Fansub Review: [SubDESU] Senran Kagura (Episode 01)

This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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SubDesu, ShitSubs. Same as it ever was.

Table of Contents

Release Information

Visual Quality

Script Quality

Results

Release Information

Episode details.

Release format: MKV (411 MB, 8-bit)

Japanesiness: It’s SubDesu. What do you think?

English style: SubDesu.

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

Speed: Quick (<48 hours), but raws would be quicker

 

External links.

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

IRC channel: #[email protected]

SubCompare screenshot comparisons: http://www.subcompare.com/senran_kagura (not up yet)

Commie’s fansub reviews: http://notredrevie.ws/ (Not sure if they’re planning to keep doing this.)

 

Visual Review

Karaoke.

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_02.53_[2013.01.09_09.40.47] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_03.09_[2013.01.09_09.41.43]

Opening. Wow, none of the three lines are decent.

Rating: Terrible.

 

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_22.55_[2013.01.09_09.43.17] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_23.20_[2013.01.09_09.43.49]

Ending. What were they thinking with that kanji and Engrish?

Rating: Bad.

 

Typesetting.

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_03.51_[2013.01.08_00.05.20] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_09.14_[2013.01.08_00.32.54] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_09.57_[2013.01.08_00.34.37] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_09.57_[2013.01.08_00.34.44] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_09.57_[2013.01.08_00.34.50] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_13.34_[2013.01.08_11.30.25] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_13.49_[2013.01.08_11.31.00] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_13.55_[2013.01.08_11.31.17] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_15.44_[2013.01.08_11.34.50] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_17.41_[2013.01.08_11.37.18] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_18.14_[2013.01.08_11.38.15] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_19.02_[2013.01.08_11.40.40] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_23.46_[2013.01.08_11.48.19]

I think I liked the lamps the best. Fantastic color-matching from SubDesu there.

 

Other.

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_03.39_[2013.01.08_00.04.57]

Rule of thumb: if a group includes sponsor screens in their releases, avoiding them would likely be prudent.

 

 

Script Review

Karaoke.

Too much fucked up in the main script to worry about this. Seriously, I ended up taking close to a hundred screenshots and I even had to avoid bringing up where they missed ending punctuation just to keep this review to a reasonable length.

 

This fucking intro sequence

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_01.42_[2013.01.08_00.01.27] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_01.45_[2013.01.08_00.01.41] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_01.48_[2013.01.08_00.02.10] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_01.50_[2013.01.08_00.01.54] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_01.55_[2013.01.08_00.02.35] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_02.04_[2013.01.08_00.04.43]

TL noting “shinobi”, capitalizing “Ninjas”, using commas for non-grammatical pauses, saying that shinobi “dispatch quests”, and that last fucking sentence… Goddamn. It really sets the tone for the things to come.

 

Space-Punctuation

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_14.27_[2013.01.08_11.32.58] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_18.04_[2013.01.08_11.37.55] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_18.28_[2013.01.08_11.38.39]

 

You Know?

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_14.19_[2013.01.08_11.32.12] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_15.06_[2013.01.08_11.33.54] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_15.08_[2013.01.08_11.34.02]

All over a one-minute period. And in not one of these sentences is “you know” really acceptable. The second is arguable, but the other two are not. This group is fucking obsessed with the phrase.

 

Capitalization

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_08.27_[2013.01.08_00.30.54] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_09.07_[2013.01.08_00.32.29] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_18.38_[2013.01.08_11.39.24] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_12.45_[2013.01.08_11.28.19]

 

Forcing line overlaps when there shouldn’t be any

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_09.31_[2013.01.08_00.33.54] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_11.39_[2013.01.08_11.25.19]

 

General “What?”-ery

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_06.41_[2013.01.08_00.28.05]

Tons of other grammatical fuck-ups, but I think this one says it best.

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_13.22_[2013.01.08_11.29.51]

I don’t see why you’d call them your seniors when they… already graduated. “predecessors” would work.

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_13.29_[2013.01.08_11.30.12]

Inversely difficult would be… easy? But that’s not what she’s saying at all. What are you doing?

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_14.01_[2013.01.08_11.31.30]

The best part about this is that it’s clearly intentional.

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_14.16_[2013.01.08_11.31.55]

Natural English right here.

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_18.50_[2013.01.08_11.40.13]

Please, no more.

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_21.46_[2013.01.08_11.46.08]

You mean “skilled shinobi”?

 

And of course…

 

Translations!

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_06.03_[2013.01.08_00.26.41]

Their translator is named Chris. I think Chris screwed up.

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_08.40_[2013.01.08_00.31.19]

Ooh, sorry, the correct term was “substitution technique”, not “cicada cast off”. Very, very close though.

