Return to Pojo's Dragonball - Interviews
Q. Well I just want to thank you for being willing to do this interview, it means a lot to me.
A. No problem, publicity is always nice :).
Q. I would like to start off the Interview with this question: How did you get in to fansubbing?
A. There was a lot of anime out there that I wanted to have fansubbed and it seemed like nobody planned on doing it anytime soon. Actually subtitling anime myself seemed to be a fun idea so I decided to try it. Originally I planned on just subtitling by myself but then others showed interest in helping me and eventually, Saiyajin joined the group whose help is priceless. Subtitling yourself isn't really that far fetched if you can somehow come up with the initial few hundred dollars to get yourself started.
Q. Do have any future plans for subbing any of the Dragonball shows? Like the Cell Saga, Evil Shenlong ECT?
A. We plan to finish up the rest of the currently unsubbed DBZ series along with a few other episodes. Some of the DB/Z/GT we have planned for right now is DBZ 162-165, 268-275, and DBGT 13-16. Saiyajin has been thinking about doing other DBZ projects but we haven't really decided on anything yet. I doubt I'll continue with DBGT after 13-16 unless I can find a really cheap translator.
Q. Do you get money for subbing from donations or a job or both?
A. Donations and people who order from RZP. They really help out a lot! Initially I used some of my own money to get set up but now for the majority of our funding comes from donations and people who order from us.
Q. Do you make any profit from subbing?
A. Not really. Subtitling anime costs an insane amount of money so I need the orders to do it. Some of the more expensive LD's can cost up to $90 with only a half hour's worth of animation on it. That's pretty much how it was with the Kite LD's I ordered. There's a lot of other expenses too not to mention the hours and hours of work it takes to time something.
Q. How do you get all the scripts for this?
A. If I'm real lucky I'll be able to just download them off the net. Other times though, we have to pay someone else to translate for us.
Q. I've noticed that your site is "Top Notch," how did you get to be so famous?
A. I don't really consider myself that famous. At least not as much as the more mainstream DBZ sites out there, such as Planet Namek. I think I am as famous as I am though by just writing the type of material that other people want. When I started out so long ago, I decided to type up the type of information I would have liked when I first got into DBZ. At the time there were no DBZ sites that actually took the time to explain what a fansub was nor did they ever even mention them. I took the time to explain what they were to someone who would be totally new to the subject and I did the same thing in many other areas. Instead of seeing how much multimedia I could upload to a server before my account was eliminated, I tried to put up the small facts that other people wanted. When the evil Funimation destroys fansubbing thing started to happen it really brought up the popularity of my editorials page since people were so outraged. After that I kept getting a steady amount of editorial submissions. I've also had a knack for delivering some of the more alternitive news such as who has subtitled the latest DBZ tapes. Right now though I don't really consider myself to be in the "updating prime". Besides for the fansubbing, I haven't really been updating with anything that exciting.
Q. What are your feeling about season 3?
It's pretty cheap. When I first borrowed the first couple season three tapes from a friend I thought it was a joke. I didn't know companies still put out such cheap material. It was like I was watching some horribly dubbed Hong Kong movie. The music and voices improved slightly towards the end of the season and it lost it's insanely horrible image but it's still not something I'd want to regularly watch.
Q. Do you think that season 4 will be any better?
A. I'd like to say yes but realistically, not at all. Funimation really needs to get more in touch with normal everyday people, not braindead monkeys who get a hoot out of characters yelling 80's slang.
Q. What do you think about FUNimation's VAs?
A. I think they should learn how to act. None of the voice actors seem to have that much talent. They can whine all they want about how good they were acting out commercials when they were young and how good pieces of paper say they are but honestly, it means nothing when you can't actually do good voices on the spot. The only one that's kind of ok would be Vegeta's as a copy of the season 1-2 Vegeta.
