Please note that I want to have a serious and intelligent conversation, please keep bashing and rage to a minimum.
-----------------------------------------~

Alrighty, this has been on my mind for the while now. Why do people seem to hate dubs for anime so much? I don't see all the hate over them. People act like dubs do nothing right and I'm curious why ya'll think this way.

Personally, I like dubs and prefer them over the subs. (most of the time at least, there are always exceptions.) I guess I just prefer watching stuff in my own language and seeing what the american dubs do with them.

Now I can see why older dubs, from the 90s and such carry the hate for them. I still can't watch Sailor Moon with out cringing every time I hear "Serena's" voice or laughing at all they changed in it. But the dubs these days are done pretty well. The voice acting is solid and changes to the series is usually kept to a minimum.

One of the biggest things I hear in the defense of subs in that the english VAs don't sound the same as the Japanese VAs Don't take offence, but I just find this silly. The Jap VAs are not what the mangaka might have chosen since they almost never have any say in it. And any producer is going to pick a VA that is more well known even if I lesser know VA would suit the character better. Yes we do the same thing here, but what's wrong with an English producer chosing a VA that he thinks would suit the character better even if it sounds different from the Jap VA? I've watched many series that the English VA sounds much different yet I enjoyed more then the Jap VA. Jing: King of Bandits being one example.

Another thing I have heard is in Translations. Now this one I can agree on to an extent, there is nothing more annoying then a dubb messing up the translation till you can't even compare them. But one has to remember that I perfect translation is impossible. Anyone who has tried to translate anything is any language knows that no matter what you do there will be some differences. (and just to keep my cred in this, I translate from French to English.) A direct translation, no matter what you do will sound stiff and formal. Some rewrite is necessary to keep in characters. And at times, I do not mind a more localization to a direct translation, again I see nothing wrong with a English dubb giving it's own spin on something.

I guess, what it really boils done to with me is that I don't mind slight changes to the anime as long as it stay consistent with the manga. It's the original, not the anime.

Now, agree or disagree with me. I want your opinions. Lets debate people!

Fansubs!

Dubs suck. 8D

I rather watch shows with their original voices. Goes for movies, too.

________________

subs, i enjoy the japanese language and the dubs kinda don't match the way the character's voice should be. ...basically yeah...

________________

Please keep the "dubs suck" to a minimum. Intelligent debate remember

I can see having a affinity to the language. I'm half French so I'm attracted to anything in the french language. Though I always find it interesting how someone can be so attached to a language they most likely aren't around very much. You would think an English speaking person would have an affinity to the dubs rather then the subs.

I prefer subs and have very little faith in dubs at all. There are exceptions, of course, but I find most dubbed anime to be lacking. There are several reasons for my preferences.

1. There is always, always something lost in translation. I am teaching myself Japanese so that I don't even have to rely even on subs. It's shocking and kind of sickening sometimes how terribly butchered the original meaning of lines and whole plot points can become because of the need to match dialogue to the original "lip flaps."

2. The voice acting industry in America is small. Because of this, many actors are recycled over and over and over into roles they should not be playing. They have talent, sure, but the industry is NOT big enough to find a suitable voice actor for most characters.

3. The voice-acting is far too often cheesy and cartoonish. The actors ham it up a lot, which is understandable; in American cartoons, everything is over-the-top. In anime, subtler voice acting with more inflection is absolutely necessary. Whether because of a lack of talent or because of a misconception about anime in general, this rarely happens.

4. With "Americanization" of anime, many cultural references are lost. We're trying to make this appeal to American audiences, but it's ridiculous how much is lost—not accidentally in translation but purposefully in the script-writing process.

Those are the main ones for me right now. I usually find dubs ridiculously cheesy and almost painful to listen to. As I said, however, there most certainly are a huge number of exceptions, and the list of successful dubs is growing, I imagine, as the industry expands. I actually began watching dubbed anime and that is what brought me into everything else, so I am extremely grateful to dubs. However, twice removed from their source material, they pale miserably in comparison to the original.

________________
≡ Youtube ≡ DeviantART ≡ Roseille Scans

Agree!

________________

It's very simple.

They're not Japanese.

So therefore they don't sound Japanese.

As a result, dubs lose.

________________
"I'll shut your mouth~~~~~ with mine~~~"

二息歩行

Hmm, I'm in the minority so far. I haven't actually watched much anime, but I have watched some dubbed and some subbed. Though the posts make good points for the flaws in dubbed anime, for me those flaws aren't serious enough to change my mind.

Simply put, I don't want to read the anime. When I am reading the lines it is impossible, not matter how hard I try, to pay full attention to what is happening on screen. I have to either watch the anime, read the anime or do both but subpar.

Also, I do like hearing things in English rather than a language I don't understand. I suppose the optimal thing would be to know Japanese and watch it in the original language, but since I don't it is dubs for me any day. Well, I suppose my opinion could change in the future, as I am exposed to more anime, but this is how I feel now.

I don't really have a preference, but if I start it in one language I like finishing it in that language.

Subs, because I prefer to listen to Japanese rather than English, even though I can't speak it. I watch everything with subtitles anyway, even regular TV.

________________

Subtitles because I like reading.

i prefer good dubs. when a show is properly dubbed and not censored its easier to understand and subs distract from the picture.

The voices acting in dubs rarely ever fits the character being played.
Most anime characters are young. Asians tend to have higher pitched voice, thus easily maintaining the suspense of disbelief that the voice behind the character is really around the same age.
Just look at the dub version for K-ON!. or the dub for Sasuke.

Which brings me to my next point - pronunciation. If the VAs can't even say the names of the characters they're playing without sounding unnatural and somewhat retarded (SAUCE-KAY), then it's just bad voice acting! Sure, the western phonetics is partly to blame, but isn't it the actor's job to sound as believable as possible?





________________

Everyday I'm tumblin'

I grew up watching dubbed anime in the 90's. The first time I watched anime in Japanese, I realized just how much the dubbed anime sucks.

But I haven't watched any dubbed anime at all for several years, so I don't know how they've improved. Perhaps their quality is on par with the originals now, I don't know.

EDIT: That's not to say that I think all dubbed anime is totally bad. I watched Dragonball Kai recently, and I couldn't help comparing it to the english dubbed Dragonball Z I watched years ago. I have to say that the Japanese voices for Goku and Gohan really grated on my ears. And although I don't think the Japanese voice for Picollo was bad, I still prefer the English one that I remember.

Last edited by frustratedguy109 at 11:56 pm, Jul 4 2011

I prefer subs because the Japanese voices match the characters better. Listening to inferior English voices is vastly more annoying to me than reading subtitles. The Japanese voices sound more practiced and professional than the English ones, possibly because animation is more common there? I dunno...