Shin Koihime Musou OVA - Three Rings for the Elves

So here it is, the followup to the original Koihime Musou OVA I released awhile ago. All the characters you know and love (plus dozens of others whose names you can't keep straight) head off for a tropical island vacation. Nothing but swimsuits, oil-rubbing, and frolicking on the beach. But there's trouble in paradise, in the form of catgirls, stowaways, an ancient legend, and of course tentacles. Can't forget those.

Subtitles: From Oriental Salamander, retimed, edited, TLCed. Karaoke courtesy of Polished-Subs.

This is the first Blu-Ray downscale I've managed to release, and I at least am pleased with the results. I understand PFSubs&Kiteseekers also did a downscale, but theirs is 400p/XviD/.avi/mp3/hardsub. That one's probably better for standalone players, though.

Saint October 16 - A Child's Time

Well, I'm finally back and recovered from the most successful Anime NebrasKon yet, though I'm still coughing a bit from the ol' con plague. Fortunately, nobody stole or damaged anything from my viewing rooms, and all my panels went pretty well despite the last-minute procrastinated preparation. Anyway, everybody's least-favorite naughty nymphet Esmeralda is out for revenge and on the prowl in Saint October 16, though she manages to get a little bit... sidetracked. Meanwhile, the Goth Loli Detectives are more concerned with academic troubles than anything else, but they still slip in a little judging on the side.

Torrent [CRC=53FCDF7A] ||AoG Patch

Memories Off 2nd 02 - Beach Blanket Betrayal

I think the above line describes how I feel about the typesetting for the many cellphone messages in this episode. But since they are relevant and were translated by Anime-Faith, I couldn't omit them. Blame Aegisub's Color Picker if you see "obvious bars are obvious" colored bars around the text. Anyway, Tomoe has her best friend's boyfriend Ken at her beck and call for every little thing in this episode; one wonders how she survived before she met him. But Ken manages to be complicit in their secret liaisons as well -- is there a School Days-esque development ahead on the horizon?

As is always the case around this time of year, I'm busy with staffing and panel preparations for Anime NebrasKon. If you're going to be there, stop by my viewing rooms and say hi! I'll be screening Memories Off 2nd on Saturday 11-2 at 4:15 AM, so ep 3 WILL be done within the next 2 weeks. (Lol no I lied and slacked off and showed A-Faith's ep 3 instead.)

10-bit Batch (Nyaa) || 10-bit Batch (BakaBT) || 8-bit Batch (Nyaa)

Saint October 15 - Lolis Don't Fear the Reaper

No confrontation with the forces of Reverse this time around, but we do get a glimpse far back into Misaki's past. But even with Kafka out of the picture, Saint October's love for ambiguously-gendered characters still goes on. I must be slipping a bit; I let a couple mistakes like "everyday" and "alright" slip through editing to the final round of QC. But rest assured that everything's fixed to the best of my ability, whatever that ability may be.

Torrent [CRC=9E3C06DC] || AoG Patch

Lovedol ~ Lovely Idol Batch

By somewhat popular request, here's a batch torrent for Lovedol ~ Lovely Idol. I was thinking about doing a complete v2 batch with the .wmv raws I managed to get from area raw, but... like these AME rips, they're wrongly 30fps. It's a shame, because the bitrate in the .wmvs is a bit better and they're anamorphic, but the wrong framerate pushes them into "not worth it" territory. So again, if anyone has access to the .isos and wants to use my subs for new encodes with the right framerate, you're welcome to them. (Just be prepared for lots of little timing adjustments, I suppose.)

So since the only significant error I've noticed was a minor consistency flub in ep 01 that I bet most people won't see, I've decided to go ahead and do a batch. (Maybe there's some insert karaoke fade errors in ep 09, but I don't remember and don't feel like checking.)

Batch (Nyaa) || Batch (BakaBT)

Memories Off 2nd 01 - Summer Never Dies

Here's something I've had kicking around for awhile; as promised awhile back, I will be releasing all of the Memories Off OVAs, and this begins the second series. Enjoy the beginnings of a summer love triangle, though I imagine things don't feel so rushed in the original game. Speaking of games, you can also enjoy this episode as a drinking game: take a drink every time Hotaru asks, "Ken-chan, do you like/love me?" Subs are a combination of Anime-Faith's and Anime-Influx's subs, plus the usual edits and changes on my part. Styling matches what I used on the 1st Memories Off OVA.

10-bit Batch (Nyaa) || 10-bit Batch (BakaBT) || 8-bit Batch (Nyaa)

Lovely Idol 13 - The Final Battle

At long last, here it is, the final episode of Lovely Idol. This was never subbed by WinD back in the day, and is thus an all-new release. KiteSeekers had taken an interest in this unsubbed OVA a long time ago, and they provided the encode, translation, timing, and QC, among other things. I checked the translation and did other general edits, as well as the necessary styling and karaoke to make this fit with my releases of eps 1-12.

