Makaigo de ha nai…
When you hear the word “dub”, what do you do? Do you roll your eyes and say “Ha! Original Japanese is Better”? Or do you say “Oh crap, someone is going to bash me for watching it in English…”?
The “Original Audio VS DUBS” debate is never ending…it’s another debate that further separate anime fans…anime fans that SHOULD get along because they like the same thing…only differently. They like the same anime, but since one likes Subtitles and the other doesn’t, they look down on each other. I don’t want to get between this debate, but I decided to give my insignificant thoughts I have on Dubbing…since I’ve never really done it.
Irrelevant Image is Irrelevant…but cute~! ^_^
Some anime fans watch the Japanese version first and when they watch the English version, they think it’s inferior. They look down on the ones watching it in English for liking a “bad dub”.
The English watchers do the same thing…they watch it in English because they think Japanese is inferior. These guys look down on the ones watching it in Japanese for a different reason though…that is, for watching it [first] with fansubs. That’s a whole other debate I don’t want to get in right now.
My thought is a simple thing, I’m a simple guy, I think what it all really comes down to is what you watched first, what you got used to first. That’s it…it’s that simple.
I say that out of personal experience. I watched Full Metal Alchemist in English first, when I watched it in Japanese, I couldn’t really enjoy it because I was thinking how different it is from the English voices…and it annoyed me, so I switched back to English. Same thing with InuYasha, Rurouni Kenshin, and Naruto…yes NARUTO!
I’m sure if I watched Code Geass in English I would find the Japanese voices a bit odd…but since I got used to Japanese Voices first, I thought the English ones were odd…>_>
Another irrelevant but cute image~!
A dub is only “bad” if the watcher already got used to the original dub. There may be really bad dubs out there that both dub lovers and original audio lovers will agree are really bad. But since I rarely watch dubs, I can’t give you any examples. But I think a dub is ‘bad’ when the dubbers change the meaning behind the scene.
When there’s a translation of something into a language you understand, some meaning is lost, no matter how correct the translation is. I think that’s one reason for bad dubs. The character may be showing some deep emotions with his/her face, but the words doesn’t really match the scene as good as it should because the dubbers tried to match the lip movement, changing the meaning of the words/emotion…making it lose more than it should.
With subtitles, you don’t have to worry about lip movement, all you have to do is make the translation match what’s on scene without having to alter the meaning behind it…of course, there’s some loss of meaning, but not as great as with a dub…which is why I think people prefer watching subs over dubs.
Both have their pros and cons…with dubs you don’t have to read, but you might lose some meaning, with the original audio [and subtitled], you get a more ‘authentic’ experience, but you have to put the effort to read, which may cause you to miss some things on screen.
As I said, it all comes down to what you watched first. If you hate a dub, that means you watched and got used to the Japanese version. If you like a dub and hated the Japanese version, that means you watched and got used to the English version.
And since there are more people watching the [fan subbed] Japanese version first, they think the dub and the dub watchers are inferior…and thus not worth their moneys and breath. Which in turn makes the people who watch the English [licensed] version think they are superior to the fansub watchers for being legit…but again, I won’t get into that debate right now…
My point is:
It all comes down to what you watch first that determines whether you’ll think a dub is good or not…
At least…that’s what I think… >_>
Open Your Mind 
Yes I totally agree with you. Anime should have subs. Not Dubs.
To me the word “dub” means, “oh noes~ drama!” and also “stay clear” because if I dare to mention that I liked one dub I must be an idiot! If I dare to say I disliked one dub, I must be an elitist!
At least you can always say that bad dubs do exist. CardCaptors…is a very bad dub (trying to turn CCS into an action show for little American boys…wtf were they thinking?). I think the one certainy in the debate is that bad dubs do exist.
But um yeah. I agree. It depends on what you watch first. Though, I do admit to watching some dubs lately and switch to sub because there’s one bad voice actor that messes it all up.
I don’t think it’s just about “getting used to it.” There are good voices that match the character like Nagisa or Index and bad voices like Misaka. Dubs are the same way but I think there are more bad voices that don’t match the character than good.
My point is: There are good dubs and there are really really bad ones :)
Try the english dubs for Sailor Moon and you´ll cover your ears from then on.
Try the swedish dubs for Sailor Moon and you´ll cover your ear less than the english version.
Try the german dubs for Sailor Moon and you can actually listen to them and they are pretty damn good.
Then try the original japanese and feel the horror of the first season where Usagi cries in basically every ep which is more than enough irritating, after that it all goes heavenly good.
Hearing one version and then moving on to another have some effects yes, but not so much. In the case of Chaos Wars the dub is horrifyingly bad.
In most Gust games it´s quite good and especially most often from NIS with games like Disgaea.
When I heard Haruhi I wondered why they were killing so many cats :p It just didn´t sound right to me. Neither did it sound right to hear Kugimiya Rie voice Rise in P4…
A type of voice for a type of person, when they match it sounds so good. When it doesn´t then yuck. And this is true for both dub and sub.
“I think what it all really comes down to is what you watched first, what you got used to first.”
That’s pretty much it msot of the time. But then there are other times when you get voice actors with no emotion, or who don’t fit the appearance or actions of the character. The problem is the fact that there just aren;’t that many good voice atcors in such a niche market as anime in the Western World.
Yeah, the American version of Ayu couldn’t even pull off a proper ~Uguu. That’s not “getting used to it”, she’s not portryaling an important aspect of the character properly.
@Francisco: Actually, I personally think anime SHOULD NOT have subs/dubs. Watching it without subs and in original Japanese is what I’m aimimg for! ^_^
@FuyuMaiden: There’s always that one guy who ruins it for the rest of them…that bastard…
@Roy Mustang: It’s hard finding a voice that matches a character, Japanese does a good job at this because they have a longer time to plan it and more voice actors than the US…which I think just uses “big names” to get an anime to sell.
It’s the same with the Japanese, but they cast those “big names” where they ‘fit’.
And on Kanon, well, it seems you watched the Japanese version first, that’s why you said she couldn’t pull of the “uguu!”.
@manga: I just remember the squeals of Usa…thank you… -_-
@Omisyth: I wonder why they don’t use movie voice actors for anime. I mean, those Pixar 3D movies have some pretty good voice actors…
I guess it comes down to how highly they think of themselves…they don’t want to be in a niche market where they may not get their moneys worth… -_-
But since I rarely listen to dubs…I dunno if movie actors are used…>_>
Always a pleasure to be of service :)
Original Japanese is much, much better! I can’t stand the German/English dubs on anime series. They match neither with the voice mood nor with the mouth motions.
If the dubber can convey the same “original feel” of the japanese version, then its fine. Some dubs ruin the feel, more so if one has already watched the subbed or original ver.
Love the debate and long may it continue.
In some ways it seems funny because with reading the manga first the voices of characters are generated in your head. I always go for the version that marries best with that, and simply enjoy the excellent stories.
I will say that anime has made me fall in love with the original language and it’s now simply music to my ears.
Much appreciation to all the artists involved in the process of bringing anime to life…if they happen to read this!