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_20.34_[2013.01.08_11.43.44]

Uhh, no, their opponent ambushed them with dolls that were masquerading as delinquents. How the fuck did you not understand that? I realize you don’t know Japanese, but this isn’t a difficult anime to “get”.

[SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_10.15_[2013.01.08_00.35.38] [SubDESU] Senran Kagura - 01 (1280x720 x264 AAC)[0D79041E].mkv_snapshot_10.18_[2013.01.08_00.35.46]

Desu

Stop encouraging them. Please.

 

 

 

Results

Watchability: SubDesu Defense Force: You can claim you’re not watching SubDesu’s version for the subs all you want, but fact is, you didn’t download a raw to watch this show. Keep making excuses, but if you thought this release was watchable, you’re an idiot.

Visual grade: D-

Script grade: F

Overall grade: F

If you’re wondering why this review took so long to get out, it’s because sometimes groups have releases that are so bad they drain your soul. It takes a concentrated effort by a failsub to reach the point where every second I spend on them is one second I get closer to bringing a gun to my head, but SubDesu generally manages to hit that point.
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98 thoughts on “Fansub Review: [SubDESU] Senran Kagura (Episode 01)”

    • I like to save such title changes for instances where they’re truly necessary. Bad as it is, this release doesn’t come close to matching some of Hadena’s shit last season.

      Reply
  1. Worst thing is, there are plenty of official subs and dubs that have “you know” and such as a translation for idiosyncratic sentence endings in every fucking sentence.

    Reply
    • They’re 15 seconds of a generally terrible static image that doesn’t need to be there. Sometimes comedy anime play around with it, which makes the sponsor screens worth including, but there’s no value in having a terrible screencap up on the screen while sponsors are listed.

      Sponsor screens are both a waste of space and time and should be left in the past. (I would like to note that I don’t count them against groups, though. I just like bitching about it.)

      Reply
  2. Putting a translation note for what a Shinobi dumb. Failure much?

    If they don’t think most people don’t know what a Shinobi is then they just should’ve went with Ninja.

    Reply
        • Really? Why are you asking an editor to find you Japanese sources? Oh, right, because if I don’t speak Japanese that means I’m not allowed to criticize scripts. I do so love your logic.

          I can only tell you what makes sense based on the context, and “beautiful” does not make sense.

          Reply
        • Think of it like this…

          Bob is a man of evil character. -> Bob is an evil bastard.

          Joe is a man of beautiful character. -> Joe is a nice guy.

          Reply
        • My editing knowledge is only ever not useful when I can’t tell the meaning of a given line. And I certainly understood the meaning here.

          You made no argument for why “beautiful” is a better translation other than “I have a Japanese dictionary that tells me you’re wrong.” (Well, you didn’t actually say that. You just like to imply things in your arguments, which is a pretty pathetic way to operate.) That would be a decent excuse if translations were ciphers, but they aren’t.

          It appears you’re completely out of your element when it comes to interpreting meaning and understanding context, which is not exactly a good thing for someone who portrays himself as a TL.

          Reply
          • I agree with the whole rest of your review, but there’s no context in which “kirei na hito” means “a nice person”.

            The context of the scene is that Pink Haired McTits trips backwards and is caught by Evil Doll Ojousama McTits who says how cute she is. She pauses for a moment, turns left and stares at EDOM for a moment who then makes her leave, before breathing out ああ。。。きれいな人。。。

            She’s definitely admiring her looks, and her tone of voice matches that as well.

            Reply
        • I rather like how you respond to danger; very aggressively. In and of itself that’s not very uncommon on the internet, but it makes these discussions less objectionable for me ethically.

          Let’s do it like this.

          I’m betting you 10€, or whatever that corresponds to across the pond these days, that five reputable translators, upon being asked whether this line refers to beauty or character, will answer “beauty”. I’ll /msg you my PayPal on rizon if you accept.

          Reply
        • If I didn’t respond to your ad hominem attacks with capitulation, why would I respond that way to argumentum ad populum? Frankly, I don’t care how many Commie devs you find that operate on your tier.

          About the only fansub TL whose opinion on this I would trust above my own would be lyger. So if you want him to be the tiebreaker here, I’m in.

          One condition though: the money doesn’t go to either one of us; loser donates to the winner’s charity. Keeping with theme of this site, we could make it anime-related or literacy-related.

          Reply
  3. I never knew that the word “kirei” could mean ‘nice’ as well in certain cases. Or is it just that you’re advising them to use the word “nice” since it suits the context more?

    Reply
          • Are you going to review Hiryuu’s sub of it?

