Mushi Productions looks for translators

[Scramble]

Wonder Beat Scramble, one of the last productions overseen by Tezuka Osamu, is a classic sci-fi adventure inspired by "Fantastic Journey", and Mushi Productions has partnered with Crunchyroll to bring all 26 episodes to the world for free.

We're looking for a few talented translators that can help us create English subtitles for everyone to enjoy. But we also want to make sure that the translations are good quality, worthy of the original work, so we're gonna hold a little contest to see who qualifies.

Here's how it's gonna work.

We translated the first 2 episodes ourselves. That way everyone can preview the show and see whether it's for them. Then, we're going to upload a special for the show, hosted by Tezuka Osamu himself, without any subtitles, and anyone (or group) who is interested can create a subtitle file and submit it to us. The top translations will win prizes, so please do your best. Then, we'll contact the winners and work out how you can help subtitle the rest of the actual show. If you finish the entire show, we'll have a special prize for you direct from Mushi Production!

Details:

Spoiler:

1. The special is about 9 minutes long.

2. The special can be downloaded for free, so feel free to download the file and use that to subtitle.

3. Feel free to use any subtitling software you'd like (We recommend Aegisub).

4. Unfortunately, Japanese scripts do not exist for the special, so try your best. Japanese scripts WILL be provided to the winners for the actual show itself, so don't worry!

5. Scripts will be judged by CR and Mushi Production staff. We will mainly be looking for accuracy, proper English grammar and editing, and natural sounding dialog. Don't worry too much about timing and typesetting.

6. Any submitted scripts will become property of Mushi Production (not Crunchyroll.)

7. Please submit your script in .ass format, or .srt format (.ass preferred.) by email to scramble@crunchyroll.com

8. Please do not use fancy fonts or complex .ass commands (like \pos, \mov, \fad, etc), as Crunchyroll's subtitle renderer cannot handle them properly (yet).

9. Please use the spellings of names and translation conventions given below in the glossary.

10. Prizes will be awarded to the top 4 entries, and depending on the quality of the submissions, one or a number of people will be selected to translate the rest of the series.

11. Upon completion of the entire 26 episode series, the grand prize will be awarded to the person/group who completed the subtitles.

12. The show will be made available for everyone as soon as translations are finished and checked, for free (no anime membership required), worldwide! (Except for Japan and some countries in Asia that have preexisting contracts with other companies.)

If this is a success, then there are other classic Tezuka series like Princess Knight or Ashita no Joe or Dororo that we might be able to bring to everyone as well! If you're a fan of classic anime, and happen to know how to translate from Japanese to English, or are a fansubbing group that wants to work WITH the Japanese producers in a partnership to spread classic shows to the world, please, enter!

Here are the great prizes that Mushi Production has graciously donated to us to give away.
Prizes for the top 4 translations of the 9 minute special:

Spoiler:

Ashita no Joe vintage color postcard set

Dororo vintage postcard set

Kimba, The White Lion vintage postcard set

Princess Knight vintage postcard set

Prizes for the completion of all 26 episodes of translation:

Spoiler:

Original Astro Boy Script, Episode 2

Original Dororo Script Episode 26




Mushi Production 1970s era international business promotional color booklet. Multi-lingual, color, rare

Astro Boy Film Cuttings (multiple), from Episode 2

Although we cannot compensate you financially for your work, I think these prizes (especially the treasure trove for the grand prize) is something any Tezuka fan would really cherish. A part of me hopes I don't have to give them away .
P.S. Anyone on earth is eligible to receive these prizes. If the winning entries are groups, you will have to decide among yourselves, a representative, to receive the prizes. Anime-Membership is not required.

