Opinions on karaoke in fansubs

[Eczema]

I've never really payed much attention to karaoke in the OP/ED. Fancy is nice I guess, but is it really necessary? With hardsubs, I hardly notice/care about artifacts. Softsubs make it easier to grab images from the anime to make avatars and stuff. I would probably go with softsubs, since having the option to turn them on or off is good. But then again, I don't really care much either way.

[X10A_Freedom]

Softsubs. Karaoke is fine most of the time but in some series where the scenes in the OP play a part in the story (e.g. ARIA), I'd like the option to turn the text off.

[Radiosity]

Where's the option for 'karaoke is the work of the devil and should be mercilessly destroyed'?

Especially since a huge number of groups seem to think the harder to read and more SHINY the karaoke is, the better. I'm happiest with the groups who put simple romaji up top, english translation down the bottom, and no frills. To be brutally honest though, I've not seen an anime recently that had an op/ed I'd feel like listening to, never mind sing along with
Catchy and fun songs seem to be a thing of the past (at least in the few shows I actually watch), with a few notable exceptions.

[Solais]

Good fancy karaoke is good. Even in Aria, I love how they do it, even thought I only notice karaokes once and twice at least during watching a series. But I prefer hardsubbed karaokes, if they're good, and fit in the mood of the show.

[Vegard Aune]

Originally Posted by cowteats

I'm interested to know what anime viewers think about karaokes used in anime subs. I didn't want to post this under "Fansub groups" because I didn't want opinions from only fansubbers.

There are two main kind of karaokes used:

Hardsub: The karaoke is "burnt" into the video itself.
Pros:
-The ability to create fanciful karaokes that you see in most subs today.
Cons:
-does not allow you to turn off the karaoke subtitles.
-may cause slight video degradation(artifacts) in the opening/ending

Softsub:
Pros:
-The ability to turn off karaoke subtitles. Some people are annoyed by the karaoke blocking the op/ed and want to turn them off.
Cons:
- Almost no fanciful effects are allowed, so the karaoke will be plain.
- can only be used on h264/mkv

Hardsub karaoke is the main trend in fansubbing, but there is a shift to softsubs for some groups. What is your opinion on this?

SOFTSUBS FTW!
I utterly despise fancy effects, (I don't mind simple stuff, but the more advanced and "eye-catching" the effects are, the more they annoy me) so just having the subs written in a plain font on the top of the screen is my preferred method of doing it. As a matter of fact, I don't really consider HAVING romaji on the screen necessary in the first place.

[todkapuz]

I guess at times I love them, at times I hate them...

Some of the effects and stylization that have been done are really enjoyable... or when they are done in a way that fits perfectly with the OP/ED ... but there are other times that I would like to just see the original art.. hard to have both eh?

I guess for me, I really like having Kanji (well kanji, hirigana, or katakana as appicable), translation, AND transliteration to romaji... as I am getting to that point in my Japanese study that I can make out the meaning (often) by the kanji, but at times I find it really hard to get from Kanji to spoken word... i know its just a phase, but thats where I am. (and I love to sing along.. okay? )

Just on a SLIGHT side tangent... I also really appreciate credits done by fansub groups to be fitting to the OP/ED ... and to me it is really nice if they group provides some of the key bits over to english ...

[KholdStare]

Apparently I posted in this thread before and I'm too lazy to check what I posted so I have no clue what I said.

I personally love fancy karaoke. Some people are under the impression that fancy directly translates to hard to read, and I disagree. Of course, if karaoke are fancy and hard to read, then that's bad. Believe or not, there are some great karaoke out there that I really love. Off the top of my head, I recall SS-Eclipse's Hayate no Gotoku, gg-Eclipse's Manabi Straight, SS-Eclipse's Clannad AS, SS-Eclipse's Kyouran Kazoku Nikki, SS-Eclipse's Code Geass R2, and ToyBox's Mamoru-kun (a bit over the top but I love it).

Back to the original question, I prefer softsubs. It was actually half and half, but there were times when I despised hardsubs because I was trying to get a screen capture or something similar. I remember being mad at SS-Eclipse because they hardsubbed the karaoke in the middle episode 48 of Hayate no Gotoku.

What I really hate is using black and white for karaoke. That actually makes it hard to read (hello Menclave's ef - a tale of melodies), and sometimes a contrast between fill and border can make a big difference in readability.