Q. What are your thoughts on the FUNimation's "Fansub Crackdown"?
A. It was a weak attempt and I think it was intended to scare people more than anything else. Either that or it was just another huge f-ed -up plan gone bad. It did no real long term damage and even the sites that were originally cracked down upon are starting to distribute DBZ again. It did stop Ctenosaur Video from finishing up the last few DBZ episodes but that's pretty much covered right now :P.
Q. Do you have a favorite DB/Z/GT saga?
A. Oh man, what a tough question. I remember getting really into the Red Ribbon Army saga (from DB) when I first got into DB and DBZ so I'll probably go with that one.
Q. How do you feel about Steve's interview with Monika Antonelli?
A. It was conducted very well and Monika Antonelli did a nice job with coming up with good answers attempting to defend herself. I wonder if anyone actually showed her where to get fansubs and umm.. I suppose I have more respect for librarians now.
Q. Do you have a favorite battle in any of the DB series?
A. Oh man.. there are so many good ones to choose from. I like the battle between Goku and Kulilin at the Tenkaichi Budokai because even though Kulilin was obviously weaker than Goku, if it weren't for Goku secretly strengthening his tail, Kulilin's cunning battle tactics would have won him the match. This match isn't talked about as much and deserves more recognition. Of course there are more spectacular battles from throughout the series that I enjoy more but I can't quite narrow it down to one.
Q. What do you think was the smartest thing that FUNimation did with Dragonball Z if any at all?
A. From their point of view it was pretty good move bringing it to Cartoon Network. I'm sure it's making them a crap-load of money and it did bring in a bunch of new fans.
Q. If you owned the rights to Dragonball, what would you differently than FUNimation?
A. I would have treated Dragon Ball like the respectable series that it is. If I had to show it on TV I would have translation as close to the original script as possible with the least amount of edits as possible. I also would act like a respectable company by not contradicting myself in different interviews, I'd answer my emails, and actually do something to make it look like I cared about the series. I also wouldn't call the fans of the show "snobs".
Q. Over all the time you have been fansubbing, what was your favorite thing that you subbed?
A. I haven't actually finished that much so far. I've done 4 tapes while Saiyajin has done 2. I really like the Galaxy Express 999 series that I'm working on subtitling.. Kite OVA's 1-2 is going to be great as well when it's finished.
Q. What is your all time favorite anime?
A. My all time favorite anime would be Dragon Ball/Z since I still enjoy watching it and it was basically my first. Some of my other favorites would be Vision of Escaflowne, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Yu Yu Hakusho, Galaxy Express 999, Green Legend Ran and some others as well.
Q. Are you looking forward to the DBZ DVDs, or will you prefer a fansub any day?
A. The DBZ DVD's will be great. Even if Funimation funks up the translation for the subtitled verison, at least we'll have a nice source to make new fansubs off :P. Although I wouldn't do such a thing since I don't want a criminal record, it's not that hard for me to picture more underground fans doing it.
Q. What is your favorite Dragonball site? (If you have more than one then you can list them all)
A. Most of my original favorite pages have now gone down and the newer ones don't do as much for me as the older ones did. Saiyajin's Pride before it went down was my ultimate favorite page and is what inspired me to create my own. I also used to like Son Gokou Densetsu, Wuken's Homepage, Daily Dragon Ball Chapters, and a few others. For the second generation pages, I suppose I like Dragon Ball Z Uncensored and VegettoEX's Homepage (or whatever he wants to call it now :P) the best although I don't actually visit them daily or anything. Planet Namek has a huge dedicated staff and although I'm not afraid to admit that some of the sections could be done a lot better, the volume of content and its constant news updates make up for it. I also like Kienzan's Edge for its editorials.
Q. Do you have any closing words that you would like to tell our readers? - Unlike many of the other DBZ sites out there that like to complain a lot, I almost never get any type of hatemail at all and that makes me happy. I would just like to say thanks to all the fans my page and thanks for all the support; it really means a lot to me. I hope the Dragon Ball community continues to excel in the future. Q. Well that about wraps up our interview, thanks for taking your time to Answer all of my questions and it was an honor being able to do this interview with you.
A. No problem.. *slips his 50 into his wallet*, anytime >:).