Yes, you read that right: Saizen is officially 20 years old! We don’t usually mark anniversaries, but we figured the big ol’ two-zero was one that merited at least a newspost (I had planned to release some things, but uh, circumstance conspired against me. On the plus side, watch out for some actual releases in the next few weeks because we have a few things ready to go and more stuff in the works!).
10 years ago, we marked our anniversary by going on a release spree culminating in the completion of a major long-term project, but 10 years later, this was never going to be a possibility. Unfortunately, time has thinned our numbers and drained our motivation for fansubbing to the point where nearly everyone in the group is either retired, semi-retired, or about to retire (or in my case, just far too busy to actually do any subbing). It’s a little depressing, I’ll admit, but such is life. We all have different priorities as we grow older. But while our output has noticeably declined over the years, rest assured that we still remain determined to finish the projects we’ve started (and perhaps a few more besides that). It just might take us a little longer than it would have previously.
If you are still with us on our fansubbing journey, thanks for sticking around. And while I’m less optimistic about Saizen being around for another 10 years than Juggen was in those heady mid-2010 days when we turned 10, I hope we’ll be around for some time to come in order to finish up some of the stuff we’ve committed to.
Happy birthday. Can’t say the same for m33w (or any 06 Gen subber) but keep the dream (and fire) alive!
Damn, time sure flies by! I regret not being able to contribute more/at all. But I’m also at a place in life where a lot is going on, and I’m really happy to be here as well. Big props to everyone still finding time and motivation to keep the show go on. 🙂
Huge congrats on the big anniversary 🎉
I can’t believe it. Over 20 years ago Ser2703 approached me to branch off AnimeHQ to start subbing anime for real, not just rip my Dragon Box Z boxes and type off subs. It’s been such a big part of my life. I would spend all my free time after work quality checking, recruiting, or timing projects. Saizen meant everything to me for a long time. So to you guys who have taken extra leadership responsibilites like Ser2703, Scab, AMS, Juggen and FD. And all of you who have contributed through the years (( would have to spend the entire day remembering and finding nicks as we have had so many projects and releases over the years); THANK YOU!
It was like it was my adopted child, until I got a kid myself about 11 years ago. Now I’m here to see Minoru-chan getting the care and love he deserves. But most of all I’m still around because of amazing friends like Kokujin-kun and people with passion who still has a heart for Saizen like FD. Of course I can’t forget Collectr who litteraly saved Saizen from stalling completely. I have been waiting for AMS to come back, but he’s been busy with his own little family these last couple of years. And so is probably ser2703. But thankfully you’re still around.
Thanks for everything, everyone. Please forgive me for not having mentioned your nick.
-sangofe, co-founder of Saizen.
I was there, 20 years ago… for Buzzer Beater! 🙂
After that, I watched every show you guys started, great taste! 🙂
Thank you for everything! 🙂