Anyway, enjoy some hot springs hijinks -- I'm sure you know what to expect. This just about concludes my work on this series, though if you've seen any errors in previous episodes, let me know so I can v2 them.

Batch (Nyaa) || Batch (BakaBT)
Ep 13 Torrent (10-bit)

Saint October 14 - The Triumphant Return

If you want to know why I've been slacking off so much, blame endless games of spades on grab.com and Disney Channel sitcoms like Good Luck Charlie and Shake It Up. But I promise not to betray 2D like that again, and what better way to do that than to kick off the second half of Saint October, now with even moar lolis. Okay, one more loli, but she's a crazy one.

Lovely Idol 13 is also just about ready, or at least has been for a while.

Torrent [CRC=0A926D72] || AoG Patch

If you have AoG's v2 release (not labeled as such, but found here), you can use the patch to instantly obtain my release from it. And hopefully help seed a little, right?

Mizuiro Jidai 03-04 - What're we gonna do on the bed?

We're back with another little Mizuiro Jidai batch, this time featuring outdoor fun in the form of camping and softball. Yuuko continues sorting through her feelings for Hiroshi, and Takako hints at the content this post's title is joking about. And now to see if I can solve the Mystery of the Missing Subs -- the scripts I have for Saint October 14 are lacking the last third of the episode, even though the actual AoG episode displays subs in that section.

Torrent [CRC=7D7B58D4]

There may be a slight chronology/verb tense error in MiJ ep 04, so I may do a patch for it later on.

Saint October 13 - Attack of the 50 Foot Loli

After the previous episode's shocking events, Kotono spends a bit of time on the sidelines. However, our resident weirdo Kafka is out for revenge, and he's going to use the power of the Warring Triad to... no wait, that's Kefka. Either way, Natsuki and Misaki are in a heap of trouble unless Kotono can bail them out.

Torrent [CRC=E3677637]

This was actually one of the first Saint October episodes I experienced -- the script archive on subs.ru had 1-11 from various groups, 12 OCRed from Dyslexic, and a few scripts from AoG. Since I couldn't OCR multicolored hardsubs back then (and still haven't now), I invented the "brute force transcription" method of pretiming all the lines to the audio and then typing them in. It worked pretty well; I only missed 2 lines on that first pass.

Mizuiro Jidai 01-02 - A Journey to the Old School

Now here's something that maybe only a handful of people expected: Mizuiro Jidai, AKA the Blue-Green or Aqua Years. Take a trip back in time with this Spring 1996 shoujo coming-of-age/romance anime, to an era when not every teenager had a smartphone and an online social media presence. Though as a freshman in high school at the time, I do recall that some upperclassmen had pagers, and some of my more tech-inclined friends did have primitive homepages.

This release is a companion/supplement to the KiteSeekers release, which begins at episode 11. As such, I will only be doing the first 10 episodes, hopefully in a few multi-episode batches like this one. Wherever possible, I'll maintain consistency with the KiteSeekers version. Original translations are from Lunar, though with some edits of course. And like Iriya, this is a beneficiary of the March 2006 Lunar script leak -- it included mostly-untimed MiJ translations through episode 35. When I saw that another fansubber, namaiki, wanted to continue subbing the series, I passed him the scripts I had. He in turn passed them along to the folks at KiteSeekers, who recruited back one of the original Lunar translators, and began a formal release. On my end, I only had to transcribe a few episodes, pasteover Russian timings for ep 10, and go through my usual retime/edit/QC treatment.

Torrent (+more technical details)

On a technical note, I went against one of my own tenets, and created typesetting that lags my ancient system for the title screen. I just couldn't resist the allure of fabulous moving/transforming rainbow text against a bit of karaoke. As I'm still using my old PC for now, I'm guessing it won't be a problem for modern systems with xy-vsHostageTaker installed. If you have such a setup and you still get lag there, let me know and I'll release v2s with more simplified TS.

Lovely Idol 12 - The Elements of Harmony

And at long last, we've come to the final TV-aired episode of Lovely Idol. With Mizuki's mommy matters mostly mollified, all that's left is to pull off the debut live show for tens of thousands of idol fans. Unfortunately, there's no way to tell if Sweet Fish's business model relies on a few hundred fans buying thousands of CDs for popularity contest votes and handshake tickets. We can only hope not. Other than that, look forward to some rare non-lazy typesetting from me. The preview features original translations, as it was not in the TV broadcast or the WinD release.

