I started writing this article last week, but then I got sidetracked and never got back to it. Meantime, events marched on, and now I need to write even more to update and fix it. However, I’ve decided to be a lazy bum and just throw it up here, because I don’t have time. Well, I could make some, but I’d feel guilty about it. So here it is, as is. If any pics are borked, I’ll fix ’em tonight.
Edit: added some brief captions
A few days ago, SDB listed Yumeria as a series he’d never buy. Immediately, a discussion broke out over whether it is as bad as Steven thought. Almost everyone said “no!” So, Steven said, “well maybe I was a little harsh…” Naturally, everyone then said, “Oh no, it’s really kinda stupid and has a few ‘Ewwww!’ scenes to it!”
Poor guy’s probably feeling whipsawed about now, but the comment that surprised me was Toren’s “the fanservice is kind of minimal.” Well, yeah, compared to Rosario + Vampire, maybe. So I loaded it up, and since I can’t watch R+V 5 tonight (lengthy DDOS attack on Baka-Wolf), I took some time out for screencaps (below the fold).
Should I be embarrassed to admit that?
Torrents don’t work for you or something? That sucks, I’ve been there (would recommend Deluge if it’s a traffic shaping/throttling problem though). You could always try hopping on IRC to download from Ayako’s bots to get your R+V fix, but that involves learning about IRC, which you might not be so keen about.
Remember, this was typed last week. Torrents work fine, but AnimeSS’s version (which I obtained later) sucked. (Poster child for subtitle abuse — pink and red cursive? WTF?!?!?) I went back and got Ayako-BakaWolf’s version when it became available.
As for IRC downloading, I just haven’t taken the time out to learn it (yes, I’ve seen the tutorials). I just worry about opening yet another chink in my armor.
I actually downloaded (shh, don’t tell) ANimeSS’s version of the swimsuit episode, and deleted it after watching less than half. Not only were the subtitles hard to read, the translation was terrible. There were several places where they had no idea what the characters were saying, and just guessed. Among other things, they have Kurumu thinking about stealing Tsukune from “Kyouko”, and Yukari insisting that Kurumu’s breasts were fake; I understand that the AB version got those correct (“today, …” and “… will sag”).
As for Yumeria, I was more surprised about Toren’s “non-ending” comment. I thought it wrapped up pretty well.
-j
My copy arrived today.
Well, there are three or four segments that still bothered me on re-watching. (One of them is pictured above). If you can get past them, you’ll probably consider it tolerable, if stupid, fluff. In the end, none of them involved Mr. Ishigari, the pedo. (That’s him under the 765kg hammer in the 2nd to last picture. “Good job!”)
D’oh, trust me to forget that part. Must’ve missed that detail.
After several near-misses with unknown yet speedy fansubbers whose subs I almost watched (AEN’s Bamboo Blade was one such close call) I’ve learned to wait for my regular group. Also, I wish I could’ve told this to you earlier, but AnimeSS was a jokesub made by a few people, one of which I happen to know. Word got around on IRC in a channel that I lurk in regularly. Damn jokers.
Owen, apparently 20,000 people haven’t figured out the joke yet, since that’s how many have already downloaded AnimeSS’s version of episode 7.
-j
Well at least that explains why they can’t spell English or translate well. And here I thought, “WTF, are native Japanese speakers actually dubbing for us mono-linguists now?”
I confess, I wasn’t laughing at the joke, but there’s a few groups that are on my “don’t bother” list and this is one of them. Doremi (sp?) is another.
Update: although, if Ayako doesn’t get the job done, I may be forced to watch another joke. This is the episode with the snow fairy, dammit!
IIRC the five girls are 10 years old, 12, 14, 16, and 22. The one with the green hair is the 16 year old? (The one with brown hair and glasses is the 22 year old?)
