Fansub Review: [Commie] Muv-Luv Alternative – Total Eclipse (Episode 01v8)

This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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Okay, Muv-Luv is better than expected. I’ll give you all that.

Table of Contents

Release Information

Visual Quality

Script Quality

Results

Release Information

Episode details.

Release format: MKV (287 MB, 10-bit)

Japanesiness: No honorifics.

English style: American English.

Encoding details: http://pastebin.com/g9wrrXVV

Speed: Fast (<48 hours)

 

External links.

Group website: http://commiesubs.com/

IRC channel: #[email protected]

8thsin’s translation critique: N/A

Ji-hi’s screenshot comparisons: http://www.ji-hi.net/su12/muv-luv/

SubCompare screenshot comparisons: http://subcompare.com/muvluv/index.html

Commie’s fansub reviews: http://notredreviews.wordpress.com/summer-2012-reviews/#muvluv

 

Visual Quality

Karaoke.

Insert. I’ll allow it.

Ending. White text on a scrolling credits scene that only has white text. Sure. I liked how it was blacked off at the top so the credits didn’t interfere with the kara.

Rating: Good.

 

 

Typesetting.

This is important to typeset because it (presumably) gives the name of the weapon that could end the whole war. Yes, I’d fucking like to know this.

Sutai had some issues with the typesetting but I liked most of it.

 

Other.

{an8} this. No reason for your subs to bump into the credits.

Script Quality

Karaoke.

No issues.

 

Main Script.

This is awkward for an introduction line for the enemy.

“The BETA are aliens whose sole purpose is the eradication of humanity.”

I realize “BETA” is spoken last in the original Japanese line, but it’s better to have some that reads well than something that reads lock-step with the Japanese.

Eww.

“Overcoming these odds is the first step to becoming a competent pilot.”

This should be Surface Pilots. It was written that way later in the release.

The “The” in “The People’s Republic of China” should not be capitalized. While this is technically an error, I’m not a big fan of this “rule” in English, so I’m not gonna count it against them. Just, y’know, a heads up.

You all know how bad my timing is, right? This is worse.

Double foul. First one is that you can’t go “Oh yeah.” and then immediately go “Oh”. You just fucking Oh’d. You can’t have two Ohs apply to the same sentence unless it’s something like “Oh oh!” where the repetition serves as a display of excitement.

Second issue is that it should be “onboard” instead of “on board”.

Good question. Wait, “question”… Hmm, didn’t they invent a mark for these things? Could it have been called a “questionmaker mark”? Nah, sounds too stupid. Hmm, guess Commie’s right on this one.

Tsushima Strait. If you’re ever confused about these things, just google them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsushima_Strait will show you exactly how to grammaticalize it.

I resolved a season or two ago to stop bitching about super minor issues, but I thought I’d bring it up anyway (not counting this one against Commie). In British English, “towards” is acceptable. American English drops the “s” to make it “toward”.

So this should be “toward”.

If This Is All One Sentence Why Is Each Word Capitalized?

 

Results

Watchability: Watchable.

Visual grade: B+

Script grade: B-

Overall grade: B-

Not a bad release. Let’s try to get it down to v3 or lower next time, aight?

34 thoughts on “Fansub Review: [Commie] Muv-Luv Alternative – Total Eclipse (Episode 01v8)”

  1. Seriously? A v8? I thought Commie made fansubs, not engines.

    Also, I’m not overly convinced wiki’s the best way to go for the capitalisation of names because I’ve read articles on there that have had different caps for the place on the same page. So yeah, don’t trust wiki too much if you wanna get it right every time.

    Reply
    • Well, it’s not 100% accurate, but I like to use it as my first stop when I’m already sure of something but need to convince myself.

      And yeah, Commie had some issues with this release. I feel for whoever was doing distro because fucking up once is a bad feeling. 6 or 7 or 8 times though? Shit, when I got up to a v4 once, I pretty much said “Fuck it” and turned off my computer and went to sleep. That person musta felt terrible.

      Reply
      • >I pretty much said “Fuck it” and turned off my computer and went to sleep. That person musta felt terrible.

        Editor did that

        Reply
  2. “Why capitalize Northern Kyushu and then not do the same for Western Honshu? My brain is full of what? right now.”

    Because Northern Kyushu is an actual name for the collection of prefectures on the northern part of Kyushu. Nobody refers to the western part of Honshu (the main island of Japan) as Western Honshu.

    Reply
  3. ((Posting for Sutai cuz he’s too lazy))

    [&Sutai] I had problems with fonts that doesn’t match
    [&Sutai] and unreadable shit
    [&Sutai] http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Commie-Muv-Luv-Alternative-Total-Eclipse-01-8EA15F90.mkv_snapshot_11.30_2012.07.04_20.14.22.jpg
    [&Sutai] like this
    [&Sutai] w
    [&Sutai] and thats also arial.
    [&Sutai] http://www.crymore.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Commie-Muv-Luv-Alternative-Total-Eclipse-01-8EA15F90.mkv_snapshot_00.37_2012.07.04_13.49.23.jpg
    [&Sutai] this is something fansubbers neglect
    [&Sutai] but they should add an N before eradication
    [&Sutai] that looks like shit.

