My thoughts and comparisons of groups subbing the anime I'm watching this season. Note that most of this is based on only the first one or two episodes so group quality may change throughout the season. The tag listed next to each title is my current group of choice for that anime.
You can also find screen shot comparisons for a lot of current anime on ji-hi.net.
Comparisons Available
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu
Dance in the Vampire Bund
Hanamaru Youchien
Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimittsu
Kaitou Reinya
Katanagatari
Ookamikakushi
Sora no Woto
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Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu [gg]
[gg]
• No honorifics.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• OP/ED are soft-subbed with English translation only.
• Video is 720p. Ep2 leaves a commercial in. Station logo is left in, except for ep1.
[Mochi]
• Released a v2 of ep1, which I'm using to compare.
• Includes honorifics.
• Typesetting is hard-subbed. Uses notes for some text. Translates a bit more than gg.
• OP/ED are hard-subbed with English translation and romaji karaoke.
• Video is 720p. Station logo is left in.
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Dance in the Vampire Bund [SFW-Chihiro]
[SFW]
• Released a v2 patch for ep1, which added ED lyrics and fixed other misc. stuff.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• OP/ED are soft-subbed with English translation, romaji and kanji, no karaoke.
• Video is 480p. Quality is terribad due to encoding from AT-X source. No station logo.
[INP]
• Scene timing is a frame off a lot of the time.
• Typesetting is hard-subbed. Translates more than SFW.
• ED is hard-subbed with English translation, romaji and kanji, with karaoke. No OP in ep1.
• Video is upscaled 720p. (Also releases 400p Xvid.) Quality is also terribad and actually has less detail than SFW's encode. It looks like is was smoothened and sharpened a bunch. No station logo.
[SFW-Chihiro]
• Uses edited SFW scripts with better video source from Tokyo MX.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed. Translates more than the base SFW releases.
• ED is hard-subbed with English translation and romaji karaoke. No OP in ep1.
• Video is 480p. Quality is way better than the encodes from AT-X source, though still rather bad overall. (Waiting for the BDs/DVDs is the only way we're going to get good video quality from this show.) Station logo is left in.
Comments: Due to Tokyo MX airing the show a few days after AT-X, these releases will always be slower. But I think it's worth the wait to avoid the AT-X eyecancer.
[Koharubi]
• Scene timing is full of little errors.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed. Doesn't translate as much as SFW-Chihro.
• ED is soft-subbed with English translation and romaji, no karaoke. No OP in ep1.
• Video is 480p. Has less detail than SFW-Chihiro's encode, more than SFW's. No station logo.
[Yuurisan-Subs]
• Dialogue styling uses an extremely thin font, which is hard to read.
• Typesetting is hard-subbed. Translates as much as SFW-Chihiro.
• ED is hard-subbed with English translation and romaji karaoke. No OP in ep1.
• Video is 480p. Looks pretty much the same as SFW-Chihiro's encode. Tokyo MX station logo is left in.
[CoalGuys]
Comments: They haven't released ep1.
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Hanamaru Youchien [Commie]
[Commie]
• Uses edited scripts from CR. (Removes honorifics, translates "hanamaru" to "gold star.")
• Timing has lots of little errors. Looks like they just shifted and did keyframe snapping on CR's timing.
• Dialogue styling uses a font that's a bit annoying to read.
• No typesetting, uses notes for on-screen text.
• OP is subbed with English translation only from ep4 on. ED isn't subbed.
• Video is 480p. Leaves a commercial in. Station logo is left in.
[pwq]
• Includes honorifics.
• Timing has a few errors, plus some little scene timing errors.
• Dialogue styling has tiny marins.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• ED is soft-subbed with English translation only. No OP in ep1. (From the ep2 comment on TT, it sounds like it has hard-subbed karaoke.)
• Video is downscaled 400p. Looks like it was sharpened. Station logo was removed.
[Heen]
• Uses scripts from CR. Includes honorifics.
• Timing has lots of little errors. Looks like they just shifted and did keyframe snapping on CR's timing.
• No typesetting except for the soft-subbed title screen logo, uses notes for on-screen text.
• ED isn't subbed. No OP in ep1.
• Video is 480p. Retains a tiny bit more detail than Commie's encode. (It's also much higher bitrate.) Some of the line art is jagged. (Needs anti-aliasing.) Doesn't include the end card illustration. Station logo is left in.
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Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimittsu [Nutbladder]
[Nutbladder]
• Scene timing has a few little errors.
• Dialogue styling is a little hard to read against light backgrounds; it needs a darker outline.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• OP/ED aren't subbed.
• Video is 720p. A commercial is left in. Station logo is left in.
