[Suzu]

Well, I also agree on the fact that LFSS is rushing in a bit with their own subs, but it really bugs me that every time the talk comes to subbing Japanese show it comes to flame wars on the net.

People easily tend to forget that fansubbers, on the basic level, owe NOTHING to us who watch those subs. They're people that "waste" their precious free time that they could use for more important things to translate shows for complete strangers from wherever in the world. I hate people who say: "Oh these guys suck because I dislike their subs, because someone told me their Japanese was bad" or "You are way to slow!" This happens a LOT with TV-Nihon and it's annoying as hell. I mostly have TVN subs because I often watch on mobile devices, so I need hardsubs and that's the easiest way (also because I generally prefer DDLs). While, from what I could understand and compare watching the shows, especially the older subs of the group might have flaws, we have to keep in mind that most fansubbers are non-native Japanese speakers. As they're not professional translators, errors, even grave errors can happen and tend to happen (even professional translators don't get everything 100% correctly, we're all humans, after all). Of course it isn't that great, but non-professionals and non-native speakers can't be perfect. And TVN sure has improved over the years, their translations are very close to those of other groups. But of course they will never be the same, because EVERY tranlator will translate the same sentence differently. Why? Because language isn't definitive. Every translator has different interpretations because they're all different persons with different backgrounds. And most of them might even have trouble because they're not as familiar with the Japanese culture than others. Just because a translation isn't word by word what someone would choose, it doesn't mean it's wrong. There's of course basic things that can be translated wrong or not as accurate, but that's something only people with actual knowledge of the language can recognize. I'm a beginner in Japanese and while I do understand quite a lot when watching raws and I can point out some smaller vocabulary error, I'd never dare to say the subs are wrong. That's for other people to decide. And I mean those who SPEAK the language. I hate how people on the internet tend to be self-proclaimed critics for something they have barely any idea of. And talking after what someone else said doesn't make you more qualified to critisize something. Let that person do the criticism. Please.

I love all translations I watched so far (except for maybe Cruel Angel subs, but just because they sound hella weird) and I'm grateful for everyone who invests time to make those so we can watch and enjoy those shows. Fansubbing deserves deep respect, despite the objective quality. Of course we can critisize the work of fansubbers and correct them if there are any mistakes because that's how they can improve. But starting a flame war and aggressively defending or bashing people is no help and absolutely unnecessary.

And really, what's this about a translator's gender being so important? People who think that way really should go outside more...