Which do you prefer, subs, dubs or both?

[Zen Wistaria]

I thought it might be interesting to gauge the community preference, when watching anime which format do you prefer, subs only, dubs only, or do you not have a personal preference?

For me, I only watch subs these days, I enjoy listening to the Japanese dialogue while reading the subs,

[Humbby]

Sub, dubs feel unnatural

[Illusion of Terra]

generally, I don't really care, but I do prefer dubs. If I could speak Japanese, I might prefer subs, but at least nowadays I think dubs are so close to the original (both in the voices used and in the translation) that the difference is not that big.

[Geano]

I prefer subbed anime anytime with the one exception being dbz, and even that is pushing it. Anime is just meant to be watched in subbed in my opinion.

[Sakura]

I really only watch dubbed, because my vision is crap and I have a hard time seeing it and straining my eyes to read it then I end up with headaches. There have only been a few animes I've watched subbed and that was only because I really, really wanted to watch them.

[Ohayotaku]

3 minutes ago, Sofi said:

I really only watch dubbed, because my vision is crap and I have a hard time seeing it and straining my eyes to read it then I end up with headaches. There have only been a few animes I've watched subbed and that was only because I really, really wanted to watch them.

I’m actually the opposite as I have some difficulty hearing clearly sometimes. It’s annoying when I have to pause because multiple people are speaking and/or their are signs that need translating. The worst is when the color of the captions blend in with the background though.

As far as style, I generally prefer subtitled. There are exceptions though. The dub version of the currently airing The Ones Within seems to be slightly more over the top which works better with the weirdness & comedy. If the story becomes more serious later, that could change. Some other exceptions:

Cowboy Bebop - The english voices just seem to match the characters perfectly in every case.

Steel Angel Kurumi - this is a case where I actually like the changes the english cast made to the dialogue & personalities.

Space Battleship Yamato 2199 & 2202 - there’s probably some nostalgia here since Star Blazers was my first anime series. Of course the modern translation/dub is vastly superior.

[Sakura]

2 minutes ago, Ohiotaku said:

I’m actually the opposite as I have some difficulty hearing clearly sometimes. It’s annoying when I have to pause because multiple people are speaking and/or their are signs that need translating. The worst is when the color of the captions blend in with the background though.

Lol, I know that feeling too tbh. My hearing isn't the best at times either. But I usually am okay with watching TV and hearing what is being said. Just the reading part is difficult since my vision is so awful. I also feel like I'm straining so much to read the words and figure out what they are, I don't even actually look at the picture so I don't even really get to watch it. 

[Sasuke]

Usually in subs. I don't think all dubs are bad though some are done pretty good and I guess there isn't much difference in it for me.

[Seshi]

I like subs when I’m not distracted or multitasking, and I like dubs when I’m busy. So..... prefer to watch subs with no interruption.

I also have a select number of anime that I grew up watching in English - so hearing them in sub isn’t good for me.

But the majority of the time I prefer subbed 

[Fireduck]

Dubbed only for me unless it's a show I really want to watch and it's only subbed.  The only show I've watched subbed so far is school Days. But that anime is pretty infamous so I needed to see it regardless.

But I much prefer dubbed.  Dubbed just sounds better and I've never watched a show I thought had bad dubbing.

[Castigear]

I prefer subs but if the va is good I don’t mind dubs. My son prefers dubs so the ones we watch together we watch dubbed.

 

for context I’ve gotten to where I watch everything subtitled.

[Seshi]

12 hours ago, Castigear said:

I prefer subs but if the va is good I don’t mind dubs. My son prefers dubs so the ones we watch together we watch dubbed.

 

for context I’ve gotten to where I watch everything subtitled.

Its harder to find as many good dubbed anime, especially if you want to watch airing anime. So I end up watching more old anime when watching with others.

 

[Zen Wistaria]

2 minutes ago, Seshi said:

Its harder to find as many good dubbed anime, especially if you want to watch airing anime.

