[Official/KAA] Gunslinger Girl – 01 (DVD)

This post was written by Calyrica. She is not Dark_Sage.


If you haven’t seen this series, you really should.

I used Exiled-Destiny for the official subs, by the way.

Before we get to the review, there’s something I need to note. For the most part, the manga and the anime have the same names. The only difference is with Guiseppe (manga) and Jose (anime). This difference is pretty much accepted by the fans, but these subs didn’t quite treat things that way…

A second note is that the official subs are really really bad about matching dialogue to audio. There are scenes where there’s no talking in the Japanese, but there are subs on the screen, and vice versa. It’s very difficult to watch.

A third note, if for some reason you do want the E-D version, they call this series “Gunslinger Girls”. /me facepalm.

Official (via Exiled-Destiny)

Filesize: 233mb
English: American, no honorifics

Karaoke

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_00.23_[2013.07.21_15.37.17]

OP is in English to start with.

No ED. Apparently, Italian is too hard to translate.

Typesetting

Nothing to note. All signs are already in English or at least Italian.

Script

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_02.24_[2013.07.21_15.38.36]

They are not the only fratello, so you need to put an ‘a’ in there. There are multiple fratello.

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_02.57_[2013.07.21_15.39.12]

“I suggest” and “we might” do not agree. Also, whose safety are they talking about?

> I suggest, for our safety, that we take down all of their safehouses.> For our safety, it might be a good idea to take down all of their safehouses.

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_03.03_[2013.07.21_15.39.21]

See? Multiple fratello. Also a note of the use of “Hilshire” as the name. This is the acceptable spelling, as used in the manga.

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_03.51_[2013.07.21_15.40.34]

This is how they do alt styling. Also, three-liner.

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_06.26_[2013.07.21_15.43.11]

Don’t put a comma after a conjunction.

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_06.29_[2013.07.21_15.43.27]

Need a comma after “yeah”.

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_07.24_[2013.07.21_15.44.42]

I think he actually uses the guy’s name here in the audio.

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_07.49_[2013.07.21_15.45.19]

Comma not necessary, but the phrasing’s not good, anyway.

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_16.40_[2013.07.21_15.56.47]

A bigger collar would just fall off. I think he means “tighter”.

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_18.11_[2013.07.21_15.58.21]

Terrible, terrible phrasing.

> Her family was murdered before her very eyes. // How would you get over something like that?

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_19.49_[2013.07.21_16.04.51]

The rule of possessive apostrophes when the word ends in an ‘s’ differs depending on the style manual you use. However, since ‘room’ does not begin with an ‘s’, most style manuals would follow the normal ‘s rule.

[Exiled-Destiny]_Gunslinger_Girls_Ep01_(66BD5030).mkv_snapshot_21.18_[2013.07.21_16.06.29]

This is not how you em dash.

 

KickAssAnime

Filesize: 268mb
English: American, no honorifics.

Karaoke

KAA didn’t even bother to include the English lyrics, and the Italian ED was too hard for them, too.

Typesetting

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_00.17_[2013.07.21_15.14.48]

Okay, cool, let’s cover up the beginning of the OP with a logo whose font doesn’t even stylistically match the show!

Script

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_02.24_[2013.07.21_15.15.51]

Same issue was with the official script here.

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_03.03_[2013.07.21_15.39.36]

Hirscher is NOT his name. It’s Hilshire for god’s sake!

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_03.50_[2013.07.21_15.17.34]

Here’s the alt style. Also, that’s not how you em dash.

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_05.19_[2013.07.21_15.19.07]

Wow, this is clunky.

> Apparently, a young girl showed up over there.

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_06.21_[2013.07.21_15.20.22]

What’s = What is

I think you want “What does”.

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_12.46_[2013.07.21_15.27.05]

“The sight” implies it’s like a magic power or some shit.

> Don’t rely on your eyes during practice.

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_14.54_[2013.07.21_15.29.17]

I believe back-up is hyphenated.

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_17.30_[2013.07.21_15.31.55]

Two things. First, handler shouldn’t be capitalized. Second, his name is Jose.

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_18.12_[2013.07.21_15.32.38]

Don’t hyphen or even em dash here. It’s two sentences.

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_18.21_[2013.07.21_15.32.50]

Oh, god. Same thing as before.

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_19.49_[2013.07.21_15.34.27]

Same thing here as with the official subs. Claes’s.

Gunslinger_Girl_01.DVD(AAC.H264)[KAA][6BD6EC44].mkv_snapshot_20.21_[2013.07.21_15.35.02]

This line really sucks.

