The fall of anime subtitles is just depressing.

Tile pretty much sums it up, watching the latest episode of You and **I Are Polar Opposites**, paused 10 minutes into it and just holding my head in my hands.

Between on screen Japanese text not being translated, paceholders stating the freaking obvious (*Yes I can see and hear the character laughing you don't need to tell me*) and multiple lines of text popping up for a few seconds in a conversation making it impossible to follow. I get the translation can't be 1 : 1 but cmon, seriously rizz??? That's what the localisation team thought to put in.

It's truly wondrous how you can watch an anime from 10 years ago, with both the OP & ED having been subbed with readable typesetting, along with all the onscreen text in Japanese having its translation and the subtitles making sense and not popping on and off like a rabbit.

Leave it to CR to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get their money's worth out of you as if AI wasn't bad enough.

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Commentaires

tapeforpacking2026-01-31 23:25

What was the japanese word they translated into "rizz"? Maybe it was legitimately rizz or something equivalent idk

hanr102026-02-01 00:38

I’m not watching the show, but I was curious so I went to check and, tbf to OP she just says かっこいい which is a normal, everyday expression. But they do speak like teenagers so

(the entire line is ちょっと悪い雰囲気ある人にかっこいいって惹かれる気持ちわかっちゃうんだよな~, translated to "They've got that "I'm damaged, fix me" rizz)

That said, judging only from the little bit I watched, ~~I can understand the complaint about the closed captions. They’re definitely on the.. liberal side and weirdly synced~~ (which is normal since it's synced to the dub I should wake up before typing a comment). But yeah the English subs are closer to the original Japanese

fizzypepper2026-01-31 23:25

Are you watching it subbed in a language other than English? Because I don’t recall anything you mentioned being a problem when I watched it (Crunchyroll app on Roku TV.)

thesmallprints2026-01-31 23:26

–“Between on screen Japanese text not being translated, paceholders stating the freaking obvious (Yes I can see and hear the character laughing you don't need to tell me)”

I’m sorry, but if this is happening, that’s closed captioning, not subtitles.

DAFA0072026-01-31 23:30

Yes they’re talking about Closed Captioning 🤣

TurkeyPhat2026-01-31 23:48

> I’m sorry, but if this is happening, that’s closed captioning, not subtitles.

I've noticed streamers making this the standard option and you have to go in and change it to "proper" subtitles manually

idk why the fuck they do this. also some of them only have CC if you watch on a tv vs web browser (looking at you crunchyroll)

GhostInABucketJar2026-01-31 23:55

Wait fr? This would explain a lot as I got my new TV setup yesterday.

Is there a workaround or am I stuck with CC?

mudda-hello2026-02-01 00:21

Sounds like you're a dub watcher which sadly you get one or the other when comes it having either text translations or Closed Captions unless you break the app in a way that gets you both.

If you're watching in Japanese audio but through their "channel" platform like on Prime or Roku, you'll run into limited subtitle presentation because of their restrictions. I highly recommend just using the CR app directly insted. If you subbed through Prime you can at least link your accounts to directly use the CR app instead of watching through Prime.

sabishi_daioh2026-02-01 01:43

It's not one or the other it's just inconsistent. Onscreen text translation exists for some episodes of some shows as a sub track, sometimes it's burned into the video, sometimes it's not there at all, sometimes it's added later, sometimes it never gets fixed.

dxzxg2026-02-01 02:36

I mean, this season has been pretty consistent on CR. Most of the seasonal animes have on-screen translations when watching with sub for every episode so far (CR app). I am watching them on release day and on-screen translations are present then already.
Last season was a different story.

sabishi_daioh2026-02-01 01:39

If it's the Crunchyroll app you should be able to just turn off closed captions by doing something like hitting the arrows on your remote while the episode's playing, going to the gear to change settings, and then adjusting the language/subtitle settings. This is also where you go to turn off autoplay. However, if you're watching the dub and are caught up there's a *different* infuriating problem where the onscreen text isn't translated *at all* when the new episode gets released and is then usually quietly added later which kind of defeats the purpose of the dub landing day and date with the sub. And the show has a *lot* of onscreen text so it's sort of a problem...

garfe2026-02-01 04:05

OP, you may want to edit your OP post to make it clear you realized that this was regarding the Closed Captioning and not the actual subtitles.

Ektris2026-02-01 03:13

Then there's Hulu/Disney+ which just really _only_ have CC for English. It's so dang annoying.

Shimmering-Sky2026-02-01 04:15

Hulu actually uses proper subtitles (at least according to the rips from that site I used for Ishura S2 and what I've heard about Medalist), it's just Disney+ that uses exclusively dubtitles. Which makes it all the stranger since you'd think if they had proper subs available for *one* platform, they'd have them for the other.

melcarba2026-02-01 09:08

Problem is that Hulu is US-only while Disney+ is worldwide. Basically, they're screwing those outside the US. On the other hand, if you're unironically paying for Disney+ and not pirating their shows, you're an idiot.

maddoxprops2026-02-01 04:25

That bullshit lead to me finding a couple shows via alternate methods despite having a subscription to both services.

