Astroboy 60s B/W Japanese 193 episodes - subtitles?

[omega.factor]

Hi all,

Well it's been a long time and I have returned!

Does anyone know if there are any subtitles out there for the Astroboy 60s B/W Japanese 193 episodes?

On that note, do many of you actually have them? I'm not talking about the 104 English B/W episodes but the 6 x boxset Japanese release. I bought them in Japan a decade ago over various years and they cost me approx $450-500 US each box-sex, so maybe $3000 US all up! Anyhow, I have never sat down to watch them after checking out the first episode as I figured it would be worth my while to wait for subtitles. I'm guessing they may not exist as this box-set is very hard to find!

My last resort would be to hire a Japanese speaking student to help create these this for 89 episodes that weren't converted to English and at the very least to watch the 89 Japanese (with subtitles) substituting the other 104 English conversions!

Cheers,

Omega

[F-Man]

I'm probably the most qualified to answer this, and I can confirm that no subtitles for this show can be found anywhere. The best you can get are the few episodes (four to be exact, three of which were already dubbed) found in the English release boxsets.

You can check out my extended , though it's slightly out of date right now.

[omega.factor]

F-man, thanks for the reply!

So, next question, how do we go about translating these? 193 odd episodes!

[omega.factor]

Well, I have contacted an Japanese/English translator who has worked for Nat Geo on gumtree - to get a quote for translating the 89 of the remaining non-English 1960s episodes that aren't dubbed into English.

[Toshio Tenma]

That would be cool if all the episodes got subbed with the original names.

I'm not fond of dubs since they does re-script rather than faithful translations.

[AprilSeven]

Omega.factor you are my HERO!! I strongly suggest you also post your request on astroboy-online.com -- there are a bunch of us over there who are EXTREMELY interested in getting these episodes translated, and I personally believe we could get a kickstarter project together to make this happen. The price of boxed sets HAS come down - I purchased the Japanese boxed set last month on Ebay and I am blown away with the animation and creativity.

There ARE a number of members on "ABO" who are studying Japanese, but it sounds like you may have lined up a very good resource. I would LOVE to have subtitles for my set of "The 89" as we call them. I do hope you'll let the folks on ABO know about what you're trying to do, and I wish you the best of luck.

[omega.factor]

Hi April, the crowd sourcing idea is a good one! If we were to go down that path, I guess we could look into having them all subtitled. The quote is approx $30 AU for 15 mins atm, which is almost $,4500 for the 89 - way above what I would wan to pay right now, so again kickstarter is a good idea. I's have a think about that one, is there anyone on astroboy-online.com you can suggest?

Also the DVDs that you bought, how much did you pay and are they all 193 episodes and what are the boxes like and how did you find them on eBay?
Thanks,
Omega.

[AprilSeven]

Oh, wow - folks come and go (then return) . . . I've been a moderator there for a few years now, and can safely say that subbed versions of these episodes would be VERY well received. If you'd like, I could start a thread to discuss the possibility of looking into doing something like this, but it would be most effective if you were part of the discussion. The other forum is more "Astro-centric" but between a prescence on both, you might get a good reading on how successful it could be.

I don't want to work AGAINST F-Man's efforts for Anime Sols, but as a marketing person, I think they went about things the wrong way (he's suggesting if we support the other projects, then MAYBE they will dub "The 89" - but we've all got limited income and time - and we're from all around the world.

I purchased my Japanese box set (that combines boxes 4, 5, and 6) on e-bay from a fellow ABO member who let me know he was selling them. I paid $130 for them, and they are in mint condition. The member ripped the contents to mp4 files so he could view them more readily (which he also shared with me, and now I have them on my tablet!). I do enjoy looking at the actual disks though - there's extra stuff on them, and three little "guides" -- one for each section of the set. I have to use VLC in order to view them on my Mac. It's such a shame they make it so difficult. I'd also like to get the first 104 episodes in Japanese, but these will keep me happy for while!

There is a big, big interest in subbed versions of all the anime - people want to see what was orginally created. Inside, he'll always be "Astro Boy" because I'm an American and was lucky enough to be 10 years old when the program first aired here -- BUT reading the original manga, and seeing the uncut anime is an incredible joy. More and more people really want to see the original stuff, so I think it's just a matter of time before it happens. I also was lucky enough to speak with the guy (Tod Ferson) who was the one in the US who started collecting, restoring and selling the US dubs in the company now known as The Right Stuf. Maybe we can all work to further preserve and share the "other half" of Astro Boy the West never got to see!

[F-Man]

You wouldn't be able to start a Kickstarter to illegally translate a company's TV show without their permission. But you could try to convince people to send money to one trustworthy person who'd take care of working with a translator to translate the show. I can help with subtitling, for free, if needed.

[omega.factor]

Hello all, apologies for going missing for a few months, started a new job, and haven't had much time!

I will look into the legalities soon, and any crowd sourcing requirements, and we can promote it legally when we confirm the way forward.

It may even include a permission request from the owner of the product we'll see!

[omega.factor]

I've made a recent discovery and perhaps breakthrough with the subtitles work... Just to re-clarify, I was originally talking about the 1960s episodes, as the 1980s Japanese episodes weren't a priority.

However, I discovered last night that the 1980s Japanese episodes are on youtube, in what seems to be an official channel from tezuka anime. Refer: http://www.youtube.com/show/astroboynew/videos

Also, these episodes have english subtitles / captions, so this is a game changer! After searching around online, I found a java tool that copies out the subtitles into a file in seconds (Google2SRT-0.6)

Basically, so .srt file when played lines up directly with the episodes I am ripping with handbrake. In short, thats the 1980s problem solved! I won't recut audio from the English now, as the Japanese is possibly even more pure to watch!

So next I'm trying to figure out who did the subtitles. Were they fan subs or from Tezuka Co.

I did see int he youtube banner page a link to another website: http://www.viki.com/videos/191167v-astr ... -episode-1

Then it says, Volunteer Channel Team: The Astro Boy Subbers! - written by people like us, if you want to help, contact the channel manager!

So, in short... maybe this group had already subbed the 1960s episodes, or if not, may want to?

I'm going to ask, maybe they don't have access to the vids, obviously I can help with that as I'm about to rip them all, I can't see why having them online would be an issue, if the 1980s episodes are online!

But, we will see what they say, maybe there is a royalty fee, I'm sure Tezuka Co would have to approve!

To be confirmed!

[omega.factor]

ok I have posted asking about this, you will need to create an account to follow:

http://discussions.viki.com/t/subtitle- ... odes/313/2

[F-Man]

I can tell you for certain that the people at Viki have not translated the 60's anime. I believe the 80's series was mostly subbed by user kaycake, who subs a lot of anime on the site, probably in part to help improve her Japanese and English (she's Korean).

Viki has asked people on Twitter for suggestions for more Tezuka anime in the past, but they've yet to add any more. Plus, the ones they do have are Tezuka Productions titles only, nothing from Mushi Production yet.

[omega.factor]

OK, so how do we add the 1960s episodes? Any tips?

I have posted on Viki's facebook site asking this Q.

[F-Man]