Let's Discuss the 90s Anime Audio Dramas

[Al Evans]

The only channel I've seen the audio for those videos pitch up the audio for their other videos so I think so

Here's a track from a different channel

And here's the same track from that channel

Ah well. It is unfortunate but beggers can't be choosers in this scenario. I've never seen the tracks available on any other YT channel so we'll have to work with what we've got.

I'm sure A version of the 3 missing audios can be found that isn't pitched up. Or, perhaps, technically minded folks could perhaps figure out how to pitch down the audio we have so it is closer to what it should actually sound like?

 

[YuYu Yuichiro]

These are probably too low quality but here's a few

Part of Prelude
セーラームーン カセットコレクション3 - ニコニコ (nicovideo.jp)

R1
セーラームーンＲ カセットコレクション・その１

R2
セー/ラー/ムー/ンR　カセットコレクション2

 

[Al Evans]

These are probably too low quality but here's a few

Part of Prelude
セーラームーン カセットコレクション3 - ニコニコ (nicovideo.jp)

R1
セーラームーンＲ カセットコレクション・その１

R2
セー/ラー/ムー/ンR　カセットコレクション2

This gives me some new avenues to investigate.

However, my thinking is that for a translator giving them the individual tracks from YT makes their lives easier. Mentally translating multiple short videos might be more manageable than translating two 50+ minute long videos. Probably easier for them to keep track of where they are and where they left off too.

Therefore I still think giving a translator these pitched up versions is more practical to get the translations. Whilst difficult, with the translations we can subtitle them to any video regardless of the pitch.

I know little about sound or video editing so is it really not viable to simple pitch down the YT videos so they sound the way they are meant to? I get that doing that on YT itself might not be possible. But if we had the YT Videos downloaded could we put them into a sound editor like audacity?

My pie in the sky ambition was that we could someday have a video (or videos) that have subs for all 3 dramas, like the ones Miss Dream has.

 

[Al Evans]

These are probably too low quality but here's a few

Part of Prelude
セーラームーン カセットコレクション3 - ニコニコ (nicovideo.jp)

R1
セーラームーンＲ カセットコレクション・その１

R2
セー/ラー/ムー/ンR　カセットコレクション2

I also have a terrible ear for this sort of thing. Here are the respective YT uploads.

Prelude to Romance:

R1:

R2:

Can you (or someone else) please confirm for me if the YT uploads ARE in fact pitched up or not. I have a friend who knows a thing or two about sound editing. They said they might be able to help me out and it is best if I provide them as much info as possible (plus I don't want to waste their time unnecessarily).

P.S. I also found these videos on that same site. They are prelude to romance but with the Japanese text on screen.

セーラームーン　プレリュード・オブ・ロマンス(前編)

セーラームーン　プレリュード・オブ・ロマンス(後編)




If I had known about these ahead of time they would have made life A LOT easier for the translator I contacted. I can't seen to find similar videos for the R1 or R2 audio dramas, but if anyone can find any uploads on nicovideo or any other website that DOES have on screen Japanese text that will seriously help us out. If nothing else, it might make things cheaper if it comes down to paying for a translator (an option I have seriously invesitgated).

 

[YuYu Yuichiro]

I used Bandicam to make a little comparison.

It's very slight, so it's probably not that big of a deal.

 

[Al Evans]

These are probably too low quality but here's a few

Part of Prelude
セーラームーン カセットコレクション3 - ニコニコ (nicovideo.jp)

R1
セーラームーンＲ カセットコレクション・その１

R2
セー/ラー/ムー/ンR　カセットコレクション2

I also have a terrible ear for this sort of thing. Here are the respective YT uploads.

Prelude to Romance:

R1:

R2:

Can you (or someone else) please confirm for me if the YT uploads ARE in fact pitched up or not. I have a friend who knows a thing or two about sound editing. They said they might be able to help me out and it is best if I provide them as much info as possible (plus I don't want to waste their time unnecessarily).

Also, important question, do we KNOW if the nicovideo videos Yu Yu Yuichiro linked above are of lower sound quality than the YT videos? Because if they have about the same sound quality AND the correct pitch then couldn't we just use those as the basis for translating/subbing these three Dramas?


P.S. I also found these videos on that same site. They are prelude to romance but with the Japanese text on screen.

セーラームーン　プレリュード・オブ・ロマンス(前編)

セーラームーン　プレリュード・オブ・ロマンス(後編)




If I had known about these ahead of time they would have made life A LOT easier for the translator I contacted. I can't seen to find similar videos for the R1 or R2 audio dramas, but if anyone can find any uploads on nicovideo or any other website that DOES have on screen Japanese text that will seriously help us out. If nothing else, it might make things cheaper if it comes down to paying for a translator (an option I have seriously invesitgated).

