Talk:Central Anime

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Bot work

I'm now t sure how many instances there are to replace, but every instance of "CentralAnime" needs to be changed to "Central Anime." The latter being correct because the group's site name includes the space. I think the excluded space form of their name may be from their filenaming conventions? Canary 06:24, 16 August 2014 (UTC)

Ethics

Should this page have an external link to CA's website? Canary 06:24, 16 August 2014 (UTC)

Translation quality

The other day I wanted to see some of the episodes' Laser Disc versions again to write something about the version differences. It looks like the raw rips that were on NicoNico did get removed at some point, so I went with the subbed version from Central Anime. They did a second version, which is the DVD rip, but it appears "second version" pertains only to the improvement in video quality. The subtitles are exactly the same. At least the first episode's are.

In any case, I'll have to ask: are Central Anime's subs considered solid? As someone who doesn't really have to rely on translation, this was the first time I saw the anime subbed. And holy hotcakes, it's a total disaster. The person in charge was clearly in no way qualified to tackle this show. And I'm not talking differences in nuances or careless misses. It's chock-full of mistakes, lines that are out of character, make no sense or say something that in no way reflects what's actually being said in Japanese.

Judging from the end product, it looks as if they didn't comprehend half of the dialogue. I'm gonna go so far as to say I believe they even noticed half-way through, but kept "translating" lines they didn't understand into whatever they guessed was being said.

To provide an example, I've gone through the entire first episode. I'm translating as directly as possible to preserve the nuances. Good subs would have to be more concise.

In some cases I'll quote the (correctly translated) line preceding a mistranslation to give context.

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• In one small part of space, the war continues. ==> War continues throughout the/all ages.
• In war, there can be only one victor. Space is an uninhabited wilderness and bloody wounds disappear with time. ==> Utter nonsense. Nothing's being said about victors at all. Should be "In any age, all war leaves behind is empty wastelands (sure, "uninhabited wilderness" if you will). Scars disappear with (the passage of) time." The point that's being made here is essentially the same as what's being said in the text at the beginning of "Sea of Stars". War is a constant and when seen in the context of eternity, the players and outcomes become insignificant. The mentioned "scars that disappear with time" are like traces in the sand that the wind blows away. At least that's the image I believe they're going for - especially with the desert footage that the episode opens with.
• Maybe the multitude of stars in the sky remember those wounds. ==> Yes, okay. I'll let that one go.
• Man's presence in the midst of these stars is all that remains of a forgotten battle. ==> This [the series; what follows] is the record of a now half-forgotten war that was fought among such stars, as told long ago.
• At this time, in the middle of the universe, an insignificant island, a galaxy, was at war. ==> At that time, a small island universe (it's an actual term, look it up; but "galaxy" alone works just fine) called the Milky Way, was separated into two warring factions.

Now follows a stretch where the subtitles are more or less acceptable and on point. Then we get to Phezzan.

• This is just one of the many battles we must concede to the Alliance. ==> If we're talking numbers, this one should be a victory for the Alliance.
• But if the Empire and the Alliance get tired of war, our Phezzan will make profit. ==> I'm not sure that makes any sense the way it's translated. It should be "tire/keep tiring each other out" or something along those lines.
• It's his youth. Even though he's now a man, he still acts like a child. ==> "It's his youth. Let's not get fired up over someone the age of a child." Point he's making is that they're adults and should be above getting all hot and bothered about something some kid does.
• I mustn't forget. ==> I wouldn't forget./There's no reason I'd forget./I'd never forget.
• The heir to the name of Count Lohengramm is fighting at the front? ==> The first heir to the name of Lohengramm/of the house of Lohengramm to go to war.
• In repose, the resemblance is clear. ==> What? Literally "He's not about to lose idly". Meaning "He's not going to lose if he can help it". How did they even arrive at that translation?
• Go. But there's no reason to give up on you. ==> "Just for the record: it's not like I got anything against you personally." ...Paetta tells Yang, after turning down his plan.

