In this episode, Yuuto is invited to a party for his services in episode 3, as personal attendant to that loli of fiery ice, Tennouji Touka. We are also introduced to the rest of the ranked members of the Nogizaka Family Maid Team. I must say, I was so happy, watching this episode of NHNH~P~, due to the overall consistency and, dare I say it, high quality of the Crunchyroll subbing. They even got the names right (except for the fourth ranked maid, who should be Minamo, not Minao (this is miswritten only once)). (To be frank, there are a few small errors (2 != 5, grammatical errors, internal inconsistencies, etc.), but other groups make errors like that too occasionally, so it’s okay right?)

Enough about CR errors, let’s talk about in-episode inconsistencies. There is an in-episode sign announcing the party as the 95th; however, Hazuki calls it the 59th (is this an error due to her being flustered, or an actual error in the script? it is difficult to tell).

So far, this has been the most enjoyable episode for me of this series (of the second-season episodes, anyway). I would actually recommend you watch this, even if you don’t like the series in general. Especially of note is the fact that Haruka herself has only a minor role, which is cool, because MEIDO >> Haruka. On a side note, it seems that Alice-chan (moe~~~~~~) has grown taller in this episode? — she seemed a lot smaller bef– Okay, maybe not.

NAISU RAISU.

P.S./TL Note: Hatano-san is the voice actor for Yuuto.

(sorry for the delays… I’ve been really busy…)

Christmas Special! Okay, so I’m reviewing this a few months late, oh well.

There was a movie released a few years ago, 1994 thereabouts — some of you young whippersnappers weren’t even alive back then, were you? A light comedy — well, Crunchyroll must really like that comedy, because they confused Ol’ Saint Nick with “The Santa Clause.” Now, this is understandable enough — I mean, we can’t really expect professional quality from Crunchyroll. After all, they’re busy people, with families, and psychological traumas early in their childhoods, a bunch of truly troubled indiv–

tl;dr CR sucks.

Also, “woot” is not English.

In other comedyroll, at 11:30-ish through the episode, see that line “You mustn’t underestimate overworking?” That’s nowhere in the episode.

Also also! This is really cool — according to Crunchyroll, Haruka’s never given a present to a man before. This is cool, because it’s previously unknown information, even to the producers of the show! CR is truly doing you guys a service (it could be that they have an early version of the script, before it was trimmed to fit in the 30min. time slot?).

(this really is nitpicking, I mean, they do a decent job. I have no beef with CR (edit: I changed my mind about this, CR really does suck). Just, as xess has said, fansubbing passing grade is 100% accuracy (grammar is also important). But, you know, commercial subs != fansubs. (edit: Actually, that’s insulting to real commercial subs. Crunchyroll is a farce, whom am I trying to kid?))

On with the episode. In this exciting fanservice-filled (read: softcore pr0n) episode of Nogi-etc. ~Purezza~, there are enough presents for everyone. I don’t care if you have a thing for little girls (just don’t get the FBI on your trail, ‘k? don’t want to make a bad name for us anime-watchers), high school girls (see above, unless 18+ and with consent), or older/matured women (we are not responsible for armed husbands with intents to kill or severely maim) — there is something here for you.

Also, I don’t know if anyone else has noticed this, but — Seto no Hanayome’s Seto Clan; NHNH’s Nogizaka family — same family dynamic? Even the voices are similar.

I’m sure you’ve already enjoyed this episode (especially the eyecatches), so I’ll do my best to catch up with all of you. See you next episode!

(also, prtscn 16:16 thereabouts — that’s a keeper)

P.S.: The last episode I TLC’ed for m.3.3.w was HanaSei 13, on September 3, 2009. That’s like, 6 months ago?

(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).]

You know, there’s something about Haruka’s personality that I don’t really like. I think it’s how she’s always saying sorry this and sorry that, and that “I’m so helpless without you, Yuuto,” blah blah blah. I understand that this show is supposed to be catering to losers who wish they had a girl who was completely submissive and dependent on them and all that, but, seriously, I get tired of it after a while.

