Aniki On-Line
Attn: William Chow (Project Coordinator)
2780 East Broadway Street, Unit 102
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada, V5M 1T9
Phone: (604) 253-7831
Email: vjac@idmail.com
AJAS Meetings: http://home.bc.rogers.wave.ca/neonfox/aafc.htm
VJAS Meetings: http://www.starnet.ca/~dan/nihon/index.html
Arctic Link: http://www.starnet.ca/~dan/nihon/Arctic/index.html
Aniki On-line Anime CD Reviews: http://www.geocities/tokyo/garden/5641/index.html
AJ Fan Listings: http://www.starnet.ca/~dan/aj/index.html
Aniki Gym: http://mypage.direct.ca/w/willchow/index.html
File: New Arctic Animation Subtitling Ordering Information
Source: Office of the VJAC Co-ordinator
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Table of Contents
------------------
Part I
a) basic ordering instructions
b) checklist instructions
Part II
a) short history
b) We Are The Pioneers
- Who we are and what we are did
c) The tapes
d) The Flak
- fans under fire
- critizisms vs. facts
e) A Bit of Philosphy
f) contact information
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Part I: Ordering Instructions Short Version
My mailing address:
Arctic Animation, c/o William Chow, 2830 East 8th Avenue,
Vancouver, BC, Canada, V5M-1W9
Phone: (604)253-7831 during 12noon - 7pm
BBS: (604)254-1833 USR 33.6k
fax: (604)253-7831
email: vjac@helix.net
Ok, that is all my contact info. Please ensure every piece of mail, tapes, labels, money orders, cheques and e-mail contain all your info so I can contact you if neccessary.
Ordering instructions.
----------------------
Please send your blank labelled video cassettes and money for
return postage and handling to me for dubbing. If you do not wish to send blank tapes, I can supply tapes for $5 US each.
I will record the anime titles you asked for as per the posted list.
I will use the return postage & handling to send the tapes
back to you. Simple right? Please read and follow the instructions below for more details.
The return postage prices are as follows: $6 US per tape. No more than 4 tapes maybe sent in one parcel at one time, however, you may send in multiple parcels. If you are ordering from outside of North America, add $1.00 for each tape. Prices are are in US funds, unless you live in Canada.
s&h/postage &
# of tapes s&h/postage blank tapes
1 $6 $11
2 $12 $22
3 $18 $33
4 $24 $44
To order your videos or cd-roms:
Please follow these rules. If you need more detailed explanation see
the next part of this FAQ.
1) Count up the number of tapes you wish to order. Prepare the
same number of tapes you are going to send in for me to
copy on them by removing all plastic wrapping.
2) Use video tape labels and write your name, address,
and phone number on to the labels. Also label what
you want dubbed on to this tape. Note the titles
must match the contents of my tape as listed in my list.
No mix matching and no other tape speed other than SP.
3) Ensure label sticks down permanently. You may use clear tape to
make sure they stay down. No post-it notes.
4) Wrap the tapes you are going to send in lots no larger than
3 or 4 tapes at a time. Clearly label the envelope with the
address. See packing list below for contents that will
be enclosed in the parcel.
Packing List
-------------
a) A list containing which videos you have enclosed.
This list must have your name & address on it,
and also must mention how much you made
your payment for.
b) Your payment: cheque, money order, bank draft,
or travellers cheques. Do NOT send cash.
It should only be made as payment for this parcel
only, and not for any other parcels you may be shipping.
No SASE, no courier waybills, no stamps, no IRCs.
c) If you are ordering adult material, a photocopy of
your Photo ID which shows that you're at least 21 years
or older. Driver licence, Passport, and student ID are good.
d) You may also include any flyers, video lists, newsletters
or meeting announcements that your anime club or
place of work offers.
5) Go to postal outlet and attach neccessary customs stickers
and the correct international postage to Canada.
6) For a status report on your parcel please watch our web page for
updates. The list will have your name, postal code, and a list of
titles you asked for. If there are errors to the address, or to
the titles, you must write, fax or call them into (604)253-7831.
