[Fish Sandwich]

Finally got around to rewatching some of Ryuki with Shout's subs to see how the quality is, and after seeing the first six episodes in full, plus skimming around a few particular episodes afterwards, I have to say, their track record is still holding!

These are great subs, without a doubt. I don't think Ryuki's existing fansubs were totally awful to begin with, so it's not the massive upgrade a show like Kuuga got, but all the same, it's great to see another one of the shows that made me a Rider fan to begin with get such a fantastic official translation.

I was thinking of all these little critiques as I was watching them, but eventually I realized, "man, if I even have time to worry about stuff that's this small potatoes, that's really just proving how good a job they did." I think the biggest objective mistake I caught was Shinji's famous "it broke!" line in the first episode not being subbed at all? Outside of that, it's mostly stuff where I felt the lines could've been handled differently... but, while I can't explain this part very well, I could also tell every time that it wasn't a result of the translators not understanding the meaning of the dialogue or anything. I get the impression it's all very conscious, and crucially, not a word of it was inaccurate, which is always the thing I'm most concerned about.

And then, outside of the dialogue, you've got touches like all the insert themes having their lyrics translated on-screen, which is an extremely exciting precedent for Shout to be setting. Again, it's not done halfheartedly, either; even songs that only get used once get the full treatment, and they paid attention to when the songs are edited differently or use a different verse depending on the episode.

It's a very thorough job, and I will still gladly wait for Kamen Rider shows to get official releases at the current sluggish pace they are if they're seriously always going to be this genuinely high quality. As always, the biggest problem I have with Shout's releases is simply that they aren't more readily available to fans outside of North America. In the case that isn't an issue for you, however, this is a great time to start (re)watching Ryuki.