Comparizon: Anime Fansubs and Localizations

Anime has been a staple element in Filipino television programming for years. I remember as a child watching shows such as Voltes V, Daimos, and Raijin-Oh among others, all of which were dubbed in english. The only ones that I remember dubbed in Filipino were the ones on ABC 5 like Sailormoon (Yes, I've watched it up until the Super S series) and Slam Dunk. Later on RPN 9 decided to incorporate Tagalog dubbing by introducing small snipets of Tagalog lines in between the english dubs of Dragonball as a gradual conditioning of the show until it becomes a full Tagalog dubbing. After that every anime that were first shown in the Philippines on English dubbing were switched to Tagalog.

Personally I didn't like the transition, as it sounded very awkward for me to hear "Double Blizzard" and "Ultra Electro Magnetic Top" within Tagalog lines. Still, I was a regular viewer for those I started watching in Tagalog like Ghost Fighter (Yu Yu Hakusho), Flame Of Recca, and Sailormoon. But that was until we had cable. When we had AXN, Star World which was then Star Plus, and other cable channels where animes are either English-dubbed or subbed, I didn't return to Filipino-localized anime. Even when we lost our cable I never did return, so for years I've been out of anime viewing. That was until a couple of years ago when a friend introduced me to fansubs, subtitle translations done by fans in the online communities

I've grown to like fansubs more than localizations done by the television networks. Though there are fansub groups who do mediocre jobs, there are those who do extensive works. One I'd like to give as an example is Anime-Empire, a group who subbed Yakitate!! Japan.This anime is filled with Japanese word-plays and cultural references which only those with extensive knowledge of Japanese language and culture can relate to. Anime-Empire did a commendable job in familiarizing these into the viewers by putting in footnotes containing explanations for the humours and references in the show. Other fansub groups would sometimes put notes before the OBB or after the CBB specially when the information too is vast that it would disturb the continuity of the show.

Other features of fansub works are the multilingual support. Some groups incorporate multiple dubbing and subbing in certain animes. Usually the multiple dubbings, are only made available when there is an existing localization in the language's native or host country. Multiple subbings are made available as long as there's someone in the group who can provide the translations.

While fansubs are made to help the audience familiarize themselves to the Japanese culture, the localization scheme makes the show familiar to the host country. Localization is done when a television network or company licenses a show and dubs it in their native language. For example, in one of he episodes of Pokemon, Misty gave Brock and Ash some onigiris. In English dubbing, instead of calling them onigiris, they called them sandwiches. Seems kind of awkward when you're familiar with its real name, but that's how localization works. (I'm really interested in knowing the Japanese equivalent of Team Rocket's entrance speech)

One thing I noticed about Filipino television network localization is that they do it poorly, if not at all. First of, their dubbings are translated directly, as word-per-word. There are times that this doesn't work well specially with foreign metaphors. "Like stealing candy from a baby" is an American simile, which when applied in Filipino culture doesn't really mean a thing. There are of course no footnotes in network-localized shows, which is why there are certain parts in the show where the geist is left out, specially those that involve humours on Japanese honorifics (-san, -chan, -kun) and their significance.

If I wre to make a choice, would prefer seeing the works of fansubbers in my television. They do an outstanding job in translating animes and making things familiar to the viewers with tidbits of infromation about Japanese culture. Network localization teams can learn a thing or two from these guys, and hopefully they can improve the work they do.

NOTE 1: I did not discuss here the legality of fansub works, as it's an ongoing debate in the community. Try to research discussions about this issue on the internet, it's not that hard to find.

NOTE 2: That being said, I'd like to put this common knowledge to the Filipinos. DON'T BUY FANSUB WORKS ON PIRACY SHOPS. FANSUB WORKS ARE DISTRIBUTED FOR FREE. Common fault of a society that tolerates piracy.

Analysis: The Male Culture in the LRT

I’ve been riding the LRT for the four years of my college life. It’s usually a cramped up and quiet place, enough for me to notice peculiar behaviors of some of the people around me. Generally they’re influenced by the suggestive impositions of the LRT system, but analyzing it in a certain perspective there is an existing culture that dominates the boxcars before the first. Those are the boxcars occupied by the males.

The LRT boxcars are technically divided according to sex. The first boxcars are allotted for women, while the succeeding ones are for men. This is done as to prevent any sort of sexual harassments to women who ride the LRT. But in actuality women are still allowed to occupy the other boxcars. This is in order to accommodate the couples and families who’d prefer riding the same boxcar and those who are too lazy or too much in a hurry to walk to the front boxcar. So in reality, the first boxcar is for the women, while the others are for everyone.

This sort of situation somehow prompts the males to generally behave in a gentlemanly manner. One such common and dominantly occurring specific behavior is offering females their seats. While the gesture may be of good intention there are scenarios where the methods are overboard and non-progressive and becomes the males’ source of self-gratification.

