Do you know of a site for J-Tv or Movies that don't have any English subs on them? I want to watch it as it is and not rely on the subtitles.

Many Japanese supermarkets in the U.S. have a section that rent videos of current TV shows airing in Japan for a nominal fee. (I assume the same is true in Canada.) There are never any subtitles on these. And it's great because you can stop the tape and rewind if you miss what is said.

drama addicts i think is a popular torrent site for all things japanese, chinese and korean. As to its legal status i think its a grey area. Apparently there is no licence for most japanese dramas in the west (so i have read) so that means there is nothing to stop you from downloading them (im not sure on this issue). Though it is possible to buy the dvds on amazon.co.jp (expect to pay at around 10,000 yen for a full season usually 11 - 12 episodes) and then i think its something like 3500 yen for shipping plus a 300 yen handling charge. Expensive i know.

To add to the d-addicts.com already mentioned, you might have already known about it, but overlooked that they have pretty much all of the shows also without subtitles. Just search for the RAW version.

i know this is being picky, but is there anywhere with Japanese subtitles?? i find that my understanding probably triples with japanese subtitles... does amazon.jp shows have japanese subtitles? or does d-addicts have any japanese subtitled shows?

thegeezer3 Wrote:As to its legal status i think its a grey area. Apparently there is no licence for most japanese dramas in the west (so i have read) so that means there is nothing to stop you from downloading them (im not sure on this issue).

I'm not sure what Japan's and America's (or whatever your country of residence may be) relationship regarding international copyright is, but if it's anything like America's and Canada's, then, yes, it is illegal. Not that that has stopped anyone before.

skylarth Wrote:i know this is being picky, but is there anywhere with Japanese subtitles?? i find that my understanding probably triples with japanese subtitles...

Aye, my reading skills are infinitely stronger than my listening skills (thank you, Heisig, Fabrice), but the Japanese seem to have something against the deaf.

sutebun Wrote:Just search for the RAW version.

This also applies to manga and anime, if you are so inclined.

Again going from memory and not so sure about this but.......I think America and the west go for international licences because they know there films will be seen by a lot of people all over the world and are willing to watch star wars with subs - hence it pays for the protection. Japans producers however know that hardly anyone will be wanting to watch there dramas when a - theres no english subs for them and b - theres not much interest. So theyre on a local license as such. However the dramas and films that are big obviously get the special ineternational licence such as twilight samurai and naruto.

So if somebody resident in the uk downloads a drama with only japanese licence then people assume the japanese produceers wont follow. Whether its legal or not im not sure hence "gray area" - so far i havent heard of anyone getting done for downloading IWGP etc.

The torrent sites are pretty respectable (in a cheeky way) about this as well. If they find out (i.e. asked to remove the link by the producers) something is licenced in that torrent sites country then they remove the link.

stuff like naruto is so famous that i think it got covered with an international licence and hence the purging from youtube.

Again this is my hazy recollection from some torrent site probably jpopsuki or drama addicts.

As for Japanese subs - most subs are actually just abreviations of the actual script. They are not accurate of whats being said. Japanese all the time geezer wrote up on dramas which DO have accurate subs and he also reccomends writing to amazon.co.jp to find out for yourself if your favourite film is accurately subbed or not. He has a templated later for you too if your japanese is not so hot.

I also stumbled accrosss some japanese site which kindly posted the accurate subs for dramas. I think since finding this it has found its way on japananese all the time but its in one of my previous posts on this site (its late and i cant be bothered to look - but check my profile and look at my posts about subtitles).

just remembered that tiger and dragon is definately accurately subbed. You can go to drama addicts and either download the sub files from there or at least go on its forums and find links to their locations.

thegeezer3 Wrote:just remembered that tiger and dragon is definately accurately subbed. You can go to drama addicts and either download the sub files from there or at least go on its forums and find links to their locations.

I can only find English subs for Tiger & Dragon on d-addicts.