I ARE THE WIZARDS. AND STUFF.

I found something this morning, before I went to sleep, that I feel like blogging about. I was way too tired at that kind of an hour, but I'm well-awake now, so I'll pack my rant. (Yes, I go to sleep at insane hours like 7:00 AM or 9:00 AM; you should know this by now.)

Anyway, it's related to groups subbing anime on the internet, for us to enjoy. Of course, I'm very grateful for all their hard work, but sometimes they do things that just don't sit that well with me. This is about one of those things.

This particular case features Shinsen-Subs, which is a pretty old and well-established group. They're quality subbers, in other words. And yes, they're good. This season, I've been getting Kurozuka and Casshern SINS from them. Well, Kurozuka is their joint project with Yuurisan Subs, but anyway. They are, however, by all means NOT the only group doing the thing I'm about to mention. It just so happens that it was them when I actually paid attention, this time.

So, as some of you who download anime, like me, might be aware, there's this tendency among fansubbers to aim for the highest possible resolution on their episodes. Which means better visual quality in other words. That also usually means they release the so-called "HD episodes", usually in the .mkv format.

Now, I understand that some people watch these things on platforms like Xbox, where .mkv doesn't work quite as well, so they still need the releases in formats like .avi and so on. I don't know about that, but... There are also people like me, who don't care very much about the format, but more about the said scale/resolution. In my case, for example, these new 1280x720 releases are slow as hell on my relatively old computer. The subs lag behind the picture, the audio goes ahead by itself, and so on. Just because my computer can't handle it with its meager power. I obviously can't watch anything like that; I'd be a package of rage threatening to explode at any moment. So I also need those .avi releases, or just lower-scale .mkv or any other format release that runs properly on my PC.

Many fansubbing groups have started to no longer bother to release those files that I and other people need, and they only release HD. However, many other groups still do it both ways, in order to keep everyone happy. Shinsen-Subs are among the latter, and for that I'm very grateful to them. Anyone in my position should worship them for it, because it means we can keep watching anime comfortably.

However, I just don't get their attitude towards this. So, going back to this morning, like I mentioned, they had released Casshern SINS, episode 12. The .mkv of it, at least, and there was a mention that .avi would be out later. That was fine on my part, since I was too tired and couldn't have watched it even if it were there. However, I looked around and noticed a flame war that had gone on over the most recent Kurozuka release. I hadn't seen that because I usually get my Kurozuka from the Yuurisan website. Also, I'm actually not affected personally by this incident in any way, because I watch Kurozuka in .mkv, which gets released first (it has a smaller resolution in general, and it works fine). So I'm not biased in the comments that will follow.

Anyway, apparently there are some people over at Shinsen who get really annoyed when people ask for the .avi release. And there was one person in that thread asking for such a thing. I agree that most of those people asking for it don't realize how much work the fansubbers put into this, and it has to be annoying for them. But from that, to going as far as to say "We just did the .avi, but now I'm delaying its release one day more because you asked."? I just don't know. Either way, the person asking about it proceeded to post an insulting "u have no life lolz" comment at the staff member who said they'd delay the .avi release. Personally, I think there was no need for that, but I do have to agree with the only sensible thing he said in that post: it was childish.

It's childish to delay a release that hundreds of people are waiting for (judging by the number of seeds/leechers I see on my torrents when I get this), just because a few (in this case, one) were whining about it. Another member of the site pointed out that they had been joking about the delay, anyhow. I don't know about that, because I didn't see this on the day it happened, but only later, but I sure do hope it was a joke. Because it didn't look like it. And because if it wasn't a joke, it WAS indeed childish. Like I said, because a few people annoyed them, it doesn't mean that everyone else who didn't say a thing has to suffer from it as well. It's their duty as staff of their group, I think, to put aside their personal grudges and do whatever pleases the most people.

Yes, I know they're doing this for free. And yes, I know how much work it takes them to release even so much as one episode, not to mention in two formats. And that's why *I* personally don't complain and prefer to just thank for the release, or get it and be grateful. And I will not stop being thankful to them for their hard work, but this doesn't change my opinion on the matter, and it doesn't mean that I don't roll my eyes whenever I see a "Maybe we should drop the .avi altogether." mention every other update post. It's only there because they want to get to those people complaining about it. What about the rest of the people needing the .avi?

Anyway, to conclude, this is definitely why groups like Menclave have my eternal love. Yes, they may be a bit slower sometimes, but they release most of their shows in three, four, and sometimes even FIVE formats, and I NEVER see any mention of it in their posts. So it's refreshing.