Licca Fansubs

Some news

2012-02-29T18:32:00.000-06:00

Due to some personal matters which I need to attend to, I will not be able to conduct fansubbing activities for the rest of this week. Therefore, we will be on hiatus until Monday, March 5th.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Porphy no Nagai Tabi Episode 22 released!

2012-02-29T18:30:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Porphy continues west along Italy. He makes lots of new friends on the way.

The town he ends up in, Caulonia, will play an important role with the next few episodes.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Porphy no Nagai Tabi Episode 21 released!

2012-02-26T21:43:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Porphy's backpack goes missing, and he has to somehow find it in Matera.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 20 released!

2012-02-21T00:35:00.001-06:00

This episode is one of my personal favorites. This one is not in the novel, but it is one of the episodes that talks about what the children at Plumfield want to do when they grow up. Considering that Louisa May Alcott was rather progressive on her views of what women are capable of doing at that time (namely the late 19th century), it is no surprise that this episode (and the two or three episodes in the last 10 episodes of the series) shows Nan doing things that no one would have expected her to do, even for that era.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This marks the half-way point for Little Women II - Jo's Boys. Here's what's coming up for the next 10 episodes:

1. For those of you who missed Dan, he'll be back soon. In fact, one of the more famous parts of the novel involving Dan and the stolen money is about to come up really soon.

2. There are already allusions to how much Daisy and Nat care for each other. We'll see the culmination of that in episode 30.

3. We're also about to come up to a part where we see how progressive thinking is taught by the Bhaers, in particular about woman's rights.

4. Nan finally decides for sure what she wants to do when she grows up.

We hope that you will continue enjoying the series. This series has been a joy to work on.

Porphy no Nagai Tabi Episode 20 released!

2012-02-20T02:37:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Porphy somehow ends up in the city of Matera. What he sees in this city is not what it seems. This is the first of a two-part series in this city.

My Annette Episode 8 released!

2012-02-18T17:42:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Lucien and Annette get into a disagreement due to a misunderstanding. They later patch up and enjoy the fall festival together.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure Episode 12 released!

2012-02-18T01:00:00.002-06:00

This episode is one of my personal favorites out of the whole series.

In this episode, Coco gets dreams of a silver shell of which she has knowledge of its power. She enlists Lucia, Hanon, and Rina to find it. However, the Black Beauty Sisters get a hold of the shell first, and attempts to harness the power. Unfortunately, they do not know the true nature of the power they hold.

You can obtain this from your standard torrent indexing sites, or you may download them from the DDL links on Wasurenai's web site.

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 19 released!

2012-02-14T23:39:00.001-06:00

"Quite lost, but I did not care, for I made up my mind that it would be best to wait till I was an old lady before I played with kites again; and you see I have waited," said Mrs. Jo, beginning to pull in the big kite, for it was getting late.

"Must we go now?"

"I must, or you won't have any supper; and that sort of surprise party would not suit you, I think, my chickens."

"Hasn't our party been a nice one?" asked Tommy, complacently.

"Splendid!" answered every one.

"Do you know why? It is because your guests have behaved themselves, and tried to make everything go well. You understand what I mean, don't you?"

"Yes'm," was all the boys said, but they stole a shamefaced look at one another, as they meekly shouldered their kites and walked home, thinking of another party where the guests had not behaved themselves, and things had gone badly on account of it.

- Little Men, Chapter 9

For Valentine's Day, we're releasing an episode of Little Women II - Jo's Boys.

This episode involves the ball at Plumfield, which is probably one of the most well-known chapters in the novel. Those of you who have read the novel will understand how good manners and politeness can go a long way into making something go well, while bad manners and rudeness can go a long way into making something go really horribly.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Porphy no Nagai Tabi Episode 19 released!

2012-02-10T19:47:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Porphy arrives in Italy. He quickly learns a few common sense things about traveling to a foreign country after meeting with a nice stranger on the street.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is our first release using the new tracker. Please contact us if you have any difficulties.

Status update

2012-02-07T22:17:00.000-06:00

Torrent tracker situation

We're still in the process of moving torrents to a new tracker. This means a lot of our releases are currently not seeded, as NyaaTorrents' solution to the tracker shutdown is not reliable. We can do new releases, but migrating all our releases will take time. We thank you for your patience, and apologize for the inconvenience.

Release scheduling

I'm about 1/3rd of the way through translating Porphy 19. We'll try to get this released some time this week. We will be on hiatus from 2/10 to 2/12 as I will be out of town and will not have access to my encoding computer.

My translator for Little Women II has gotten me the script for episode 19. I will check that before handing it to the timer, and I will be personally translating episode 20 (it is one of my personal favorites). We should have episode 19 out by Valentine's Day.

My Annette episode 8 will be scheduled for release for the middle of next week.

Releases are to be suspended for the time being

2012-02-03T08:43:00.001-06:00

NyaaTorrents, the torrent tracker we use, has shut down the tracker portion of the web site, effectively turning it into a listing service only.

As we only do releases via BitTorrent, this means we will need to locate a new tracker, migrate all the torrents to the new tracker, and have the torrents seeded. Until this is done, releases will be suspended.

We apologize for the inconvenience and hope that we can get this situation resolved as quickly as possible.

EDIT: I'm in the process of migrating our torrents to another tracker. Releases should resume in a day or two.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure Episode 11 released!

2012-02-02T20:46:00.001-06:00

In this episode, Lucia, Hanon, and Rina invite Mikaru to go shopping with them. As a result, Kaito ends up coming along. However, Hanon and Rina attempt to divert Mikaru's attention so Kaito and Lucia can be together.

You can obtain this from your standard anime torrent indexing sites, or you may use the DDL links on Wasurenai's website.

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 18 released!

2012-02-01T08:05:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Stuffy was ordered by Jo to go on a diet and exercise regimen. Unfortunately for her, Stuffy writes about what he had been doing, and his mother heads to Plumfield to pull Stuffy out of there and to insult the students and the school in the process.

Unfortunately for her, Jo got angry.

This episode is not in the novel, but it was quite good nevertheless.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 18 released!

2012-01-29T20:29:00.001-06:00

In this episode, Porphy is spending his 13th birthday on a ship headed to Italy. He meets some new friends on the boat.

My Annette Episode 7 released!

2012-01-28T21:33:00.000-06:00

This episode demonstrates how to make cheese. This episode is one of my personal favorites in the series.

We suggest that you do not use this episode as instructions to make Swiss cheese. A good set of instructions to make Swiss cheese may be found here.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 17 released!

2012-01-23T23:05:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Porphy finds out what happens to Mina.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Fansubbing errors

2012-01-18T20:56:00.004-06:00

It's been a while since I've done a fansubbing post. With the fact that I've been going through health problems, it makes for a perfect way to talk about something that is hotly contested among fansubbers, namely the concept of "quality" and "errors".

Right now, I'm probably have about half my normal amount of energy to do things. The main reason is that I'm currently on several allergy medications, and they have two effects. One is that they tend to knock you out, and the other is that your mind gets a bit foggy sometimes. When both of these happen together, I tend to do things like the following when I translate:

Luckily, my timer caught it and put a note in to have it fixed. I try to not translate when I don't feel 100% able to do so (which is why we've had fewer releases this month), but sometimes I do, and I end up taking a risk of making mistakes.

The best way to not have an error is to not make them. This has nothing to do with the amount of time you spend working on an episode. It just means that you have to be focused and alert. When you're missing one of the two (or in my case, missing both of them), mistakes occur.