Life_Is_A_Mistry2026-02-01 00:30

*laughs in Japanese*

Prof_Acorn2026-02-01 01:53

はははは

APRengar2026-02-01 02:25

grassgrassgrassgrassgrass

Chukonoku2026-02-01 02:42

wwwwwww

alotmorealots2026-02-01 07:49

nihahaha!

kufufu!

pahyahya!

nyhuhuhu!

MadCybertist2026-02-01 02:01

Which serves a great purpose. Can’t imagine complaining about that.

No_Cockroach24672026-01-31 23:29

>I get the translation can't be 1 : 1 but cmon, seriously rizz??? That's what the localisation team thought to put in.

You telling me they had modern day kids use modern day slang?

What has the world come to.

particledamage2026-01-31 23:33

Yeah. Localization is difficult and there’s room for criticism but using equivalent slang makes perfect sense.

choicemeats2026-01-31 23:38

It’s my job and the stuff that goes on for the smallest things is insane

abxYenway2026-02-01 00:09

Every anime with teenagers should have them using 90s slang. That's the era when I was a teenager, so 90s slang is the correct and normal choice. Any attempt to use slang from after my teenage years is artificial, forced, and, if I'm feeling angry enough, "woke."

pandachef_reads2026-02-01 01:46

Obviously this is a joke, but I think I’d rather have older people complain about new things than young people complaining about things being outdated

APRengar2026-02-01 02:35

My biggest annoyance at the "JUST TRANSLATE, DON'T LOCALIZE" crowd is they're very picky and choosey.

I've run a few tests and the people who say "DON'T LOCALIZE" all liked the Gushing Over Magical Girls localization.

https://old.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/1fpy2ww/how_kiwi_joined_the_dark_side_gushing_over/

NSFW of course, but you can check out this clip, where the subtitles ABSOLUTELY do not match the spoken lines, but you can see in the comments people love the localization choices.

So it just ultimately becomes "if I like it, then it's good" "if I don't like it, then it's bad" and not some hard rule against localization, but they'll continually say "no, it IS a hard rule against localization". I dunno why they can't just admit "if it like it, then it's good" is their actual belief because I'd respect them more if they just said that.

Humg122026-02-01 11:52

In the comment section of that clip you have people complaining about it? In an ideal world there'd be different subtitle options to match people's preferences, but official subs are just too fast for anyone to compete so people who like the other kind are just screwed.

normalmighty2026-02-01 02:10

Sometimes it really feels like most of the localisation=bad crowd have genuinely never internalised that kids inventing new slang is not somehow a uniquely English phenomenon, and shows in other languages will use slang in those languages.

DrStein10102026-02-01 05:42

It feels like it. They seem to think Japanese is this sacred language that only follows strict laws.

testthrowawayzz2026-02-01 04:33

and not unique to CR's English subs. I have seen Aniplus localize their non-English subs too.

LilSopa__2026-01-31 23:34

[deleted]

absolutezero1322026-01-31 23:36

I haven't seen the episode so can't comment, but if they're translating modern Japanese slang equivalent to "rizz" that will also age terribly... what's the problem? Old shows/movies have old slang, welcome to media.

LilSopa__2026-01-31 23:41

[deleted]

absolutezero1322026-01-31 23:48

Look I'm really not trying to be an ass or be condescending but... If you want to participate in pop culture you are going to have to be okay with being subjected to the slang of people who are younger than you. It's part of getting older.

LilSopa__2026-01-31 23:50

[deleted]

absolutezero1322026-01-31 23:55

Adapting modern day japanese slang as "rizz" or similar is a faithful adaptation. If you're against that, you're against faithful adaptations. If that makes me a bigot, I'm a bigot I guess, but then again that's not the same as saying your opinion is invalid.

decepticons22026-01-31 23:57

Question is did author use that slang, or did translator take creative liberties? When they take these liberties do they tend to increase or decrease viewership? Does this grow audiences? Is not part of the appeal is that it is not western culture?

We are probably not a good judge. We are on r/anime so we are probably a little bias. But if translation had not improved from the way it was in the 80s to where it was late 90s early 2000s anime would still be a niche thing.

Gingingin1002026-01-31 23:53

Okay but skibidi toilet is not slang

It's a referencial meme

If it's not in the source of song end up in the translation

TheMacarooniGuy2026-01-31 23:44

There's a bit of a difference however when we're *translating* things with subtitles. We do not have the same information gained through pure audio and context to gain what someone means when we can largely only *read* ourselves to an understanding of words.

I think "rizz" has come to a point where it's sort-of accepted today and not as memey. But if one'd use another similar word that hasn't, a person in 5-10 years who wasn't old enough to be able to pick it up at the time of its usage might struggle to understand, which could be problematic. The words we use need to have "stuck" in some way in translations which isn't necessary to the same degree when one does not need to rely on subtitles.

absolutezero1322026-01-31 23:52

I mean yeah I can agree with that to an extent, I don't think it'd be smart to use completely transient tik-tok slang like SDIYBT or some shit. But like you said rizz has already kind of "stuck". Sure, in 30 years it might have completely faded from use and be hard for people to understand but that's just the way of things, you can experience similar lack of understanding watching movies from the 70s.

