Anime: Subbed or Dubbed?

[Haru-Sensei]

I couldn't vote being that my selection wasn't on there.

I like watching it with dubbing and Subtitles enabled, but if I had to choose, I'd probably choose Subbed.

[Moondancer]

I prefer dubbed because much is lost in the translation... and usually not because there is a lack of words to match. Case and point: I bought the first Inuyasha movie becuase both me and my daughter just love the show. We had the english on with subtitles, courtesy of my DVD player not the disk itself. Many of the words were left out, or just changed altogether. You loose a peice of the story in a way when they change it through the subbing. Plus all the eps I have on my computer that are dubbed also have little lesson helpers in them so to speak, by having on top what certain words and phrases mean. To me that gives it a more in-depth look at the culture of the story than the subbed ones do.

[rainbow chronicler]

I think I like the original with subtitles. I like to hear Japanese dialogues and read whats under the screen. I just like to listen to them talk in Japanese. And, the voice of the character is really known, I mean his real voice is there, no curiosity if you listen to nglish dubbed anime.

[KnightBlade]

In the Case on Anime..I defenitely choose subbed! You really have to give most of the credit to the original voice actors!!! But I have seEn an Anime that had goOd Voice Dubbing.. Fullmetal alchemists!! That one I have to give credit to... I love Ed's Voice..he was voice dubbed by VIc mignogna!!! Vic

But I really Hate pEople trying to voice dubb anime and changes a lot of the animation!! Especially when the actors aren't good at dubbing

[Georg Prime]

For the most part, i would say subtitles simply because most of the time, the english voice actors sound awful, make the characters sound different and the dubbing overall just sucks. Though sometimes the japanese voices can get really annoying as well

In some cases though, if they can dub it well enough, dubbing can be great. And i agree with Andromeda, that dubbing IS getting a whole lot better, so hopefully sometime i'll only watched dubbed anime.

[geordanuk]

I prefer dubbed much more because when i first watched Faruba I thought that Yuki was a female thanks to the female voice , plus i hope to be able to vote on the N/A since in 2 years time i'm studying Japanese

[Georg Prime]

I prefer dubbed much more because when i first watched Faruba I thought that Yuki was a female thanks to the female voice , plus i hope to be able to vote on the N/A since in 2 years time i'm studying Japanese

Trust me when i say that japanese is a pretty hard language to learn. Three different written languages, different dialects, the whole "polite" thing, plus the grammatical structure is completely ridiculous if you ask me. I had a friend who had few japanese exchange students staying with them who tried to teach me some of the simple things..definitely don't remember most of it.

If you really want a hard language though..Chinese is harder. Don't even get me started on that.

Not saying you can't learn it, it'll just take some work for sure.

[geordanuk]

Hehe yeah I know how hard it is but hey i intend to move there one day *goes all dreamy eyed* so i've gotta know how to speak plus i can speak little bits like hello my name is..... and i can say idiot yeah its not much but its a start

anyway back on topic i'd say that usbbed and dubbed is good although i didnt say that the first time but i often put subs on even when its in english just to make sure i don't miss out on what they say or mis-interperate what they say

[Georg Prime]

Hey if that's your dream then don't give up on it. I was just too lazy and i guess i'm not that hardcore an anime fan to make myself try it more..kinda just frustrating. If i was moving to Japan or even majoring it then i would certainly would have given more effort but i thought it'd kinda just be useless and a waste of time.

Yeah, sorry if i got off topic there. I'm hoping one day english dubbing will be so good that the anime fans won't have to resort to reading subtitles or learning japanese.

[Musashiden]

It really depends on who does the dubbing. Anime Works and Right Stuf are notorious for not having good dubs so with stuff like Gravitation and Mouse I prefer the original Japanese. ADV on the other hand is usually pretty damned good with their dubbing so with shows like Eva and Excel Saga, the dubbed version is fine... and often times better than the original Japanese (Excel Saga is a prime example).

[Lethal Seraphim]

I made a similar post about this in the Naruto thread. However, I'm not going to cut and paste because I feel that'd be kinda lame on my part and also more importantly, because I can't be bothered to quit typing or open up another browser window to go find it.

