Tenchi Muyo Perfect: FX missing subtitles? Chinese?

[skylark]

Hi, everyone, I am new here. :-)

I saw this site's review for FX's 9-disc boxed set for Tenchi Muyo:

http://www.import-anime.com/index.php?pa...em_id=2937

However, it doesn't mention Chinese subtitles. I recently purchased supposedly this same 9-disc FX version off eBay that has Chinese subtitles. Is this a real FX set?

Were Chinese subtitles recently added to increase FX's marketing base?

Second, on my Tenchi Universe, Episode 10, "No Need For An Arch Rival," there are no subtitles at the beginning of the episode until the title is shown. The scene is a bar room. I can listen in either English or Japanese, but there are no subtitles. After the title of the episode is shown, subtitles appear. Is this a defective disk, or are all of the FX sets like this? Does anyone else have this problem?

Thanks for any input anyone may have into this disk set.

[Vicious]

If you got the Tenchi 'Perfect Collection', it should not have chinese subs. It was ripped from the R1's and there are never Chinese subs on those. You probably got an imitation of the FX set. How ironic is that? An imitation of an imitation? Either way, that's what you get when you don't buy from JJ.

[skylark]

Thanks for letting me know. *sigh*

I am very disappointed to have been taken in like this. :-\

A friend of mine who is knowledgeable about anime had said, "The fact that there is a dub on it means it's a direct domestic rip, obviously FX has taken up adding Chinese subs to domestic dvds to increase its market." He also said, "The only issue is where they try to create their own English translations... why would they even bother if they can be ripped from the domestic discs that already have them along with the dubbing and original Japanese dubbing?"

Thus, I thought, okay, maybe FX has started adding Chinese subtitling ... but why haven't I seen anything by FX out there with Chinese subtitling?

You're right ... an imitation of an imitation is the worst. :-\ As you said, how ironic.

If anyone knows of any FX DVDs out there (of *any* anime) with Chinese subs on them, I'd love to hear about it. (I keep hoping against hope that maybe they added this for some of their overseas versions ...) Otherwise, I'll just have to accept that I was ripped off.

By JJ, do you mean this site? I just stumbled across it, so that is why I ask. I did set up an account here ... the store looks great!

Thanks. :-)

[Japschin]

A friend of mine who is knowledgeable about anime had said, "The fact that there is a dub on it means it's a direct domestic rip, obviously FX has taken up adding Chinese subs to domestic dvds to increase its market." He also said, "The only issue is where they try to create their own English translations... why would they even bother if they can be ripped from the domestic discs that already have them along with the dubbing and original Japanese dubbing?"

If anyone knows of any FX DVDs out there (of *any* anime) with Chinese subs on them, I'd love to hear about it. If this is something FX has started doing, I need to know. This would help me avoid any anime that claims to be FX but isn't.

By JJ, do you mean this site? I just stumbled across it, so that is why I ask. I did set up an account here ... the store looks great!

Thanks. :-)

Eh.......your friend can't be that knowledgeable if he had said the above. Generally, FX only rips from R1 sources. R1 sources do not have any Chinese subs at all. Maybe once in awhile, FX does not rip an anime from R1 dvds but not as often as ripping from R1s. I don't think FX does its own translations. I could be wrong though.

JJ's the owner of this site.

[Vicious]

Yes, JJ owns this site.

You still need to do more research. FX does more than just make rips of R1's. At least they used to anyways. So they do have stuff out there that has Chinese subs on it. You can do a search in the review section for everything FX rather than waiting for other people to do the research for you.

[skylark]

Thanks. I had searched for Tenchi, but did not realize I could search reviews by studio; what a great search engine!

I didn't mean for anyone else to do the research for me; I didn't realize this site had that much information on it. From the FAQ, it looks like this site does a good job of keeping its database current to include all versions of a title, even those which have not been reviewed.

When I was in the process of purchasing this, the thought of "what if this is an imitation of FX" actually popped into my head. I'll consider this a lesson learned the hard way. At least it led me to this site.

[matthewmalay]

Some of their older releases like the first Bebop set had chinese subs but I think they stop adding them to their sets since almost all of their market is targeted to North America and Europe and how anti-bootleggers like to say that chinese/english subs on an anime DVD is a good sign that the set is a bootleg.

[skylark]

Several of the FX ones in the database on this site apparently have Chinese subtitles.

But wait a moment.

I did a search for Ranma, and I pulled up:

http://www.import-anime.com/index.php?pa...em_id=1196

Only one problem.

I have Ranma Part 1, and it only contains English subtitles, no Chinese ones. This is illustrated in a screenshot taken on page 1 of the screenshots in the information about this set. See Screenshot #2 on that page, posted by Migeru.

The same goes for Ranma Part 2; see Screenshot #3 posted by Migeru. No mention of Chinese subtitles, even though the data indicates the FX version contains Chinese subtitles.

The FAQ says it doesn't contain all movie versions, but it tries to, with the exception of the few that slip by.

I have Ranma Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4, all with English subs only, presumably FX. The site's database indicates Parts 1 and 2 both have Chinese subtitles, but the screenshots don't support it, as they only show English subs.

Do I have a legitimate FX version of Part 1 and Part 2 of Ranma that simply isn't listed in the database? No one appears to have filed an error regarding the subtitles for either Parts 1 or 2, despite there being screenshots that do not support the Chinese subtitling.

I bring this up because I was pointed to the database to answer my question about Tenchi. However, now I am wondering about how complete the database is. Can anyone enlighten me?

If there truly is an FX version out there of Tenchi that simply isn't listed on this site, I don't want to accuse someone of selling me an illegitimate copy of Tenchi's 9-disc boxed set if, in fact, it is legitimate.