Batch (Nyaa) || Batch (BakaBT)

I may put together a few v2s to fix inconsistencies in the previews in the early episodes. If you've spotted any other errors throughout the release, like typos, wrong/missing words, lines with the wrong character style, etc., please let me know. Also, any suggestions for improving the typesetting of episode titles (in terms of fonts, colors, border/shadow setting, blur values, layering...) are welcome.

As for the never-before-available-in-English episode 13, I do plan to release that in some form at some point.

Saint October 12 - Shocking Revelations

A new episode of Saint October brings with it a new confrontation with some old foes from Reverse, and not everyone is getting away unscathed this time. But before that, there's some exposition on the true nature of the Goth Lolis' allies and enemies, one that truly sets the tone for where the show is going to go.

Torrent [CRC=8A274A86]

This is one of two episodes that were originally subbed only by Dyslexic. While their English was relatively error-free, and contained a number of clever phrasings, some of the translations were misheard or completely off-base, often resulting in lines that were the complete opposite of the intended meaning.

Lovely Idol 11 - The Big Push

We're almost to the finish line, and the Gen-3 Lovedols are pulling out all the stops to self-promote their event. Luckily, they've got some powerful allies who command a lot of fanboy attention. There's also a culmination of TEH BIG DRAMA arc, and sadly... it doesn't make a lot of sense. I tried, I really did.

Torrent [CRC=8E69DD13]

One area where I didn't try too hard is the typesetting. If you look at the styles in the script, you'll see that I fully admit it's lazy. Unfortunately, the wrong framerates of these raws wreak havoc with any efforts to do frame-by-frame/moving signs. Even if I were skilled enough to typeset them quickly and correctly, they still wouldn't look good. So enjoy your \an8,\an7,\an9,\an4, and so forth.

Maybe I should've gone for those .wmv raws while I had the chance...

Saint October 11 - The Enemy Within

Ah yes, "creepy," everyone's favorite meaningless word for "someone who likes me more than I like them." But there's more important things afoot in Saint October 11, such as another confrontation between Sophia, Kafka, and the Goth Loli Detectives. But, both sides have their internal struggles to deal with. For Reverse, it's dissent over the corporate chain of command. And for the detectives, there's a little mistrust developing towards the mysterious boy with no memories, whose appearance just happened to coincide with all these dangerous incidents.

Torrent [CRC=CE99F5A1]

Other things to note:
* They randomly decided to use a later verse of the OP against a voice actress dance video, rather than the ED.
* I turned up the liberalizing in some of the subtitle lines, but I think they still fit with Saint October's aggressive absurdity.
* I'm hoping these guys continue with their Spanish subbed release (which mostly uses my karaoke and is likely re-translated from my subs), as their encode is higher-resolution, lower file size, and better quality.

Lovely Idol 10 - Ghost of Mother

The drama with Mizuki ramps up even more in this episode, while her fellow five idols struggle to endure Training From Hell(tm) without her. Though if Where the Heart Is taught me anything, it's to always be suspicious of parents who suddenly reappear when you've attained fame and fortune.

Batch (Nyaa) || Batch (BakaBT)

An Exciting Retirement?!

If you saw this post title in a feed somewhere, never fear -- I am NOT retiring from fansubbing or anything else. However, I am retiring something. Back in March 2005, I did something wrong to blow up, short out, or fry the motherboard of the aging HP Pavillion PC I'd had since September 2000. As memories go, it provided a platform for most of my college schoolwork, and the first downloaded anime I ever watched -- old .avis of Trigun, Chrono Crusade, Fruits Basket, Fullmetal Alchemist (2003), and others, all watched via CD-Rs borrowed or copied from friends.

Luckily, I salvaged relevant files off its 10 GB HDD and transferred them to my new purchase, a Gateway 504-GR. With its blazing 1-core 3 GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB of RAM, and 1024x768 CRT display, it has mostly served me well for the past 8 years and 1 month, including:

Saint October 10 - Love is a Shuraba

In this episode, Reverse strikes Kotono on two fronts, with both involving food supply attacks and two sides of a love triangle Kotono never even knew she was in. More of Saint October's heartfelt absurdity abounds, and remember folks, the opposite of love isn't hate, it's indifference!

Torrent [CRC=]

Only one episode of mbt&l-w translations to go, then it's two Dyslexic-only episodes.

Lovely Idol 09 - Idols, Never Idle

Someday, I swear I'll manage to release more than two episodes in a month. There's really no excuse, considering I work about as much in a week as people with real jobs work in a couple of days. Anyway, here's Lovely Idol 09, including all of its many insert songs. The girls continue to work towards the vaguely defined standards of their agency, while finding some time for revelations and self-discovery along the way. And at the end of the episode, the opening shot of Teh Real Drama Plot is fired.

