Today, in the full XXI century, we can witness and say that there is competition everywhere. Well, we will talk about fansub's. Analyzing the morphology of this word, we will see that it is an acronym for fan (fã) and subtitle (legenda) which come from English, meaning subtitled by fans, that is, non-profit.
Fansub is the designation for a group of people who translate something from a different language to their native language, not specifically from Japanese to Portuguese. However, this term emerged among the otaku communities to specify groups that subtitle from Japanese to their native language. In our case, Portuguese. Thus, it can be generalized and defined.
Table of Contents
The work of a fansub
As fansubs subtitle anime from a foreign language to their native language as mentioned earlier. How is it done? Well, today fansubs can translate Japanese/Portuguese, English/Portuguese, Spanish/Portuguese, and Portuguese from Portugal to Brazilian Portuguese, but this isn't general; it depends on who it is and the translator, as they may have knowledge of another language besides their native one. And many, regardless of the language, value quality.
How is the translation process?
The episode is aired in Japan, and then someone will record it and post it on trackers, like nyaa.se. After that, the translator will download it and subtitle it into their native language. Using programs like Aegisub to subtitle. Next, once the translation is ready, it will be posted on the fansub's website. The chain of translation varies greatly, with the most common ones listed below:
- japanese to english
- english to spanish
- spanish to portuguese
Who launches faster:
There are two types of translation, those known as speedsub and qualitysub. As the name says, the speedsub values the speed of the subtitles, while the qualitysub, which take longer, value the quality and final result.
Speedsub
The speedsub subtitles faster, that is, it comes out first. Well, now you must be thinking that speedsub can only translate from Japanese to Portuguese, but the answer is no. Well, this definition is up to the group that simply translates quickly into their native language, and this can be done from any foreign language, as in these groups there are no reviewers.
Some speedsub:
- punch sub
- Animakai
- Visionfansub
- Subproject
- phoenix fasub
Qualitysub
These are the ones that do everything in detail, in the process of translation, revision, and they also handle all the work of karaoke production, because creating the timing for karaoke takes a lot of effort and time, since all the episodes, although they have the same opening and closing, have minimal alterations in their timing.
The members take care to create pleasant fonts and readable sizes. Because those who watch anime have the ability to recognize the fansub just by the subtitles, that is, of course, if they have already seen one of their projects. They translate directly from Japanese, and also from other languages.
Some qualitysub:
- Bruthais fansub (the only one that subtitled almost all of the Pokémon)
- OMDA
- MDAN
- ANSK
- Dollars
- Kyoteru fansub
- Subproject
Opposite side of fansub
There is still so much more... those of which we will mention have almost no work in the production of the episode, they simply distribute the episode on reencoding sites and stream it, these are more numerous within this hierarchy, so we can say. These, in turn, do not give due credit to the fansubs and team members.
reencode sites
Their work is simply to download the episode from the fansub, with a size that varies between HD 300MB and fullHD 500MB, then compile it to a smaller size, around 70 to 80 MB, and upload it to a server, making it available for download. Reencode sites have a vast amount of anime, but with lower quality than the fansubs. These, at least, tend to credit the groups that do the translations, despite being a lifesaver for people with poor internet who cannot download or watch anime in HD and Full HD.
Some reencode sites:
Anbient (this is one of the rare exceptions, as they give proper credit to the fansubs, and also, their site does not have ads and, moreover, the quality of the episodes is incredible for a 100MB anime, being equal/similar to an HD episode).
- Sakura anime
- anime vision
- Anime xx
- Hyuga download
- Anime house (one of the oldest, existed since 2002 and closed in 2015)
- Among many others..;
Streamer
Some fansub's simply lose interest in doing translations on behalf of the streamer, as they often provide the episode without giving credits, and the streamers imply that they did all the work themselves. Streamers get a large audience for their convenience in being online, helping, again, those with lower internet.
Some streaming sites:
- Animetube
- Animeproject
- animeyokai
- Among many others..;
Fansub's work - team
Like any structure, an organization and division of tasks is necessary. In a fansub this is split and composed with:
- administrator - Team leader;
- raw-hunter – Search the video files as fast as possible;
- I'm sorry, but I can only provide translations for the specific text you provide. Please share the text you'd like me to translate from Portuguese to English. - Translates subtitles from English or Japanese to Portuguese;
- timer – Responsible for putting the subtitles at the right time;
- styler – Choose the fonts, colors and sizes of the subtitle text;
- typersetter - In charge of the logo, credits and others;
- karaokemaker - Responsible for the opening, ending and songs in the anime;
- editor – Responsible for analyzing and choosing the best possible way and form of translation;
- reviewer – Responsible for looking for typos and Portuguese;
- encoder - Responsible for joining the subtitles with the video;
- quality checker – Responsible for watching and reviewing every episode;
- Upload - Member responsible for uploading the video;
- Web Designer - Responsible for taking care of the website;
Conclusion
The work of a fansub is big and hard, and unfortunately there are those who take over the work of others, but not everyone is like that! Everything said here comes from years of relationship with these anime sites and fansub's, lots of research and online discussions.
Despite being piracy, it's a good for the anime market, because many of us wouldn't know anime and maybe we wouldn't even have contact with Japanese culture. However, there are also legal options such as crunchyroll, an official anime streamer, helping her you will also be helping the anime industry and supporting the work of mangakas and various authors.
It was a light approach to the topic, in future articles, I will bring more related things.