Letters take about a week, parcels take about 2 weeks for
them to arrive to me.
Processing takes about 2 weeks. Updates are done every few
weeks. If your name shows up on the list, I got your parcel.
As long as your name is on the database list, you will be served.
If you sent a personal cheque, you can ask your bank for a
copy of the cancelled cheque to verify arrival. Do NOT e-mail
me for address changes, title changes, or status reports. This
must be done snail mailed, faxed or voiced at (604)253-7831.
Part II: Very Detailed Explainations
-----------------------------------
Questions can be forwarded to the address below:
a) A bit of history
Back in the old days (1985) when anime was still in its infancy
in North America, we came into existance as an off-shoot of
the Vancouver Japanese Animation Club. Back then we were
using an Amiga 500 with a SuperGen genlock. It was crude, it
was make-shift but it worked for the most part. We used it to
subtitle our first three years worth of anime titles. Orange Road,
Maison Ikkoku, and even parts of Patlabor and Gundam. I would
have to estimate over 200 episodes of anime was done on this
machine that was everything less than perfect as far as the
technical aspect went.
Shortly after we upgraded to a Mac IIcx with a Truevision Nuvista
Genlock Box. I had to drop a Daystar 68040 - 40 Mhz accelerator
into it and also added a time base corrector TBC IV into the
system to stablize the pictures. With this new system we began
fixing up some of our older subtitles by editting the grammar and
fixing the timing marks. However, with so many titles done
and so many new ones due to come out we only got partially done.
As time permits we will continue to optimize and improve
the versions of subtitles we have available. The VCRs we have used over the years have been: NEC DS8000 Mk II, Sony SLV50RC,
Mistubishi G96, JVC 5500, Mitsubishi U80 and Mitsubishi U69.
b) We are the Pioneers
Ok, we have been around awhile. I like to think of myself as one of the first fan subbers to have revolutionized some change in the fan industry. That, we have done. We first came out at a time where there was only just a handful of us. We did a whole lot of videos back then and very quickly too. At that time, we had more titles in subtitle that any other fan group and more than commerical companies had all combined.
We got lots of critizism for everything from spelling, timing, colour,
font size, language, literal translations, grammar and blah blah and
etc etc... But then again, back then the fans also backstabbed AnimEgo for their Madoka/Ayukawa subtitling and the fans ripped USR for their Dangiaoh "Side Kick Wave/Pychic Wave" thing so it wasn't too different either and we all got annoyed at Pioneer's all upper case subtitle of Moldiver & Tenchi. Well, we all change.
That we did. Arctic Animation now uses a Macintosh to get rid of that flaky timing system on the Amiga and use a TBC to improve picture stability.
We were one of the first fan subbers to openly distribute fan subs to the anime masses as opposed to those groups who only kept the videos to themselves. Many groups only distributed to their buddies or to very exclusive members.
Again we maintained a very large library of fan subtitled videos and still continued to produce more episodes of anime than any other fan subtitling group. However, as I mentioned earlier, we have affected some change in the fan industry. We have sparked the creation of more fan translators and more fan subbers. This is one of our goals to help fandom expand.
Again, we got critized for taking too long to dub videos and tapes were the wrong ones and etc. etc and whatever. Again, we were the ones to test the waters and experimented to see what would happen if we offered to distributed fan subs to anyone and we wanted to see what problems that would occur. Everything from tape brands, US/Canada customs, VCR maintaince, speciality orders, postage rates, and labelling and returned parcels and of course the sheer number of orders, all attributed to the delays and what seemed to be a lengthy wait for orders. We had to cut off and stop orders for 6 months to catch up and analyze why and how we could fix these problems. Now, with a new system and a new set of ordering rules, we can now serve the fans again.