    [&Sutai] Just comment as if it was me.
    [&Sutai] w
    [&Sutai] weird line breaks really bother me though.
    [&Sutai] it yells “lazy”

    Reply
  4. > Second issue is that it should be “onboard” instead of “on board”.

    Sorry, no. “Onboard” is an adjective, not a preposition. You train on board a craft, with onboard computers.

    The “board” isn’t really necessary; “you’ll be training on actual Surface Fighters” would have done nicely. But that’s a separate issue.

    Reply
    • “About this time, someone is telling you to get on the plane. “Get on the plane. Get on the plane.” I say, “fuck you, I’m getting IN the plane! IN the plane! Let Evil Knievel get ON the plane! I’ll be in here with you folks in uniform! There seems to be less WIND in here!” ”

      Since we’re talking about separate issues. ;)

      Reply
      • Fair enough. “Training on” does have a certain connotation of “Here’s the manual, here’s the patch for MS Flight Simulator, go at it.” “Training in” is OK, but probably best would be “training with”.

        Of course we’re way beyond grammar corrections here.

        PS Evel Knievel, not Evil. But you knew that. :D

        Reply
        • I lazily copied the quote from IMDB without proofreading. ;)

          But yeah, “training with” would’ve been my preference in this construction.
          But since it does carry the risk of people thinking they’d be training with experienced pilots (never underestimate people’s ability to misunderstand and then raise a fuss about it), I would probably re-arrange it to “you’ll be using actual Surface Fighters in your training” or something like that. :p

          Reply
  5. Please review Tari Tari, I’m having trouble on who to choose to watch, there’s that new group called Sopranos and a joint by AnimeTL-Broken.

    Reply
    • I watched both Commie and Doki versions. I recommend Commie, their release reads much better and has less failed lines (but Doki has a Couple of clever lines for which Sage gave them a bonus). They probably just editing very solid CR script though. Also Commie decided to insert forever alone joke in their script. Kids and their stupid memes.

      Reply
      • The joke was in CR’s original script. I’m watching Commie’s and so far I’m impressed by what Crunchyroll did with the show. I don’t find it a stretch to imagine that I’ll be recommending either Commie or Sopranos for this show.

        Reply
        • Doki’s is also full of mistranslations (since they insisted on having their terrible translator translated from scratch even though they were unable to release before CR anyway, and didn’t even bother TLCing off CR after that came out), so you definitely shouldn’t recommend people watch that.

          Reply
          • I don’t want to recommend either release because they both have significant issues. Unfortunately, of those two, I had to make a recommendation and Doki seems to be the best bet. I went into considerable detail why I would choose Doki’s release over Commie’s in Commie’s Tari Tari review. It’s not a clear-cut decision in any way, but it was a call that I had to make. If a group manages to do a good job on Tari Tari, we won’t have to worry about this all, but one thing I’ve learned over all these fansub reviews is that one should never make assumptions about the quality of a group’s release before watching it.

            Reply
  6. hm… a bit reluctant to pick this one up, having played the original VN’s, this can only dissapoint i think… alternative had crazy production values for a VN, what to do, what to do…

    Reply
  7. FWIW, Commie was right to use an exclamation point for “What the hell are you doing!” It’s an exclamatory statement as well as a question. English grammar rules dictate using an exclamation point since using a question mark renders the statement as normal, unexcited speech.
    Actually, I was surprised Commie didn’t use “!?” or “?!” as the vast majority of fansubs (along with most manga scanlations and even published manga) do. It’s not correct, but I really don’t have a big issue with using “!?” for exclamatory questions. If that’s the only grammatical error in the subs, I’d be quite pleased (and surprised).
    Some have proposed a new punctuation symbol known as the Interrobang (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrobang), but it’s never been widely accepted.

    Reply
    • What style manual suggests question marks can be supplanted by exclamation marks? Or, for that matter, assign intonations to punctuation? I have a sneaking suspicion you pulled these ‘dictating grammar rules’ out your arse. Using a question mark and an exclamation mark in succession is much more readily accepted than just an exclamation mark.

      Reply
      • “Using a question mark and an exclamation mark in succession is much more readily accepted than just an exclamation mark.” Readily accepted by who? LOL – you criticize me for not having a source for my statement and then fail to present one yourself. Rather than thinking about my arse you should avoid learning rules of English grammar from manga and anime.

        The correct rule for English punctuation is to end a sentence with either a period, question mark OR, again OR, an exclamation point. Use of the word OR means than ONLY ONE of those listed should be used. (http://www.wikihow.com/Use-English-Punctuation-Correctly, and
        http://listverse.com/2007/10/12/top-10-rules-of-punctuation/ (#7))

        Directly stated

        “It is considered bad form to use a question mark in combination with other marks, although that is often done in informal prose in an attempt to convey complex tones: He told you what!? That combination (or similar combination) of punctuation marks is sometimes called an interrobang, but the interrobang currently has no role in academic prose
        (http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/question.htm#interrobang)”

        ADMITTEDLY, MY OWN preferance is for !? in one decides not to follow strict English rules of grammar (i.e. use only !) since the statement is primarily an exclamatory one. Also, please notice that the referenced quote also used the same order as I prefer.

        Reply
        • Correction, since I already wasted 30 minutes of my life to reply, I didn’t take the time to proof my post. That should read “MY OWN preference is for !? IF (not “in”) one decides…”

          Reply

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