Just a few quick questions regarding Shout Factory's DVD release of the three Japan-only Transformers shows (Headmasters, Masterforce, and Victory), as I've become interested in buying these. 1. Since the shows are released with Japanese audio only, are the subtitles any good, like are they direct translations or best guess translations? 2. Have there been any reported spelling/grammar errors on said subtitles? 3. Is the Zone OVA on any of the releases? Please reply when you can, thanks.
Subtitles are accurate. But with some kid friendly edits in order to avoid being deemed far too much for children to handle. Other than that, translations are faithful. The subtitles will have 1 to 2 typos. Other than that, they're not bootleg "Don't molest the lawyer" subtitles. As for Zone, I haven't heard much detail on it. It's a one episode release so most point to Victory including the OVA.
There were a couple subtitle issues... one in Masterforce and one in Victory, but they've both been fixed and the single series releases have the fixed discs. As for their accuracy, they are plot accurate and dialogue accurate for the most part, although some names got changed to fit the US series. For example, in Headmasters, Convoy is called Optimus Prime rather than Convoy. I think the other two series have a couple name changes as well. The TF factions are called Autobots and Decepticons rather than the Japanese Cybertrons and Destrons. And Siebertron is called Cybertron. If watching the Japanese series with the American character names (while still hearing the Japanese names spoken) is going to bother you, then watch out, because that's pretty non-stop. I think for most people, it's not a problem, though. And other than that, the subtitles are well done. No Zone, though. It's not included with any of the releases.