As time goes on, we will continue to evolve with the commerical companies, as they accelerated their licenses on more mainstream and not so main stream titles. It is not our intention to subtitle the same titles as they are since that would be a waste of our time. But we wish to release titles which are assosiated and exclusive of their titles. This will give the fans videos that they will not normally get to see.
c. The Tapes
When ever possible all the master subtitled tapes are in SVHS and genlocked from laser disks. Dubbing masters are created from the SVHS copy and are done in VHS. The dubbing master is designed for everybody as a way to protect the original master and to speed up the original master. The majority of the machines that I have and use are in mono.
To order your videos, please send your own labelled blank tape plus
$6.00 return postage and handling for each tape. It use to be $5.00 but it has been raised to several reasons.
i) The price of postage is constantly rising and I have not changed this $5.00 price ever since 1989.
ii) It is obvious that I can not do all the dubbing and tape wrapping and mailling all by my self. Thus, I have had to hire some part time help to assist in the those tasks.
iii) Usage of commerical rental space is expensive and constantly rising at a rate of our property taxes every year.
iv) Web page information can not be put in personal space. Commerical web space is required and this needs to be paid for.
I have reduced the number of options people can use to simplify and reduce the number of speciality orders I have to do. This of all the reasons was the biggest time waster. In so many cases, I was unable to fill people's orders because they asked for tape brands I did not stock. Send your own favourite brand.
Much against my desire to do away with buying tapes for people, I realize it is necessary to at least offer the ability to purchase the blank video tapes locally. However, I will also now limit the brands of tapes that I will buy down to BASF, Maxell, TDK and Sony. I will buy and dub on what ever tapes are available at the time. If you require another brand or one specific brand, please send in your own blank tapes instead. I realize that tapes might be cheaper in your part of the world but I am not a discount place like Future Shop where they have to match prices. I have just found that some of us just don't have the time/patience to buy/label/pack/mail tapes out. Most people end up find it easier sending just one cheque/money order and let us do the work. There is NO limit to the number of tapes you may order but if you send tapes, you must break them all down into bundles of four tapes or less plus separate checks for the the proper return postage.
I have found that is costs be a bit of time to go out and get tapes and of course people will ask for brands that I have never heard of and have no idea where to get them. The second problem is that the tapes that I buy will not be labelled with names or addresses. Thus leads to my second most biggest problem, all the excess tapes and returned tapes I have. My third problem I have encountered is the large number of parcels that are returned back to me marked UNDELIVERABLE, RETURN TO SENDER. So, thus, I will eliminate both these most of these problems, hopefully, by having you send in your own brand of tape with your address and your own labels on it.
I also did away with all the alternate ways to pay. Money order, personal cheque, travellers cheque, or bank draft.
Do not send cash, IRCs, SASEs, postage stamps, or courier waybills.
Let's keep it simple.
I'm not responsible for any damages or loss incurred during shipping. Nor am I responsible for any duties and/or customs charges levied. Do NOT send me US postage stamps since I can't use them. Use IRC's instead.
Ok, now a little bit about Customs and how to fill out the green little C-1 customs sticker on your parcel. When filling it out, truthfully write down what the material contents of the parcel is. When you write in how much it is worth, please check off the GIFT box and declare the value of the contents to be under $20US.
There is only a $50 duty-free deductable on stuff coming into Canada and you'd be surprised how much they think blank video tapes are worth. In addition to the 15% and up to 25% customs charged on some brands of tapes, there is also a 7% GST tax charged as well as a brokerage fee to process the customs claim. In short, it can cost a lot to ship tapes across international boundaries.
Turn around time for your order varies. I try to keep the waiting time to a minimum but due to job and number of orders I might be delayed. Two months is the current turnabout time. The mail system adds 1-6 weeks to that. Since I am only able to mail tapes out a few times a month, it is very likely that large orders will need to be broken down into smaller shipments to conserve time and space. I also laided out the list so you must order by tape number and thus there is not mix ups due to mix matching titles and there is no quibbling over SP/EP which is what cost me at lot of time previously. Unlike the FAQ on "Fan Subtitlers", I do NOT have a limit on the number of tapes. So feel free to order more than two.
All tapes will be dubbed in standard mono VHS NTSC format.
HIFI will only be dubbed on tapes that are rated for hifi only.
