Thursday 11 April 2013

Subtitles - Yay or Nay?

A recent development in the world of Hello! Project and UFP is the use of subtitles on their video's, more notably, their music video's. The first group to introduce this was Morning Musume with the full PV for Brainstorming. Of course Kimi Sae Wah Wah followed suit, as did Tasaki Asahi's new PV for her song Sakura Dokei. The thing is though, is this really necessarily?


I know that fans have wanted subtitles for a while because we like to understand what's going on, and when the video for Brainstorming was uploaded, there was a lot of positive responses from foreign fans of Morning Musume because they could now understand it a little better, even if English was not their mother tongue. However, when I was told by my sister that the music video had subtitles, I was a little less than happy by the news. I have my own reasons for this of course as both a blogger and a fan, and really, I am not overly excited by this sudden development... much like Japanese fans, I think. (read this for a better understanding of what I mean... Takamaruyo, I salute you guys!)

I know I may be a part of a minority, but that is how I feel right now about the subtitles, and I want to write this to get that across.

So first thing first: Why the music video's and not the announcement video's? I don't understand this at all. Currently, only one announcement video has been subbed, and that is the C-ute Budokan and Paris announcement, which I actually greatly appreciated the subs for because I could understand the video more, and it felt more emotional for me as a fan. But when it comes to other announcement video's, I also want to know what everyone is saying, such as the new video on Morning Musume's channel where the girls comment on the 12th generation auditions that are currently going on. Why not sub that? I know that subbing takes time and all, but I would rather see these announcement video's subtitled than the music video's. It is a lot more logical and it will give fans a better understanding of what is going on.

So, why the music video's? In my opinion, music video's do not need lyrics added to them, Japanese or English, because music is there for enjoyment.

I have always believed that music is universal, regardless of the language you speak or whether or not you understand it. I don't need to understand Morning Musume's lyrics to enjoy the song, and even if I wanted to understand the lyrics, I can just find them by myself by typing into google 'Brainstorming English Lyrics' or looking for a video that has the lyrics hard subbed onto them by a fan. I also think that a music video does not need lyrics added to the video because, in a way, it can be a huge distraction, especially if you just want to watch the video and not read anything.

In fact, for me the lyrics added to the video are very off-putting as both a blogger and a fan; I want to watch the video and enjoy the music along with it. I like looking at everything visually and seeing the different panning shots on a clean video without any distractions, which leads me to my next problem with the subtitles...

As a blogger, and one who actually relies pretty heavily on her pic spams to get her emotions across or even my lacking wit, this is a very problematic development; I comment on my screen caps, and that requires a clean slate. How can I now comment on these screen captions if they have subtitles there already, subtitles that we can clearly understand, with something I want to say that I think 'fits' the caption? I can't, because the video, or at least the picture I have taken, is telling me something different, and it won't feel right writing something 'new' there, because I now understand it and know what the scene is telling me, or at least what the scene wants to tell me, and that is very off-putting for me as a blogger and in fact stops me from wanting to screen caption video's with hard subtitles added onto them, which is actually my current dilemma with Tasaki Asahi's PV for Sakura Dokei which I desperately want to review, but the subtitles really put me off because I find that I feel restricted to what I can say about it now because of those subtitles.


As both a fan and a blogger, I find the subtitles a problem more than a blessing. Admittedly I did find it quite nice to understand the video, but that feeling does not last when I want to watch it a second time around because I want to look at it and not be distracted by the hard subtitles or because I want to take a caption and comment on it. Having these subs limits me now in my opinion rather than aid me in any way, and are just a big problem when I look at these video's.

I do think that, whilst these are a problem for me, these are some sort of blessing for other fans who want to understand the video's, but as I said earlier; music is universal, and you do not need to understand the lyrics to enjoy the music or the visuals. I got into these groups and singers because I enjoy what they create, not because I can understand their lyrics.

And whilst I think that UFP are doing something right by moving forward and appealing to their overseas fans, I do think that they are going in the wrong direction with the subtitles; use the subtitles on announcement video's or during concert MC's, not on music video's or during a performance, because it is off-putting and takes away the enjoyment of the video for some of us. And, if subtitles really are needed, then use the subtitle function that youtube provides. It isn't that hard, I assure you.

All in all: Nay to subtitles, but only on music video's. Announcement video's are fine, but when it comes to music and visuals, really, you don't need it.

But that is simply my 2 cents on the matter. What about you? Are you happy with the subtitles, or just as unhappy with them as I am? Let me know.

16 comments:

  1. I'm sort of on the fence about this. Captions are a lot of fun and I understand that frustration for sure. I also get that a lot of the enjoyment of Japanese music comes from just the music itself and the lyrics might really change things.