> I’d hate it if someone were that devoted to me!

 

tl;dr: Both releases suck horribly, but the official subs are unwatchable due to the audio/sub mismatch. I guess you’re stuck with KAA, but really, they’re not at all good.

25 thoughts on “[Official/KAA] Gunslinger Girl – 01 (DVD)”

  1. When used as a noun and not a verb, “back up” is wrong, but “backup” seems to be a lot more common than “back-up” these days. The verb is always used with a space.

    Reply
  2. >This is the acceptable spelling, as used in the manga.
    >Hirscher is NOT his name. It’s Hilshire for god’s sake!

    Are you talking about an English-language release or the Japanese original? If it’s the translation, I can’t get behind this ad auctoritatem of yours; and if it’s the Japanese original, it raises the interesting question of how to deal with obvious Engrish and mistransliterations in editing.

    The thing is: “Hilshire” is mos def not a German name whereas the person wearing the name very much is. Since the mangaka never introduced a biographical reason why he would have an English-y name as a German, we can safely assume that “Hirscher” is what Aida was shooting for; it’s a very good fit phonetically, and it actually exists as a name, too! Nice package deal.

    If your argument is based on the English translation of the manga, consider the possibility that the transltor simply might have fucked it up, which also means that resorting to its authority is no good. The German publisher, by the way, knew that it couldn’t sell “Hilshire” to the manga’s readership and naturally went with “Hirscher”.

    And even if “Hilshire” was transliterated like that in the original manga at one point, I’d argue that unfucking the name is totally cool and a service to the readers and viewers.

    Reply
      • >I don’t know why you’re talking all about German when the anime/manga is set in Italy.

        Probably because Victor is German.

        Reply
        • Well, I was just listing it because it gave the official romanization. That’s all.

          I just think that if the official spelling exists, there’s no reason for a group not to use it. Unless we want to go all Aeris/Aerith, though that was a fuck-up with the original localization team and was corrected. There’s not been such a correction here.

          Reply
          • Well, again, what constitutes official and what are we to do with obvious mistakes?

            I’d argue that unless there is an instance of “Hilshire” in the Japanese original (on a file or a phone display or wherever), all we have to go with is ヒルシャ since I don’t consider a translation to be authoritative. All the more when it comes to very obvious mistakes in romanization like this one here. “Hirscher” is not only as legit as “Hilshire” then, it also comes with the upside of making so much more sense: It’s a German name for a German dude.

            (I have no idea what to do with your remark that the story is set in Italy.)

            Reply
          • You also have to factor in that KAA (being an old group) probably subbed this at the time when there was no official romanization (i.e. before the series got licensed), so in effect, you’re marking them down for information they didn’t have at the time :S

            Reply
    • Eh, the dub has everyone male sighing in this deadpan tone the whole time, it’s irritating to listen to. I can’t remember that clearly, but I think Henrietta was okay, Triela was good and one of the other girls – Rico? – was just awful. The acting is good overall, though – it just sounds like every character is trying to out-that CSI Miami guy that CSI Miami guy.

      Reply
  3. The Funimation Blu-ray release has a redone translation. The “I suggest, for safety” line about safehouses is rendered as “I take it we’ll need to storm their hideouts?” I can hear the word やはり, so it sounds to my amateur ear like it’s more accurate. It certainly reads more nicely. “And, I would love to get an exclusive” is “I was hoping to get an interview with him…” “Yeah well, there ain’t nobody here by that name” is the more accurately-punctuated and -translated “He’s not here. You got the wrong address.”

    Weirdly, it uses Hirscher and Giuse. Amusingly, the Seven Seas release of the manga – also apparently a new translation, though I’ve never read the original – uses Jose and Hilshire – later releases of anime and manga have swapped the naming conventions.

    Reply
    • Jesus fuck. What.

      I’m curious on how the audio/sub matchup is. There was a scene in this first ep where they’re panning the street and these civilians are hanging up their laundry. There’s no Japanese dialogue, but there were subs of some stupid smalltalk conversation. Drove me up a wall. Anything like that?

      Reply
      • Not that I noticed. I haven’t watched the first series since I saw it fansubbed last year, I just chucked on the first episode out of curiosity cause I remembered the spelling was different in the subtitles for the second season, which I did watch on Blu-ray after the first season prompted me to buy the series.

        The street-panning scene near the start has the operatives discussing the mission in both audio and subtitles, I don’t think they did anything weird there.

        Reply
  4. A second note is that the official subs are really really bad about matching dialogue to audio.

    Surely you encountered dubtitles before?

    Reply

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