ToastyMozart2026-01-31 23:59

> But if one'd use another similar word that hasn't, a person in 5-10 years who wasn't old enough to be able to pick it up at the time of its usage might struggle to understand, which could be problematic.

God forbid they learn something. Nobody uses "tubular" these days but nobody's shocked or confused to hear it in a show set and written in the 70s.

TheMacarooniGuy2026-02-01 00:31

The comment I wrote isn't criticizing the use of slang in translation.

tillidelete2026-01-31 23:49

The point is that slang is evolving at a faster rate, due to social media, Rizz may not last the decade.

absolutezero1322026-01-31 23:55

But the same is true in Japan. I don't see the problem.

myreq2026-02-01 00:02

So what should they translate the Japanese word for "rizz" as that would convey its meant to be modern slang while being timeless?

DrStein10102026-02-01 00:12

Okay. The same goes for a lot of Japanese slang.

That's the whole point of period-accurate slang.

particledamage2026-01-31 23:41

All modern language is at risk for aging terribly. Being of your time isn’t a bad thing. Not all media has to be absolutely timeless

LilSopa__2026-01-31 23:43

[deleted]

particledamage2026-01-31 23:45

Rizz has been a popular word for years now.

And the truth is teenagers engage in short term trends. Doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be depicted.

LilSopa__2026-01-31 23:48

[deleted]

particledamage2026-01-31 23:49

And teenagers still use cringe language. It’s okay to cringe at teenagers sometimes.

LilSopa__2026-01-31 23:51

Of course? I'm just saying that it's a valid opinion to be against it and this guy is acting like it wasn't, nothing else.

logicblender12026-01-31 23:48

Anime is meant for it's time. It's meant to age. If someone watches this 30 years from now and they see the word "rizz," that gives them a snapshot into how life was when the show came out. Who cares if it "ages terribly?" It's not made for any time but now.

LilSopa__2026-01-31 23:54

Yall are missing the point. Im just saying that it's valid to be against it and this guy's acting like it's not. It's valid to be in favour of it too. Not you in specific but redditors that act like only their opinion matter are cringe af.

DrStein10102026-02-01 00:15

I love Polar Opposites (early manga reader), but at no point is it ever trying to be the next Shakespeare.

It depicts a specific image of a specific place and time. It's not *meant* to stay universally relevant for the next 100 years.

Some people can't process that, for some reason.

DrStein10102026-02-01 00:11

It won't age terribly, because the show takes place in the early 2020s.

That's like saying Huck Finn aged terribly because it uses old-timey language.

tonemocrosam2026-01-31 23:38

Something something sigma

CrashDunning2026-02-01 00:00

I think people’s issue with it is that no one in Japan says rizz. Thats entirely an anglosphere thing, so it makes no sense and takes you out of it. Sometimes it has to be done, but a lot of time it’s done, it doesn’t have to be.

DrStein10102026-02-01 00:10

Yeah. They use Japanese-equivalent slang.

Why would the translators awkwardly cram Japanese phrases into a dub script instead of localizing to an English equivalent?

Zale13x2026-02-01 00:17

>Why would the translators awkwardly crap Japanese phrases into a dub script instead of localizing to an English equivalent?

それな!

Policeman3332026-02-01 00:59

>They use Japanese-equivalent slang.

But they don't.

More often than not, they take a niche joke or reference, even by Japanese standards, or memes only used on 2ch, and in the English version they will use the most widely popular phrase/reference/slang possible.

>Why would the translators awkwardly cram Japanese phrases into a dub script instead of localizing to an English equivalent?

The translators always go for the most widely known slang, not the one that makes sense. The actual original script is not targeting a general audience more often than not, but the English script tries to go for the most mainstream appeal possible and thats why it falls flat and is awkward itself.

particledamage2026-02-01 00:32

Localization is just that… local slang

Prof_Acorn2026-02-01 00:10

Do kids these days say things like "I'm a total chud" "whoa there cowboy" "I am shooketh"?

Bluepanther5122026-02-01 03:49

They doth sayeth the darndeth thangs

NewSauerKraus2026-02-01 08:16

What, you egg?

Pale_Letterhead40342026-02-01 07:16

chud made such a giant resurgence recently and id know as a teacher

Brief-Number79362026-02-01 10:31

Nope. It is tumblr internet humor. People don't actually talk like that to each other, unless they're being ironic.

Bluepanther5122026-02-01 03:46

Can’t believe they don’t literally translate the Japanese slang and use English slang instead </3

sonicjr2026-01-31 23:34

I remember when I started watching Gintama the subs were so good at localizing the more obscure cultural/political jokes, and even when they couldn't there would be a note in the subtitles explaining the reference so the audience could follow along.

Granted they were fansubs I think, but there isn't even half that level of dedication from the official subbers today unfortunately.

ZealousidealMonk84872026-01-31 23:46

Gintama has the best subtitles of any show on CR by far

InternationalReserve2026-02-01 00:43

official subbers get paid fuck all and are given crazy deadlines, I don't really blame them for not being able to show the same level of care.

sonicjr2026-02-01 00:45

True, it isn't really the subbers' fault it's the system they have to operate in

PersonOfLazyness2026-01-31 23:34

It might be because I wasn't watching the english version, but the subtitles were working fine for me

Are you sure you were using the normal subtitles and not the Closed Captions?

