[thechat] Anime Update: Millennium Actress

Ben Dyer bendyer at swbell.net
Wed Sep 10 16:36:21 CDT 2003


Long post. :)

On Wednesday, Sep 10, 2003, at 13:05 US/Central, Luther, Ron wrote:
> Did a search. Took a cursory glance at a site or two. What the heck
> are these? A way to order Japanese language only things that never 
> were /
> aren't ever planned to be released elsewhere?

 From a general point of view, fansubs are Japanese series with English 
subtitles that were created by fans of anime.  Technically, the ethics 
within the "proper" fansub community dictate that only titles that have 
yet to be licensed by American companies should be distributed (as a 
way of generating buzz around certain titles before American 
distribution).

In recent years, fansubs have given way to digisubs, where online 
groups put together fan-translated episodes of Japanese series and make 
these available online through BitTorrent, rather than distributing VHS 
tapes, CDs, VCDs or DVDs as in the olden days.

This is where most fansubbing comes from today: online distribution of 
the latest episodes of the latest titles (sometimes within days of 
their Japanese broadcast).  All that is required is a copy of 
BitTorrent, the DivX codec and patience to allow episodes to download. 
:)

BitTorrent: <http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/>
DivX Codec: <http://www.divx.com/divx/>
Downloads: <http://www.animesuki.com/>

All Anime Suki does is list where you can find torrent files that 
fansub groups make available for download, they don't release any of 
the fansubs themselves.

Only word of advice at Anime Suki, if it says "AnimeJunkies" as the 
group, *avoid it like the plague*.  Trust me, they're awful.

> The prices here ($4 a VCD) sounded good. Any titles to especially look
> for or stay away from?
> http://www.soyokazefans.com/

You can try the VCD or CD route if you'd like, but be careful with 
trusting those kind of people, your money could just as easily 
disappear into a black hole and since these aren't companies (just kids 
with CD burners), there is very little recourse.  I used to buy VCDs 
over a year ago, but stopped as BitTorrent rose to prevalence.  Most of 
the VCD places I used are long gone now.

This group in particular also has many, many licensed titles among 
their list: Aquarian Age, Detective Conan, Di Gi Charat, Dirty Pair, 
Figure 17, Ghost Sweeper Mikami, Gravitation, Gundam SEED, Hana Yori 
Dango, Marmalade Boy, One Piece, Rave, Wedding Peach, etc. are all 
licensed by American companies - some are available now, others will be 
soon.  I tend not to support groups that distribute licensed titles if 
I can help it.

This is why I use Anime Suki, because they purge licensed titles from 
their databse as soon as they are announced.  The best way to find out 
what's licensed and what isn't, is to use Anime on DVD's "Grand High 
Licensing List":

<http://www.animeondvd.com/licenselist/>

But, as far as titles on Anime Suki, here are some summaries of shows 
currently running in Japan (it won't cover all the shows at Anime Suki):

<http://users.wpi.edu/~amgillet/jasc/newanime/newanime.html>

I'm currently watching Dokkoider, Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, Gundam ZZ 
(old series), Hajime no Ippo (old series), Macross 7 (old series), 
Narutaru, Onegai Twins, Popotan and Rumic Theater.  (Well, I'm also 
watching Da Capo, but you shouldn't because it sucks.)  Other series I 
know are good, but haven't had time to follow include Full Moon wo 
Sagashite, Kaze no Yojimbo, Naruto, Scrapped Priness and Stellvia of 
the Universe (Uchuu no Stellvia).

I'd start out with something that's easy to get that's not a big 
investment as far as download time: something like Full Metal Panic? 
Fumoffu or Macross 7.

Check the series page on Anime Suki, find the series you want to 
download from, find the episode you wish to get (if you choose Full 
Metal Panic? Fumoffu, try the Anime-Keep fansub), clicking on that link 
will take you to the fansub group's list of files, copy and paste that 
link into your copy of BitTorrent and it will do the downloading for 
you.  You'll probably need to let that run for quite a while, but when 
it's done, assuming the codec is working properly, you should just be 
able to play the movie.  Repeat ad infinitium.

I know I kind of ran through all that real quickly (it's a lot to 
absorb), if you try this and get stuck, feel free to e-mail me offlist 
and I'll certainly help you out (or AIM me at RadicalBender if I'm 
online). :)

Also, if you're terminally curious about some other fansubs, on the 
Anime Blog Muyo! Message Boards, we have a "Fansub Watch Party" where 
we review new episodes of shows as they're released.  You can check 
that out for some more nuggets of information as well:

<http://radicalbender.com/animeblog/boards/>

> (Feeling the mud pull his boots in deeper.)

I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor.

Oh heck, it's up to my neck!
Oh dread, it's up to my...

Hee hee. :)

--Ben

--------------
Radical Bender
http://www.radicalbender.com/



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