Viki, a website with international video entertainment, authorized for streaming with crowd sourced subtitles, is now offering the the complete 80's Astro Boy series, the Black Jack anime, and the sequel series, Black Jack 21.
The 80's Astro Boy has been legally streaming in other forms before, but what makes this special is that this is the Japanese release rather than the English dub. All 52 episodes are accounted for, including he original versions of the first and second episode, which were edited and combined into one episode for the English language broadcast. So, this may be the first time some of you have seen the full origin of Atlas! This was absent from the region 1 DVD release. I haven't gone through it all, but I imagine other episodes may have scenes missing from the English version. These episodes even feature the original Japanese title cards.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of crowd sourced translations, there are some mistakes in the subtitles. One embarrassing instance has the famous villain character call himself "Skank" instead of "Skunk". However, by registering for an account, one gains access to a subtitle editor, and so the translation can be continuously improved upon by the users watching it.
This is one of the bigger developments in Astro-Fandom for quite awhile! Plus, we get Black Jack 21, which has never been streamed with English subtitles before. This is very exciting stuff, and it bodes well for future releases of more Tezuka shows and other classic anime.
This is very amazing news indeed. I hope this is only a start and we'll get Tezuka shows that have never been translated by anyone next time.
ReplyDeleteI just think that someone should tell them that Astro Boy was uploaded in 1.5:1 ratio instead of 1.33:1, and Black Jack in 2:1 instead of 1.78:1, so both are stretched. Also they're interlaced so there's some horizontal lines showing wherever there's movement.
Can you imagine if they got Princess Knight? That would be huge!
ReplyDeleteSayonara.
I talked to the Black Jack fansubbers, and they agreed to put their translation, without credit, on the site. One of the owners turned out to already be a moderator for the Viki Black Jack channel, but didn't really plan to use their own translation until I came along and asked the translator if it was fine. Everyone is free to help create the subs as well.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering how to contact the person who subtitled Astro Boy for Manga Entertainment, I don't even have the boxset, so I don't know who has the credit for that. Or maybe we should just ask Manga themselves.