Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Soul Link 05 - Welcome to GoodBurger, can I take your order?


Tensions run high in Aries once again, as Jararacas attempts to invade Sheratan from at least one angle. Luckily, there's still plenty of time for informal photo shoots and to serve up some sandwiches and burgers.

Batch (BakaBT) || Batch (Nyaa)

Monday, March 28, 2011

Tonagura! 05 - Pictures of You, Pictures of Me


In this fifth episode of Tonagura!, an innocent little photo session goes horribly wrong for most parties involved. And Yuuji doesn't even get any Kazuki panchira shots for his troubles.

Batch (BakaBT) || Batch (Nyaa)

Monday, March 21, 2011

Soul Link 04 - I... Am... You!



Unfortunately, listening to my old friends talking about their houses, spouses, kids, and careers this weekend delayed my work on Soul Link 04. But if I let down the ~450 random Internet people downloading this re-release of a 5-year-old cartoon, my pride as a basement dweller would never forgive me. Anyway, I'm hoping the low file size for this episode is due to not much happening, other than some talking, flashbacks, gathering of new allies, and glimpses of approaching danger. Because true terrorists never give up fighting for their goals -- doing so would be letting the non-terrorists win.

Batch (BakaBT) || Batch (Nyaa)

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Tonagura! 04 - Fierce Feline Fracas


In this unlucky fourth episode, Marie Kagura has a run in with some cats and channels the spirit of Sakaki (last name withheld) of Azumanga Daioh fame. This episode also features the formal debut of Neena Iokawa, who I'm guessing is an anime-original character. There's good and bad aspects to her, but suffice to say she's a blonde, foreign, often-annoying, overly-friendly loli with some profoundly weird speech quirks.

Batch (BakaBT) || Batch (Nyaa)

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Soul Link 03 - At least there's no earthquakes in space



However, the third episode of Soul Link does find our plucky cadets faced with several serious threats, such as terrorists, a nuclear disaster, and a startling lack of firearms safety. Oh, and around 02:11, you'll find a bit of enhancement over what the TV-rips showed.

Batch (BakaBT) || Batch (Nyaa)

Friday, March 11, 2011

Tonagura! 03 - U Gonna Get Terminated


Every ecchi comedy has to have a cockblock character... I mean, a character who upholds Ishihara standards of decency and morality for the impressionable youth. In Tonagura!, it's Yuuji's younger sister Marie, who is featured above with one of her many weapons. This time, she gets to watch her brother try to act cool and impress all the girls at school. Is Kazuki no longer woman enough for him??

Batch (BakaBT) || Batch (Nyaa)

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Soul Link 02 - Short Skirts in Zero Gravity



One thing that struck me about Soul Link when I first saw it was the voice talent involved. No, not the female characters -- many of them are played by nearly-unknown actresses. However, we do have Norio Wakamoto (Shigemichi Morimoto) and Takehito Koyasu (Kazuhiko Nitta, pictured above) in the same show, and that can only mean awesomeness. Other than that, this 2nd episode features some of Soul Link's rare "typical VN" comedic scenes, like with Shuuhei and Aki's meeting. Enjoy them if you can, while you can.

Batch (BakaBT) || Batch (Nyaa)

I didn't detect any additional censorship vs. the TV-rip in this episode. Let's hope that Sayaka panchira scene in ep 01 was a one-time aberration.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Tonagura! 02 - The Bed Intruder


Most ecchi comedies have difficulty getting the characters' parents out of the picture to pave the way for shenanigans and ensuing hilarity. So I have to respect this 2nd episode of Tonagura! for providing a perfectly logical, highly implausible, but 100% epic excuse to remove the parental units from the scene. Meanwhile, Hatsune conducts a test to see if Yuuji can control his horny level around Kazuki, because they're going to be spending a lot more time together. Expect cosplay, wifeplay, wordplay, and no small amount of righteous punishment. Although unlike many anime males in his position, Yuuji deserves a lot of it.

Once again, expect some liberties to be taken with the subtitles. But imo it's better to have liberal subs that make jokes and puns coherent, as opposed to literal ones that don't. See 21:00 of this episode for an example.

Batch (BakaBT) || Batch (Nyaa)

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Soul Link 01 - Doesn't Navel ever get tired of this stuff?


In the words of an Engrish-speaking flight announcer, "Welcome to the Space," and welcome to the first episode of Soul Link. Despite its reputation, origins, and images like the above, I found this to be a surprisingly good sci-fi drama. In fact, this first episode is practically a bait-and-switch operation, as the silliness and fanservice generally declines from here on in. It may not be the greatest show ever, and some episodes are full of exposition and infodump, but it's still better than it lets on.

For the subtitles on this, I'm once again using the work of the fine folks at Yesy. However, I'm also comparing things with Kaze no Koe Fansubs' subs to get a second opinion on TL and editing. Several things from KnKF's release will be implemented, including the general styling and the use of "Aniki" and "Nii-san" when Ryouta and Aki address their older brothers. And of course, I'm adding my own input to the subs as well. Encode source is from SumiSora, and I suggest you obtain the raws if you can; I will be offering xdelta patches to go from CNsub -> ENGsub, in an attempt to improve distribution speeds.

Despite the one verified instance of added censorship on these DVDs (see 02:30 in this file), I think the audio, video, and subtitle (TL/editing/timing + hardsub->softsub) improvements in this DVD release are worthwhile.

Batch (BakaBT) || Batch (Nyaa)

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Tonagura! 01 - Attempted Raep



So, thanks to the encoding assistance of Kaishakunin, I'm able to get this series off the ground. Tonagura! ("Adjacent Living") is a fun, lighthearted romance/ecchi/comedy series from the summer of 2006. It tells the story of Kazuki Arisaka and her long-lost-love/childhood-friend Yuuji Kagura. When he returns after a 10-year absence, he... betrays her expectations just a bit. Hilarity ensues.

Subtitles for this are from the only group to complete the series, Ryoumi Subs. However, I found their subs to be competent, yet irritatingly literal. So you'll see quite a few changes, like "Kazuki-chan is so cute!" -> "You're so cute, Kazuki-chan!" I've also done different styles for different sorts of dialogue, similar to what Ryoumi had. One area where my release definitely will fall short is the typesetting, as I don't have access to dedicated AFX talent. But you don't want hardsubs anyway, do you?

Anyway, let me know if there are any glaring subtitle mistakes, and how the subtitle font/size/spacing/scaling/etc. work for you, and I might look into changing them. After all, I consider softsubs where you have to change numerous different styles to get what you want to be "effectively hardsubbed."

Batch (BakaBT) || Batch (Nyaa)