If you are ordering tapes in HiFi or SVHS, the 8 week shipping time
does not apply. Delays in specialty orders are due to the high cost of the dubbing equipment and large demand for HiFi/SVHS orders.
Please see my web page for a copy of the status report chart. There you can check for your name, and the contents and the status of your order. Please look there first before trying to contact me. It will be updated several times a month so check back a few times if your name is not on in the dubbing queue. Try avoiding e-mail since it will take me longer to apply the changes from e-mail to the update file. Call me at my store, Anime Jyanai, when it is open for voice changes. You can fax me after hours to also apply for the changes.
Due to the great number of dubs and requests that I do, I can not be perfect in all the dubs all the time. I clear some 150 tapes in an ordinary month so it next to impossible to say no errors will occur. If there is a problem with tracking, sound, or tapes; please contact me by mail or voice to work out a solution. It is usually as simple as just tossing the tape in question with your next order for redubbing.
With all the work needed for organizing translators, timing subtitling scripts, doing dubs, and processing mail, I have my free time pretty much used up. Two tips: be patient and keep in touch. My database is the key way I use to organize my requests, and as long as you see your name on it, I will get to you.
D. Flak, You Never Seem To Win
In liew of the all the talk I hear from various sources and newsfeeds, there seems to be a lot of people who just love to argue and complain even when they don't have all the facts. I manage a retail store, and I deal with the white collar workers, students, housewifes, old ladies and the dregs of society. I don't try to make enemies but I sure get a lot of people who just don't get all the facts before blowing up. I hold a very open mind about people in general so given the chance, I am sure we can work a solution to just about anything. I have on a numerous occasions had to buy whole new sets of lost tapes and send them all at my expense due to factors not even under my control. Fans are such hardest people make happy but I can try.
I have hard subtitled into all subtitled shows numerous anti-bootlegging messages. If the jerks want to get tricky, they will not only degrade the video quality, but they will chop out some good stuff so they'll be in for lots of fun. And to add to their fun, I have broken many subtitling rules and surreptitiously cued subtitles in between and during important sequences as well as right into the dialogue and in combat sequences. I wish to make it clear that the videos we produce are not for sale or rental by anyone!
It has come to my attention that some retail shops are trying to rent/sell copies of our various subtitles. I am sure their customers will find out really soon that they are getting ripped off when they notice the messages. I also caution others that people are also selling the bootlegs at conventions and at meetings. Of course, this is absolutely illegal and is subtitled directly in the shows themselves so their customer will know the dealers are a bunch of jerks ripping off anime fans. Such shops to avoid are Black Box Video in PA, Trolls in FL, Trolls in KY, and Golden Age Collectables in WA.
I have hired translators for the Orange Road Project as a labor of love more than anything else. It took us 3 months to translate and 3 months to subtitle all the TV episodes (fast, eh?). It is a timeless classic which brings back memories of my high school days. I know a lot of people don't care about Orange Road, but now they can't use the excuse "I don't understand it." (Well, if they don't, then they must be pretty scary...)
Maison Ikkoku is our second major TV series we have decided to tackle. We finished that in our second year. Patlabor is our third complete series that we have worked on. The series that we completed in the fourth year was Sailor Moon. Followed by Tyler, Hime-chan's Ribbon, Red Riding Hood Cha Cha, Dan Cougar, Shurato, and Borgman which we worked on in the next following years. Yes, this quite an impressive list of TV series we have done translations and subtitled. What I must also note is that many of these shows have later gone on to be licensed by big companies. I am sure they see that the fansubbers have an eye for what the extreme fans of anime like and try to see if it can extend into the commerical market.
