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by matheusmoreira 249 days ago
> That’s why the best subs, are always fan subs! Because a business will never put in 8x more time on an episodes subtitles than “bare minimum.”

Cannot overstate this enough. Fans are the ones who actually care. To an almost pathological degree.

Anime fansubbing is a major reason why our video players even have excellent subtitling support to begin with.

Many music fans will obssess over ripping quality and lossless encodings to the point of delusion.

I've seen people care so much about some film they they somehow spliced together two different blu-rays to make the ultimate version because some parts were better on the disc from a specific region.

Star Wars fans cared so much they spent tens of thousands of dollars and years of their lives to resurrect negatives from the 70s that even the creator himself had disowned:

https://www.thestarwarstrilogy.com/Project-4K77/

Always bet on guys who care. Corporations will never be able to compete. They simply do not give a shit. They want money for minimum viable products. These guys do it out of love.

4 comments

That's the first I've seen of 4k77 and related projects, thanks for sharing. A true labour of love.
There's a direct equivalent in the world of anime: frame-per-frame restoration like the GITS Blu-Ray (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40316985) or the '99 HxH anime and LaserDisc scans.
Absolute legend. I love this film.
The Rakuten/Viki model appears to lean into this and just sponsor fansub groups directly and include their output in the licensed stream.

At least one of the Chinese streaming services (I think possibly iQIYI) crowdsources improved translations directly in the app, presumably relying on the irritation factor of early adopters stuck with the MTL-grade int'l subs supplied by many C-drama production companies.

I'm more than a Trekkie than a... Warrie (?), but does Project-4K77 means I can finally see Han shooting first?
Yes! And you don't need to see Hayden Christensen's ghost at the Ewok party in episode 6, etc. They are a true gift.