Fansub Review: [Commie] Psycho-Pass (Episode 01)

This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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Show has potential, but $5 says it turns into another Un-Go.

Table of Contents

Release Information

Visual Quality

Script Quality

Results

Release Information

Episode details.

Release format: MKV (213 MB, 10-bit)

Japanesiness: No honorifics. Japanese name order.

English style: American English, mostly.

Encoding details: http://pastebin.com/M9U9PpKF

Speed: Quick (<48 hours)

 

External links.

Group website: http://commiesubs.com/

IRC channel: #[email protected]

SubCompare screenshot comparisons: http://www.subcompare.com/psycho_pass/

Commie’s fansub reviews: http://notredreviews.wordpress.com/autumn-2012-reviews/

 

Visual Review

Karaoke.

Insert song was left untranslated. Well, I guess it’s the OP song, but it played over the show itself, so I’m considering it an insert.

All right, I can’t explain this one away as an insert. This was a full ED which went untranslated.

I know many of you don’t care about OPs/EDs, but they do affect my scores (especially the visuals section) to a noticeable degree.

 

Typesetting.

Why not put this further up so

this doesn’t happen?

 

Script Review

Karaoke.

The songs were left untranslated.

 

Main Script.

Is Sibyl Judgement a person? Or is it an enforcement program? (In which case, “Sibyl’s Judgment” would make more sense.)

This show is filled with so much show-specific terminology that it’s almost impossible to tell which. This is not at all an issue with the subs; it’s just something I felt the need to mention.

Because the script is laden with its own set of terms that correspond to the world of Psycho-Pass, it’s much more difficult to analyze whether a line is good or not compared to other shows. Just a heads up on why the review may seem light on content.

“Yes” is not really a human response here. “S-Same here.” or “Y-You too.” would be much more appropriate as they are actual responses to a phrase like “Looking forward to working with you.”

It’s not under by 60; 60 is the point at which a criminal can be shot. If it were under by 60, then the crime coefficient would be 0. But as the screen displays, his crime coefficient is 52.1.

“Crime Coefficient is under 60.”

Again, it’s not over by 120. It’s over 120. His crime coefficient is 127.4.

“Crime Coefficient is over 120.”

And you get the gist, this happens again more at 13:54 and 18:03.

Inconsistent word use. “judgement” is used elsewhere in the episode. What’s the difference between the two? Judgement is British English and Judgment is American English. Not that it particularly matters; either one is understood by either audience.

For those who aren’t aware… in Spanish, cojones = balls (as in testicles). It’s become almost interchangeable with the word in common American English vernacular.

Yes, I’m trying to pad out the review. Sue me. It’s difficult to talk about quality lines in a show that’s so terminology-dependent. And I would talk about the editing changes, but comparing the original to the new one, even with the transcript provided to me, would take way too long for too little benefit. I’d rather get on another review. Oh, and look at that. We’re at the end already. To the results!

 

Results

Watchability: Watchable.

Visual grade: D+

Script grade: C+

Overall grade: C+

The overall grade would be a B+ if I didn’t factor in karaoke to my scores. Unfortunately for this review’s score, I do. Whether you disagree with that or not is irrelevant. I’m holding all groups to the same standard on this — I think having karaoke is a legitimate expectation for a fansub group.

Now, Commie mentioned on their site they will add in karaoke when the official lyrics come out. Apparently the OP/ED are regarded as nonsensical by three of their TLs. They want to make sure they get it right. Admirable. But I’m not going to operate on the assumption that their karaoke will be any given quality.

However, the circumstances indicate to me that judging them solely on this is a bit unfair. So I’m heavily considering giving them a re-review when they do decide to add karaoke in. I think that’s a solid compromise (official grades are overwritten with re-reviews).

But for now, the score will stand. If you don’t care about karaoke, this is a solid release. And if you do, hold out for the hope that another group will sub this or that it will be added soon to future Commie releases.

28 thoughts on “Fansub Review: [Commie] Psycho-Pass (Episode 01)”

  1. So are Commie the only ones doing this at this point then? Ever since the site I used to use started just listing “Cruncyroll” on everything that’s licensed I have a hard time keeping track of which groups are doing what lol.

    Reply
      • Never heard of them, which doesn’t bode well, but maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll be god tier? Haha right, and maybe I’ll win the Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes.

        Reply
          • Strange they’d surface again after so long just for this show, which isn’t even very good to begin with, but hey, whatever floats their boat. Maybe they’ll do a credible job with it.

            Reply
            • We’ll see. They said they were doing an original translation on it. I hope they’re oldsubs in the style of Taka (pure quality) instead of along the lines of Eclipse (no editing).

              Reply
              • Oooooh original translation, quite a novelty in this day and age. So I will prepare myself accordingly and expect it to either be an amazing labor of love or a complete trainwreck.

                Reply
                • Genjo already released the first ep of Magi. Like Magi, where Genjo was the only group to sub the ed, we’ll have translations for the op and ed on Psycho-pass too. The release will probably be tomorrow or the next day. We didn’t plan to work on this show originally, so it’s a slow start.

                  Reply
    • Ah, after a quick google search it looks like yeah, they are the only ones at this point. Actually looks like fansubs are a bit thin on the ground this season, a lot of shows only have 1 group doing it if that.

      Reply
    • Given that the original line from Funi was “You’ve sure got some big ones, don’t you, Ko?” I don’t really see the problem. But hey, whatever makes you happy.

      Reply
    • Oh no, my anime dialog reflects how people actually talk; why would fansubbers do this to me?

      I guess it’s because it’s commie. It can’t be helped.

      Reply
    • I wasn’t familiar with the word “cojones” to be honest but now that I know what it means; I find it congenial with the anime’s settings and characters.
      This is exactly what sets Commie apart from other competitors, their editing style–Xythar’s in particular–combined with their clever sense of humor… But of course, I don’t expect literal buffs to appreciate it.

      Reply
  2. Doesn’t look like subs were edited (except for cojones and typesetting), I’m sticking with HS, waiting for review of Genjo.

    Reply
    • Uh, yeah, they were edited pretty heavily. I can give you both scripts if you want to see them, but I spent a good 2-3 hours on this.

      Funi screwed up their encodes by expanding the output range so far, meaning that everything ended up way too dark. See: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/151675

      Also, they’re hardsubbed.

      If you really can’t wait a few extra hours then I won’t hold it against you, but I really don’t see why you wouldn’t.

      Reply
      • When I first saw those dark scenes I was worried that there might be something wrong with my screen but it was the same on second one so I came to conclusion it’s supposed to look like that. Wow, you really improved it. This is enough of a reason to wait.
        http://puu.sh/1f5Vj <- I wish it was readable but I admit, quite much was changed.
        Thanks, you changed my mind.

        Reply
  3. Thanks to a helpful commenter on our blog and the magic of audio filtering we managed to figure out the songs. Expect them next week.

    Reply
  4. >In any case, he’s a latent criminal; one far enough gone that we don’t need to wait for Sibyl Judgment.

    DS, I know you have a hard-on for semicolons, but you missed the obvious error. Xythar, the last clause is dependent and should be connected by a comma or an em-dash.
    Re the idea that “Sibyl Judgement” could refer to a person: the sibyls were mythical oracles, so to approps name a character that, sans joke, might be too brazen even for anime. Of course if the Inspector is referring to a decree from Judge Sibyl, then the text should be “Sibyl’s judgement”

    Reply

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