[Elcoholic]

When I was in the process of purchasing this, the thought of "what if this is an imitation of FX" actually popped into my head. I'll consider this a lesson learned the hard way. At least it led me to this site.

This isn't necesarily bad. MI for instance rips lots of Fx's sets and contain the same quality. So its possible your tenchi set is the same quality as fx's. Companies rip each others sets all the time. If your set contains eng. dub. its still an R1 rip so I don't think you got ripped of on ebay. Did they mention in the auction it was by fx? And do the boxes have the fx logo?

[skylark]

Did they mention in the auction it was by fx? And do the boxes have the fx logo?

Yes, in the auction they mentioned it was by FX. The boxes have the FX logo on them, as did the set box in the auction. The eBay auction said, Japanese/English audio, English subs, without mentioning Chinese. For all I know, the eBay seller may not even know there are Chinese subs on the discs.

This isn't necesarily bad. MI for instance rips lots of Fx's sets and contain the same quality. So its possible your tenchi set is the same quality as fx's. Companies rip each others sets all the time. If your set contains eng. dub. its still an R1 rip so I don't think you got ripped of on ebay.

Just curious, but wouldn't a company such as MI, if they rip FX, who has already ripped the R1 ... isn't that third-generation quality? If they rip directly from Pioneer or Viz or whomever, I don't know that much about the ripping process, but somehow I assumed there was a decrease in quality. From what you are saying there is not. I hope that is the case; it would certainly make me feel better.

Regarding MI quality, I have a question. Does MI/Anime Cartoon place a logo/watermark in the corner of all of its episodes? I have heard they did. As far as the audio/video quality, if the quality is the same, that would be a relief. Personally, I'd want to avoid any companies that use logos/watermarks.

[Elcoholic]

I would think with digital data there is no degrading in quality when its copied. There are lots of rips that are exactly the same quality as the R1's. Mainly movies and short OVA's. I don't know alot about technical stuff either but I'm pretty sure that with todays hard and software there is no degrading in quality when making exact copies. Kakomu knows alot about technical stuff. Maybe he can clear this up.

MI doesn't always put the watermark in the eps. Sometimes just when you load the disc you get a logo on the screen for a few sec. MI's quality is often the same as Fx's and if they make a rip of their own they are often the same if not better quality as FX's. Same with MAC R1 rips. Also very good quality. Fx is just the most popular because its the easiest seller and most trustworthy for US sellers to do business with and their catalog is mostly R1 rips of newer series.

I personally hardly care from which company I get my rips as long as it has the eng.dub. I'm not very picky when it comes to video quality. I can handle a little pixelation every now and than for the price I pay for it. The only bad thing is MAC's boxes aren't as sturdy and they are a little smaller than FX/MI's but for the rest there's hardly any difference.

[skylark]

Thanks for the info on MI and MAC.

That would be great to hear if there is no degredation in quality. I'm picky about the English subs because I love watching anime in Japanese. I would have to say I'm a bit picky about the video quality, too!

Meanwhile, there is the possibility that this site's database being incomplete; who could keep up with every release? ( Example: My Ranma FX Parts 1 and 2 contain no Chinese subs, but this site says they do. However, members' screenshots show only English subs. Their screenshots match my Ranma sets There is a point to this story ...). This goes back to my original question about Tenchi Muyo. If there is a chance I have a 'legitimate" FX Tenchi Muyo set with Chinese on it, I'd love to know.

So, if anyone knows of any other databases I can search to look for FX products in addition to this site, I would appreciate it. I have tried all of the anime stores online I can think of, but there are so many of them. I will keep looking. I am not sitting idly by, but if anyone has a source, please feel free to share it. Here is one I have with an FX "store" with some FX titles listed. http://www.animediscount.net/list.php?show=fx

But the info for their Ai Yori Aoshi here: http://www.animediscount.net/item.php?anime_id=00467

Doesn't match up with this site's here: http://www.import-anime.com/index.php?pa...765683f505

So my q is, can a studio like FX make two versions, one with Chinese subs and the other without?

Hmmm ...

[skylark]

To rephrase, is there any way to 100% state that FX did not make a 9-disc Tenchi Muyo set identical to the one below but with Chinese subtitles on it?

http://www.import-anime.com/index.php?pa...em_id=2937

[Amethyst]

Second, on my Tenchi Universe, Episode 10, "No Need For An Arch Rival," there are no subtitles at the beginning of the episode until the title is shown. The scene is a bar room. I can listen in either English or Japanese, but there are no subtitles. After the title of the episode is shown, subtitles appear. Is this a defective disk, or are all of the FX sets like this? Does anyone else have this problem?

Thanks for any input anyone may have into this disk set.

Ditto, and my FX set was purchased from JJ... and it does have Chinese Subs...also in that particular FX set, the Tenchi OVA Ryo Oh Ki one of the disks won't access the 2nd layer on my Apex player... after being replaced (both disks) the missing subs were still missing, (meaning more than likely every disk is that way) and the other disk still wouldn't access the last 3 episodes on the disk... I was told to upgrade my DVD player by JJ when I contacted him about the replacements still being defective.

[skylark]

Amethyst,

WOW. Thank you. Finally, someone who has verified for me that this FX version does contain Chinese subs.

As far as Episode 10, yeah, I believe that is simply a problem with that one episode, on every FX disc copy including that ep for that boxed set. I played it on three different DVD players; therefore it wasn't the DVD player.

Apparently the database needs updating, if JJ himself is selling this version with Chinese subtitles when the database claims it only has English ones.