Fansub Review: [Oyatsu] Usagi Drop (Episode 02)

This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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Oh man, I gotta get motivated somehow. These slow shows really aren’t helping.

File size: 245 MB

Release format: MKV

Japanesiness: Honorifics.

Karaoke.

Typesetting. Yeah…

This is an extremely awkwardly-written threat. Just read it out loud. No malice. Slow to say it all. Ugh.

It’s a combination of improper punctuation and poor writing. Huzzah!

What did you say, you bastard?!

Another day, another three-liner. :/

But how are they supposed to fix this? Simple. Drag the bottom line out across two lines.

Line 1: This one may be nearby,

Line 2: but it’s impossible for me to get off work by six.

That way, when the “Let’s play” line comes in, there will only ever be two lines on the screen at once. It’s genius!

I love how the removal of a single word makes lines so stupid. In this case, I think they’re missing two lines.

Even though there aren’t that many, the MCH Handbook and some other important documents are included.

even if it’s only for a little bit.

on. Which side are you sleeping on?

 

Watchability: Quite watchable. Few errors. The poor typesetting may get in the way of the experience, though.

Overall grade: B

Yeah, they’re fine enough. However, Doki’s release is unequivocally better. Go with Doki’s.

0 thoughts on “Fansub Review: [Oyatsu] Usagi Drop (Episode 02)”

  1. I would prefer them over doki. You should’ve looked at their first EP. It was almost perfect I wouldn’t judge them just because of the random lines tht was shouted out in the TV and the random sign on the bag. Also the three liner didn’t appear on my player, just decrease the size. I would give them an A overall.

    Reply
  2. The 3 liner and the last missing “on” has been noted.

    “Kawachi-san, you’ve to sign.” It is the contracted form of “you have” to sign. The usage is not wrong. (http://www.mcwdn.org/contract/havehas/havehas.html)

    “Even though there’s only so few of them, the MCH handbook and other important documents are inside.” It implies, they’re “inside the bag”, not “included in/with the bag.”

    Also, “even if it’s on a short term” –> “even if it’s for only a little bit.” will change the line completely, and the latter doesn’t fit the context. One cannot raise a child for “a little bit”.

    On Typesetting, we prefer to keep it simple, and not translate and typeset every single thing appearing on the screen (for the case of the web page). For the MCH handbook sign, it’s already TSed in episode 1, so those who watched episode 1 will have an idea of what it says.

    Also, we prefer to sub in such a manner so that the original flavour is preserved as much as possible, and not to make it “flow” in English. People have other options to turn to if they want that.

    Reply
    • I know what a contraction is. The contraction itself is right, sure. You’ve is definitely the contraction of you have. But “You’ve to sign!” is completely wrong. It’s missing a subject. Even were you to add a subject, “You’ve to sign this!” is not something a native speaker would say in conversation. Ever. If you must keep the contraction, then the sentence would be “You’ve got to sign this!”

      The contraction only causes problems here. What you want this line to be is
      “Kawachi-san, sign this!” or “Kawachi-san, you have to sign this!”

      My problem is with the usage of “there’s only so few”. It doesn’t seem like natural speak, so I rewrote the line.

      “a little bit” comes with the implication of time. “Can I ask you to hold onto this for a little bit{ of time}?” My correction is right. If you must use, “on a short term”, then add the word “basis” in there. “even if it’s only on a short-term basis”.

      Your typesetting isn’t simple. It’s lazy and bad. Now, typesetting isn’t mandatory, but it is useful to help engage the viewer with the show.

      Literal translating isn’t bad per se. I never even talked about your translation style in this review. Your problems lie with your editing and typesetting (though my emphasis on typesetting is minimal when it comes to the final score).

      Reply
      • I’m going to agree with D_S on this.
        The fact is, when I’m watching a show, i’d like it to have good enough English so that it flows. See, when I’m watching it, I’m having the conversation in my head. So if someone says “You’ve to sign this!”, it seems totally awkward to me.

        I like the fact that your group is keeping to the literal translation as much as possible, but I’d like a bit of “flowiness” in the English.

        Reply
  3. Comparing Oyatsu’s ED translation to Doki’s, I find that Doki’s is MUCH better in terms of fitting the song and anime.

    Note: I don’t know how literal the translation is, but it just sounds better.

    Reply
      • I hear some people saying its “Life, Life, Life”, but I seriously couldn’t hear the silent eff. I checked other subs too and they also translated it as either “lai lai lai” or “la la la”.
        frankly, doesn’t make much difference, i was comparing the actual lyrics of the song.

        Reply
        • Actually this is very subjective because we know very well the Japanese don’t pronounce English the way we do.

          In fact I initially went with “Fly fly fly” but was later corrected when the QC said he heard the “L”. So we changed to “Life life life”. But in any case, lyrics were guessed and will only be confirmed when the single gets released in Japan. Only then will we know the official lyrics.

          Reply
          • True. But you know, “Sing! Fly fly fly!” would make less sense than “Sing! Life Life Life!” or even “Sing! La La La” :P
            The single is coming on 27th of July, I think. Read it somewhere or the other :/

            Reply
          • I hope you didn’t forget the Japanese don’t make sense with their lyrics.

            Thanks for the info on the release single, mr. know-it-all.

            Reply

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