Anime: Subbed or Dubbed?

[relm]

I want to know what you guys think?:

Would you rather see your favourite Anime with subtitles
in all its original voices and Animation?
Or would you rather see your favourite Anime not in Japanese,
but in your own language, so you don't have to read it?



In my own circle of anime friends in highschool, we always
talked about how Animes were being ruined, when they were
being brought to America, dubbed in funky voices, and perhaps
even edited (animation).
I posted this in the Naruto thread, but I think this discussion
deserves its own thread, so I quote myself:
As we all know, CN (Cartoon Network) takes popular anime from Japan
and airs them in English. Well, for long time fans of the anime (myself,
being a long time fan of Naruto) are often... well, disappointed when
it comes here in English. Why? I can think of a couple reasons I dislike it.

Though I speak English as my main language, I'd rather see the anime
in its "purest" form, with original voices and animations.
Second, after knowing about the anime for years before it even got to CN,
it is sort of saddening for the fear of what it will become. We all know
about Yugioh and how uberly popular it was in Jpn before it came here .
Now look at it...Same can be said for Pokemon, Inu Yasha and many
other anime I can't think of atm. With Naruto being popularized by CN
and other companies like Hot Topic... I dunno... it's becoming less "cool" to
me. hehe! ^^ Only my opinion of course! There are other reasons, but
these are main.

But that's kinda besides the point.

[darkViVi]

Well I'm not sure.

With me being a Norwegian I think I prefer any movie/anime in english with subs.
I usually watch both in English and without subs but some words I don't understand or something I don't hear because of the noise on what I'm watching or because noises in my surroundings.
Oh and I would rather watch anime in English rather than japaneese, hopefully with Norwegian subs ^_^

[Maridia]

Hmmm that's a good question. Well it's tough I have seen a couple anime's with dubs that are good. Though I will say it's quite rare for me to like. When they're done right I think they're wonderful. But if they don't do a good job then it's just unwatchable. So overall I'd say it's safe to say that subtitles are the way to go. I don't mind reading what's said, plus the voices always fit better than the dubbed ones. So for me I'd go with subtitles.

[Crazy Chocobo]

Either way is good for me. I don't mind reading subtitles and I don't mind the anime being dubbed. Some dubbed animes aren't as good as the original but oh well, they're still interesting to watch. I like watching the dubbed version of DBZ because I don't really like the Japanese voices all that much . There are a couple of Animes that I have watched with subtitles and I thought they were pretty cool, they were not ruined in any way. It was cool to watch. So I think I'll vote for both because it doesn't really bother me too much.

[Zardoch]

I agree with you there on that. I personally hate just about all English dubbing that they use in anime. ESPECIALLY when they turn some ****ing anime into a kids show. But I was extremely pissed off when they aired Naruto with an English cast, just about every voice was gay as hell. ESPECIALLY KAKASHI! GAH! Calm, low, and cool, not in the shit they had there.

I pretty much watch any foriegn movie in it's pure form without the damn English dubbing and I don't regret it. It is hard to find a anime though that has good English dubbing. So basically I wouldn't want to waste my time getting English versions of all of it. **** American, it's English dubs, and gay editting.

I <3 fansubs

[Angantyr]

^ Agree'd, from reading the DBZ uncut thread I think its quite annoying how the edit it for the younger kids, I want to see it exactly how it was intended, not removing cigs, with blood and even nude if thats what was on it! Fan subs are great, I am happy with reading subs, the english conversions are silly and gay, I mean it would be nice just to hear it in English but normally they don't make the voices go together properly. But yeah I would like english dubs but I am happy with subs instead.

[Bryan 2.0]

It really all depends on if I watch it in subs first or not. Take Advent Children for example. I can't watch that in English. I'm too used to the subs.

If I get to choose, I'd take dubs. Hell, I'd love to just know how to speak Japanese. I'd do that shit like every day. Fo sho.

[Simoun]

i prefer it being subbed.


Dubbing's also great, but then again, some of the elements, rather, the emotion of the character sometimes misses the character's real feeling.

[TomStrife]

It ALWAYS depends on who dubs it. Some DUBS I think are improved and others (most others) are ruined.

My favorite anime dub is Full Metal Alchemist and the example of what the worse that can happen is IMO is One Piece. A great anime turned into the most insanely horrible kiddish show ever.

We could make an Anti-4kids thread.

[JManClassic]

I like subbed most of the time. But as long as they don't screw it up in American, I would much rather watch that.

[Juggalomage]

Subbed. In anime you get more from the original format than you could from and american dubbed.

