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Current & Future L-E Projects / Re: Should L-E(& D-B) sub Tsubasa S3 (Tofusensei wanted dead of alive ??????)

« on: January 17, 2007, 02:26:04 pm »

Do you actually have any commitment from Tofu that he indeed will return to his fansubbing work for this project? As I have understood it, you haven't heard from him in quite some time and it seems he has been busy with all kinds of real life obligations. If he is nearly the sole contributor in Live-eviL's role in subbing Tsubasa, it would require quite a bit of his time to take the project up on him. So what makes you think that he will find the time amidst his busy personal life to dedicate to it?

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Current & Future L-E Projects / Re: Should L-E(& D-B) sub Tsubasa S3 (Tofusensei wanted dead of alive ??????)

« on: January 16, 2007, 01:27:35 pm »

Well, I see I created quite the stirr around here. I'd like to first of all state that the intentions of my post were not nearly as malicious as you seem to interpret them, see it just as the ravings of a fan who has been waiting years for some of his favourite shows and sees the dropping of a project such as Death Note as a freeing up of resources available for these older titles. I am very glad with what I have read though, you sure seem to be a dedicated bunch of fansubbers.

Warai Otoko, you apparently have a problem with us dropping shows since dropping shows, according to you, means we made a mistake of picking them up in the first place. Yet you are suggesting us to drop our classics as well. So what are you saying? That we don't commit ourselves to subbing anything all?

That is not nearly what I was saying. I am not suggesting that you just drop everything that does not see any speed in its releases or which seems to be on hold for now; I suggest that it may be a good idea for L-E to carefully go about the possibilities for each project and ask yourselves if there is any relevant chance whatsoever that it may get back running. If you see no such chance now and the project has already been stalled for over a year, would it not be a better idea to give your fans some clarity and drop those projects? You definitely made your point about the fact that you fansubbers should sub what you like and I can surely sympathize with that; why voluntarily do a job you do not like?

Other groups? What other groups are you talking about? Name me other groups subbing the classics we do with a slower than average release rate.

I don't really think that I understand what you're trying to say here; do you want me to name other groups that sub other classic anime comparable to those that are seemingly stalled in your portfolio of shows?

Anyway, I was not trying to piss you guys of, but this had been bothering me for quite some time now. I hope you can atleast imagine it is somewhat annoying for a fan to see new projects come and go, while some of the older projects that he or she likes do not get the attention they deserve. I now know that the internals of Live-eviL have changed drastically over the years, but how was I supposed to know that these older shows are stalled because of that or because there is another single factor holding a project back? That is why I initially suggested you drop them, as this gives a clear sign to your fans. You may have no obligation towards them, but atleast carefully communicating the status of the projects they hold dear should be a possibility, right?

If on the other hand, you really do care about helping, and not just useless griping, please DO contact the project manager of your favorite series.

One final remark then; I believe this is a bit easy to say. You are the ones doing the fansubbing work because you yourselves chose to do it. Nobody forced you to do it, but with taking the task up on yourselves, at least some responsibility comes. I'd like to believe that I would surely have done something to help you or any other fansubgroup doing classics , but I just do not have the time for it. You guys surely know how much time is spent on the hobby and if I do something I like, I'd like to give it my all and not do a half-assed job, which I'd surely do if I were to help out a group with my current obligations. I do atleast contribute to anime fandom, however, as I nearly solely run a reviewsite, which takes up quite a bit of my free time. But I'd also like to have enough time to be able to atleast watch anime.

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Current & Future L-E Projects / Re: Should L-E(& D-B) sub Tsubasa S3 (Tofusensei wanted dead of alive ??????)

« on: January 15, 2007, 06:15:44 pm »

Perhaps; it is a fact that you have no true obligation to the fans who download your releases, but on the other hand, it is for these fans that you do what you do. If you have no true intention to sub the shows Tofu has left you with, then make their status clear towards the fans who patiently wait for them. That is atleast a kind of moral obligation you should acknowledge, right? Just drop those projects, so other groups can finish them. You could even help such a group by providing any materials you may have acquired, such as scripts or raws.

I'm fine with the route you're taking, but take the accompanying responsability by not keeping your fans in the dark. If you're just keeping their status as stalled in the wait for Tofu, I suggest you drop them anyway, after which you can always re-pick them if he should return.

I also wanted to comment on the Trapp Family Story, however. This is a title the current members of Live-eviL picked up, but also has not been seeing much action. Can you not agree with me that it would be better to first get your act straight on a show like that, instead of beginning another new title?

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Current & Future L-E Projects / Re: Should L-E(& D-B) sub Tsubasa S3 (Tofusensei wanted dead of alive ??????)

« on: January 15, 2007, 05:32:00 pm »

I say no, and yes, I have signed up especially for this reply. I have been following Live-eviL and its projects for a few years now, attracted by the care they put in subbing high quality classic anime that no ordinary fansub group would choose to do. In these few years however, I have seen you repeat the same mistake time after time.

Nearly every season a new show gets picked up. Now, this in itself is a great thing. You have no obligation to focus yourselves just on subbing classics that attract less than a great fanbase and subbing more recent hits will also result in gaining a greater "brandname". However, your group is in no shape to constantly start new shows. You have a plethora of unfinished titles, that many a fan would like to see finished and the chances of this happening decrease with every new project you take up on yourselves.

I would even go as far to say that each new series you start is a slap in the face to some of your most avid fans. When picking up Death Note, you showed us that you can sub a shows at a more than decent and respectable pace, without the usual accompanying loss of quality. Why then is it, that a show like 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother has not seen a new release in ages? Why can you pour your resources in a new show, which is almost guaranteed to be either licensed in the near future or to be fansubbed by other groups and can you not do the same for a show which no other group seems to have an interest in?

You almost got me thinking that there is some kind of inherent problem to subbing older shows, but then I see a group like Central Anime who have put out Touch at an incredible pace, despite it being 101 episodes. I see C1, who have already finished one World Masterpiece Theater anime and who are currently subbing another at an impressive pace. Why can you not do this? Why must you allocate your manpower to new projects, which will be subbed by others, and can you not finish up your own high quality shows like the aforementioned 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother and Snow Queen? You have proven that you can put out an episode a week, so finishing up the first of these two should be possible in less than a year time.

That's why my answer is a very firm no. Try to actually finish some of the projects you have started before beginning a new one. When was the last time you have actually finished a somewhat longer show? Was it Rose of Versailles? Since then new projects have been taken up, but none have been finished.

This critique does not hold for the Matsumoto division, by the way, as I commend their strategy and because of the fact that their picking up of new titles does not get in the way of finishing their current projects.