Subbed v.s. Dubbed

Talk of Ouran dubbed got me thinking I might pose this question just for the fun of it!
So...which do you prefer: subbed or dubbed? Are there certain animes you think are better subbed than dubbed; dubbed than subbed?

Let the battle begin!

...Of course it all depends on the quality of the dubbing, but for me, I'm weird in that, in general, if the anime is more serious I think I prefer subtitled, but if the anime is more comedic then sometimes I like it dubbed...because sometimes, to me, the comedy can come across a little better that way....but that's just me.

SUBBED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
though there are some good animes in english dub, like fullmetal alchemist, that english dub is good. BUT THE OURAN DUB WAS AWFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -cries-

i cant think of any others rigth now--oh wait, elfin lied, that english dub was really bad too

ALWAYS AND FOREVER SUBBED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I used to be a sub elitist, but I've long since grown out of that stage. Now, I like both subbed and dubbed a lot. For instance, the Trigun english track beat the Japanese voices by a long shot.

It makes more sense though, that serious anime is better to watch subbed. I mean, if you don't like a specific character's voice then you'd hate to hear them talk for 20 minutes or something like that. On the other hand, anime like Crayon Shin-chan are better to watch in English.

A lot of fans prefer subs because they think that the English script strays to far from the original. In some cases that's true (4Kids One Piece anyone?) but translating the Japanese script into a native language normally requires some changes to actually make sense. And then look at anime like, once again, Crayon Shin-chan. Totally different from the Japanese version, completely re-done and everything. It's like the dub from Hell. But it's so hilarious like this that most people end up not caring, anyway.

I'm always open to watching both the English and Japanses tracks of anime. And just to add another question, who is your favorite Japanese and English voice actor and why?

for the most part i much prefer dubs. i just like hearing it in my native language much more, plus i like a lot of the voice actors we have over here after reading interviews they gave or hearing them at the end of anime they dubbed.

one really good example is Kari Wahlgren, who after being heckled by a dub-hater found him passed out drunk after a party and wrote "i <3 dubs" on his body several times. there are also Chris Patton, Luci Christian, Greg Ayres and many of the other voice actors at ADV that are some of the funniest people i've ever encountered. i can't see how anyone could hate dubs after hearing Patton sing "the panda song" and hearing him and Luci christian arguing at the end of FMP is pretty funny.

there are even examples of terrible dubs that are awesome, Vampire Princess Miyu is kinda a crappy magical girl show, but add in the super "dolomite" level blackspoitation voice of her teacher, which comes off being completely out of place and wrong, is the highlight of the series. and then there is "ghost stories" a terribly bland anime that bombed in japan, and bombed here after a serious dub, so Chris, Luci and Greg did a dub best described as beavis and butthead talking over music videos. references to family guy, barbra streisand and al sharpton, turning the main character's whiny little brother into a flaming gay, offensively mentally retarded running joke.

and there are some shows i just CANNOT watch in japanese. the original voice cast for Gundam SEED made me wanna fly across the pacific and beat the producer to death with a wet sock full of hammers. Cagalli sounds like a 50 year old chain smoker and Kira sounds like a nasally nerd. the dub is a billion times better than the sub. i can't take Bleach in japanese either. i must admit though that i have to watch Lucky Star in japanese just because the voice actresses on there are phenomenal, Konata's voice actress, Aya Hiragi i believe is a great actress. i think i just prefer the shows in the format i saw them in first.

now Gundam 00 is a whole different story, the english dub is abominable, its as bad as watching SEED in japanese, Lockon sounds like a creepy uncle that likes to have "secret time" in the closet with his nephews and no one can pronounce the ship's name correctly. but at the same time i tend to recognize character's by voice, so trying to separate the 20+ important characters and all their different stories whilst trying to read what they're saying and enjoy the battles is hell, i must admit i can take Lockon sounding like bit of a prince so i can understand what is going on.

i like dubs much better, we have great voice actors that do great jobs and are just as good as the original VAs in japan, i can understand liking subs, but ranting on about dubs and saying that one is ALWAYS better than the other and denigrating people who disagree with you is the scourge of anime fans.

can't we all just enjoy our anime?

Yeah, I used to be a sub elitist too, but over the years I think I've changed a little. I still usually prefer it, but there are some really well done dubs out there. Everyone has their own tastes, and it's all good; there's no one right way.

There is a Miyazaki anime called Porco Rosso that I absolutely adore (hey, a fighter pilot pig, how can you not like that?), but if you watch it in english the voices for the pirates are all wrong-wrong-wrong. They sound silly rather than tough...well, I mean, they are silly....but if you are a tough guy being silly and trying not to let people know it's different than if you are just a silly person being silly, see what I mean...(I've totally confused you now...). Regardless, it totally changes the movie, that's my point....but, it's still enjoyable in English.

Just for the record I wanted to add we will always be showing stuff at animanga subtitled, just because it helps promote an appreciationg for japanese culture more, which is something I feel like our club should do, and it's easier for people to follow should it be noisy (ahem ) if you can read the dialogue too. But it's fun to hear what different people prefer, because as i said, there is no one right answer.

