Dallos

Dallos is a four-part science-fiction show often called the first OVA (original video animation, or direct-to-DVD release) in history. Orphan Fansubs retranslated the show at the request of BakaBT's Al_Sleeper. His request was entirely justified; the existing subs are pretty inaccurate. The new translation is by laalg; I did the editing, retiming, and typesetting (not much); CP and Saji QC'd. The raws are by AFR. The aspect ratio is  712:480 anamorphic; on playback, it shows as 712:528 (4:3). (Thanks to Tyroz for pointing out that the aspect ratio is correct.)

Like most of the shows that Orphan works on, Dallos is no neglected masterpiece. Other reviewers have pointed out its faults - the low-budget animation, the cheesy background music, the stock characters, the derivative plot. Accordingly, I don't see any reason to re-iterate them. Instead, I'd like to focus on other aspects.

Japanese science fiction is often a commentary on contemporary Japanese society. Dallos posits not only a conflict between the oppressed settlers on the Moon and the Earth government, but also between the original generation of settlers, who came from Earth and still see it as their home, and the third generation, who were born on the Moon and know no other home. The "ojii-sans" (old-timers) worship the mysterious machine Dallos as a god; the youngsters consider it useless. While the old-timers will, if pushed hard enough, resist with traditional means (slowdowns, strikes), they will not resort to violence against "mother Earth" - their ties and their sense of indebtedness are too strong. On the other hand, the youngsters (called guerrillas in the show) see only the injustices in their lives and are determined to fight back. Is this, perhaps, a reflection of the conflict in Japanese society between the generation that fought and lost World War II in the name of a god-Emperor, and the post-war generation that knew nothing of it, regarded the Emperor as an irrelevant symbol, and began rebelling in the 60s?

This interesting dynamic is undermined by several major problems, though. The first is the title "character", the god-machine Dallos. As long as it remains inert, it works effectively as a means of contrasting the attitudes between the generations, and Dallos maintains a remarkably even-handed view of the generational conflict. However, when it begins to function as a deus-ex-machina, its value as a symbol is lost, and it becomes just a mechanical plot contrivance.

Second, the story stops just when it seems ready to start. Dallos only covers the first clash between the guerrillas and the government. It ends in a temporary truce forced by Dallos's nick-of-time intervention. The guerrillas intend to continue fighting. The Earth government concludes it must use greater force. And the show just stops. Perhaps Dallos was intended as a precursor of a TV series that would continue the storyline, but in its present state, the ending is a major letdown, and the final shot as much a nuisance as a mystery.

Dallos needs to be viewed in the context of early 1980s science-fiction, before the creative explosion started by Akira and other anime sci-fi masterpieces. As with Submarine 707R (another Orphan project), don't expect too much of it. It's intermittently entertaining. That's really the ultimate verdict.

Second-System Syndrome

Close to 40 years ago, Fred Brooks wrote one of the classic tomes about managing computer projects, The Mythical Man Month. His best-known observation was that communications cost in a project rises exponentially with the number of people, so that adding additional people to a project doesn't speed it up as much as one might expect, and that beyond a certain point, adding people will actually slow a project down. This is best summed up in his pithy saying, "Adding more people to a late project makes it later." It's the reason that startups can outperform big companies, and it's as true today as it was in the 1970s.

But Brooks had other telling observations, and one of my favorites is about "Second System Effect." Brooks noted that teams which had been successful with their first project often failed spectacularly at the second. He hypothesized that during the first project, a teams would proceed cautiously and put aside most suggestions for frills and enhancements. Then during the second project, all these stored-up geegaws got piled into the design, resulting in, as he put it, "a big pile."

I'm seeing this at work in an entirely different arena, namely anime fansubbing. As I've noted before, the FroZen-EviL team that did Yawara defied the odds (and the lackadaisical tendencies of all three parent groups) by finishing 66 episodes in little over a year. The team did this by keeping the staff constant and small, and by maintaining a ruthlessly simple workflow.