You’ve got the redhead and greenhair switched. Other than that, ok. (Not really sure about the ages of the two youngest, but it sounds right.) The redheaded classmate — Mizuki — is 16, Kuyou (sp?) is 14. Despite that, she damn near made my all-time harem list. She’s gutsy, loyal to her friends, a bit hardheaded, likes to tease, and looks a lot better in a shirt than I should admit, considering her age. (That picture of her yawning could qualify her for the semi-finals by itself.) She does have a bad habit of keeping secrets though, but so does the ditzy 22-year old. (Actually, I estimated her age as 26, based on one scene, but I could be wrong, and if their ages are a bit closer, it makes a few scenes a bit less creepy.)
There are enough screencaps (animesuki forums, etc) from episode 7 that you should be able to hold out until another group gets around to it. For instance, someone reassembled some vertical pans of Mizore and Liliko-sensei.
And as a bonus, you get to read choice complaints like this one:
I wonder what he’ll think after the scanlations catch up to the scene where Kurumu’s mom gives Tsukune a handful of mostly-bare breast.
-j
Good lord. A full grown version of Kurumu? Just shoot me, my heart won’t be able to take it.
And for the record, I was VERY disappointed in Kurumu wearing a swimsuit. She shrank at least 3 sizes.
Kurumu’s mom, Mizore’s mom, cousin Kyouko; the school festival has it all.
-j
I was going to scan in a few pages from my copy of volume 9, but then I decided to see if the raws were easy to find. They are, so I just clipped out some samples and resized them. Kurumu’s mother, Mizore’s mother, Kyou-chan.
Also, a friendly little offer. Kurumu’s mother is saying “Otoko to onna no aishiai-kata… watashi no karada de oshiete ageru” (I’ll use my body to teach you the way that men and women love each other”).
-j
Kyou-chan lacks.
That is all.
Well, not quite. I gave up and downloaded ASS’s ep.7. They still can’t translate, but I think they got stung by the criticism of the subtitles. Jarringly plain (and large) black and white text, almost in-your-face. I feel like a schlep for complaining about “free ice-cream” but it’s hard to respect them for polish, even if I’ll give them kudos for timely delivery (and vice-versa for Ayako.)
Well, naturally a merely human girl can’t compete physically with a premium monster-girl harem, but as a character, she’s a blast. I’m sure you can imagine how the other girls react when she shows up and glomps “Tsukki”. Even better, her presence is the trigger for a truly glorious, full-service battle. Even Rubi gets in on the panchira action.
I still think the level of violence is too high to fit in with the generally light tone of the manga, but the mangaka has pretty much trapped himself into it. The villains have to behave monstrously, and must have enough power to put up a good fight against the heroes. That leads inevitably to blood on the walls, which is tough to mix with slapstick comedy. And I think he’s got a better feel for the comedy than for the serious drama.
I took a quick look at the first chapter of the “season two” manga, and it’s very light. It may be that he’s just decided to tell both types of story side-by-side without worrying about the clash of styles.
-j
Maybe so. I read chapters 30 and 31, which were just posted, and I think that the drama’s falling flat. Handling such ups and downs was kind of a rocky road at times for [i]Full Metal Panic[/i], and that was done by two studios far more competent than Gonzo. Their weaknesses are beginning to show through in the adaptation.
I have to say that Episode 7 is the first one where I was seriously disappointed in the conversion to anime, not just the art and animation. I don’t feel that they got Mizore quite right. To me, she comes off as nearly autistic in the manga; here she just looked quirky.
The plot changes they made were net negatives. Gonzo had to removethe scene where Moka injects Tskune, because it’s out of sequence and that has not been established. But I didn’t like that they made the fight at the cliff between the gang and Mizore’s out-of-control powers, rather than the renegade teacher. It removed a significant element of tension, IMO.
On the other hand, I’m not sure how I feel aboutalt-Moka decking Mizore in a fit of pique, and snapping at Tskune. “You called me out for this?” I’m sure ASS blew the translation of what Mizore said afterwards.
Yeah, it sounds like they over-compressed Mizore’s intro. She really deserves some quality lurking time to get her personality established. With only 13 episodes, Gonzo pretty much had to rewrite her story if they were going to license merchandise that featured the whole cast (ditto for Rubi), but if they take away her coolness in the process, it’s a net loss.
A/B has caught up, so you can now find out if ASS’s translation has improved.
-j