Anime: English dub

[Dakhath]

For some reason, Hollywood tends to like drug addicts and alcoholics. It's their go-to flaw. Probably because Hollywood is run by drug addicts and alcoholics. No, that does not make for an interesting or likeable character. If you want a character to be likeable, you don't want to give a character a flaw that makes them contemptible. If you try to seriously say "this hero is depressed so he's self medicating through alcohol", you're not going to root for the character. You're going to find that character pathetic.

There seems to be a trend among millennial writers to give their heroes extreme vices. Imagine if Han Solo randomly murdered people? He wouldn't be a hero you could root for anymore. He'd be a villain. (Greedo doesn't count because that was self-defense; Greedo was going to kill Han Solo and if Han escaped Greedo would have tried to kill Han by pursuing him or calling other bounty hunters). It's villains who have extreme vices.

I spent over a decade of my life in combat zones, alcoholism and drug use is pretty common coping mechanisms of people who spend a tremendous amount of time fighting for their lives, just like Trevor would. Honestly, its probably one of the most realistic things about the show.

[Veggie50]

For the most part I'm sub all the way, although in rare cases like DBZ I cannot stand the sub. Goku's Japanese VA sounds absolutely terrible to me. I think dub can be kinda bad, because they have to record lines so they kinda look like they sync up which can result in some weird lines. I don't really begrudge people who wants dubbed anime though. I'd just say to be open to sub because there is still a lot of anime that will likely never be dubbed and you're missing out.

DBZ is an interesting case imo... most peoples gripes about the japanese version is that the voice actor for Goku/Gohan is female. Thats actually pretty common in Japan, even for adult (lead) characters, where in the west its usually only done for kid characters.

The original dub was horribly mistranslated though. They literally took the text, thought “yea... our audience isnt rly gonna connect with this” and in some cases changed the story through content changes.

The newer DBZ Kai release sticks much, much closer to the original text, and I must agree, it’s very well done.

[Tronski]

You're assuming the reason people watch dubs is because they can't read? That's incredibly ignorant of why people like it, and why it's an industry in the first place.

Traditionally you didn't even get a choice, which makes it weird that you assume people like it or that the industry is driven by demand.
I don't know anything about how much you have traveled, or the movies you have downloaded and the struggle to find one with original audio, but in countries like Germany, Russia, China, Spain and so on and so forth, if you turned on the television or visited the cinema, it used to be that the language of any movie or show was dubbed to native. I am now talking about the time before you could just change the audio with your controller, barely 15 years ago. Someone just decided that native was the only way to go, as if they didn't even want the viewers to hear other languages.

I cannot speak for today, but I know that dubbing almost never increase the quality of the show or movie. I can on the top of my head remember one singular older kids' show that actually became better when dubbed to my native language. And for a while in my teens I were even obsessed with watching movies and shows through all available dubs (DVD), and especially in the languages I understood to some degree, just to hear the different interpretations.

Convenience is the only argument for dubbing, and dubbing is cancer on the integrity of any show and on people's ability to get to know the world outside their front yard.

[Kumorii]

Another that crossed my mind while watching some of the dub clips is that dubs rarely take the medium into consideration when they voice them it seems like.
Anime tend to have overtop drawings. Backgrounds changing on moods, art style changing based on moods and often have animations that are grandios to match. Which makes it even more jarring when they just talk like "normal" with lack of better word. I would rather say stale or bland but that's not correct except when you compare to the anime medium, but it's not stale or bland if you have a realistic setting etc etc. Jap VA tends to match the animation style which is why I think it goes together so well.

Best example I can think of with english VA is Metal Gear Rising Revengeance where the voices, especially quinton flynn, is over the top to match the over the top style of the game. There it works really well.

[Tronski]

DBZ is an interesting case imo... most peoples gripes about the japanese version is that the voice actor for Goku/Gohan is female. Thats actually pretty common in Japan, even for adult (lead) characters, where in the west its usually only done for kid characters.

The original dub was horribly mistranslated though. They literally took the text, thought “yea... our audience isnt rly gonna connect with this” and in some cases changed the story through content changes.

The newer DBZ Kai release sticks much, much closer to the original text, and I must agree, it’s very well done.

