Shizuka subs... mmm... おいしい...

OUTRAGE: Crunchyroll's Subtitling Terms of Service

2009-01-07T22:27:00.000-08:00

Here's the TOS straight from the horse's mouth: http://www.crunchyroll.com/subtitle_tos
I've mirrored it so I can put my own emphasis.

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Thanks for checking out the new subtitle features on Crunchyroll!!

One of the reasons why some anime never makes it outside of Japan is because there's not enough of an audience to even recoup the costs of translating(0) :( However, I know that there are so many great great fans out there that are willing to help if it means that others can enjoy it. So as part of our discussions with Japanese anime companies, we suggested that they allow CR users to help subtitle in return for giving credit to the fans!(1)

However, in order to translate and subtitle, we have to require that you agree to these terms because the only way we could get Japanese companies to agree was to ensure that they would have the rights they need to use the subtitles. In return, we'll make sure you get credit for the subtitles right here on CR, as well as anywhere else they might be used(2). So if one of the titles you sub one day becomes huge, you'll be able to say you were the one who helped get it there with proof :) My hope is that one day ppl will help translate into every language imaginable and grow fans everywhere.

~shinji(0)

I AGREE (button)

CRUNCHYROLL
TRANSLATION TERMS AND CONDITIONS

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY. YOU RECEIVE NO OWNERSHIP RIGHTS IN THE TRANSLATED CONTENT(3) OR CRUNCHYROLL CONTENT.

THESE TRANSLATION TERMS AND ANY SPECIFICATIONS PROVIDED WITH THE CRUNCHYROLL CONTENT (COLLECTIVELY THE "TRANSLATION TERMS") FORM PART OF THE CRUNCHYROLL TERMS OF USE ("TOU") AND ARE INCORPORATED THEREIN BY REFERENCE. TO THE EXTENT THAT THERE ARE ANY CONFLICTS OR INCONSISTENCIES BETWEEN THESE TRANSLATION TERMS AND THE TOU, THESE TRANSLATION TERMS WILL GOVERN AND CONTROL. ANY CAPITALIZED TERMS NOT DEFINED HEREIN HAVE THE MEANINGS SET FORTH IN THE TOU.
YOU UNDERSTAND THAT BY CLICKING THE "I AGREE" BUTTON, BY ACCESSING OR DOWNLOADING ANY CRUNCHYROLL CONTENT OR BY USING THE SITE OR SERVICES, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THESE TRANSLATION TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THESE TRANSLATION TERMS IN THEIR ENTIRETY, YOU MAY NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SITE OR SERVICES OR ANY CRUNCHYROLL CONTENT THEREIN.

1. Grant of License. Subject to your compliance with the terms and conditions of the TOU and these Translation Terms, Crunchyroll grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-assignable, non-sublicensable, limited right and license to make Translated Content from certain Crunchyroll Content solely for use by and the benefit of Crunchyroll and its third party content partners (including any Content Providers (defined below)). "Translated Content" means the content created by you from the addition of subtitles to Crunchyroll Content. "Crunchyroll Content" means, collectively, the text, data, graphics, images, Crunchyroll trademarks and logos and other content (including Licensed Content) made available through the Site and Services, excluding User Submissions.

2. Restrictions. Except as expressly specified in these Translation Terms you may not: (a) copy or modify the Translated Content or Crunchyroll Content, in whole or in part; (b) transfer, sublicense or otherwise distribute any Translated Content or Crunchyroll Content to third parties(4); or (c) use the Translated Content or Crunchyroll Content in any unlawful manner, for any unlawful purpose, or in any manner inconsistent with the TOU or these Translation Terms.

3. Ownership.

a. General. Crunchyroll and its licensors own all rights, title, and interest in and to the Crunchyroll Content (including any Licensed Content) including all intellectual property rights therein. The Crunchyroll Content is protected by United States copyright law and international treaties. You will not delete or in any manner alter the copyright, trademark, and other proprietary rights notices or markings appearing on Crunchyroll Content as delivered to you. Crunchyroll reserves all rights in the Crunchyroll Content not expressly granted to you in these Translation Terms subject to the underlying rights of its third party content partners.