Zonse2026-02-01 00:47

It's amazing to me how the subs get significantly worse when watching the English dubs of just about anything on crunchyroll. On screen text is NEVER translated, when it generally is if you're watching the Japanese sub.

profdeadpool2026-02-01 05:05

To be fair, closed captioning should also have the on screen text translated.

DustySofa2026-01-31 23:34

Fix your settings

giitaru-kun2026-01-31 23:35

I heard it varies between Japanese audio and English audio... for some reason the typesetting isn't the same.

blakeavon2026-01-31 23:38

You are explain closed captions they exist for people with certain disabilities. So you maybe be able to see and hear them, so people can’t to varying degrees, so that is why they are like that.

As for a general ‘fall’ across anime? That is hyperbole. I can’t remember a single time in the last few weeks that I have had an issue with any subtitle. Pretty much most on screen Japanese text was translated, and remember that normally comes from the makers not the people who do translation.

vanty2026-01-31 23:40

This show has the most typesetting action of anything I've seen on Crunchyroll maybe ever. You definitely have it on the wrong settings.

Concrete-grapefruit2026-02-01 01:05

I was lowkey surprised by how much typesetting it has! It’s either this or Tamon’s B Side where the credits actually listed (and typeset) the typesetter

dxzxg2026-02-01 02:38

Yep. Even a different color for the subtitle when there is a background character speaking loudly enough.

throwaway_9768212026-02-01 02:50

The show's translation has been so good, with a huge amount of effort very clearly put into translating virtually everything that appears on screen from signs to effects, and typesetting everything to a degree i've honestly not really seen before.

Like.... isn't this what people want? I feel like if the response to something like this is that you just get a 600+ upvote thread trashing the translation and calling it "bottom of the barrel" sub-AI garbage anyway, you're basically incentivizing them to never bother putting this much effort into the translation/subtitling again.

garfe2026-02-01 04:04

> Like.... isn't this what people want? I feel like if the response to something like this is that you just get a 600+ upvote thread trashing the translation and calling it "bottom of the barrel" sub-AI garbage anyway, you're basically incentivizing them to never bother putting this much effort into the translation/subtitling again.

From the way they described it, I think OP made this thread using the Closed Captioning option instead of the actual subtitles and people who didn't watch the show but hate Crunchyroll are responding in kind

melcarba2026-02-01 06:01

But how can I farm karma when I'm not shitting on Crunchyroll?

Ordinal43NotFound2026-02-01 03:06

I was about to say lol, I think OP here's using dubtitles.

The subs actually bothered to fully translate and even typeset the on-screen texts which is a huge part of the manga's charm.

FrozenHaystack2026-02-01 03:40

Probably. If you set the audio to "Japanese" CR offers you "English" subtitiles. If you set the audio to "English" CR offers you "English [CC]" and "English". And as far as I remember the normal English sub does not include mentions like "[People laugh]".

melcarba2026-02-01 06:00

And this thread has like 900+ upvotes. Yes, a rant based on OP being stupid not to check his subtitle settings properly.

frik10002026-02-01 08:49

1.1k upvotes and rising since two hours ago, all on a post based on misinformation and incompetence on the OPs part on not properly setting up their subtitles.

Sucks to happen to any show, sucks even more for a show like Polar Opposites which actually has excellent subs.

Galinhooo2026-02-01 10:50

I hope this type of interaction doesn't send them the wrong message, since people will complain even when you put effort and not check for the truth, why bother?

spubbbba2026-02-01 11:19

The annoying thing about dubs is that a lot of the time they don't have translations for onscreen text. Which is a shame as the English cast is really good.

I've had to turn on subtitles for English dubs to get round this. Though sometimes they go too far and translate every sign in the background, which can mean I miss stuff that actually matters.

SnooTangerines68632026-01-31 23:43

Why

marioquartz2026-02-01 00:01

he have choose Closed Caption. NOT SUBTITLES.

chili012026-01-31 23:43

Miss the fansubs, whether they were good, bad, and troll, I loved them.

ZealousidealMonk84872026-01-31 23:45

Subtitles are different than closed captioning. There shouldn't be indications that a character is laughing or whatever.

MythicalSenpai2026-02-01 01:59

Those are SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing). They do serve a purpose but for an average person they don't mean anything unless you're watching it with no volume.

TheNorseFrog2026-02-01 03:22

In my experience, most American stuff only offers CC, which is insane to me. I haven't been on CrubchyRoll for a while but used Netflix a bunch, and they almost never bother adding plain English subs unless it's an anime.

Hard of hearing ppl should be able to select CC but don't force the rest of us to read subs that constantly spam "pants" and even more ridiculous music descriptions (to me it's ridiculous, never said HoH don't deserve them).

Sorry but I had to rant bc I've never ever seen anyone else complain about this.

AFAIK Netflix got sued by s few HoH people in the US (bc America) for not having Closed Captions and started prioritizing it from there on out.
I've only seen breaking bad have plain English in the past, then they removed it(!). Only better call Saul has eng now. HBO has both for Peacemaker.

