(I wrote this a long time ago, November sometime, forgot to post it)

At the risk of making this sound like a Coalguys rant about subbing techniques (maybe they don’t do this anymore, haven’t been to their site in ages), I’d like to take a line-by-line analysis of a Crunchyroll script (script courtesy of HorribleSubs):

Butler: Do you have any questions?
Yuuto: Well if not any, everything is questionable,
Yuuto: but…what should I do right now?

Now, that’s annoying because it’s unreadable. But don’t worry, it gets better (by which I mean that it gets worse):

Touka: When I say grilled fish, I mean Ma-Iwashi (true sardine)!
Touka: Why would you use Urume-Iwashi(imitation sardine)!?

TL note time: Ma-Iwashi == Japanese sardine; Urume-Iwashi == round herring. Both ma- and urume-iwashi are of the family Clupeidae, but while the Japanese sardine is of the genus Sardinops, the round herring is of the genus Etrumeus.

But what’s important isn’t scientific classification (please tell me if I’m wrong about this, by the way — I used Wiki as my guide) — it’s the fact that there’s no reason to leave ma-iwashi untranslated and *also* put a translation next to it. Even worse is the fact that CR calls urume-iwashi “imitation sardines.” Urume-iwashi aren’t imitation sardines, any more than cod is “imitation salmon.” Okay, well, that’s a bit further off, but you get the idea. (To my idea, the appellation “imitation sardines” implies the falsity that urume-iwashi are artificially processed, like imitation crab.)

But I think the thing that made me saddest about CR’s subbing this time was this:

Touka: Wh-who are you calling an underdeveloped pet tiger!?

Crunchyroll: please hire anime fans to do your subbing, and please treat us like we’re a bit more intelligent than fifth graders. We’d appreciate it.

Oh wait, this is an anime blog isn’t it — I’m supposed to talk about the anime. Well, in this episode, Ayase Yuuto takes the stocking off of a loli and touches her **** with a long stick. My brain was pretty much on loli-overload the entire episode, so I’m not actually sure what went on. (Speaking of which, NHNH has gotten more fanservice-y since last season, hasn’t it? I guess they have to compete with crap like Kanokon and such… Shame they’re stooping so low in the name of gaining a wider audience.) Sorry, guess you’ll have to stream the episode on Crunchyroll yourself 🙂 (if you’re not from the United States of Manifest Destiny, guess you’re not blessed enough to watch it on their site — I’m sure you’ll find another way 😉 )

[Other translation notes: Khorosho (pronounced something closer to “khuh-ru-sho”) is a Russian word that means, approximately, “good” or “fine”, and is a word of praise (thank you to my linguist friend who helped me on that). A zanba-tou is a big sword (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zanbat%C5%8D).]