            I don’t know if Hiryuu’s is any better but compared to SubDesu’s Engrish and Commie’s localization I think Hiryuu’s has a better chance at being good.

            Reply
              • This is exactly what annoys me as how you don’t consider Ninja as localizing when Shinobi is what is being said. After watching a lot of anime that Commie subs and then compare it to others or even having a basic understanding of Japanese its easy to see that a lot of the subs are off or just plain wrong. The most recent example I could think of is Busou Shinki where somehow both Pochi and Tatmami speaks in puns when with a basic understanding of Japanese you can clearly hear that is not what is being said.

                Reply
                • Yes, it doesn’t match what is being said. Just like all the other Japanese words that we translate.

                  You know, that thing that subtitles are supposed to do?

                  Reply
                  • There is a big difference between translating the Japanese word to its closest English counterpart and just changing so the subs hardly even match the dialogue. My example using Busou Shinki is exactly proves my point that the subs and what is being said is just too far off and that isn’t how subbing should be done.

                    If the character isn’t talking in puns then why bother subbing it like that when you can just sub it normally. For example if the closest Japanese translation is “This is making my very mad -nya” then why does it become “This is making be berry mad”?

                    Reply
                • Also, to pre-empt any further hurfdurfing about “translating Japanese to Japanese” or whatever:
                  http://i.imgur.com/mYREf.png

                  Localisation can mean changing the setting of the work to appear more “local” to the viewer, or replacing specific cultural references with different ones that are culturally equivalent to the target audience. It does not, however, refer to translating a word that you happen to know the meaning of.

                  Reply
                  • It still doesn’t change that they refer to themself in the anime as “shinobi” and not “ninja”. The only other ninja anime I watched was 2×2=Shinobuden and in there they were referred to as ninja and was translated as so. Accuracy and sentence flow is what makes a good sub not being as liberal as you can just because you couldn’t get the sentence flowing in the first place.

                    Reply
                    • They also refer to themselves as “watashi” but we translate that to “I”. I know, it’s like some nonstop spectacle of localisation.

                    • There is a difference in that. As you can translate normal speech but if someone is referred to as something that must remain the same. If they called themself “ninja” then there would be no objection to using ninja but they don’t and use “shinobi” as a term that describes them so a better way would’ve been either to leave it alone or use a TL and say it means ninja in this sense rather than just change it so the subs aren’t matching up to the spoken dialogue.

                      Wouldn’t oni and tengu have a better translation as demons instead of fiends?

                    • I agree with you. I think it should remain “shinobi”. But I also think it’s more translation style than error so I didn’t count it against Commie.

                      My baka oni tengu shit was just me having fun with no actual point behind it.

                    • Again, just because shinobi is a word you recognise, doesn’t mean that it should be left in. Like I’ve already said, plenty of people don’t make the shinobi>ninja connection.

                      Besides, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/shinobi?s=t vs http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ninja?s=ts

                      Furthermore – surprising as it may be – the entire show is, in fact, in Japanese. They don’t speak a lick of English, nor refer to anything in English at all. They go “temaki oishii” as opposed to “yummy sushi roll” etc. You don’t seem to have a problem when there’re other English words in the subs though. Why’s that? Don’t know the Jap and need English instead so that you understand it right? Figured as much.

                    • I do have a good basic understanding of Japanese and that is why I make my point. Some things can be translated well like your example while some can’t and the whole shinobi vs ninja is one of them and I did say earlier that it can be fixed early on with a TL Note rather than fully changing the subs to not match the dialogue.

                      I have my own complaints with Hiryuu’s sub as well and that they use weird american terms instead of first-year or third-year which is easier to understand for those that hasn’t been americanized.

                      @Dark_Sage – I’m aware that its more of a translation style and that is why i’m criticizing it because after watching several different anime subbed by Commie, it usually is the same so called “translation style” that makes up for a lot of the scripting errors.

                    • I don’t want to waste my time here arguing with you, but this is the dumbest fucking complaint that’s been made on this site in a long time.

                      Shinobi and ninja are the same goddamn thing, but the former isn’t an actual English word. While the case could be made that shinobi doesn’t necessarily need to be translated, saying Commie is /wrong/ for doing so is absolutely retarded. Going on to propose the use of a TL note instead is mind-boggling and suggests the existence of people dumber than I ever believed possible.

                    • SubDesu’s TL note is the worst possible approach. It’s almost “KEIKAKU MEANS PLAN” level stupid.

                      Either you figure your audience knows what “shinobi” means and you leave it in (as Hiryuu did) or you figure they don’t and translate it to something more recognisable. If you think the word is confusing enough to require a TL note, don’t use it in the first place.

                    • Why didn’t you translate it to assassin if you were gonna translate it?