There's heated discussion about quality control in fansubbing. Typically, a group will designate someone to do quality control to prevent things like what I illustrated from happening. However, anyone who has done any sort of work involving the publishing industry knows that there will almost always be something that will slip by, and fansubbing is no exception to this rule, no matter how much quality control is used.

Furthermore, in fansubbing, the person who you least want to notice your error will find the error, and will publicly ridicule you, claiming that your release lacks "quality" due to the error. For this reason, many groups no longer do quality control because the reward simply is not worth the extra effort. In a way, it's an application of Murphy's Law.

I won't go into whether it really is worth doing quality control in this post, because this is something that has no clear answer. I wish there were a clear answer, but those of you who actually know what quality control really means knows that the anime fansubbing concept of quality control is not really "quality control", and "quality control" has a specific definition behind it. This specific definition is backed by statistical analysis and tools.

For the purposes of this post, I think the main things to learn from what I said is that:

The way to prevent errors in fansubbing is to not make them
It's impossible to never make an error
Focus and alertness are critical to good fansubbing work
Quality control done in fansubbing is not really quality control

My Annette Episode 6 released!

2012-01-17T00:56:00.000-06:00

This is the first in a set of episodes that is not in the novel. Annette's father takes Annette and Lucien up to a little cabin up in the mountains as part of the summer foraging for their cows.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 16 released!

2012-01-14T18:47:00.000-06:00

In interest of not spoiling anything, we will only say that Porphy seems to always be one step behind Mina.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 15 released!

2012-01-13T20:07:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Porphy and Mina end up taking drastic action after Porphy finds out that they would be separated.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 14 released!

2012-01-11T20:38:00.003-06:00

In this episode, Porphy and Mina continue living in the temporary shelter at the church. Unfortunately, they have to deal with a few realities of their situations, namely that they potentially may be separated, or that they still have to overcome the grief of their parents.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.

Status update

2012-01-08T12:51:00.000-06:00

We apologize for not having released anything this week. I have not been able to properly translate or work on the encodes due to illness.

I do have a few episodes of Porphy in the pipeline ready for pre-encode checks; I will get those out as soon as I'm feeling well enough to work on them.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 13 released!

2012-01-01T00:49:00.001-06:00

There is a reason why the novel is named "The Orphans of Simitra". What happens in this episode gives the novel its namesake.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

We have now reached the 1/4th mark on this series. At this point, the story is literally just starting. The majority of the next 1/4th of the series takes place in the temporary shelter around the church. The story took a very sudden turn in an another direction, and it will be interesting to see how these sudden changes completely changes the characters.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 12 released!

2012-01-01T00:40:00.000-06:00

In this episode, several things happen at the same time. The gasoline pump is delivered, but the concrete shell for the tank develops a crack. No one could draw water. The animals were acting in strange ways.

In total, all these signs point to something significant happening.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

My Annette Episode 5 and 4v2 released!

2012-01-01T00:00:00.002-06:00

"So," she remarked, "I have come. What I can I will do; what I cannot do you must do for me. Now, Annette, turn that baby the right way up and come and show me around the kitchen."

- Treasures of the Snow, Chapter 2

We would like to start off 2012 on a good note and release something (and officially go off hiatus early).

In this episode, Annette's great-aunt arrives in town. Even though she is a bit cantankerous, she is actually very kind, and it doesn't take Annette long to warm up to her.

We have also released a version 2 of episode 4. It turns out the anime adaptation uses "great-aunt", which is a deviation from the novel (which used "grandmother"). This fixes that issue.

A bit of a question for everyone

2011-12-25T20:58:00.000-06:00

This is a question not really related to fansubbing, but more of a personal question that I would like to pose to everyone.

The Les Miserables US tour is coming to around where I live in May, and I would like to purchase tickets to the performance. As I have never went to a performance of this kind, I would like opinions about what seats I should get.

The concert hall where the performance will be held has a huge "orchestra" lower level seating, a lower balcony above this lower level that wraps around half of the concert hall, and a much higher upper balcony that is above this lower balcony.

Currently, the ticket office for this venue is not selling tickets (they won't start selling until February), but I can get tickets from other ticket vendors. I can get seats in the back of the upper balcony for about US$70, seats on the sides of the each balcony for about US$150, and seats in front of each balcony and in the front orchestra seats for about US$250.

Basically, which seats should I go for when I purchase my tickets? (I may purchase multiple tickets depending on what happens.)

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure Episode 10 released!

2011-12-24T22:41:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Rina learns a bit more about Masahiro. He invites Rina to watch a boxing match where he is one of the contenders, but due to obligations in her own kingdom, Rina had to miss the boxing match, and she was unable to contact Masahiro as she did not have his cell phone number.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites, or you may use the direct download links from Wasurenai's website.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 11 released!

2011-12-22T22:36:00.001-06:00

In this episode, Porphy's father proceeds to purchase a gasoline pump, and goes through the necessary steps to accomodate it. Porphy does help out, but he forgets that he should not do things to the exclusion of everything else.

You can obtain this episode from your anime torrent indexing sites.

This is the last episode of Porphy no Nagai Tabi that we will release this year. We will resume work on this series on January 3rd, 2012.

Hiatus will begin tomorrow

2011-12-22T19:10:00.001-06:00

We will be on hiatus starting tomorrow, and we should be back in operation on January 3rd, 2012.

We do have a release or two almost ready to go tonight right before we go on hiatus.

I also would like to apologize for not responding to e-mails; I simply have not had the time to properly give each e-mail the attention it deserves.

Update

2011-12-17T18:24:00.000-06:00

1. We are approaching our hiatus for the Christmas holidays. Currently, we anticipate having one more episode of Porphy out and one more episode of My Annette out before the hiatus. (Due to unexpected circumstances, I have not been able to devote time to translating them this weekend, which is why we don't have that many episodes in the pipeline.)

2. As mentioned earlier, we'll be off hiatus on January 3rd, 2012. We may not have anything ready to release then, but we should be back in operation by then.

3. Porphy episodes 12 and 13 will be released at the same time. Those two episodes go together and need to be watched together in order for things to make sense.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 10 released!

2011-12-13T18:03:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Porphy and Mina take their American friends around Simitra while their father is getting his vehicle repaired.

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 17 released!

2011-12-11T09:35:00.000-06:00

That was the only good-bye he gave the boys, for they were all talking the matter over in the barn when he came down, and he told Nat not to call them. The wagon stood at the door, and Mrs. Bhaer came out to speak to Dan, looking so sad that his heart smote him, and he said in a low tone,

"May I say good-bye to Teddy?"

"Yes, dear; go in and kiss him, he will miss his Danny very much."

No one saw the look in Dan's eyes as he stooped over the crib, and saw the little face light up at first sight of him, but he heard Mrs. Bhaer say pleadingly,

"Can't we give the poor lad one more trial, Fritz?" and Mr. Bhaer answer in his steady way,

"My dear, it is not best, so let him go where he can do no harm to others, while they do good to him, and by and by he shall come back, I promise you."

- Little Men, Chapter 6

This episode is the aftermath of what happened at the end of episode 16.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Winter 2012 anime season

2011-12-10T21:50:00.000-06:00

We currently have no plans to do a series in the Winter 2012 anime season. None of the series listed meet our requirements for us to even consider doing them.

On a more short term note, we do have Little Women II episode 17 almost ready to go, with Porphy no Nagai Tabi 10 not far behind.

My Annette Episode 4 released!

2011-12-07T19:40:00.001-06:00

"He was born under a lucky star," exclaimed the woman from the village, gazing at him thoughtfully.