Batch (Nyaa) || Batch (BakaBT)

Saint October 09 - Corporations are people, my friend!

This episode has the Goth-Loli detectives investigating the megacorporation that literally towers over their fair city, and we the audience find out a bit more of what Reverse is all about. But despite getting a little help from an inside connection, it turns out that investigations aren't always best executed under the lights of a TV studio.

Torrent [CRC=6BDB108B]

Koihime Musou OVA v2/720p

So, remember that Koihime Musou OVA I released awhile ago where I fixed up an HKDVD-level script? Well, I decided to take a look at the R1 subs to see how well they agreed with my finished product. And as it turns out, there were a lot of differences, enough that I thought a v2 was justified. In addition to translation corrections, I also cleaned up the scenetiming and joined some lines where the timing was too fragmented. And this re-release marks another milestone: the first 720p release by ReDone. However, even as I upgrade my technology to make 1280x720 watchable, I still won't be neglecting the low-res world.

P.S. Despite the in-video credit, the encode was actually done by DmonHiro. I got the file from a Hungarian group, and didn't realize they'd remuxed Dmon's release until I was looking around in MediaInfo for bitrates after releasing. I will also be releasing DVD v2 and Blu-Ray 720p versions of the Shin Koihime Musou OVA.

Lovely Idol 08 - Telepathic Talent Management

I always thought that celebrity managers/agents were all about helping their clients maximize their star power and earning potential. Under that assumption, managers would tell would-be stars what they should do to succeed, or what they should not do to avoid failing. But it appears that Sweet Fish follows the philosophy of "say that there's a problem, but don't say what it is or how to address it." And meanwhile, the girls get to hang out in an all-expenses-paid company dorm while they guess at answers. Doesn't seem like a great business model, but what do I know? But on the upside, girls hanging out in dorms (at least in anime) means communal bathing scenes, and this episode features less steam in the DVD version than the TV broadcast. No real nudity, but hey, take what you can get I guess...

Batch (Nyaa) || Batch (BakaBT)

Saint October 08 - Bowling for Arcanabine

Finally getting the next installment of Saint October out, not that it was particularly difficult. The Goth-Loli Detectives take up bowling, and meet up with a talented if unusual instructor who has ties to the girls' shadowy enemies. But through their confrontation, one key fact is learned.

Torrent [CRC=0B051899]

Lime-Colored Ballad X Cross 01 - A New Era for Harems

So, the title of this post contains the title I would have released this series under, if I were releasing it. But I'm not. Instead, the Winter 2005 sequel series (generally known as Lime-iro Ryuukitan X Cross ~ Koi, Oshiete Kudasai) to Lime-Colored War Tales is being released by the fine folks over at Kiteseekers. Only the first two episodes were ever subbed back in the day, so this has been a long wait for at least some viewers out there. The series stars the same voice actor who played Tonagura!'s Yuuji Kagura as Kyoushirou Inukai, the hot-blooded but somewhat dimwitted commander who takes over as the teacher for a new group of Raimu-controlling girls at Amanohara Girls' Academy. From the glimpses I've seen of later episodes, this series seems to replace the first series' goofy silliness with over-the-top insanity. And of course, there is some fanservice, though apparently nothing on the level of Senkitan's added scenes.

However, the absence of the ReDone tag doesn't mean I'm not involved, as I will be doing translation checking and editing to keep some consistency with the original series, and to make the scripts as good as I can. And the silver lining to the 8-year delay is that we'll be getting high-quality, all-DVD-source h264/.mkv releases, rather than mid-quality warpsharped XviD .avi TV releases with an 8-year gap before anyone manages to put together a DVD version.

Relevant links are at Kiteseekers' site. I probably will not cross-post each of their releases here, so keep an eye on their blog.

(Disclaimer: picture is not from ep 01 or the encode Kiteseekers is using.)

Lovely Idol 07 - Procrastination Nation

I've finally completed the first release of 2013, Lovely Idol 07. This episode has the girls tailing senior idol Ayumi Shindou around town, while they should be working on content for their make-or-break performance. But something tells me a learning experience is in the cards. Also, note that I've translated an insert song that WinD did not translate.

I didn't mean for December to be such an idle month, but I embarked on a journey to complete a new anime series on every day of the month. And for the most part, I succeeded, ranging from finishing up long-stalled 1-cour series, knocking out some movies and OVAs, and marathoning all of Usagi Drop in a single day. And I've also been doing some IRL work that may finally allow me to afford enough technological toys to bring me into the late 00s.

Batch (Nyaa) || Batch (BakaBT)