When I start an anime series, I usually download the first episode or two from every group releasing it so I can get a taste and decide which one I'm gonna hang around with the to the end. Recently though I've noticed they all have the same translation. Maybe two or three seem to be making the effort in the old days — get a raw from somewhere, translate it, then do the timing — but I have a feeling a lot are just ripping off of Crunchyroll because I'm seeing openings that say "Viz" or something in the beginning. This is more distressing for me than the lack of karaoke opening because it constrains us to one translator; the reason why I sampled every group was to attempt to gauge which one had the best one and work from there. I can tell it's a professional working for a wider audience than otaku because consistently nowadays the honorifics are dropped and the names are reversed to match the western style. Although hopefully that does mean the translation should be secure considering the guy is paid for this, that also reminds me of the days of "Valentine Technique" or shit I'm dealing with right now in Tales of Hearts R. I'd prefer to have the rabid fan and the professional working side by side so I can compare, but I think the professional has been wining the war in the past couple of years.