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The Big WIP Post
Making this not only for your sake, so you can have a taste of what’s to come from me, but also just to remind myself of what I actually have in the pipeline.
I’m building out a new Sub Group for future projects. Interested in joining? Join our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/HSs46R7Pd2
Kamen Rider
- Kamen Rider Revice V2s (full batch, to come at some point in the future)
Super Sentai
- Nothing at the moment
Other Toku
- Taroman (V2 batch nearing completion, 2 specials left to be subbed)
- Ganbareiwa!! Robocon (In Progress)
- Bio Planet WoO (Looking for TLer)
- Shougeki Gouraigan Scrubs (Waiting on RAWs)
- Nemulin (Maybe)
- Super Ninja Force Inazuma, Super Ninja Force Inazuma Spark (maybe)
Other (Non-Toku)
- Looking for a translator crazy enough to subtitle the entire “Pika-Chan: If you watch this, you can understand Pokemon battles well!” 20-part series that Shu Watanabe starred in for (officially, like, this was officially made by) the Pokemon Company.
- Are you a Hidetoshi Nishijima fan? I’m looking for translators to take on two dramas starring Nishijima, namely Chef Wa Meitantei (The Chef is a Great Detective) and Boku to Star no 99 Nichi (My 99 days with a Superstar). The former has some crisp raws, but it’d be great if I could find higher-quality raws for the latter before doing it. Oh, and also Blanket Cats, because I really want to see a drama about Nishijima dealing with cats.
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ToriScrubs – Kamen Rider Revice – 01
Softsub: MEGA
Hey all! While work continues on the Taroman batch, I’ve been asked once again by my fellow subber ToriScrubs to host one of his releases, as he can’t seem to log into his website right now. Normally, I’d say no, but seeing as he’s offered to work on our Revice V2 batch in exchange for this favor, I figured I might as well let him. Either way, here’s his release. Enjoy!
P.S. did you know that [New Sub Group Name] has a Discord Server? You can join it here. We’re always looking for new members to join, so if you’re interested in working on fansubs, check us out!
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Lark’s Big SDH Subtitling Guide
With my first release with SDH subtitles finally out, I figured it would be worthwhile to write up a post detailing guidelines for how to do SDH subtitles. This is mainly for my own sake, so I have a checklist to look out for when doing future subs, but hopefully this will also help others make their own SDH subs, so that a larger audience can appreciate their work.
This isn’t the end-all, be-all of SDH subtitle guides, but a collection of what I feel to be the most important things to note based on my own experiences. If you have any proposed edits, or have any questions, lemme know in the comments.
A lot of this guide has been adapted from Netflix’s own guide for SDH subtitles, which is the best reference I’ve been able to find yet.
What is SDH, and how does it differ from Closed Captioning?
SDH (or Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing) are subtitles that go beyond the confines of regular subtitles, and captions all audio, not just spoken dialogue, to better convey what’s happening on-screen to viewers that are deaf or hard of hearing.
The difference between subtitles and closed captioning is small and semantic. Closed captions are subtitles done in the original language of the media, made for those that are deaf or hard of hearing. For example, if a Japanese show had closed captioning, that would mean that it would be captioned in Japanese with audio cues and speaker indications in the captioned text. SDH Subtitles are closed captioning, but in a language that’s not the original language of the media (e.g. English subs for Japanese audio media). Closed captioning also tends to be formatted as white text in black boxes, whereas SDH subtitles are formatted as you would regular subtitles.
The Core Tenets of Closed Captioning
According to the FCC, the four rules that all closed captioning in the United States must follow are:
- Accuracy: Subtitles need to match all spoken dialogue, and convey all noises and sounds to the fullest extent possible.
- Synchronicity: Subtitles need to be timed as exact as possible to when a sound occurs in the track.
- Completeness: Captions must cover everything from the start of the track to the end of the track to the fullest extent possible.
- Proper Placement: Subtitles should not obscure any visual content, run off the screen, or overlap with each other.
All four of these seem like very “no duh” rules, but help form the basis for the formatting guidelines below.