FroZen-EviL was supposed to be a one-and-done for Yawara, but the experience was so enjoyable that almost everyone wanted to try another project. After some debate, the team chose Miyuki, a slice-of-life show from a decade ago that had been dropped by several different groups. Yawara's translator had to bow out for real-life responsibilities, but the team found another translator, who ripped through all 37 episodes in under a month. Further, the original Miyuki Fansubs scripts were available as a reference for the first eight episodes. Everything seemed good to go... and then, dreaded second-system syndrome appeared.

It turned out that everyone on the team (except me) had been harboring deep thoughts about improvements in the process and the outcome. So many things in Yawara could have been done better: real karaokes instead of line-timing; real typesetting instead of "{\an8}Sign:"; more QCs to get every last nuance correct and error out. So more people were brought to implement all these improvements. The results were just what you might expect. Whereas a typical Yawara script went through three revisions (original edit, QC applied, RC applied) and required less than a week from translation to release, the first Miyuki script went through at least twenty revisions and required close to two months. A textbook example of Second System Effect.

I think everyone is a bit chastened by what happened on the first episode. I believe that the workflow for subsequent episodes will be more disciplined. After all, the purpose of life is to develop good judgment; and good judgment is a result of bad experiences. At least I hope so.

Goodbye, Yawara-chan (For Now)

FroZen-Evil has just released Yawara! The Atlanta Special. This actually wraps up the entire storyline, showing Yawara competing at the Atlanta Olympics in 1992. (Yes, the TV show said she was going to the Barcelona Olympics in 1988, but the TV show didn't finish until those Olympics were over.) It also brings conclusions, of sorts, for all the characters in the show.

This release has a complicated history. The previously available raw was just terrible - a VHS rip that had been brightened far too much and showed obvious signs of tape stretch. The team's attempts to find a better source turned up nothing for a long time, until finally a copy of the LaserDisc release was offered at an auction in Japan, at an incredibly exorbitant price. Despite the cost, one of the team members bought it. Getting it shipped required working through a third-party broker, which added further delays and costs. Finally, the disc was shipped from Japan via Europe to the US, where Suzaku from Live-Evil has a working LaserDisc setup based on an industrial-grade player. Then came further problems with ripping the disc. Most video capture cards these days apply compression in hardware, but Suzaku wanted a pure, uncompressed rip, so that filtering, if any, could be done in software. The rip looked rather dark, but any attempt to brighten it resulted in the sort of wash-out that plagues the VHS raw floating around the Internet. So the encode is, so to speak, sweet and unfiltered.

Our intrepid translator, kokujin-kun, translated the script. In addition, to honor the project's status as the final Yawara release, he fully typeset all the signs, with motion tracking. The results look very nice indeed.

All the usual suspects worked on this release; I won't repeat their names. I would like to thank the newest member of the team, Suzaku, for encoding. I also must thank CP for engineering the acquisition of the source material, which required coordinating buyers and shippers on three continents.

So that's it for now. Apparently there's an omake on the DVDs that's never been subbed before; perhaps it will get done at some point. The original soundtracks will show up one of these days, and we'll release them as well. Meanwhile, the team is moving on to another project, but that will have to wait for another blog post.

Coming "Soon" from Orphan Fansubs

Thanks to a lot of help from translator colleagues, notably laalg, my old friend from Yoroshiku Fansub days, convexity, from the Tezuka Osamu projects, archdeco, from FFF, and macros74, another fan of old and mistreated anime, Orphan Fansubs will be releasing some new, never before subtitled shows, as well as proper subtitles for several others. Shows in the queue include:

• Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de "Hachiyoushou" special, "Where the Heart Belongs." The DVD release of Haruka Naru included many specials: eight alternate endings or omake (one for each bishie in the show), two extra episodes (the so-called "Ten" OVA and this one), and a recap. The alternate endings and the "Ten" OVA were subtitled by Kuruizaki way back when, but this is the first English translation of "Where the Heart Belongs." The subtitles are from Orphan Fansubs; the raw is from ZaZa raws; the karaokes are from the original C1 Anime fansub of the TV series. I don't plan on subbing the recap. RELEASED.
• Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de 2 OVA. This three episode OVA is based on a later game in the Haruka Naru series and has a different set of characters from the TV show. However, both the heroine and the eight Hachiyou are interchangeable with the TV characters, and the plot premise is identical. The subtitles were translated from the AnimeFreakz German DVD rip by macros74 and then checked, retimed, edited, and styled by Orphan Fansubs. The raw is from AnimeFreakz and unfortunately has a single broken frame in both episodes 2 and 3. If anyone has access to a better source, please let me know. RELEASED.
• Urusei Yatsura OVA, "The Obstacle Course Swim Meet". This recent OVA, issued in honor of the 50th anniversary of Shounen Jump Sunday, has been translation checked, retimed, styled, and typeset. Raw from dmonhiro. RELEASED.
• Sotsugyousei. When this three episode OVA was released by ARR, it included unintelligible English subtitles that were apparently machine translated from Chinese as well as a Russian audio track. The Orphan version will include a new translation that has been retimed, edited, styled, and typeset. The raw is from DestroyKing. RELEASED.
• Dallos. A request from a colleague on BakaBT. The existing subtitles are inaccurate and badly timed. The Orphan version will include a new translation that has been retimed, edited, styled, and typeset. The raw is from the existing BakaBT torrent. RELEASED.
• Nagasarete Airantou. Probably the oldest project I have. Polished Subs put the Ayako subs to DVD raws, but the flaws in the original subtitles remain: bad timing and editing. The subs are being translation checked, retimed, and re-edited. This will be credited as Orphan-Polished. RELEASED.
• D4 Princess. This utterly forgettable short (8 minute episode) series has been abandoned several times, and the VHS(!) fansubs are not very accurate. The Orphan version will include a checked translation of the first six episodes, and new translations of the others. The raw is being encoded from R2J DVDs. Status: Translation: done; encoding: 1-6. We might use tipota's excellent raws for this.
• Usagi Drop Live Action. The existing subtitles are inaccurate in spots and badly timed and edited. The Orphan version will include a checked translation that has been retimed, edited, typeset, and styled. The raw is from the existing BakaBT torrrent. (If you have a better raw, please let me know.) ON HOLD: Commie says they're going to do it.

macros74 and I are dreaming of ways to finish out Borgman 2058 and Yamato 2520, both of which have one untranslated episode.

(Updated 16-Jun-2013)

More Yawara-chan!

FroZen-EviL just released the Yawara movie, Yawara! Sore Yuke Koshinuke Kids!!, loosely translated as Yawara! Go Get 'Em, Wimpy Kids!! (The last word is often misrendered as Kiss, by the way, which puts a wholly incorrect spin on the content.) This is a side story that occurs somewhere in the middle of the TV series. Hanazono asks Yawara for help coaching a pickup team of judo losers who are up against an elite judo club sponsored by none other than arch oujo-sama Honami. It follows almost the same arc as the one of the Mitsuba Women's Junior College matches in the TV series, but Yawara has never been known for the originality of its plot arcs. If there's any defect, it's that the spotlight is on the wimpy kids and their dysfunctional families rather than Yawara-chan and her friends and her dysfunctional family.

This version was done directly from a VHS tape that the team found online. It's considerably better than the Internet raw that has been floating around, but it's still a VHS tape rather than a DVD or LaserDisc. If anyone has a better original source, the team would be very interested.

Meanwhile, the team has successfully found the Atlanta special on LaserDisc, and our intrepid encoder is trying to wrestle this antique medium into a workable encode. I've also found the original soundtrack albums, and they're on their way here from Japan too. More Yawara-chan in the offing!