I admit I'm not as up on my voice actors though Genten. This is one area where my anime fandom knowledge is woefully lacking....

-pats nerd-kuns shoulder- neither am i nerd-kun ^^ i only know vic -whats-his-face, ed elrics voice actor. i can never remember his last name, i can barely pronounce it nevertheless spell it. something about like two g's in it--ANYWAY! and i know aaron dismuke cause he works with vic and hes alphonse. and i just know random things like hinata, orihime, naruto's snj and that one quiet big boobed girl from haruhi suzamiya (sorry if i screwed up the spelling) are all played by the same voice actor....oh i think kin in that group too. that sound ninja in the forest of death...i think thats where she appeared.

and sasuke's voice actor also plays ben 10! ha! XD
and kakashis english voice actor is bald and not very attractive T^T
i cant remember the last name of roy mustangs voice actor, its traves (sp?) something. all i know is that hes kind of a idiot.

....-cough cough-

ill stop rambling now.

Neko wrote:

-pats nerd-kuns shoulder- neither am i nerd-kun ^^ i only know vic -whats-his-face, ed elrics voice actor. i can never remember his last name, i can barely pronounce it nevertheless spell it. something about like two g's in it--ANYWAY! and i know aaron dismuke cause he works with vic and hes alphonse. and i just know random things like hinata, orihime, naruto's snj and that one quiet big boobed girl from haruhi suzamiya (sorry if i screwed up the spelling) are all played by the same voice actor....oh i think kin in that group too. that sound ninja in the forest of death...i think thats where she appeared.

and sasuke's voice actor also plays ben 10! ha! XD
and kakashis english voice actor is bald and not very attractive T^T
i cant remember the last name of roy mustangs voice actor, its traves (sp?) something. all i know is that hes kind of a idiot.

....-cough cough-

ill stop rambling now.

as for me, i couldn't name a japanese voice actor if you put a gun to my head and the only reason i know Rie Tanaka and Aya Hiragi is because they also sing songs. i also know Taknori from TMR i guess too.

but i know TONS of english VAs, i know more voice actors than i know actor-actors i think. i love dubs, i am so happy talented voice actors like Chris Patton and Vic Mignogna are out there making my anime watching easier. i like to have the speaking actually mean something to me, and when i'm watching a sub its kinda like playing a non-voiced RPG, i'm relying on words and sound effects to tell me whats going on, because being as all i can make out of most sentences are nouns like "wind" or "snake" the japanese voices do little for me.

i still contend "Ghost Stories" is the best arguments for dubs ever, making another bland, paint-by-numbers anime into something interesting and entertaining can be as simple as having a character mispronounce "Kama-Baba" so that soon we have Greg Ayres squealing in his odd Greg Ayres voice that "Barbara Streisand is trying to kill me!" or Chris Greg and Luci, in character, arguing over who is the biggest star and Primadonna , Gerg Ayres, Luci Christian or Chris Patton, and going into speculations of all their exaggerated riders.

As Sasuke Yuri Lowenthal never struck me as amazing, as Gig in "Soul Nomad and the world eaters" he delivers so of the most amazing lines ever. such lines like "Levi, why no matter where you go you bring a s**t storm with you? its like you have a radar for finding tornados made of crap!" are just not as epic in translation. hearing him call poor Danette "stupid cow" is just not as funny in japanese. horribly offensive things are less offensive when read in my mind.

i always give dubs the benefit of the doubt, because i've had such great experiences with them, now Gundam 00 may make me question that sometimes, but i still pride myself on being a dub-lover, because the fact that i get to hear all the "dubs suck! GRRRRRRRRRRR" and get say "i'm not with that" makes me happy.

keep up the good work, you brave voice actors braving the wilds of Texas and Canada!

I can name a few...or at least some of the characters they've done. Aya Hirano's okay, but I prefer her english counterpart, Wendy Lee. I can't watch Lucky Star in Japanese because the characters sound so much alike. At least in the English version you can tell them apart.

One of my favorite Japanese VAs is Jun Fukuyama, who does Grell in Kuroshitsuji. Is it possible to make a far-too-feminine Grim Reaper sound gay and badass at the same time? Yes, yes it is. It's far too bad that William dragged him back to...wherever Grim Reapers come from and we never see Grell again (on a side note, William is a prick).

I enjoy dubs, whether to make fun of them or to enjoy them.

yeah, i suppose its fun to mock the subs i find terrible, like Cagalli sounding like Marge Simpson in the original version.

after i heard Konata sing "cha-la head cha-la" at the end of one episode, as well as aya hirano going between her voice and konata's in her cover of the fumoffu opening, i can't watch someone else cover over her work, i really think that lucky star has one of the best japanese casts i've ever encountered. i'd actually choose to watch it subbed, and that's a big deal for me.

tomorrow's saturday, so i'll get to hear crepy-uncle, i mean Lockon Stratos again, if only that wasn't so hard to follow in japanese, but then again i missed all the canadian voice actors so its nice to hear scott mcneil and richard ian cox again.