"He was born under a Christmas star," said Annette solemnly; "I think he will always be good and happy."

- Treasures of the Snow, Chapter 2

In this episode, Annette and her father begin trying to raise Dani by themselves.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 9 released!

2011-12-05T20:01:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Porphy and Mina experience "a new world".

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 8 released!

2011-12-05T19:37:00.000-06:00

In this episode, there was only one customer at the service station, who happens to be someone who needed a flat tire fixed.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

December scheduling

2011-12-05T08:24:00.000-06:00

On a more short term note, we do have some Porphy episodes just about ready to go, which will be released tonight.

As this is December, we will be ramping down our operations for the Christmas holidays. As currently planned, we will probably go on hiatus starting December 21st, and will resume operations on January 2nd. However, these dates may shift depending on how the schedule of my staff members pans out within the next couple of weeks.

We will try to have at least a couple more episodes of My Annette out before the hiatus (Episode 4 is about to go into encoding; I need to check it first). My translator for Little Women II - Jo's Boys has given me the script for episode 17, and that should be out fairly soon as well. I will check with the Wasurenai QC folks on the status of episode 10 of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure, which happens to be one of my very favorites in the series. Porphy's Long Journey we can probably get close to the 1/4 mark, which I admit is not the best place to leave people in suspense.

In conclusion, this month will be fairly light in terms of releases.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 7 released!

2011-11-30T22:11:00.000-06:00

In this episode, the family goes into town to watch a movie. On the way back, Porphy dreams about his future with the service station.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Special thanks goes to MarshmallowCat of Wasurenai Fansubs for some assistance with the translation of this episode.

My Annette Episode 3 released!

2011-11-28T08:27:00.000-06:00

"Your little brother," echoed her mother's weak voice. "He is yours, Annette. Bring him up and love him and look after him for me. I give him to you."

Her voice trailed away and she closed her eyes. Annette, too dazed to speak, allowed herself to be lead downstairs by the nurse. She sat down on a stool by the stove to rock the wooden cradle where her Christmas present lay smothered in shawls and blankets.

- Treasures of the Snow, Chapter 1

In this episode, Annette takes care of her mother during her sudden illness.

You can obtain this episode through your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Some news

2011-11-28T00:05:00.001-06:00

We are officially off hiatus, and we do have something ready to release. However, since NyaaTorrents is currently down due to technical difficulties that is beyond the control of the admins, we will wait until it comes back up before releasing it.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 6 released!

2011-11-24T01:04:00.001-06:00

In this episode, we meet one of the customers of the service station. In this case, it's a father and daughter from Italy. Porphy, Mina, and Zaimis show her around the village of Simitra. However, this girl, Alessia, is a bit too serious for her own good, and everyone finds out why when they stop by the church.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

We are now on hiatus; our next release will be on Sunday, November 27th.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 5 released!

2011-11-23T23:40:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Porphy's father constructs his service station. Porphy skips school to help him out, and lies about the reason why he was home from school early.

It takes just about everyone eating at his conscience before Porphy realizes what he did wrong.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 4 released!

2011-11-23T23:10:00.000-06:00

In this episode, the family celebrates Mina's birthday with a picnic in some ancient ruins.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Hiatus for Thanksgiving holiday

2011-11-21T21:14:00.002-06:00

A large portion of our staff members will be either out of town or busy with work for the Thanksgiving holiday. Because of that, we will be on hiatus starting from November 24th. We should have at least one Porphy episode out before the hiatus.

We will resume our regular release schedule on November 27th.

As a side note, it was a little over a year today when we started subbing A Little Princess Sara, the first World Masterpiece Theater series that we took on as a project. Goodness, how time flies!

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 3 released!

2011-11-21T00:57:00.001-06:00

In this episode, Porphy and Mina go to pick up their father at the bus station. There's one small problem, though; they aren't aware that the buses never run on time, and consequently the buses don't arrive on time either.

Expectations for My Annette

2011-11-20T11:00:00.001-06:00

My Annette was also one of the series that was requested a lot (about as much as Porphy's Long Journey), and we're proud to work on this series as well.

This series is an adaptation of Patricia St. John's novel, "Treasures of the Snow". The novel does have a Christian bias to it, but the message that it tries to convey is universal to all creeds. Basically, without spoiling too much of the plot, what the series tries to convey is the concept of forgiveness and healing. What happens in the series will test those concepts in ways most adults will probably never deal with, let alone children.

Because of what happens in this series, we anticipate this will be one of our more difficult series that we will work on. It's about as dramatic and emotional as A Little Princess Sara, and we hope we can finish it, as the story and the plot is probably one of the most solid and moving in all of literature.

My Annette Episode 2 released!

2011-11-20T10:14:00.000-06:00

This episode features lots of fun in the snow, including riding on sleds, snowball fights, and how does one get to school in the snow.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.

Expectations for Porphy's Long Journey

2011-11-18T21:53:00.000-06:00

As per my usual practice, I would like to personally tell everyone our expectations for Porphy's Long Journey.

I've already have it translated up to episode 4, and I've watched it pretty far down the line past that. It is no wonder that this series was probably one of the most frequently requested series for our group to sub. To this day, it is a mystery to me why very few groups even considered doing it.

This series is the adaptation of Paul-Jacques Bonzon's novel, "The Orphans of Simitra". I have access to an English translation to the novel as reference. What I can tell you is the anime does add a lot of characters, and gives names for characters who were not named in the book. (Porphy's mother is one of those examples.) The general plot of the anime is similar to the novel, but considering the length of the novel (it's actually about as long as "A Little Princess"), there's a lot of embellishment in the anime. We will try to keep within the spirit of the novel as much as possible.

Overall, this series is a bit of a departure from the series which we normally work on, but we hope we can do it justice.

Porphy's Long Journey Episode 2 released!

2011-11-18T21:33:00.000-06:00

In this episode, Porphy and Mina get a parcel from their father. Later that night, they see an owl up in their room.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure Episode 9 released!

2011-11-17T17:49:00.000-06:00

NOTE: The correct CRC checksum for the Hi10P version is "269A10A8". The CRC is not correct in the filename due to a copy/paste error on my part. We apologize for the inconvenience.

In this episode, Hanon and Nagisa end up getting into another disagreement when Hanon attempts to play the music that Mitsuki-sensei composed for her. A new enemy, Lady Bat, appears, and the song, played by Kaito, is the key to getting out of the jam that the Mermaid Princesses were placed.

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 16 released!

2011-11-14T22:22:00.000-06:00

Dan did try for a day or two, but not being used to it, he soon tired and relapsed into his old wilful ways. Mr. Bhaer was called from home on business one day, and the boys had no lessons. They liked this, and played hard till bedtime, when most of them turned in and slept like dormice. Dan, however, had a plan in his head, and when he and Nat were alone, he unfolded it.

"Look here!" he said, taking from under his bed a bottle, a cigar, and a pack of cards, "I'm going to have some fun, and do as I used to with the fellows in town. Here's some beer, I got if of the old man at the station, and this cigar; you can pay for 'em or Tommy will, he's got heaps of money and I haven't a cent. I'm going to ask him in; no, you go, they won't mind you."

- Little Men, Chapter 6

In this episode, Professor Bhaer is gone for a couple of days. Unfortunately, with him gone, Dan succumbs to temptation and drags Nat and Tommy into it as well. The consequences of the actions affects more than just the three of them...

