Fansub - The two sides of fansubs

In the 21st century, competition is everywhere - and anime subtitling is no different. In this article we look at fansubs. Breaking down the word, you can see it is an acronym of fan and subtitle, both English, and that the literal meaning is subtitled by fans, with no profit motive.

A fansub is the name given to a group of people who translate content from one language into their own, not exclusively from Japanese into English. The term first appeared in otaku communities and originally referred to groups that subtitled Japanese material into their local language. In a more general sense, that is how it can be defined.

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The work of a fansub

Fansubs subtitle anime from a foreign language into their own, as mentioned above. How does it actually work? Today a fansub may translate from Japanese into English, from English into English-as-foreign-language, from Spanish into English, or handle regional English variants, though that is not universal - it depends on who the translator is and what other languages they speak. And many groups, regardless of the language pair, care deeply about quality.

What is the translation process like?

The episode airs in Japan, and then someone will record it and upload it to trackers such as nyaa.se. After that, the translator downloads it and adds subtitles in their native language, typically using Aegisub as the standard editing tool. Once the translation is done, it is posted on the fansub's website. The translation chain varies a lot, but the most common sequences are:

1. Japanese → English (direct)
2. Japanese → English → Spanish → English
3. Japanese → English → other languages → English

Who releases faster?

There are essentially two kinds of translation, known as speedsub and qualitysub. As the name suggests, a speedsub values being the first to publish subtitles, while a qualitysub takes longer and focuses on the final result.

Speedsub

A speedsub works faster and therefore publishes first. You might think speedsub groups can only translate from Japanese, but the answer is no: the term covers any group that simply translates quickly into their own language, from any source language. These groups usually have no reviewer pass.

Some speedsub groups:

• Punchsub
• Animakai
• Visionfansub
• Subproject
• Fênix fansub

Qualitysub

A qualitysub is meticulous about every step: the translation itself, the review, and especially the production of karaoke effects. Timing karaoke is a long, painstaking task - the opening and ending look identical across episodes, but the timing of each syllable shifts and has to be adjusted every time.

The team also pays close attention to fonts and sizes, making sure subtitles are pleasant to read. Regular anime viewers can often recognise a fansub just from the subtitle style, as long as they have seen one of its projects before. These groups translate directly from Japanese, sometimes also from other languages.

Some qualitysub groups:

• Bruthais fansub (one of the few that subtitled almost the entire Pokémon catalogue)
• OMDA
• MDAN
• ANSK
• Dollars
• Kyoteru fansub
• Subproject

The other side of the fansubs

There is still another side. The groups mentioned here do almost no production work themselves: they simply redistribute the episode on reencode sites and streaming hubs, and they are the most widespread layer of this hierarchy. In return, they rarely give proper credit to the fansubs or the team members behind them.

Reencode sites

The job of a reencode site is straightforward: download the episode from the fansub - typically between 300 MB (HD) and 500 MB (FullHD) - compress it down to around 70 to 80 MB, and upload it to a server for download. Reencode sites usually host a huge library of anime, but at lower quality than the fansub original. At least most of them credit the translating group, and for viewers on slow connections they are a practical alternative when HD or FullHD files are not really an option.

Some reencode sites:

• Anbient (a rare exception: it credits the fansubs properly, runs no ads, and the 100 MB episodes still look surprisingly close to HD quality)
• Sakura animes
• Animes vision
• Animes cx
• Hyuuga download
• Anime house (one of the oldest, around since 2002, closed in 2015)
• And many others

Streamer

Some fansubs eventually lose interest in translating because streamers make the episode available online without credit, and the streamer presents it as if all the work had been theirs. Streamers pull in a large audience thanks to the convenience of watching in the browser, which again is a real help for viewers on slower connections.

Some streaming sites:

• Animetube
• Animesproject
• animeyokai
• And many others

The work of the fansub - the team

Like any organised effort, a fansub depends on clear roles. A typical team is made up of:

• administrator - team leader;
• raw-hunter - finds the raw video file as fast as possible;
• translator - translates the subtitles from English or Japanese into the target language;
• timer - syncs each subtitle line to the right moment;
• styler - picks the font, colour and size of the subtitle text;
• typersetter - handles the logo, credits and other on-screen text;
• karaokemaker - creates the karaoke effects for openings, endings and insert songs;
• editor - reviews the translation and picks the best wording;
• reviewer - looks for typos and language errors;
• encoder - muxes the subtitles into the video file;
• quality checker - watches the full finished episode and checks it end to end;
• uploader - uploads the final video to the trackers and the website;
• web designer - maintains the fansub's website.

Conclusion

The work of a fansub is large and exhausting - and unfortunately there are players who take over the work of others without giving anything back. Not everyone behaves that way. Everything you have read here comes from years spent around anime sites and fansub groups, from research and from online discussions.

Fansubbing is, strictly speaking, a form of unlicensed distribution, but it has also done a lot for the anime market: many viewers would never have discovered anime, or come into contact with Japanese culture at all, without it. Alongside that, there are now legitimate options such as Crunchyroll, an official anime streaming service. By using legal platforms you also support the anime industry and the work of mangaka and other creators.

This has been a light introduction to the topic. In future articles I will dig into specific parts of it in more depth.