Dubbed or Subbed?

[Little Vili offline]

The all-time question. What kind of anime do you like to watch? Do you prefer the japanese voice actors, thus supporting the clasic style of how anime is produced, or do you go against the laws of its nature and watch as the American voice actors try their best to grasp the audience with the same feeling?

After that, you probably think I watch subbed, but Im not going to lie. I've seen some subbed anime, and compared to its dubbed version...well, I like the dubbed version. One such show is called Mezzo (I've also seen subbed and dubbed of chrono crusade, and DNAngel, and yet still prefer dubbed).

Most anime fans would have my head for saying such things, saying that only anime in its purist form will be accepted (subbed). I will defy those rules. I say dubbed is as good as subbed. What is your say?

[DeadViolet offline]

i like its origanal form and dubbed. i watch foreign animes in the original languge without subtitles.

[Chad Rains offline]

Im not a big anime fan anymore, but I do tend to stick with the dubbed because I rather listen to the voices than read whats being said.

[Delritho offline]

Currently I am looking for Naruto dvd's(at a reasonable price mind you) That are not edit'ed in anyway....I don't mind the voice's being in Japanesse becuase I would just turn on the English Sub titles...But anyway....On a ranting note....4Kids/Funimation should never get the rights to anymore (Japanesse)anime shows....From what I have heard they butchered One Piece along with a few others....But this is only from what I have heard....And from seeing Naruto on Toonami...I didn't expect Naruto to sound like that...Sasuke fine..Sakura meh...Kakashi as Good though...Haku sounded decent....Zabuza I don't really care for but I guess he was okay...I hope they make Naruto sound a little bit better later in the seris though....That voice of his makes me want to run my head through a while....

[Overcaffeinated Sloth offline]

I don't realy care.

But not to be off, but... I got the CL DVD's, and I turned it to french, and ODD SOUNDS SO SQUEAKY!

Hey, I can get extra credit now for culture!

[TB3]

Hmm...

I can see the merits of both parties:

DUBBED: I personally prefer dubs to subs in most instances - I like being able to just listen to the voices while my eyes focus on something else. I have seen some excellent dubs (Hellsing, Steamboy) and some awful ones (Love Hina - I mean, who thought of giving Su a Brit upper-crust accent even though she is a princess it's just AWFUL! And Kitsune as a southern belle, jeez!)
SUBBED: The guys at my anime club insist on subbed episodes, which in it's way is good - I fell asleep during an episode of Gravitation and had a dub been on the perverted yaoi-ness would have entered my mind and given me nightmares.

The way I see it, it's all personal opinion.

[Oddball offline]

Kinda sorta i prefer anime subbed can watch on computer over and over eaisly but I cannot stand the naruto dub lost all the funny,gorry,sad parts that made fans but i have seen some good dubs(ie. full metal alchemist,samurai champloo,ghost in the shell)

[Lani offline]

Currently I am looking for Naruto dvd's(at a reasonable price mind you) That are not edit'ed in anyway....I don't mind the voice's being in Japanesse becuase I would just turn on the English Sub titles...But anyway....On a ranting note....4Kids/Funimation should never get the rights to anymore (Japanesse)anime shows....From what I have heard they butchered One Piece along with a few others....But this is only from what I have heard....And from seeing Naruto on Toonami...I didn't expect Naruto to sound like that...Sasuke fine..Sakura meh...Kakashi as Good though...Haku sounded decent....Zabuza I don't really care for but I guess he was okay...I hope they make Naruto sound a little bit better later in the seris though....That voice of his makes me want to run my head through a while....

I've been a huge Naruto fan for about two years now, and I know exactly where to find DVDs of un-edited Naruto ^^ If you need a link I'll give it to you~

For me, it really depends on the dubbing. Take Cardcaptor Sakura for example: the dub was AWFUL, and the subs/original reign supreme for me. The Naruto dub, on the other hand, is suprisingly decent, and a lot better than a lot of us were expecting, so I can bear with it :P Angelic Layer was okay, too. As for dubbing of games, ToS' dub was reallyreally good, except what made me sad was that they changed most of Zelos calling Lloyd "hunny!" ...>>;

[Ransomed_Heart offline]

In my mind, it can vary from series to series. Personally, I prefer subbed because I think often the translation is more pure, simply because it is unrestricted by trying to fit the mouth flaps. That's not saying I hate dubbed though, I watch far more dubbed than I do subbed, and if it is done well then I don't mind in the least.

Certain series I refuse to watch dubbed though, like Fruits Basket. The English voices make me cringe for some reason, I just can't stand to listen to it. It is done very well, but the voices have an impact.

[Little Vili offline]

I've only seen like 3 or four subbed animes (like the ones I listed). The subbed stank, so I have yet to find a good one.

[Chad Rains offline]

I only tried subs once back when Sonic X first aired (was a pretty large fan back then. had every episode from season 1 and 2 custom burned to about 2 dozen SVCD's). I had mistakenyl downloaded a sub and tried to watch it anyway. couldnt get into it in any way shape or form. since then ive been a hardcore dub fan.

That's actually the good thing about CL is that its primary language IS English (mentioned by one of the VA's in the VA forum). thats why the english voices match up to the mouth movements so well. French is actually secondary and tehnically the "dub" along with various other languages like Spanish and whatnot.

but of course, CL technically isnt an anime so my above points are moot I guess.

