Why do good (well, decent) fansub groups only sub shitty shows

Seriously. House asked this on IRC the other day and it seems he’s right. Let’s take a look at a fairly popular group: Eclipse. As a bonus I’m actually a member of said group so I can’t even be accused of group bashing. Show list after the jump.

Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka

  • Pure shit. No really, even for a generic harem show this was pretty bad. Had an incomprehensibly all-star voice actor cast (lol Aya Hirano) but everything else sucked shit.

Clannad

  • I know all the keytards love this to death but seriously, it isn’t very good. Its h-game background really shines through and all the moémoé gimmicks get pretty tiresome. Even the animation is decidedly worse than in most of Kyoanis other shows.

Clannad After Story

  • See Clannad.

Claymore

  • Manga was entertainingly badass, anime was a reeeeeally slow generic shounen shit show with a retarded ending.

Code Geass R2

  • You should just go read everything koda has ever written about this. It was bad but on the other hand it was really entertaining to watch so it might qualify as the only non-shitty show Eclipse has ever subbed.

Fate/stay night

  • PEOPLE DIE IF THEY ARE KILLED
  • Also, CG dragons. Adaption decay if there ever was one.

Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!

  • I actually have no idea about this show. Statistically speaking it is very likely to have sucked, though.

Gekijouban Shakugan no Shana

  • See Shakugan no Shana.
  • At least this one had some decent music though.

Hayate no Gotoku!

  • Funny, but got really repetitive after a while.
  • Also lacked a lot of the manga’s drama.

Kanon (2006)

  • Better animation than Clannad, but a lot more annoying moémoé gimmicks.
  • Also a really hilariously stupid story.

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

  • Tried way too hard to be funny. Failed miserably.
  • For some reason I posted an ADTRW thread about this. Not one of my better days.

Pumpkin Scissors

  • GONZOOOOOOOOOO :argh:

Rental Magica

  • Horribly generic (and extremely boring) shounen magic/harem show.

Shakugan no Shana

  • More generic shounen/harem shit.
  • Also, if you have a Rie Kugimiya tsundere character in your show, that means you have a free pass to not do any character development in about fifty episodes and one movie.

Shakugan no Shana II

  • See Shakugan no Shana.

Slayers Revolution

  • The only Slayers animated feature in recent memory to be a terrible disappointment, and of course Eclipse chooses to sub it.

Stratos 4

  • Fighter jet porn, fanservice (ass shots) and hilarious traffic control Engrish are the only reasons to watch this. It really doesn’t have anything else going for it.

Stratos 4 Advance

  • See Stratos 4.

Stratos 4 Advance Kanketsu Hen

  • See Stratos 4.

To Aru Majutsu no Index

  • Generic shounen fighting shit.
  • In fact it isn’t even enjoyable for people who like generic shounen shit because it’s so goddamn boring; entire episodes are spent standing around talking about feelings during fights.

White Album

  • Generic h-game adaption, but done “artsy” (read: with shitty incoherent narration and with a lot of onscreen text).

Zero no Tsukaima: Princess no Rondo

  • Manages to be even worse than the two first seasons, which is an impressive feat.

If you examine other decent groups the results will be similar. Is this because translators (or group members in general) have terrible taste in anime? Is it because there are only 1-3 good shows every season? Or could it just be that anime sucks?

Comments (52)

  1. jfs wrote:

    Probably the second.
    Look back at history, I just made a quick AniDB search for shows that started in 1997 and 1998. Didn’t count properly, but there were maybe 10 that are still relevant today, of 111 total. (Not counting all the actual porn.)

    Monday, January 5, 2009 at 18:13 #
  2. Bot1 wrote:

    Not that I am disagreeing, but define what you mean by “relevant.”

    Monday, January 5, 2009 at 18:22 #
  3. Anonymous wrote:

    If you examine other decent groups the results will be similar. Is this because translators (or group members in general) have terrible taste in anime? Is it because there are only 1-3 good shows every season? Or could it just be that anime sucks?

    It’s a known fact that 90% of everything is crap.

