Why is K-ON! available dub only?

AN Shows
1

Look, I don’t want to start a dub vs. sub war here. I like some dubs (Cowboy Bebop, Ghost in the Shell SAC), but slice-of-life/Japanese School comedies and dramas do not dub well. If you like them, fine, great, watch the dub. I want to watch the sub and I would like to know why K-ON! season 2 is being shown on the site dub only.

If someone in charge of this site is reading this, please consider this a request to show the sub version as well.

Everyone who thinks I was hating on the dub, no, I wasn’t, I just want the option, and I do not see a reason why we are not being provided it.

2

The subbed version will likely be added to the site at a later date. While there are a few older ADV titles that have stayed dub-only on the online player; they were series that TAN did not have rights to the Japanese language version. With the newer Sentai shows, it’s pretty common for either the dubbed or subbed version to be added first, with the other version to be added later.

3

I would say, as it currently stands, it’s probably to promote the DUB and BD/DVD sales.

However, if they treat K-on!! like most of their other series they’ve put online, the sub version will probably follow some time after the dub has finished being put up.

4

OK, but doing something like that makes me less likely to buy the boxsets, not more, because I think the company is handling it poorly and I refuse to support that with my dollars. So if it’s to promote the BD/DVD sales, and I am a potential buyer (which I am because I do love this series), not letting me watch it subbed online before I buy makes me less likely to buy.

5

[quote=“sortoffaerygirl”]

OK, but doing something like that makes me less likely to buy the boxsets, not more, because I think the company is handling it poorly and I refuse to support that with my dollars. So if it’s to promote the BD/DVD sales, and I am a potential buyer (which I am because I do love this series), not letting me watch it subbed online before I buy makes me less likely to buy.[/quote]

Just out of curiosity… If you like K-on so much, why would the lack of a sub version on the online player deter you from buying the series?

6

Yeah… uh, you won’t buy it because they won’t let you watch it subbed, free, right away?

Or do you have to subscribe to see it, I don’t know, been watching it on VOD.

7

Because if I cannot check the subtitling before I buy, I am not necessarily willing to pay for a series. I may simply rent it then or wait until an online subbed version is available here. I like a lot of things as much as I like K-ON! and I have limited entertainment funds after paying for access to streaming sites.

8

I don’t watch any anime for free. I pay for subscriptions here, at Crunchyroll, Hulu+ and Netflix.

I won’t buy it unless I can see the subtitles before I buy it because 1) sometimes companies get lazy and use the dub script as the subtitles (known as dubtitling), 2) sometimes the font or color is horrible and hard to read, or 3) sometimes the subtitle (or dubtitle) script is wildly inaccurate or it localizes the content which makes no sense because people watching subbed anime are watching it because they don’t want it localized.

Basically, with the prices of anime being what they are, if I cannot sample before I buy, I don’t buy. And ever since about 2009, it’s been easy to sample legally thanks to Hulu, CR, and this place.

9

[quote=“sortoffaerygirl”]

I don’t watch any anime for free. I pay for subscriptions here, at Crunchyroll, Hulu+ and Netflix.

I won’t buy it unless I can see the subtitles before I buy it because 1) sometimes companies get lazy and use the dub script as the subtitles (known as dubtitling), 2) sometimes the font or color is horrible and hard to read, or 3) sometimes the subtitle (or dubtitle) script is wildly inaccurate or it localizes the content which makes no sense because people watching subbed anime are watching it because they don’t want it localized.

Basically, with the prices of anime being what they are, if I cannot sample before I buy, I don’t buy. And ever since about 2009, it’s been easy to sample legally thanks to Hulu, CR, and this place.[/quote]

Just some info for you! :slight_smile:

 **1) sometimes companies get lazy and use the dub script as the subtitles (known as dubtitling)**

It’s actually the other way around! a show is translated, subtitled and then the dubs use the translations/timing as a guideline.