The common gesture of a man offering a woman the seat they occupied is the simplest and most basic suggestion of gender discrimination that women are the weaker sex. Think about it, when a woman takes a man’s seat it’s usually the man who initiates the thought by standing up and letting the woman sit. (Well sometimes it takes a bit more of feminine attractiveness in the woman’s part for it to occur, that’s even more discriminating.) I’d understand if it was a pregnant woman since it’s for her safety while in labor, but why the normal everyday woman? Is she not capable of standing on her own two feet or, if she really needs to sit, ask on her own will without being pre-empted? Sure, go and give way to the little old lady, but what about the little old man? Think of it this way: two persons of opposite sexes standing while holding on to the safety handrails, same age, both tired. Who would men give their seat to? They go for the female. If it was me, I’d prefer giving it to the one who’s more tired and probably in the brink of collapsing from fatigue even if it was a man. If he’s too stubborn, I’ll let the other one have it. If they’re both stubborn then I’ll just take back my seat, thank you very much.

Some men choose to do things discreetly and indirectly. It’s really not that hard to miss. In fact, they’re always by your eye sight, you just either don’t notice it or don’t perceive it as such. They’re the men who just stand there even when there’re vacant seats around. It’s actually one-part gentlemanliness test and one-part endurance test. It’s as if by the dictation of their male gender that they always need to continue standing up and let someone else take the seat, bonus points if it was a woman. I’d understand if there was something preventing him from sitting down, but otherwise it’s just a display of male stubbornness and stupidity. Why not let your legs take a rest for that walk you’ll take after the ride? I’m pretty sure they’re feeling really tired the whole while you were standing. What’s wrong with standing up, you say? When you came from Baclaran going all the way to Monumento, that’s what’s wrong.

While being a gentleman is a good thing, it becomes a vain concept when men do things out of common sense for its sake. I say: get your Php15 its due worth and take that seat if no one else wants to.

Kelly Bites' Neighbor Diaries Entry: The Nerd and The Wierd Al

Note: A huge chunk of this came from my Friendster blog. So if you see any similarities, that's because it is.

MaxFM 103.5, a local FM radio station, has an evening show called Kelly Bites hosted by, well, Kelly. She has a segment called Neighbor Diaries, where anyone can send stories with three strategically placed song titles which Kelly will play.

The first time I heard of this segment, I immediately thought of an entry. But first I have to get permission from Kelly before writing it down. See, the usual entries for the Neighbor Diaries were about people's lives. But what I was about to write was not about my life. The theme of my piece was Wierd Al Yankovic. My piece had to be part fiction. You'll find out later why.

I was able to contact Kelly through kellybites.multiply.com where she and her fans who call themselves "Kellybiters" hang out and chat. I told her that my Neighbor Diaries entry will be partially fictional and that it's theme is Wierd Al and asked if it's just fine with her. She said it was, so I immediately started working on it.

This was aired February 15, 2008. Note that this was made only for laughs and was not meant to reflect any actual person, more specifically me, in real life. Okay, maybe about 40-60% of this is real, but it's not like the last part really happened to me. If you're curious as to what it is, then read on.

Good evening Kelly. My name is Julius. I am what everybody would consider a geek or a nerd. I'm very knowledgeable about studies, very good with computers, and speak like a 100-page textbook, if it had a mouth. I even look like one with my stripe or checkered polos, large-framed glasses, and pimpled face. I must admit that I do stand out in the crowd, and not in a good way. I find it hard to socialize with people, and rarely when I do only because they need my help in a certain problem. The girls keep a distance from me, and the guys just don't want to hang around with me, maybe because I'm just too "White and Nerdy."

My nerdiness shows when I'm in front of my computer. Ever since I was a kid I've had computers around me that I seem to have developed an affinity with them. I mean, I am still capable of using DOS as much as every Windows versions starting from 3.1. The computer is the very first thing I turn on whenever I come home or wake up in the morning. I can stay up in front of it up until the wee hours of the midnight. Almost all my daily duties I do with the computer, like researching on the internet, typing up my homeworks, killing time with video games, and just recently, buying stuff on "E-bay."

The trouble with being a nerd is finding a girlfriend. Let's face it, geeks have a difficulty on finding a special someone. With the way I look, act, and live, girls find me unattractive, a notch below Mr T and Richard Simmons. I had my shares of heartbreaks, and they didn't even reach the stage of "acquaintance". I felt very very lonely, Kelly. So much that one time I was so desperate for affection that, not thinking of the consequences, I "Stuck My Weenie In A Bottle".

It was really embarrassing, Kelly, when the emergency team saw me in my condition. Everyone heard of the news, and they grew more distant from me. The girls are now really disgusted with me, and the guys are picking on me more and more. But then again, that seems like everyday for a nerd like me.

The Black Blog on the Blogger

Greetings. I'm Julius Borne. I've been in and out of the blogging gig for years mainly due to lack of time, motivation, and blog access. Well now I have an abundance of them all: time because I have no more classes now that I'm just waiting for my graduation and am home-bound 'til then, motivation because I have thoughts I'd like to put out to share to everyone as it's also a good way to practice my writing skills for my profession, and blog access because now I have an internet connection at home!

I've lost some of my blog pieces from my old blogs in Friendzy (an old internet community which apparently is now defunct) and Friendster, and I prefer it that way since they were all craps that I'm not very proud of and would rather let them stay lost for good.

I'm still thinking of whether I'll put my most recent work from Friendster here to start things up. Then in a few I'll start on a new work inspired by the conversation I had with a classmate about a week ago.

Well that's all for this introductory post. Here's Julius Borne thanking you for visiting this blog.

Yoroshikune onegaishimas~u (^_^)