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Plans

2011-11-11T21:59:00.001-06:00

So, Porphy no Nagai Tabi came out on top. It will be our next main WMT project that we will be working on. I will begin the translation of episode 2 early next week.

For this project, we are doing something a little bit differently. We will be doing our usual hardsubbed releases. However, 4L Fansubs will then take our scripts and create a softsubbed dual-subtitle track release using our English scripts and their Vietnamese translation. They have permission to use our scripts for this purpose.

I did mention that I was going to try to make lots of people happy. It so happens that I'm very close to finishing the translation for Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure, and I expect that to happen sometime early next week. This will free up translation resources, which will allow me to also translate My Annette. We will not be able to release it as quickly as Porphy, but we'll try to maintain a weekly release schedule.

Lucy-May of the Southern Rainbow will be worked on as time and resources permit. We will be recruiting for an additional translator and timer to work on this.

So, in summary, we'll continue work on Porphy no Nagai Tabi next week, and resume My Annette the week after that, essentially having two WMT projects in motion.

A little note

2011-11-11T18:07:00.000-06:00

First, as of this writing, there is about 3 hours of voting left.

Secondly, I know that there's been some contention in the comments recently. I did promise to explain to everyone what would happen after the voting ended, and I hope that it will make a lot of people happy.

These are the series from which everyone will be picking from...

2011-11-06T21:54:00.001-06:00

Without further ado, here are the three series, in alphabetical order. Remember to vote for which one you want us to do!

Note: I went ahead and locked further comments on this post. Please continue the comments on the next post; it was simply getting more and more difficult to go through that many comments.

Lucy-May of the Southern Rainbow (Minami no Niji no Lucy)

In this episode, the family has arrived in Australia. They get their first taste in setting up camp, dealing with pompous men, and all the unique wildlife in the region.

Porphy's Long Journey (Porphy no Nagai Tabi)

In this episode, we are introduced to Porphy, Mina, and their mother. Porphy obviously has a passion for automobiles, sometimes to the exclusion to everything else.

The Alps Story - My Annette (Alps Monogatari - Watashi no Annette)

In this episode, we introduce Annette and Lucien. They're completely different in personality (and their families are completely different), but they somehow manage to get along really nicely...

An update

2011-11-06T16:39:00.001-06:00

The last of the first episodes of the three WMT series that we will be having everyone vote on is currently being encoded at the time of this writing. I would like to thank my timers for doing all this timing on very short notice.

We should have them released sometime later tonight. Here are a few notes on the voting:

1. Basically, we will be releasing the first episodes of three WMT series. Since we can't pick between which one to do, we're leaving it up to the general public on what we will do. Unfortunately, due to our resources, we can only fully devote our efforts to one at a time, which is why we are doing it this way.

2. Be sure to watch the episodes. If you feel that we can't do a show properly, then don't vote for it.

3. I will have a poll up on this blog with the choices of the three series. The series with the most amount of votes over the voting period (one week) will be the next WMT series we will sub.

4. I will discuss my plans for the two shows that don't get picked later.

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 15 released!

2011-11-05T10:55:00.000-05:00

"I have heard all about it, Dan, and though you have broken the rules again, I am going to give you one more trial, to please Mother Bhaer."

Dan flushed up to his forehead at this unexpected reprieve, but he only said in his gruff way,

"I didn't know there was any rule about bull-fighting."

"As I never expected to have any at Plumfield, I never did make such a rule," answered Mr. Bhaer, smiling in spite of himself at the boy's excuse.

- Little Men, Chapter 6

In this episode, Dan learns another one of Plumfield's rules, which is to respect all living beings.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure Episode 8 released!

2011-11-03T18:05:00.000-05:00

In this episode, Kaito's friends convince Kaito to do surfing. Lucia, Hanon, and Rina tag along, but while Hanon and Rina were not paying attention, Lucia disappeared all of a sudden.

She was planning to show herself in her mermaid form to Kaito in an attempt to get him to remember. However, Sheshe and Mimi are in the area and Lucia makes an inviting target...

You may obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites, or you may use the DDLs provided on Wasurenai's site.

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 14 released!

2011-10-31T07:42:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Bhaer lost her patience with him half a dozen times a day, yet never gave him up, and always insisted that there was something good in the lad, after all; for he was kinder to animals than to people, he liked to rove about in the woods, and, best of all, little Ted was fond of him. What the secret was no one could discover, but Baby took to him at once gabbled and crowed whenever he saw him preferred his strong back to ride on to any of the others and called him "My Danny" out of his own little head. Teddy was the only creature to whom Dan showed an affection, and this was only manifested when he thought no one else would see it; but mothers' eyes are quick, and motherly hearts instinctively divine who love their babies. So Mrs. Jo soon saw and felt that there was a soft spot in rough Dan, and bided her time to touch and win him.

- Little Men, Chapter 6

In this episode, Dan shows a side of himself which Nat saw ages ago when he met him for the first time. Does that prove Jo correct on how Dan really is?

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

FYI, we should have episode 15 out really soon as well; my timer currently has it and is working on it.

A little update

2011-10-29T08:30:00.000-05:00

1. Little Women II episode 14 is about to go through my pre-encode checks. I've got the script for episode 15 and I'm about to do a translation check on the script later today so I can pass it on to my timer.

2. I've already translated the first of the three WMT series that everyone will be choosing from, and that has been sent to my timer. I am running behind a bit on the other two series (partially due to having to work longer shifts this week).

3. I should have a script back from the Wasurenai folks for MMMPP Pure episode 8. That will go into encoding as soon as I get it.

4. I've put two offers for Happy Kappi on BakaBT.

So, a few encoding benchmarks: Phenom II X3 710 (2.6GHz) versus overclocked FX-8120 (4.0GHz)

2011-10-20T22:42:00.001-05:00

I finally got my new computer in a state where I could do some encoding, so it was the perfect time for some quick (and non-authoritative) benchmarks comparing my old encoding computer to my new encoding computer.

(Incidentally, this MacBook is not a valid encoding computer.)

For those of you who don't know how I do encodes, my basic procedure is to do a master lossless raw with most of the preprocessing and filtering done, and from there use that to encode the hardsubbed final encode. I am benchmarking the final encode step. All my encodes are two-pass encodes to a target bitrate.

Basically, I loaded two-pass encodes for the following episodes into MeGUI, which I use for the frontend:

1. Pollyanna episode 10: This one had an uncompressed YV12 master raw. The resolution is 640x480, at 29.97fps.
2. Pollyanna episode 51: This one had a YV12 master raw that was compressed with Lagarith. The resolution is 640x480, at 29.97fps.
3. Les Miserables episode 52: This one had an uncompressed YV12 master raw. The resolution is 1280x720, at 23.976fps.

They were all encoded with the 32-bit version of 10-bit x264, release 2074r2 from JEEB's site.

First, let me show you the results from my old encoding computer.

If you were wondering, I was not able to unlock the 4th core on the processor. The 4th core simply would not work at all.

Now for my new encoding computer. CPU-Z gives an erroneous reading on the processor. The processor is a AMD FX-8120, overclocked to 4.0GHz.

Basically, we can draw a few conclusions:

1. x264 is capable of utilizing all 8 of the FX-8120's cores on the second pass of the encodes.
2. The IPC of the FX processor is lower than the Phenom II processor. However, the number of cores and the overclock I applied to that easily erases the difference.
3. With this setup, I'm able to encode 720p at twice the speed of real-time.
4. Notice how the first pass for Les Miserables 52 is not all that much faster on the FX versus on the Phenom II. One of the things I noted was that during the Pollyanna first passes, each of the 8 cores was evenly loaded about 20%. With Les Miserables' first pass, only three of the 8 cores was loaded. I do not know right off the bat why this is the case.

