Frequently Asked Questions
We get a lot of the same questions over and over again, so we've created this page as a reference for everyone to use before contacting us.
Core Beliefs:
- Most official Sailormoon English translations suck.
- Fancy karaoke / typesetting effects are a waste of time. A good translation is more important.
- Hardsubs suck, but we'll give them to you anyway for your iWhatever...at our convenience.
- Real life comes before pleasing downloaders. We're oldfags with families and other commitments. That means you might have to wait for something.
Common Queries
Will you please encode this release to be compatible with [format]?
We try to provide the most common formats (.pdf, .jpg, .mkv, .mp4), but if you're looking for something more specialized you're on your own. If we do decide to offer a special encode for use on a portable device, we'll do that at our convenience / whenever we feel like it. It's really not high up on our priority list.
Why is it taking your group so long to make a translation for [seramyu/pgsm/whatever]?
The core staff all work full time jobs. Our free time for Miss Dream is limited. Unlike many other groups that try to "beat" all their rivals by being the first out with a release, we face no such pressure. That being said, when Miss Dream and a number of other sites are all asked to complete a translation, we usually end up finishing first. We do translations after all of our other work and home obligations are met, but we are still dedicated to maintaining this place. So long as you are patient, you will most likely eventually find a translation for whatever you are looking for.
Even for the musicals, which our staff unaninymously hates to work on because they're long, tedious, and the audio (and usually video) source quality sucks. We're just masochistic like that ;)
Will your group please translate [non-Sailormoon crap]?
No. I suppose you could ask James or I privately if we'll take on a paid commission to translate whatever your pet series is, but if you want a free translation that isn't Sailormoon-related you're at the wrong site.
Will your group please translate [specific musical / anime / pgsm episode] ahead of other stuff?
No. Our translators work at their own pace on whatever interests them personally, unless Elly feels an incredible amount of pressure from Sera Myu fans to produce yet another musical -- in which case she starts harassing James to get to work since that's pretty much his department. In general we do series in order -- like by act/chapter number. We all have our favorite episodes that we'd like to see done "first", but all that skipping around just gets confusing and we don't want to deal with it.
Why have you decided to give priority to [A] instead of [B]?
Probably because our translators like doing [A] better than [B]. Either that, or we agreed to do [A] before [B] for someone we like. In either case, we do this stuff for free, so why are you complaining? Unless you're going to learn Japanese and open your own fansub site, you don't get to decide the priorities of the staff. And even then, you still don't get to decide our priorities for us -- tough cookies.
Will you do a joint project with [____________]?
Doubt it. In rare instances we'll do joint releases when it is beneficial to both groups involved. This hardly ever happens. Most of the time we just get asked to do all of the translation (aka: the "hard" work) and the proposing group just wants to do the entry-level shit like timing or basic typesetting. We really don't give a crap about fancy typesetting jobs and that tends to be most group's "selling" point in any joint proposal. Fancy typesetting just bloats the turn-around time on any project and really isn't beneficial to anyone except maybe the typesetter's ego. Oh, and did I mention that I think most typesetting work is useless? Really not a fan. =\
Anyway, we've given a couple different groups a chance to work with us after they asked to do joint projects, and in almost every occasion it ended with wank. We aren't too keen to do other group's work for them. I guess my main point is that if your group doesn't have a translator, you don't have much of a group. Our translator's aren't interested in joining other groups and working on their projects. That's why we started our own site ;) If we figure out that you're just trying to fleece our translators into doing all the work for your group, the fall-out is going to be pretty bad. Fair warning.
I requested a translation months ago, why isn't it done yet?
Asking ain't getting. Sometimes we'll agree to a request, in which case we'll get it done when we feel like it, and other times we'll think that the project is boring / not needed so we won't accept the work. If you want a translation done for you ahead of everything else by a specific date, I suggest you hire a translator.
Can I use your scripts / raws / translations for [__________]?
Yeah go ahead, you don't even need to ask. I put the stuff online because I wanted to share it, not because I want to hoard it. I do this stuff because I like sharing material with Sailor Moon fans, not because I want to hunt down everybody who shares my stuff and force them to give me a link back. Hey, it's pretty cool if you want to give us credit and link our site -- we like that since we get to meet more fans -- but it's not required. You don't have to slap our watermark on every scan of the manga you put on your LJ or Tumblr or whatever. We truly do not give a fuck. Post the shit out of our stuff, we think it's awesome that you like it enough to want to use.
Hey I found a typo somewhere, will you drop what you're doing to fix it?
We try to be perfect, but perfection doesn't really exist. We appreciate you letting us know about an error, but we ask that you give specific information as to where it appears (either by page number, panel location, release name, time stamp of error, etc.) and then give us the space to fix it when we have the time. I assure you, Elly is extremely OCD and any errors will be fixed eventually.
Will you be attending [anime convention]?
No. The last con we attended was Otakon 2011, and we got to meet Nobuo Uematsu which was pretty damned hip. Before that we met Han Keiko and Chika Sakamoto and Saito Chiho -- they were cool too. We've already met most of the Japanese guests we really wanted to. Unless Takeuchi Naoko is going to appear in public somewhere, you won't find us at a con. We've already been involved in helping to run a number of Sailormoon panels, and it's not really our cup of tea. We get a lot of invitations to speak at conventions and stuff, but we don't want to draw attention to ourselves, plus there are lots of other people out there who would enjoy doing a public speaking engagement far more than we do.
I read somewhere online about [drama]. What's your opinion?
We do not give one flying fuck. After two years of one explosion of wank or another, we're pretty bored of it all. The Sailormoon fandom is more prone to gossip and clan-warfare than a Junior High prep academy. We don't give a shit what site [X] or fansub group [Y] thinks about us. We're kind of busy living a real life and spending our computer time doing translations or talking to our friends. The other bullshit isn't worth our time.
