[Anime] Do you prefer dubbed or subbed?

[Deleted]

Generally speaking, do you like your anime dubbed or subbed?

[Zogarth]

Always subbed. Some shows can be watched dubbed but most are horrible. The original voice actors are just so much better at putting emotions into their characters.

[warlocx]

I watch most shows with subs. However there are shows that i prefer dubbed, like Panty&stockings, GTO or Bebob (both versions are excellent).

[Aeka]

99% of the time, watching dubbed anime is like watching a high school play: Sometimes it's a good, rarely its very good, often its mediocre, and sometimes it might be bad to very bad.

By comparison, watching subbed anime is like watching the original Tony award winning cast of a full-on Broadway production.

[Deleted]

Subbed.

Love the way that a different language - that you do not have a complete (or nearly none) grasp - makes you feel immersed and that it can lead you to associate with a character and / or situation. In general and in my opinion American English dubs sound the same and plain fake. There are of course exceptions but for me, why bother? English is not my native lang.

[Deleted]

I prefer dubbed to be honest. When i watch anything on my pc i tend to stick it to one side of the screen while doing something on the other side. With subs i have no choice but to watch and read, where i prefer being able to listen and continue other stuff.

[Evil Inside]

For most I just watch subbed. For others, namely pokemon and dbz since I grew up with the english dubs it sounds more natural to me than the japanese dubs.

[Nekovivie]

Not interested in anything unless dubbed. I can't get into something when I have to read subtitles, you miss most of the things happening in the picture.

[Rumred]

Most of the time subbed as alot of dubbed voice actors can be well lets just say bad. However a few cases i enjoy the dubbed over the sub such as Gungrave,Yu Yu Hakusho,DBZ,Inuyasha and Ghost in the Shell. But they are outside the norm for me so mostly subbed is the way to go.

Edit: Another i reason i go for subbed is alot of the time you run into the dubbed being also edited in other ways. Depending but it can be from removing some words to "oh you were just a in a huge battle but not gonna have blood just some dust marks" Ect ect. I cant stand turning a Anime being well edited down to be Y7 friendly.

[Deleted]

Subbed. Only series that focus mainly on adult characters, have a male-heavy cast and are not set in Japan are sometimes watchable with dubs.

[Santti]

So far, I have only been watching one anime, Dragon Ball, and I'd say it's much better dubbed for few reasons.

1) The characters sound way better in english. I have hard time figuring out who is actually speaking (girl OR boy) if the person speaking is not on screen. The japanese voice actors also sound very annoying. Can't listen to them for too long.
2) Lines appear to be more clever. I don't speak japanese, so I compared dubbed Dragon Ball to subbed ones and the lines in the subs were just unimaginative and boring. Like VERY boring. There was one point where Roshi gave a speech to Tien and in Japanese it was mostly just NO U. (this, however, could be the fault of the person who translated them to english)

[Monkiy]

Dubbed the majority of the time, but I do find subs worth working through. I never understood the whole "subbed has better emotion" or voice acting thing though. The comprehension of those emotions and words honestly comes from knowing the language and how they inflect and emphasise the words in a sentence, so what does it matter if you have to read subtitles to understand it?

And too often do dubs have voices that just do not fit characters.

I actually find this to be quite the opposite. I've always just chalked it up to not knowing the language and how it should sound to an extent, but there are still some ridiculous sounding voices that the Japanese come up with in my opinion.

[Shuji V2]

Subbed. Western voice acting is terrible because most voice actors force their intonation which make it sound so fake. It's like they were forced to voice the characters with a gun to their head. Call it a lack of emotion if you will.

Also they should rename characters to western names. Narutoe and Sauceke sounds so horrible.. I'd rather have Bob and Hank instead so I don't have to facepalm each time they pronounce a name.

[Itisamuh]

Dubbed, 100% of the time.

[Deleted]

I have never seen a well done anime dub. It's always utterly terrible, translation is poor at best and utter shit at worst, voice actors are fourth-rate... it's vomit-inducing.

[Rumred]

I really couldn't agree with these two :P I can watch both dubbed but the subbed version is vastly better, imo.

Well some of the parts i agree but a few stand outs for me made it very enjoyable. Sensui's english voice actor for me did a very good job with making the character feel more alive and also Younger Toguros did the job very well. For DBZ its close as i do enjoy both but English Super Buu voice>>>>>>>>>Jap version to me. Also the English voice for Frieza (who did Genkai in YYH) is just forever in my mind the only voice for Frieza.

[mmocc3a3dda21e]

Always subbed. Some shows can be watched dubbed but most are horrible. The original voice actors are just so much better at putting emotions into their characters.

^ This, but then again some cartoons i have seen as kid in swedish is the only time i want them dubbed ( in swedish )

[Rumred]

Yeah, overall, the Yu Yu Hakusho dub was ok. Maybe I just prefer it in Japanese because that is how I saw it first? Who knows.

I can't say I liked FUNimation's Super Buu all that much. Hell, I even found the Ocean dubbed Super Buu to be better.
And now that you've said you think Linda Young is the only Freeza, I can safely leave... She's the worst Freeza out there >_>

Might be do to its how i grew up watching it as you did the other way. I think we can all agree tho Team Four Star does the best dubs for DBZ tho ( If you haven't seen DBZ Abridged i highly suggest it) They also had a really good Freeza.

I agree tho in 90% of cases Sub is far better as Naruto dub is just gag worthy and Bleach isn't far behind........ i dont know what would be a worse anime hell, watching Naruto cannon dub or Subbed early Naruto filler.

[AceofHarts]

the problem is that there is certain things that Japanese VA do well that English do not.

for example Moe. the English VA just cannot do it. Subbed all the way.
furthermore, if i had to wait for a Dub to watch an Anime....well, i wouldn't be able to watch all that much anime, since most doesn't get dubbed, and when it does it usually takes 6 months to a year after the original run is over for it to start. sorry Dub Lovers, but i am not waiting another year to a year and a half to watch the awesomesauce that is Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei.

[Rumred]

As someone that actually does understand the language, the Japanese really do show emotion really, really well compared to dubs. It often sounds somewhat forced in dubs.

This is mostly the case save for some exceptions. Its mostly do to the people doing voice acting work for Anime in the US or anywhere outside Japan really couldn't make it as a Actor or VA for anything major. They also have a hard time getting into the emotion of the setting so that isn't helping either. I am not sure someone with more info could shed light on it but it seems like major character voice actors for Anime in Japan are well only focused on that roll and maybe a few others. While in the US and outside they get paid so little they are doing so many rolls not only in one Anime but many at a time so its hard for them to get into character.

If our best actors/voice actors got into doing anime dubs and got into the character we would have great dubs. Sadly it seems it all comes down to those paying for Anime dubs go for the cheapest they can get and well most of the time it shows. However it seems Video games such as FF and what not have a slightly better track record when it comes to dubbing.....maybe they are willing to spend more money?