SDH Formatting Guidelines
Guide notes
- “Line” refers to a single subtitle line, like in Aegisub, and “sentence” refers to a sentence of spoken dialogue.
Basics
- Numbers from 1 to 10 should be written out, while numbers above 10 should be written with digits.
- Numbers that begin a sentence should be written out.
- Dialogue that is pertinent to the plot takes precedence over background dialogue that isn’t.
- Use the # symbol when someone says “hashtag”, but not when they use “hashtag” as a verb.
- No double spaces, no en and em dashes.
Line Continuity
- If dialogue is being interrupted, use two hyphens.
You won’t get away with this, I–
- If a pause occurs within a spoken line, use an ellipsis followed by a space.
I was there… and I didn’t do anything.
- If a line starts mid-sentence, with it not carrying over from the previous line, start it with an ellipsis with no space.
…have 40 cakes, that’d be great.
Fonts
- Font choice is ultimately up to you, so long as it’s legible.
- Identifiers and Sound Effects should use the same font family as regular dialogue text.
Identifiers/Sound Effects
- Formatting:
- Use [] to enclose sound effects and speaker IDs.
- How you format identifiers in relation to the rest of a dialogue line is up to you, but once you’ve figured out a format, remain consistent to it. Some format examples include:
- Keeping it inline with the rest of the line
- Putting it above the rest of the line (separating it with \N)
- Putting it above the rest of the line (separating it with \N), at a smaller font size than the rest of the line.
- Identifiers and sound effects should never be italicized, even in lines where the rest of the line needs to be italicized.
- Lower case for all words except proper nouns.
- Describe sounds only, not video.
- Caption only and every sound effect that is needed to understand what’s happening in a scene. If it can be inferred through visuals, then it is not necessary to caption it.
- If there is silence that’s significant to the plot, caption it (e.g. when music fades out, when a person appears to be talking but there’s no audio).
- Do not spoil plot-relevant details with speaker indicators. If we’re not meant to know who the speaker is until it’s revealed later in the plot, identify them with a generic identifier, such as “man”, “woman”, “person”, “ominous voice”, etc.
- Sounds effects should be in the present tense. Use adverbs when necessary.
- If a song cannot/is not meant to be identified, use a generic identifier for the sound effect.
- Stutters do not require sound effects, as they can be written into a subtitle itself (e.g. ‘I-I don’t k-know what you’re t-talking about…’)
- If a sound effect is meant to evoke a mood, describe that mood in the sound effect.
Multiple Speakers
- If one line has dialogue for two speakers, and both characters are visible on screen, indicate the change in speaker with a hyphen and no space.
-I’ll see you later.
-Don’t forget to bring the casserole.
- If one or more of the characters cannot be easily identified (i.e. the viewer can’t see their mouth moving), add an identifier.
-[Tohru] I’ll see you later.
-[John] Don’t forget to bring the casserole.
- If a sound effect occurs in the same line and its not from the same speaker, use a hyphen with an identifier.
-[Tohru groans loudly]
-What? It’s just a casserole.
- However, if the sound effect comes from the same person, then there’s no need for a hyphen.
[John taps his foot]
It’s just a casserole.
- Sound effects from two different sources should have hyphens before them.
-[Rusty car engine spurts]
-[Footsteps echo]
- Sentences in a line with two speakers should be contained to that line, and should not carry into other lines or carry in from other lines.
- If the speakers are singing a duet, put ♪, followed/preceded by a space before and after the end of each line, and italicize each line.
–♪ And if it was only a dream ♪
–♪ I’d only want it to be with you ♪
Foreign Dialogue
- If an entire sentence is being spoken in a foreign language, indicate it before the sentence.
[In English] Wow! Wonderful!
- If the sentence is not meant to be understood, then indicate it without a translation.
[Speaks Tagalog]
- If the speaker switches languages mid-sentence, indicate the other language using italics, and don’t forget any accents. Note: loanwords don’t need to be formatted this way.
His père told him not to worry.
Italics
Italics should be used only in the following cases:
- Narration
He walked along the rainy road, unaware of what was to come.
- Inner monologue (i.e. the character’s voice can be heard, but they are not physically speaking)
Am I really the only one who can do this? Isn’t there anyone else?
