Lately, my appetite for anime has completely outstripped my wallet’s ability to pay for it. Fortunately, there’s always a solution as long as there’s the internet: fansubs. So recently, I decided to investigate the world of fansubing, and was surprised at some of the things I learned.
For those not familiar with the world of anime, fansubs are copies of the original Japanese program, subtitled by groups of bilingual fans. The various clubs doing this work are highly competitive, resulting in work that is often better than the professionally subbed versions you buy on DVD. Several innovations in subtitling came out of the fansub community, such as the use of yellow or outlined letters; these were later picked up by the companies which license the programs for international distribution.
Although it is legally pirating, fansubs occupy a strange semi-tolerated niche in the anime industry, as potential importers can watch the fan “buzz� and get an idea over what series might be profitable to license. In return for freedom from hassles, most groups voluntarily withdraw distribution of their files after a series or movie is licensed, or sometimes when distribution begins. (Of course, there’s also the usual scofflaws. Some people are just that way.)
Since last Friday night, I have used BlogTorrent (acquired through J.Greely’s site) to download about 30 episodes of various shows. I’d tried to install and use other BitTorrent clients before, only to fail miserably; I didn’t understand the whole seeding process (and still don’t) but BlogTorrent has worked great without me having to understand much of anything. I go find a website with a link to a torrent, I click on it, save it, and BlogTorrent handles all the rest.
None of the programs I’ve downloaded have yet been licensed in Region 1 (North America) to my knowledge. In fact, two of them are brand new, having just premiered on Japanese TV. I have one thing to say about HDTV there: “awesome!� In fact, it wasn’t until I started to write this that I remembered, “Hey, that’s not taken from a DVD, that was broadcast!� It sucks that American TV is so far behind, technically.
So, for anyone who might be interested in doing their own acquisition, here’s what I’ve downloaded, with my reviews. I’ll try to avoid spoilers, but it’s not entirely possible.
Girl’s High has enough fanservice to make Najica Panty Blitz look tame. However, after being challenged by Pixy Misa’s Cutey Honey link over on Shamus Young’s’ site, causing an instant 601 error in my brain (think Andromeda Strain: “too much data, the system can’t handle it all”), I realized that I was going to have to do some serious captures to get my point across. So rather than hold up this entire post, I’ll just leave you with these two and come back later for a fanservice special.
Ok, I admit it. I spent too much time staring at her and I can’t finish this post tonight.
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| It just needs a little adjustment, Eriko….
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Ah, oops….
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Based on the writer’s own high-school experiences (but I suspect very loosely) this is the story of six first-year students at an all-girls school. How bad is the fanservice? Well, you don’t need a two-foot tall cameraman to see the panties after these girls get through with their scissors! The dialog is as suggestive, if not more, and the situations are tailor made for girls to be running around in way too little clothing. Somehow, I doubt any high school really makes its students spend a whole day running around in nothing but panties and open smocks while getting medical exams (episode 2). Still, the characters are surprisingly fun to watch, especially the rivals Kouda and Eriko, and the dialogue is over the top. After only two episodes though, I have no idea if there will be any semblance of a plot. I’m not going to spend a lot of time discussing the characters in this post. I just haven’t found much else to describe. Or maybe I was just distracted by the panties.
There are two series that I just don’t have any idea why I watch them, but I do (or did).
Ah! My Goddess (season 2) is the first. I downloaded two episodes, and watched about ten minutes of each to get a sense of how the first season is going to end and what the second will be like. I have to say I love the new opening. The music is bagpipe-oriented and the visuals show scenes of Heaven, which I believe is strongly influenced by the designs of the AMG movie. (I’m going to have to get that soon. . .) The closing is made up of pans over a scrapbook with pictures of the characters, and the music is a romantic ballad, similar to country at times, but not as strongly as the first season’s original EP.
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The plot is still sticking closely to the manga (comics), although there’s at least one element of a story that has been expanded, and another dropped; additionally the sequence continues to be scrambled compared to the original. It works very well though. The same sweet, light tone continues, although it’s obvious that there was a spot of trouble at the end of the first series, because Yggsdrasil is offline and the goddesses have no “power feed� from Heaven. My original guess (discussed with Steven DenBeste via email) as to what will happen at the end of the first season appears to be close, but wrong; they’re drawing from an arc a little further along. I suspect that the reason is that the segment I expected season one to end with will be the ending to season two or three, because it’s much more epic, and fits better with the opening sequence of episode 1 of season 1.
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Every time I watch an episode of this series, I have to ask myself, “why?â€? There’s not a lot of super-dramatic conflicts, few battles, no dire “save the worldâ€? emergencies, no belly-laughs, and rarely any fanservice worth mentioning. The real story is the slow-paced romance between Keiichi, a mortal, and Belldandy, a goddesses sent to grant him one wish, only she turned out to be the wish–something she is very happy with. But the only answer I can come up with is that it’s a very sweet, warm show, with characters you can enjoy spending time with. It just doesn’t have a bad bone it’s body. Even Sayoko, arguably the second-leading villain in the show, is a sympathetic character whose pain you can feel. If I had a significant other, this would be my first pick for an evening of cuddling on the couch while watching TV, also my second, third, and fourth.
Edit: And finally, Fireball20xl is back, so I can post this link to the fan manga TRG, showing the occasional drawback to Skuld’s mode of transport, which teleports her from one body of water to another. No, that’s not really Belldandy she’s arguing with. Let’s just say that another Urd potion went haywire…
Tomorrow, I will continue with part 2, reviewing Karin and my favorite, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.