[SOLDIER #819]

Same can be said for Pokemon, Inu Yasha and many
other anime I can't think of atm.

Not sure about Inu Yasha, but Pokémon was a kids show in any form. They cut things out, but that was usually in certain episodes only. Some of the "worst" that the original Pokémon had was James in a swimsuit with his inflatable breasts, haha.

Anyway, subs. Dubs' enjoyability is dependant on the series. There are some good, some bad. Of course, there are bad Japanese voices too. I'm pretty tolerant, but when I first heard Azumanga in either form I wanted to ram my head through a wall. I wasn't too fond of the anime in general though...

[Andromeda]

I personally cannot stand the Japanese voice acting, I find a lot of horribly done and not suited to the character that they are playing. And I am always annoyed by their decision to put female voice actresses in for male characters that are not teenage or young, i.e. Goku. It is thing like that just put me off of Japanese dubs. I will watch the subs with the english dubs on to try to get a purer translation, but I know that the english translation is usually not perfect, but I know the dub translation is worse because they are trying to get to work with the lip sync and get it make sense a little more to the english audience.

What I hate about the english versions is the things that air on TV. Which is why I am usually buying DVDs since it is uncut, provided it has not aired on TV, then I am always a little cautious. I usually find the English voices better suited, I am obviously not seeing the real Japanese translations, which on TV we will always tone down.

I hate Cartoon Network with all my living breath for ruining good shows like Outlaw Star and Tenchi. You have no idea how mad I was when I bought the DVDs for Outlaw Star, which was completely uncut. I could never watch it on TV ever again.

And while I will agree that earlier dubs have been utterly terrible, the US dubbing have been getting increasingly better over the last few years. I have heard bad dubbing, so it is not that I do not know what bad dubs are like. And I have heard plenty of Japanese, but I really cannot stand listening to it. I just feel like the voices are inaccurate to the character, sometimes too deep and other times too soft.

Now I can say that I will always watch things in English first, so I am naturally becoming bias towards the English. But seeing the character and the way they act, I usually feel that the English suits them well a lot of the time.

So I am completely English Dubs.

[~SapphireStar~]

I prefer watching it with subtitles & original voices. But there are some animes that have excellent dubbing, GunGrave, Hellsing, Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Pretear, Dominion Tank Police. Others just shouldnt be tampered with, like FLCL.

[ベト]

Subs are the bomb!!! I was totally pissed off that they changed the low toned mystical voice of Mugen from samurai champloo into the same voice who played spike from cowboy bebop. What the **** dude!

And I do agree, original versions don't have edited scenes.

[SailorCallie]

i prefer it being subbed.


Dubbing's also great, but then again, some of the elements, rather, the emotion of the character sometimes misses the character's real feeling.

I like subbed most of the time. But as long as they don't screw it up in American, I would much rather watch that.

Subbed. In anime you get more from the original format than you could from and american dubbed.

I agree. Watching anime subbed is better. One example is Macross 7 because it hasn't been dubbed, or fan-dubbed that I know of, yet.

[Victoria]

I've been subbed ever since I started watching anime online. Which is for like 4 years now.

And Andro put up a bad example of japanese dubbing with DBZ. Yes, that particular show has bad dubbing, but that doesn't mean all shows do.

The only english dubbing that I will approve of is Fruits Basket, Cowboy Bebop, the DB series, and Outlaw Star. Maybe Gundam Wing too.

[Hikari]

I started with subs and that's pretty much all I can stand now. I hear a dub and the voices make me cover my ears in pain. I heard a remake of a song for the dub of one show and actually passed out from the pain and shock of the situation.

Also the subs aren't modified for Western culture. The don't mess up couples or relatives in weird ways. How can you have CCS without Melin and Syaoran not related or engaged?

[T.G. Oskar]

Erm, sorry for the sorta old quoting, but what TS says...

It ALWAYS depends on who dubs it. Some DUBS I think are improved and others (most others) are ruined.

My favorite anime dub is Full Metal Alchemist and the example of what the worse that can happen is IMO is One Piece. A great anime turned into the most insanely horrible kiddish show ever.

We could make an Anti-4kids thread.

...is pretty much my opinion too. I have always heard anime dubbed, but not English dubbed, but Spanish dubbed. Most of the time by Mexican companies. And I must say, it is awesome to hear it, especially since they conserve the spirit of the conversation. I can say Spanish dubbing is as good as the original, if not better. Especially Ranma 1/2...truly awesome.