    On a slight side-note, which groups do you consider to be good/decent fansubbers? In my opinion BSS is in that list, and their ratio of good/bad shows is higher than average.

    Monday, January 5, 2009 at 21:06 #
  4. TheFluff wrote:

    BSS is definitely a decent/good group and yeah they do have a remarkably high nonshit to shit ratio, as I noticed when I did the research (lawl) for this post. I just didn’t add any other group to the list because of :effort:

    Monday, January 5, 2009 at 21:09 #
  5. Calan wrote:

    Good groups usually = slow groups.
    In download #s:
    Fast groups > slow groups.

    Fast groups take good shows.
    Good groups are left with either subbing already-subbed shows and getting 2 downloads, or subbing shitty shows and getting over 9000 downloads.

    It’s all about e-penis, I think. It really *would* be nice to work on a non-shitty show for once though.

    Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 00:24 #
  6. seven wrote:

    ureshii has about a 50:50 ratio of good to bad…

    but i definitely think that a lot of the show choices are because of bad taste in anime for translators, and that most groups with decent staff get bogged down by members trying to be famesubbers.

    Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 00:52 #
  7. Bocom wrote:

    Actually, Clannad is a non-eroge game, but you probably already knew that. ;)

    And am I a horrible person for liking some of those shows? I hope not. ;D

    Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 02:41 #
  8. simmianprime wrote:

    ahhh but but it’s only your opinion that these shows are bad, what if i were to say that i like them all?

    Would that automatically make them good shows?

    There’ll always be someone who’ll think a show is bad/good it’s all subject to the viewers own tastes.

    Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 13:43 #
  9. TheFluff wrote:

    it’s perfectly okay to enjoy watching shitty anime

    it is not okay to be in denial about it and claim that said anime is actually objectively good

    Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 20:51 #
  10. simmianprime wrote:

    But what makes these anime “shitty”?

    Just that some people don’t like it? What if i say that your favorite anime is shitty?

    It’s ALL about the individual, there’s no such thing as bad show so long as 1 person likes it.

    Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 23:05 #
  11. TheFluff wrote:

    I see you subscribe to the BUT BUT BUT EVERYTHING IS SUBJECTIVE AND YOU AREN’T ALLOWED TO SAY MY FAVORITE ANIME SUCKS school of thinking

    unfortunately for you, you’re wrong and it is possible objectively judge the quality of anime (as well as literature, movies, plays etc etc)

    also, your favorite anime sucks

    Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 23:09 #
  12. simmianprime wrote:

    lol actually i only like 2 of the above anime you listed (Claymore, Fate/Stay Night)

    But that doesn’t mean the others are bad, it just means i think that they’re bad.

    Actually it’s not possible to judge the quality of an anime (content wise) completely objectively, as you already have your pre-determined likes and dislikes.

    You can say that you think an anime i like sucks until you’re blue in the face but it won’t change the fact that it’s only your opinion that it sucks, not a fact.

    Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 23:40 #
  13. None wrote:

    and yet no mention of F/SN’s disturbing eroge?

    Meh, only like the Key works, Manabi, and Hayate in that list. I agree with what you say about them though.

    Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 04:54 #
  14. PenisEngineMechanic wrote:

    manabi straight wasn’t too bad. but it got boring at the end when there was so much drama about a school festival bawwwwwww.

    Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 14:59 #
  15. nani (何) wrote:

    srsly here too. what’s with all this Hirano bashing. Looks like hatin on her is the fashion of the moment, amirite?

    Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 16:28 #
  16. TheFluff wrote:

    Aya Hirano sucks. Objectively.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wasY-grMFcw
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9cP–D592I
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOxejTphvLM
    (lolyoutube)

    the defense rests, your honor

    Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 19:25 #
  17. nani (何) wrote:

    if i remember correctly, the haruhi lives were something like her first experiences singing live ever.

    she’s improved a lot since then.and not only in singing skills.

    Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 21:31 #
  18. @nani: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hbppvy4HZ8
    Sounds like shit there too.

    Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 03:29 #
  19. Eh, Fate/Stay Night anime is actually the best adaptation of a visual novel I’ve seen.

    Not that it was actually that great, but it was watchable and didn’t butcher anything too badly (except for the CG dragon).

    At least it wasn’t anywhere close to the Tsukihime anime.

    Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 03:53 #
  20. fanboi wrote:

    Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka: Imoutits. ’nuff said.

    Clannad: Fucking BAAAAAAWWWWW, and if you don’t BAAAWWWWW, you’re a soulless bitch.

    Clannad After Story: See Clannad.

    Claymore: I do agree here. Poor animation and retarded script literally rottened whatever good the manga has.

    Code Geass R2: WhatDoYouMeanIsNotAwesome. But srsly, I do like Geass a lot.

    Fate/stay night: Agreed.

    Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight! is actually great. ufotable never fails, so you fucking fail.

    Gekijouban Shakugan no Shana: Don’t know, don’t care.

    Hayate no Gotoku!: Don’t know, don’t care.

    Kanon (2006): Key is God, KyoAni is Jesus and you’re a fucking faggot.

    Kyouran Kazoku Nikki: Don’t know, don’t care.

    Pumpkin Scissors: One of teh few GONZOs that didn’t fail.

    Rental Magica: Don’t know, don’t care.

    Shakugan no Shana: OH GOD SHANA IS HOT

    Shakugan no Shana II: See Shakugan no Shana.

    Slayers Revolution: Still waiting for the end…

    Stratos 4: Don’t know, don’t care.

    Stratos 4 Advance: See Stratos 4.

    Stratos 4 Advance Kanketsu Hen: See Stratos 4.

    To Aru Majutsu no Index: See Stratos 4.

    White Album: A good start indeed, so STFU and watch more eps before crafting an opinion.

    Zero no Tsukaima: Princess no Rondo: Agreed. Needs more Siesta, Henrietta and Tifa.

    tl; dr most of the anime nowadays is utter crap.

    Friday, January 9, 2009 at 23:59 #
  21. Suzuran wrote:

    Dark Shikari thanks for proving that you have no fucking clue about both Tsukihime and FSN. Come back when you have played the games.

    Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 14:25 #
  22. wat wrote:

    Manabi Straight? par for the course, as far as Eclipse is concerned.

    also, “fanboi” living up to the nickname he chose made me chuckle.

    Saturday, January 10, 2009 at 20:46 #
  23. anon wrote:

    KKN: surprisingly enjoyable for it;s inanity
    Stratos 4: FUCK YES TSR-2 overrides all complaints.

    Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 23:47 #
  24. @Suzuran

    Wow, there is so much stupid packed into that post I don’t know what to say.

    Except that I probably played both games before you even knew they existed.

    Monday, January 12, 2009 at 00:20 #
  25. Anonymous bastard wrote:

    @Dark Shikari

    THERE IS NO TSUKIHIME ANIME LOLOLOLOLOLOL

    Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 05:53 #
  26. Zwill wrote:

    To be on topic, I think that this season will have 2 or 3 good anime. Maria+Holic and Zoku Natsume already aired and I’m still waiting for Genji Monogatari Sennenki.
    I’d say that Menclave is a good fansub group and thay make some ejoyable stuff just like BSS, only Koihime Musou was shit.
    And look at the next season, I wonder wich series will be watchable…

    Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 12:53 #
  27. fanboi wrote:

    @Dark Shikari
    *ahem*Da Capo*ahem*. The only eroge adaptation with REAL drama instead of fanservice and crap. Though is crap anyways.

    Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 15:46 #
  28. Nemo wrote:

    At least they don’t do shitty mecha shows, where 7-14 years old retarded kids save the world.

    Code Geass was actually excellent to watch with friends so you could play the “stupidest idea guessing game” ; I’m actually hoping Sora kakeru shoujo will turn out to be the same “let’s have a random script today” stuff.