So, this is the performance of my encoding computer. I hope it will last me a really long time and allow me to encode more releases in a shorter amount of time.

We will be back from hiatus next Sunday; I will begin the translation of the first of the three selections for our next WMT project then.

(Edit: Yes, I know about the performance of Intel's processors based on Sandy Bridge. However, I choose this option because the nature of the encoding done here requires more cores over IPC.)

Hiatus

2011-10-19T08:00:00.001-05:00

As previously mentioned, we are now on hiatus. I just moved the water cooling system from the old computer to the new computer. Right now, I'm burning in the computer and getting a couple more parts so I can migrate all the hard drives to the new computer.

We will try to be back up ASAP.

Edit: The cooling system has been moved over, and I've got enough of it up to do some benchmarking right now.

Batch torrents for Pollyanna

2011-10-17T19:42:00.001-05:00

Batch torrents for Pollyanna are now available, including the Hi10P batch with the episodes that were not released before now.

There is someone offering the h.264 version on BakaBT, and I will probably follow up with an offer for the Hi10P version.

Pollyanna Episode 51 released!

2011-10-17T01:59:00.000-05:00

"Why, Jimmy, I'm glad, GLAD, GLAD for—everything, now!"

- Pollyanna Grows Up, Chapter 32

The last episode shows how Mr. Pendleton uses a rather unorthodox stratagem to explain what happened at the end of episode 50. By doing that, a potential problem was solved before it would have caused serious problems.

As Pollyanna would say, "I'm glad... glad for everything now!"

This concludes our work on Pollyanna. I would like to conclude this with a few personal remarks.

Even though Pollyanna is one of the lesser known World Masterpiece Theater series, it was a pleasure for us to work on and it was no less of a series than all the other WMT series out there. I don't know of very many series that gave me so much gladness while translating each episode.

I personally hope that everyone feels a bit gladder and to see the true meaning of what it takes to be a Pollyanna. This series was about as emotional as A Little Princess Sara, but in a more positive way. We hope you enjoyed watching it as we did subbing it.

On a more logistical note, I do have all the Hi10P encodes done; they will be released as part of the batch torrents that should be coming out within the next couple of days or so. Be sure to vote when we have our next three choices for our next WMT series to sub ready!

Pollyanna Episode 50 released!

2011-10-17T01:36:00.000-05:00

After opening the envelope in the previous episode, Jimmy goes out to think about the whole situation. After Pollyanna finds him, they went home and decide to tell Mrs. Carew what was in the envelope.

The only problem is that the one person they did not want to know about the envelope happens to come into the parlor right when Jimmy was in Mrs. Carew's arms....

We've got one more episode left to go!

Pollyanna Episode 49 released!

2011-10-17T01:21:00.000-05:00

In this episode, Mrs. Carew suspects Jimmy to be Jamie Kent. However, she has no proof. Pollyanna hears about this, and after telling Aunt Polly, they end up at Mr. Pendleton's mansion with the envelope that Jimmy was not supposed to open until he was thirty.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Some more news

2011-10-15T14:04:00.000-05:00

1. I just finished translating the last episode of Pollyanna just a few minutes ago, and it's been handed off to my timer. I expect that to be done reasonably soon. We'll probably release episodes 49, 50, and 51 together because you pretty much have to watch them together.

2. Hi10P encodes for Pollyanna are running a bit behind, but I'm going to try to make up the slack today, for reasons which I will explain next.

3. We will be on hiatus starting around Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm going to be assembling a new encoding computer, and the bulk of the parts are arriving on Monday. I will try my best to keep my old encoding computer up as long as possible, but I will need to move my watercooling system between the computers, which will prevent me from doing encodes until the new computer is set up. I believe I can get the last episodes of Pollyanna and the remaining Hi10P encodes done before this happens. This new computer will allow us to be better equipped to do encodes from HD or Blu-Ray sources. It will also allow us to get more encodes out in a faster period of time.

New banners

2011-10-13T22:11:00.001-05:00

We now have a new banner on the site, courtesy of MarshmallowCat from Wasurenai Fansubs. If I can figure out how to rotate the banners, I'll put more of his banners here.

Pollyanna Episode 48 released!

2011-10-13T01:18:00.000-05:00

This episode continues the adventures of Pollyanna, Jamie, Jimmy, and Sadie. The notable (and amusing) part of this episode is in the third screenshot, where Jimmy was rather nonplussed why his horse would not move when Sadie was sitting on it sidesaddle.

Sadie would make a really good matchmaker.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.

Pollyanna Episode 47 released!

2011-10-13T01:01:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Carew and Jimmy get along really well, which makes for wonderful times with Jimmy, Jamie, Pollyanna, and Sadie, who shows up in the middle of this episodes.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.

Pollyanna Episode 46 released!

2011-10-13T00:51:00.000-05:00

In this episode, we get a glimpse of what Jamie's thinking in terms of his role in the grand scheme of things. In addition, there's a big hint to what happens in the last episode, if you can find it.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.

Some news

2011-10-09T15:02:00.000-05:00

We apologize for the current delay in releasing the next few episodes of Pollyanna.

Due to health reasons and the fact that the weather has not been stable around where I live (I typically have my encoding computer turned off and unplugged during heavy rainstorms), I have not been able to initiate the pre-encode checks before encoding the final encodes.

We will release them as soon I can get them encoded when the weather stabilizes.

Batch torrents for Happy Kappi

2011-10-06T19:37:00.000-05:00

Batch torrents of Happy Kappi have been released. Please help in seeding if you have the files.

The Hi10P torrent has all the remaining episodes that we did not have Hi10P encodes before.

Happy Kappi Episode 25 and 1v2 released!

2011-10-05T22:05:00.001-05:00

Kappi is back to stay!

We have also released a version 2 of episode 1 of Happy Kappi. This addresses some translation errors that we made.

With this, this concludes most of our work on Happy Kappi (I still have to encode the Hi10P versions for episodes 2-19). As usual, I would like to conclude with a few remarks.

As most people know, choosing to sub this series was mostly an impulse decision, and I am very aware that most people shunned it or ignored it for the most part. I would like to personally say that this series is probably one of the crown jewels from the Spring 2011 season. This series was able to hook me better than just about any other series in the entire Spring 2011 lineup. Each episode was a joy to work on, and translating each episode gave me a sense of euphoria.

I personally hope that everyone at least give this series a chance (and not just watch an episode and base your opinions on that).

This also marks the first entire anime series that has been subbed and released in the VP8/WebM format.

We will be releasing batch torrents for Happy Kappi as soon as I get the Hi10P encodes done. This should be within the next few days. We may be releasing more version 2s as I go through each encode.

Happy Kappi Episode 25 is the last episode

2011-10-05T00:59:00.002-05:00

We just got the transport stream for this episode a few minutes ago (which is why we aren't releasing the episode tonight, as it is very late), and it appears that it is the last episode.

We should have episode 25 out sometime late Wednesday.

EDIT: The Fall 2011 series we were planning to do has been licensed by Crunchyroll. Therefore, with the end of Happy Kappi, we will use the slot Happy Kappi occupied to throw more translation resources into finishing either Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure or Pollyanna.

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 13 released!

