Old DBZ Fansubbers

[MCDaveG]

Ha, since today, I still tought that TV-Nihon is actual Japanese tv station..... but that would be rather called Nippon right?

[eledoremassis02]

W-W-W-W-WHAT?!
You like 3 liners, and even 4 liners?! It's a golden rule for subbers to maximum have 2 liners.

I know but I'm a quick reader

Dragonbox with old fan subs is a little weird and 1/2 the fun is getting a bad tape that you can barely see lol. The tapes I have a pretty good, almost as good and any regular VHS. I want to try and preserve these subtitles though because they can be completely awesome lol

Plus it's easy to change back to official subtitles if I feel like it.

[Adamant]

Yeah, very interesting...do we know if there subtitles were any good, or how accurate they were?

I can only speak for their Dr. Slump subs, which were passable enough. Not particularly inaccurate, but very simplified, and they had a tendency to pop up a second or two too late.

[bkev]

I had copies of their Battle Fever J subs back when the first megaupload was still around. They were at the least above bootlegs, but as Adamant said the language was quite simple at times. Battle Fever isn't exactly deep, but they may have overdone it a little bit (I don't speak Japanese. I wouldn't know for sure.) Hey, at least they knew their audience: kids.

[Blade]

Anime labs must of been where some of my old fansubs came from. I still remember Vegeta completely cussing out Hildergarn in movie 13. Its actually on youtube too, can we post links to fansub clips? Does bring back memories of me and my friends watching our what I assume were 27th generation copies of the movies and some episodes. Was kind of funny since we got them all from the same guy and some looked ok and some were so bad the video would skip and was hard to read the subs, one even had a couple of seconds of some kids soccer game that had been taped over

And I'm not sure if the OP meant he just didn't have internet like now or if DB wasn't online much at that time. But just in case I do want to say that poor DBZ subs were readily available online back in 2000/2001. I still remember when my friend got a new computer in late 2000. He got cable internet and quickly downloaded every DB(Z/GT) episode and movie. And even though the quality was terrible it still took up almost all of his (at the time) high end 40GB hard drive.

You mean this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El2KSY9oVhA

I remember back in the day having a digital rip of that movie in a poor quality .RM file (real media - does anyone else remember when the majority of Dragonball subs online were all .RM?).

In a strange way seeing the stuff in that poor quality and form makes it feel different - better almost, as it appeals to the 11 year old kid in me who used to sneak downstairs with his little brother in-tow after his parents went to bed to use the family PC to watch it.

[doomydoomydoom]

there's not much info on them

Here's a start:
http://animepast.net/Time_Capsule/Fansu ... sub_Tapes/

Yeah, this is where all of what I know about them comes from, and it's about as definitive as it's gonna get. He tries to sort out stuff like the Travis Drake incident and provides relevant links, which apparently disprove the claim that it was all just Anime Labs trolling (I would think so if there's personal webpages and interviews with the guy involved). Seems like you could write a book on that whole thing. Being an old fansubbing group there's still some mysteries that surround all of those guys, not just AL ("who is...", "why did they..."), but that just comes with the territory. I believe someone said Anime Labs was a Vietnamese guy working out of his apartment in New Jersey or something...

I love the footage and screen grabs he provides, and there's a lot of it, though as a junkie for this stuff I wish there was more, which is why I'll always be on the lookout for actual tapes.


As for the NGN subs, I have an RM clip of the beginning of episode 5 of DB, which I think can be found on that AnimePast site. The subs are nice and professional, and of course the names differ somewhat from official translations now. For example, Bulma was Bloomer and Goku was Songoku. I think a clip I saw of ep 1 said Songokou, but that could just be my imagination.

[takarajima]

諸行無常・・・・・・・

[Adamant]

I had copies of their Battle Fever J subs back when the first megaupload was still around. They were at the least above bootlegs, but as Adamant said the language was quite simple at times. Battle Fever isn't exactly deep, but they may have overdone it a little bit (I don't speak Japanese. I wouldn't know for sure.) Hey, at least they knew their audience: kids.