Anne Frank

doll_licca and I have just finished working on The Diary of Anne Frank, and it should be available through the usual distribution sources soon. This is another project from the back catalog. C1 Anime was in the final stages of QCing the movie when the group effectively disbanded in mid 2009. After doll_licca and I successfully finished C1's incomplete Perrine, we decided to finish this project as well. We're very grateful to C1 Anime for permission to use their script. Moho Kareshi did the original translation, and nameraka the original edit, for C1. doll_licca did the translation checking and rough timing to the new raw, I did the styling, final editing, and fine timing, doll typeset and encoded, I QC'd. Accordingly, we're calling the result an Orphan Fansubs/Licca Fansubs coproduction.

This was an extraordinarily difficult project to work on. For most fansubbers, World War II and the Holocaust are remote subjects from history class, but I was born just after World War II and studied that era extensively in college. It seemed unrelievedly depressing to me back then, and it still does. While the movie tries to place an uplifting spin on the story, the facts are grim, and the ending is undeniably tragic. I had to work on the movie in small sprints, as it was too overwhelming to watch continuously.

More information on Anne Frank and her diary can be found on Wikipedia.

Note: doll_licca just released a revised version of the Hi10P encode, using a raw provided by Revo. This clears up some aspect ratio concerns with the original encode. Many thanks to Revo for his help.

In Praise of Nodame Cantabile

I've never made a secret of my fondness for Nodame Cantabile; in fact, I listed it as one of my ten favorite anime shows in an early blog entry. The recent availability of a DVD box set with the first (and only) English dub caused me to go back and look at the show again, and it holds up very well.

Nodame Cantabile is more than just an anime series; it's a media franchise. It's been wildly popular in Japan in all its incarnations. The 23-volume manga series, written by Tomoko Ninomiya, received the 2004 Kodansha Prize for best shoujo manga and is a perpetual best-seller.  The manga spawned three anime series (the original, Paris Hen, and Finale), a live action TV series, two live action TV specials, and two live action movies. The debut of the first anime broke viewership records for its time slot, and the DVDs sold well. The live action TV series received 2007 Japanese Drama Academy Awards for Best Drama, Best Lead Actress, Best Direction, Best Music, and Best Title Song. There are numerous CD collections of music from the various shows.

So why isn't the anime licensed in the US? It's a fan favorite, and multiple groups competed to subtitle all three series. Yet the only available English-language DVD edition is a Korean box set, even though the dub was done more than three years ago. Why?

I have a couple of theories. First, Nodame is labeled as shoujo anime, and the target demographic for mainstream US anime companies is, overwhelmingly, teen-aged males. The classification is actually misleading. Nodame Cantabile is as much about the hero, Chiaki, as about the heroine, Nodame, and it would be more accurate to call it a romantic comedy. Second, the characters are all college students and then graduate students, rather than the more popular high-school or junior-high students, and there's not a trace of moe. But the killer issue, I believe, is that the show is about classical music, and that's a deal-breaker from a US commercial point of view.

Classical music is alive and well in Japan, which hosts multiple orchestras in its major cities. Here in the US, it's dying, viewed as elitist "art" for "old folks." Music classes - whether for music appreciation or study - have disappeared from public schools. The audiences at classical music concerts are skewing older and older. Mainstream US anime companies want "to appeal to the kids," and they clearly believe classical music has no appeal.

Can Nodame Cantabile be appreciated without understanding of or interest in classical music? Perhaps, but it really helps to know at least something about it. The show doesn't demand deep knowledge of classical music - almost all the pieces are repertory warhorses, like Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Brahm's 1st Symphony, Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, and Stravinsky's Petrushka. However, if you've never heard the finale of Beethoven's 7th, then Stresemann's outburst about Chiaki's inappropriate approach won't make any sense. If you've not listened to Brahms 1st, then Chiaki's struggles to convey the overwhelming mood change in the last movement will be boring. If you've missed Petrushka, then Nodame's disaster in her competition concert, and her semi-inspired if ultimately unsatisfactory recovery, will lack context.