- Song lyrics that are sung (And add ♪ followed/preceded by a space at the start and end of each line respectively)
♪ She stole my 40 cakes, and it hurt so bad ♪
- (As mentioned in the previous section) words from a foreign language used mid-sentence.
That was exquisite, my dear friend.
- Dialogue heard through electronic media, such as a tv, radio, speaker, headset, phone, etc.
Is anyone there? Can anyone hear us?
- Robotic/AI voices
Error. This turbo encabulator is out of service.
- Titles of media that are referenced (Use quotations for episode, chapter, and article titles)
-Whoa, is that the new Mecha-Kindaichi Chronicles short story compilation?
-Yeah! “The Neo-Honjin Murders” is my favourite chapter.
- Emphasis on words (only when other punctuation can’t be used to indicate it)
Can’t you see that I’m trying to do some work here?
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Donbrothers Roll Call! The True Form of the Donbrothers! (and other updates)
HD Softsub: MEGA
Link to join the NSGN (New Sub Group Name) Discord server: https://discord.gg/HSs46R7Pd2
And we’re back. Figured the best way to get back to speed was with a warm-up special like this one. Donbrothers really was something special, and I’m gonna miss it, but at least there’s still a few movies left to go. Thanks to Zichz for providing this crisp raw straight from the BD Box set.
One thing worth noting is that this is my first release with SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing) subtitles, and they’ve been muxed in as an extra track in the video, so do check that out when you’ve got the opportunity. I’ve been starting to prioritize SDH in my releases, mainly for accessibility reasons, but also to add more of an air of professionalism. SDH subtitles are good, everyone should do them, which is why I’m also putting out another post today, a guide to help people build out their own SDH subtitle tracks for their releases. I’m always
As for the state of affairs and where things are at, that’s where things get chunkier. Things have gotten busy with day-to-day life, meaning I haven’t been able to dedicate as much time to working on new releases. But don’t worry, the Taroman V2 batch is nearly done. I imported the blu-ray a while back and found that there’s two more specials to do; one’s been timed and is in the process of being translated, and the other’s being timed right now. I also got the Taroman Chronicle imported a week or two ago (fantastic book btw), which has a lot of the official terminology in it, so I’ve been going back with Osaka and DigitMZ to get our release in line with that. We’re also making sure the SDH is up to snuff, but once that’s all done, the full Taroman batch will be heading your way.
After that though? That’s where my third big announcement comes in. I mentioned earlier that I don’t have as much time nowadays to dedicate to subbing as I did last year. With more projects that I wanna tackle, I realize that it’s work that demands more hands than I’ve got on board right now. So I’m opening up a new sub group. Name hasn’t been chosen yet, but the goal is to figure that out before the first release. I’ve created a Discord server for it (linked above), and we’re always looking for more people to join us, be it translating, fetching fonts, or even just doing QC. If fansubbing is something that interests you, I invite you to join us, because many hands, light work, you know the deal. I want to build out a group that can eventually work without me if need be, while putting out professional-quality work.
The Taroman batch will probably maybe possibly(?) be the last one to don the Revi-Lark tag for the time being, with all future releases (including the Revice V2 batch) being under the new group’s name. I’ll catch you in the next release, which’ll be the Taroman batch.
Credits:
- RAW: Zichz
- Timing/Typesetting/Encoding: Lark
- TL: Osakanon
- QC: DigitMZ
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Taroman – 10 (END)
Farewell, Taroman!
HD Softsub: MEGA, SD Hardsub: Just wait for the batch at this point
After 11 weeks, it’s finally time to say goodbye to the absurd giant himself, Taroman. Not really much to say other than that this is probably the most I’ve enjoyed doing a project since I started subbing. Major thanks to Osakanon and DigitMZ for sticking through it right until the end; I couldn’t have done it without them. This project really opened my eyes to the work of Okamoto Taro, and I hope it did the same for you too!
What’s next? A proper batch of the whole series with (hopefully) new raws, added commentary sections to episodes 1-3, another round of QC, and some typesetting refreshes.
