Which is Better: Subbed or Dubbed?

[Sukii Higure]

Subbed or Dubbed doesn't normaly make that much of a diference, but in Sailor Moon they actualy edit the story and the animation when they change it to dubbed! Those bastards! Personaly i think subbs is the way to go, or even just learn the language, peoples!
What's your opinion and why?

[Sir Inactive]

Subbed imo, it's easier to tell and see what they say and so BUT, i could also say dubbed, cause then i might learn how to pronounce some words i aren't able to.

[Pun]

Subbed.

Subbed is like Chuck Norris, while Dubbed is like Jerry Seinfeld. So to speak.

[wolfgirl90]

Subbed or Dubbed doesn't normaly make that much of a diference, but in Sailor Moon they actualy edit the story and the animation when they change it to dubbed! Those bastards! Personaly i think subbs is the way to go, or even just learn the language, peoples!
What's your opinion and why?

Okay, if this is a general subs or dubs question, then there are about 50 of those in the General Anime section. Go there and pick one if that's what this is about.

Anyway, when it comes to Sailor Moon, sorry, but while I know about the edits that where made, I find it terribly silly and unfounded for people to whine about it NOW. How many people watched Sailor Moon when it first came on television 15 YEARS AGO (why the hell are you still whining about it)? Did you even care about the edits then or did you watch it without a second thought just like everyone else? How many sang the English theme song (how many people STILL KNOW the English theme song)? And unless you know ALL of characters' Japanese names (an indication that you actually watched the entire Japanese version rather than complain about the series second hand), don't even say anything.

The show was edited so that it would appeal to children and appease parents. It worked then (Sailor Moon was, and still remains, the most popular and successful shojo series in the US), it works now, and its the reality of anime that come to America, that sometimes they are left alone and sometimes they need to be edited so that the companies can market the property to children since they make more money that way (cause Lord knows that they don't make money from some of the so-called "fans").

And by the way, one doesn't learn Japanese from watching anime. One can cement their already acquired Japanese skills from anime, but you CAN'T learn Japanese (the full language) from anime. At least the beyond the beawoo phase.

[Pun]

Okay, if this is a general subs or dubs question, then there are about 50 of those in the General Anime section. Go there and pick one if that's what this is about.

Anyway, when it comes to Sailor Moon, sorry, but while I know about the edits that where made, I find it terribly silly and unfounded for people to whine about it NOW. How many people watched Sailor Moon when it first came on television 15 YEARS AGO (why the hell are you still whining about it)? Did you even care about the edits then or did you watch it without a second thought just like everyone else? How many sang the English theme song (how many people STILL KNOW the English theme song)? And unless you know ALL of characters' Japanese names (an indication that you actually watched the entire Japanese version rather than complain about the series second hand), don't even say anything.

The show was edited so that it would appeal to children and appease parents. It worked then (Sailor Moon was, and still remains, the most popular and successful shojo series in the US), it works now, and its the reality of anime that come to America, that sometimes they are left alone and sometimes they need to be edited so that the companies can market the property to children since they make more money that way (cause Lord knows that they don't make money from some of the so-called "fans").

And by the way, one doesn't learn Japanese from watching anime. One can cement their already acquired Japanese skills from anime, but you CAN'T learn Japanese (the full language) from anime. At least the beyond the beawoo phase.

Saying one may only show their opinion about something new, is very silly.

[小美ドクロchan]

Lol, this is kinda like asking which is better: Natural death or homicide? XD

The dub is....*twitches* .......why must you remind me of it?

[wolfgirl90]

Saying one may only show their opinion about something new, is very silly.

I didn't say that. Did I say that? No, I'm pretty sure I didn't. By the way, that doesn't really answer the questions that I asked (or anything I said, really), but anyway...