But yeah the gist of it was that it depends on what I see first. Saw dubbed Trigun first, so I prefer dubbed Trigun. I've seen subbed Trigun and loved it just as much, but naturally a lot of the dialogue was different in places, so my favorite English quotes weren't there. Same thing with Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. I watched a bootleg copy of it first in subtitles, three times actually, and then saw the dubbed only to be disappointed that my favorite lines I'd memorized were not there.

I do have some favorite english voice actors though. I don't know any of them by name, only by the characters they do. The guy who does Vash's voice in Trigun (and countless other characters in other animes as well), the guy who does Spike's voice, and a couple others that don't come to mind right away. But yeah, if I find an anime and it has one of those voices in it I generally favor the dubbed version just because I like those particular voice actors.

When I watch subbed, I don't really pay attention to the voices cuz I'm too busy reading. However, I do enjoy watching lots of subs because then I start to recognize certain japanese phrases (like Naruto's dattebayo! thing, haha). Maybe if I keep watching subs for long enough I'll eventually learn japanese.

[Kaiser Dragoon]

Manga! Oh, wait, this isnt for that, but I do prefer manga over both XD. Anyways, I have seen a lot worse dubs than subs, so, I had to give my point to subs here, not saying there arent really bad japanese voice actors I wouldn't love to jsut murder because they are so dahm annoying, but american subbers tend to have more that flair *points at Naruto* case and point. They screw up a lot of american anime that way, but it depends on my mood honestly, sometimes I dont feel like reading, so, I just do american dubbs, and call it a day, and no, they arent all bad, just in general tend to be awful.

[Oathkeeper13]

I like the dubbing better.

It really doesn't bother me if the text doesn't match perfectly. But it does depend on who does it. Take Full Metal Alchemist for example, the english text to that is AWESOME!!!! TRIGUN's was AWESOME also. Cow Boy BEBOP, there are others but I can't name them all off.

I just hate reading subtitles, it's just so annoying.

[Kaos_Dragon]

I would say it depends on the way they're done. For me, it really doesn't matter if the series is subbed or dubbed. All I ask for is that they keep it close to the original and not edit it. Just keep it original.

Like I said, as long as the voice acting is good, it doesn't matter which language it is in.

Like for example, I preferred the uncut Cowboy Bebop dubbed. I just loved the voices they chose. But for a series like Kyou Kara Maoh!, I like the uncut subbed.

I just need it to be uncut, original and the voice acting, be it subbed or dubbed, to be good and nice to listen to. XD;

[Treize]

I agree with Kaos_Dragon. It really depends for me. I usually listen to anime dubbed, but if the dubbing is bad, I'd prefer to watch it with subtitles. It all depends on the anime and how it was dubbed. Like Kaos_Dragon said, as long as the voice acting is good, it doesn't matter which language it is in.

[Bleachfangirl]

I prefer watching it subbed the first time around, then going with the dubbed. It lets me see both ways (plus, English dubs are much easier to understand).

I agree with Andromeda about the Japanese voice actors sometimes, they can really get annoying. Some serious characters end up sounding so pathetic and child-like. The only anime with perfect voice matches with the characters, to me is Naruto. I can only watch it in Japanese.

[drizza]

Watching it subbed all the way with orginal voices. Man I cant tell ya how dubbed voices ruined animes so much. I dont even watch bleach on cartoon network because the voices is soo corny it changes th emood. And the dubbed of naruto makes the anime seem extremly childish. And lol dont get me started on hentai dubbs. Horrible ruins the mood. Anyway so yeah subbed all the way.

[Furore]

SUBBED! And I prefer it to be by independant fans who know what they're doing rather than a team who don't really care hired by a licenser.
Fan subs, but even then, only the good ones.
I dislike dubs as some can be very, very far from accurately deicting what was meant to be depicted. And sometimes it's noticeable. CLEARLY noticeable.

[Red]

subbed ftw! alot of english voicovers are terrible.

Naruto for example

[psychosyd]

I prefer watching it subbed the first time around, then going with the dubbed. It lets me see both ways (plus, English dubs are much easier to understand).

I agree with Andromeda about the Japanese voice actors sometimes, they can really get annoying. Some serious characters end up sounding so pathetic and child-like. The only anime with perfect voice matches with the characters, to me is Naruto. I can only watch it in Japanese.

