Watching anime "raw"

[Element Jay]

How well are some of you at watching episodes raw, or without subtitles? Do you understand a little Japanese to know what's going on or do you rely on what's on the screen to "get" things?

I've only tried watching raws on a few occassions, and it seems like you can only understand the big picture just be the characters' actions and the acting involved. There are a few Japanese words that I can pick up while watching, but it's not really enough to catch on specific dialogue and plot details.

[The Great Bear]

I watch raws now and then (on R2 DVDs), but I don't have much in the way of comprehension. But then I enjoy looking at pretty pictures even if I don't understand most of what they're saying.

I'll visit spoiler blogs to fill in the missing context later.

[vtr9kvictor]

Originally Posted by Element Jay

How well are some of you at watching episodes raw, or without subtitles? Do you understand a little Japanese to know what's going on or do you rely on what's on the screen to "get" things?

I've only tried watching raws on a few occassions, and it seems like you can only understand the big picture just be the characters' actions and the acting involved. There are a few Japanese words that I can pick up while watching, but it's not really enough to catch on specific dialogue and plot details.

12 (20+ if you count Speed Racer and Star Blazers) years of watching anime and close to 30 years of watching Godzilla movies has left me with barely any comprehension of the spoken Japanese language whatsoever, and even less of the written form. I only know a few phrases here and there, so watching raws to me is not something I am interested in at all.

[Lego]

For series that I'm accustomed with I can watch a raw and get the majority of the characters actions and feelings down. I did it with Gigantic Formula accompanied by the 2chan thread and I do it each new season to see what a show is like. I prefer subs or dubs to raws though.

[something]

I refuse to watch raw. I've tried it a few times, and it's just not terribly enjoyable. I can pick up some basic sentences and fill in a lot with context, more or less depending on the nature of the show. But my problem is that you only get one "first viewing" of an episode, and I do not want that viewing to be one of very limited comprehension. This is why I'm willing to wait a long, looooong time if need be, just to make sure I get some kind of translation. Even a mediocre translation is better than no translation (though generally this isn't an issue). I'd rather just not see a series at all than have to watch it raw.

[TAS]

I understand basic Japanese, I took first year Japanese but could never take the second year course because it always conflicted with a required course I have also used a couple of self study tools (most of them suck).

I prefer to have subtitles, but if the show is not to dialogue heavy (like a political drama) I can follow it. Most of the R2 DVDs I buy are the second viewing having already watched it fansbubbed but a few were not available fansubbed or were only partly fansubbed.

[Fudce]

I've only once (well three times if you count the episodes seperatly) watched anime raw, and that was today. Good timing on this post. As with something I'm usually a patient person, willing to wait for things, but in this case (and with Nosredna teasing me about a certain episode) I decided to catch up raw.
That's not to say I haven't used raws in the past. They're a good place to get avatars from OP/ED without all that karaoke nonsense plastered all over the good stuff.

[Element Jay]

Originally Posted by TAS

I understand basic Japanese, I took first year Japanese but could never take the second year course because it always conflicted with a required course I have also used a couple of self study tools (most of them suck).

Just curious... how much are you able to understand after taking a first year Japanese course? From what I've heard, it seems like it can actually take a while for some people to understand the dialogue through taking classes.

[roastedpekingduck]

Strangely enough, while I used to have the same opinion as you, after following some raws, I find that I actually like watching raws first better. Why? As anime is a visual medium, good shows pack tons of visual nuances into the animation that I would not have noticed had I watched with subs first and was focusing on words instead of pictures. Watching raws allows me to solely concentrate on the animation aspect of anime. Good shows also tend to be very rewatchable, so I'm not quite negatively impacted by a second viewing.

[Shiroi Hane]

Back when Digimon Tamers first aired in the US and before it made the UK, when I was still on dialup, I obtained an .rm of the first episode and found it was in Japanese and didn't understand anything, but I watched it anyway. I basically continued watching the rest of the series that way alongside the american episodes (I never actually watched it when it reached UK TV since it was scheduled at akward times on akward channels but I bought the two VHS tapes that were released).
Nowadays I understand a bit more, and there are generally plenty of blogs and forum posts to make up for the rest. I don't tend to watch my raw R2 DVDs more than once however if subtitled alternatives are available.