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Subbed vs Dubbed


Optic

Sub or Dub  

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  1. 1. Sub or Dub

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Now naturally if you're watching airing anime titles as they air from Japan or simulcast onto Crunchyroll or FUNimation then you generally don't have a choice of course.

 

BUT once they get released onto DVD and Blu-ray, do you generally prefer to watch the English dub or go straight for Japanese audio with subs?

 

I personally prefer subbed most of the time. Having said that, I do try to get a few opinions to see what people think of a given English dub, then I might listen to a few samples before diving in all the way.

 

The other option I suppose is you could watch both if you really really love the title. ;)

 

Some dubbed titles which I think were done REALLY WELL include:

  • Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  • Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV series)
  • Guilty Crown
  • Black Lagoon
  • Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

 

How about you?

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Did this thread really not exist yet? Well, whatever.

 

I prefer sub all of the time. The only thing that I'm considering watching dub is Baccano, but then again, will probably just watch the sub as thats what I'm used to. I currently only have Kannon (2006) on DVD, but hope to expand my collection sometime soon.

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This is an interesting topic. For me, regardless of the language its in, I want to hear the original audio, not dubbed audio. This goes for animated programs and live- action ones. For example, if I'm watching a show from say....Spain, I want to hear Spanish coming out of the speakers' mouths, not English. I have no problem with subtitles (having grown up with closed captioning from like the age of 11 due to my grandmother being hearing impaired). Even when I actually turn on the television here, I want to hear Japanese for a Japanese show and English for an English show. So yeah....I'm a bit of a purist, but it's not limited to just Japanese stuff.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Subs, compared to dubs, It just seems the character's voices match the personality the script writers were going for. And some Japanese personalities are almost impossible to do in English... and almost always fail when done in English.

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I reallly hate dubbed anime. Because I find it weird watching animes but the characters are speaking in english. I mean Animes are from Japan so they should be viewed with Japanese languages. That's just my opinion anyways.

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Subbed. We're done here.

 

Not gonna get into another subbed vs. dubbed argument on the Internet again. There are plenty of those everywhere already. lol

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Subs are good and all, but i think i prefer dub.

 

Personally, a couple of good dub shows make up for the massive waves of horrible dubs. Mostly because it makes up for it with extremely talented people.

 

I think we all know the pro's and cons of Subs and Dubs. Not going to bring that discussion up.

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I know that there are a number of good quality dubs out there. However, I don't know, maybe it's an Asian thing, but I've always been bothered by anime with American voices. Maybe it's because of their accent mixed with those oriental faces (I know characters from anme like DBZ are considered by Americans to be drawn like American people instead of Japanese ones, but I still felt like they looked Asian to me). And it's not English voices, because the Singapore dub of Digimon Adventure was in English, but I had no problems with that, because their voices didn't sound American (and also because it didn't squeeze in American pop-culture jokes that are about as cheesy and corny as an Adam Sandler movie).

 

I guess it's a habit you've got to build growing up, like eating vegetables. Otherwise, it would just be weird when you experience it. Bad dubs like Digimon aside, I have seen one good dub - Pokemon. And that's ironic, because I've always preferred Digimon's story. It's a shame, really. Pokemon has its moments of shameless American jokes too, but I've never felt like they tried as hard as Digimon did. I mean, Digimon season 2 had "donkey jokes" related to Davis, whatever the hell that means. That kind of humor just sounds all kinds of stupid to me.

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I guess it's a habit you've got to build growing up, like eating vegetables. Otherwise, it would just be weird when you experience it. Bad dubs like Digimon aside, I have seen one good dub - Pokemon. And that's ironic, because I've always preferred Digimon's story.

 

I can see where your coming with this analogy of vegetables. But you see, I actually was introduced through Subs and at the time when I started investing a lot of time on anime, Dubs were despised as this some sort of lower form of acting. (and too some degree, It still is)

And for the most part, I took up there advice. It was only recently that I've been actually quite interested in dubs.

 

I'm not going to plague the forums saying that "I don't want to watch my anime sub because it takes away immersion and the action of the show", that counter argument is extremely flawed and not my true feelings.

 

Pokemon has its moments of shameless American jokes too, but I've never felt like they tried as hard as Digimon did. I mean, Digimon season 2 had "donkey jokes" related to Davis, whatever the hell that means. That kind of humor just sounds all kinds of stupid to me.

Well, Pokemon was voiced by a company which had a set audience in mind, children. For the most part, the viewer doesn't understand anime (and a bit of Japanese) culture as a whole, its understandable why they would use American jokes, even if its not funny.

 

If you were too look at some of the other studios which voice Dubs, they have a set audience in mind, its not children, but us. It's much different because the translation/dub stays in tack to not arise controversy between the studio and the community. Even if the dub doesn't make any sense.

 

Maybe it's because of their accent mixed with those oriental faces (I know characters from anme like DBZ are considered by Americans to be drawn like American people instead of Japanese ones, but I still felt like they looked Asian to me).

Well, objective thinking aside. I never really thought that anime (arguable the studio) had a set mindset of making characters look "asian".

It's anime for crying out loud, un-natural hair colors, big expressive eyes, and excessive boob jobs. Personally, I think its the culture surrounding the show which makes up its setting.

look at "spice and wolf".

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

After being completely immersed in English voice acting, I realize these past few month good dub shows take the standard subs and make expressions and feelings that the sub couldn't convey as well.

