Anime documentary

[ainsoph9]

So, apparently, Starz! did a documentary on anime. I watched it today. Although I would not recommend it for children, I would have to say that it was interesting and pretty accurate of the world of anime in terms of its influence on American culture. The documentary is called "Anime: Drawing the Revolution." Watch it if you can. Just keep in mind that there are some "scenes."

[QCTX]

Is there any link on youtube ? Or torrent ?

[ainsoph9]

PM me if you want the link.

[ben1234]

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUYlqLlbix0
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoJ_BWQ9Kow
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFu9lh37X34
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8oYz1dP0-k
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED3HAEjKUl0

A 5 part series of a recent documentary about fansubs.

[TheGiftedMonkey]

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUYlqLlbix0
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoJ_BWQ9Kow
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFu9lh37X34
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8oYz1dP0-k
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED3HAEjKUl0

A 5 part series of a recent documentary about fansubs.

Dyn0m1te and I thoroughly enjoyed that Ben. Really opens your eyes to all that crap that has weaseled its way into our anime.

[ben1234]

Here's hoping some groups will start changing the way they do things after watching that.

[Kaisos Erranon]

Wow.

I just watched the first few seconds of each part, and read a few comments. and already I know everything that he's complaining about.

His opinions fail. Cases in point:

a) Not all sub groups are that terrible with text cluttering. Most of the older and more respected ones are good about this.

b) So we're supposed to not have English translations of signs? Not all of us can read Japanese.

c) I LIKE the karaoke effects. >_> It's how I learned the Dango Song.

d) Directly translating honorifics and cultural artifacts sounds very, very stupid in English. (Miss Asahina!) Sure, they shouldn't put in the damned pop-up notes, but...

e) Localizers often have even worse translations than bad sub groups. (Future men!)


Yeah, that was a fail waste of fail.

[Beware the talking cat]

d) Directly translating honorifics and cultural artifacts sounds very, very stupid in English. (Miss Asahina!)

Oh, that annoyed me to no end it the translation of Dennou Coil. I still can't help thinking Miss Michiko-san, simply because I would read Miss Michiko but hear Michiko-san.
It hurts just to think about.

[ben1234]

a) Not all sub groups that terrible with text cluttering. Most of the older and more respected ones are good about this.

He's saying the recently made groups have this problem.

[ainsoph9]

While I agree with some of his points like too much text cluttering the screen to take away from the experience, I find that some of his points fail.

1. While subbers generally do kind of pick and choose their favorite words to translate, some words are best left in their native language. Honorifics, family relations, and some special terms that are unique to the language are some of these. If translated, they will lose most of their meaning. Understandably, the different forms of "I" and "you" in Japanese do not follow this rule. Unfortunately, English lacks any equivalent whatsoever. The problem comes in that you have to have a certain amount of fluency in Japanese to even begin understanding these things. I guess the argument would be split up into several topics: those of relations to others, special terms, etc. I think that his argument of translating "I" and "you" falls apart given that these terms are really meant to convey relations. Honorifics will generally convey this fairly well. The only problem is keigo (the most polite form of speech in Japanese). This form of speech cannot be translated really well, unless in a royal setting or something of the sort. Otherwise, it becomes royally awkward for the audience.

2. I agree that the fansubs do go overboard in giving themselves credit and in putting song subs in at the cost of readability. However, I find that when translating for signs and things of the sort it can be a fine balance between art and readability. I have been studying Japanese for the past three years, and I still cannot read all of the kanji by a long shot. So, I am more likely to side with the camp that translates signs for some things. However, if it has no relevance to the story, then I could care less if it is translated.

3. On the issue of screen clutter, it is an issue to say the least. Yet, I find that putting the English translation, the romanization, and the original text in Japanese is usually more helpful to me to understand what is going on than to leave it out. While atmosphere and mood are important, I think that they mean nothing if you cannot understand the rest of the context. Also, I do find translator notes to be helpful sometimes. They should go in a text file though like he says. For series like Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, I find them to be a bit much. They actually do distract/detract from the mood/humor. I do find that his point on putting translator's notes in the footage of the original to be a bit ridiculous. For example, if you were to do that for Star Wars for putting it into Japanese, I can understand that because of the cultural implications. However, if you were to do that for the native English-speaking audience, that does not make sense because they already understand those implications. His other point on screen clutter for action scenes usually is not a problem. I generally find that when characters are talking almost nothing is going on in the background or the foreground. It is usually very rarely that you see otherwise.

4. Something that I understand but never really fully got was the necessity for translators to put in swear words in English where none exist in Japanese for that instance. While I know it is important to convey the original intent and meaning, it seems to me that there are other ways to give the same feeling without the swearing. There are other more creative ways to do it in my opinion. Oh well...

5. Going back to the special terms thing, he really takes his examples to the extreme. I do not think anyone in their right mind would like everyday terms, no matter how jargon-filled they may be, in the original Japanese with cultural notes on top of the screen.

Overall, the documentary was interesting. However, it was definitely biased. But, I do not know of a "documentary" that is not biased.

[b0mb3r]

I've seen some of too a long time ago. right now the next documentary I want to see is the on Comic-Con.