**2) sometimes the font or color is horrible and hard to read.**

All of The Anime Network has the same subtitles on every show. Bolded yellow. If this doesn’t suit your fancy… well… Sorry. :frowning: That’s how it’s been here for years.

**3) sometimes the subtitle (or dubtitle) script is wildly inaccurate or it localizes the content.

Please refer to my first answer!

I hope I helped a bit!

10

You did, but I still want to see the subs before I buy. Translation matters.

11

I think that trying to push this issue is about as productive as spitting into the wind. I’ve been trying for months now for TAN to step up their streaming game, only to be met, as you have been, with intransigence that is more or less summed up as “this is the way it has always been, will always be, and you should just accept it”.

TAN generally releases shows, as I’ve seen, at one episode per week, in one language. This takes months. Then, if they do it at all, TAN will eventually start doing the same, one ep a week, for the other audio tracks. I don’t agree with us having to wait twice for the show, once we’ve suffered for weeks the first time through, why should we have to wait again? If TAN doesn’t have the rights to the other language tracks, so be it, but once TAN starts releasing the 2nd language version it should come all at once.

There’s all kinds of bureaucratic confusion going on here as some properties like Towanoquon are released much faster on here, having much of their content released to subscribers before the street date (the commentary track contains Stephen Foster expressing that TAN wanted that title “fast tracked”) while other shows don’t even start streaming on TAN until after their street date has passed.

This. A thousand times this. Sampling is what streaming is for. I pay TAN so that I no longer have to “blind buy” or engage in extra-legal activities to preview my content, but they’re constantly dropping the ball.

12

[quote=“celestial_being”]I think that trying to push this issue is about as productive as spitting into the wind. I’ve been trying for months now for TAN to step up their streaming game, only to be met, as you have been, with intransigence that is more or less summed up as “this is the way it has always been, will always be, and you should just accept it”.

TAN generally releases shows, as I’ve seen, at one episode per week, in one language. This takes months. Then, if they do it at all, TAN will eventually start doing the same, one ep a week, for the other audio tracks. I don’t agree with us having to wait twice for the show, once we’ve suffered for weeks the first time through, why should we have to wait again? If TAN doesn’t have the rights to the other language tracks, so be it, but once TAN starts releasing the 2nd language version it should come all at once.

There’s all kinds of bureaucratic confusion going on here as some properties like Towanoquon are released much faster on here, having much of their content released to subscribers before the street date (the commentary track contains Stephen Foster expressing that TAN wanted that title “fast tracked”) while other shows don’t even start streaming on TAN until after their street date has passed.

This. A thousand times this. Sampling is what streaming is for. I pay TAN so that I no longer have to “blind buy” or engage in extra-legal activities to preview my content, but they’re constantly dropping the ball.[/quote]

It’s unfortunate, but I think your anger is directed in the wrong place. Everything comes down to pretty much one thing: Contracts.

Contracts, stipulations, promises, business agreements, etc.

Things aren’t like this because we hate the consumer. To the contrary-- money is great. It’s so great, that we do whatever we can to keep the consumer happy and continuing of the service. No one sits in the office and goes “Oh, my. What can we do today to piss off Celestial_Being and all of our other subscribers. I KNOW, WE’LL RELEASE OUR CONTENT AS SLOW AS POSSIBLE! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”

In order to stay competitive, you can’t burn the bridges that keep you afloat.

Look at it this way:

We’re not working our hardest to make you MAD, we’re working our hardest to PLEASE you. With that in mind, things don’t always in our favor… but that doesn’t mean we’re not trying.

In a perfect world, everything would be free and no one would care about Copyrights and Licenses. ;(

13

I really want to say becouse subs suck, but I am sure AN does not have the license to stream the sub or something like that.

14

I find that kind of hard to believe when Steven Foster continues to work in anime… you guys are paying him to ruin things, right?

15

[quote=“sortoffaerygirl”]

I find that kind of hard to believe when Steven Foster continues to work in anime… you guys are paying him to ruin things, right?[/quote]


Anime Network isn’t paying him at all.
Though if you want to whine about Steven Foster, I’m sure messaging Sentai will get your message through to them.