From my understanding, these airings of Japanese series were primarily aimed at people who knew Japanese (Hawaii has a lot of such), with the subtitles being more of a courtesy service in case anyone else wanted to watch as well.

[sangofe]

This is borderline topic, but i sent you vhs tapes a few weeks ago... Please be on the look-out! I don't want them to be sent back!

Hello,


Well, it didn't take long to find the source of why I've suddenly gotten mail about Dragonball fansubs.


Yes, I'm the one who created those pages on AnimePast.net about DB fansubs. http://animepast.net/Time_Capsule/Fansu ... sub_Tapes/


Yes, it's still a work in progress. Among other things, I've actually been in touch with at least three of the old fansubbers themselves, and they've all given me information which I'd like to put up at some time or other, although I'm working on other things at the moment so that's on the backburner for the time being...


Mainly what I've been working on as of late relating to Dragonball fansubs is archiving the tapes so as to preserve them such that this part of Dragonball fandom's history doesn't get lost altogether with the passing of time.


To that effect, since I see that the pages that I created are proving to be a useful resource for those interested in the fansubs, I would like to make two requests of my own:


1) If anyone out there has any tapes, please contact me. No, I won't ask to take and keep your tapes if you wanted to keep them yourself. Yes, I am always happy to give back to those who help out. I have a large array of fansubs and TV recordings to offer.


2) If anyone reading this has an interest in helping with the endeavor of finding and archiving old tapes, then please get in touch with me. I am always looking for enthusiastic fans who would be willing to help with the project at hand, even if they at present have no tapes. Rather than each man working for himself, I believe in working together for the greatest benefit to all. Yes, of course I will help you get what you seek as well.


Either way, the best way to contact me is via email. Please write to: TheAnimeSennin@gmail.com


Take care, and happy fansubbing...

[DrBriefsCat]

Actually, Kanzenshuu did a podcast episode on old DBZ fansubs (episode 259, found on this page). Very fun and informative stuff. The most interesting tidbit I learned from this was that, apparently at one point, there was a legitimate (as in not a fansub) English-subtitled TV airing of the Japanese version of DBZ many years ago, but that it only aired in Hawaii.

That would be the NGN broadcast of DB and early DBZ as NGN (or Nippon Golden Network) was an official network based in Hawaii that specialized in broadcasting Japanese media subtitled (they also subtitled Dr. Slump).

Yeah, very interesting...do we know if there subtitles were any good, or how accurate they were?

I have a few tapes of original Dragon Ball subbed this way. The translation was better than a fansub but not nearly as accurate or as concise as Funimation's subs. While most of the time it came off as competent, it seemed as if it was translated by someone who's first language was not English.
The subs only went up to episode 104 of Dragon Ball Z I believe, due to Funimation and Saban having purchased English-language rights for the rest of the US. The station only broadcasted further episodes without subtitles until the end of GT.

[DrBriefsCat]

Yeah, very interesting...do we know if there subtitles were any good, or how accurate they were?

I can only speak for their Dr. Slump subs, which were passable enough. Not particularly inaccurate, but very simplified, and they had a tendency to pop up a second or two too late.

The quality of their subtitles improved considerably by the time they started airing Dragon Ball, which did not have the timing or paraphrasing issues their Dr Slump broadcasts had. DB started around 1990, I believe. Dr. Slump may have been mid to late 1980s.

[dougo13]

Yeah, very interesting...do we know if there subtitles were any good, or how accurate they were?

I can only speak for their Dr. Slump subs, which were passable enough. Not particularly inaccurate, but very simplified, and they had a tendency to pop up a second or two too late.

The quality of their subtitles improved considerably by the time they started airing Dragon Ball, which did not have the timing or paraphrasing issues their Dr Slump broadcasts had. DB started around 1990, I believe. Dr. Slump may have been mid to late 1980s.

Let's have a look...

7-19-92 lists as episode #29 of DB, so going backwards by 28 weeks puts this at approximately the first week of January of 1992...

I was getting the series as of episode #16 when I acquired my Hawaiian contact...

[Herms]

This thread had been inactive for well over a year. Please don't necro-post old threads like this.