We've made a handy glossary with translation conventions and names and other terms to help you as well:

Spoiler:

スギタ・ススム
Sugita Susumu
ドクター・ミヤ
Dr. Miya
マユミ
Mayumi
ビオ
Bio
リー・メイファン
Lee Mei-Fung
マイケル・ヤンソン
Michael Jansson
ジョー・クムバ
Joe Kumba
マナカ・コウジ
Manaka Kouji
カトリーヌ・ドワイエ
Catherine Dyer
アラマキ・テツヤ
Aramaki Tetsuya
ビジュラ姫
Princess Vijura
バグー将軍
General Vagoo
ズダー将軍
General Zudaa
ガボー博士
Professor Gaboh
ビジュール大王
Lord Vijuuru
ワンダービート号
The Wonder Beat
エンザーペリットガン
Enzyme Pellet Gun
エンザーミサイル
Enzyme Missile
酵素スプレー
Enzyme Spray
レーザー・キャノン
Laser Cannon
凝固スプレー
Coagulation Spray
クリーニングレーザー
Cleaning Laser
超重粒子砲
Super Heavy Particle Cannon
グリーン・スリーブス号
The Greensleeves
世界連盟
World Federation
ナギサ・シティ
Nagisa City
メドロソルジャ
Medoro Soldier
メドロモンスター
Medoro Monster
ホワイトペガサス隊
White Pegasus Team
ヒュー
The Hyuu
ビジュール星人
Vijuuruians

This is a multicultural show, and therefore the characters in the show themselves use mixtures of Japanese and western names.
Name order will be kept as shown or spoken in the show. Some names are given-family, and some are family-given. Keep the order or the address as it is spoken in the original Japanese.
Japanese names or terms that remain untranslated are spelled using modern Hepburn romanization. ん is always spelled with an "n" (e.g. Senpai, not sempai).
The honorifics -kun, -san, -chan, -senpai, -sensei, -niisan, -neesan, will be kept untranslated. They should be typeset by a single - with no spaces separating the suffix from the name. Other suffixes such as -hime, -sama, should be translated into equivalent English terms (e.g. princess, lord, master).
Senpai may be used as a pronoun, but Sensei should be translated to whatever is appropriate for the context (likely "Doctor" or "Professor" in this show) unless used as an honorific.

If you have any questions or comments, please email scramble@crunchyroll.com or post in this thread.

[Waryas]

And yet you TL for them (was it Saki?)

even if it did get me original astro boy film cuttings.

Resell them on ebay, big bucks there.

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by Waryas

And yet you TL for them (was it Saki?)


Resell them on ebay, big bucks there.

To be honest, I'd rather they convince Mushi Pro to pay me to translate it professionally instead of trying to get fansubbers to do it... how am I supposed to make an actual living if they undercut me like this? but you're right about ebaying those film clips... I guess if there isn't any other entries I might consider it, but I'd feel bad taking those away from someone that really wanted them as collectors items.

[Waryas]

Originally Posted by Quarkboy

To be honest, I'd rather they convince Mushi Pro to pay me to translate it professionally instead of trying to get fansubbers to do it... how am I supposed to make an actual living if they undercut me like this? but you're right about ebaying those film clips... I guess if there isn't any other entries I might consider it, but I'd feel bad taking those away from someone that really wanted them as collectors items.

Those who wanted it will enter the ebay auction, more bucks for you.

[xris]

Originally Posted by Quarkboy

Crunchyroll goes begging for fansubbers?
That means that Mushi Production, Tezuka's own production company he founded, is purposefully looking for FANSUBBERS to sub their shows.

I'm not sure why you "blame" Crunchyroll for this since it is Mushi Productions who have made the offer.

[Mystique]

The top translations will win prizes, so try your best! Then, we'll contact the winners and work out how you can help subtitle the rest of the actual show. If you finish the entire show, we'll have a special prize for you direct from Mushi Production!

Trying to pick out the creme de la creme of translators from fansubland, but for what ulterior motive I wonder...?
I'll say one thing, they sure have a talented PR spokesperson writing that article, it almost sounds like light hearted fun, instead of the hard work, care and effort needed to produce a really good translated script.
(And somedays, lots of hair pulling and braincell suicide...)