Now, Haruna, on the other hand… is a mature, sexy lady who’s not afraid to set that lacrosse ball on fire with her well-executed shots. And that’s hot.

I’d like to note that Crunchyroll’s translation for this episode improved significantly. Good job guys, seriously.

In this exciting and slightly scandalous episode of Nogizaka Haruka’s Secret, Haruka and Yuuto… um…

(Haruka: “If you *** it ** so deep…”
Yuuto: “L-Like ****?”)

…Haruka and Yuuto attend a doujinshi fair! (TL Note: doujinshi are self-published works from amateurs and sometimes professionals primarily in the fields of manga and anime (note courtesy of CR)) Also, a couple tsundere from well-known anime make guest appearances, and… what else… Oh! You lolicons out there are going to love this episode. Just thought I’d mention that.

By the way, we all have a working understanding of Japanese sound effects, right? Koku koku.

[non-Haruka note: as a result of some poor studying choices I’ve made in the past couple weeks, I will not be able to work on Seto no Hanayome for the next month or so, unless I am extremely lucky. However, this does not mean the project is dropped.]

[semi-SPOILER/helpful note: “ireru” means to insert something; it can also be used in the context of coloring, to ‘fill in’ a space with ink or pencil or what have you.]

So, I was watching Haruka on Crunchyroll, where I have a one-year subscription, because I support the American anime licensing industry — after all, Crunchyroll has done everything we in the anime community have been asking for for years (“I’d stop watching fansubs if Japan would just give us legal subs as soon as the episode came out in Japan”, etc. etc.), and I have to respect that…

There’s a lot of steam in an onsen/rotenburo. I understand that. But it’d be nice if the steam didn’t cover the entire screen for minutes at a time.

Oh my, I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyway, in this first episode of the second season of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu, Haruka and her friends (Yoshiko and Naha, and some others too) go to a hot springs to relax. Pretty typical episode, though we do have a new character (I think she’s new anyway — I didn’t finish watching the first season).

The opening and ending songs are pretty nice as well, if you’re lucky enough to know Japanese (since Crunchyroll didn’t sub the songs and all).

Also, lacrosse is the best sport ever (Haruna > Haruka).

P.S.: Sorry for the delayed blog post for episode 1. Episode 2 blog post should be very soon (within a day or two of Crunchyroll airing it).

xess edit: I love CR (This is just a screenshot of what I see from CR, not the actual video)

Country restrictions

Hello fans,

here’s Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu R2J DVDs, Episodes 05 and 06. If you didn’t get eps01-04 yet, the OP/ED files are on those posts.
It uses Ordered Chapters so keep the files in one folder to be able to see the OP/ED.

Edit:
Sorry, I forgot to mux in the fonts, here’s the font that’s used in the main script, just put it in your Windows/Fonts folder and it will work automatically.

Download:
Episode 05: BT
Episode 06: BT

Hello all,

here’s Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu R2J DVDs, Episodes 01-04. (EP 03-04 are new, the others are re-uploaded. There’s no difference in the files, so if you already have them no need to re-download, some people had problems with the old torrent, so I re-uploaded to my tracker.
It uses Ordered Chapters so keep the files in one folder to be able to see the OP/ED.

For more INFO: Click ME
Newer versions of mplayer should also support ordered chapters, VLC doesn’t, blame the programmers for not implementing real playback (like Full MKV support and .ass support).

When running windows try: MPC-HC in combination with Haali Splitter. Everything should work fine.

Grtz,
BiGGuY

Download:
Opening: BT
Ending: BT
Episode 01: BT
Episode 02: BT
Episode 03: BT
Episode 04: BT

Hello all,

here’s Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu R2J DVDs, Episodes 01 and 02. I will release it every month with 2 episodes per batch.
It uses Ordered Chapters so keep the files in one folder to be able to see the OP/ED.