2011-10-02T09:29:00.000-05:00

Mr. Bhaer did not approve of fighting, and did not think it a proof of either manliness or courage for two lads to pommel one another for the amusement of the rest. All sorts of hardy games and exercises were encouraged, and the boys were expected to take hard knocks and tumbles without whining; but black eyes and bloody noses given for the fun of it were forbidden as a foolish and a brutal play.

Dan laughed at this rule, and told such exciting tales of his own valor, and the many frays that he had been in, that some of the lads were fired with a desire to have a regular good "mill."

- Little Men, Chapter 6

In this episode, Dan continues his mistrust towards various residents of Plumfield. However, when he claimed that Jo had ulterior motives for being kind, Emil takes exception and calls Dan out to a fight, contrary to the school rules. (Granted, Emil is probably one of the few people living there who could probably break that rule and get away with it.)

Pollyanna Episode 45 released!

2011-10-02T09:14:00.000-05:00

In this episode, Mrs. Carew and Jamie arrive in Beldingsville. When Pollyanna takes Jamie around to the rose gardens, they find that the roses are wilted and Tom hasn't been himself.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure Episode 7 released!

2011-09-28T23:09:00.000-05:00

In this episode, Lucia has to deal with Kaito completely forgetting about her, and the eminent birth of Seira, who is to be the next Mermaid Princess of the Indian Ocean.

However, will Lucia be able to teach Seira the "beauty of loving someone" when she has a broken heart herself?

Happy Kappi Episode 24 released!

2011-09-28T00:48:00.000-05:00

In this episode, Kappi is suddenly unable to do magic. On top of that, he has been summoned back to Kappimeshia. Will Suguri be able to get her favorite accessory to him before he is sucked into the portal?

Pollyanna Episode 44 released!

2011-09-26T03:11:00.000-05:00

After what happened in episode 43, everyone deals with what happened in a different fashion. However, Polly is having the most difficulty in dealing with what happened.

Mrs. Carew and Jamie are also on their way to Beldingsville to lend a hand.

This should be the last of the really difficult episodes; the rest of the episodes all the way to the end should be smooth sailing

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 12 released!

2011-09-26T02:21:00.000-05:00

Mr. Bhaer, when he heard the story and saw Dan, shook his head, but only said quietly,

"The experiment may cost us something, but we will try it."

If Dan felt any gratitude for his protection, he did not show it, and took without thanks all that was give him. He was ignorant, but very quick to learn when he chose; had sharp eyes to watch what went on about him; a saucy tongue, rough manners, and a temper that was fierce and sullen by turns. He played with all his might, and played well at almost all the games. He was silent and gruff before grown people, and only now and then was thoroughly sociable among the lads. Few of them really liked him, but few could help admiring his courage and strength, for nothing daunted him, and he knocked tall Franz flat on one occasion with an ease that caused all the others to keep at a respectful distance from his fists. Mr. Bhaer watched him silently, and did his best to tame the "Wild Boy," as they called him, but in private the worthy man shook his head, and said soberly, "I hope the experiment will turn out well, but I am a little afraid it may cost too much."

- Little Men, Chapter 6

In this episode, Dan begins his time at Plumfield with some rather anti-social actions that quickly alienate various people. Not very many people see how he really is, and Nat and Mrs. Jo are among the very few who do...

Pollyanna Episode 43 released!

2011-09-26T02:14:00.001-05:00

This episode is the continuation of episode 42. There is some foreshadowing on what will happen in the last few episodes that will be coming up.

We apologize for the delay in releasing this episode; this is right in the middle of the really difficult part of this arc.

Happy Kappi Episode 23 released!

2011-09-21T02:44:00.000-05:00

In this episode, Suguri and Kappi get into a dispute over something that adults would consider trivial.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure Hi10P encodes

2011-09-19T23:47:00.002-05:00

We will also be encoding Hi10P versions of Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure as well.

We've released Hi10P encodes for episodes 1-6, which we released earlier. Episode 7 should be released as soon as I get the script from Wasurenai's QC team.

EDIT: I've had to take the action of prohibiting comments on this post, which I use very rarely. Please do not use obscenities in your comments.

Slow trickle of Hi10P releases coming up!

2011-09-18T22:41:00.001-05:00

We will be slowly getting Hi10P releases for Pollyanna and Little Women II - Jo's Boys for those episodes that don't have them yet. Be on the lookout for them!

We'll probably also do Happy Kappi as well.

A Little Princess Sara and Super Doll Licca-chan we can probably do as well, but it will take a lot more effort because I no longer have the master encoding raws.

Pollyanna Episode 42 released!

2011-09-18T22:25:00.000-05:00

If you recall from episode 41, the telephone was ringing at the end. Little did everyone know that telephone call will lead to more than they would ever expect.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 11 released!

2011-09-18T21:57:00.001-05:00

Nat joyfully ran off, and soon returned followed by a most unprepossessing boy, who slouched in and stood looking about him, with a half bold, half sullen look, which made Mrs. Bhaer say to herself, after one glance,

"A bad specimen, I am afraid."

"This is Dan," said Nat, presenting him as if sure of his welcome.

"Nat tells me you would like to come and stay with us," began Mrs. Jo, in a friendly tone.

"Yes," was the gruff reply.

"Have you no friends to take care of you?"

"No."

"Say, 'No, ma'am,'" whispered Nat.

"Shan't neither," muttered Dan.

"How old are you?"

"About fourteen."

"You look older. What can you do?"

"'Most anything."

"If you stay here we shall want you to do as the others do, work and study as well as play. Are you willing to agree to that?"

"Don't mind trying."

- Little Men, Chapter 6

In this episode, we are introduced to Dan, Nat's friend. However, he does not make a good first impression.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 7v2 released!

2011-09-18T09:42:00.000-05:00

A version 2 of episode 7 of Little Women II - Jo's Boys was released today.

This addresses a serious editing error involving the recitation of the multiplication table in the beginning of the episode, plus a couple of minor wording fixes.

We do have episode 11 almost ready to go; that will be released sometime tonight.

Pollyanna Episode 41 released!

2011-09-18T09:30:00.000-05:00

"Thomas, don't, please!" she begged.

"Why, Polly, what's the matter? Aren't you glad that—that the medicine worked?"

Mrs. Chilton dropped despairingly back in her chair.

"There you go again, Thomas," she sighed. "Of COURSE I'm glad that this misguided woman has forsaken the error of her ways and found that she can be of use to some one. And of course I'm glad that Pollyanna did it. But I am not glad to have that child continually spoken of as if she were a—a bottle of medicine, or a 'cure.' Don't you see?"

"Nonsense! After all, where's the harm? I've called Pollyanna a tonic ever since I knew her."

"Harm! Thomas Chilton, that child is growing older every day. Do you want to spoil her? Thus far she has been utterly unconscious of her extraordinary power. And therein lies the secret of her success. The minute she CONSCIOUSLY sets herself to reform somebody, you know as well as I do that she will be simply impossible. Consequently, Heaven forbid that she ever gets it into her head that she's anything like a cure-all for poor, sick, suffering humanity."

"Nonsense! I wouldn't worry," laughed the doctor.

"But I do worry, Thomas."

- Pollyanna Grows Up, Chapter 15

In this episode, everyone is celebrating Pollyanna's return with a party. However, from the episode title, something happens in the end that will foreshadow what will happen next.

Starting from the next episode forward until all the way to the end, the anime makes a significant deviation from the novel. The deviation is a bit difficult to spot if you haven't read the novel, though. I personally prefer the novel's ending, but you may like this one better depending on your preferences.