b. Assignment. You acknowledge and agree that the entity noted in the credits of the Crunchyroll Content you access and/or download via the Site or Services ("Content Provider") is a third party beneficiary of these Translation Terms. You acknowledge and agree that Crunchyroll will own all rights, title and interest in and to any Translated Content. You hereby assign, convey, and transfer and agree to assign, convey and transfer all, right, title and interest in and to any Translated Content and any intellectual property rights therein to Crunchyroll.(5)

c. Further Assurances. At Crunchyroll's request, during and after the term of these Translation Terms, you will assist and cooperate with either party in all respects, and will execute documents, and will take such further acts reasonably requested by Crunchyroll to enable Crunchyroll to acquire, transfer, maintain, perfect and enforce its intellectual property rights and other legal protections for the Translated Content. You hereby appoint the officers of Crunchyroll as your attorney-in-fact to execute documents on your behalf for this limited purpose. You warrant that all so-called moral rights you may have in any Translated Content are hereby waived.(6) If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds Section 2(b) herein to be unenforceable, then you hereby grant or will cause to be granted to Crunchyroll an exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, transferable, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to use, copy, reproduce, modify, prepare derivative works based upon, distribute, sublicense, display, perform and transmit the Translated Content in any media formats and through any media channels.(7)

d. Related Rights. To the extent that you own or control (presently or in the future) any intellectual property or proprietary rights that block or interfere with the rights assigned to Crunchyroll under these Translation Terms (collectively, "Related Rights"), you hereby grant or will cause to be granted to Crunchyroll an non-exclusive, royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual, transferable, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to copy, reproduce, modify, create derivative works based upon, distribute, sublicense, display, perform and transmit any content or materials of any kind that are covered by such Related Rights, to the extent necessary to enable Crunchyroll to exercise all of the rights assigned or licensed to it under this Agreement.
(7)

4. Survival. Sections 2 and 3 herein will survive any termination or cancellation of these Translation Terms or the TOU. (8)

5. Questions. If you have questions about these Translation Terms, please contact Crunchyroll by emailing us at support at crunchyroll dot com.

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Analysis
0: Nice wording, shinji (Crunchyroll's PR department): While the qualifier "some" is bound to be true, it doesn't mean it's typical.

1: Note this statement, I refer to it later.

2: Note this statement, I refer to it later.

3: Definition of translated content was later. (it links to their definition of translated content)

4: This means that if you submit work to Crunchyroll, you aren't allowed to use it anywhere else. Of course, it isn't your work anymore. Sound fair to you? (footnote 7 expands upon this)

5: About your work... not only do you not own it, Crunchyroll owns it and all intellectual property rights along with it!

6: Please read the moral rights page first. This means that you waive your right to being attributed credit to your work (or anonymously), and your right to the integrity of the work (the right of having your work kept unaltered from the way you made it).
Combine 5 and 6. "Even if an artist has assigned his or her rights to a work to a third party, he or she still maintains the moral rights to the work." (Wikipedia). Nope, not in this case. You lose your rights to the work, and all associated moral rights too.

7: If the law changes so that Crunchyroll can't have the rights to your work, you must give Crunchyroll a license that is:
Exclusive (If you use your work elsewhere, they can sue you)
royalty-free (they can profit off your work, and they won't pay you a penny)
irrevocable (you cannot rescind the ownership of the work)
perpetual (you give your work to Crunchyroll, forever)
transferable (if Crunchyroll dies, they can pass off the license to your work to whoever they want so that it doesn't expire)
(stuff) so that they can do these things to your work:
modify (ie. they can change your work without your permission)
prepare derivative works (ie. you do not own copyright on the work and cannot prevent them from creating works based off of your work--for example, as a reference for Crunchyroll's translators)
distribute (mentioned before) ... (other stuff)

8: If you change your mind on agreeing with the terms of service after you've agreed to them, sections 2 and 3 will still apply. In other words, you cannot effectively back out of the contract.

Now just wait a minute. Please read 1 and 2.
The premise of 1 is that the Japanese anime companies will GRANT the right to produce derivative TRANSLATIONS to Crunchyroll users, and in return, the users will be given "credit". Actually, the slimy part is that the companies see that they are giving fansubbers a right, and they expect to get something in return. The fansubbers don't even know that fansubbing is in and of itself STRICTLY illegal (Further reading), so they think they're doing the companies a favor and expect something from the companies. Not going to happen.

We ought to define "credit" here. From the fansubber's point of view, they are creating an 'original work.' For an original work,one expects to have ownership and attribution of the work in question, to be guaranteed the integrity of the work, and the right to publish one's work wherever they want.

The premise of 2 is that Crunchyroll will ensure that you get credit for the work on Crunchyroll's own website or anywhere else they need to use it.

1 is thrown out the window in the Terms of Service: see ownership, attribution and integrity of work, and the right to publish the work wherever.

2 is completely goodwill, and I fail to see how the terms of service ensure that the fansubber will be given credit. Consider that nowhere in the document does the fansubber have any legal recourse should Crunchyroll decide to take/change/remove "credit". Also, note that from 7, Crunchyroll is allowed to use the fansubber's work as they see fit.

So what benefits does a fansubber have for submitting work to Crunchyroll? Only one: sanctioned, legal fansubbing! But the price to pay is the legal equivalent to selling your soul to the devil.
I've seen one other document resembling this, and it's the Tokyopop Manga Pilot program, which is remarkably much worse because the artists are producing original work. ANN remarks on Manga Pilot program.

