Re: "Highlander" Anime -- Really?

On Fri, 08 Jun 2007 09:03:28 -0400, Cathy Krusberg wrote:

It's been several years since this went down, but when Madman was about
to release the movie, they made a mad scramble looking for someone who
had done a fansub; they announced the search on their boards, and
someone reposted it to one of the anime newsgroups (I no longer recall
whether it was r.a.a.m or something else). Apparently they didn't have
time to do the translation themselves. They found a fansub script but
then weren't able to put it into service, but unfortunately, I don't
remember the technical details as to why the Japanese-language master
wasn't considered satisfactory.

The fansub script was a hard subtitle put out by Digital Panic a couple of
years ago.

I'm referring to a different script, one by a Brazilian subber that was
not put into general release. If Madman found anyone else who'd share a
fansub script with them, I never heard about it.

I haven't seen it myself but it's reported to be a fairly
accurate translation. If that was the version Madman was dealing with
either the hardsub or the file used to create the hard sub would have been
problematic.

My understanding is that the problem was with the quality of the
Japanese master itself. I think the fansub file being provided was plain
text -- not even a timed version, just a translation.

Plain text would have worked since it would have had to be retimed anyway.

A couple of years ago, I downloaded the subtitles for the English version
from subtitles.org to compare them to the Japanese version. I played the
subtitles that were based on the Urban Vision version with the Avex Mode
Japanese Region 2 DVD. For those who are interested, here's the file:

http://www.opensubtitles.org/en/subtitles/153416/vampaia-hanta-d-en

You'll need a player that can play a DVD (in this case a region 2 DVD) and
load an external subtitle file. VLC media player is a simple
cross-platform player that is easy to use. You can tell it to load an
external subtitle file when you open the media to be played. You can
download it from:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

I watched the Japanese version with the subtitles (sometimes referred to as
dubtitles) for the English version. The differences between the two were
primarily timing and idiomatic. When I say idiomatic I mean that the
substance of the dialog was not changed rather the expressions used were
different to convey the same concept. In other words, the plot of the
Japanese version was virtually identical to the plot of the English version
and the changes were stylistic rather than substantive. It appeared that
the Japanese version went to some lengths to replicate the dialog in the
third novel - "D-Yousatsukou". Thus, consistency with the style in the
novel often replaced an accurate, literal translation of the English in the
theatrical release.

That being said, the Japanese version of the movie was far closer to the
English version of the movie than it was to the novel. There was no
attempt to make the movie faithful to the novel and there are substantial
differences in plot, dialog, and character. As I'm sure you're aware, the
novel has been translated into English under the title "Demon Deathchase".

I still have reservations about the absence of a quality Japanese master.
The Perfect Collection came out in 2004 and Avex Mode had no difficulty
providing superior but separate DVDs of the English and Japanese versions.
My feeling is that Madman concluded that it was too hard to combine both
English and Japanese versions on the same disk. This would be consistent
with what I found when I tried to play the dubtitles with the Japanese
version. Not only was the overall timing off but also there would be
Japanese dialog when there was no English and English dialog where there
was no Japanese.

If the English and Japanese could have been easily combined, I'm sure that
Avex mode would have published a dual audio DVD at some point. Although I
said in an earlier post that there was at least one fan subber who combined
both audio tracks into one version, he did so by altering the audio and
video tracks. Most likely, Madman was committed to preserving the
integrity of the theatrical release and, unlike the fansubber, did not have
the option of performing surgery on the audio and video tracks to make them
consistent with one another.

Mata ato de,

Phil Yff
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: A little more about v80
    ... I can't understand how japanese can't create things for the ... Japanese dictionaries are head and shoulders above other dual ... My ideal movie has Japanese and English voice tracks and subtitles. ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: Imperative in Japanese Story Titles
    ... Japanese and own the Japanese Region 2 DVDs. ... Japanese translation addresses works written in English about Japan. ...  The movie I talked about a while ago -- Merry ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: Imperative in Japanese Story Titles
    ... Japanese and own the Japanese Region 2 DVDs. ... Japanese translation addresses works written in English about Japan. ...  The movie I talked about a while ago -- Merry ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: Imperative in Japanese Story Titles
    ... Japanese and own the Japanese Region 2 DVDs. ... Japanese translation addresses works written in English about Japan. ...  The movie I talked about a while ago -- Merry ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: FMA Spoilers Re: German language in anime
    ... I have seen the movie. ... The Japanese premium DVD box of the movie has an English language sub ... The English sub applies only to the movie itself, ... I hope your fansub used it or did at least ...
    (rec.arts.anime.misc)