Super Sentai Subs: Barrier Or Gateway?

Some time ago, I remembered reading a post from Dramabeans concerning subtitles either as a barrier or gateway. I'm no speaker of Japanese, Korean, or Mandarin (and yes, it's obvious that using a nom de plume) yet I enjoy those shows even if I can't understand a word. However, I enjoy them only if they've got English subtitles and ignore them when they don't. It's stupid to say that a show is better because it's in English or in one's native language. I remembered back in the 2000s when I first saw Meteor Garden in Tagalog then there were bootleg DVDs that had the English subtitle. Lately, there's Netflix where people can watch non-English shows with subtitles. I gave a thought about it with Super Sentai and why it was underappreciated. My bigger thoughts on Super Sentai's underappreciation for some time? It's all about the language barrier as Super Sentai is a show in JAPANESE aside from cultural differences prevented it from getting dubbed and aired in the USA. Why watch a show you can't understand the language or if there's no translation available? Recently, I won't watch any Super Sentai series without subtitles first. I used to do it and made too many wild guesses, wrote a very stupid old shame, and right now I've decided to really watch the shows for myself.

Before Super Sentai official DVDs with subtitles - there was the fansubbing trend. I was thinking of the now-inactive blog PR-Sentai Universe. The writer Mr. Smith is a fan of both Super Sentai and Power Rangers - something I'd say I'm not. He had reviewed some Super Sentai series with subtitles. The guys at the fansub site TV-Nihon first subbed Dekaranger as their first accomplished project. Just imagine if a curious Power Rangers fan or a non-Japanese speaker picked it up. I also remembered other fansub groups where I ended up rewatching old school Super Sentai with English subtitles. The experience of hearing Super Sentai in the NATIVE JAPANESE while having a translation is something. I ended up saying, "Screw the Bioman dub!" after seeing how many random guesses the dubbers made. I too am guilty of random guesses myself. TV-Nihon and other related fansub groups tend to sub mostly the recent Super Sentai (as well as other shows). Trying to find a group dedicated to fansubbing older Super Sentai is difficult. Currently, Grown Ups In Spandex (GUIS) is not so active as it used to be after restoring my childhood with Bioman and Maskman subtitles. GUIS also gave the Zyuranger subtitles back when I couldn't watch it without thinking about Mighty Morphin' even for a second. Metallic Fansubs ended up completely subbing Flashman and Dynaman for Super Sentai aside from Metalder, Jiban, and Sharivan. Millionfold Curiosity and Imagination Station subbed some other older shows before some of them were taken down due to the Shout! DVD releases namely Gingaman and GoGoFive. Now, Shout! Factory Super Sentai DVDs had some releases though no signs of an Abaranger DVD release yet.

I think there's the issue one can have with subtitles. Some complain that their eyes hurt reading through it and prefer having dubs. Some people are willing to read subtitles but not learn the language. Learning a new language is completely harder than reading subtitles. Reading subtitles isn't much of a threat to one's comfort zone over learning something unfamiliar. A new language is still unfamiliar to one who hasn't spoken a word of it. Japanese grammar and sentence structure are vastly different from English. Trying to translate Japanese word for word can result in awkward sentence constructions in English. Others have probably started to read subs instead because the dubs can be very awkward. In my case, I ended up preferring subs because I can catch up with what's being said and I can hear the original voice. Dubs? I stopped supporting Tagalog dubs due to how badly done they are in the Philippines. The IBC-13 dubs don't mean anything to me anymore after I watched Toku shows in Japanese with English subtitles.

There are also translation styles. I still feel the translations between TV-Nihon and Over-Time can be very divisive. I could remember the Shinkenger translation. Mako's rather blunt reply to an annoying Ryunosuke differed. TV-Nihon has Mako saying, "You're annoying." and Over-Time says, "Knock it off!" I also hear of the Kyuranger subtitle had "Yosha Lucky!" translated as "Alright Lucky!" (TV-Nihon) and "Talk about Lucky!" (Over-Time). I hear Yosha means "alright!" which TV-Nihon might be right about it. In due fairness, TV-Nihon does add some trivia in their subtitles to help bridge the gap between Japanese and non-Japanese culture. Then some say TV-Nihon is weeabooish while Over-Time's translations are more like an actual person. Right now, I've been using Over-Time more than TV-Nihon. However, I can't deny TV-Nihon is what got me started with more Super Sentai series back in the 2000s. 

In my case, I'm viewing subtitles more like a gateway. The same thing happened with other non-English shows and not just Super Sentai. I consider how K-Dramas are now a popular trend in Netflix Philippines thanks to subtitles. Super Sentai too has had the same effect over the years because of the subtitles.