          • No, it actually pansies its way back out of several things and then goes into angst mode, with some of the kind of execution you’d expect from say Guilty Crown. There’s a decent amount of mecha action though, for what that’s worth.

            Reply

              • I’ll still think it’ll be good. MC is somewhat Beta, but I like the concept.

                (Also he does kill a lot of people with pretty much no regrets for revenge, and the power led to some interesting developments, but it could come crashing down lol)

                Honestly, I’m not even of those faggots who likes OH YEAH FUCKING GRIMDARK, but the way they ended the episode inserted another dynamic into the show, despite being cliche, is probably gonna make the show better. Because fuck romance subplots in a show where nobody nobody cares about it.

                It’s not droppable yet at least, if we have more moments like the end of episode 1(and I don’t see why they wouldn’t) It’ll definitely be better than Guilty Crown at the very least, which isn’t hard but yeah.

                Reply

      • Valvrave MC is beta as fuck and the “plottwist” in episode 2 was super annoying. I don’t know what I hated more, the “I am a monster” or “lol nope I’m not dead” part.
        But well, still better than Guilty Crown and the animation is nice.

        Meanwhile in Gargantia: “A-Ali-Alligator.”

        Reply

  27. Shit taste as always, Dark_Sage. Gargantia is actually good, if not hugely original, while Valvrave is a horrific trainwreck in every sense of the term. More enjoyable? Maybe to some, but anyone claiming Valvrave is BETTER is retarded.

    Reply

  28. “And more Gargantia. I seriously don’t get why this series is so loved.”

    The answer is BOOBS. Check the ratio of girls to girls with big boobs.

    Reply

    • And the fact that Valvrave is a FUCKING noontime telenovela. Where one person is not really dead. The good guy thinks his a monster now. Weird mutation and body transfer and SHIT. I don’t care if I’m spoiling the DAMN thing. The robot/mech designs are SHIT, too.

      Reply

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