Since networks seem to take a long time to filter information and many times rumours are stirred about with no basis, I will cover some of the rumours going around straight from the source. I have received so many pieces of mail saying, "I have heard that...." but they have proof but word of mouth.
i) "huge donations are required". Who in hell made that one up? All I require is that you send your return postage & handling for your tape, you are a happy camper. Donations are voluntary. However, like most things are in the world, there are people who understand how much work goes into putting dinner on the table and then there are those who eat the meals. I leave the decision up to you. It is just like PBS channel 9.
ii) "e-mail restrictions". Yes, I have had limited Internet access in past. I have improved my internet connection a bit more so accessability is easier. However, two problems occur with e-mail. I answer email on my portable Mac so the mail can be answered anytime and just about anywhere. Problem occurs when questions regarding a look up or changes can not be applied to the master database sheet since the two computers are not the same one and in most cases, not even in the same room. As my time is drastically reduced due to my two jobs that I have, I cannot answer my mail in the same hours I am standing in my terminal room. Often, I do answer mail when I eat breakfast or dinner but when I do that, I have no access to the database file so I cannot answer any questions about status nor can I apply any changes. On a similar note, I have removed my home phone number since quite simply, when I am at home, I can't do any database look ups either, so what is the point of putting it down. So, let's keep it simple. One number, (604)253-7831. From 12noon to 7pm PST is a voice phone for my store. All other times, I am closed but my fax will catch the remainder
E-mail has now been reallocated FOR INFORMATION and CONFIRMATION only. I also removed my FidoNet address as such because of a similar reason. My BBS is also in a different place from all the other three so changes is also next to impossible. However, you can call our BBS for other things like files and whatnot (604)254-1833.
iii) "large organizations", "clubs". We cater to anyone. I don't care if you're a club president, a video jock, or a just an average college student. If you want videos, you can have them.
If you run a fan club, I would say that NEW fresh subtitled stuff is your back-bone. It will draw in new members to you. I have hear success story after success story. It really works. You start showing different anime that people understand, they will join you. Not only that, they'll want more. After all, if you keep showing commerical available stuff that your members could have bought or rented, then what is the point of them joining your club?
iv) "subtitle talk", "script revisions" I get a lot flak for some of the policies, AA holds on scripts and subtitles. As any software company would do, new revisions are created to patch problems with older titles. Well, same goes with us. People complain about dialogue in Orange Road. Since that subtitle was done over 10 years ago, a newer revision 2.0 was made. Corrections to content, timing, font, and dialog has been done. Of course, this is a slow process since you gotta ask yourself, "Are you going to spend time on something already done OR are you going to spend time on something NEW?"
Of course, people love to dwell in the past and they keep on believing what they believe without realizing that their ideas and their thoughts are now also a part of the past. There will be some people out there who will continue to bad mouth us for the same reasons that they always have because they haven't changed. We have progressed and gotten better. Unfortunately, they haven't been able to keep up. So back to my software analogy, how many people do you know who are still using MS DOS 3.2? (Hey, that came out 10 years ago, too.)
E. A Bit of Philosphy.
-----------------------
We at Arctic Animation will continue to subtitle shows and OAVs based on what WE feel like doing. Fans out there are welcome to ask for dubs of virtually anything we do. We are not a professional group like AnimEgo or US Renditions, but we are not going to be egotistical like many fan clubs who hoard their subtitles. We definitely have the talent, the personnel and the dedication of those companies and have in ten years been able to consistantly produce more subtitles than any company or fan group.
We are not trying to compete against the commerical companies and thus by no means should we be thought of as one. It is absolute lunacy to compare our work with theirs or any other fan club due to the fact nobody else has equalled our feat of translating and subtitling 300 titles in under 5 years and we are about to hit 600 episodes in 10 years. Those are the facts and this feat has not been equalled by anyone, period.
We just want to be provide another source of good anime that fans just can't get anywhere else. This will bring more fans together and thus help fan clubs flourish. We are not here to make the perfect subtitle, a commerical company will be required to do that when they license it. We are just the intermediate translation and subtitler that will supply it to the fans while the commerical companies contemplate whether it is viable to sell it. We are here to provide subtitled anime to those who want to understand the anime they watch, not relying on the subtitles as a crutch for the thinking impared. I hope that in time, we will change anime fandom back to the way it was.
(
geocities.com/tokyo/teahouse) (
geocities.com/tokyo)