Another is the issue of honorifics. Many would appear awkward when translated. For example, Kohaku calls Sango “ane-ue”, which would express something different to the Japanese audience if he had been saying onee-chan instead. Even the professional translators leave terms like Shikon, fuyouheki, and Meidou Zangetsuha untranslated (as well as other proper names of objects, like Tessaiga). I even provided a note about fuyouheki whereas Viz does not.

In the end, fansubs are not meant to replace official subs. Fansubbers do not have the funding required or even hold degrees that might be relevant to subtitling foreign media.

And the same goes for the effects used for attacks: you can find the sub group “IYF” or Inuyasha Forever (ironically named) who were seen as the best subbers of IY vanilla, animating and karaokeing the attacks as well. Well, I do admit I was bored and I wanted to do more than the usual fare.

And yeah, I realized later on that the karaoke had problems (beside the various timing issues that still need to be tweaked). I was working with the 1080p version (which can be downloaded from my blog as well as from torrent sites now) so I didn’t really go through and see how well it translated to the 720p version. I did realize this right after I had uploaded and I plan to change the subtitle sizes accordingly. The 480p version, for example, comes out horribly and I hope this doesn’t happen the next time.

Thanks for the criticism. If anyone has any more, please bring it up.

Wow, for that statement you have my respect, as I tip my hat.

Any person willing to listen to criticism and therefore do a better job deserves a great deal of respect.

Here are my praises for the things you did well. First of all your encoding is well done. Then in the dialogue; “So, this is the spirit tree, Youmeiju?” “Yes, It’s withered now, but it’s said that, ages ago, it ate both humans and youkai alike.” First of all the grammar is amazing and not usually that well done by one man fansubbing groups. Second, the literal translation is well done and worthy of applause.

Now to my first gripe, the term youkai, is simply unnecessary. As you have noted in the TL note “youkai = magical creature (demon)” Demon would have easily sufficed, in the place of youkai and a TL note. That’s one example of how to avoid a TL note. TL notes are rarely necessary and should never be used during the actual dialogue, as it takes away from what’s going on, on screen.

My second criticism, is the use of flashy text as seen Here. While the flashy text may seem cool or stylistic, it’s really just distracting. When “Wind Scar!” in simple text would suffice.

Lastly the text used in the OP is , while the karaoke is fine. As seen here it’s so difficult to read that you spend your time squinting at the translation and can hardly see what’s going on during the OP scene. The same thing is true with the ED, while the actual translation is great, the font just makes it difficult to see.

I apologize for my earlier criticism, I’m used to just flinging insults at people who don’t care. Actual constructive criticism is something I haven’t been able to do in a while.

Other than the things I mentioned here, you’re doing a great job. Your literal translation is something I haven’t seen in a long time, in the fansubbing community. It’s even better than some of the “professional” translation.

Translating and subtitling is meant for the people who can’t understand the original language in the first place. I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve seen Onee-san in the line with some lame ass TL note, “Onee-san means big sister”. When the line could have just read “big sis”. Instead of shitting all over a production with flashy text and TL notes, the text should be plain and easy to read. What the person is reading should flow seamlessly and be closer to a literal translation. That’s what translating and subtitling should be about.