Anyway, after managing to learn a bit of japanese, I've started noticing that subs suck for japanese. I even started nit-picking in the new Yakuza 3 demo, tho for all I know I'm still new at it.
Subs not matching what's being said is ridiculous.

Unless OP is talking about dub subtitles lol. Oh how I love when the eng subs don't fit what's being said lol.
If I'm wrong/ignorant about anything else, I apologize.

mudda-hello2026-02-01 04:06

>Subs not matching what's being said is ridiculous.

This had me thinking... has there ever been a game that serves a different translated script if you're playing it in its original audio rather than getting essentially "dubtitles"?

Can't really think of any from the games I've played and it would be nice if devs could fork over the extra time and money to localizers for a second script straight from the source language.

HexaShadow132026-02-01 04:57

The game Judgement does this. There was one script made for English subs for the Japanese voices, and a separate script made for the English dub.

teateateateaisking2026-02-01 09:00

Some Yakuza games do that.

ChaoCobo2026-02-01 09:06

The final fantasy series is in dire need of this. I had to abandon my playthrough of FF7 remake because I was getting mental whiplash from reading things that were not being said while hearing something else. Yet whenever I mention this in the final fantasy sub, I just get called a worthless weeb. It’s frustrating. And it’s extra frustrating when square doesn’t even try to keep the same topic of conversation sometimes.

Slubberdegullion692026-02-01 03:40

Disney plus added most of the macross content with the only subtitles being closed captioned. I tried watching macross plus there and just couldn’t do it.

Zizhou2026-02-01 05:24

Oh my god, are you serious? The franchise gets out of Harmony Gold limbo after god knows how long, and now that's finally available legally, they end up treating it like *that*?

Slubberdegullion692026-02-01 09:50

They don’t have the original series, just everything else macross.

bajungadustin2026-02-01 09:02

Mostly in America subtitles are only offered in other languages... English subs are almost always CC which is massively annoying. Which is why I go for dubs whenever possible.

Western-Internal-7512026-01-31 23:45

Today OP learned what the CC stands for

IrishHambo2026-02-01 00:16

*shocked Pikachu face*

ThePeToFile2026-02-01 00:45

OP forgot about deaf people lmao

makuXrosu2026-02-01 00:49

"The more you know"

alotmorealots2026-02-01 07:50

This is the first step to acquiring your own Geass.

Xiximaro2026-01-31 23:46

Go watch Naruto, Bleach, Gintama fansubs and you will see what is art and care.

Nowadays is just garbadge, mistranslations and dumb localizations... They can screw up all they because sooner or later they will be out of jobes

BiomassDenial2026-01-31 23:46

Best localisation I have ever watched is a Fansubbed version of the first couple of seasons of Monogatari.

The show itself is textually/conversationally dense, relies on wordplay, has a lot of random text on screen at weird angles and laid over the scenery, and as snapshot splash screens.

Despite this translated and typeset everything at the correct angles and colours. It's truly an exceptional piece of work.

Left-Night-11252026-01-31 23:47

Just learn German watch the show in that language, or learn Japanese.

German dub is near identical to the source so you dont have to worry about weird English translations.

Both cases allows you to turn off subs.

marioquartz2026-02-01 00:03

"Weird translations" is how profesional translator do their job. Literal translation is not doing a good job. So you want shitty job.

Left-Night-11252026-02-01 00:06

No i just want people to do a better job, and at this point and time the German translation of anime is better than the English one.

The English one is the shitty one.

jomb2026-01-31 23:48

Honestly I do miss the days when every OP/ED had karaoke subs in 3 different formats, Japanese, Romaji, and English.

xChaoLan2026-02-01 02:52

Those are exclusive to fansubs. You will literally never see them on any official media.

HiddenArmy2026-02-01 02:57

Some anime picked by sentai have romaji sometimes, but it's indeed rare.

Eagle13372026-02-01 04:59

Which is mostly just hidive.

glocks4interns2026-02-01 05:36

next you're going to tell me official subs didn't have a bouncing ball going across the OP subtitles

jomb2026-02-01 07:15

Yes I was indeed saying I miss fansubs.

green_meklar2026-01-31 23:49

And yet we're told that fansubs and piracy ruin anime by stealing from hardworking artists or whatever. Which artists worked hard on those atrocious AI slop subtitles, exactly?

Copyright always does this. Monopoly economics always does this. Enshittification isn't an accident, *it's the business model.* It's how you make money when you don't have to compete. People need to genuinely understand this and stop defending it.

Apprehensive_Shoe_862026-01-31 23:50

rizz was the world of the year in the oxford dictionary of 2023 ,you may not like it but it is a word like any other

Mr_Fondue2026-01-31 23:54

Just according to keikaku (keikaku means plan).

keznaa2026-01-31 23:56

I cancelled Crunchyroll a few months ago. They seem to have forgotten they are mainly doing business outside of Japan and non Japanese subs and captions are actually necessary

iiixcdrop2026-02-01 00:00

We all know what kind of site ur using now lol

Rotorscope2026-02-01 00:03

This post is so cringe, which is exactly why it's going to the front page

Terry___Mcginnis2026-02-01 00:04

Crunchyroll paid, censored and with shit subtitles or blu-ray rip with no censorship and better community made subtitles. Which way western man?