What I am saying is that its rather unfounded to complain about something that REALLY doesn't matter now. Anime was edited in those days (HEAVILY) and nobody really cared then (except the people that were 20-30 years old and importing VHS tapes from Japan). I am pretty sure that the OP most likely knew about Sailor Moon the same way that most people knew about it: when it first came on television 15 years ago and when it came on Toonami in 1998 (by then, the rating system was in place and the series wasn't NEARLY as edited as some people remember since the censorship wasn't all that necessary); every other kid was watching it by then. To retroactively complain about it after all this time is rather stupid because the fact of the matter is that it was something that was done to appeal to children (and it did; like I said, although I don't like the edits that they made, I, and most people my age, still watched the show since we were FIVE at the time), ESPECIALLY, when most of series is available on DVD (subtitled AND uncut). Again, WHY is anyone STILL complaining about it after all this time?

I mean, if you want to complain about dubs, choosing something more relevant to the present (instead of the past where regulations FORCED companies to censor anime to get it on television) would make more sense instead of whining about something that happened over a decade ago.

I don't like the dubbed version of Sailor Moon anymore than you do, but I am not going to complain about ALL dubs simply because of the edits that were made to Sailor Moon. What happens now and what happened then are two different things.

[TheThunderBringer]

Subbed
1 out of 8 times I find the Dub tollerable, NEVER have I liked the Dub more than the Sub.

[Furore]

Subbed, except the odd occasion where the dub is very well done and some of the Jap voices are terrible. It happens once in a while.

[Sukii Higure]

I don't like the dubbed version of Sailor Moon anymore than you do, but I am not going to complain about ALL dubs simply because of the edits that were made to Sailor Moon.

I am NOT complaining about all dubbs, sometimes the dubbs are pretty good.

[wolfgirl90]

I am NOT complaining about all dubbs, sometimes the dubbs are pretty good.

Okaaaaay. However, I was talking about what I, personally, won't do, not what any one person is doing. Especially you since I wasn't quoting you.

By then, I was speaking in a general sense because most of the people who have responded so far have been responding in a general sense about dubs and subs, hence my confusion about what this thread is REALLY about: Sailor Moon or anime in general.

[Aozora*Pen]

In general: Subbed. It's not like you can't read english or whatever your native language is fast enough. I have heard Evangelion in...Cantonese...and it will not go away. The...screechy voice.

[Gjallarhorn]

You'd think that people posting in the Sailor Moon sub-forum in which the OP quite clearly states he's interested in SvD on Sailor Moon would post about the Sailor Moon English and Japanese dubs.

Oh, right, this is AF, and nobody actually reads anything. My bad.



I'm not a fan of Sailor Moon, but from my understanding of things, the Japanese dubbing is better in terms of voice talent and due to the fact that a significant amount of the material was altered when it was brought into the US market. I also remember being 8 and not being able to stand Usagi's ultra-high pitched voice.

[SailorBecky]

dubbed. I just don't really like the Japanese version of it personally.

[Funkgun]

I saw it subbed in a club before it came to the West . We were watching anime in a college anime club in the 90's. Anyhow, we ended up as a group moving over to watching some other show ( I think it was Fushi Yugi.) I personally was kinda bummed we only saw about half of a season.

So I was overjoyed when it was on morning U.S. TV. I was not too miffed at the changes, then again, I did not know the changes to gender and relationships till later.

To get back to the OP;
I suppose I will go along with everyone, and say if I had to choose, I would lean toward the Japanese version. But there will always be a fondness of me hearing a large share of the show in English. (especially the opening)

[Capernicus]

The changes are atrocious in the dub. How did they think they could get away with making lesbian lovers cousins? Tsk tsk Funimation. At least they didn't try to do the Stars series too, would have been impossible.

[Kaitou Ace]

Have to say I prefer it subbed, saw it dubbed back when it was on USA, got the fansubs, on VHS, 2nd gen copies and watched half of it that way, before the high quality VHS subs were out. For me subbed is still how I think of the show, but the dub had a couple of decent eps.

[SailorBecky]

Yeah, the relationship between Michuru (michelle) and Haruka (Amara) IS pretty obvious. The way they are always together and the romance music and flowers that pop up when they are together...

[foxhead556]

for me it depends how well does the English voice actor sounds.

