Some Future Plans

Looking ahead past Strawberry 100% TV (and maybe the OVAs) a little bit, these are some shows I'm planning on doing or at least thinking about, in no particular order:



Touka Gettan (2007)
An amazingly awesome show about love transcending time and space. Also demons, butterflies, a magic sword, a magic car, catgirls, immortals, incest, yuri, and more. Not to mention the incomprehensibility factor stemming from the backwards airing.

Raw: Unknown source raws with Japanese filenames
Video: 704x480 (16:9) h264
Audio: Japanese 2.0 Stereo AAC
Subtitles: Serin-Fansubs, HEAVILY modified. While I might not be able to fix every translation problem, I can sure deal with the spelling/grammar errors, the poor styling, the bad writing, the subber comments, and the unnecessary TL notes.
Progress: Raws downloaded, karaoke prepared, 1-14 OCRed.



To Heart ~Remember my Memories~ (2004)
Raw: Zero-Raws (transcoded .wmv -> .mkv)
Video: 704x480 (4:3) h264 (transcoded from wmv)
Audio: Japanese 2.0 Stereo AAC (transcoded from wma)
Subtitles: Anime-Keep & Anime-Faith (1-8), Conclave & Anime-Faith (9-13), yu (Heart Fighters Specials). Major fixes to the yu subs, minor modifications to Keep/Conclave&Faith.
Progress: Raws DLed, raws transcoded, karaoke prepared, 01-13 OCRed, 01 retimed and in editing.



Tonagura! (2006)
Something about reunited childhood friends, with ecchi and fanservice involved, I dunno lol

Raw: Zero-Raws
Video: 720x480 (16:9) h264
Audio: Japanese 2.0 Stereo AAC
Subtitles: Ryoumi. Have only seen the 1st ep, so I don't know how much fixing I'll be doing.
Progress: Raws DLed, TV-rips DLed, not sure if I'll watch them first or go in "blind" to start OCRing.

EDIT: didn't know / forgot that PowerPinoy-Subs was working on this. AniDB's there for a reason, guys :P. If he doesn't pick up the project again, I'll give it another look. But that gives me time to watch the TV-rips.



Pita-Ten (2002)
Like A Little Snow Fairy Sugar, Pita-Ten features character designs by Koge-Donbo. Also like ALSFS, Pita-Ten is a cloyingly cute show that works its way into your heart and leaves you in tears.

Raw: Unknown
Video: 640x480, wmv transcoded to h264 (1-7, 9, 17-18, 20-21, 26) or XviD (8, 10-16, 19, 22-25)
Audio: Japanese 2.0 Stereo AAC or mp3
Subtitles: Hikari no Kiseki, shouldn't need much fixing.
Progress: Raws downloaded, Ep 01 OCRed.

Those are the tentative plans for the near future, anyway. RealLife(tm) may slow things down. Also, just because I've mentioned a show in the past but not here, it doesn't mean I've dropped it from consideration. Rizelmine and Shinigami's Ballad come to mind. Lastly, if there's anything else you want me to take a look at, post it here.

Quick guidelines: no R1-licensed anime unless the subs seriously fail, no Blu-Ray-only anime 'cause my PC can't take it. Disregard that, I might try doing some Blu-Ray shows, starting with Kemeko Deluxe (2008). However, you still won't be seeing 720p/1080p from me. All BD-raw-based releases will be downscaled to 576p or below, if my PC can re-encode them in a reasonable amount of time.

Pretty Cure Splash Star 37... is not here.

If you followed the mistaken info link I posted on nyaatorrents for [PCSS] Pretty Cure Splash Star 37, then you'll want this site. Of course, if you've been following that show, you probably know that already.

[Zalis] Happy Lesson OVA 05 (END)

It seems like I can't escape strawberry panties, even if I go and work on a different show. Here it is, episode 5 of the 5-episode Happy Lesson OVA. Due to Chitose's own incompetence and Fumitsuki's violent tendencies, he winds up possessed by a spirit whose name I invented from whole cloth. That means it's up to his shrine-maiden/school-nurse mother, Yayoi Sanzenin. This also means you get to hear a lot of Yayoi's VA, the ever-talented Kikuko Inoue. She's also one of maybe two Happy Lesson VA anyone's ever heard of.

Specs are about the same as episode 4. The raw was smaller and more bitrate-starved, so there's even more artifacting/blocking in high-motion scenes.