Comments: OMG Hidamari Sketch in native HD. I expected this to be an SD upscale.
[Tortoise]
• Translation differs a bit from Nutbladder's in a few places. They screwed up the grammar/glamour pun despite "glamourous" being spelled out right on the screen in English.
• Scene timing has a lot of errors.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed. Doesn't translate quite as much as Nutbladder.
• OP/ED are soft-subbed with English translation and romaji, no karaoke.
• Video is 720p. (Also releases downscaled 480p.) It's improperly decimated and really jerky. Retains a bit less detail than Nutbladder's encode. Station logo is left in.
Comments: The 480p version looks like a re-encode from a crappy raw off Share. But at least it's decimated properly.
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Kaitou Reinya [Sakitty]
[Sakitty]
• Includes honorifics.
• Dialogue styling uses a font that's a bit hard to read. Could also use a slightly darker outline.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed. Uses notes for some text.
• OP song isn't subbed.
• Video is downscaled 480p. It wasn't decimated so the frame rate is jerky. There's a bit of edge noise along the bottom and a lot of bad color banding in gradients. All of this will be fixed in ep1 v2. Station logo is left in.
Comments: I'm encoding this show for Sakitty now, so ep1 v2 and on will use my encodes. Yay for proper decimation.
[ICU-Subs]
• Fully hard-subbed in an MP4 container. They put their own logo up in the corner below the station logo.
• Translation seems pretty bad. There's a few errors that even I could clearly spot.
• No honorifics. Has a crapton of editor's notes.
• Timing is full of scene bleeds.
• Dialogue styling has barely any vertical margin.
• Typesetting translates more than Sakitty.
• OP song isn't subbed.
• Video is 720p. It wasn't decimated so the frame rate is jerky. There's a bit of edge noise along the bottom and a lot of bad color banding in gradients.. Station logo is left in.
[KRS]
• Fully hard-subbed in an MP4 container. They put their own logo up in the corner below the station logo.
• They used "OMG" in the subs and they seem to love putting ~ on the ends of lines. They also left an instance of "hai" untranslated.
• Scene timing is full of errors.
• Dialogue styling uses a huge font size with barely any vertical margin.
• Typesetting translates a little more than Sakitty, not quite as much as ICU-Subs.
• OP song is hard-subbed with English translation and romaji karaoke.
• Video is 720p. It was decimated, but badly so motion is still jerky and some frames that weren't duplicates got removed. There's a bit of edge noise along the bottom and color banding in gradients, though not quite as bad as in ICU-Subs' encode. Station logo is left in.
General Comments: WTF is it with this show and people hard-subbing logos into the video?
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Katanagatari [Mazui]
[gg-Commie-Ryuumaru]
• I don't even know how many versions of ep1 there are. I think the one with the CRC 9054060C is the final one, which is what I have.
• No honorifics. Reverses name order to given first, family second.
• Timing has a couple errors and some scene timing is off by a frame.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• OP is hard-subbed with English translation and romaji karaoke, ED is soft-subbed with English translation only.
• Video is 720p. It's improperly decimated during the two text crawls in ep1. Station logo is left in.
Comments: Apparently they never found a translator for ep2.
[Mazui]
• Released a v2 of ep1, which I'm using to compare.
• Leaves style and sword names untranslated. (i.e. "Kyotouryuu" instead of "Kyotou style" and "Zettou Kanna" instead of "Kanna the Obstinate.")
• Dialogue styling uses a thin serif font.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• OP/ED are soft-subbed with English translation, romaji, and kanji; no karaoke.
• Video is 720p. Station logo is left in.
[Frostii]
• Typesetting is hard-subbed.
• OP/ED are hard-subbed with English translation, romaji and kanji karaoke.
• Video is 720p. Has more banding and blocking in color gradients than Mazui's encode. Station logo is left in.
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Ookamikakushi [gg]
[gg]
• Released a v2 patch for ep1, which I'm using to compare.
• Reverses name order to given first, family second. No honorifics.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• OP/ED are soft-subbed with English translation only.
• Video is 720p. Retains a bit more grain in the grainy scenes than the other encodes. Station logo is left in.
[Formula]
• Translation differs from the other groups in a few places. Phrasing doesn't read as smoothly on some lines.
• Keeps name order as family first, given second. Includes honorifics. Leaves "bento" untranslated.
• Dialogue styling uses very small horizontal margins and some lines go right up against the edges of the video frame.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed, uses notes for some text. Translates a bit more than the others.
• OP/ED are soft-subbed with English translation and romaji, no karaoke.
• Video is 720p. (Also releases downscaled 480p.) Station logo is left in.
