…hardsubs...
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When did funimation start doing hardsubs on releases? I bought the Attack On Titan bluray sets (the normal editions of course; don't know why anyone would purchase the other version…) and Kore wa Zombie only to find I couldn't turn off the subs... Highly disappointed they are doing this sort of thing. So much for legit North American copies of series if this is the norm now.
I will probably rip the blurays to my comp and force off the subs, but it's too much trouble to go through in the future. I understand enough Japanese to stumble my way through most series without subs now, so maybe I'll just import hard copies from now on, but that also means being far, far more selective about the series bought (also wouldn't have the option for subs when friends are over).
I understand that licensing can affect these decisions, but it can be really irritating for the consumer.
I find it really interesting that there is all this concern about piracy from these different companies, when its mostly those same companies that are driving much of the interest in pirating series in the first place. Pay ridiculous amounts of money for the official version of something, be extremely locked down with draconian anti-piracy measures to the point where (even if you own an official release) its more convenient to use a cracked/pirate version (all because the company is too paranoid over piracy; the original pc version of Bioshock anyone?), etc.
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The hell are you talking about? If you mean you can't turn off the subtitles like I think you do, then that's an issue with your tv. I can turn off subtitles on mine just fine.
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I bought the Attack On Titan bluray sets (the normal editions of course; don't know why anyone would purchase the other version…)
Presumably for the limited edition bonuses
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That is subtitle locking, not hard subs.
This comes from the US and Japan sharing the same Blu-Ray region and of Japans fear of reserve importation, so it is imposed by some Japanese licensors.
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Out of all the things Japanese license holders do to prevent reverse importation, mandating subtitles is one of the easier ones to put up with.
Also with the advent of simulcasts and how fact streaming companies like Crunchy, Daisuki, and Funi get anime to viewers at extremely low costs pretty much the only people who pirate these days are bottom of the barrel criminals who are worthless to market to. Kindof like people who pirate PC games now that Steam/GOG are around are useless too, "oh no it's too hard to deal with this DRM, but I don't mind spending 2 hours getting a cracked CD key that works from torrent sites".
If you really want sub free disks then buy them used off Amazon japan or book-off, they're pretty damn cheap nowadays.
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Honestly, locked subtitles have never really bothered me. Seeing as how I don't know Japanese and I usually watch the dub in the first place, it's just never really been an issue. If I'm gonna watch it in the original Japanese, I'm gonna need the subtitles anyway.
What does bother me, though, is when the subs are locked on the textless openings and endings. They aren't really "textless" if you've got the song subs popping up all the time. I understand why they do it, but it's still more than a little irritating. Still, if this is the price we have to pay in order to keep from paying Aniplex-level prices, then I guess I can live with it. :)