The following subs aren't exactly spot on, but at least not wrong on content. Then:

• Right. So I won't take my eyes off him. ==> Yup. Next line:
• But, the commander turned down my plan. ==> Should be: "Neither off the commander (who turned down my plan)".
• One man can't win the war. ==> Yes. And...?
• Being a good staff officer, he will win if he executes his plan correctly. ==> They're talking about Reinhard here. Reinhard's a "staff officer" now? The line should be "It's having capable officers under you and being able to precisely see a strategy through that earns you victory." Von Seeckt is playing down Reinhard's talent, suggesting that his power lies in the officers he had with him until now. The sentence as translated by CA doesn't make any sense in the context of the conversation.
• Whereupon, he will appear VERY good... [and the next line:] ...because he wouldn't accept anything less than total victory. ==> This one's the highlight of the episode. What's that statement even supposed to mean? Nothing of this is in the source material. I'm relatively certain they just made this one up because they didn't have a clue what was being said. What Schtockhausen says is "Your officers must be quite distinguished then. I hardly ever hear about you winning battles." This is how the Japanese do sarcasm. Yes, they're bad at it. The reply that follows...
• But you won't hear talk of winning, right? ==> One could say the same about you. (lit. "Not hearing talk of winning goes equally for you").

This mutual teasing is why the two generals then turn their backs on each other. It's meant to be a scene of comic relief. The two are hoping for Lohengramm to lose, yet (or probably BECAUSE) they're rarely victorious themselves. They talk big about what it takes to win battles, then tease each other about their losses.

• Don't talk about the military's personnel actions, OK? ==> "We have no say (lit. "can't get a word in") when it comes to military personnel affairs." If it was up to Mittermeyer he'd still be with Lohengramm, but it's not he who makes the decisions.
• But there's still another way... ==> Clear. Next.
• Only, if we don't do it, 20,000 ships... Maybe even 40,000 ships will be destroyed. ==> But if we don't do it, 40,000 ships [us] will be destroyed by 20,000 [them] and the enemy will face hardly any losses.
• With 6000 more than the enemy, we can force a draw. ==> He's saying when it's 26000 vs 20000, they have a more than fifty percent chance of winning.
• And so it can't be helped, even if the 4th Fleet ends up helplessly broken. ==> No. "Not necessarily. [in response to Yang saying they'll all get destroyed individually] The 4th Fleet isn't going to lose so easily".

• I also have a friend in the 6th Fleet... ==> He says that.
• ...and another in the 2nd Fleet. ==> He doesn't say that at all. They ARE the 2nd. "I don't want to lose the 6th Fleet under my own eyes" is what he says. Continued in the next line with: "... or this 2nd. Even if that means to abandon the 4th".
• It's become an awkward situation. ==> No, it's not an awkward situation. Paetta's going through with his own, impossible plan and "We're in trouble now."
• Because we're going to the rescue, we'll be defeated twice. ==> Not quite. Attenborough is talking about 二重遭難, which means "double disaster". It's a term for a situation when a rescue party itself runs into trouble. As in "We can't rescue the people on the mountain because there's a storm and we might get caught in an avalanche ourselves".
• That brings me to the 6th Fleet once more. ==> I wonder what the 6th is going to do.
• If we can avoid his superior officer, I should be able to get his opinion. ==> "Paetta may not heed mine, but his [Rapp's] superior officer might listen to his plan." Yang hopes that Rapp's superior, Moore, is more open to reason and will join the 2nd fleet.
• We should join with the 2nd Fleet as soon possible. ==> Correct.
• And by that time, the 4th Fleet will be massacred, won't it? ==> He doesn't say that at all. He says "We will... on the battlefield of the 4th", meaning that yes, of course they'll join with the 2nd, but at the 4th's location.
• Even so, there's no time. ==> There's no time for that. That scene's to show that Rapp is in the exact same situation with Moore as Yang is with Paetta. The superiors are stubborn and blind to the situation.
• From now on, it's simple slaughter. ==> Oh well... 掃討作戦 is lit. a search-and-destroy operation or sweep. The way it's translated is kinda brutish. Not really something Merkatz would say I believe.
• We should ignore the enemy wounded. ==> There's no need to engage the wounded enemies.
• Which fleet do you think will attack next, Kircheis? ==> Which fleet do you think we should attack/go for next, Kircheis?
• The left one or the right? Although it could go either way, you always know. ==> For one, they seem to have translated this as if it's Lohengramm's line. It's Kircheis'. He's saying: "We could go for either, but you've already made up your mind, haven't you?"