I wonder how many groups (or people) will take the bait. There doesn't seem to be an offfical contract binding you for the entire series by the article since they said "if you finish" - it all sounds a lil dodgy to me :\

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by xris

I'm not sure why you "blame" Crunchyroll for this since it is Mushi Productions who have made the offer.

Well, somehow I bet it was CR that suggested the idea. They're the ones trying to teach Japan about the power of harnessing community translation, etc etc.

But yeah, it's really Mushipro that is the cause. They want a series released without paying for it to be translated beyond donating some stuff they had lying around their workshop. I suppose you could also "blame" anime fans for not having an appreciation for older shows, because if CR thought it would make a profit off this show, they'd probably pay for the translation themselves.

[xris]

Originally Posted by Quarkboy

Well, somehow I bet it was CR that suggested the idea. They're the ones trying to teach Japan about the power of harnessing community translation, etc etc.

Doesn't really matter, it is Mushi who have asked for help.

Originally Posted by Quarkboy

But yeah, it's really Mushipro that is the cause. They want a series released without paying for it to be translated beyond donating some stuff they had lying around their workshop. I suppose you could also "blame" anime fans for not having an appreciation for older shows, because if CR thought it would make a profit off this show, they'd probably pay for the translation themselves.

If you want silly conspiracy theories then maybe it's all a plot to waste the time of the usual personal who translate fansubs, they will be so busy trying to win this competition that they wouldn't be able to translate the existing fansub releases. I would agree with Mystique that it's down to their PR, we will have to wait and see if it was a good or bad choice.

Anyway, thread title has now been changed.
Changed my mind. Merged with original request from Mushi (and thread title changed) so we can see what the offer was.

[KiryuuKazumanosuke]

I'm skeptical that anybody out there's actually gonna do this. A 26 ep show is probably a good 150-200 man hours of skilled labor, (low end) and they're offering some random stuff from their warehouse? Are there that many serious, devoted Osamu Tedzuka fans out there that both have the necessary skillset to do a professional job and are willing to do it for a bunch of junk from some company's storeroom?

[twilightNoir]

While I appreciate what Mushi's doing, they need to appeal to a wider audience. A lot of the oldfags from fansubbing are retired now or can't keep up with the new kids on the block, who aren't looking for old relics as prizes (unless they resell for a high price on ebay like waryas mentioned). There either needs to be hard cash, some sort of pre-release incentive, or mass amounts of anime, such as a complete archive of all the company's series in BD format.

[Mystique]

Ooh, thread changed. O.o

6. Any submitted scripts will become property of Mushi Production (not Crunchyroll.)

*whistles*
Yeah... no.
I'm gonna jump on the paranoid conspiracy theory bandwagon and steer well clear of it.
Even if we do (well some of us claim to) translate for the fun of working with our peers, improving our translation skills and seeing our hard work released out there to the public for free already, this is like the FBI (or MI5 in my case) openly going:

"Hey, illegal internet hackers! We want you! The person who can hack this code that we supply for you in the fastest time and re write a program to do such and such, we'll hire you or your band of mates!"

12. The show will be made available for everyone as soon as translations are finished and checked, for free (no anime membership required), worldwide! (Except for Japan and some countries in Asia that have preexisting contracts with other companies.)

If you're a fan of classic anime, and happen to know how to translate from Japanese to English, or are a fansubbing group that wants to work WITH the Japanese producers in a partnership to spread classic shows to the world, please, enter!

Yeeeeah, we've kinda been doing that anyways for the last odd decade or so... just without the permission of the JP companies >.>
This really does seem like an olive branch and is a commendable and bold move to come from a Japanese company, in this case Mushi.
Perhaps it'll appeal to all the newbie fansub groups (less than 1 year old ones) or speedsubbers who are into fame, guts and Sparta glory and from whose websites I often see written in their 'About us' as;
"we're want to give something back to the anime community and share our love of anime."
Somehow though, i can imagine a few fansub old-timers casting a weary eye on this before taking the plunge of working side by side with an actual Japanese studio, without any real reprucussions.
Then again, a translator (or a few) could decide to work individually rather than as a representative of their fansub group.