Download counts, popularity, and success

2011-09-16T00:02:00.000-05:00

Over the last year, I have gotten to know quite a few fansubbers. When they talk to me, one of the topics usually discussed is the number of BitTorrent downloads this group gets per release. One of the things they talk about is that on the whole, this group gets considerably less downloads per episode than just about every other active fansubbing group.

Before I give my response to this, I would like to explain a few things. In this age where fansubbed anime is now distributed by multiple methods other than BitTorrent, BitTorrent downloads are lower than they were several years ago. However, as a metric for the success of a release, the number of BitTorrent downloads remains one of the very few valid indicators available to a fansubbing group, as most DDL sites will not release download numbers for a file. It is generally accepted by the modern fansubbing community that the more downloads of a file, the more successful the release is.

So, to illustrate this point, I will present several exhibits. Here is exhibit 1:

Here, I have a screenshot of how the torrent listing page on NyaaTorrent looks like a few days after we released Pollyanna episode 36 and Little Women II episode 9 a couple of weeks ago. Let me point out a few things:

Notice that we're racking up about 400-500 downloads for all three versions that we release for each episode. Now compare that to the files that HorribleSubs releases, which number in the several thousands.
Also, notice the two releases of Fairy Tail. You can notice that the slower group gets less downloads. Even then, typically a series that is a Shonen Jump series will usually have more viewers due to the larger fanbase.
The ARR release there is actually an anomaly from what they normally get. ARR's download counts are usually higher than our download counts.

Now, I will present exhibit 2:

In this one, we have the listings around when Pollyanna episode 35 is released. Let me point out a few things:

EveTaku's release of Kami-sama no Memochou episode 8 obviously had a lot of downloaders.
Compared to the Fairy Tail episode 94 download counts from exhibit 1, you can see HorribleSubs' release blow that one out of the water.
If we typically have download counts higher than those of a modern series, it's usually due to the fact that the group was slower in releasing the series.

Let me now continue with exhibit 3.

In this case, we are comparing the one modern series we're doing, Happy Kappi, versus everything else that was released at this time. Again, note the lower download counts compared to everything else.

So, according to these exhibits and the "number of BitTorrent downloads" metric, this group would have been considered a failure by most modern fansubbers. Furthermore, this is one of the bigger reasons why most modern fansubbing groups won't touch the series we work on, as the metrics bear out the potential failure of each release.

However, this entire analysis suffers from a very significant flaw.

The flaw is that this comparison is not an apples to apples comparison. Fundamentally, Licca Fansubs is a completely different type of fansubbing group than your typical modern fansubbing group. The way we conduct our operations is completely different, and the rules which we abide by are also different. In essence, we measure our success through other means and metrics. People can argue that we are just deluding ourselves and living in our own little world, and in a sense they are correct. We do live in our little world, and that is perfectly fine with us.

In essence, this is one of the best examples of how the Pollyanna principle should be applied. In our world, we feel that we've been really successful. We've gotten three large series done, two of which are World Masterpiece Theater series. We got a couple of lovely OVAs done as well. We've got plenty of momentum to do a few more series after we finish our current projects. With luck, we'll be around for quite a while, with everyone's support.

Happy Kappi Episode 22 released!

2011-09-14T01:32:00.000-05:00

This episode of Happy Kappi is about as close as you'll probably get to something that resembles the Twilight Zone in strangeness. In this episode, Suguri, Kappi, and Whippi end up getting trapped in a magical sphere of memories.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.

Pollyanna Episode 40 released!

2011-09-11T20:56:00.000-05:00

This time Beldingsville did not literally welcome Pollyanna home with brass bands and bunting—perhaps because the hour of her expected arrival was known to but few of the townspeople. But there certainly was no lack of joyful greetings on the part of everybody from the moment she stepped from the railway train with her Aunt Polly and Dr. Chilton. Nor did Pollyanna lose any time in starting on a round of fly-away minute calls on all her old friends. Indeed, for the next few days, according to Nancy, "There wasn't no putting of your finger on her anywheres, for by the time you'd got your finger down she wa'n't there."

And always, everywhere she went, Pollyanna met the question: "Well, how did you like Boston?" Perhaps to no one did she answer this more fully than she did to Mr. Pendleton. As was usually the case when this question was put to her, she began her reply with a troubled frown.

"Oh, I liked it—I just loved it—some of it."

"But not all of it?" smiled Mr. Pendleton.

"No. There's parts of it—Oh, I was glad to be there," she explained hastily. "I had a perfectly lovely time, and lots of things were so queer and different, you know—like eating dinner at night instead of noons, when you ought to eat it. But everybody was so good to me, and I saw such a lot of wonderful things—Bunker Hill, and the Public Garden, and the Seeing Boston autos, and miles of pictures and statues and store-windows and streets that didn't have any end. And folks. I never saw such a lot of folks."

- Pollyanna Grows Up, Chapter 14

This episode covers both Pollyanna's last day in Boston and what happens when she returns to Beldingsville.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.

Pollyanna Episode 39 released!

2011-09-11T09:40:00.000-05:00

This release is dedicated to everyone who lost their lives on 9/11, ten years ago. It is a tragedy for everyone, regardless of race, gender, creed, or nationality.

In this episode of Pollyanna, Aunt Polly makes a surprise visit, and Mrs. Carew holds her farewell party. When the children from Murphy's Alley show up, everyone but Mrs. Carew and Sadie liked them, and even Sadie changes her mind really soon once she talks to Jamie...

Happy Kappi Episode 21 released!

2011-09-07T01:20:00.000-05:00

Most likely everyone is familiar with the phrase "too many cooks spoil the soup". In this episode, you can correct this to "too many capybaras and magic spoil the cake".

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

Pollyanna Episode 38 released!

2011-09-05T23:03:00.002-05:00

Mrs. Carew was very angry. To have brought herself to the point where she was willing to take this lame boy into her home, and then to have the lad calmly refuse to come, was unbearable. Mrs. Carew was not in the habit of having her invitations ignored, or her wishes scorned. Furthermore, now that she could not have the boy, she was conscious of an almost frantic terror lest he were, after all, the real Jamie. She knew then that her true reason for wanting him had been—not because she cared for him, not even because she wished to help him and make him happy—but because she hoped, by taking him, that she would ease her own mind, and forever silence that awful eternal questioning on her part: "What if he WERE her own Jamie?"

It certainly had not helped matters any that the boy had divined her state of mind, and had given as the reason for his refusal that she "did not care." To be sure, Mrs. Carew now very proudly told herself that she did not indeed "care," that he was NOT her sister's boy, and that she would "forget all about it."

But she did not forget all about it. However insistently she might disclaim responsibility and relationship, just as insistently responsibility and relationship thrust themselves upon her in the shape of panicky doubts; and however resolutely she turned her thoughts to other matters, just so resolutely visions of a wistful-eyed boy in a poverty-stricken room loomed always before her.

Then, too, there was Pollyanna. Clearly Pollyanna was not herself at all. In a most unPollyanna-like spirit she moped about the house, finding apparently no interest anywhere.

- Pollyanna Grows Up, Chapter 12

In this episode, we see what happens after what happened in the end of episode 37.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This episode marks the 3/4th point in the series. We're currently in a difficult stretch of the series, but we're about to hit the homestretch and everything will go well.

The last 1/4th of the series ties everything together in a way that you may not expect (that is if you haven't read the novels). They do change up how this next part compared to what happens in the novel, but in general, the same things happen (albeit under slightly different conditions). I personally like the novel's ending better than the anime ending, but that's probably a matter of personal perference.

