Lately, I’ve been changing my mind about a lot of things. Some things I’ve come around to after a long periods of indecision and some things I’ve come around to after lightening-like, and sometimes painful, epiphanies. The only pain involved in my current change of heart had to do with my ears. After agonizing dub work that left me begging for subtitles, I’ve pretty much come around to the idea that most anime sounds better in Japanese than it does in English. That said, it would still be nice to have the studios hire people who are actually talented at dub work so I don’t have to watch the subtitles. I still feel that it’s hard to catch all the action when you’re busy reading the dialog.
I know that there are die-hard purists out there who never watch anime dubbed. Then there are the folks who never watch anime with subtitles, for whatever reason. What’s your opinion on the subject of sub or dub?
Hmmm, I generally default to subs. I’ve nothing against dubs myself, but the only time I tend to listen to them is when its for a show it seems like it’d be a challenge (like Nerima Daikon) and I’m curious how it turned out.
I could have said it doesn’t matter, since I watch almost every show at least once in both English and Japanese. But, my default first viewing is watching the English dub and switching to subs if I don’t agree with the casting of a major character. I think English dubs for the most part are pretty good. Since I’m walking in with a clean slate and don’t have any preconceived notion on how a character sounds, so I don’t care if some character doesn’t sound just like the Japanese.
The great thing about DVD is everyone can watch it however they want. Most shows I watch twice, first in English and then in Japanese. Overall, I don’t feel there’s a huge difference in quality. In both countries, dubbing of anime are not high budget affairs relative to other forms of televised entertainment.
Dubs? Honestly, I don’t recall enjoying dubs very much. Oh, I get the meaning and all that, but … maybe I am just not used to the idea. I feel like anime is incomplete if it is dubbed. Something disappears.
As of subs, I really think it is much more effective.
I whole-heartedly agree with -super rats on this one…with the exception that for the most part English dubs are pretty good. The majority of the dubs I’ve heard are not good in my IMO.
Yet,everyone has different tastes and what’s good for one may not be so good for the other. That goes especially for the type of anime you watch.
I like very emotive voices in my anime, so I’m kinda picky in that regard. Take for example the English dub of FF VII: AC…WTF?! It sounded like the characters were shopping for tableware instead of having a brutal battle on motorcycles. I would prefer to have great dub work overall but I’ll go with whichever (sub OR dub)is most appropriate and most emotive.
I rarely watch anything (anime, films, etc..) dubbed so my first viewing of any anime would always be the subs.
Sometimes I do check out the dubs and 90% of them are hilariously bad IMO. No doubt there are some good English dubs but even so, I’ve yet to come across an anime where I prefer the dubs over the Japanese voices.
There are rare occasions where dubs may be as good as, or perhaps even superior to original ( I have only one possible candidate for the last case: Azumanga Daioh, Korean version ). The bottom line is, it is always good to have choices, and even better if both dubs and subs can add to your understanding of the anime
-forty-two, I know a lot of people who think like you in regards to something being lost in translation. There are definite aspects of the Japanese culture that Western audiences may not get or appreciate, hence why I think they change the wording.
-DiGiKerot and -Gina I started defaulting to the subs as well, but we always check the English just in case. (and yes the English dubs are good for a laugh) We usually stick with the subs though.
-wontaek, the last anime I really liked dubbed just happens to be Azumanga Diaoh but the English version. Choices are indeed a beautiful thing so bless the inventors of the mighty DVD!
Subtitles are really the only way for me to go. When it comes down to it, the English dubbers will never be as good as the Japanese ones.
There are rare exceptions like My Neighbors the Yamada’s. Disney was directly responsible for dubbing the voices and had some pretty big name voice actors involved.
There just isn’t enough demand for it in the States. America doesn’t have a huge anime voice acting industry like Japan.
