Most of the time, I think that the english voice acting in anime is either alright or sucks. Generally, I agree with people who think that the original voice acting is superior to the american dub (although generally I am not so picky that I won't watch the readily available english dub anyway.) For some shows, however, I don't feel that this is the case. Here are a few:
The Baron from The Cat Returns: Voiced by Cary Elwes. Westley himself. He has a simply dashing british-accented voice, that fits so well with the character. I watched the subbed version first, and the original didn't really make the character stand out to me. Then I watched it again in English, and thought, "...wow. The Baron is a badass. And a pimp."
L from Deathnote: Once again, the voice actor added a certain personality to the character that I didn't get from the original japanese counterpart. There was a quirkiness, a silliness, that added a dimension to the character and made him more likable the English version. In the Japanese, he just seemed very serious. (To be fair, I only watched the second volume of the show subbed.)
Sidoh from Deathnote: This guy is fricken' hilarious. ...in the english dub. "I want my notebook!" Another awesome line of his that I can't find is when an episode ends with him saying, "Well, that sucks." He sounds so goofy and whiny. In the original, he just sounds serious to me.
General Septum from Gundam Wing: Now to be honest, I've never actually heard the original japanese voice acting for General Septum. However, I find it hard to believe that it could be any better. The voice actor did such a ridiculous, over the top job, that I can't think it was anything other than an intentional "So bad it's good" job. (I can't find any videos where he has substantial screen time. I do have a recording of his voice on my cell phone, but it's in qcp format, and you can't listen to it unless you have a qcp player.)
I might think of more later. Anyhoo...
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When I read the topic I definately thought of "L" from Deathnote. I can't think of any others at the moment. The biggest problem is, I usually dont even give the english version a chance anymore. To many low paid actors that just don't seem to care at all. Giving absolutely no life to the characters. I can give a long list of characters that english dubs have destroyed.
Scene from a movie.
SPOILER!!:
Cowboy Bebop.
Trigun.
Fruits Basket.
Dragonball series.
And IMO, L's original Japanese actor is better. Because he's freakin' Usopp from One Piece.
Aside from those, the english sucks everywhere else. >_>
(Or I haven't seen it to judge it. xP)
Pretty much everyone in Cowboy Bebop and Tenchi Muyo/Universe (especially Spike Spiegel and Ryoko) - the two best dubs around.
"Excuse me Miss, do you like pineapple?"
"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work, I want to achieve it through not dying"
Well I really like L's voice on the english dub and I can't stand people who like the japanese version better...it bugs me so!
The english dub for Alexander Andersons voice on Hellsing is much better than the original. With his Irish accent intact, it sounds more real to me.
Trigun (Vash and Wolfwood had some good voice acting, on par with Japanese version imho)
Golden Boy, English version of Kentaro is hilarious compared with Japanese version (If you havn't seen it, GO DO IT NOW. Best quote: "Trying to look backwards while already looking backwards can be very painful. This was very educational")
Rei from Evangelion was done very well I think
Huh!? So that means the FMA dub sucks? I doubt a bit the Dragonball dubbing (mostly because of the over-the-top ham factory of the dub compared to the series), but I recall the FMA dub was well done.Originally Posted by Mistress Victoria
But I can't say much about English dubs; most of the anime I've seen is subbed or dubbed in Spanish. Note to those whom attempt to find dubs on Spanish; usually Mexican/Chilean dubs are superior. Spain-dubbed are just as hit-or-miss as English. Dragon Ball, Ranma and Rurouni Kenshin in Spanish are much, much better than their English counterparts.
Oh, and yes: Hellsing in English. Another good dub, but that's basically because it's easier to deal with Catholicism in an European language. Not so sure about the Hellsing organization's Protestantism (though that may be because of the Anglican church's similarities to Catholicism). And Father Anderson is just sick as heck. I recall the dub of the OVA is even better than the original's, or is it just me?
