Once again I've been disappointed in FUNimation's English subtitles for one of their Blu-Ray titles. This time it's Strike Witches Season 2.
As usual, the subtitles for the Blu-Ray version were rendered in thin white Arial font with uneven, broken black outlines. On any light colored background, or in the same frame with white colored text in the original credits, the subtitles are unreadable. Since the titles and credits for SW2 are done in a much larger white-filled font, the subtitles during opening titles and closing credits are essentially invisible.
I'm amazed that a title like Strike Witches, with all of the light background sky scenes, could possibly pass any kind of quality control muster with its wimpy white little subtitles.
What's the problem here? Doesn't FUNimation review the quality of their Blu-Ray subtitles when they release a disc?
By far the best work with subtitles is being done by Sentai. They use a much larger font, probably Arial Black, with consistent black outlines. They use YELLOW for a fill color, not WHITE.
Full Metal Panic - Second Raid is an example of another Blu-Ray title with the same poorly done subtitle rendering. Why can't FUNimation get it right?
For the Blu-Ray/DVD combo of Sekirei - Pure Engagement, I wound up watching the DVD version simply because the subtitles on the Blu-Ray were so poorly done compared to those on the DVD.
I wonder what FUNimation thinks about its customers who prefer to watch Anime in Japanese audio with English subtitles. Are we worth the effort to do a halfway decent job, as in to at least lift a finger to make quality subtitles?
Larger font; yellow fill. A simple task. Can you do it?
How about the subtitles that Geneon used.
Locomotion
animation, young adults, digital era
No, not yellow.
I can put up with it, but just ... no ... don't go there.
Mark Gosdin
I'm not sure if I have any Blu-Ray titles from those guys (did they publish any?). I only say that because in FUNimation's case it seems to be limited to Blu-Ray. Their DVD subtitles have been OK.
However I'll check my "stock" to see what Geneon was doing with DVD and (if they made them) Blu-Ray.
Alan Mintaka
"I believe a leaf of grass
is no less than the journey-work of the stars"
--Walt Whitman
It's just that yellow with black outlines seems to be legible no matter what kind of background is being displayed. It would never have been my first choice back in the days when I first started watching subtitled Anime. I've just learned through experience that yellow works better for me than white.
Is that an image cap from K-On? I don't recognize the scene, subtitle font, or placement of the subtitle from either season.
It got me curious because I don't remember problems with their subtitles, so I re-sampled the Blu-Rays from both seasons. The first season was published here in the USA by BANDAI. The font was Arial with thick black outlines, YELLOW. Perfectly legible.
The second season was published here by Sentai. Once again the font was Arial with thick black outlines, YELLOW, and larger than the font used by Bandai.
Both publishers know what they're doing when it comes to subtitles.
Alan Mintaka
"I believe a leaf of grass
is no less than the journey-work of the stars"
--Walt Whitman
Screen cap is from K-ON!! Second Season OP #1, subtitling off. Lettering is my own that I added.
Yes both Bandai (RIP) and Sentai used yellow on K-ON. Like I said I can live with it, but Off-White or White is better in my opinion.
What would be best would be to allow the color to be changed by an option in the player.
Mark Gosdin
Yellow is already being used by FUNimation for subtitles translating languages other than Japanese (ie Russian in Fam, the Silver Wing and Italian in Jormungand). A bolder, thicker black outline probably wouldn't hurt though.
Yes, with everything that you can do in Blu-Ray setups, it's too bad something like subtitle formatting options wasn't included.
Right now I'm experimenting with re-burning FUNimation Blu-Rays while fixing the poor quality subtitles, obviously for my own personal use in the privacy of my home. If I make it work I'll destroy the originals, which are useless anyway.
If I wind up doing a better job than FUNimation on their subtitles, it will speak even less highly of their competence than my messages.
Alan Mintaka
"I believe a leaf of grass
is no less than the journey-work of the stars"
--Walt Whitman
In that case, why they won't do the same for Japanese dialogue is even more disappointing. Are you talking about Blu-Rays for those other language titles, or DVD?
A thicker outline on the font used in Strike Witches 2, Heavy Metal Panic: Second Raid, and Sekirei: Pure Engagement probably wouldn't help much, because the point size is so small and the letters are so thin. Thicker outlines would make the thin letters almost black, and then they wouldn't appear well on dark backgrounds.
Regardless of what they do with the color (I know this is an area of conflicting tastes), the font size on those Blu-Ray titles just plain needs to be bigger and bolder.
In addition to inadequately sized and styled font, FUNimation often styles these subtitles in Italics - even in normal dialog (i.e. somebody just talking, not quoting someone or something else) and descriptions. Italicizing an already small, thin font creates angled, jagged edges on the letters, even in Hi-Def. This results in even more breakup of the thin font outlines, decreasing legibility further on light or white backgrounds.
Arial Bold or Arial Black. No Italics. Larger Font Size. Thicker black outlines. Yellow fill (if white fill doesn't work on light backgrounds - you do check these things, don't you, FUNimation?).
Try it, FUNimation. If even I can do a better job on your subtitles than you can (and I can, for my own private use - I destroy the originals when I'm done), something is wrong at your end.
You know, FUNimation, you could make a lot of people happy by re-issuing the three titles named above (plus any others whose subtitles you've botched) with better subtitles. Hell, I'd buy them. Granted that fixing them myself is cheaper than buying new copies, doing your work for you is becoming a huge pain.
Alan Mintaka
"I believe a leaf of grass
is no less than the journey-work of the stars"
--Walt Whitman
I'm not sure what you mean by "soft sub standard", but I program my own Blu-Rays and I've never had problems with consistently creating legible subtitles that look good on different players.
This is why I can't accept the explanation that creating legible Blu-Ray subtitles is difficult. If I can do it, FUNimation can.
Also, both Sentai and NIS America have been producing Blu-Rays with legible subtitles. Once again, if they can do it, FUNimation can.
Alan Mintaka
"I believe a leaf of grass
is no less than the journey-work of the stars"
--Walt Whitman