Calling all fans of Transformers: Armada and Japanese Transformers in general! Anime fansubbing group Karyuudo Fansubs (the same group that gave us complete subs of Car Robots and Zone), has announced a surprise release of another subtitled Transformers series! It is none other than the first of what would become known as the Micron Trilogy in Japan (and the Unicron Trilogy in the West), Chou Robot Seimeitai Transformer: Micron Densetsu (Super Robot Lifeform Transformers: Legends of the Microns)!
Released in 2002 in the U.S. as Transformers: Armada, the English version of this series was plagued by many flaws that stemmed from a hastily rushed production, resulting in a product with a less-then-stellar dialogue script, subpar acting, and many many MANY animation errors. When released in Japan, however, many of the animation errors were corrected, and the acting and dialogue were much more refined. And now, thanks to Karyuudo Fansubs, we can finally view the battles between the Cybertrons, Destrons, Microns, and Unicron how they always were meant to be. Uuncut, unaltered, and complete with English subtitles.
PLUS, they've included a TON of extra material for our enjoyment, including a re-syncing of the English dubbed version to the superior Japanese video, at long last giving fans a release of the English Armada series with the superior, less-erroneous Japanese video! Through the space to learn more!
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to all,
Today we're pleased to announce the release of Super Robot Lifeforms Transformers: Legends of the Microns.
With this release, we've teamed up with DeceptichopBusters to ensure a timely release since the show is 52 episodes long.
The release includes the following:
- Japanese R2 DVD Rips which feature the Original Japanese Audio as well as the cleaned up video animation which did not appear in the original TV broadcast
- English Dub Audio (Secondary Audio Track - See full details below)
- English Subtitles (Using the Original Japanese Names)
- English Subtitles (Using select North American names)
- Titles / Credits (Intended when watching the English Dub track)
Extras
A Complete Reference Guide
Takara TV Commercials
Bonus Promotional Material
DVD Covers
Year Book 2003
Manga & Model Sheets
Legends of the Microns Original Soundtrack (Flac Format)
Psychic Lover Music Videos
It's been an absolute pleasure working with DeceptichopBusters in bringing this project to life. Without his help the project would still be ongoing. At this point, I'll turn the text over to him below to explain the details of this release.
Hello, you can call me DeceptichopBusters.
I joined as a guest to help Karyuudo complete this wonderful project. For the past 6 months, we have been putting almost daily effort into delivering this Holiday surprise to the community. I know some will object that this isn't the series they wanted released next, and believe me, I sympathize... but the simple truth is that both of us independently started this project, then decided to collaborate around last July after we realized we could combine our resources (subtitle timing, a person who owns the actual discs, 2 translators working together) and get this project done much faster than any other show could be. I'd say 5-6ish months is a pretty swift record when it comes to how quickly an entire 52 episode show can be fansubbed, wouldn't you? Don't worry, I have a feeling this won't be the last Transformers related release you see from this group either.
However, there's more to it than that. The simple truth is, as I came to see the original Japanese release, I realized how criminally underrated this show is. More to the point, the original characterizations of just about everyone was much more consistent in the original Japanese script, which is important because this has a cast of Transformer characters that is much more interesting than what you typically see in a Japanese TF series, both earlier and later shows. They took a few pages from Beast Wars approach to development. Sight gags common in other Japanese TF shows are kept to a minimum, humor itself is character based rather than just outright wacky, many members of the cast go through at least some development and growth, and there are consistent themes and ideas that are discussed throughout the series (the violent nature of the Transformers, trust and comradery, ect.). Now you have the chance to see the show as it was MEANT to be seen.
First, let's discuss animation. There is much that was fixed in the Japanese version, which actually aired later than the US release since it wasn't being rushed to air early. Not all, but numerous animation errors we saw on US TV were fixed either in the JP TV airing, or on the DVD release, with episodes like 3, 21, 23, and even later ones like 50 getting a lot of attention. They touched up things here and there throughout the whole show, and while it is not by any means the best looking anime of 2003, the overall improvement is definitely noticeable. I hope you'll enjoy finally seeing it, it will be especially important for fans of the next topic.
