This questions goes to mainly Anime, and those whiners who hate American dubs.

[Zycolette]

Why in the world do people choose Japanese sub over English dub?

So far from what I've seen all the dubbed anime has been satisfactory for me. (That may be because I don't read or watch as much anime/manga as some of the other "otaku"s.

So why? Other than the fact that there's prolly only one voice actor that does a lot of roles. @__@

Anyone care to answer?

[tsujigiri15]

It varies drastically from Anime to anime. I dunno what anime you watch but you could well be right- in those the dub may be just as good, (and a damn sight more convenient I guess. I found the dub was actually better on Cowboy bebop, and just as good on fullmetal alchemist, bleach (for the most part) and a couple of others

But some wont have been dubbed over yet, and some are better dubbed. I particularly find the voices they often give to schoolgirls in us dubs annoying for some reason. Also occasionally humour may be lost, or wordplays. Subs (especially fan subs) are often good for that - making sure you dont miss anything.

Sometimes too, dubs have shocking lip synching, cos its hard to fit even a loose translation to the right number of sylables, for some sentences.

Which animes have you found the dubs to be good for?

[Astarot]

They make it sound childish... once a series is English dubbed, it just becomes a 'cartoon', and they take out all the foul language and really tone down the gore. I personally can't stand English dubbed anime.

[Celestial Mika]

They make it sound childish... once a series is English dubbed, it just becomes a 'cartoon', and they take out all the foul language and really tone down the gore. I personally can't stand English dubbed anime.

A lot of english dub animes I see still have a lot of bad language and gore. Perhaps its different watching them online rather than on TV? I'm not sure, dont think I've seen enough sub animes to be apart of this argument

[Gjallarhorn]

Why in the world do people choose Japanese sub over English dub?

So far from what I've seen all the dubbed anime has been satisfactory for me. (That may be because I don't read or watch as much anime/manga as some of the other "otaku"s.

So why? Other than the fact that there's prolly only one voice actor that does a lot of roles. @__@

Anyone care to answer?

Do you know what a japanophile is? There's your answer.

Most dubs are damn good.
Most dubs are not changed from their original format (with the exception of the occasional joke that would only make sense if you heard it in Japanese).

I honestly don't know where the hell they pull this crap out from, but them seem persistant in doing so.

[Haoie]

Dubs are awesome.

At least then you can actually tell the men from the women.

[overwatch]

meh some people consider it to be "pure" when subbed over dubbed - for some this is just the anime banta (like a large amount of the PC vs Mac or Canon vs Nikon) however some take it way too seriously.

I have seen dubs which were horrific and made no (or little) sense because they were done badly (Ghost in the Shell Innocence is a good example of this). And I have seen cases where the subs are horrific.
In each case if one is bad I switch to the other - I have no problem reading

[Datenshi]

Interestingly enough, the exact same controversy over dubs exists in Japan, concerning English movies/dramas translated into Japanese, with pretty much the same arguments ("against: the lips don't fit the words, you can't 'get' the jokes, etc." v.s. "for: the only people who are bothered by stuff like that are people with a complex for all things Western, and should grow the hell up").

I understand both languages so it's never been much of a concern for me, but one thing I've felt time and again is that the people who are translating and voicing these dubs are professionals; these people pay very close attention to timing and tone, as well as find innovative ways to get through tricky translations that I would never have thought of. It's their job and most of them do it well.

Anyhow, a Japanese voice actor for the original anime and the voice actor for the English version are essentially doing the same thing; so what's the difference?

Moreover, many of the same Japanese anime voice actors also work for Japanese dubs of Hollywood movies and popular television shows (like 24 or Prison Break). So the argument that there is a difference in terms of quality of voice-acting in an "offical" Japanes anime and the voice-acting of a dub is really off the mark, unless you think the Japanese are inherently better at voice-acting in general than other nationalities, which is obviously false.

In fact, there are a lot of really bad Japanese voice actors around *cough*Shikabanehime*cough*. Some of these people are amateurs with no formal training who are picked out because of no other reason than they're photogenic or already famous *cough*HiranoAya*cough*. It's just part of what's screwed with the anime industry in Japan today.

That said, I prefer watching the work in the original language, either English or Japanese, because there are a lot of things that are inevitably lost in translation (imagine trying to dub the opening dialogue of, say, Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs in Japanese. It's just not possible). But that's an argument for another time.

[wolfgirl90]

They make it sound childish... once a series is English dubbed, it just becomes a 'cartoon', and they take out all the foul language and really tone down the gore. I personally can't stand English dubbed anime.

*sigh*

The Japanese language does not have any curse words in it, therefore, none of their words can be (or rather should be) translated as such. Fansubbers like to exaggerate the language used. For example, the word "damn" is a word that is said in frustration. It has no one single translation for the word but fansubbers like to translate it as the s-word. There are words that are more inappropriate to use in general conversation but these words would not be considered "foul language". You are also making the assumption that the fansub translation is correct (which not always the case).

When it comes to gore, it only toned down when the anime comes on television and only if it comes on during primetime hours (usually 7-10pm). Since only a very, very small amount of anime make it to television, barely any if them are edited.

Now, some people have brought up how some jokes are changed because they would not make sence to anyone not fluent in Japanese and/or very knowledgeable about Japanese culture. There are some fansubbers that do explain the jokes but not all of them do and those that do may or may not be explaining it right.

[loveyourfate]

If it would be British, I might think about watching a dub. But, no offence to all you americans , I can't stand some of the american accents.
I guess that's my main problem, but since I also love everything Japanese (and I'm studying Japanese as well, so ==> ) I, probably, still wouldn't watch the dubs.

[Magical Soul]

It all depends on the voice actors.