FetchFrosh2026-02-01 00:29

> and better community made subtitles

95% of the time these are just Crunchyroll's subtitles again.

Terry___Mcginnis2026-02-01 00:38

They add close captions to anything written on the screen at least. Text messages but also any sign, board or anything written at all.

Prof_Acorn2026-02-01 00:05

You probably got the dubtitles (closed captioning on the dub).

Here's a comparison:

Polar Opposites

>Dub

Sub

---

---

---

>Nah, unfortunately I've got a type and it's toxic tools across the board. I meet someone. I think he's the one. Boom. Psychopath.

No really, I only ever fall in love with scum. Whenever I get that "oh my!" from a first impression the guy is always scum.

.

>It's heavy stuff. We just got here.

It's the first thing in the morning. What are you talking about?

.

>It's never too early to lift up our friends and help them find romance. Come on, Azuma, tell him!

We're talking about how Azu can't find herself a happy romance.

.

>Maybe dying alone is what I deserve for finding good people unsexy.

I just don't get a yummy vibe from honest men.

.

.

.

>Tani, hi, how's your desk?

Tani -kun, good morning!

.

>Hello.

Hello.

.

>Damage control mode.

She's an idiot.

.

.

.

>Whoa a fluffy!

Is that from the movie?

.

>OMG we match!

Mine's over here!

.

>I smell a waft of love stank!

Stop wafting hints this way!

.

>Love stank?

Waft?

.

>Oh that reminds me, did you take any pics?

Oh, that's right! Suzuki, what about pictures?

.

>Um, no, what are even those?

W-we didn't take any...

.

>Okay, liar.

Definitely a lie.

.

>We took one.

Photo?

.

>Et tu, Tani?

Tani-kun, shh!

.

.

.

>It's so hot today. I need a drink. Uh?

Ugh, so hot... Vending machine...

.

>Are you trying to beat the heat too?

Hey! Sup, Tai
ra!

.

>Hey, Susuki!

Sup.

.

>You're out of luck if you wanted a Reality Strong Gold. Your girl just cleaned them all out.

Sorry if you wanted a Realty Strong Gold. I just got the last one.

.

>Have at it. I don't drink that garbage.

I don't drink junk like that.

.

>Oh, but the fizzies.

What? But it's so good though.

.

.

.

>Were you shooketh?

Did I surprise you?

.

.

.

>And now I'm eavesdropping on them like a total chud.

It pains me, but I can't help overhearing.

.

.

.

>Hold your freakin' horses cowboy!

Wait wait wait right there!

.

.

.

>Whoa, look at you getting down and dirty!

Whoa, look at you digging in!

.

.

.

>You have a bedroom you freak!

Don't lie down in the hallway.

.

>Right. Forgot.

Oh, Nii-chan.

Guaymaster2026-02-01 01:04

> > Hello.
>
> Hello.

How dare the localizers ruin it like this

doquan21422026-02-01 03:30

The dub is really good. That "Boom. Psycopath." got me every time.

272b2026-02-01 07:30

Not gonna lie, some of these are awful. Almost as if they're written by a tiktoker or something.

Like, who the heck even says crap like "but the fizzies"?

Prof_Acorn2026-02-01 07:40

Yeah these make her sound kinda dumb and airheaded.

Maliblue132026-02-01 07:59

TBH, I've never heard an actual teenager talk like this, and I use public transportation so I encounter kids getting out of school pretty damn often. Kids say some annoying stuff for sure always been that way but. IDK I've never heard anybody verbally use this "Gen Z" slang. Kind of crazy to see it labeled this as an approaching 30 Gen Z, too. We have completely forgotten about Gen Alpha I guess.

lalala-lavieenrose2026-02-01 00:08

i don't watch this show, so i can't see for myself - do you know what word they translated as rizz, or a timestamp for where they said it so i can check it out for myself?

because whenever i see this complaint i do wonder... you guys know that japanese teens *do* have their own slang words like rizz, right?? and those slang words *are* used in anime. and if this is an anime about japanese highschoolers, i wouldn't be surprised if they actually were using some of those terms.

a few seasons ago there was a lot of complaining about the panty and stocking subtitles and how they were choosing to translate the polypoly brothers' speech - they were using a lot of modern, tiktok, gen z slang. but the thing is, as someone that speaks some japanese.... that *is* how the boys were actually talking! they were using a ton of japanese teenage slang, like 'ukeru', 'pien', 'gachi' and 'kimoi' - i think more, but that's what i remember. trying to translate their speech into 'proper' english would have actually been the incorrect translation!

i don't know if that's what's happened here, specifically, but it's something that's important to note when people complain about localisation.

DrStein10102026-02-01 00:19

It's the same issue as MHA translating obscure gyaru phrases into Gen Z brainrot.

Yes, this IS accurate translation. Your inability to understand the Japanese doesn't mean that it's smarter than the dumb slang you *do* know.

MVRKHNTR2026-02-01 04:44

The alternative is something like [this scene from Umamusume](https://youtu.be/QmPXOHEzSD8) where they either chose to try to directly translate what this character was saying or make up their own slang to communicate the same idea and it just comes off as nonsense.

Later translations of the character just have her use Gen Z slang and everyone seems to agree that that's much better.