I think that is the best approach... you watch it subbed to try to get the overall looks view, then you dub it to make sure you caught the story.

I think I agree and disagree with Andro's statement... because I find both to be true. I have certainly found cases where I think the Japanese voice actors just give the characters more life and bang to their dollar. I think it has to do with some of the more subtle art and symbolism that goes into Anime that many Americans just would not catch (I for one being one of them). I think that their potential better knowledge on the subject helps to bring their characters to life more, while we just kind of dub it to what we see in front of us, though dubbing IS getting better. Before my mission, I liked watching the natural form with subtitles on, but, as it continues, I notice more and more predictable repetition in anime voice styles based on character types (i.e the punk bad boy, the over endowed girl etc) and so the dubbing just gives it new flavor.

So... I voted subbed over dubbed, but I think in time ill transition to middle ground and maybe more dubbed or just learn Japanese. Right now im not a big enough anime fan to really do the third option

[Sinister]

I speak Japanese so it doesn't matter to me. I think that the dubs that I've heard are all righteously horrible. With certain exceptions. I think that the Hellsing dubs are probably the best in the history of all known Anime. Aside from that and a few other anomalies, dubs suck.

[GRIM REAPER]

It all depends on who voices the characters. I will watch either or but most of the time it is subtitles for me. Most of the dubbed anime i have seen they have butchered it with the translations and the voice actors seem to be there just to read the lines. Japanese seem to put there passion into the voices which makes it sound better and go with the anime even if I don't understand it. but there are some anime that I can't stand the japanese voices and prefer the dubb.

So to me it depends on the voice actors.

[Rob`]

if the dubbers are half decent i dont mind but in most cases such as Naruto subbed is better

[DragonHeart]

For me it's entirely dependent on the cast of each anime. Some shows like Outlaw Star and FMA I will watch with the dub because the cast is good, or at least everyone fits their characters. I do prefer dubbing when it's at least decent quality because it's just easier to watch.

On the other hand, some dubs are so terrible that I absolutely refuse to watch them. Kenshin and Naruto fall into this category. It may be because I heard them in Japanese first, but I find many of the English cast just don't fit the characters at all. Or, as in the case with Fruits Basket, most of the cast will be decent, but one person will be so badly miscast or have such an irritating voice that I won't watch it dubbed because of them.

That's the extreme end of it, though. Most anime I can go either way with depending on my mood. I've seen Outlaw Star both subbed and dubbed, as well as FMA and Trigun and a few others.

Bottom line: I prefer dubbing when possible, but I have no problems at all with watching subs. It's not a make or break sort of thing for me.

~DragonHeart~

[Sinister]

Hey DragonHeart, what voice in Fruits Basket is the one your referring to? Cause, oddly enough, I liked most of the dubs for that one.


-Sin

[Phantom]

I really prefer Dubbed Anime because I like hearing the voices, and reading subtitles is boring. Althrough I've gotten used to watching the Subbed version of Bleach.

[~Wings of Destati~]

In my personal opinion I really don't care! XD But I usually watch subs just 'cause it's fun to hear what people sound like in other languages. Plus, I've gotten used to watching them. I really don't see why people always hate dubbs. Honestly, people, THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THEM!!!

[DragonHeart]

Hey DragonHeart, what voice in Fruits Basket is the one your referring to? Cause, oddly enough, I liked most of the dubs for that one.

Momiji. Oy. Just the thought makes me shudder. Either way he's whiny and way too girly for his own good, but I can at least tolerate his Japanese voice. Japanese actresses playing male characters are fine with me but for some reason I just can't stand it in English. That's one of the main issues I had with the Naruto dub as well - in English his VA is like a 60 year old lady. >.>; The voice just does not fit at all.

~DragonHeart~

[Priscilla]

I study Japanese so I can understand a fair bit of it.
Although I still prefer to watch it dubbed as I can just listen and don't need to read.

But I do watch anime which is only in Japanese also. So all in all I can go either way.

[Final Princess]

I watched it dubbed, since I have really bad eye sight and I wear glassess, I just don't want to strain them.