    Tuesday, January 20, 2009 at 16:21 #
  29. Denzeru wrote:

    I don’t think it more has to do with the fact that most new anime’s these days are pretty much generic harem or generic shounen crap. The amount of anime’s in general with original plots and animation are little to none. This is pretty much because that’s whats popular and the only things major studio’s are interested in is milking everything for every singly dollar (or yen) they can get.

    The world of originality is dying =[

    Wednesday, January 21, 2009 at 10:35 #
  30. Chro wrote:

    lets be honest, if you’re saying there are three good anime series a season you’re off by about three.. We don’t watch anime for any type of viable reason other then boredom. Most series flush out after 12 weeks which is slightly shorter then most of our attention spans. On top of that how often do any series break away from their genre? None of us care, we watch because it is shiny and brainless. for christ sake I watched two seasons of rosario to vampire and thats just retarded. all groups do bad shows I’m just happy they’re done at all.

    Friday, January 30, 2009 at 15:16 #
  31. lolfu wrote:

    Anime is shit and i am a faggot for even watching.
    But fuck it, i enjoy it even if most of that shit is generic and bad.

    Tuesday, February 3, 2009 at 12:24 #
  32. lmm wrote:

    90% of everything is shit. This would be more convincing if you start from a list of shit and non-shit shows, and then see which groups are doing each. Or take a good and a bad group, and compare what proportion of their shows are good and bad.
    (One could make the point that you only say eclipse are a popular group, not objectively good; one should not be expecting them to do objectively good shows, only popular ones. But a discussion of which fansub groups are objectively good or bad is not going to be productive)
    (aside: could you perhaps add some alt-text to the icons labelling the fields in the comment form, so I can tell which is which?)

    Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 21:04 #
  33. Blue-kun wrote:

    @ Dark-Shikari

    I’ve played both games and I’ve gotta agree with Suzuran. Sure, they changed some stuff around on Tsukihime anime (mainly Shiki’s personality), but F/SN is full of retarded crap. CG Dragons? Original Caster Story trying to explain shit no one cares about if they’re going through the Fate path? And I could list more problems. Also, F/SN anime never quite managed to nail down the whole atmosphere from the game, while Tsukihime, even with all its flaws, did.

    Thursday, February 5, 2009 at 13:28 #
  34. astrange wrote:

    you know who’s never subbed a bad show
    that’s right

    Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 07:54 #
  35. astrange wrote:

    no wait we did a gonzo show once argh

    Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 08:03 #
  36. Shii wrote:

    Can someone remind me why TheFluff is in #darkhold instead of #adtrw? Is he just too much of a scrub to hang out with the c. 2004 crew?

    Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 09:13 #
  37. TheFluff wrote:

    it is true that I am a scrub :[

    (srsanswer: noone asked)

    Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 19:33 #
  38. docgui wrote:

    Gosh even TheFluff has a blog.

    Why do good (well, decent) fansub groups only sub shitty shows?

    Besides the obvious high shit to good ratio. Television is a medium because anything well done is rare.

    I’d say it’s a bit of…
    a) There’s an interest in shows and that interest gets members to sub even the shit. b) Groups want to believe in shows and don’t drop them when they go bad. c) Even a “shit show” might have some technical merits. d) Can’t look away from this train wreck.

    Wednesday, February 11, 2009 at 21:58 #
  39. desu wrote:

    Kanon 2006 = AWESOME
    Geass = AWESOME AND FABULOUS
    Clannad + after story = AWESOME

    The rest is shit though.

    Monday, February 16, 2009 at 23:23 #
  40. ai-chan wrote:

    anime sucks lets kill some catgirls … and hirano too >:|

    Tuesday, February 17, 2009 at 12:38 #
  41. agulha@hotmail.com wrote:

    Ok, all animes are bad. No animes are good. Maybe all mangas are bad, too.
    Why you don’t put some “good” animes at your list? If there are no interesting animes (or mangas), there are no need to comment. Only despise animes and change the subject.
    Oh, it’s “cool”! Yeah! “I’m an eternal insatisinfected, so nothing is good for me. My mom didn’t buy the macross doll I wanted…sob,sob… Oh, cruel world! Noone understand me! sob,sob, snif, chuif… I will kill myself seeing dragonaut now…” (Childs! Don’t try doi it at your houses – The Healthy Ministry advert: Dragonaut can destroy your sanity. You were adviced. Obama will not accept complains.)

