Fansub Review: [EC] Mouretsu Space Pirates (Episode 02)

This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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Pretty good release ignoring the shitty karaoke and some stupid editing decisions.

Release format: MKV (349 MB, 8-bit), LQ MKV (174 MB, 8-bit)

Japanesiness: Honorifics. Japanese name order.

Font: Sucks.

Group website: http://www.enigmacollective.org/

8thsin’s translation critique: N/A

Ji-hi’s screenshot comparisons: http://www.ji-hi.net/wi11/pirates/

 

Karaoke.

Opening. My eyes. Holy fucking shit. Isn’t there some sort of basic test that kfx’ers need to take before they’re allowed to do shit? Or am I living in a fantasy world where competency actually matters? I’ve seen some shitty karaoke, but goddamn are groups pushing the boundaries these days.

Ending. Only halfway subbed. The part where the text rolls (second image) is only half as stupid as it looks, but the part where the text overlaps (first image) is five times as stupid as it looks. Some people actually want to read that shit; not just look at lines merging like an orgy at an old people’s home.

When I’d rather watch WhyNot’s karaoke, you know you’ve fucked up.

 

Typesetting.

No, I don’t care what the name of the anime is. I’d rather know the name of the group, so thanks for that.

Considering everything else was typeset, I’m a bit confused as to why this wasn’t.

The newspaper moves horizontally, so this is about as good as you could expect.

This sign spins. Sage likey.

Can’t say it was too bad in general.

 

Script.

When each screen looks like this, maybe it’s time to choose a different font or figure out a way to pare down your lines. For example,
“As the result of the many sacrifices that had been made” -> “As the result of many sacrifices”
Cut out the fluff and get down to the basics so readers aren’t confronted with a fucking novel on each screen.

This is not how you fucking semicolon. Don’t use conjunctions with this shit.

I often refrain from highlighting the need to properly italicize your lines, but holy shit does this read poorly. Please learn how to fucking edit.

“Well, he is getting his just desserts.”

“plenty” is not a word to get amazed over unless you’re talking to a kid, in which you would only ever muster up faux amusement. Make the second line “Sounds like you’ve shown them to quite a few people…”

Was the second line an afterthought? Cuz that’s sure how it looks. The first sentence makes the line useless.

“the little cute ones”… Wow. That flows like a dam. And no, they said “kawaii”, not “chibi”. But even if they did, it would still be shit writing.

“We’ll start with the small and cute guns.”

She actually says Blah-blah-blah Beam here. If the audience hears an English word and there’s no significant value in changing it to something else (“Ray” could easily be replaced with “Beam”), then it’s a stupid move to change it.

This is a lot like hearing a Japanese say “Hello.” and going off and translating it as “Greetings.” Sure, the meaning is the same, but you still deserve to be lynched.

Now just because there were some stupid editing decisions doesn’t mean the script is garbage. These two lines, for example, were brilliantly handled. The Japanese script repeated “tama tama” and the English script repeated “happen”. But it wasn’t just happen; it was happenstance and happen, which made for better flow through intelligent wordchoice.

“Yare yare” as a basic, meaningless, out-of-place “Alright”?

Dark_Sage is confused.

He burned down a school in his confusion.

Blood’s on your hands, EC. Can’t blame this one on me.

“only one”? More like “one of the”. These are space pirates. They fucking nostalgiagasm over the original seven pirate ships. They’re not gonna be denigrating that shit like this.

So I guess your QC didn’t watch the preview?

“The tides of fate beckon this girl to a vast ocean.”

 

Watchability: Watchable.

Overall grade: B-

A lot of the problems with the script were more often due to poor phrasing than spelling/grammatical errors, which I guess is preferable to the alternative. Still, stupid editing decisions and godawful karaoke do much to bring this release down.

The  conversations which occasionally have a modicum of wit and the mostly good typesetting bring the release above WhyNot’s by a couple notches.

0 thoughts on “Fansub Review: [EC] Mouretsu Space Pirates (Episode 02)”

  1. “No, I don’t care what the name of the anime is. I’d rather know the name of the group, so thanks for that.”

    To be fair, it does say “Bodacious Space Pirates” in English right there.

    Reply
  2. Yeah, I really didn’t like those font choices (Neuropol, just shoot me now) and they badly need to set bigger margins. That one screenshot earlier in the review had more text than most 3-liners.

    Reply
  3. >Hardsubbed karaoke and signs
    >Hardsubbed group logo
    >Overly long subs with inadequate v/h padding

    It’s 2005 all over again.

    Reply
  4. Wow, that main dialogue font is horrid.

    >http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ECBodacious-Space-Pirates-02HD7C42F984.mkv_snapshot_03.52_2012.02.07_19.22.11.jpg

    Yep, this isn’t very hard to do and it’s a recurring and important sign.

    >http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ECBodacious-Space-Pirates-02HD7C42F984.mkv_snapshot_04.17_2012.02.07_19.23.03.jpg

    Why is this font square when the original is round?

    >http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ECBodacious-Space-Pirates-02HD7C42F984.mkv_snapshot_04.22_2012.02.07_19.23.23.jpg

    I can’t say any part of this is well done except the colors.

    >http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ECBodacious-Space-Pirates-02HD7C42F984.mkv_snapshot_10.30_2012.02.07_20.07.55.jpg

    This is actually a pretty nice way to do it but I think the color may be a bit off.

    >http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ECBodacious-Space-Pirates-02HD7C42F984.mkv_snapshot_11.24_2012.02.07_20.09.21.jpg

    Bluuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Also font is too thick.

    >http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ECBodacious-Space-Pirates-02HD7C42F984.mkv_snapshot_11.43_2012.02.07_20.10.03.jpg

    This would look way better with a mask (since I’m pretty sure this one doesn’t move).

    >http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ECBodacious-Space-Pirates-02HD7C42F984.mkv_snapshot_11.44_2012.02.07_20.10.11.jpg

    Probably could fit this above the line that’s above the text.

    >http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ECBodacious-Space-Pirates-02HD7C42F984.mkv_snapshot_12.35_2012.02.07_20.14.25.jpg

    I can’t say I’ve seen this in motion, but I’m pretty sure it would look better as two words or split in half.

    >http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ECBodacious-Space-Pirates-02HD7C42F984.mkv_snapshot_22.09_2012.02.07_21.34.47.jpg

    There is a lot wrong about this. Font should be round. Needs multiple layers. Too much blur.

    >http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ECBodacious-Space-Pirates-02HD7C42F984.mkv_snapshot_23.36_2012.02.07_21.38.47.jpg

    This is done by the animation studio unfortunately.

    >http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/ECBodacious-Space-Pirates-02HD7C42F984.mkv_snapshot_23.59_2012.02.07_21.39.33.jpg

    See above.

    Reply
  5. Couldn’t that “yare yare” have been translated as “Right then…” or “Well now…”?

    Actually I just went and looked at Commie’s translation, and “My, my… Is this the way you always reboot your ships?” doesn’t sound too bad.

    Don’t shoot me.

    Reply
    • That’s the standard translation. I’d actually lean toward “Oh my.” in that case instead of “My, my.” just because it shows more of his exasperation with the way the girls do things, but I wouldn’t count Commie’s version as wrong or necessary of change.

      Reply
  6. EC is known for terrible font choices. You should have saw their release of LOL Heroes. The font was this huge stretched out horizontal piece of shit and two lines took up a big portion of the screen.

    Reply

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