[Frostii]
• Leaves "onii-chan" untranslated, as well as "ookami" when it's referring to the local deity. ("Ookami" can mean either "god" or "wolf" depending on the kanji used.)
• Keeps name order as family first, given second. Includes honorifics.
• Timing has a small error in ep1 at 8:06 with the line appearing late. Scene timing could use some keyframe snapping on lines that appear only a few frames after scene changes.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed except for the title screen logo.
• OP/ED are hard-subbed with English translation and romaji karaoke.
• Video is 720p. Station logo is left in.
[Nekomimi]
• Translates "hassaku" to "orange" and "Hakase," Kaname's nickname for Hiroshi, to "Professor," while the other groups leave them untranslated.
• Keeps name order as family first, given second. Includes honorifics.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed except for the title screen logo.
• OP/ED are hard-subbed with English translation, romaji and kanji, with karaoke.
• Video is 720p. It's improperly decimated during the text crawl after the OP. Station logo is left in.
• No chapter points for the OP or ED.
[Batsu]
• Released a v2 of ep1, which I'm using to compare.
• Keeps name order as family first, given second. Includes honorifics.
• Timing has a lot of errors in both the audio and scene timing.
• Typesetting is hard-subbed.
• OP/ED are hard-subbed with English translation, romaji and kanji, with karaoke.
• Video is 720p. It's improperly decimated during the text crawl after the OP. Retains a bit less detail than the other encodes. Station logo is left in.
General Comments: Depending on your stylistic preferences, either gg or Frostii seems like the best choice.
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Sora no Woto [Commie]
[CoalGG] dropped
• Translation seems to take a few liberties to make it more fabulous.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• OP/ED are soft-subbed with English translation only.
• Insert song isn't subbed.
• Video is 720p. A commercial is left in. Station logo is left in.
[pwq]
• Reverses name order to given first, family second.
• Dialogue styling uses a small font size.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• OP/ED are soft-subbed with English translation only.
• Insert song isn't subbed.
• Video is 720p. (Also releases downscaled 400p.) There are black bars on the sides. Station logo was removed.
[Himatsubushi] dropped
• Dialogue styling is just the default white with black border and shadow.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed, uses the same default styling.
• OP/ED aren't subbed.
• Insert song isn't subbed.
• Video is 720p. There are black bars on the sides. Station logo is left in.
[Nekomimi]
• No honorifics in the first subtitle track. They're included in the second track starting with ep2.
• Dialogue styling is a bit hard to read against light backgrounds; it needs to be bold with a thicker outline.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• OP/ED have soft-subbed English translation and hard-subbed romaji karaoke.
• Insert song isn't subbed.
• Video is 720p. Station logo is left in.
Comments: For ep3, it looks like they took Commie's encode and just spliced in hard-subbed versions of the OP and ED. Windiff says that the video streams are identical except for two sections near the start and end.
[YuS-m.3.3.w]
• Includes honorifics.
• Typesetting is hard-subbed but the group credits in the OP are soft-subbed.
• OP/ED are hard-subbed with English translation, romaji and kanji, with karaoke.
• Insert song is soft-subbed with English translation and French, no karaoke.
• Video is 720p. (Also releases downscaled 480p Xvid.) Retains a bit less detail than Nekomimi's encode. (The rain in ep1's prologue is almost completely gone, looks like they used a smoothening filter). There's some blocking in flat color and banding in gradients. Station logo is left in.
[PHT]
• Editing is sloppy, there's lots of awkward lines.
• Scene timing has some errors, like scene bleeds.
• Dialogue styling has very small margins.
• Typeseting is soft-subbed except for the group logo.
• OP/ED are hard-subbed with English translation, romaji and kanji, with karaoke.
• Insert song isn't subbed.
• Video is 720p. (Also releases hard-subbed 720p and downscaled 400p Xvid.) Retains less detail than Nekomimi's encode and there's a lot more artifacts in high motion scenes. There are black bars on the sides, some blocking in flat color, and banding in gradients. Station logo was removed.
• No chapters.
[Chihiro]
• Includes honorifics.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed.
• OP/ED are soft-subbed with English translation and romaji, no karaoke.
• Insert song is soft-subbed with English translation.
• Video is 720p. Color gradients are really grainy. Looks like it was sharpened a bit, there's some haloing around edges. Station logo is left in.
[Commie]
• Uses retimed scripts from CR. No honorifics.
• Typesetting is soft-subbed. Uses notes for some on-screen text.
• OP/ED are soft-subbed with English translation only.
• Video is 720p. Station logo is left in.
• No chapter points for the OP or ED.
Comments: They haven't released ep1, using ep3 to compare. I recommend Nekomimi for ep1.