    But on the other hand, knowing the meaning (or at least the gist, which might be all we can know, with the whole lost-in-translation thing)of the songs I love has always been important to me. Some songs have taken on a whole new beauty after I found out what they were actually talking about. On the other hand, some songs have turned out to be way dirtier or more stupid than I ever expected. lol

    I definitely agree about pvs being the wrong thing to start with. I would LOVE to know the stuff they are talking about on those random youtube appearances. Especially if it's about the auditions! Way to hold out on us, people!

    Fan subs might actually be better for pvs because I find the translation of Brainstorming (for example) kinda awkward sounding. I know these are professionals, but at least a fan has that passion that you get from fansubbers who really love their material and want people to really get it. *shrug*

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    1. I don't mind the lyrics, but I'd rather they have them as on/off captions, you know? And sometimes I think the lyrics don't fit the tone of a song, like depressing lyrics for a happy tune or something... it's weird haha.

      I really do want to know what their announcement video's mean, and from what I can see right now, I don't think UFP have any intention of subtitling their announcements unless it applies to an overseas fanbase (example: C-ute off to Paris). I guess that is how they will roll, and it's annoying XD

      I love fansubbers, because when you see their stuff, it's not just better in understanding, but also a lot more fun and playful; they add colour and sparkles and stuff... XD

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  2. Since it is hard subs I cannot help but think they chose it so that they could try to get people to buy the PV. Much like how I have come across some Japanese PVs that have a layover on them to advertise the CD release connected to it.

    Have you thought of dling the PVs and once you have your screen caps deleting them? That's what I tend to do if I do not own the PV on DVD.

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    1. Understandable, I see where you are coming from. I actually do buy PV's if I get the limited versions of a disc, but in general I don't download PV's to screen cap them; I usually do it right off youtube xD

      And I have no idea how to rip PV's from a DVD.

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  3. I think the subtitles make viewing feel more chore-like now, because I know they will always be there and - through official means - I can no longer just sit back and enjoy the full visual + song combination. I no longer want to share them with friends that may be interested because the format and permanent nature of the subs does nothing but distract from the actual video for some of them. At the same time, though the translations can be a little wonky, I do greatly appreciate the effort and don't mind the subtitles being available in general - it's the permanence that bothers me. I would be completely for using the caption/subtitle feature on YouTube, that is the perfect balance in my mind. As it is now I don't think I'll be doing much physical viewing on the channels (for new PVs), but of course I will still listen through them.

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    1. Chore-like explains it perfectly! It seems like, because it is there in front of you, you have to take notice of it and you start to forget the visuals and lose sight of a few things. And as you say, it is the permanence that is the issue here; not the fact that they are using subtitles.

      I think I will actually need to wait for others to upload these PV's now if I want to screen cap them without captions. It's bothersome, really.

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  4. Even though I always ask for subs of music videos & concerts. I agree with you, the subs are a bit distracting on the official video & they annoy people so Up-Front should stop, & I think replace with captions cus people can turn those off

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    1. I think that if people are actively looking for subtitles, especially fans from overseas, it is better for the fans to do it rather than the officials in hard subs, because then you know that is what you are looking for... that, and you get the romaji as well as the English translation, and they tend to look prettier and are presented better in my opinion.

      I think that UFP have yet to figure out the caption function, honestly @.@

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  5. I think it should be an option to put the subs on or not because UFA needs to realise not all fans can speak English. Not only that, I get why they are doing this (to prevent people from uploading and subbing the MV) but imagine all the other fans around the world who can't speak English and would like to know what they are saying.

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    1. I know what you mean; I wondered why it was in English, but then again most countries know English now, however as you said not all fans can speak it, or at least only understand a little English but not a lot.

      I think it is to do with prevention of uploading and subbing MV's yourself, though I prefer fansubs than official ones. They are prettier.

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  6. Off topic, but are you still going to do the reviews for the PV requests you got?

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    1. Yes, I just lost track... >o< I really do need to pick it up again, I keep meaning to. Apologies.

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  7. My take on this is - Yay to subtitles but only if they're softsubs. This goes for announcement videos too. Nay to hardsubs. YouTube has a built-in softsubbing system, after all - I mean the Closed Caption stuff, of course, and not god awful annotations. It'd be nice to be able to toggle these things.

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    1. I want softsubs so bad for this, urgh @.@ I don't mind hardsubs for announcement video's though, but doubt that will happen any time soon unless it's for overseas events...

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  8. If the translations always made sense it would be a definite yay for me. I think softsubs would make a lot of people happy, and hey, it works for akb48! (When they frigging get around to releasing the full pv that is...)
    However they don't always make sense. Gundan of the love is an annoying and random translation! Why not Love's Army? That's the translation! Grrr. But then the meaning of the chorus helps me enjoy it more so it evens out.

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    1. I can understand that, having them make sense, but they are rubbish because they are pretty much a google translate job it seems. And haha, yeah, AKB has it right... WHEN the full PV is eventually released XD

      To be honest, I find I don't need to understand the lyrics. But that's just me XD

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