Still, I think the show can be appreciated as pure character-driven comedy. Chiaki and Nodame make an eccentric pair of mismatched lovers, each driven by childhood events that have scarred and shaped them. Chiaki's issues are rather melodramatic in origin, and the deus ex machina resolution of them is one of the weaker aspects of the show; but Nodame's problems stem from realistic encounters with bad teachers, and her struggles to overcome them are quite moving. Still, the problem-solving and drama take a back seat to the comedy, which derives from the clash of Chiaki's obsessive, type-A perfectionist personality with Nodame's disorganized and messy lifestyle. Both are given their due, though. The series make it clear that Chiaki is an excellent and methodical musician, while Nodame is an intuitive stylistic genius.

The leads are supplemented by a fine cast of supporting characters who have interesting stories in their own right and are allowed to make some progress on them; they don't just serve as foils for the leds. And then there's Stresemann, the European maestro, a hilarious take on the debauched, eccentric ojii-san. He steals every scene he's in, but he also acts as a goad to drive both Chiaki and Nodame beyond their limits and towards potential success in music. His domineering secretary/agent/manager, Elise, is a great comic turn. Finally, there's an anime within the anime: Puri Gorota, a typical kid's "let's all work together" show that Nodame is addicted to. It was so popular that eventually it got its own OVA, like Kujibiki Unbalance inside Genshiken.

Because Nodame Cantabile is about music, it's not surprising that the music in the series is terrific. The opening song, Allegro Cantabile, by Suemitsu and the Suemith, is a driving piano-based rocker that sets the tone for the whole show. It inspired some elegant work by karaoke artists in various fansub groups. The series includes extensive excerpts from classical pieces that are competently, if not spectacularly, performed by a pick-up Japanese orchestra.

The voice acting is great too. Kawasumi Ayako (Lafiel in Crest of the Stars; Saber in Fate/Stay Night; Mahoro in Mahoromatic) portrays all of Nodame's moods, from mania to depression, from ruthless focus to utter spaciness, with great expression and aplomb. Seki Tomokazu (Sosuke in Full Metal Panic; Shuichi in Gravitation; the title roles in Kenichi and Maze) conveys Chiaki's buttoned-down, control-freak personality with precision. He also makes Chiaki's gradual warming to Nodame (and other people) very believable.

And that brings me back to the newly available English dub. I'm not a great fan of dubs, but this one is pretty good. The cast is American and professional. They use a decent, if compressed, translation. (The Japanese cast speaks at 90 miles an hour, which causes readability problems with faithful subtitles.) On the other hand, the release suffers the usual defects of most DVD releases: the subtitles are poor (mostly dubtitles and way too compressed), the subtitle timing is terrible, and the typesetting is non-existent. This really matters in Nodame, where many of the jokes are conveyed through signs. The last four minutes of the final episode are a comic book that bridges to the next anime series set in Europe and also closes the stories of the characters who will be left behind in Japan. The fansubbers went through great pains to put the translations into the dialog balloons. On the DVD, all the captions are at the bottom of the screen, clashing with dialog and song lyrics and making reading almost impossible.

The fansubs hold up fairly well in comparison, even though they were done more than five years ago. Yes, video standards and styling standards have improved since then, but all three versions (Anime-Keep, Froth-Bite, C1) are quite watchable. If someone absolutely feels they must have a modern softsubbed version and has access to R2J DVDs (no BluRays yet), I have the C1 scripts and most of the typesetting, and I'll make them available to any serious resubber. There are some things I'd like to fix, of course...

As for a US license, I'm not holding my breath. I think the show is too old now, and the classical music theme probably remains a deal-breaker for any mainstream US anime company. But if RightStuf can license Rose of Versailles and Victorian Maid Emma, and a mainstream company can license Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun (another romcom that pairs a type-A control freak with an out-of-control intuitive), then perhaps there's hope for Nodame. I'd like to see her and her friends get the audience they deserve.