Oh, and obvious: 4Kids' dubs suck a lot. Like I don't have to hammer that already, but YMMV on how many people know about that. 4Kids' One Piece dub is sacrilege, and I'd dare say the same about Pokemon except that the Latin American dub of the 4Kids' edited version is quite, quite good.
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Sometimes I always try to watch my animes Eng Dub just so I can spend less time reading and more time watching the actual anime. Once I've watched it a few times in eng dub, then I'll revert to the jap version.
If I really like the anime then I will most likely watch it in English, if it's ok then either is fine.
Dual Parallel Trouble Adventure
Death Note
Code Geass
Gundam Seed/Destiny
are all animes I will need to watch in english just bc in death note and code geass, sometimes it's harder to imagine how complicated they are talking when your just reading the words, hearing it on the other hand provides much more powerful events. Perfect example besides those is Spiral....I always watch that anime in English
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Richard Epcar doing the dub for Batou in "Ghost in the Shell" just completely changes the complexion of the character. Whereas in the japanese dub he comes across as a bit less serious and inhibited which really doesnt suit the character Epcars performance gives Batou a wistful and world weary quality meaning he complements "The Major" perfectly.
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Overall, I tend to take dubs as a whole rather than picking out individual performances that I thought were superior to their Japanese counterparts, but I think the Hellsing dub(s) (if you include both the original anime and the newer OVA series) fall into both of these categories. Not that I find anything particularly wrong with the Japanese cast, but I think the combination of the absolutely stellar cast they assembled for the dub, combined with the fact that it just seems more appropriate hearing the English accents in a series that takes place in England, makes for a more enjoyable aural experience than the original Japanese.
I also have to agree with smurphy above me for pointing out the great work Richard Epcar did in his role as Batou in all of the assorted Ghost in the Shell movies/series. I love his work as both a director and a voice actor, and I think he just makes the character of Batou, who happens to be my favourite character in that franchise.
On the more general note, and as I was getting at earlier, there are a number of shows where I prefer the overall dub to the Japanese not for one particular voice or the other, but for the entire ensemble. That being said, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Wolf's Rain, and Ghost in the Shell all fall under that umbrella, but I'm also a big dub supporter in general, and there are plenty of other dubs I find quite excellent, too. (Evangelion, FMA, Death Note, Code Geass, etc.)
There aren't many that I think are superior. I tend to find it very hard to like the English Dub, especially if I have already watched it in Japanese.
However, the one performance I can pick out from them all is Light Yagami from Death Note. A lot of people prefer L's performance, but I think Light's dub is better. He is voiced by Brad Swaile, who also did the dub for Amuro Ray from Gundam. He isn't so good as Amuro, but I thought he was great as Light. I wouldn't necessarily say the dub was superior to the Japanese dub, but I thought that they got the right voice for the character. He sounded smug and intelligent, which was Light's character all over.
Everyone in DRAGONBALL ZXD. Thats the only anime I have or will ever watch in the English language. And Im one whose.. how should I put this nicely.... STRONGLY opposed to English dub. I wont give it a chance. If its created by the Japanese then it should stay that fkng way. Besides when its english dubbed I think the translations are vulgar as opposed to them being in the Japanese language with english subtitles plus the japanese are consistently excellent with their voice acting.
I very much enjoyed Code Geass dubbed except (Possible Spoiler) When a certain character is overwhelmed with grief at the end of the series, you can really feel the emotion with the japanese voice acting, its quite intense, as where the english one didnt portray it enough, in my pretentious opinion.
Code Geass was probably the greatest anime I've ever seen.
Neon genesis voice acting was amazing too. Another great anime.
Trigun, bubblegum crisis tokyo 2040, dragonball z, paranoia agent and maybe durarara.
Any male character who had a girly sounding VA in Japanese but had someone I would actually be able to tell is male without looking it up. Goku and Kenshin Himura come to mind. I'm sure there are tons more.
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