Dubbed is actually okay once you think about it. I mean, the voices bother you but they try very hard so that people may actually understand it while both watching and reading the subs. So they try to make it easier, but I don't understand why everyone goes on rambling about how much it sucks. I mean, I'm sure the voice actors and people do it for the good and the video watchers are just so selfish and ungrateful.

True, subbed is naturally better with the natural voices the Japanese put in. I guess it's just natural to feel that way (:

But then again, this is just my thinking ^-^

Sooooooooo.....I got Ouran yesterday. Totally forgot I saw every episode on Youtube before watching the disc. Watched the first two episodes before realizing this. Realized I could have been watching Darker than Black. Got mad and sent the disc back. Before that, I watched part of the English track. And you know what?

I actually liked it. I didn't think Tamaki's voice was too messed up or anything like that, I thought he sounded, well, what can only be described as Tamaki-ish. I liked Haruhi's voice, Mori doesn't really speak until an umpteenth episode, Kyoya sounded really familiar (I'm trying to think of who else he did), Hikaru and Kaoru...well, at least they didn't sound the same. Although I really didn't care for Honey's voice.

Blergh, I don't like the ending song or picture. The picture is ugly and the song isn't catchy.

Genten wrote:

Sooooooooo.....I got Ouran yesterday. Totally forgot I saw every episode on Youtube before watching the disc. Watched the first two episodes before realizing this. Realized I could have been watching Darker than Black. Got mad and sent the disc back. Before that, I watched part of the English track. And you know what?

I actually liked it. I didn't think Tamaki's voice was too messed up or anything like that, I thought he sounded, well, what can only be described as Tamaki-ish. I liked Haruhi's voice, Mori doesn't really speak until an umpteenth episode, Kyoya sounded really familiar (I'm trying to think of who else he did), Hikaru and Kaoru...well, at least they didn't sound the same. Although I really didn't care for Honey's voice.

Blergh, I don't like the ending song or picture. The picture is ugly and the song isn't catchy.

I actually like everything about it (:
But then it's just me (:

crap, i was thinking i had someone else who thought like me in Lenaleechan, until the whole "subs are just naturally better" but i guess i can let that slide.

i'm very happy that this has gotten away from the "GRRRRRRRRR! DEATH TO DUBS!" feelings that this discussion usually brings up, it makes me feel a lot better about the world i live in.

Kira of the Eternal wrote:

crap, i was thinking i had someone else who thought like me in Lenaleechan, until the whole "subs are just naturally better" but i guess i can let that slide.

i'm very happy that this has gotten away from the "GRRRRRRRRR! DEATH TO DUBS!" feelings that this discussion usually brings up, it makes me feel a lot better about the world i live in.

Yeah, that's what I thought before my first post. I actually thought about it little by little and my feelings have changed to this. c:

my bro always says "the original japanese is how it was meant to be, those voices and their inflections are how it was meant to be heard and brought to life."

to me, being as the inflection and stuff is lost on me i prefer it in english, as long as they don't pull a Heero and make an emotional character emotionless i think its fine. the spazzy characters still sound spazzy and the gruff tough guys still sound gruff. dubs aren't satan.

but as i've said i like lucky star in japanese with subs much better.

I agree with your post except for one thing.

Lucky Star sounds better in English.

Now that that's over, I miss the "deeper" emotions or meanings or whatever in both languages so as long as the girls voices aren't too high-pitched or sickly sweet than I'll watch it in English.

to me all the voice actresses in Lucky star are so talented and suited for the characters that hearing other voices coming out of them is wierd, in english all their voices are too deep.

same reason i can't watch SEED in japanese, Cagalli sounds like marge simpson, she has a more manly voice than i ever will, it scares me!

I didn't like the Japanese of Trigun and Cowboy Bebop. The English dub was pretty well made, I liked it.

On that note, Pre-AP Chem is misery. Even though it's the first class I can already tell it's going to be hard.

Once again, a short post.

i watched Bleach for the first time in japanese a week or two ago. once again everyone has deep voices. i'm starting to think most japanese voice actors have voices like isaac hayes.

though i didn't mind One Piece or EVA in japanese and i liked FLCL as well, Gurren Lagann took a little getting used to but for the most part if the voices sound close enough i can make the transition.

Since I get the sub-only DVDs of Gurren Lagann from Netflix I've never heard the English voices. The general consensus is that it's pretty bad, though.

I loved the English version of FLCL. It was one of the best dubs I've ever watched.

it was kinda bad during the first half because everyone was trying to do kid's voices, but by the time Simon runs earth and Viral is a fugitive it sounds like a mix of Code Geass and to a lighter amount Bleach and Naruto.

but yeah, until teplin falls its pretty bad hearing Yuri Lowenthal trying to do a little-kid voice.

i'm for the most part happy with the current state of dubs.

Well, good thing I plan on not seeing it (I didn't like the Code Geass dub),

Yeah, the current status of dubs is so much better than if you listen to the English track on some of the older series.

huh, what don't you like about the Code Geass dub? i think its really good myself, at least as far as Suzaku and Lelouch go its amazing.

so just out of curiosity what don't you like?