Next, let's take a moment to talk about the dub. It certainly has left the show with an infamous reputation, and frankly, there were good reasons behind it. Most western fans only saw Transformers Armada, which though it had a solid dub cast (Ocean Studio with many Beast Wars vets, all of whom I love dearly), it was an experiment in a simultaneous West/East anime release that wasn't entirely successful. Cartoon Network pushed heavily to get the show ready by fall 2002. Animation was often either rushed or outright incomplete, and the scripts... I can only assume the dub staff was working under an immense time crunch, because they had no proper proofing, leading to numerous name mistakes, illogical changes, or outright omissions of important character themes. However, the dub for all its flaws, still has its merits... and there were many fans of it, so I have gone through painstaking efforts to edit and mix it with the Japanese video source. Karyuudo also jumped in to fix a syncing issue in Episode 1 where the audio from Armada didn't match the animation from the Japanese version since it was sped up in the Armada release. Why is this important? Well, you can now switch between the Japanese and English audio with the push of a button, and dub fans now get ALL the animation improvement that the Japanese version received, something many people have wanted for a LONG time. Furthermore, I have edited the audio so that it mixes in perfectly with the Japanese opening, endings, and eye-catches. Effectively, you're getting the dub as if this were on a high quality dual audio DVD. This took a LOT of work, and not every episode will sync up 100% frame for frame perfect, but if there even IS a margin of error in ANY episode, it will be extremely small due to the fact that the dub timing didn't cut out anything for the TV airing, save one clip in episode 52, and a sped up sequence in ep 1's opening, all episodes were able to sync as perfectly as possible. Even the US Armada ED theme is used for the dubbed next episode previews because... well, that song was pretty cool and I didn't want it to go to waste.
Finally, let me explain a bit about the second (and third) subtitle track. Japan used different names for the Autobots and Decepticons up until 2007 when they stopped producing their own shows. They call these factions the Cybertrons and Destrons, Optimus is Convoy, Cybertron is Seibertron (to avoid confusion with the faction) ect. Ect. I decided to do a second sub track that changed these names only, because the goal was to give the audience Legends of the Microns as if it had been localized with absolutely minimal changes. Almost all other characters in the original script use G1 names most viewers will know, just a somewhat different selection than what the dub used (Demolishor = Ironhide, Red Alert = Ratchet), so there wasn't really a big need to change much else. Convoy wasn't just indiscriminately changed to Optimus Prime either. I rotated between Prime, Optimus, ect. based on what was most character appropriate to say. We're not the first group to do this name swap, but as far as I know, we ARE the first group to offer 2 sub tracks with both. In addition, there is a third subtitle track with credits/lyrics for the dub only if you're just watching that. Hope you enjoy these additions!
Lastly, let me give my thanks and shout-outs to those who I want to get proper credit here.
Thanks to Karyuudo for everything he's already done for Car Robots and that amazing release, and for his help and dedication with this. Also for the trouble of getting all the credits done and timed properly for each episode, which I never could've done on my own! We split the responsibility between who translated what episodes, and without him, this release wouldn'tve gotten done as quickly as it was, if at all... and especially not with this much quality. Also thanks to Walruslaw for collecting all of our neat extras as well as Gyumaoh for providing the 2003 Year Book which is now a rare out of print book!
Thanks to TMI for actually providing the real life DVDs to the community to be ripped. He's an encoder I've worked with on other projects over the years, and I always knew he owned the discs, but this year he finally offered to upload them on ADC so they could properly get ripped.
Thanks to FortMax/BunnyHat for ripping the ISOs that TM then provided. I haven't had the chance to talk with him personally, but the entire purpose of getting those raws online was for this project. Of course, as he always does, FortMax gets them up and out to the public swiftly and easily, which I have no problem with. Thank him for the really good video quality this release got!
And also a thanks to TFW2005 forum member Kaijumaster for being one of the people to consistently keep me in this crazy fandom so I'd be inspired to someday do this project.
And finally, thanks for all the support you as the community have given us. This includes the truly kind people I've met in person, as well as online. Without such a passionate and dedicated fandom, this wouldn't be nearly as enjoyable to do as it is.
I hope you guys take some time and give Legends of the Microns another shot, even if Armada wasn't your favorite. Yes, even with the kids, you will be pleasantly surprised by just how much better the show can be in this release. Til next time!
Please download the release via Nyaa Torrents here.
Also don't forget to Like us on Facebook @ https://www.facebook.com/KaryuudoFansubs
Statistics: Posted by Sabrblade — Tue Dec 16, 2014 11:56 pm — Replies 0 — Views 0