Anime: Dub or Sub?

[lenguy]

Topic of this thread is as straight forward as the title. How do you prefer your Anime experience? Do you watch in Japanese with English subtitles? Or do you watch an English Dubbed version?

For me, its dubbed all the way. Simple reason, I do not speak Japanese. English is my first and, well...only language. To me, it does not make sense for me to watch a show in another language I do not speak because I simply won't understand. That's not to say I haven't watched shows in Japanese with subtitles. I'm currently watching Dragon ball Super with subs because there is no English dub yet and there is not clear indication on when one might be released. I don't want to wait for an English dub even though I'd greatly prefer it.

There are some exceptions though. I greatly prefer the Japanese version of Attack on Titian. I think the Japanese cast brings much more emotion and drama. The English dub ends up falling flat because they try to hard to emulate the Japanese cast and the final result just isn't as effective. I think it comes down to a casting choice too. The entire English cast just seems miscast and I feel most of the voices just don't fit the characters.

One Anime I will always prefer in English Dub is Dragon Ball. I feel Funimation nailed the cast perfectly and the cast has really grown with the show and made their roles their own just as much as the Japanese cast. Also, I'm sure you read this a lot but, I can't stand Goku's voice in Japanese. I respect the actor but, I just can't ever get use to it and probably never will.

I'm not entirely sure why Dubs get such a bad rep. It seems likely people are always coming down on Dubs because....because why? Because original is always better? That's always up for debate. It seems like no matter which Anime, people seem to think the Dub version is just absolutely the worst thing ever. They take it as if it were an insult to their identity and culture; Because half these people commenting are Japanese, right..? As, I said, my reasoning is because I speak English. I also hate reading something that's meant to be a motion animation. If I want to read, I'll gladly go read the Manga. I just find its distracting and takes away my attention to what's playing out on the screen. I'm not going to irrationally hate on Dubs or Subs. I have no real reason. I just happen to prefer one over the other. I've always wonder if Japan gets dubbed version of stuff like say, Superman or Batman. Do the Japanese people go online and complain that the Dub is terrible and the Sub is just superior in ever conceivable way? I've always wondered that.

Anyway. Which do you guys prefer? Dub or Sub? Sound off below!

 

[X]

It's weird because if you asked me this question about basically any other kind of film (well, maybe not cheesy 70s Italian horror which I love, or kung-fu flicks) I'd almost be offended by the thought of watching a dub over the original. I'm a film geek and purist and to me, you should always see a film in the exact way a director intended, in it's original language, truly getting to witness the performances of the actors. When you watch a dub you're not getting the whole experience. However, when it comes to anime, I'll always watch the dub for some reason. Maybe it's because a lot of times, specifically with Hayao Miyazaki and other Studio Ghibli films, you get really good big name American talent doing the dubs so sometimes it's actually better. But I don't know, I really should watch some more anime in it's original language, I've seen Akira probably half a dozen times but never in it's original language, I should probably get on that.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I prefer Japanese with subtitles for two reasons. First of all, you should watch a show in its original form to get the full experience. If you don't understand the language, then that's what the sub-titles are for. I don't speak Japanese so the sub-titles help there. I'm bi-lingual. My first language was Swedish. Anything of Swedish origin that I've seen is infinitely better in Swedish than a translated English version. Some may not like sub-titles due laziness toward not wanting to have to read the translation in the sub-titles. I can understand that. However, having to read while watching the show is the lesser of two evils. Which brings me to my second reason....

No offense to those who do prefer English versions of shows, but a lot of them are a lot cheesier. Some are downright cringe-worthy (again, this is just my personal opinion) to me. When I watch them in their original language it just seems more genuine, for lack of a better word. The definitive viewing experience for anime, or any cartoon for that matter, for me is to see it in its original language then have sub-titles. If Swedish is even available as a sub-title, I'd take it, then English in a close second. I won't watch an English dub of an anime style cartoon/show unless that is my only option.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

Subbed. English is not my native language and just feels more natural on japanese eventhough I cant speak that language. Remembering watching Naruto in English dubbed, it was just like, weird. Just feels more natural in original language. Not just anime, I prefer animated movies on its natural language then dubbed. Disney or Pixar movies just sound more natural then dubbed on my nation language. Eventhough I realise that its easier for kids to have it dubbed and that is their target audince, I just have no problem if its subbed. Preffered it that way.

 

[Shadowmancer]

I am of the opinion that it depends on the show. Dragonball is one where I will always say watch the dub, whereas I lean towards sub with One Piece even though the Funimation dub isn't bad. I will say if the anime is set in a certain region like Hellsing Ultimate, I find it hard to watch the sub because hearing the Major speaking Japanese and he is a Nazi from Germany just sounds wrong to my ears, I would rather hear a very distinctly affected German accent just for it to work in my head.

 

[Khalifa]

I am a dub guy. Only reason why though is that when I was a kid a show in the morning before school would show 3 different animes for a period of time before moving on to different ones. So as a kid I experienced all these animes in English and I just assumed how that was so I just kept it that way even when I learnt differently. I don't dislike the subs but if I had to choose then dub it would be. I have only really watched a few animes for a lengthy time in the sub though, that being Naruto and Dragon Ball so maybe I should just try going through more than a few episodes from most series as a sub.