16

[quote=“The Coffee God”]

[quote=“sortoffaerygirl”]

I find that kind of hard to believe when Steven Foster continues to work in anime… you guys are paying him to ruin things, right?[/quote]


Anime Network isn’t paying him at all.
Though if you want to whine about Steven Foster, I’m sure messaging Sentai will get your message through to them.

http://www.sentai-filmworks.com/[/quote]

I think that an argument could be made that, indirectly, TAN is paying Steven Foster. But I don’t much care because I think that Stephen Foster is brilliant, that his dubs only suffer when he is held back due (eg:Angel Beats, HSotD).

But other than that, I still agree with the OP…though it hurts a bit to admit that truth now.

[quote=Inphy]It’s unfortunate, but I think your anger is directed in the wrong place. Everything comes down to pretty much one thing: Contracts.

Contracts, stipulations, promises, business agreements, etc.[/quote]

So you’re telling me that after slowly releasing all the episodes of a series dubbed, TAN is then contractually obligated to release the subbed version in the same slow manner? Likewise, are you telling me that TAN has made some sort of business agreement to only show the subbed version of Princess Resurrection on TAN streaming and to leave the dub VOD only?

The Towanoquon commentary track gives evidence that TAN has a lot of clout with Sentai’s releases and leeway as to when it’ll stream it. Makes me think that TAN is just dead-set in its ways of slowly streaming its content, an approach that is starting to become archaic.

I’m not sure why TAN wouldn’t strive to get at least an ep of every show up before the physical copy’s release date. I’ve almost given up hope of TAN keeping pace with the new streaming paradigm set by Funimation, but I don’t think that the very logical 1-2 eps up streaming before the show releases is so unreasonable.

For any Sentai release, if TAN isn’t streaming it prior to release, I either have to “blind buy” it (which is pretty risky), have seen it months-years before when it was shown in Japanese and remember liking it (not likely), or not pre order it at all. I suppose there is another option, viewing the show in a quasi-legal method, but if I do that then my motivation to buy is decreased. My motivation to keep supporting TAN certainly is, and I find that frustrating, that I’m paying for TAN but having to rely on the sketchy sites of the internet to do what I’m paying TAN to do, and they do it for free.

TAN has been around for over a decade. It is embarrassing to see the few-month-old Funimation Elite streaming service utterly destroy TAN when it comes to content availability. As a former ADV fan, this pains me, and I’m not alone. We might not count enough to matter, but this lack of content availability has left me as the lone member of my anime group still a paid subscriber to TAN.

17

Yeah… that’s why the Saiyuki fans like him… oh wait… they hate his breathing guts… and that’s why Milk-chan is so popular… oh wait, it’s one of the worst received shows ever by American audiences… and Chromartie High School… where he took a comedy that was awesome in subtitle and made it boring as watching paint dry in the dub… yeah I see how brilliant he is… smartest kid on the short bus that one is!

18

But I didn’t want this to turn into the “I hate the work that Steven Foster does” thread… I still do not have any reasonable answer to the question…

Why isn’t TAN providing a subtitle option for K-ON! season 2 on the website?

No one has yet given a good or plausible reason as to why this is being done. So, can we get on topic please? Or can someone who knows the answer answer that one question?

19

[quote=“sortoffaerygirl”]

Yeah… that’s why the Saiyuki fans like him… oh wait… they hate his breathing guts… and that’s why Milk-chan is so popular… oh wait, it’s one of the worst received shows ever by American audiences… and Chromartie High School… where he took a comedy that was awesome in subtitle and made it boring as watching paint dry in the dub… yeah I see how brilliant he is… smartest kid on the short bus that one is![/quote]

First off Steven Foster works for Sentai Filmworks, Anime Network is a separate company that only deals with broadcasting. I think both of you should know what you are talking about before you get everyone just to laugh at your posts.

20

That point was made and accepted SEVERAL posts ago… no one is arguing that he works for TAN. Try to keep up.