[KarinBerry offline]

With anime, as with any foreign film, I prefer subtitles to dubbing. It's a matter of aesthetics and purity and personal prefrence. I'm a stickler for details and I like having originals and seeing things as they were intended to be seen. I'm crazy obsessive like that. *g*

[G-Force offline]

As a member of the VAA, we talk about this topic ALL the time. There are plenty of excellently dubbed series released into the public....

Cowboy Bebop (the epitome of an excellent dub...thank Steven Jay Blum for that)
Trigun
FLCL (where the English cast was better than the Japanese cast)
Hellsing
Excel Saga

The most glaring illustration of this was Sailor Moon. Heavily censored and given poorly done voices, the release of this show onto American television screens actually gave BIRTH to the AVA (amature voice acting) community. Many people felt like they could have done a better job since it was handled so poorly and actually hit their microphones to prove their point.

It's a general consencus around the AVA world that the anime fan is by far the hardest to please. Many of them either watched the subtitled version heavily and are used to the Japanese voices while others are the elitestest and proclaim just because something is done in Japanese it is automatically better. It's these people who give us a huge headache in the industry.

Where I draw the line is voices and translation. If the English VA has either a horrible voice to listen to or can not act their way out of a paper bag then I'm switching the language track. Also one of the main problems that dubs encounter is the script. Subtitled anime can give you the full meaning of the words as the only limiting factor is the size of the screen that they print their words on. With dubs you have to match the meaning of the words AND follow the lip flaps at the same time. Sometimes a dub in unable to capture the powerful feel a particular scene has just because the character's lips do not allow a lot of room for dialogue.

However the major misconception about a badly dubbed anime is that its the VAs fault when it's the director you should blame. A voice actor has only one objective while in the recording booth and that's to get things done so they can get money to pay the bills. They have to follow the director's interpritation of the script and are instruments of their vision. Take for example One Piece, dubbed by 4kids. Many of the English VAs voicing that series expressed their fustration with the current direction the company is taking it. They respect the Japanese cast and wish that they can play their characters in a similar manner. Zoro's English VA even goes as far as to sign authographs saying that he's Zoro's VA as opposed to Zolo.

[Hotaru Crowley offline]

I watch a lil of both, really. Cuz I'm so used to having the English version, and then u have the Japanese versions that are really, really cool! *_*

[MY85 offline]

For all kinds of foreign shows, movies, anime, etc. subtitiled. NFW I'm gonna watch something dubbed to spanish (that's the way I've watched the first HP movie, and that was for all the country... the experience of watching Potter is way better in english, obviously).

Why?
1) It's not the same excitement or feeling.
2) If there's cussing, the translation to spanish (depending who does it) switches the cussing for something lighter.
3) The voices sucks, usually.

But in the CL case: I prefer Jeremie in spanish (he doesn't sound like Barney, xD)... then I'd rather hear Nicolas and Ulrich in spanish.

Odd doesn't sound in spanish like Geczy does... maybe some people who can hear CL in spanish first and then into english might think Odd's voice sounds gay at a first instance.

[Dr. Ezra offline]

I prefer subbed usually. Although, Furi Kuri had a wonderful dub.

[Little Vili offline]

After recently buying the FMA DVD's, I still like the dub more than the sub...though I will say that the sub was decent. Mark (aka Treyon) doesnt like sub worth a damn, and doesnt see the reason its so 'up-held'.

[Dr. Ezra offline]

After recently buying the FMA DVD's, I still like the dub more than the sub...though I will say that the sub was decent. Mark (aka Treyon) doesnt like sub worth a damn, and doesnt see the reason its so 'up-held'.

I agree. I enjoyed the dub more than the sub. Vic whateverhisnameis did a fine job as Ed.

[Little Vili offline]

I heard someone complain (on some random anime site I was on) that Vic made it sound like Ed was 17 instead of 15 and thats why the person didnt like him.

First off, he doesnt sound 17...I know 17 yr olds...and they dont sound like that. Second, even if he were to sound just a little older, thats not a reason to think the dub is simply better.

[Dr. Ezra offline]

I think Vic whateverhisnamewas made him sound 15-ish. What other characters has Vic whateverhisnamewas done? I know there's Tatsunosuke Ichimura from Peacemaker Kurogane...

[Little Vili offline]

Dark from DNAngel...that much I know. There are others (on the tip of my toungue too)...but IDK right now.

[Dr. Ezra offline]

Ha ha ha! That's right!

[Little Vili offline]

I also just hear him on Cromartie High, as a minor/one shot character. God, I love that show

[TB3]

Found out something interesting yesterday.

In 1995 a Japanese studio turned out a 4 episode OVA called 'You're Under Arrest', and it was eventually re-dubbed in America.

A few years later the same studio makes a 40+ TV series to follow on from the OVA, and in preparation the Japanese director watched the English OVA dub, declared it superior to his own, and made all the Japanese VAs watch it before they recorded the TV series dialogue.

[Dr. Ezra offline]

Wow! I've never heard that before. What an unusual occurence. I have, however, heard of the series. I've yet to watch it, though.