• A lot of wounded. ==> Pretty bad wounds.
• Nowadays, you don't die unless you're hurt pretty bad. ==> Nowadays, you don't die from a few wounds.
• But in this war, with one hit, it's BUMP. ==> These days it's one hit and you're gone/BOOM.
• So there are far more wounded. ==> So there are far LESS wounded.
• Who knows whether we'll live or die. ==> It's only live or die.

Here Kurt talks about how, due to the advances in technology (he shows his enhanced arm) people don't really die from wounds much. Then again, your ship getting blown up is going to mean sure death, so there's far less wounded.

• Enemy fleet, contacting our fleet. ==> Makes it sound like they're being hailed. Of course it's about "making contact" here. "Enemy fleet closing in".
• ...besides being outnumbered, our position's hopeless. ==> Besides what? It's hopeless BECAUSE you're outnumbered.
• Even while saying that, the man Reinhard... [next line:] ...who will later be called invincible, was ALMOST convinced. ==> Convinced of what? I'm not sure the context makes it clear. What the narrator is saying is that Reinhard is already convinced he'll win. What does the all-caps "ALMOST" do here? It's all about Reinhard being perfectly sure.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I haven't seen any other episodes in full subbed, so I have no idea whether the translation improves, but man oh man. I guess something is better than nothing, but you'd think someone offering their services as translator should be able to better assess their own abilities and not use a property like this as a tool of study. In the credits of one episode they had "??????" for a whole bunch of voice actors, basically saying "Yeah, we can't read this one either". That's just not good enough.

It looks like the translator, a Sue Shambaugh, went on to translate a (several?) book(s) for Tokyopop... in 2006?? I don't even want to think about it.

You gotta wonder whether the translation is responsible for some bigger misunderstandings among English-speaking fans. Seeing these subs, I really hope that Sentai is gonna go through with a release. Gingaeiyu 13:37, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

The funny thing is, it was LoGH that actually inspired me to take up Japanese lessons, and once I had a better knowledge of the language nowadays (my proficiency is still haphazard though) and rewatched the Central Anime subs, I could actually spot the occasional mistakes here and there, so I can understand your frustration somehow. But I daresay the Central Anime team, whatever their faults, is to be commended at least for taking up the monumental task of translating all 165 episodes and movies during the 1990s and the 2000s when the internet was still in its infancy and referencing names was not as easy as it is today (that's where the question marks come in - those tend to belong to rather obscure voice actors which I would not be aware of if not for the Japanese Wikipedia). In any case though, I'd say the Central Anime subs did conveyed the gist of the plot more or less accurately, and we in Gineipaedia have our own standards in translating character names and positions that are independent of the Central Anime subs anyway. Glacierfairy 17:23, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

Oh, that's for sure. I probably wouldn't want to do it myself. Even if you understand the language, the politics and relationships between characters are confusing enough to warrant a rewatch or two. I'm still not sure if I can say I get everything a hundred percent. Gingaeiyu 20:01, 25 May 2016 (UTC)

I totally agree with you. I've rewatched the series for over four times and yet I can still learn new details every time I watch. Especially since LoGH also utilised lots of advanced language, many times I have to rewind certain scenes to make sure I can match the spoken dialogue with the subtitles. Glacierfairy 00:46, 26 May 2016 (UTC)

The second episode's translation seemed somewhat better, by the way. Then again I didn't pay all that much attention to the subs this time. I'm doing a rewatch with the LD rip and Blu-ray side by side to catch some of the smaller changes they made.

I posted something over at the forum. Thought I'd let you know since you guys probably don't check it much.Gingaeiyu 17:05, 26 May 2016 (UTC)