[The_Angry_Princess]

Diffently dub its way better than sub

[Tuxedomask67]

Subbed or Dubbed doesn't normaly make that much of a diference, but in Sailor Moon they actualy edit the story and the animation when they change it to dubbed! Those bastards! Personaly i think subbs is the way to go, or even just learn the language, peoples!
What's your opinion and why?

In general, if the dub is a good tranlation and the voice actors are appropriate to the characters, I prefer a dub, though I have no problem watching the sub. My first choice, if the option is available, is to watch it in the dub with the sub active as well. I had a lot of fun watching Kenshin that way.

In the case of Sailor Moon however, the Japanese is a much truer representation, as the English dub had not only some unusual voicings, but made fairly extensive alterations to the story, including cutting of scenes, alteration of scenes, and deletions of entire episodes.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a question of better or worse at the time of the broadcast, however. Considering the peculiarities of US standards for children's television at the time, it wasn't a question of better or worse so much as a question of get it on the air successfully or not. Given that Sailor Moon still has tremendous popularity in the US, I'd say that they were successful.

I am aware of the changes to the story made via the edits, and yes, they could have probably stayed more true to the original story and still passed the censors. Things such as the introduction of the 'negaverse' were probably not necessary. Still, I enjoyed the series. It aired before another show that my kids and I watched and was a lot of fun for us.

My only criticisms of the dub were the change in voice actresses from Terri Hawks to Linda Ballantyne (I got used to Linda, and even came to like her dubbing, but I much preferred Terri's dub) and the fact that some of the changes made in the edit were not consistent, particularly in the change of the relationship between Sailors Uranus and Neptune.

Minor criticims in the grand scheme, and as was pointed out, nothing that made me dislike the anime at the time of its airing.

---------- Post added at 11:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 AM ----------

The changes are atrocious in the dub. How did they think they could get away with making lesbian lovers cousins? Tsk tsk Funimation. At least they didn't try to do the Stars series too, would have been impossible.

I'm not sure that portraying them as lesbians would get past the censors now, and it certainly would not have in the ninties. I think that they did what they could at the time. Its easy in retrospect to pick it apart, but it is not easy to navigate the pitfalls of children's television when bringing and anime to the states. I find it amazing the things that the public will gripe about, often to the point of inventing issues with movies or television shows that simply are not there. Case in point: accusations that Harry Potter teaches children witchcraft.

Unfortunately, anything animated is still perceived as 'childrens television' in the states, even now with more adult oriented programs on the air, such as the Simpson or Southpark. It is a major cultural difference. I still remember hearing about some parents getting upset with Princess Mononoke. Somehow, they didn't notice the PG-13 rating because to them, animeted = kids.

[Tim Smith]

I prefer to hear rather then read but perhaps i am just lazy

[Bradi-Kun]

To be fair, I think that Dual-Audio is the way to go, so that you can enjoy both versions of the same anime without downloading two different versions.

[maskedrose]

I liked the dubbed for a long time because that was what I grew up with - but I have watched the series almost entirely in subbed now and I cannot go back to the English dub - it is simply HORRIBLE. I'm going to be taking Italian soon for my MA requirements - so I can practice my skillz watching the Italian dub of Sailor Moon lol... Anyway, the English dub was awful - they cut the Queen Beryl battle into one episode, they edited out a lot of things from seasons 1 and 2 and even did a bad job at it.. they didn't even do it right since you can see scenes during Sailor Moon says that wasn't even in the episode(but was in the original Japanese). I think those who say the dub is better really needs to rethink and take some time to get used to the Japanese voices.

[Lord]

There is always people who say: I prefer watching, not reading. "It's a pain in the *** if i have to read".

Actually reading the sub shouldn't be problem for a normal humanbeing who is capable of reading and watching at the same time. It's not like the subs are written in old egyptian, therefore you shouldn't have problems reading 3 or 4 sentences while your spectating. Thats just my opinion!

OT: Sailor Moon is way better subbed, imo.