I had the same issue when I was only watching dubs, it was why I changed to subs instead, am I'm glad, because for me subs are better

Edited July 22, 2019 by Banri

[Nova]

Subs cause hearing the original voices is cool/amazing and learns abit of japanese

[dirudiru]

Subs, I like hearing works in the language they were originally intended to be in.
Dubs are pretty good these days, but for some reason I find cutesy slice of life / moe voices to sound awkward in English.

Edited July 23, 2019 by dirudiru

[kageokuma]

depends on the genre if its a comedy i prefer dubs its less funny if you have to read the joke also if iv started watching dubbed first ill probably finish it in dub because i used to how the characters sound

[LostEnoki]

I’m on the fence because I really can go for either. As long as the dub is well done when it should be, I’m down for the dub.

[Beocat]

Depends...I usually prefer dubs...and most are great these days.

 

When I prefer subs, there's usually a reason for it.

1. I watched it first in subs and now I can't stand it in English (Snow White with the Red Hair for instance).

2. They put a bad "Southern Belle" accent in...really, it's downright offensive yet Hollywood is set on that being a thing! (My Hime, I'm looking at you!). Just have everyone talk with no accent please and thank you! If you can't do it right, please don't try.

3. The Japanese voice actors are super good (Familiar of Zero. It threw me off that everything beyond season one was subbed only, then I heard Louise's voice actress speaking her lines full of social anxiety. Never looked back wistfully for the dub since.

4. The subs have content not included in the dub version (this is actually a lot of older anime).

 

There are times when I can't stand the subs... Too tiny to read easily, blends in too easily, and a bad sub (I swear in Hiiro no Kakera's sub, the red haired guys theme music was far more frequent and obnoxious than in the dub version. Couldn't stream the sub on hulu it was so annoying). Really depends. 

[User 781]

I'm not especially picky when it comes to performance, a number of common reasons people prefer subs revolves around that. While I do still watch with subs, if I can find a dubbed version, I'll watch that instead. I'm someone who has to do a lot of multitasking to get through the daily chores, so it's always podcasts or audiobooks. If I want to watch an anime, it's convenient to be able to watch it while doing something like cleaning my sink or preparing dinner. If I have to watch subbed, that requires my full attention and means I have to find time to set aside exclusively to watch it, easier said than done. 

[Nono]

Subs are cool, dubs are cool, but sometimes the dubs can get pretty goofy with the voices and it just makes it hard to watch. 

Case in point, Ergo Proxy. I started watching it subbed, and then decided to try the dubbed version a few episodes in, and it was a joke. They gave Re-l's entourage(personal robot) one of the silliest voices I've had the mispleasure of hearing. I switched back to subbed and kept on my merry way.

[efaardvark]

52 minutes ago, Nono said:

Case in point, Ergo Proxy. I started watching it subbed, and then decided to try the dubbed version a few episodes in, and it was a joke. They gave Re-l's entourage(personal robot) one of the silliest voices I've had the mispleasure of hearing. I switched back to subbed and kept on my merry way.

I've had several similar experiences.  I've seen a few dubs that were ok, but my preference is to go with the sub first and only switch if there's something wrong with it.  I can understand enough spoken Japanese that even then I'll typically just ignore/turn off the subtitles before I switch to the dubbed version as a last resort.  In practice this means I hardly ever watch dubs.

[SanguineTear]

Either or these days. Hell, if I really like an anime, I will watch it in both. For some animes, the dub ends up being hilarious, regardless of how the original may have been.

[SanguineTear]

9 hours ago, The History Kid said:

This sentence read as: See Ghost Stories and Super Milk Chan.

I haven't seen the latter, but Ghost Stories was exactly what I had in mind writing that~

[Harrylam129]

Subs only.  I feel like dubs are unnecessary, although I would have to pay more attention to it.  I would watch without subs if I understood Japanese

[threeeighteen]

For the most part I prefer subs. Although sometimes I'm lazy and just watch dubs, although it also depends on how good or bad the voice acting is and if the dubs changes the dialogue much. Baccano! has a great English voice acting cast though.

Ayy, bada bing, bada boom!