Originally Posted by KiryuuKazumanosuke

I'm skeptical that anybody out there's actually gonna do this. A 26 ep show is probably a good 150-200 man hours of skilled labor, (low end) and they're offering some random stuff from their warehouse? Are there that many serious, devoted Osamu Tedzuka fans out there that both have the necessary skillset to do a professional job and are willing to do it for a bunch of junk from some company's storeroom?

Thing is, we already do this for free, put in serious hours (well those who aren't rushing for 24hr releases) and only get leecher criticism. xD
In this case, they're offering some serious decent prizes (for the completed 26), official legal recognition and permission from an actual Japanese company instead of the usual hate and venom we receive (and rightly so, lol) and the usual fame and Sparta glory by CR acting as your PR.

I for one would like to see it succeed to be honest and become an inspiration to changing attitudes from other Japanese production houses, but personally I'll stay away from this one and just watch from the sidelines carefully from the TV in my little criminal world on IRC.

[npcomplete]

Why: why not?

I find it almost hypocritical to demand monetary or more worthy incentives when you could ask the same about fansubbing in general. That there are good TLers is a given, and I'm sure there are those who are also interested in Osamu's works. Now as far as in-house subbing vs community contribution, I don't see why they can't coexist. The in-house team can concentrate on deliverables with strict deadlines (e.g. simulcasts) while the external contributors can work other projects.

That said, rather than more valuable prizes or money, what I'd like to see in exchange at least for Mushipro works is:
- use more liberal terms for the script (e.g. one of the Creative Commons licenses or at least joint copyright)
- use encoders who know what they're doing
- to offer it as a softsub mkv download with a deep discount for purchasing the entire set (instead of the flat $2 per ep CR charges now)

It costs them nothing, heck, less if they keep and auction off the prizes for themselves.. although it would probably require more effort to pull off, making such an exchange all the more merit-worthy anyways.

In any case, I wish them the best.

And since we need more ++空気 in here:

[Milvus]

While offering fansubbers an occasion to be legitimate is indeed a very good thing, it could also have some unintended consequences. Most fansubbers do they work for free because the final releases are free, and no one make money with them. Selling fansubs is seen as a complete rip-off and there's a good reason for it.

But if official companies begin to ask fansubbers to do a professional work without a professional compensation, it's just wrong. Especially, it can just lead to make them think "why pay translators at all, we can just ask some monkeys on the internet ?". All the good translators will stop working for thoses companies, and we will start to have more and more crappy translations.

So if thoses companies think fansubbers can be good or usefull translators for official releases, they either have to follow the old model (normal salary) or find a new model, more innovative or close to fansubbing :

- Creative Commons licenses are indeed a good idea.
- Releasing the show for free (unreasonable for most shows, but probably a good idea for old or niche shows).

[metamorphic]

Originally Posted by Quarkboy

Wow, this is ironic. (there was a thread on here about this but it disappeared?)

http://www.crunchyroll.com/forumtopi...lators-needed/

So, it seems like CR has decided they want to stream fansubs after all... Or something like that. They've got some show by Tezuka from the 80s I've never heard of and they are trying to bribe people to get them to translate it with prizes like original scripts and stuff.
It's weird, though, because unlike the last time they're actually letting people download the 9 minute video they want subbed and want an .ass script (instead of using their horrible built in subtitle web applet). And then they're gonna like pick the best entry and hire them like, professionally (just not pay them anything?)

If this is really legit, that's nuts. That means that Mushi Production, Tezuka's own production company he founded, is purposefully looking for FANSUBBERS to sub their shows. I don't know if it's because they are just really cheap or if they really feel like it's their only chance to get their B list shows (like this one, "Wonder Bet Scramble") subtitled, but it's still a really shocking move by a Japanese company.