I’ve never personally enjoyed dubs, ever. But that isn’t to say that there aren’t some pretty decent dubs out there. I think that the Hellsing dub is actually pretty damn spiffy ^_^ I also enjoyed the dubbing for Princess Mononoke, because they did rather well on the casting, I thought, bringing in bigger names of people who you see actually act.
That’s not to say that voice actors suck. (I think the Trigun dub was pretty well done too!) But most of the time I think that the companies just push things out too quick to even enjoy a quality product ^^;
Forgot about Hellsing. While some voices in the dub totally suck, there are some pretty good ones too–Alucard and Integra especially.
I prefer subs in general because of all the reasons already mentioned.
I actually think that Trigun is a very different series in English than in Japanese. I think Vash’s voice is really annoying in the dub
Rachel–Sephy was the most disappointing of all. I watched it in English the other day and cringed the whole time. It DOES sound like they are shopping for tableware lol!
I usually watch both:
– I watch the dub so I can pay attention to the video
– I watch the sub so that I can listen to the original audio
as well as get a translation closer to the original
This means I usually watch an anime at least twice.
Hmm…I can’t seem to find an appropriate choice on your poll to
select…oh, well.
-Mochi, I ran outta room for options and I keep forgetting how many fans actually do watch the sub and dub version of an anime. My apologies. This is why the comment board rocks; for letting peoples’ personal ops be known ^^
For the most part subs, but in the rare case where the story isn’t that particularly deep, or when I’m really really tired and am just seeking to relax, I’ll check out a dub. But, there are some dubs that are so wild I actually prefer listening to them. Take Those Who Hunt Elves Season 1 for instance. It’s completely wild. Rude, crude, filled with pop references…nothing like the subtitled track. They did make them more in line with season 2, but by that time I had become used to the English voices, so I stuck with them.
Yeah, I agree with you -Chris that some dubs are wilder than others. Take Cromartie High for example. I laughed my ass off at the crazy references and lingo they used for the dub. But I watched with some perplexity as a Japanese friend laughed his ass off to it while I barely cracked a smile reading the subs…
I guess I’m just one of those purists, but I don’t ever watch dubs unless I’m babysitting or I just want to laugh. I definitely find the original Japanese audio to be much higher quality than in the dubbed version.
In all honesty it seems as if many times companies don’t even bother with finding talented voice actors, and even when the actor IS talented, the voice doesn’t seem to fit the character. Hopefully all this will change one day, or they will start airing at least some anime in it’s original form.
As far as subtitles, some people find them annoying, but after you get used to them or become a faster reader, it becomes simple to read and watch simultaneously. Maybe it’s that I’m slightly hard of hearing (it seems) but i prefer using captions for most things anyway.
I tend to only watch serious anime, but I’ve noticed that with humorous anime some people tend to like the quirkiness a dub can give. This may be one of the reasons why I don’t respect dubs, as they tend to ruin the sort of anime that i usually watch.
To me, watching, or atleast preferring, dubs is a sign of naivety. Just like people who call themselves “otaku” without even knowing the meaning of the word.
This does not mean that I hate dubs or the people who watch them, but it bothers me when people don’t atleast try to watch something in it’s original format, thinking that it’s americanized form is the only or more superior form.
I was on board with you -Ryoshockwave all the way up to To me, watching, or atleast preferring, dubs is a sign of naivety.” There are a bizallion reasons why people do what they do and for us to guess why and judge them for it is unfair to say the least.
Who knows why some people really like dubs unless we ask? Only after we do so and then have an intelligent conversation (like the ones we’re having here) about said decision can we come to a conclusion and/or opinion. Perhaps we can enlighten someone in the course of our conversation or at least get a concrete reasons why. Not respecting the decision is not the same as not respecting the decision maker. I can see where you’re coming from overall -Ryoshockwave, but labeling dub-preferrers as naive is not cool.
There are some really well thought out comments here as to preference choices and I enjoy seeing all these perspectives. I hope we can have more dialog like this ^-^b.