Sadly, North Americans cannot do the same. Dubs sound like the guys are really trying to, but simply cannot do. Rurouni Kenshin is a very fine example, despite Kenshin's Jap voice being done by a woman. I cannot say much about Cowboy Bebop, or Trigun, since I haven't seen 'em (I have heard the dubs are really good), but most anime I have seen are dubbed, and sound horrible when translated.

While Disgaea is not an anime per se (but the story of the game could pass as one, regardless of the anime recently released), the sub/dub question well manifests here. Most of the Japanese voices are much better than their English counterparts, while sometimes the inverse is true. But, in general, I prefer the JAP voices to the NA voices.

To sum it all off, I heartily prefer subbing to dubbing, because good dubs in America are hard to find, and the best series are gotten by people that think anime is just for kids (pun not intended, but darn, it is good). Anime is for all ages, and oftentimes for mature audiences only.

Make it shorter? Here:

Japanese with subs ≈ Spanish dubs > Good English dubs >^(∞th power) 4Kids dubbing >^(∞x∞th power) One Piece dubbing/censoring/series-assasination

[Ushiku]

Subbed is a lot better, its an easy way to learn little words and phrases, and if you're into music too like me you can learn the words to the theme tunes.

[Rasler]

This is a difficult choice... I have the same problem with my DVDs. I have a hearing problem(not gonna go into details >.>) and I often prefer to watch things with subtitles on. However, this can distract your eyes from the action. Subbed anime is often of things yet to be licensed and dubbed, letting the pro-subbed people to have first dibs, so-to-speak.
Dubbed anime is often lame, toned down, or in the worst-case, Americanized. However, subbed anime provides a more relatable link to the viewer, being able to watch it in a language the person understands. Sometimes, the dubbing is actually better (purely subjective, don't go yelling at me...) as shown by Excel Saga. I found the dub to be BETTER than the original dialogue.

I say---Subbed, unless it is Excel Saga. XD

[Kinyoto]

I really don't care. Even though I do watch more dubbed but I do watch subbed. its always fun to see how good the dubbed is.

[Arkaine]

This has been a lengthy argument of anime fans everywhere and there will probably never be one decisive answer it will always be a matter of personal taste. Personally I like the subbed movies because although there is always something lost in the translation, there is usually less lost than in the dubbed versions. Plus the subbed versions in the orignal language have a tendency to lend a little more insight into the characters themselves. There is nothing worse than seing a character voiced by a tenor american that in the original had a more high pitched voice that fit more distinctly with his character. But hey, that's just my opinion.

[PillBox]

As in movies, I think it's important to have the orignial sounds, I understand people preferring the dubbed versions, although I find them to be just lazy, because there's something dubbed versions don't have, the acting part, the way they say things is sometimes better than what they're actually saying. Cheers!

[Zardoch]

This has been a lengthy argument of anime fans everywhere and there will probably never be one decisive answer it will always be a matter of personal taste. Personally I like the subbed movies because although there is always something lost in the translation, there is usually less lost than in the dubbed versions. Plus the subbed versions in the orignal language have a tendency to lend a little more insight into the characters themselves. There is nothing worse than seeing a character voiced by a tenor american that in the original had a more high pitched voice that fit more distinctly with his character. But hey, that's just my opinion.

Yeah, I really HATE when they use a voice actor who is completely off from what the original character had. The original voice actors gave the character a certain distinction that most people like. It just seems to me when they bring the anime into the US lately they've been doing shitty jobs with the voice acting. And then like I said in my first post, when they turn some violent or sensual anime into some ****ing kids show it really screws everything up. That's just another way of saying "We can't come up with anything original so we steal from Japan and make our own versions of them".

Yet another reason to hate America.

[Zephyr]

Possibly the scariest dubbing I have heard was for Peacemaker Kurogane. The woman in the english dub were just scary.

I prefer subtitled over dubbed, as most english dubbing doesn't take any of the emotion into it. Also, they try to find the phrase that fits the way the lips are moving, and so lose some meaning. In Advent Children, a lot of "kuso"'s were translated to a weak sounding "no..", when actually it was originally a fairly strong "sh**!", or "damn!"

So yeah, I'm all for subs.

[BlackMageInRed]

Dubbed on most, subbed on others i.e Advent Children

[Testbug]

I don't watch anime much that what I watch I prefer subbed. I'm Finnish so every thing almost come subbed. I don't down-load almost anything to my computer but when I have they have been subbed. But yep, I prefer subbed over dubbed.

[Yoko-Chan]

i vote for subtitles and original voices.
dubbing just sucks ass.
who doesen't want to hear the original voices?

[Asch]

i perfer dubbed casue im a lazy guy and dont like to read. But the voices are much better for original