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.

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)

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)

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)

Tonagura! ... is delayed :(

So, my plan was to use these raws for Tonagura!, and I've gone ahead and done the necessary OP/ED karaoke, retiming, typesetting, styling, and editing for the first episode. But then I muxed everything up to do a test watch, and that's where the trouble began. Long story short: it's kind of a mess. Everything seems to start and end two frames early, even though I painstakingly scene-timed everything. Most panning movements look jerky, which wreaks havoc with any of my attempts at complicated \move or frame-by-frame typesetting. I could try shifting everything a few frames forward, but that could just as easily create other timing issues. I blame bad encoding/framerate issues. So unfortunately, I'm going to have to declare these raws unreleasable for the time being, and call for outside assistance. I'm wondering if anyone can...

A) Seed the HKG DVD-rips, so I can try my luck with them, or
B) Do new encodes from DVD .iso for me.

Since I do have all 13 episodes transcribed and styled, I'll keep working on the subs with the raws I have. If no new encodes become available to me, I'll see about making the subs available for someone to use in the future. In the meantime, there are other shows I can work on while I'm getting over this (hopefully temporary) setback.

Soul Link Preliminary Post

So, after some deliberation and more work on more episodes, I've decided to release Soul Link. I saw at least one scene where the DVD was less censored than TV (instead of more), so I figure things will sort of balance out. But before I get started, I have a couple questions for you all:

1) Can anyone upload one of the episodes that AnimeUniverse released to a filehost? I'd like to take a look at what they did with the OP/ED lyrics, even though I've already done some editing/corrections to the lyrics myself.

2) As stated previously, the subtitle source will primarily be from yesy. Styling will be similar to Kaze no Koe Fansubs' release. I also pulled down the KnKF release just to get a "second opinion" on TL and editing. One notable difference I've seen so far is that yesy used "Brother" when Ryouta and Aki address their older brothers, while KnKF used "Aniki" and "Nii-san." Which rendering would you rather see in my release, the localized/yesy version, or the unlocalized/KnKF version?

Touka Gettan 26 - The Beginning

Just to get it out of the way first, here's the...

Torrent [CRC=53B00A67] || Batch (BakaBT) || Batch (nyaa)

It's been a long and arduous journey, but we've finally arrived at the end of Touka Gettan, which of course means the start of the story. It's quiet, simple, and yet still powerful, like a silent scream or a deafening whisper. It's probably taken me longer than it should have, but I'm going to miss this show. I don't know when I'll next have the chance to work on something this aesthetically rich and textually complex. Some people hated Touka Gettan like nobody's business, but I enjoyed virtually every minute of the show and an only slightly lesser percentage of the time spent re-releasing it.

Some special thanks and shout-outs:
* Seto_Otaku, for raws and other encouragement.
* Whatever anon set me straight on the intricacies of the OP lyrics.
* something and other posters on AnimeonDVD, whose thread was invaluable in helping me understand the series better. Same with the AnimeSuki thread.
* Tenshi_MKII and all the Serin staff. As much as I disparaged your work, I still have to appreciate that you gave this confusing, unpopular series a chance when no one else would. I guess they were all busy with Lucky Star, Gurren Lagann, Kaze no Stigma, Claymore, Hayate the Combat Butler, etc. I don't even want to think about the daunting task of translating and subbing this show from scratch.