Not saying that Sub doesn't have it's own positive merits, I would even go as far to arguer that to some degree, majority of Japanese voice acting is better then here. Considering that it takes years of training before you can even set foot inside a acting studio in Japan. Unlike here, which the job is given to untrained actors.

 

Edit: Fixing all my silly grammars and stuff. lol

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And for the most part, I took up there advice. It was only recently that I've been actually quite interested in dubs.

 

I'm not going to plague the forums saying that "I don't want to watch my anime sub because it takes away immersion and the action of the show", that counter argument is extremely flawed and not my true feelings.

 

Well, Pokemon was voiced by a company which had a set audience in mind, children. For the most part, the viewer doesn't understand anime (and a bit of Japanese) culture as a whole, its understandable why they would use American jokes, even if its not funny.

 

If you were too look at some of the other studios which voice Dubs, they have a set audience in mind, its not children, but us. It's much different because the translation/dub stays in tack to not arise controversy between the studio and the community. Even if the dub doesn't make any sense.

For the record, another reason I've never liked dubs is precisely because of the low quality dubbing that comes with the process. Dubbing, for the most part, is done for profit. It's to cash in one a foreign show made by someone who's actually more motivated to tell a story than the dubber. This is not just in American dubs either. You can find the same thing in all kinds of foreign dubs, making money off American movies and TV shows with poorly-made dubs.

 

And yes, even the Singapore dub of Digimon I've mentioned yesterday was the same poorly paste job. The thing that I liked though was how faithful it was in translation to the original Japanese dialogues compared to the American dub. Being an Asian country, I can see why this is a more natural process in Singapore than it is in America, but still, it is a far better dub IMO.

 

So really, when you said it's because of the targeted audience in mind, the targeted audience usually comes in greens. No matter the show - anime, foreign movies, etc. - the targeted audience of the dubbers is often the cha-ching in their wallet, though that's obviously not always the case.

 

I've never liked the idea of associating capitalism with art. It's an impractical ideal, probably, but still. I think it's important what the artist's intent and motivation are when creating the art.

 

 

Well, objective thinking aside. I never really thought that anime (arguable the studio) had a set mindset of making characters look "asian".

It's anime for crying out loud, un-natural hair colors, big expressive eyes, and excessive boob jobs.

Now you're generalizing anime as a medium. Not all anime has those traits. In fact, I would even dare to say many anime that aren't mainstream shounen crap don't possess those traits, especially the slice-of-life anime that portray Japanese the way they are.

 

On the note of whether if the characters are drawn to look like Japanese, on the other hand, take note that this is very much a personal perspective. I don't mean to imply any objective thinking in this matter. It's just how I personally see it.

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  • 11 months later...

Reviving an old thread...I'm an oddball who prefers my anime dubbed.

 

I'm not saying I can't watch it with subtitles; in fact, I can watch it subbed just fine, especially since some anime never got dubs, like the very original Lupin III anime and some Di Gi Charat series.

 

Heck, some anime, like the second Lupin III anime, never got to finish their dubs, so you have to watch them subbed for the remaining episodes anyways.

 

But I prefer dubs, because I do. Never had an issue with characters speaking English.

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I usually prefer subs, though I don't mind watching dubs. I'm not picky, if I'm watching stuff from my external HDD majority of them are subs, when I watch in netflix I usually see if they have dubs so I can do house chores while the anime is playing.

 

Though there are anime that has hard to find subs like Zoids, generally Zoids was one of the anime I found watching CN so I generally prefer the dub. Overall, I can watch whatever, subs or dubs, both are anime and if they interest me, I'll watch them.

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I feel that any show is best watched in the original language with subtitles rather than dubbing, and anime is no exception. While reading subtitles is sometimes less than optimal, I feel that some of the content and emotion can be lost in the process of dubbing.

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Nowadays I mostly watch shows subbed. That said, I take it at a case by case basis. Dragon Ball Z, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Trigun all had great dubs. Any of the "cute girls doing cute things" shows NEED Japanese voice actors because English doesn't work as well for those types of shows IMO.

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I would have to say that I much prefer subs, as I hear the intended inflection, and the audio matches the lip movements as correctly as possible. However; I also have not given dubs much of a chance, so I cannot say that I dislike dubs for a definite reason. If I did try dubs for an anime, I would have to pick an anime I had not watched, so as I do not discount it immediately.

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I watch my anime subbed it feels more natural to hear it in original. In most cases dubbed versions sound forced and unnatural the exception would be Black Lagoon the dubbed was awesome. I was born and raised (still living here) in a country in Europe where I watched and am still watching american movies with subtitles since I was born. So yeah... it's pretty normal around here.

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I prefer subbed, cause in my experience most dubbed anime just sound strange and not natural, and because subbed is in Japanese and I don't speak the language I can't form an opinion on how natural it sounds, though I can say that their tone of their voice sounds more convincing than dubs,

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Definitely Subbed! Anytime I watch something - whether it's anime or something else - I prefer subbed, because I just think the original language fits much better than any other one. But I don't completely hate dubbed anime, I used to only watch that :D

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it's funny how when I started watching anime I refused to watch subbed and only watched dub but then I wanted to see more episodes of Deadman wonderland and I had to watch subs and now I love subs and I cant stand most English dubs because they make bad-ass character sound like dumbasses.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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