For more INFO: Click ME
Newer versions of mplayer should also support ordered chapters, VLC doesn’t, blame the programmers for not implementing real playback (like Full MKV support and .ass support).

When running windows try: MPC-HC in combination with Haali Splitter. Everything should work fine.

Grtz,
BiGGuY

Download: Nogizaka Haruka DVD 01-02 (H.264) – [Bittorrent]

Here is the final episode of Nogizaka Haruka 12, along with the batch torrents. We decided to go back to Anirena for the batches because Box Torrents was too much of a hassle.

Download: Nogizaka Haruka 12 (XviD) – [Bittorrent]

Download: Nogizaka Haruka 12 (h264) – [Bittorrent]

Download: Nogizaka Haruka Batch (XviD) – [Bittorrent]

Download: Nogizaka Haruka Batch (h264) – [Bittorrent]

And now on to the next season stuff…

Looks like Mango got you guys good. Let me go through the real plans.

The following are confirmed shows

  • Telepathy Shoujo Ran

Continuation from this season. No explanation necessary.

  • Rosario + Vampire Capu2

This will be a continuation of our joint project with Ayako from the first season. So far I’ve heard very shitty reviews about the first episode, but I guess that was to be expected.

  • Chaos;Head [ Link ]

This will be the first real departure from our normal genre of shows. You guys know that we mostly do daily life romance shows, but this one will be pretty different. You guys are just better off reading the Wikipedia page.

List of possible projects

  • ToraDora!

This will depend on if another group is doing it. Hopefully they will let us know in a few days. m.3.3.w is very strongly opposed to oversubbing anime shows, because it’s a waste of our time and it doesn’t help leechers. As long as there is a group that we think can do a great job on it, we will let them do it.

  • Hakushaku to Yousei

We’re thinking about this one. We’re gonna have to see the first episode though.

  • Kannagi

This will be another “watch the first episode and see” decision.

  • Yozakura Quartet

Same as the others.

  • Kyou no Go no Ni (newly updated)

Last resort, etc…

Definitely not doing next season

  • Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka

Another group that we respect is doing this show, so we feel that it is in good hands.

  • Clannad After Story

Eclipse is doing this, so no need for us to do it.

  • ef: a tale of melodies

Mango was just trolling Kristen (leader of Chihiro). Normally I would have green lighted this show, but Menclave did a great job on season 1, so I will expect them to do the same on season 2.

  • To Aru Majutsu no Index

Same as Akane Iro.

  • Junjou Romantica 2

Obviously we’re not doing this. Go to aarinfantasy if you want this.

  • Skip Beat!

One of our staff members is doing this with another group, so we are not doing it out of respect. This looks like it’s gonna be Special A version 2, so I don’t want to do it anyway.

  • Vampire Knight Guilty

lol no

  • Nodame Cantabile: Paris-hen

Plenty of other groups from season 1 plan to do season 2. We don’t like jumping on a series if we don’t do the first season.

  • Hyakko

Another respected group is doing it.

  • Any other shows not listed above

Conclusion
Ran
Chaos;Head
Rosario Capu2

We will probably pick up one more show from the “maybe” list. We’ll have to wait and see. This is by no means a final list. The shows you see in the “maybe” list are just shows that looked interesting to the staff. We could end up adding one that isn’t on there. So feel free to recommend stuff that you don’t see on the list anywhere. We will add them accordingly.

Nothing much to report about this one. It’s basically all fan service, as you can tell from the screenshots. There is one minor TL note that we would like to mention, but did not include in the episode for various reasons.

Fräulein

It’s basically a German title for young and unmarried ladies. The Wiki says that it isn’t used any more though. We hate TL notes and try to avoid them as much as possible, and especially when it’s for non-Japanese words. Our reasoning is that a normal Japanese viewer probably wouldn’t know what Fräulein is, so at least you have the benefit of seeing the subtitle and being able to Wikipedia it later.

Download: Nogizaka Haruka 11 (XviD) – [Bittorrent]

Download: Nogizaka Haruka 11 (h264) – [Bittorrent]