Especially when it come to Japanese shows, the idioms, sayings, humour, traditions or even drawing styles often doesn't translate well or at all, so apart from the main plot in a show as innately silly as DragonBall, everything else has to be somewhat changed to fit the viewers. The problem is often that the video is adapted to the Japanese context and thus just ends up being weird when dubbed anyway. It doesn't help that the work with translation and recording usually feels rushed either.

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Another that crossed my mind while watching some of the dub clips is that dubs rarely take the medium into consideration when they voice them it seems like.
Anime tend to have overtop drawings. Backgrounds changing on moods, art style changing based on moods and often have animations that are grandios to match. Which makes it even more jarring when they just talk like "normal" with lack of better word. I would rather say stale or bland but that's not correct except when you compare to the anime medium, but it's not stale or bland if you have a realistic setting etc etc. Jap VA tends to match the animation style which is why I think it goes together so well.

Exactly this!

[VinceVega]

I only watch anime in the OVA. Japanese voices are nearly always better than others simply because it is more of a profession in Japan. There is nor real need for anime voiceactors in other languges as most people who watch anime will NEVER say a english dub is better even if it is. Same reason why those people tend to call the anime by its japanese name for some reason.
One thing japanese can't do is children. HORRIBLE!!! I hate children in anime because the voices just sound so whiney and annoying. The only ones who do it worse are the chinese.

Animes i watch in the dub are mostly animes i watched as a child and got used to the english voiceactors. Dragonball for example. Also Goku in the japanse sounds.... castrated.

Bad Dubs only make those a bit annoying parts of anime even worse. Like the constant gasping and screaming or what you can only describe as amazed moaning. These parts are annoying in the OVA and get worse in the dub.

[Pendulous]

Convenience is the only argument for dubbing, and dubbing is cancer on the integrity of any show and on people's ability to get to know the world outside their front yard.

That is the most ignorant thing in this thread, assuming I or anyone else have no desire to learn anything because we choose to watch a show in our own language. And calling an entire industry "cancer" when all it seeks is to entertain? What is actually wrong with you? Why do people go out of their way to insult people who consume media in a way that does not affect them at all?

[Veggie50]

Especially when it come to Japanese shows, the idioms, sayings, humour, traditions or even drawing styles often doesn't translate well or at all, so apart from the main plot in a show as innately silly as DragonBall, everything else has to be somewhat changed to fit the viewers. The problem is often that the video is adapted to the Japanese context and thus just ends up being weird when dubbed anyway. It doesn't help that the work with translation and recording usually feels rushed either.

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Exactly this!

Modern dubs are usually far better at the translation though.

A clear example is Goku v Freeza on namek, shortly after the super saiyan transformation. The original english dub has him saying something like “im the champion of good, nightmare to you!” Whereas in the original Japanese (and the later Kai dub) he says something like “rage fuels me to find your death” which is considerably darker, and casts him as more selfcentered and less altruisticly heroic.

[vilememory]

There is a very small pool of American voice actors, and they like it that way. In fact, in the anime industry at least if you aren't part of the 'clique' you are the enemy. And they will do all in their power to destroy you, just look what happened to Vic Mignogna. Or more recently Quinton Flynn, all it takes is one accusation and their career is ruined. I mean holy Hell the people going after Vic literally shut down entire conventions that were going to have him show up. Saying they and others would never go back if they invited him.

[LemonDemonGirl]

The Japanese VAs pronunciation of English is a sip of wine to the ears.

See? This is why I watch it subbed lol

[Azerate]

If feasible, I try to consume any work of art as close to the original as possible, no matter the medium. This applies to anime as well as movies, games, books etc. It was created with dialogue in that language, and I want to receive that content with as much of the intended 'whole' as possible. I will watch movies with Spanish and French dialogues with subtitles, and same for anime which is in Japanese.

Therefore any kind of "but it sounds better dubbed" argument is invalid to me. There is no "better" than the intended original performance. Dubbed lines might fit better according to some more or less subjective criteria, but it's never the actual original. And then one could make an argument that it's even more important with anime, because the culture it originates from is so alien to most of us in Europe and US, that this additional layer allows for better immersion in the world. If you're watching an anime about school life and they keep calling each other "upperclassman" instead of "senpai" you are missing out on half the atmosphere. And that's just one example.

Not to make this thread about a piece of shit, but man got what he deserved.