[drm0ney]

I don't mind dub but if i had the choice i'll watch it subbed. It's fun to try and understand what's being said (i've had 3 years of japanese so i try and see what i actually learned ) Plus the japanese voices are how it was intended to be watched, kind of like reading manga right to left.

But people saying i will not watched dub, well its their loss. Don't be so picky. O.o unless there's a voice actor in it you just can't stand what does it hurt.

[Orta Honehone]

Most of the more "mainstream" and popular animes actually have very good dubs IMO (I personally cant stand listening to the Japanese voices in DBZ.) And as far as them cutting out the violence and whatnot, yes they do drastically change shows for TV (just look at One Piece), but 99% of the time if you buy the DVD you get the original, uncut show, just as it was aired in Japan.

[Diocletian]

The studio really takes the cake for everything. I don't expect anything great from (the few) that Media Blasters or Nozomi Ent. make. I expect near perfection when FUNI does it.

Japanese dubbers suck just as much. Bee Train has some of the worst VA's around. Madhouse having old men with hoarse voices.

BTW, anything from before 1999 really is kinda terrible. I still like it from the "EAT SCAT!" lines from Angel Cop.

[1987]

Generally, I find that there's just something about dubs that displeases me. This is not to say that I wouldn't watch a dubbed anime, though, and I have seen a few good ones, but I just prefer to watch anime subtitled. I like to try and listen to what the characters are saying and how they say things (like Satoko and Rika's speech patterns in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, for example), and to think how I might have translated things had I been doing the subtitles. (So watching anime becomes like a fun little translation exercise for me - haha!)

If it would be British, I might think about watching a dub.

Sadly enough, the worst dub I have ever come across was actually a British dub of KO Beast. It was so terrible, I had to turn it off after about five minutes for my sanity. @_@

So saying that, I've just found a British dub of Urusei Yatsura (called 'Lum the Invader Girl') on YouTube, and it's great

[ichimoku_fanboy]

i cant speak for everyone else, but i do personally enjoy subbed better because america cant screw it up with crap like "Believe it!"

dattebayo is so much better....

[Gjallarhorn]

i cant speak for everyone else, but i do personally enjoy subbed better because america cant screw it up with crap like "Believe it!"

dattebayo is so much better....

You do realize that "Dattebayo" is supposed to be childish and annoying, right? That's why they threw in "Believe it", because it works as a decent english counterpart, even though it isn't a translation.

[Manhattan_Project_2000]

You do realize that "Dattebayo" is supposed to be childish and annoying, right? That's why they threw in "Believe it", because it works as a decent english counterpart, even though it isn't a translation.

Oh Xero, Xero, Xero. You must have missed the memo. "Dattebayo" is cooler the "Habeeb it" because it's Japanese. Now lets all eat Pocky and drink our Pocari Sweat and forget this conversation ever happened, desu.

[Gjallarhorn]

Oh Xero, Xero, Xero. You must have missed the memo. "Dattebayo" is cooler the "Habeeb it" because it's Japanese. Now lets all eat Pocky and drink our Pocari Sweat and forget this conversation ever happened, desu.

Desu desu kawaii ja nai dir en grey desu, dattebayo.

[CrystalAce]

Why in the world do people choose Japanese sub over English dub?
Anyone care to answer?

Just love for the language...in general speaking that is ...

[Datenshi25]

Personally, I will watch either. It really depends wether I can find them at the store or not, if not, then I watch them online. Normally they are subbed.
Sometimes I watch the subs to skip ahead and watch more then currently being shown in the english, but often when the english does come out I go out and buy it. If I have the money of course.

[jtdlives]

I myself prefer dubbed over subbed. I would rather hear english. I usally find the japanesee a littly annoying. Since I watch all my anime on DVD or the internet I get to keep all the gore that was in the orginal, but lately a lot of anime has been coming out on DVD not dubbed probably due to cost. So I'm forced to watch subbed versions. What are you going to do.

[Niro]

I prefer everything subbed, because otherwise it just feels unnatural...there's also the fact when companies dub they sometimes tend to stray away from the original dialogue and westernize too much.

[wolfgirl90]

I prefer everything subbed, because otherwise it just feels unnatural...there's also the fact when companies dub they sometimes tend to stray away from the original dialogue and westernize too much.

That depends on what you are comparing it to. Are you talking about anime on television or all anime in general? The westernization of dialogue (depending on what you mean by that) is usually only done on anime that is expected to appear on television.

Are you comparing the dialogue from a fansub (a translation most likely done by an amateur) to the dub? Because the dialogue is going to be different no matter what (they are not going to be exactly the same) and you are assuming that (unless you can fluently understand Japanese) that the sub is correct or is some definitive translation of the anime that you are watching.

[suzumi]

Desu desu kawaii ja nai dir en grey desu, dattebayo.

*dies*

I personally prefer the original Japanese (but that may just be because I'm Japanese, therefore, biased). I think that they match the characters more.

I haven't seen many English dubs (Black Lagoon, Naruto, Bleach, Gundam SEED, Chrno Crusade, Code Geass, Death Note...off the top of my head) but each one of them has made me want to bash my head against something.

Code Geass expecially ticked me off. None of the VC's seemed to be able to pronounce anything right. Which I found very odd, because most of the names are English names. But no!! They must pronounce it; "Lance-a-lot"!!

Anyway, this might only be because I am a big seiyuu (voice actor) fan, and I will watch a series specifically just to hear that one seiyuu's voice. But still... *shrug* Maybe I'm just picky...

And I can't stand most of the girl voices in the dubs!! I really don't know what it is, but it drives me nuts!! You should hear my Euphy impression. >_>