To Err Is Human

After issuing v2's for two of the first three releases this year (Eguchi Hisashi no Nantoko Narudesho!, Majo demo Steady), I began to wonder if there was a systemic flaw in Orphan's processes. So I've done what I used to do at the conclusion of a large engineering project - analyzed all the "bugs" in Orphan's releases that led to v2's, to see if there were causal commonalities.

Orphan has released 149 official projects as of today. 15 have received v2's, a detected error rate of around 10%. (What's the undetected error rate? Probably much higher.) Sorting into descending numerical order:

• New sources: Tokimeki Tonight, A-Girl, Sei Michael Gakuen, Kakyuusei 1995, Dragon Fist. This isn't really a bug. Orphan will almost always reissue a show if a better source becomes available. Additional shows (the Kindaichi movies, Ultra Nyan, Tezuka Osamu Monogatari, etc.) have received multiple releases as different sources (laserdisc, streaming release, DVD, Blu-ray) are found or purchased.
• Credit mistakes: Alice in Dreamland, Mahoutsukai Tai vs Shamanic Princess, Yousei-Ou. I often forget who timed a show, particularly if the subbing process takes a long time. I understand now why most fansub groups have stopped putting in credits.
• Batch fixes: Stop!! Hibari-kun!, Hidamari no Ki. Long series often accumulate defects of process or consistency along the way, as later episodes change the translation or interpretation of earlier episodes.
• Source problems: Tomoe ga Yuko, Majo demo Steady. Tomoe was a 29.97 fps avi source. Aegisub and mkvmerge calculate timing at this frame rate slightly differently; one must supply an explicit timecodes track during muxing. Majo demo Steady was missing an audio channel, a problem I can't hear on my tiny computer speakers spaced eight inches apart.
• Subtitle issues: Space Neko Theater, Eguchi Hisashi no Nantoko Narudesho!. Space Neko Theater received a new translation to replace a suspect v1. EHnNND was so repulsive that all the checking, including mine, was too superficial.
• Typesetting issues: Shirokuma Cafe. Fonts were compressed mid-series, causing issues.

So what has been learned?

1. Use reliable translators. Space Neko Theater v1 was a paid translation, and it was wrong.
2. 29.97 fps sources should be avoided; if used, they require special handling. As far as I know, the discrepancy between Aegisub and mkvmerge has not been fixed.
3. If using compressed fonts, compress them all upfront. This newbie's typesetting error accounted for most of the v2's in Shirokuma Cafe.
4. Test the audio. AniDB is not totally reliable. For example, it identified the missing channel in many ARR VHS tape encodes but did not in Macross2012's laserdisc encode.
5. Track the contributors. I now use a spreadsheet to fill in who's done what. Dropping credits altogether would be simpler, but I'm old-fashioned about that.
6. Use primary media. Probably the biggest change in the last five years in that Orphan has gone from using mostly second-hand sources to using most primary source media. This has proved expensive at times, and the team's ability to pay for media out-of-pocket is finite.

These lessons will make Orphan's releases better, but as the projects so far this year illustrate, to err is human. Or to paraphrase Savielly Tartakower's aphorism about chess,
the mistakes are all there, waiting to be made.