Torrent [CRC=F21483A1]

And this little mini-project is finally over. I've been working on it in some capacity for maybe 3 years, and it feels good to finally get it out the door. Chances are you'll see a batch torrent for it with eps 1-3 from some other group on bakabt before too long. (EDIT: batch here)

[Zalis] Happy Lesson OVA 04

Torrent [CRC=F72BDF75]

Time for something drastically different from the usual re-releases. This is episode 4 of the 5-episode Happy Lesson OVA series, which was released in Japan in 2001-2003. Happy Lesson has had an odd history. The first three episodes were fansubbed back in the day, and then ADV Films announced the license. All the fansub groups dropped the project (because that was normal and expected back in the old days), but ADV only ever released the first three episodes. Thus, episodes 4 and 5 fell through the cracks. Fansubbers didn't want to touch them because of the license, DVD buyers couldn't buy them because ADV never dubbed/subbed/released them, and obviously, R1DVD-ripping groups couldn't rip what didn't exist. So these two episodes have never been available in English. Until now. Here's the rundown, same as you saw at NyaaTorrents:

Source: DVD (DivX5/mp3/avi raw transcoded to h264/AAC in order to crop black bars and filter some combing)
Container: .mkv
Video: 640x480 4:3 h264 23.976 fps (1042 kbps)
Audio: Japanese 2.0 AAC (128 kbps)
Subtitles: English, soft, styled .ass.
Localization Level: Somewhere between typical fansub and typical R1. Western name order, Onee-chan/Onii-chan translated, standard honorifics retained. Songs have English/Romaji, no karaoke effects.

If the old Anime-Kissaten fansubs ever resurface, I'll do an XviD/avi/hardsub release to complement them, and tweak the subs to make them more fansub-esque. Like karaoke and onee-chan's and all that junk. Enjoy, and stay tuned for episode 5 -- it's already translated, timed, and typeset, so I just need to transcode the raw and obsess over the subs a little more.

Strawberry 100% 08 - Sad Girl in Snow

Here's episode 8, which sort of brings us to the 2/3rds point in the series. Or at least it would, if not for the "TV Special" episode. I like this episode, despite the typical Japanese ridiculous overreaction to cold weather. Yui Minamito ftw once again. But of course she'd be awesome: she's played by the same voice actress as Fate Testarossa and Utau Hoshina.

Also The torrent I'd found with the OVA raws appears to be dead, so that tips my decision a bit farther away from doing the OVAs, unless something resurfaces.

Strawberry 100% 07 - It's Too Late to Apologize

Y'know, I worked fast food for a number of years, including some in management. And I can tell you, low-level employees like Junpei and Satsuki never would've been left alone over the afternoon off-peak. But willing suspension of disbelief is a necessity for a lot of anime. Given how the members of my local anime club nitpick minor physics issues in some shows, it's a wonder they enjoyed others like Gurren Lagann.

Oh, and in other news, Junpei gets a golden opportunity for some real action. Will he exploit it, or will he screw it up? I'll tell you who wouldn't have screwed it up: MANkoto Itou. He would've banged every girl in this show multiple times by now, perhaps even simultaneously. Except maybe Aya. She'd probably be the one with the boat.

On a final point, if anyone's curious about the changes I've made from the yesy subs, extract the .ass files from the .mkvs. I often leave comments in there about problems and errors I saw in the original subs, and why I made the translation and wording choices I did. In general, changes are made on a "they misheard Word A as Word B" or "this line sounded really awkward" basis.

Strawberry 100% 06 - Worst. Birthday. Ever.

Thank you, Oukusa, for explaining why Manaka fails. But at least Manaka realizes that he should do a little explaining instead of letting things continue as they are. Also, the low production values in Strawberry 100% become evident in this episode -- observe the completely frozen-in-place bystanders during Manaka and Oukusa's conversation, pictured above. At least other shows like Hidamari Sketch and Minami-Ke acknowledge their shortcomings by abstracting background characters.

Strawberry 100% 05 - Life's a beach, then you die

Riiiiight, Manaka. We all know what kind of "research" you want to do with her. This episode is the requisite beach/swimsuit/hotsprings type episode in every show from thsi genre. Once again, no added nudity in this version. Then again, I'm impressed that the broadcast version wasn't steamed up to kingdom come and back.

I swear, yesy's editor must've been on vacation for this episode as well, considering the number of lines like "There's no one here, such a deserted beach is boring" that I felt compelled to clean up. Get it while it's hot:

Ikki-Tousen Supreme Strawberries 04

Episode 4 of Strawberry 100% introduces yet another new girl, Satsuki Kitaouji. She's a raging violent tsundere who's constantly overwhelmed by both her tsun and dere sides. A lot of anime girls (and some guys) use that heel drop kick, but I have to think it'd be really impractical in an actual fight. In other news, Manaka acts like an idiot and girls still like him.