    Thursday, February 26, 2009 at 23:12 #
  42. TheFluff wrote:

    Ok, all animes are bad. No animes are good. Maybe all mangas are bad, too.
    Why you don’t put some “good” animes at your list? If there are no interesting animes (or mangas), there are no need to comment. Only despise animes and change the subject.
    Oh, it’s “cool”! Yeah! “I’m an eternal insatisinfected, so nothing is good for me. My mom didn’t buy the macross doll I wanted…sob,sob… Oh, cruel world! Noone understand me! sob,sob, snif, chuif… I will kill myself seeing dragonaut now…” (Childs! Don’t try doi it at your houses – The Healthy Ministry advert: Dragonaut can destroy your sanity. You were adviced. Obama will not accept complains.)

    what the fuck is this shit

    Friday, February 27, 2009 at 03:42 #
  43. AzraelNewtype wrote:

    Dawwwwwwwww, it’s cute looking on as people come to terms with the fact that “opinions can’t be wrong” is the worst and most common lie their parents told them.

    Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 18:33 #
  44. Right wrote:

    Its h-game background really shines through

    Saturday, March 21, 2009 at 10:44 #
  45. anonimouse wrote:

    Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

    * Tried way too hard to be funny. Failed miserably.
    * For some reason I posted an ADTRW thread about this. Not one of my better days.

    srsly, you fail

    Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 05:18 #
  46. anonimouse wrote:

    the show is not about make you laugh but make your brain move by using humor and somewhat retard conversation

    Sunday, March 22, 2009 at 05:22 #
  47. SCR512 wrote:

    Haha this is so true! The only shows I even watched while I was fansubbing was Ayu’s 2×2 Shinobuden and Ayu/Sora’s Kurau: Phantom Memory.

    Everything else I’ve done in all my years of fansubbing umm pretty much sucked.

    It’s totally easy to get jaded subbing shit you don’t even watch. Case and point Shana and FSN with Eclipse :) It got to a point where I was TSing like 4 or 5 shows in a season and not watch any of them because the TL would need to get their r0ri or harem fix…

    Tuesday, April 21, 2009 at 19:26 #
  48. Cenebi wrote:

    “… sucks objectively” That phrase makes no sense. You can say animation quality is low, you can say voice acting talent is lacking, and you can note problems with any number of technical points, but the words “suck”, “bad”, “boring”, etc, are all subjective terms.

    Now, most of the complaints about those shows are accurate until you start saying things like “it isn’t very good” and “it’s so goddamn boring” those aren’t facts. Those are opinions.

    I also noticed a couple of times you said an entire show sucked because of one or two scenes: “PEOPLE DIE IF THEY ARE KILLED”
    “Also, CG dragons”. Is there any reason you think the other 99% of FSN sucked? Or did one line and a 3 minute scene ruin the entire thing for you?

    Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 03:12 #
  49. TheFluff wrote:

    cenebi: you’re p dumb
    see also comment #43

    Tuesday, April 28, 2009 at 07:37 #
  50. aethon wrote:

    oh shit.. I … I have to agree.

    :X

    Wednesday, October 14, 2009 at 06:12 #
  51. kevin wrote:

    Try and put your most favorite anime there on the list. I’m sure some will say that was a good anime and some will say it sucks!.

    But there’s one thing I’m confused about.

    What’s the point of making such a blog??
    are you a retarded who just wants whine over the shows that you don’t like?

    This is the most STUPID blog I’ve ever seen

    Friday, April 27, 2012 at 09:17 #
  52. FeralJim wrote:

    @Kevin

    Threadomancy for the win huh?!

    I just found this Blog too and I think it’s AWESOME. Some of the comments and articles are hilarious and TheFluff seems to know something about something.

    Friday, April 27, 2012 at 19:34 #

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