Strawberry 100% TV (Blu-Ray)

This isn't my release, just a little cross-promotion: Squiggy over at Tsundere-Rips has released a Blu-Ray version of Strawberry 100% TV 1-13. It's 960x720,* 10-bit(?), no OP/ED segment-linking, with FLAC audio just like the ReDone-MDC version. The subs are from my release, though edited in some way -- if I had to guess, maybe some of my more liberal lines have been changed? You may like it more, you may not, but I figured I'd at least make sure people knew their options. No Blu-Ray exists or has been announced for the Jump Festa or other OVAs, so no legitimate HD rips of them are possible for the time being.

*Remember, this show came out in 2005 and was made in 4:3; making the move to Blu-Ray doesn't magically make it 16:9.

Strawberry 100% Final Update

And now, what I hope is the final post on this blog about the Strawberry 100% franchise. MDC has released all the remaining TV episodes and OVAs since my last post, and I hope they're a sufficient upgrade over the previous versions. Not that I've seen them, because if I ever revisit this show just to watch, it won't be for a long long time. Doing the OVAs was an interesting experience, as it gave me some practice in transcribing subs that I'll put to good use for future shows. And doing 6 different karaokes for 5 episode has helped me speed up and streamline that process as well. Find+Replace is a new good friend of mine, I can say that much.

So, while you enjoy the complete lack of conclusion in either the TV or OVA series, I'll be moving on to work on other shows, most of which should be better than Strawberry 100%. But at least there's always the manga.

(Note: links removed due to reasons)

Strawberry 100% OVAs 01-03

A few more episodes from the never-imitated, often-equaled Strawberry 100% franchise have come out from MDC.
EDIT 7-5-10:
OVA 01 features a disastrously hectic attempt to prepare for the Cultural Festival, which introduces another "refers to self in 3rd person" girl, named Chinami. Also, all the girls except Aya get abducted or chased away by schoolboy would-be gang-raepists. But I'm sure there's no way Junpei and Aya will get trapped in a passionate, compromising position, or nearly "caught in the act" by the rest of the Film Club. Didn't they learn their lesson in OVA 00? (Somewhat grounded in chapter 81 or so of the manga.)

OVA 02 (screenshot above) has our brave hero on a brave yet gratuitous infiltration mission. For being set at Yui's school, this episode has a severe shortage of Yui. Yui won't forgive those who take away her screen time! Otoh, we get to see Ran Kotobuki Tsukasa Nishino saving the day. (Based on manga chapters 58-60)

EDIT:
OVA 03 is a completely original story with no basis in the manga at all, which complicated the TL checking for both me and dp. Some lines were way off base, particularly one where a character used "Mademoiselle." As usual, there's absolutely no worthwhile story progression in this episode. But you do get some panchira and cosplay exhibitionism for your viewing pleasure.

Final note: the folks at Viz, who are releasing the manga in the U.S., have begun streaming Strawberry 100% TV. So if you want a legitimate, ad-supported viewing option, it's out there. Frankly I think the subs leave a little to be desired; at least I didn't have any embarrassing English errors like "You're was the one who fell on me."

Strawberry 100% OVA 00 & updates

So, I've been slacking on posting Strawberry 100% OVA info. And who could blame me, with a show as compelling and conclusive as this one? Anyway, the main focus of this post is "OVA 00," which is also known as the 2004 Shounen Jump Festival OVA. For you manga readers, this takes place at around chapter 70. It's funny, back in late 2005 when I first saw this, I didn't automatically associate "guy + girl together in outdoorsy area" with "nearly-naked taking shelter from the rain." Later, there's some Junpei X Tsukasa service with a test of courage.

Again, subtitles for the Jump Festival and all future OVAs are based on DigitalPanic's translations. Good thing I had yesy's release of OVA 00 sitting around, since dp didn't translate the ED.

Some updates on other fronts: I've sent MDC the script for the true "first" Strawberry 100% OVA episode, the one where Junpei and Aya get trapped in a room and wind up nearly naked. Wait, deja vu anybody? On Touka Gettan, I'm hopefully going to get better raws, and try to improve my translation of the OP a bit. It's just like TG to throw weird archaic poetic words into its songs...

Strawberry 100% - New Version

A little update on Strawberry 100%, just when you thought it'd gone away. While I pride myself on making subtitles as good as they can be, I understand that the audio/video aspects of raw+remux releases aren't always the greatest. But fear not. There are not one, but two groups who are releasing or planning to release encodes from R2JDVD .isos using my subs:

MDC-Anime
Kira-Fansub

TV episodes 1-2 from MDC are available now. While I thought the Zero-Raws files I used looked pretty good compared to the old TV-rips, I'm sure these new encodes look and sound even better. Also, MDC has agreed to encode and release the OVAs, so be sure to keep an eye on his blog. Of course, news of those releases will be cross-posted here, since I will be doing the necessary work to create softsubs for them. So far, I've completely transcribed dp's subs for all five episodes. That leaves:

Editing / TL Check
Retiming
Some small amount of typesetting
6 songs worth of karaoke (1 OP, 5 separate EDs)

Look for these in about 2 weeks, at the earliest.

Strawberry 100% 12 - Who needs an ending?

Well, Strawberry 100% TV is finally finished, at least in terms of this re-release project. As for the story... not so much. The incompleteness made me rage back in 2005, but I was still fairly new to anime back then. I hadn't learned to expect grossly incomplete manga adaptations from ~12-episode anime. Nowadays, it's pretty much par for the course. If you want more, there's always the OVAs, and of course the manga. I haven't read it beyond a few chapters I skimmed through for translation checking, but it's supposed to be good. You can find it here.