Also, this release is our first release that uses h.264's High 10-bit color profile, a.k.a. Hi10P. This is a test release, and we may continue or discontinue it depending on the response to it.

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 10 released!

2011-09-04T12:01:00.002-05:00

"Won't they hurt 'em?" asked Nat, who lay laughing with all his might.

"Oh dear, no! We always allow one pillow-fight Saturday night. The cases are changed to-morrow; and it gets up a glow after the boys' baths; so I rather like it myself," said Mrs. Bhaer, busy again among her dozen pairs of socks.

"What a very nice school this is!" observed Nat, in a burst of admiration.

"It's an odd one," laughed Mrs. Bhaer, "but you see we don't believe in making children miserable by too many rules, and too much study. I forbade night-gown parties at first; but, bless you, it was of no use. I could no more keep those boys in their beds than so many jacks in the box. So I made an agreement with them: I was to allow a fifteen-minute pillow-fight every Saturday night; and they promised to go properly to bed every other night. I tried it, and it worked well. If they don't keep their word, no frolic; if they do, I just turn the glasses round, put the lamps in safe places, and let them rampage as much as they like."

- Little Men, Chapter 1

In this episode, the origins of the Saturday night pillow fights in Plumfield are explained.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.

This puts us 1/4th of the way through the series. You probably will note by now that one of the more important characters from the novel is missing. He will play a prominent role in the next few episodes.

Pollyanna Episode 37 released!

2011-09-02T23:50:00.004-05:00

"I am a-thinkin'," choked Jamie. "Don't you suppose I know what I'm doin'—what I'm givin' up?" Then to Mrs. Carew he turned tear-wet eyes. "I can't," he faltered. "I can't let you do all that for me. If you—CARED it would be different. But you don't care—not really. You don't WANT me—not ME. You want the real Jamie, and I ain't the real Jamie. You don't think I am. I can see it in your face."

"I know. But—but—" began Mrs. Carew, helplessly.

"And it isn't as if—as if I was like other boys, and could walk, either," interrupted the cripple, feverishly. "You'd get tired of me in no time. And I'd see it comin'. I couldn't stand it—to be a burden like that. Of course, if you CARED—like mumsey here—" He threw out his hand, choked back a sob, then turned his head away again. "I'm not the Jamie you want. I—can't—go," he said. With the words his thin, boyish hand fell clenched till the knuckles showed white against the tattered old shawl that covered the bed.

- Pollyanna Grows Up, Chapter 11

In this episode, Mrs. Carew finds out that what she wants in order to assuage her soul is not as easily obtained.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.

A little update

2011-08-31T21:38:00.001-05:00

I figure it would be appropriate to give everyone an update on what has been happening and what we are planning.

Pollyanna

As everyone knows, we're almost 3/4ths the way through the series. We are going to try to get it finished by the end of October. The one thing that is hindering our progress at the moment is that the Boston arc is not exactly the easiest material to deal with.

Episodes 37-43 are especially difficult to deal with due to the content. After we clear those episodes, it should be smooth sailing to the end. If you haven't read the novel, the ending might surprise you!

Happy Kappi

Currently, we do not know how many episodes Happy Kappi is expected to have. If it ends at episode 24 or 26, then we will either take on a Fall 2011 series, put the resources back into working on Pollyanna, or potentially starting something new. If it is a series like Hamtaro where there are literally hundreds of episodes, then we will continue as long as we can still obtain raws. We've also recently been able to get transport streams again as well for this series.

Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure

We currently have 26 out of the 39 episodes translated, at a one episode per week rate. Due to scheduling conflicts, the Wasurenai staffers that are responsible for their parts were unable to make as much progress as anticipated. This is not their fault; one must remember that real life takes priority over any fansubbing.

I've been getting master encoding raws ready for each episode. Once the episodes are ready for encode, it takes almost no time to get the episodes encoded and ready for distribution.

Little Women II

Everything is going well with our work for the series. The translator has done an incredible job so far, and we hope to continue our weekly release schedule for this series.

What happens after Pollyanna?

We will start another World Masterpiece Theater project after Pollyanna. However, we will do this a bit differently this time around.

Instead of unilaterally deciding ourselves which series we will do, we will instead sub the first episodes of the series we are considering. We will then have a poll up, and you will vote on which series we will do next.

We have decided on three series that we would like to do. We will not reveal them at this time, but they will be revealed when we get the first episodes up and the poll comes up.

Some little things

I would like to personally thank everyone for your support. We've just had our first birthday, and we've come a long way from our beginnings. We hope to continue serving everyone for years to come.

Happy Kappi Episode 20 released!

2011-08-30T23:09:00.001-05:00

In this episode, Suguri and Kappi play matchmaker.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.

Little Women II - Jo's Boys Episode 9 released!

2011-08-29T08:30:00.000-05:00

It takes so little to make a child happy that it is a pity, in a world so full of sunshine and pleasant things, that there should be any wistful faces, empty hands, or lonely little hearts. Feeling this, the Bhaers gathered up all the crumbs they could find to feed their flock of hungry sparrows, for they were not rich, except in charity. Many of Mrs. Jo's friends who had nurseries sent her they toys of which their children so soon tired, and in mending these Nat found an employment that just suited him. He was very neat and skillful with those slender fingers of his, and passed many a rainy afternoon with his gum-bottle, paint-box, and knife, repairing furniture, animals, and games, while Daisy was dressmaker to the dilapidated dolls. As fast as the toys were mended, they were put carefully away in a certain drawer which was to furnish forth a Christmas-tree for all the poor children of the neighborhood, that being the way the Plumfield boys celebrated the birthday of Him who loved the poor and blessed the little ones.

- Little Men, Chapter 4

In this episode, we see the Plumfield tradition of repairing toys and clothing so they can be used by the poor. However, with Nan and Tommy's infighting, what happens here is a bit different than normal.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.

Pollyanna Episode 36 released!

2011-08-29T08:19:00.001-05:00

"Oh, but what an awful, awful place that was! I just wish the man that owned it had to live in it himself—and then see what he'd have to be glad for!"

Mrs. Carew sat suddenly erect. Her face showed a curious change. Almost as if in appeal she flung out her hand toward Pollyanna.

"Don't!" she cried. "Perhaps—she didn't know, Pollyanna. Perhaps she didn't know. I'm sure she didn't know—she owned a place like that. But it will be fixed now—it will be fixed."

"SHE! Is it a woman that owns it, and do you know her? And do you know the agent, too?"

"Yes." Mrs. Carew bit her lips. "I know her, and I know the agent."

"Oh, I'm so glad," sighed Pollyanna. "Then it'll be all right now."

"Well, it certainly will be—better," avowed Mrs. Carew with emphasis, as the car stopped before her own door.

Mrs. Carew spoke as if she knew what she was talking about. And perhaps, indeed, she did—better than she cared to tell Pollyanna. Certainly, before she slept that night, a letter left her hands addressed to one Henry Dodge, summoning him to an immediate conference as to certain changes and repairs to be made at once in tenements she owned. There were, moreover, several scathing sentences concerning "rag-stuffed windows," and "rickety stairways," that caused this same Henry Dodge to scowl angrily, and to say a sharp word behind his teeth—though at the same time he paled with something very like fear.

- Pollyanna Grows Up, Chapter 10

This episode is the continuation of episode 35. Mrs. Carew talks with Jamie and his foster mother to attempt to determine if he really is Jamie Kent.

You can obtain this episode from your standard anime torrent indexing sites.

This is a reminder that Licca Fansubs is recruiting translators, timers, and editors. Please contact us if you wish to contribute your skills.