DrStein10102026-02-01 05:30

Yeah, not only is that not actual slang, it's outright incomprehensible. It doesn't even *sound* like actual slang.

It both misses the point of her using gyaru-speak AND it's impossible to understand.

American Gen Z slang and Japanese Gen Z gyaru slang aren't 1 to 1, but it's close enough.

paperiveitsi2026-02-01 01:27

according to another comment:
ちょっと悪い雰囲気ある人にかっこいいって惹かれる気持ちわかっちゃうんだよな〜

translated into:
"They've got that 'I'm damaged, fix me' rizz."

what'd be less cringe, i think:
"I totally get the bad boy appeal."
"I totally get the appeal of bad boys."
"I get why people fall for the bad boy type."
"I get being drawn to that dangerous vibe."

mucklaenthusiast2026-02-01 11:41

My friend, do you think people think before complaining about subtitles?

No, it's just culture war.
Any subtitle that does not confirm that there are only two genders is immediately wrong.
Similarly, Japanese can't use the word "rizz" because OP think that's bad and of course OP knows best (he doesn't speak a single word of Japanese).

This seriously grinds my gears, like...genuinely.

It's so incredibly entitled and narcissistic to think a person who doesn't speak a single word of Japanese would know better than professional translators, not to mention it's mostly used for right-wing propaganda on twitter, but that's besides the point.

actuallyrndthoughts2026-02-01 00:09

Learn Japanese to never rely on bad subs, there you go.

WriterSharp2026-02-01 00:14

>placeholders

Inglorious Basterds meme

McLovett3252026-02-01 00:23

I just miss when Bleach would translate the english meaning of attack names, and zanpakuto names

It's so cool when series tell you what the Japanese or Spanish or German means!

CuntJab2026-02-01 00:25

I agree, but this wouldn't be my example of subs being so low quality these days. Medalist would be my recent pick. That shit is genuinely fucking unwatchable.

STYL3D2026-02-01 00:49

So you're talking about CC, but this is a great post for just the title because Crunchyroll (the industry leaders in subtitles) recently got rid of their professional subtitle artists to replace them with underpaid workers using a more simple ai driven software.

Silcaria2026-02-01 00:54

*laugh in ARR subs.*

BigWillBlue2026-02-01 01:08

There will not be a new subbed episode for a few more days, and as others suspect, I bet you have closed captions on the dub. The translation of the sub is much better than the localization of the dub for this anime, and also in general.

You are right though. Subs quality in general has been in decline. Often times the fansubs in torrents of shows are much better than official releases on CR, HiDive, Netflix, and Disney+. Not only in how they appear on screen, but also the quality of the translation itself.

Crunchyroll bought up a bunch of the competition and then revved up the enshitification. Removing the comment sections so people couldn't complain, releasing episodes late, horrible UI changes to the site, terrible localizations and/or subtitles ... That's how the slippery slope goes I guess. The future of anime sometimes looks bleak, but fansubs are still going strong - they are doing gods work.

I wish companies were incentivized to better work, and hire the kind of people who care

lord_phantom_pl2026-02-01 01:09

Most people here don’t even know how standard fansubs looked like before crunchy roll. We had karaoke with sylabes appearing with fancy animation. Subtitles were colorful. Sonetimes subtitles were matched so perfectly they blended into the anime itself. Subtitles contained TL notes so the community were being educated with actual culture instead of replacing it with forced localization or straight up propaganda. There were even joke tracks like in Girls und Panzer where characters were saying obvious stuff like „hai” they inserted german „ja” (but it was a troll release). If episode was cancelled, we were pranked and downloaded different anime with troll subs. Peak time.

Comrade_SOOKIE2026-02-01 01:22

legit the subs on Hunter x Hunter are so good i can sing along to the songs in two languages. now you’re lucky if there’s even a sentence without a typo in it.

Muffin-zetta2026-02-01 01:27

Cool I’m just going to hit this block button now

zenoob2026-02-01 01:35

> rizz???

Slang also exists in Japanese and you don't catch up on it. It's non-negligeable characterization and it makes sense to adapt to the target language. I don't know what you're complaining about on this one.

xzerozeroninex2026-02-01 01:54

That’s close caption though (Netflix does the same) and not standard subtitles.

LemonRemon2026-02-01 01:56

The amount of times I need to pause while watching jjk on Netflix when the culling game rules are shown. Despicable

GobolinPrincess2026-02-01 05:10

I was going insane watching them shuffle the order of foreground dialogue, background dialogue, and written information

Torque-A2026-02-01 02:01

[Today I will remind them](https://youtube.com/shorts/ty_70Kh9Ows?si=LAshg6SQ74uNm-_s)

mr_quincy272026-02-01 02:07

Am I the only one not noticing anything?

InfinitePluribius2026-02-01 02:09

OG subtitling by fansub groups have been superior to official subs even during the early days (aka Love Hina). During the old days, we even had animated subs with sing-a-long!