Now that my first project is complete, let me know how I did. If you liked or disliked it, sound off here or at some public venue like AniDB or MAL. Or on bakabt, if a batch gets hosted there.

Strawberry 100% 11 - Girl Fight Tonight!

Here it is, the penultimate episode of Strawberry 100%. Once again, Junpei does a bunch of wishy-washy things, angers at least one girl, and yet still gets forgiven for the sake of maintaining status quo. So if you're looking for character and plot development in this episode, look elsewhere. But if you're looking for pantsu, chick fights, and a distinctive little sister character, you've come to the right place. Anime needs more little sisters like Misuzu Sotomura. The docile, submissive, adoring/brother-complex type is just plain overdone. And not representative of reality, in my experience. We can probably chalk this bit of realism up to the manga being written by a woman.

Strawberry 100% 10.5 -- The Pickup Artist

No doubt you're wondering about the fractional value of this episode. What I'm calling "Episode 10.5" is otherwise known as the TV Special, entitled "Come Pick Me Up! / I'm Always on Your Side". Using differential equations and integration on everything, I've determined that it occurs between Episodes 10 and 11. So it's 10.5. Ep 10.5 is unique in a couple of ways:

1) It doesn't appear to be based on anything out of the manga. For all the previous episodes, I've been able to skim through the manga and find some relevant section.
2) It only features one heroine. In this case, the lovely and rambunctious Yui Minamito.

Also, subs for this episode are based on DigitalPanic's subs, as yesy did not release it. Sorry to all you Commonwealth English speakers out there, but I probably smoothed out some of the Britishisms dp used. Nonetheless, I think it still comes through in a few places. Styling is the same yesy-esque styling used in all other eps, for the sake of consistency. Besides, Impress BT is a clichéd fansub font anyway.

Strawberry 100% 10 - A Challenger Appears!

Here it is, episode 10, where Junpei learns of the consequences of his and Aya's careless night of passion some weeks ago. Either that, or Junpei somewhat succeeds in giving White Day presents and going on an awkward movie date. You make the call. Oh, and there's also a girl named Misuzu who dreams of flying through the sky offers unsolicited movie criticism to total strangers.

On another note, I've decided that I will go ahead and do the Strawberry 100% OVAs. I can't guarantee they'll look or sound better than the existing releases. But people wanted softsubs, and I can give them softsubs. I've got the raws, and I can transcribe dp's subs to the timed Chinese subs and avoid OCRing each episode twice. So I may as well. However, I'll probably take a break after finishing the TV series in order to get some other projects started. Plus, there's unique ED karaoke to do for all 5 OVAs.

Strawberry 100% 09 - Chocolate Pain

No, Manaka, I'm pretty sure you're mistaken. As usual. You know what would've made this episode a lot hotter? At 11:12 --

Junpei: Give it!
Yui: I already ate it.
Junpei: Then I'll just have to take it back. (kisses her aggressively)
Suddenly, the kindling of 8 years' worth of their childhood friendship ignites into a raging blaze, etc. etc.
*Sigh* But Manaka's not that kind of guy, and this is not that kind of show. And I shouldn't quit my day job to write romance novels. Oh wait, I don't have a day job. I'd better stick to subtitle writing.

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.

Strawberry 100% 03 - Baka & Test & Summoned Loli

No foolin', this is a 100% genuine release of Strawberry 100% episode 3. I think Yui Minamito is my favorite of the girls in this series. Devoted childhood friend type + tendency to sneak into others' beds + not much of a nudity taboo, what more could you want? Sadly, I haven't seen any additional or uncensored ecchi scenes in the DVD videos so far. So... take what you can get, I guess.

Strawberry 100% 02 - Cuz now I'm trapped in the closet

Here's episode 2, wherein Strawberry 100% recycles the "guy fantasizes about girls during entrance exam" gag that was surely already old when Love Hina used it. If you want an example of the kind of localization I'm doing, take a look at 19:40 or so. Yesy originally left "suberidome" in the subs, with a note explaining "suberidome = taking entrance exams as a safety measure in case one fails others." I changed "suberidome" to "safety school" and removed the note. Much more concise that way, with no major change in meaning.

Strawberry 100% 01 - Fruity panties by sunset.

Strawberry 100% was one of my first true anime disappointments, back in the spring of 2005 when I'd first started downloading fansubs for myself. But that was because I was expecting actual plot and character development, when I should've been expecting pantyshots, ecchi situations, and harem wish fulfillment. By that second set of criteria, it's not such a bad show. Why am I calling it "Strawberry 100%" instead of "Ichigo 100%," you ask? It's all about consistency. If you're familiar with the show, you know there's plenty of talk about strawberry panties. Now, the dialogue subs don't talk about "ichigo panties" in the original yesy subs or my version. So why leave it untranslated in the title? Plus, Viz is releasing the manga as Strawberry 100%.

So, I'm already violating one of my request conditions by releasing this, since Kira-Fansub has already released a few episodes. However, I didn't know about this until I'd already done the OCR and preliminary corrections on all 13 episodes, since Kira's files are still not on AniDB. Thus, I'm going to go ahead with the project.
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Vital Stats:
Raw Source: Zero-Raws
Video: 640x480 4:3 h264 23.976 fps, ~1050 kbps
Audio: Japanese 2.0 AAC, 128 kbps
Subtitles: Based on yesy's, with some TL corrections, editing, and retiming.
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