After that? I’ve got Reiwabocon (as I affectionately call it) which is roughly halfway done timing, and one other project I’ve got in mind. Ultimately, both projects require me to stop playing Yakuza 0 and focus on subbing, which is incredibly hard to do at the moment.
And so the book closes on another project. Thanks again for tuning in, and I hope to see your support for my next project! And as always, enjoy!
Credits:
- Timing/Typesetting/Encoding: Lark
- TL: Osakanon
- QC: DigitMZ
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Taroman – 09
Bureaucracy’s a real pain in the ass, huh?
HD Softsub: MEGA, SD Hardsub: Sometime this week
It’s the penultimate episode of Taroman, and what better way to ramp up the stakes and action than to spend an episode contemplating about the state of the corporate ladder? As I write this, work has already begun on V2s for Taroman! The last episode is far enough down the assembly line that I’ve got time to go back and start making changes from the start.
With Taroman being such a small project, the main focuses will be translation QC, general QC, swapping out some fonts, adding in text where it was missed (mainly in the commentary section), as well as retiming all the episodes to re-encoded raws. In the meantime, if you notice any errors in any of the episodes, feel free to contact me, so I can keep an eye out for it during my revisions.
See you next week for the last episode!
Credits:
- Timing/Typesetting/Encoding: Lark
- TL: Osakanon
- QC: DigitMZ
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Taroman – 08
Loneliness is good, actually.
HD Softsub: MEGA, SD Hardsub: Coming soon, I swear
So uh, despite all my planning to get a post scheduled for release while I was on vacation, I of course didn’t plan ahead for the week afterwards, and more specifically, did not account for post-vacation sickness, which is why last week’s Taroman Thursday was Taroman-less. Though, the week off did allow me to change up the site’s design a bit (still a WIP), finally giving it a much-needed search bar. But alas, I got better, my computer got a little bit worse, and we’re here again now. I wanted to be funny and do the Arthur first meme instead for the header this week, but the original Wounded Arm piece really is a thing of beauty. Anyway, I’m gonna go crash into bed once again. Enjoy!
Credits:
- Timing/Typesetting/Encoding: Lark
- TL: Osakanon
- QC: DigitMZ
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Taroman – 07
Destroy the you that is lauded and celebrated.
HD Softsub: MEGA, SD Hardsub: Coming soon
Hello from the past! I’m actually writing this post at 1 a.m. on September 12th, having just finished encoding this release. By the time this post goes live, I’ll be in the middle of my vacation, so to ensure you stayed satiated while I’m gone, I’ve scheduled this post to go up on Thursday as per usual to ensure we stick to that Taroman Thursday (trademark) schedule.
I’ve had a couple of people ask what it’s been like to not have to do Kamen Rider releases since Revice ended, and I think my answer is: Quiet? It’s been nice having my sole focus be Taroman for these past couple of weeks (Subs-wise; I’ve got a whole other life that isn’t subs), but it’s also left me with the itch of trying to figure out what to tackle next. Taroman’s only got 3 more episodes after this, and there’s one other project, but after that, I’ll be without any projects for a while. I’ve got a couple I’m eyeing, but nothing solid yet. I’m always looking for translators/encoders/etc. to turn the “Maybes” on my big WIP post into definite yeses, so if you fit that bill, hit me up. Otherwise, if you wanna give me some suggestions, feel free to do that too. No guarantee I’ll pick it, but it’s always interesting to see what hasn’t been done yet.
Anyway, I’ve been rambling far too long, expect a shorter post next week when I’m out of breath from trying to put everything together at the last minute. Cheers!
Credits:
- Timing/Typesetting/Encoding: Lark
- TL: Osakanon
- QC: DigitMZ
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Taroman – 06
God, I wish I could look like that (a pointy alien).
HD Softsub: MEGA, SD Hardsub: Coming soon
Taroman ventures into space, the final frontier, in this week’s episode of Taroman! If you’ve been wondering, yes, there will be a full batch of the series V2’d and all once it’s done. Cheers!
Credits:
- Timing/Typesetting/Encoding: Lark
- TL: Osakanon
- QC: DigitMZ
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Taroman – 05
Seriously have fun, seriously.
