DarkMirage’s recent criticism of Nyoro~n’s Gundam 00 translations sparked a flurry of criticism, mostly petty ad hominems telling him to get out of his parent’s basement, but also a few reasonable arguments defending Nyoro~n. After checking out Nyoro~n’s releases myself, I feel compelled to offer some defense of my own, on DarkMirage’s side of things.

Although I don’t usually watch fansubbed versions, I decided to download a few of these Nyoro~n subs to check out whether this was for real. I almost couldn’t believe that these so-called “translations” could actually be that bad until I saw it for myself.

At first I thought maybe it was just an isolated incident, or perhaps due to the extensive technical jargon that Gundam 00 employs. To double check, I decided to take a look at Nyoro~n’s subs for Gurren Lagann, a show which is much easier to understand and translate.

To my dismay, however, it’s just as bad! I feel sorry for the people who watched this thinking they were getting the real Gurren Lagann!

Take a look at the following comparisons:

They’re between Black-Order subs (top) and Nyoro~n (bottom):

Not only does the Nyoro~n translator fail to realize that it’s all one sentence, he completely botches the second half of it. Now stop and think about that for just a second. It doesn’t even make any sense. Wouldn’t you start to wonder if maybe you had made a mistake?

Admittedly, it’s based on a fairly minor error in listening comprehension, but even assuming the Japanese text he shows is correct, it still doesn’t make any sense!

WTF?! Does he even stop to think whether this makes any sense?

Here even the Japanese is pretty nonsensical.

Once again, doesn’t make a single iota of sense. I have no clue how he even got that out of his interpretation of the Japanese lyrics.

And what the heck is “itertara”? Even a total beginner would know that that can’t be a real Japanese word.

LOL!

wagamama = selfishness or pride, not mother

But at least he’s man enough to admit when he’s not sure! And as ugly and clunky as the translation is, it’s still about 80% accurate, which is a lot better than certain other groups I’ve seen.

…

After seeing this travesty of translation that Nyoro~n is putting out, it seems pretty clear that there is legitimate reason for concern here.

Let me start by saying that, regardless of whether you agree with the way he stated his opinions or not, DarkMirage is providing a very valuable service. Without someone willing to provide independent, public analysis like he has done, most fans would have no way to gauge whether the subs they read are accurate. People deserve to know whether the translation they are watching is true to the story or not.

Now I don’t agree with the pointless juvenile bashing of fansubbers that often goes on; we already have way too many jerks who complain because there’s no karaoke, or the font is ugly, or for any number of other trivial reasons.

What is legitimately lacking, however, is honest, informed evaluation of a group’s translation. The translation is the heart of a fansub. Without it there is no fansub. Yet the vast majority of fans simply have no way of judging the quality of a translation. They’re relegated to blindly picking a group and hoping that it’s right.

In that respect, I think DarkMirage offers some much needed advice, pointing fans toward higher quality translations that will better represent the shows they love.

Now, you might say, “But why all the hating? Fansubbers do this in their own free time, providing a free service to those of us who otherwise would have no way to watch anime. Can’t you just leave them be?”

The problem with this kind of thinking is that what Nyoro~n and similar groups are doing is, in my opinion, worse than not subbing the show at all. It would be one thing if they did a partial translation and openly admitted when they were unsure; that I could respect. But to be so confidently, blatantly wrong about a translation, to the point that they’re essentially making things up and changing major plot points, is misleading and a disservice to both the fans and the show itself.

When you watch Nyoro~n’s translation of Gundam 00, you’re not really watching Gundam 00 as told by Sunrise & Co. You’re watching Gundam 00 as told by Nyoro~n, who just happens to be borrowing Sunrise’s pretty pictures and music.

Every week thousands of fans eagerly await the latest episode of their favorite show, and most of them quickly snatch it up from whatever group releases first, having no way of knowing that the story they are being told may be completely different from the real one. To release translations that are severely sub par is a huge disservice to the loyal fans who put their faith in someone to bring them the story.

Clunky dialogue and poor grammar is one thing; that I can live with. To simply be horribly, horribly wrong, though, is not acceptable. You can’t really call that translation at all.

DISCLAIMER:

While I don’t think people should download Nyoro~n’s subs and expect to get the real story, I also don’t condone treating them disrespectfully.

It seems that a number of people have gone on their site and made some very rude comments, which is a lot more harmful for the anime community than anything they might be doing wrong.

Not downloading Nyoro~n’s releases is fine. Calling them names and being a jerk to them is not.

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