To be honest most people probably didn't know about Cowboy Bebop till it was dubbed and aired on Cartoon Network.

It's funny that it used to be the other way around. Everyone remotely linked to the VHS fansub community knew about Cowboy bebop. It was probably one of the reasons it was chosen as the first Adult Swim anime. Still, those were dark times for fansub lovers.

Distributors were still trying to maintain the segregated system of overpriced dubs vs subs people were forced to endure with VHS and 4kids ruled the network anime space. Just remembering having to pay $30 for a DVD which had as few as two episodes of dubious quality in a 24 episode series with only one choice of audio and no extras still makes my blood boil.

Hearing that Cowboy bebop was licenced left me with mixed emotions. Hearing it was being aired on Cartoon Network didn't help, especially after all the butchered anime started appearing on Fox and WB. Escaflowne, Card Captor Sakura and One Piece deserved better.

At this moment im more inclined to pick Dub but will wait a few days, the reason for my choice is because none of the sub fans of Cowboy Bebop have really posted a solid reason why it is better, though i am interested in knowing their side of the argument.

We're trying to hedge our bets, trying not calling it perfect.
Because, as you stated, the dubs of the late 90's were among the best then and, in my opinion since, Bebop was always at the top of the pile.

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Sarcasm just doesn't work over the internet.

Most people have only watched one or the other. Many who like the dub better also first watched it on Adult Swim, making them more accustomed to the English voices.

It is tough to give a solid reason really. It really comes down to preferences. Little things like the Spangrish "Amigo!" and gameshow style rapid fire speech in the "Big Shot" bits gets lost in the translation. To compensate, in the dub they gave the guy a funny accent and the girl a ditzy voice (which is pretty much what she was in the first place).

You can find them pretty easily on youtube and they don't really spoil more than your average preview so "Big Shot" clips should make a pretty safe litmus test for whether you prefer the dub to the sub.

Last edited by drunkguy at 7:54 pm, Jan 3 2013

I've heard that Cowboy Bebop is among the most well-dubbed anime, but I can't attest to this myself since I've never actually watched it.

If I remember correctly Cowboy Bebop was one of the few animes that were dubbed by the US counterpart of the original Japanese production company namely Bandai. When it aired internet was not like what it is now. Back then most people still had dial up internet and was not as interactive as it is now.

I have decided to watch the dub seeing as more people are in favor of it, might be because they were introduced with Dub first but I am going to give it a try, already done with several episodes and it really seems to fit with the overall series and the cultures depicted in the anime as well making it seem natural, instead of for example a japanese voice in a really western influenced anime which has always kinda bothered me somewhat or the fact that almost every foreigners that always talk/understand japanese like it's their natural language, it just doesn't seem right in my opinion and doesn't give the right image of foreign culture, however I might give the sub a try after I have finished the dub. However feel free to discuss about Cowboy Bebop sub or dub even if I have decided which, because this seems like something others would like to discuss about.