Personally, I'm not sure I'd be willing to translate 24 episodes of sci-fi medical technobabble for free, even if it did get me original astro boy film cuttings.

I have to completely agree with Quarkboy. We're talking about a corporate organization here, making use of translators for free and not even paying them for the hard work that they put in over a large 26-episode series. No matter what name you might wish to accord to a translation, whether it be a "fansub" or a derivative, it is hard and painful work which certainly merits far more than a few prize scalps. This is a company making use of other people's hard work. It is against any recognized form of business ethics.

[Quarkboy]

Originally Posted by Milvus

- Creative Commons licenses are indeed a good idea.
- Releasing the show for free (unreasonable for most shows, but probably a good idea for old or niche shows).

Well, at least for part 2 this particular deal seems to be pretty much what they are doing. The show would be available for free (with ad support) whenever subs are finished, to anyone around the world they have the legal ability to show it (in this case everywhere except Japan Korea and China, I think). This is obviously a niche show not many people would be interested. If it weren't for Tezuka actually appearing in it each episode it would probably be completely forgotten.

[Daiz]

Even if I could translate I wouldn't do it simply because the final product would be a low-quality stream on a site I do not personally endorse in any way. That and after the work, I could no longer do anything about it, since Mushi would own all rights to the work I did. Sure, I wouldn't own any rights even if I did it the normal illegal way, but at least I could have (illegal) control over the thing I released.

[mieruno]

this offer is lacking one important aspect of fansubbing: epenis

i bet you translators will jump on it if he actually offered something like "more than 200 thousands will watch this show!"

try harder next time -v-

[metamorphic]

It should be noted here that this current "Mushi Productions" is not the original Mushi Productions founded by Tezuka Osamu, which had folded in 1973 and no longer exists. Tezuka had already left Mushi Productions prior to its insolvency to start a new company, Tezuka Productions, which is currently led by Tezuka's son, Tezuka Makoto, and which handles all current adaptations of Tezuka's works. It is Tezuka Productions which is Tezuka Osamu's true company and legacy. The current Mushi Productions is a separate company, founded in 1977, and has currently no direct affiliation with Tezuka Productions or the late Tezuka Osamu and his family.

[False Dawn]

Originally Posted by Daiz

Even if I could translate I wouldn't do it simply because the final product would be a low-quality stream on a site I do not personally endorse in any way. That and after the work, I could no longer do anything about it, since Mushi would own all rights to the work I did. Sure, I wouldn't own any rights even if I did it the normal illegal way, but at least I could have (illegal) control over the thing I released.

Er how exactly? No subber has control over anything they release once it's been released. As the old adage goes: once on the internet, always on the internet. Not to mention the fact that people can re-release your releases after demuxing, making changes to script or video/audio and then up it again.

The rights issue contravenes standard translation practices (translations remain the work of the translator, not the distributor, generally) but there's no real argument if you're comparing it to fansubs. The only thing you could argue is that they're not good business practices.

Personally, I think the only real argument against this compared to fansubbing is: "I don't want to do that series." Any other argument anyone offers would instantly be turned round and rebutted with the words "but you don't get that in fansubbing either."

[cyberbeing]

I hope that anybody who ends up winning this contest has enough brains to negotiate a better contract. One that fully details what Mushi Production can do, and more importantly, some very restrictive terms about what they can't do with your translation. I would really hate to see someone agree to this without realizing all the rights they are signing away by doing so and getting screwed by Mushi Productions in the future.

This is of course assuming they even make you sign a legally binding contract. If there is no contract (e.g. a shady under the table deal) and they try to monetize off your work, you could sue them in court and likely win. Though I'm sure they have lawyers, and forcing you to sign a contract throwing away all your rights away will be a given.

Unless the grand prize is priceless to you as a collector, you have some intimate attachment to this series, Mushi/Crunchy make better terms, and/or you somehow think it would be valuable on your resume, I would say pass. Now there may be some translator out there who fits this description, and in that case, go for it.