Kiwiibean2026-02-01 02:51

I’ve noticed this a lot with CR anime - text on screen isn’t translated if you are watching with subs, but it is if you are watching it dubbed. I prefer the sound of the original language so I often have to switch to dubbed just to see what it says 😖

greenfrogwallet2026-02-01 03:00

Bring back those loaded with passion Naruto style fansubs where they’d make Hidan start swearing every sentence and stylise and add effects to all the Jutsu names

AnActualCannibal2026-02-01 03:06

It sounds like you are watching with closed captions, not subtitles. CC is usually not great, which sucks for deaf people.

its_real_I_swear2026-02-01 03:26

You don't think they have teenager slang in Japan? I haven't watched the show so I'm not commenting on that particular translation, but saying rizz isn't automatically wrong

Auctoritate2026-02-01 07:27

Throwback to the Nagatoro localization 'controversy' where there was a line in which Nagatoro calls something suspicious by literally shortening the Japanese word for suspicious, and when it was translated as 'sus' a large section of the internet absolutely lost their shit at how unfaithful and obviously meme-y the localizer was being in doing so.

Despite it being a translation which was basically direct *and* accurate to the essence and flow of the dialogue itself. AKA the ideal.

FetchFrosh2026-02-01 13:38

A lot of Nagatoro fans seemingly wanted a controversy over the narrative when it began, and when they didn't get that they took matters into their own hands :P

Kadmos12026-02-01 14:36

Camie from "MHA" comes to mind. Even in the Japanese version, her *gyaru*\-type slang is hard for various characters to understand.

Born_Apartment95312026-02-01 03:35

My only issue with the subs is sometimes they can be delayed or outta sync with what's actually bein spoken

GreenwayHunter2026-02-01 03:49

I just got done watching episode one of you and I are polar opposites. I watched the English dub. I think people in charge of selecting the voice talent did a great job with the casting of Suzuki. As her voice is so wacky, I feel like Celeste Prez nails personality instantly from the moment of her first few lines. Which when contrasted with Tani’s voice actor’, Brandon-Acosta, dead pan delivery making the show absolutely pop comedy wise.

I’m starting back reacting to anime after a year and I can tell you after my last video had me more focused on reading more than actually enjoying the anime itself. I am glad that I decided to go with the English dub this time. As I can tell that the show is going to be very dialogue heavy and therefore I don’t need to waste trying to figure out what a character just said because the subtitles are convoluted/moving too fast.

I feel like and dialogue heavy shows one needs to be able to pick up on the salt tea in a conversation way faster than if it were an action anime. As one missed step and understanding what a character is trying to say can leave the viewer completely confused and out of the story’s emersion.

I know that may seem like a skill issue to people, but it greatly enhances my ability to enjoy anime. I will still watch a subbed version if the show hasn’t gotten an English dub yet.

garfe2026-02-01 04:02

While you have a point, I think you're looking at the wrong subtitles because I haven't had those issues with Crunchyroll. They typesetted basically everything.

kjloltoborami2026-02-01 04:26

Domain expansion: malevolent kitchen

Professional_Ad_60382026-02-01 04:37

I like dub

Rossum812026-02-01 05:08

What I miss was when you could have the translated subtitles on while watching the English dub. That way I can get the benefits of closed captioning while having the subtleties of a more strict translation. It also helped to have the Japanese text that’s on the screen translated.

MiyabiMain952026-02-01 05:13

> I get the translation can't be 1 : 1

why not? You pay for the service, you should get top-quality translations, not some unfiltered trash

maccam942026-02-01 05:17

Crunchyroll cannot seem to remember my global preference for Japanese audio and English subtitles. Every time I start a series, I have to toggle the audio language again. I would not be surprised if the OP doesn't know that the subtitles and dubtitles are different.

Due-Doughnut-91102026-02-01 05:17

It’s cause of ai. Hate the absolute disrespect towards the work

AlexNae2026-02-01 05:21

Just pray that AI will get better eventually, and there is a learning curve, complaining won't help as it's pretty much a monopoly, they don't and won't listen to poeple.

Either boycott and stick to "other sources" to watch anime, or learn Japanese.

Granide2026-02-01 06:21

People already talked to you about the CC so i'm gonna talk about the slangs. Honestly, i'm fine with it.

Slangs have always been used in translations, yes, even on fan translators era. For example, it's been widely accepted to just translate gyaruspeak into valley girl accent, which got a lot of slangs. Do you have a problem with that too?

I don't have any personally

porpoiseoflife2026-02-01 07:05

>it's been widely accepted to just translate gyaruspeak into valley girl accent

See ref: Oshiete Galko-chan!

Warcraft_Fan2026-02-01 06:25

I miss the fansubs of 20+ years ago. They usually translated exact and usually put up TL explaining the joke or cultural reference. Nowadays, some words are changed and jokes are often changed.

Drpepperfan402026-02-01 08:10

Anime subtitles were part of how I learnt to read English as a child, and for that they’ll always have a special place in my heart.

mucklaenthusiast2026-02-01 11:38

>rizz

Of course that can be a correct translation.
You know that Japanese also has slang?

ashbelero2026-02-01 14:39

Uh… have you considered that “placeholder text stating the obvious” is actually closed captioning for the hard of hearing…? This your first time watching CC subtitles?

surma0412026-02-01 16:23

So not only is OP a moron who can’t properly set up his tv settings, he’s the type of moron who blatantly spreads misinformation too.