Sorry, Crunchyroll. I don't think I can accept the terms of service. I've broken your terms of contract by making the previous post, but I'll wait and see what the consequences are.

Ai sp@ce Intro: U make 愛 dream

2009-01-07T21:05:00.000-08:00

So I subtitled something using the Crunchyroll subtitle editor. Well, I didn't read the terms of service because I'm a total dumbass, and after getting a subtitle submission rejection, I read them again to make sure I wasn't breaking some stupid rule. Turns out, the terms of service are the most ridiculous piece of filth I've ever read.

Video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzeNo3d3DWA

As a result, I'm posting my subtitle file here. It is not to be submitted to Crunchyroll.


[Script Info]
Title: aispintro
Original Script: Shizuka [http://sh1zuka.blogspot.com]
Original Translation: Shizuka
Original Editing: Shizuka
Original Timing: Shizuka
Synch Point:
Script Updated By:
Update Details:
ScriptType: v4.00+
Collisions:
PlayResX: 576
PlayResY: 432
Timer: 0.0000
WrapStyle: 0

[V4+ Styles]
Format: Name,Fontname,Fontsize,PrimaryColour,SecondaryColour,OutlineColour,BackColour,Bold,Italic,Underline,Strikeout,ScaleX,ScaleY,Spacing,Angle,BorderStyle,Outline,Shadow,Alignment,MarginL,MarginR,MarginV,Encoding
Style: default,Adobe Caslon Pro,28,&H00FFFFFF,&H000000FF,&H00000000,&H00000000,0,0,0,0,100,100,0,0,1,1,1,2,0000,0000,0000,0

[Events]
Format: Layer,Start,End,Style,Name,MarginL,MarginR,MarginV,Effect,Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.00,0:00:02.50,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,Subtitled by Shizuka from official "U Make Ai Dream" lyrics.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.00,0:00:02.50,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,This fansub not to be submitted to Crunchyroll
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.12,0:00:35.84,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,Looking up at a white cloud
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.84,0:00:44.05,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,I suddenly recalled your smiling face.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.05,0:00:51.41,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,I open the window and go look for you
Dialogue: 0,0:00:51.41,0:01:00.19,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,in the dazzling town inside the screen.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.80,0:01:06.06,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,Where are you now? What are you looking at?
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.06,0:01:09.99,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,That uneasiness...
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.99,0:01:12.99,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,That uneasiness... I want to sieze it!
Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.09,0:01:16.90,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,I want to talk about our future dreams.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:16.88,0:01:23.83,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,Small wishes are beginning to come true.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.83,0:01:26.58,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,From this moment,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.59,0:01:34.20,default,bgm,0000,0000,0000,,From this moment, the story is beginning.

Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~ Episode 12 v2

2008-10-04T23:32:00.000-07:00

Oops! I found a major error in the script. '5 years ago' should be '5 years later'. Not sure how I made this mistake, it could have been a translation error (very unlikely) or just a brain fart. Even worse, I missed this on QC because it was very obvious that it should have been '5 years later' from the events in the episode.

v2 script: Download
v2 episode: Download

Change timeline:
1. Added periods to all of the sentences. (My previous fansubs have stripped periods from ends of lines.)
2. Broke a three-liner into three shorter lines.
3. Fixed major mistake and decided to release v2 script.
4. Adjusted sponsor screen text translation. The new one is less literal but conveys the meaning better.
5. Major TL overhaul on questionable TL. This makes the changes major and therefore a full episode release is warranted. This mostly possible because Princess Vera spent a couple of hours working on this instead of homework!

Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~ Episode 12

2008-10-03T04:30:00.000-07:00

Breaking the tradition of starting a series from the first episode, I decided to start with the LAST episode. Therefore, I am announcing the release of Mahou Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto ~Natsu no Sora~ Episode 12. This is my first public fansub, so please be gentle.

Torrent link: http://forum.anirena.com/viewtracker.php?action=download&id=14788

This is a double translation. The script was translated from a Chinese fansub, so the translation might be somewhat inaccurate. I did actually listen to the Japanese audio and fixed some mistakes, but my Chinese is far better than my Japanese (1/2 a semester of college Japanese).

Original script, timing, Chinese translation: Ktxp
Timing adjustments, translation, QC: Shizuka; translation help + editing: Princess Vera

Acknoweldgements go to Kiss-Fans. You rock! In addition to watching all 11 previous episodes (your pastebin has pre-release scripts, which is awesome!), I used your episode 11 scripts to translate some particularly difficult Chinese sentences.

When they release episode 12, please watch it.
http://kiss-fans.blogspot.com/

Update 1: Oops. The lyrics need Asian text support installed (Windows). I didn't translate them, so I didn't even check them.

Update 2: If you want to watch episode 11, grab a RAW and get the pre-release subtitles from Kiss-Fan's pastebin.

Update 3: Alright. I found a major goof. Version 2.