Yeah, for some reason there is a vocal portion of the gaming/anime community that always white-knights molesters, rapists and sexual predators of different kinds. I would love to live long enough to see the day when these movements are either non existent or minor enough to be shameful to expose your allegiance to those groups.

[jackofwind]

For some reason, Hollywood tends to like drug addicts and alcoholics. It's their go-to flaw. Probably because Hollywood is run by drug addicts and alcoholics. No, that does not make for an interesting or likeable character. If you want a character to be likeable, you don't want to give a character a flaw that makes them contemptible. If you try to seriously say "this hero is depressed so he's self medicating through alcohol", you're not going to root for the character. You're going to find that character pathetic.

There seems to be a trend among millennial writers to give their heroes extreme vices. Imagine if Han Solo randomly murdered people? He wouldn't be a hero you could root for anymore. He'd be a villain. (Greedo doesn't count because that was self-defense; Greedo was going to kill Han Solo and if Han escaped Greedo would have tried to kill Han by pursuing him or calling other bounty hunters). It's villains who have extreme vices.

Lol what the fuck are you on about? Protagonists don't need to be flawless characters, and they don't even need to be likeable. You need to educate yourself on what makes a well-developed character - maybe try picking up a modern novel that wasn't written for tweens.

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yeah, sounds cringy af... can't change my mind, sorry... all I hear is a bunch of fans trying to play out the characters in the anime, and not as if the characters themselves are speaking.

I mean it's Black Clover, the entire thing is a cringefest regardless of language.

[Tronski]

That is the most ignorant thing in this thread, assuming I or anyone else have no desire to learn anything because we choose to watch a show in our own language. And calling an entire industry "cancer" when all it seeks is to entertain? What is actually wrong with you? Why do people go out of their way to insult people who consume media in a way that does not affect them at all?

A great example of a pot calling the kettle black. Try reading what I said again, because I certainly did not say what you're attributing to me.

[tehealadin]

I don't watch many anime shows, but all of the ones I have watched have been dubbed and I enjoyed the dub.

[jaisome2552]

I don't like dubbing at all. I watch only with subtitles.

[Loveliest]

I accidentally started one episode in English and I had to turn it off after few minutes. Voice acting was wierd, emotionless and in general out of place. I think they tried to use cartoonish voice, but it felt unnatural and almost inhuman, like it was dubed by text to speech program.

How about you, do you watch anime with English dub and do you like it?

Never. Even if the dubs weren't so bad, I wouldn't, because it takes away from the original. For example, let's ignore anime, let's think about something like Frozen that actually has proper localization and voices - you get a song that wins the Oscar, but then you never heard the one that actually got it, you heard it in another language sang by a different singer. That one might not have gotten an Oscar. So there is a difference.
To be fair, I never really agreed with dubs anyway. I feel it's for lazy parents who don't want to stay and read subs to their very young kids. I feel we should have subs and learn languages from a young age, not pretend everything is in our language because it's easier. That or at least a translation where you can still hear the original voices along the translator's.

[Sammonoske]

Mix between Dub and Sub. Generally, I'll avoid Funimation (because reasons) unless there is one particular anime I am interested in. I don't care about original voices nonsense. Most of the time I'll just stick with whatever language I hear first.

[Dhrizzle]

I've never really enjoyed original dubs in anime, I think as it's just a vocal performance synced up with images I don't feel like I'm losing anything by opting for a vocal performance I can understand. It's different with live-action films where I usually opt for the original language and subtitles.

Something I've noticed on Netflix is some animations get a choice of original or British English. Thomas the Tank Engine only really changes Thomas's voice actor but in American the guy running the railway is always referred to as "Sir Topham Hatt" whereas the British version often uses his nickname "the fat controller."

Paw Patrol's British dub has some of the most dismal performances I've ever heard. Chico Bonbon gives a selection of regional accents that aren't badly acted but can seem a bit jarring.

[Syegfryed]

English dub on animes is just weird sometimes, like, i watched pokemon once, and it was awful, they talk so weird, but others like Jojo are pretty good.

With is something strangel, english dub in games, movies and cartoons is overall good, don't know why the difference.


The thing is, if you watch something first on japanese, no matter what language you watch later, it will be weird cause first impressions matter

Same way if you watched on English first, or other language, you will prefer that one.