Reprinted Feature- "Anime Labs: The Lies, The Truth, and the Facts An Article about the Truth of the Notorious Fansub Group, Anime Labs, by Jakob Dorof"

By: The Great Saiyaman

Okay, pretty much everybody with DBZ fansubs has probably heard of Anime Labs. And even those who haven't have likely heard of them before too. A long time ago I found a series of articles on the internet at animedorks.com about the mysterious group Anime Labs. They were pretty interesting but, well... you know how it is. Over time sites vanish, but... not from the web archives!

I've tried in vain to contact various people at that site and the author of this piece, but haven't had any luck. But I decided to put em up anyway since, well? People in the DBZ Community have been curious about Anime Labs for years and I think they should be able to know more about them. Special thanks to Mr. Jakob Dorof for writing this piece and special thanks to the site animedorks.com for originally hosting it. If any of you aforementioned guys are okay/not okay with this, please e-mail me and let me know. I've meant only to put this up as a source of information for those curious about Anime Labs to preserve your work and I sincerely hope you approve.

Also, if anyone would like to see the original posting of this article you can find it at "http://web.archive.org/web/20020820005118/www.animedorks.com/otaku/18/animelabs.html". Anyway, let's begin shall we?






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Because many of the Otaku staff members have conflicting opinions as to whether the information presented in this article is true or not, we have decided that the views represented in this article do not necessarily represent those of this magazine as a whole.

Anime Labs: The Lies, The Truth, and the Facts
An Article about the Truth of the Notorious Fansub Group, Anime Labs
By Jakob Dorof

If you've ever purchased any Dragon Ball Z fansubs, or even fansubs of a few other popular series, you'll probably know Anime Labs. They are a mysterious group of friends who illegally sub anime, anime that has all ready been licensed, usually. Many hate the group for their often-sloppy translations, but I for one love the group. Why? Because there is so much about them that is mysterious, and after one question is answered, another arises. After quite a few hours of research on the web of the group, I have found info that could quite possibly shock fans of the series. Many things said about Anime Labs is untrue, and what I am trying to do with this article is to disprove many of those points. I will start of with the lie, the truth, and then the proof.

The Lie: At one point in the Anime Labs period of subtitling Dragon Ball Z, a man by the name of Travis Drake impersonated the group online, and eventually, Anime Labs came to a crashing halt because of Travis' actions.

The Truth: As it turns out, Travis Drake is good friends with Anime Labs. However, at one point, he proved to many people that Ctenosaur Video, another DBZ fansubbing group, doesn't fansub at all. Instead, they just sub on their names at the end of the tape. As a result, CV was pissed, and started a subbing group for DBZ only, called "Zero Tolerance," whose motto said, "We don't put up with dumbass posers!" At the beginning of the tape, they said, "Anime Labs is no more, due to that scumbag Travis Drake, who impersonated them online!" Since the buyers of these tapes far outnumbered those who heard that CV was a fake fansubber for DBZ, the lie was more heard than the truth.

The Proof: First of all, Zero Tolerance was EXTREMELY sketchy on the details of why Anime Labs was no more due to Travis Drake. All he said was that they were no more due to the fact that he impersonated Anime Labs, but didn't mention why. Pretty strange, eh? And, more importantly, on Travis Drake's site, he claims that "Anime Labs doesn't have a website, so if you ever see a website that says that they are Anime Labs, don't believe them." Why would an online impersonator claim that anyone online saying that they are Anime Labs is totally fake, on the same exact site that Zero Tolerance claimed that Travis was impersonating them on. I rest my case.

The Lie: After a group of impersonators on www.animelabs.com (which is no more) gave Anime Labs a bad name, the group stopped subtitling, period.

The Truth: Actually, very soon after that experience, Anime Labs restarted under the name of "AVP Productions." The group was a huge improvement, with pretty great translations and timing, not to mention special subtitling effects. Also, AVP soon died down, and changed their name to Project X, which is still working on DBGT to this very day. Also, they have restarted Anime Labs, with the same name, and are currently subtitling random Pokemon episodes, and the Pokemon Movies.

The Proof: Don't you think it's odd that AVP Productions has the EXACT same subbing font, size, and color as Anime Labs. Oh yes, and their credit sequences are precisely the same. Also, at the end, it says, "AVP Productions: Accept no imitations!" They obviously said this because they were impersonated at www.animelabs.com. As for Project X, the translations are also rusty there, not to mention, the sub font and size, and credit layout is exactly the same as AVP and Anime Labs'.

The Lie: The Anime Labs group has no Internet connection.

The Truth: Actually, they do have the Internet, and e-mail addresses. I only know one man who knows their personal addresses, and otherwise getting them is impossible. However, I do have an e-mail where you can get a reply from any random member of the group, but they seldom respond, and I don't want them to have their e-mail boxes flood with messages anytime soon, so I'm keeping quiet. However, just search for Anime Labs on a search engine, and you'll find it eventually.

The Proof: Quiet simply, that e-mail address is enough proof.

Anime Labs Frequently Asked Questions
No, these are not answered by the Anime Labs staff, but answered by me.

Q: Where do the Anime Labs team sub?

A: They sub in Boston, but where exactly is unknown. Also, they could've moved by now, since this was a while ago. I got this info from an interview by Kaio with Steven J. Simmons.

Q: Man, some of those Anime Labs DBZ translations were pretty bad! Do they even know any Japanese?

A: Yes, they have a translator. I can't remember what his first name is, but his last name is Ikeda.

Q: How can I talk to, or even meet some of the Anime Labs team?

A: You used to be able to meet them at anime conventions, but as of the year 2000, they stopped doing that. I believe they are laying low right now because FUNimation, the company that has the rights to DBZ, goes to pretty much every anime convention in sight.

Well, that's it. Hope you had fun. I know a bit more about the group, so feel free to e-mail me at majinbardock@dbzmail.com

Jakob Dorof
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Hmm... quite interesting. However, I can't really comment just yet as this piece mainly ties into another piece as well. Check that one out to find more and thanks for reading.