                      I think personally I would have left it as shinobi (not sure how this word hasn’t caught on after the game – I’m guessing because we’d already taken ninja and didn’t need another word for it) but I understand the reasons to change. It just seems… an odd localisation.

                • TBH, I’d expect gripes about stuff like sushi roll (food always seems to be contentious) and in-universe terminology instead. Shinobi to ninja’s a pretty straightforward case.

                  Reply
              • Why would you need to change shinobi to ninja or note it anyway? Surely anyone who’s anyone remembers the Sega game they made called Shinobi back in the 90s? So what’s the issue?

                Reply
                  • Wow, sucks to be them. The 90s were fun. Also, fun fact: wiki-ing Shinobi takes you to the game series before the page for ninja :D

                    Reply
                    • That, in fact, was why ninja was opted for instead. Also because after extensive questioning around on IRC not a single person made the shinobi > ninja link (though a few did mention the game).

                    • When I hear ‘shinobi’ I think of Naruto. I’m going to assume that most people here have seen at least one episode of Naruto in English and after that it’s kind of hard not to make the connection between ninja and shinobi. However, with my very little knowledge about anything, I feel that both translations (or romanizations) could work. What would be better? I don’t know. The biggest thing would be to stay consistent throughout the release.

  4. I downloaded SubDESU because I could easily copy-paste the romaji and pass them to my translator because he is lazy like that. I didn’t look at any translation, though.

    Does that count as an excuse?

    Oh, and I *did* download a RAW to watch this show, except it wasn’t this one.

    Reply
      • It’s still less work when I just have to compare their transcription with what I hear than hearing myself. At least that’s what I think.

        Dunno, I’m not a translator.

        Reply
  5. I know you like you change up the review style when you get bored, and this format actually worked pretty well. Would be nice to see it again for releases that repeat the same types of errors throughout the episode for those mistakes where there’s just not much to say other than it’s wrong (like bad punctuation).

    It might even save you a bit of time, since you wouldn’t have to screen-cap every instance of a comma splice or spacing issues.

    Reply
  6. It was great fun to watch a group of westerners discuss about the possible usage of a mild Japanese word.
    In the island, perhaps not only limited to that place, it’s jokingly considered a beautiful person also owns a heart of gold. Thus an ungrounded formula lifts its head: 綺麗な人=良い人
    Maybe D_S was trying to hint at that kind of preconceived notions people tend to have.

    Reply
  7. I’ll just make a copy of Hiryuu’s subs and re-edit it to my personal standard of quality. Solves any problem I have with TL.

    Reply
    • I watched through Hiryuu’s sub and to be honest it only has a few mistakes like using freshman instead of first year which if you aren’t from america you would have no idea what it means, cause I certainly don’t until google answered my question.

      Reply
      • Using Freshman isn’t wrong it’s just a different localization. Just like British English uses ‘petrol’ and American English uses ‘gas.’

        Reply
        • While it’s not wrong, per se, it is often considered undesirable as it is unintuitive and specific to one form of English. “First-year” and such, while not used in English speaking countries as far as I know, can be seen to logically refer to the first year of a school. Contrast with terms such as “sophomore”, whose meaning I neither know nor care.

          Reply
          • It may just be my ignorant opinion since English is my 2nd language, but isn’t “sophomore” only used when it’s a 4-year school while a 3-year school would have used: Freshman->Junior->Senior instead?

            Given how two 3rd-year characters are 17&18 years old respectively, can Hanzo Academy really be a 4-year school?

            Reply
              • Japanese high (and middle) schools all have three years.
                In those cases sophomore and junior are both correct – and since I don’t like the term “junior”, it gets dropped.

                Reply
              • This is the whole problem that this entire comment thread is predicated on… compulsory education is different in every nation, so therefore schools in each country split students differently by age. Japan has 3-year high-schools… America has 4-year schools. We also use those terms to refer to our college education. Think globally, translate locally? =P

                Reply
  8. ….
    And thats why the fansubbing community goes to shit.
    Too much nagging, too much bullshit.
    People themselfs will figure out what to download and what not.

    Yah, I encode for SubDesu, but I don’t give a crap about translation/typesetting.
    As long as I kinda understand what the fuck is up at a scene, then it should be fine.

    Reviews are nice to read, but not if you can only finger your way into the nasty stuff, sofar you didn’t said anything about the encoding quality either, but eitherway, if it’s a BluRay rip, mostly I am responsible for the encoding quality, which, by far is the best compared to most fansub groups who fuck the shit up with compression on dark stuff which make it look like shit and such.

    Anyway, take this review not too uptight, since I didn’t either, but anyway, I got this URL given by a friend of mine ^^.

    Reply

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