 

[Bernkastel]

I prefer English dubs myself. I feel that there are many voice actors and actresses that do good work and deserve the support. Whenever I watch a new series I check to see if it has an English dub. If it has a dub I check to see which company did it. If it was Funimation or Viz Media then I have no qualms about sitting down to watch it. Both of those companies have done outstanding work, so I already know I'm going to get a good product.

Some series, like Azumanga Daioh and Hellsing, have dubs that weren't done by Funimation or Viz Media, so in those situations I am always a bit more hesitant. Both of those series had great dubs, but I have heard a few that didn't. For those of you that have watched Fairy Tail, before Funimation got a hold of the rights and released their dub, the series was dubbed by a company called Aniplex. It was one of the worst dubs I have ever heard. Terrible. God awful. And I have a pretty high tolerance for average sounding dubs. The DIC dubbed versions of Saint Seiya and Sailor Moon were also pretty bad, as was the 4Kids version of One Piece. Those of us that watched DBZ as kids probably would have recalled the Ocean dub over the Funimation dub, though the later was of higher quality. If I watch a dub and decide that I cannot stomach it, for whatever reason, then I will switch over to the subbed version. If I watch a subbed version of a series that doesn't have a dub, and they get one, then I will rewatch that series.

I don't dislike subtitled anime though. I will watch them. Big, long series like Naruto and One Piece you have too, as the dubs are no where near current. I respect the Japanese voice actors, but Japanese is not my first language. I took 2 years of Japanese in college, and even with my rudimentary skills I could tell how sub par most subs were. I have seen many subs that are full of translation errors. Like when the DBZ Battle of the Gods movie first came out, I was watching that on a stream thinking how laughable the translations were. Honestly if I was a fluent, or more diligent, speaker of Japanese then I would watch anime raw and never touch the subbed version at all.

 

[M]

Khalifa talking about Toasted TV?

It's sub or nothing for me. Simple reason is that for every English voice actor that's good, there's roughly 47 absolutely cringeworthy ones. I think this must be a recent phenomenon since stuff before the new millennium was alright in English, but it's gotten to the point for me where regardless of if it's an anime or a video game I'll immediately switch it to another language and pop on the English subs if possible - I think I'm down to only playing From Software and Naughty Dog games in English.

I can read English fast enough to watch subbed, and I don't speak Japanese well enough to claw my eardrums out if it turns out they're actually as bad as the English voices.

 

[John McCass]

Sub. Firstly because dubbed things usually suck, no matter how much they try. A movie/video works fine in its own language, it doesn't matter whether you can figure out the language or not.

Moreover, there are some words in Japanese that can't be understood in the dubbed ones. Subtitles let you decipher each and every word that has been spoken/written.

 

[SSJPhenom]

Here's how I look at it; if you want the original story as it was originally told then you need to watch it subbed. Having said that, however, I PREFER the dubbed versions mostly. Why? Because, as lenguy said, I'm not Japanese and therefore I don't need to watch something in that language. As long as the translations are somewhat accurate.

Take the Dragon Ball Franchise for example, which I'm sure lenguy had in mind when making this thread. There were so many mistakes in the original Ocean dub and early Funimation dub that it almost makes it as if there are two versions of the story. There's the ones that everybody knows about like how in the dub the Instant Transmission is light speed but in the manga and Japanese versions the Instantaneous Movement is instant teleportation. That's not so bad, I can live with minor stuff like that, however, when the theme or the story gets changed as a result of dubbing, we've got a problem. For instance, in the dub of the Dragon Ball Franchise, Goku is seen as this ultimate altruistic hero/savior like Superman. That's not Goku's character at all. Goku is originally meant to be a selfish martial artist who fights for his own pleasure and not to save everybody. Sure, Goku isn't a bad guy, however, he's not this ultimate justice seeking hero either. An example of this is when Goku spared Vegeta after their first fight. In the dub they made it out as though Goku gained a little respect and admiration for Vegeta and wanted to give him a chance to change. In the original Japanese version, however, Goku simply wanted a rematch with Vegeta to test his strength. When Goku arrived on Namek and threw Vegeta a Zenzu Bean, in the dub it was to thank him for saving Gohan and Krillin from Guldo; in the sub it was to keep Vegeta healthy for their rematch. Another huge one is Goku's famous speech to Frieza("Ally to good, nightmare to you "). I can't remember exactly what was said in the sub but it wasn't anything close to that stuff about being a symbol of hope and light in the darkness and what not. In the sub it ended with, " I am Son Goku and I am the Super Saiyan". In the dub Frieza tells Goku that he had only been using 1% of his power. He never said that in the sub or manga, he just said he hadn't been using anywhere near his true power. There's many more things like that as well. If I mentioned them all I'd be here all day. At the same time, though, little things like calling Goku Goku instead of Son Goku doesn't bother me. Some fans go batshit crazy about calling characters by their Japanese pronunciations. That doesn't bother me becuase, again, I'm not Japanese.

So I prefer the dubs unless the story is changed significantly because of misinterpretations or just flat out changing the script. If you own any anime on DVD, then you know that most come with the option to watch either versions. So I say if you're a huge fan of which ever anime, watch it in Japanese at least once so you know how the story was supposed to be told. I still like the dubs though. I couldn't imagine myself getting into an anime not dubbed. I haven't even seen the third Great Ninja War in Naruto Shippuden yet because its not completely dubbed yet.

P.s. lenguy, when are you going to answer my message?