 

[YuYu Yuichiro]

Ok I started on 1. I was having a problem determining where Usagi is talking since the later part was just one big paragraph and it isn't broken up into smaller bits.

2.
Wasn't sure where

Usagi:

We eat crepes together on the way home. We're enchanted by the party dress in a display window. Doing these little things bring us so much joy and fun...

would naturally fit.

 

[Al Evans]

Ok I started on 1. I was having a problem determining where Usagi is talking since the later part was just one big paragraph and it isn't broken up into smaller bits.

2.
Wasn't sure where

would naturally fit.

I think it would probably fit in the first track because it is the same dialogue Usagi said in Episode 46 of the anime. That was the whole point. Giving Kotono Mitsuishi the chance to play that pivotal scene. If I had to guess it probably was some of the dialuge fading into the background

 

[YuYu Yuichiro]

I think it would probably fit in the first track because it is the same dialogue Usagi said in Episode 46 of the anime. That was the whole point. Giving Kotono Mitsuishi the chance to play that pivotal scene. If I had to guess it probably was some of the dialuge fading into the background

OK I see. In the doc it was placed after Usagi said Act 1 so I got a little confused.

 

[Al Evans]

OK I see. In the doc it was placed after Usagi said Act 1 so I got a little confused.

yeah i might ask the translator about that. they did say the translation wasn't proofread

 

[YuYu Yuichiro]

 

[YuYu Yuichiro]

 

[YuYu Yuichiro]

 

[YuYu Yuichiro]

 

[YuYu Yuichiro]

 

[YuYu Yuichiro]

ACT 2: ENDYMION

 

[Al Evans]

A few small updates on this project.

Using the Nicovideo videos linked to above as a starting point, I have found loads of screenshot from the anime which I someday hope to use to make videos to accompany the audio and subs for Sound Drama 3 Prelude to Romance. Unfortunately, this will have to be done after the translator goes through their initial draft of the translations and times the subtitles.

Whilst I know what images go with what dialogue, because I don't speak Japanese, I don't know when the dialogue starts and ends where. In other words, we'd need the subs to be synced up properly to the audio before I could then add images.

This raises the question of which version of the audio drama to go with, as there are 2 and a half options.

There is the Youtube version:

There is the Nicovideo version by uploader G lock, which covers just Act 1:
セーラームーン カセットコレクション3

Then there are the Nicovideos by uploader Moku, who made videos for both Act 1 and Act 2:

セーラームーン　プレリュード・オブ・ロマンス(前編)

セーラームーン　プレリュード・オブ・ロマンス(後編)

I don't know audio engineering stuff, so I would appreciate if someone could tell me which of these has the over all best sound quality?

It might be that the YT videos are actually the best in terms of sound, despite being pitched up (perhaps they could be pitched down?) and so I'd give that one to the person syncing the subs.

 

[Al Evans]

The other update regards the other 2 Audio Dramas.

The initial translator hasn't ruled out doing them, but they are busy and want a break from translating for the time being. Their big hurdle was that it is difficult to translate from audio only.

To that end I have investigated hiring a translator (who frankly wouldn't be as good as they wouldn't know Sailor Moon like the initial translator). These are rather expensive so they are my nuclear option.

However, a more feasible workaround would be hiring a human transcriber to transcribe the dramas (with time stamps) in Japanese. Not only would this make eventually subtitling things easier as we'd have time stamps, but it would also make any translator's life easier.

I have already paid for a transcription of two of the tracks from one service and got a quote within my price range for both dramas from another company.

I have given the transcription of the first 2 tracks to the initial translator to see if they are useful at all. Results are pending.

My hope is this will make the initial translator's life easier and so they would be willing to fix up the transcripts and translate them whenever they get the time.

However, this will hopefully be a more cost friendly way of getting a translation even if the initial translator is unavailable. Hiring a translator for a script will hopefully not be as expensive as hiring someone to translate and transcribe 2 hours worth of audio. Additionally, if needs be we could find translator communities and ask them to translate a page at a time every so often, building up a full translation over time.

My hope is again to make videos of the audios with screenshots from the anime to simulate watching an episode.

However, as with Prelude to Romance, the question is whether the Nicovideo or Youtube versions of the audios has the better quality. Since they have different running times, this is an important question to address before I give them to a transcriber.