Kanon subs

(Originally 12 November 2006)

For episodes 5 and 6, I've found that SS/Eclipse yielded a better viewing experience. I think it's the little details, like the addition of translator's notes, and the seamless integration of english beside or even replacing the characters on signs or books. For episode 6, where Yuuichi is looking at a job advertisement for a position at a manga cafe, SS/Eclipse initially shows the original text, then has it morph into a translation.

For these two episodes afk hasn't put up any translator's notes, and not translating that bit of the job ad causes the viewer to miss out on the irony and the exchanges that take place in the next scene.

In terms of translations, afk's is maybe a bit too literal. The dialogue felt disjointed, more lines seemed out of context, and the translation of some things that probably would have been better left alone, like translating manga to comic book, and pork bun into meat bun (but SS/E could have been wrong), is jarring. Some terms are widely understood, like manga, and others deserve a translator's note instead of being watered down to fit the dialogue timing, or just plain watered down. SS/E tossed in a translator's note in episode 5 to talk about octopus-shaped sausage, and went into more detail about the term's etymology. I wouldn't have noticed or cared, but it was a nice touch that I missed when viewing afk's interpretation.

So it seems that even though afk releases later, usually about a day or two, it's not necessarily better than "speed sub" releases.

I'm not sure which one to keep at the moment, although thus far I've been keeping afk's because I started with afk. Maybe I ought to delete everything, and watch episode by episode, and get a batch download when the subbers wrap things up. The current situation is, watch SS/E first to get the gist of things, then use afk to get a more complete picture, at least when the two don't conflict.