Due to lack of staff and interest, we will be doing no TV shows this Summer season.
We’ll be instead focusing on finishing batches as well as doing BDs of certain shows. (more info on that later)
All of our future releases will be hosted on nyaa.si
Also, we will likely be opening up public staff recruiting for the Translator and Editor positions soon so if you want to get into fansubbing, keep a lookout for the post!
Starting today, we have switched to minglong as the primary tracker and some open trackers as backups.
Only Little Witch Academia will have updated torrent links since minglong might shut down too in the future.
In case you haven’t seen yet, NyaaTorrents has permanently shut down.
All shows (including LWA) will be getting new torrent/magnet links (with open trackers + DHT) at a later time.
Until then, you can download all of our shows via XDCC. (To download something, you will need a proper IRC client such as HexChat.)
excuse me, ma’am, do you have a moment to talk about my lord and savior shiny chariot?
Sometimes, editing is an exercise in failing. Ever try, ever fail. We assume there is a pattern to the spell names, most likely based on some Gaelic or Anglic language, only that we couldn’t confirm it yet; some spells sound dangerously close to having Latin or Ancient Greek stems. And whatever they’re derived from or mixed and matched with, they’re converted from Latin script to kana and filtered through Japanese scriptwriters and seiyuu before they reach our ears (and CCs). Well, fuck.
This episode is introducing a trope from Gaelic folktales. That is good news, since it gives us a solid hint. It is also bad news, since it means I can study phonology charts and keep combining and recombining morphemes for hours on end, but I still can’t not fuck editing this up; I wish I were a savant, but I’m of middling intellect and mediocre skill. No matter, try again: Until we get a definitive source, we have to do something. So we’ll fail again, but maybe we’ll fail better as we keep working towards it, until we find it in our hands.
While I love the weekly “what is TLC?” jokes, I figured I’d make a little summary of each thing we have over in the sidebar to the right for future reference. Note that this is for original translations; simuledits are slightly different.
Encoding: Creating the actual video file. First a workraw is made for the group to use. The workraw has a smaller filesize and minimal processing and just exists to let the other work start faster. After that the premux is made, which is done with proper processing and is attached to the final release. If you’ve ever done any video processing, you’ll understand that this is cpu intensive and takes time (read: hours).
Timing: Deciding how to split all of the dialogue lines. I do this before translating for convenience. First you “rough time”, which is cutting off each line exactly where the audio starts and stops while keeping in mind the keyframes and scene changes/cuts. If a character speaks a line that runs over two different cuts, I’ll usually also cut the spoken line there too for aesthetic purposes. Then you do “fine timing”, which is adding lead-in and lead-out (the subs are visible before and after every spoken line) and snapping between lines and keyframes. Timing is easy to learn, but takes a fair bit of experience to be good at.
Translation: You know, making the entire script into English (or whatever target language). For most shows you only have the audio to go by, but for LWA and some other shows there are closed captions in Japanese to refer to.
Editing: Going over the translated script and, well, editing it to be nicer. This can include small changes like line spacing or comma placement, or big changes like reworking an entire conversation to flow better. Translators and editors have a unique relationship where you can really feel each other’s base writing style and how your upbringing and surroundings are different. Back in the old days, TL used to be making a Japanese-sounding script and editing was making it English-sounding, but nowadays the original TL is designed to be read from the start, and editing makes it better.
TLC: Translation check. Traditionally, a second TL in the group goes over the script to make sure there aren’t any errors, but there’s kind of a dearth of us these days. We use it to mean the TL going over the edited script and making sure there weren’t any accidental errors added, and also to double check himself.
Typesetting: Making all of the Japanese signs into English. This can be very easy (if there are no signs) or very hard (if there are a ton and they move all over the place). In LWA they’re mostly in English already (thanks Tattun), so our job is easy. TS may also include styling the songs, but doing so is so rare we usually don’t even bother including it in the percentage.
QC: Quality check. You combine the script, songs, and signs into a single file and watch through it as a whole to make sure it all works. During this point we check everything “in motion”, as the viewer would see it. It’s the last chance to catch stupid mistakes like typos and incorrect layers and timing before someone yells at you for it. All that’s left after this is muxing and releasing, which are so fast/minor that they don’t need to be put up here.
Love: Without love it cannot be seen, but it’s always at 100% or more.
when the back DOMS hit you
We’re in the double digits now, meaning another quarter of the year has almost gone by. In addition to that, this year is almost over. Were you aware of that? What an awful realization.
1. Kiznaiver
2. Flying Witch
The WIXOSS movie will be done whenever the BD is announced and uploaded.
Hello,
I’m afraid to inform you we’re taking another TV season off, in case you were expecting an announcement or a release from us. Sorry! It didn’t work out.
Love,
Asenshi
