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Subtitles in OP/ED sequences.


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Allegro



Joined: 18 Feb 2010
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 4:39 am Reply with quote
When you watch an opening or ending sequence of an anime, are you usually focused on the lyrics that are displayed on screen, or on the animation itself?

Anime DVDs default to having the song subtitles on during these sequences, and you really cannot avoid them when you're watching fansubs.

Unless I'm skipping them, I mostly watch these sequences without paying attention to the subtitles, and instead focusing more on what's going in the animation. To me, the lyrics don't seem to matter as much as the "feel" of the song, as well as how it syncs with the animation.
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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6900
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 4:59 am Reply with quote
Allegro wrote:
Anime DVDs default to having the song subtitles on during these sequences, and you really cannot avoid them when you're watching fansubs.
Not necessarily -- a lot of fansubs use softsubbed karaoke these days, so you can switch them off if you'd like. And some releases, which shall remain nameless, go the extra mile and leave song translations out entirely, because the releasers think all anime songs are lame and thus nobody needs to know what the lyrics mean.

But anyway, I view song subtitles as no different from ordinary dialogue subtitles, as far as content and meaning are concerned. So I split my attention between them and the visuals, just as I would with subs during the main portion of the show. At least that's my theoretical goal, although it's hard when subbers would rather emphasize their AFX work and fancy moving rectangles while making the actual content of the song completely unreadable.
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ikillchicken



Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 7272
Location: Vancouver
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 5:21 am Reply with quote
I don't really pay attention to the subtitles at all. Reading the lyrics in Japanese is meaningless to me and reading a translation of the lyrics just feels weird. The word have no poetry to them and don't match up with the beat. It's awful.
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RHachicho



Joined: 07 Oct 2009
Posts: 897
Location: Essex, UK
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 5:32 am Reply with quote
For some reason I have always been a fast reader of subtitles or other things. It would actually be harder for me not to read subtitles i'd have to purposefully remove my focus from them or something. Anyone else like this ?
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Mistmanov



Joined: 27 Feb 2009
Posts: 27
Location: Belgium
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 6:03 am Reply with quote
RHachicho: I am the same. Here in Holland we're so used to things being subtitled (as a nice example: we got the dutch subtitled version of the english dub of Dragonball Z on tv..) that reading them is a second nature. When watching a movie these days, I try to just listen to the english speech (jokes etc work better that way), but my eyes still wander to the dutch subtitles.

So yeah, I read the subtitles in OPs/EDs. But sometimes you'll watch a single OP 24 times, so one time your attention might be a bit more on the subtitles, and another time a bit more on the animation.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7994
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 7:11 am Reply with quote
I've found that knowing the lyrics for a song in a foreign language can often ruin the song. I don't bother.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15573
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 8:50 am Reply with quote
I don't really have a problem, a lot of the time I will watch the graphics and have fleeting glances at the words so I know some of the basics of words, but most of all more payed more attention to the sounds and picures. Another time I may focus more on the words to understand more of what the song is about and what the song is trying to convey.

I also like how some fansubbers have gone the extra bit to make the lyrics more interesting, like what was done in "a certain moe show" had the lyrics put in to match the style, like on the camera or other places that made it look quite naturel. Makes me feel a bit sad that an official release would not include them.
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Hyperone



Joined: 18 Feb 2010
Posts: 20
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 12:20 pm Reply with quote
Stylizing OP/ED subs don't bother me at all and I quite enjoy them. I'll read the subs exclusively the first one or two times I see an OP/ED and from then on I can split my attention. I only get bothered when they are hard to read against the background animation of the OP/ED.
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Dorcas_Aurelia



Joined: 23 Jul 2006
Posts: 5344
Location: Philly
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 12:39 pm Reply with quote
I sometimes read the translation for the lyrics, as a lot of times they do relate to the anime, and it helps give a sense of atmosphere. Usually though, I just watch what's going on and tend to forget they're even there.
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egoist



Joined: 20 Jun 2008
Posts: 7762
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 12:49 pm Reply with quote
I read both whenever I'm looking at the screen during op/ed. Though I usually forget what's written as soon as the next lyrics move in. I guess the ones that really stayed in my memory were Monster's first ED(the original), and the OP of Saint Seiya: Lost Canvas(both in English, that's why). They're new, so I doubt it'd stay long.
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ZoraPrime



Joined: 15 Dec 2009
Posts: 10
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 1:50 pm Reply with quote
I see most endings/openings multiple times, so usually the first few times I focus on the lyrics, and then focus on the visuals. It usually is every other time though, since a lot of anime I've watched alternate between English and Romaji (is that the correct term) lyrics. The Romaji lyrics mean little to nothing for me, so I just ignore them.
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Allegro



Joined: 18 Feb 2010
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 2:40 pm Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
Allegro wrote:
Anime DVDs default to having the song subtitles on during these sequences, and you really cannot avoid them when you're watching fansubs.
Not necessarily -- a lot of fansubs use softsubbed karaoke these days, so you can switch them off if you'd like. And some releases, which shall remain nameless, go the extra mile and leave song translations out entirely, because the releasers think all anime songs are lame and thus nobody needs to know what the lyrics mean.

Interesting. I had no idea there was an option to turn off the karaoke subtitles in fansubs. Then again, my hardcore fansub watching days were a couple of years ago, so I missed out on how to use the softsub option.

Quote:
At least that's my theoretical goal, although it's hard when subbers would rather emphasize their AFX work and fancy moving rectangles while making the actual content of the song completely unreadable.

I have no idea why some fansubbers do this. I guess it doesn't seem all that distracting when they actually put these fancy subtitles into the sequence?
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wandering-dreamer



Joined: 21 Jan 2008
Posts: 1733
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 5:39 pm Reply with quote
It drives me batty when some shows don't have the songs subtitled (like all the shows CR does). I like to know what they're saying and sometimes they're even hints about the plot line.
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kawaiibunny3



Joined: 10 Aug 2008
Posts: 534
Location: Houston, Texas
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 7:45 pm Reply with quote
I like to watch it the 1st few times looking at the animation, then eventually I'll focus more on the subtitles.

some cases it totally ruins the way i see the song (eg-Sumomomo Momomo's "Saikyou OX Keikaku")
and other times it'll make me love it to pieces.

The subtitle that never really made sense to me is the "romaji" lyrics.
I mean i understand it if you want to sing along with it, but...I dunno :/

it just annoyed me when companies put BOTH subtitles on the screen, like on my Fancy Lala DVDs, the lyrics are taking up half the screen sometimes Anime hyper
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Showsni



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 641
PostPosted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 7:59 pm Reply with quote
I prefer the subtitles to be there; I like to know what the song is, generally. I usually change what I'm focusing on each time; the first time through I might focus on the English lyrics, the next time on the animation, the next time on the music, the next time on the romaji, or whatever. (I do like trying to sing along, so I prefer the romaji to be there too; and maybe even the hiragana if I want to try and brush up on my reading skills!)
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