The epic quest for fansubs

[Bad Username]

A while ago, I joined this forum to state my intention of obtaining every single episode of the 2003 series with Japanese audio and English subtitles. The first torrent I found, which contained rips from the Korean release of Eps 1-19 and 21-24 with Japanese audio and English subtitles, turned out to be a bust.

Later, Dr. Frag was kind enough to point me to a set of torrents for the first three Japanese DVDs, complete with special features and English subtitles added. These torrents turned out to be useless, however, as the only seed's network settings prohibited a direct connection.

I am not quitting.

But I'm going to have to do this the hard way: I will purchase the official DVD sets from Amazon's Japanese site, rip the episodes, and search for a group willing to translate the whole thing. If possible (and if nobody minds), I will also remaster the footage from the source to improve the colors and light levels.

Episode 1 - Original source video:


Episode 1 - Remastered video:


This will not be cheap or quick. Each volume will cost me more than $45 American, and the total price will be over $600 (and this doesn't count the potential costs of commissioning a fansub group). Presently, I can afford to get maybe one per month at my current rate of income. That said, I'm not going to ask for donations; there are better things you can do with your money, and I would rather not deal with potential accusations that I'm ripping anyone off (not to mention forum rules against advertising).

Unless I can find torrents that are complete and will let me connect, this is pretty much how it's gonna happen. Please be patient.

[happymoments]

I BID YOU GOOD LUCK IN YOUR QUEST! I'm pretty desperate for japanese (korean) with english subtitle, too.

[Fauna]

I actually have episodes 5-20 in Japanese on VHS! They're in really good quality, so if you wait until after just Christmas (when I get my conversion program), I'd be happy to upload them for you! That should hopefully save your wallet a bit...

[sgupta]

I wish you luck on your quest also! You might wait a bit on this as I bought a set off eBay (that I believe to be a bootleg from Malaysia, though they're claiming it's official) that's *supposedly* all 50 episodes in Japanese with English subtitles (as well as some other subtitling options). See info here (and no; the listing doesn't totally make sense - 2 DVD's could not possibly be right if it really is what it says it is, so this was definitely a bit of a risk on my part, but nobody I've talked to actually has tried this release thus far):

http://cgi.ebay.com/Astro-Boy-ATOM-Animation-DVD-Ep-1-50-End-Anime_W0QQitemZ200400790235QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CDsDVDs_DVDs_DVDs_GL?hash=item2ea8d162db

I took a risk on the thing as I decided it was worth it and have *no idea* what the quality will be like (the listing shows a screencap that looked promising with good English subs, and it's that non-US licensed episode often called "Eternal Boy"). At any rate, *if* it works out, I'd be glad to share with everyone here (though it may take a few weeks to get here - just placed the order earlier in the week).

Either way, I'd be honored to support this project any way possible as this is my goal also. I will certainly let everyone know what's on this set as soon as it arrives.

I did find a torrent of the first 24 episodes with subtitles (the entire Korean release as far as I know), and it *is* legitimately Japanese with subtitles in high quality as I can preview the first episode cuz enough of it completed, BUT, sadly, the torrent was never seeded enough as far as I can tell (left it running for days), so it gets to about halfway and stops dead. =(

[Bad Username]

@Fauna: VHS tends to deteriorate a lot when converted. If you could upload one episode somewhere so I can compare it to a straight DVD rip, I would appreciate it.

@sgupta: No offense, but those episodes having high quality is about as likely as Lost having a satisfying conclusion. The official Japanese release is on 13 DVDs. The torrent you found is likely the same torrent I gave up on so long ago.

@happymoments and everyone else too: Thanks for your encouraging words.

[sgupta]

(Hey, I like Lost ^.^) ]Bad Username, I totally agree that the quality may not be great, but the initial idea was, I already have the retail US release (pretty great quality though of course the cuts/changes/4:3 treatment are annoying) - even if these were low quality VCD's or something, but had complete subs, I'd at least be able to watch/share the original Japanese version and see what I'm missing. So at the very least, if the subtitles are there, you could do your high quality version and already have the subs and not need fansubbers. I know it's a bit of a gamble, but I figure worth a shot. Either way I hope to support this if I possibly can.

[Bad Username]

That's true. Having pre-existing subs available would be a big help.

The Lost comment was actually a modified joke from Yu-Gi-Oh: The Abridged Series. The villain of the week was talking trash and saying he was gonna beat Yami Yugi into the ground, etc. and Yami said "That's about as likely as Battlestar Galactica having a satisfying conclusion." I modified the joke because Lost isn't over yet and because BSG really did have a terrible ending.

[sgupta]

Hehe. I'm almost done with Battlestar Galactica (two eps to go - the finale essentially). BSG I felt started off great (the miniseries that kicked it off was awesome) but got so muddled after a while it became much less fun and too convoluted/nonsensical for its own good. So I agree there - I have higher hopes for Lost. ^.^

At any rate, back on topic, re that Malaysia DVD set, I will say this... Recently when looking for that Eternal Boy missing episode, I stumbled upon some flash files Fafner was kindly sharing comprising the episode (and was able to convert it to WMV) - it's low quality but all there with decent subtitles (posted a thread about it). I can tell you from the screens on the eBay listing I posted above those are the same wording for the subtitles and it looks like it may be a higher quality version if that's a real screecap. (The subtitles in that episode I have aren't completely perfect, but good enough to understand - probably not quite as good as the Korean release tho'; I'd have to be able to compare). That combined with the positive feedback for the seller, his willingness to do his best to answer my questions (he didn't have all the answers but was honest about it), I figured it was worth a shot. So I'm hopeful but cautious. ^.^

[Bad Username]

I noticed the clock in the upper left corner. Some Japanese TV stations (including the station that broadcast Astro Boy) add a clock to remind people not to watch for too long and make it to school/work on time. So, it's almost certainly a Japanese TV rip; I hope you didn't pay too much.

[sgupta]

That clock is on that video file of Eternal Boy I mentioned too (and sychronizes with the screenshot as well). Interesting to know the reason for the clock though - I never knew that before so thanks for the enlightening!

No, it wasn't too bad, and worth it if it's got all the eps subbed. I realized before I went for it it probably wasn't true DVD quality.