[UTW] Nisemonogatari – 01 (BD)

This post was written by Calyrica. She is not Dark_Sage.


One more review from me before I spend the weekend with more Final Fantasy XIV closed beta testing.

I forgot how much I loved this show, and it made me even happier that I was extremely impressed at how UTW handled this. There’s actually no reason to grab anyone else’s offering. Well, unless UTW keeps stalling and never finishes, of course.

Filesize: 621.2mb
English: American, honorifics

Karaoke

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.11.45 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.11.56 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.12.24 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.12.53 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.13.24 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.13.44 PM

Opening. Okay, UTW knocked this out of the park for sure. Only complaint is in that second-to-last screenshot, but that only lasts a few frames. I’m so impressed at how they handle Senjougahara’s silhouette moving all the time, though. That’s frame-by-frame clipping!

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.37.35 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.37.54 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.38.35 PM

Not sure I agree on the ending. While the color matching was fabulous, especially when it cycles thought rainbow after rainbow, the font choice is a bit odd. Is it supposed to be that big and blurry? Also, some of the color/border combinations are difficult to read.

Typesetting

As with any Monogatari show, or any SHAFT show for that matter, there’s a ton of typesetting. Most of it was attacked very well, but some of it wasn’t. However, there’s not a lot of leeway with most of these signs, so it’s more than forgivable. As someone who typeset the TV release in an effort to learn how to typeset, I have had my ass thoroughly kicked.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.05.43 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.05.46 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.09.14 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.09.31 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.09.49 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.14.13 PM

They couldn’t typeset the title, though?

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.14.44 PM

I think something messed up here, you guys…

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.14.51 PM

While I assume they used all lowercase because of the text below the kanji, the bottom line has uppercase letters. So… Why not capitalize the rest correctly?

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.15.06 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.15.14 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.15.17 PM

Yeah, there’s really no other way to do this.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.15.32 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.17.20 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.17.28 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.17.33 PM

These books are all falling, by the way.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.19.55 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.20.34 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.21.29 PM

The kana appears one at a time on the screen, and they pick letters out of “anyway” to fit. Nice.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.21.39 PM

Not a lot of options here.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.23.50 PM

This is probably the only sign I’m not fond of. The font just doesn’t convince me, since it’s too neat.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.25.33 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.25.41 PM

I can’t remember if it was this sign or the previous, but the \move wasn’t done 100% correctly and the sign shifted up a few pixels when it shouldn’t have.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.26.00 PM

This is just hard to read – hurts my eyes. Not a lot of choices, though.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.26.08 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.26.11 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.27.20 PM

Uh, can I safely assume that this is a libass issue? Because this looks like shit.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.27.28 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.27.36 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.28.41 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.34.59 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.37.23 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.39.27 PM [UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.39.50 PM

Script

I’m not fond of what they did with the styling. Yellow outline with white text is not the easiest to read on light backgrounds. They changed it up for the preview to match the background, though.

Also, a lot of these screenshots show little nitpicks that would have elevated the quality to be even better than it already is. The script is pretty solid, and I’ll show some examples of that, too.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.08.32 PM

The idiom is simply “in top form”.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.08.39 PM

 

This is an issue I see all of the time. If you look at this, you see two independent clauses:

It was such a wonderful sight.
I wanted to keep it as my cell phone wallpaper.

The definition of a comma splice is connecting two independent clauses with a comma, which is what was done here. However, the intention of this line is to connect the two thoughts together. The solution? Replace the comma with “that”. It’s “that” simple!

It was such a wonderful sight that I wanted to keep it as my cell phone wallpaper!

I’d also argue that “cell” isn’t necessary, but that’s editor’s discretion.

 

 

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.16.36 PM

Love how they handled most of the dialogue, and this is a nice example.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.16.52 PM

Araragi asked if Karen’s going to get herself in trouble, and Tsukihi responds with this line. It’s a good line, but I think italicizing “out” improves the flow.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.19.26 PM

Comma not necessary.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.22.38 PM

“Practitioner” reminds me of a doctor. I don’t know about you, but this line just doesn’t work for me.

But I guess I can’t defeat someone proficient in martial arts

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.26.49 PM

Word repetition like this is kind of clunky.

Your awkwardness resembled that.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.28.32 PM

Another example of editing done right!

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.28.55 PM

This is a subtlety, but here, “it” is used to mean two different things in the same sentence. We all know what he’s saying, but it’s an odd way to say it. Chopping out the “about it” entirely, since it’s the subject of their conversation anyway, would fix that.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.30.43 PM

Is it just me or does this analogy not work? She’s saying that Araragi can’t resist challenging her, and that she’s going to win. But phoenixes don’t actively seek out fire as far as I know. And when they are incinerated, they’re reborn from the ashes, so her win would be short-lived. But I suppose if this is what the translation was, I’ll just have to shake my head and go, “Oh, SHAFT.”

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.32.15 PM

No comma needed.

[UTW]_Nisemonogatari_-_01_[BD][h264-720p_AC3][6376A085]_Jun 27, 2013 7.35.43 PM

While “you know” is a phrase that gets offset by commas, there’s an exception if the phrase immediately follows a conjunction.

 

tl;dr: If you haven’t watched Nisemonogatari yet, you no longer have any excuses. This is an excellent release, and most of my review is just whining about nitpicks.

22 thoughts on “[UTW] Nisemonogatari – 01 (BD)”

  1. With episode 2 they changed the border color for the subs to black, so that’s no loner an issue. Also, the OP kara’s going to lag on lower-end computers as a result of all the clipping involved. Just thought I should note that here.

    Reply
  2. Thanks for the review, been waiting to see someone actually done this. Nice job. If you’re still taking request you should review the Ghost in the Shell ARISE official subs by eraser, he modified them…

    Reply
  3. >This is a subtlety, but here, “it” is used to mean two different things in the same sentence. We all know what he’s saying, but it’s an odd way to say it.

    Intentional or just incredibly ironic?

    >Is it just me or does this analogy not work?

    I’m assuming it’s a play on “like a moth to the flame”, which means to be lured in to your doom. It seems accurate from your description, and I’m guessing the moth/phoenix substitution was due to the context of the scene.

    Reply
  4. You’re on a Mac, aren’t you? That’s the only excuse for having an out-of-date libass and not using xy-vsfilter.

    I compiled a copy for MPlayer a few months back that doesn’t have that issue, if you’d like that.

    Reply
    • Yeah, I think that’s a libass thing.

      Uh, I do know how gradients work, because I typeset the title on the TV release when I subbed it. It’s possible.

      Reply
      • My bad. I thought the sign moved or the size changed or something else that would’ve made it lag. What’d you do for the particle lead in/lead out?

        Reply
          • Let me tell you the story about why the Nisemonogatari (Fake Story) titles aren’t typeset.

            It goes something like this…

            I figured I’d take a crack at Karen’s OP title because “it looked like it would be fun”, and after wasting a good 5-6hrs and it still looking pretty terrible (to my standards) I decided it wasn’t worth wasting the time on it and if I wasn’t going to do Karens I wouldn’t bother doing the rest either (since inconsistency and stuff)

            You could do something so-so in ASS, but it wouldn’t really ever look that good, and it probably won’t play back if it does.

            Reply
  5. The fact that you’re using libass and not vsfilter kind of defeats the purpose of your reviewing the typesetting in this release.

    Reply

Leave a Reply to duplex Cancel reply