HD Softsub: MEGA, SD Hardsub: Coming soon
Sorry for the later-than-usual release this week (even if it is still Taroman Thursday). Took a quick vacation, which kept me away from my computer and away from being able to work on things for a day and some. Plus, with all the Revice wrap-up in the past week, I’ve not had as much time to get to Taroman work. But now that my schedule has freed up significantly thanks to the kajillion sub groups doing Kamen Rider Geats, that means more time to dedicate to Taroman. Halfway done too! Only 5 more episodes left to go, then the big V2 batch. Cheers!
Credits:
- Timing/Typesetting/Encoding: Lark
- TL: Osakanon
- QC: DigitMZ
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Kamen Rider Revice 1-50 Complete Series v1.5 Batch
Let’s take it from the top.
Scripts: MEGA, Torrent: Catsite
Almost exactly 7 months after my first Revice release post (off by a day, goddamn it), I’m putting out my last Revice release post for now, at least until I finish the V2 batch. This release compiles all 50 episodes of the main series, touched up for consistency, and muxed for the first time since that one time someone took an in-progress script of episode 7 that I posted privately, muxed it, then posted it to the catsite– Anyway.
I posted about the various changes this batch includes in the episode 50 post, but to summarize, this isn’t a full overhaul of the subs, but rather editing it as a whole so that my earlier, far more amateurish episode releases look and feel closer to my latest, still-somewhat-amateurish episode releases. The goal of this release is mainly to quell my anxieties about anyone using my releases to watch Revice as a whole now that it’s over, and being faced with wildly inconsistent sub formatting throughout. Also, I probably won’t have the V2 batch until months and months from now, so this will also serve to bridge the gap until that comes out. If you’re patient and want to wait for the V2 batch (which’ll have more than just the main series), you can wait for that, but if you wanna watch the series before then, have fun with this one.
There are still inconsistencies, like a good chunk of episodes between episode 7 and 22 that are missing cast/crew credits, but nothing that should ultimately be detrimental to the viewing experience. This is also an opportunity to crowdsource some QC in prep for the V2 batch, so if you notice anything wrong while watching Revice (specifically related to the subs, not the show itself), feel free to let me know through my various contact channels.
And that’s it for now! I said in the episode 50 post that I’d reserve my thoughts on Revice for this post, but now I’m kinda just tired after putting this all together, so I’ll keep it brief. Kamen Rider Revice is a show that I have very complicated feelings about, but is also one that I’m immensely grateful for, insofar as introducing me to the world of fansubbing, and especially the marathon that is subbing a show weekly. I initially started scrubbing privately for the sake of continuing to watch the show with my friends after GenmCorp unofficially dropped the show. The goal back then was keeping in line with the format, vocabulary and whatnot they’d seen in the first 6 episodes done by GenmCorp. My friends had stopped watching the show somewhere around episode 30ish, yet I still kept going. One day I’ll probably do a proper post-mortum review of the season after I’ve gone through everything with a fine tooth comb for my V2 batch, as well as reading the production notes for the season, but for now, I’ll leave you with an allegory: Revice is a prime cut of Wagyu beef, handled by someone holding the knife backwards.
My plans for the near future involve taking a week off to catch up on sleep (Taroman Thursday will still happen), as well as watching the fifty-or-so Geats sub groups duke it out in their own battle royale, popcorn in hand. Oh what, me? Subbing Geats? As I said before, it’s a no with an asterisk for now, but we’ll see how the Geats Fansub Grand Prix looks a month from now. If there are any translators, QCers, encoders, etc. looking to make a larger sub group out of this small operation when the time comes, just let me know. I’ll be here, quietly taking notes in the meantime. As always, enjoy!
Hahaha…unless…? Sidenote: I absolutely had a blast of nostalgia to the face editing together all the previous release headers into the release header for this one. I’m definitely gonna miss coming up with new headers each week, but I’m sure I’ll find a way to incorporate it into my future work.
But if any of you Geats subbers tries to ape my header style, just know that I’m praying on your downfall.
Lark's Sporadic Projects 