Japanese Gamers Divided on Subtitles vs. Dubs
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Most western movies that come out in Japan are actually not dubbed into Japanese.
Everything that's meant for kids is usually dubbed, for obvious reasons, but popular western movies, whether on TV or in cinema are usually with the original dub + japanese subtitles.
For example, the Coco Chanel movie that came out a while ago hat french voices. For Avatar I think there was a dubbed and a subbed version available in cinema... don't know which one had more viewers.
And yes it's not too rare for japanese people to prefer the original (which means mostly english) voice acting over the japanese. Or possibly even to like the english dubbing of an anime that was originally dubbed in japanese much better.
It just shows how ridiculous it is of some non-japanese fans of anime or japanese games to praise the japanese dub that much.
Oh, I recently saw a bit of the movie "Tokyo drift" (US movie) dubbed in japanese and it was pretty horrible, too. =D
Everything that's meant for kids is usually dubbed, for obvious reasons, but popular western movies, whether on TV or in cinema are usually with the original dub + japanese subtitles.
For example, the Coco Chanel movie that came out a while ago hat french voices. For Avatar I think there was a dubbed and a subbed version available in cinema... don't know which one had more viewers.
And yes it's not too rare for japanese people to prefer the original (which means mostly english) voice acting over the japanese. Or possibly even to like the english dubbing of an anime that was originally dubbed in japanese much better.
It just shows how ridiculous it is of some non-japanese fans of anime or japanese games to praise the japanese dub that much.
Oh, I recently saw a bit of the movie "Tokyo drift" (US movie) dubbed in japanese and it was pretty horrible, too. =D
I believe that everything should have the option to watch/play it in its original language with subtitles. Most often characters are voice more true to the screen than if you dubbed them into a different language. There are rare exceptions that I watch something dubbed (read: Cowboy Bebop), but I have to like the actors that do the dubbing and feel they fit the character and the setting well. For the aforementioned parenthetical title, the story was Western in nature, and all the characters had English names, so it sounded natural... but I swear to god if I have to hear one more American (read: Canadian) voice actor mispronounce Asuka, have to sit through the little girl from Lilo and Stitch butcher a beautiful film like Spirited Away, or have to listen to English Tidus ever again in life... I'm buckling down, learning Japanese and importing from that moment on.
For anime, I prefer watching the English dub while also having English subtitles turned on. Bonus points if the subtitles are closer to the true translated Japanese. (I think it's fine if they change slang etc. to the English equivalent as part of dubbing, but I want to see the original phrasing as well.)
For games, probably the same. I always turn on subtitles in games where it's available, and I prefer voiced games, so that sounds like basically the same category.
For games, probably the same. I always turn on subtitles in games where it's available, and I prefer voiced games, so that sounds like basically the same category.
To throw my opinion into the ocean of opinions, I'd say it depends on the game. Or to be more specific, weather the games characters or atmosphere feels Japanese or English (or whatever other country).
Take for example Capcom, a Japanese developer but not all there games feel Japanese. So for a game like Onimusha, which is set in feudal Japan, I would prefer Japanese audio, as it would feel more accurate to the setting. Where as Dead Rising takes place in a small town in Colorado (Willimet or some such), and the English voices are therefor more appropriate.
But the option should always be available to change the audio anyways. Are they really so strapped for memory that including it would be impossible. I mean I would assume that when they made the English version that the Japanese voices had already been recorded, so adding the option would take them almost no work.
Take for example Capcom, a Japanese developer but not all there games feel Japanese. So for a game like Onimusha, which is set in feudal Japan, I would prefer Japanese audio, as it would feel more accurate to the setting. Where as Dead Rising takes place in a small town in Colorado (Willimet or some such), and the English voices are therefor more appropriate.
But the option should always be available to change the audio anyways. Are they really so strapped for memory that including it would be impossible. I mean I would assume that when they made the English version that the Japanese voices had already been recorded, so adding the option would take them almost no work.
I'd like an original language option.
I found Assassin's Creed 2 surprised me to have an italian voice option, but it failed when everyone outside the animus was speaking italian too.
If a game is set in a somewhat Japanese environment then we should have japanese voices, if set in america, american voices and so forth.
But then, just like foreign films, this would alienate a huge audience that are either too lazy to read or prefer to see it in their own language
I found Assassin's Creed 2 surprised me to have an italian voice option, but it failed when everyone outside the animus was speaking italian too.
If a game is set in a somewhat Japanese environment then we should have japanese voices, if set in america, american voices and so forth.
But then, just like foreign films, this would alienate a huge audience that are either too lazy to read or prefer to see it in their own language
I demand my videogames be dubbed into Klingon and Quenya dammit!
EDIT:On topic, I heard (with anime at least), that lip animations are altered slightly so that lip syncing matches the audio. Not sure if that is possible with games or not.
EDIT:On topic, I heard (with anime at least), that lip animations are altered slightly so that lip syncing matches the audio. Not sure if that is possible with games or not.
while i'd personaly like the option to choose between a japanese track and english track on my games i understand that it's not always an option. One reason of course is disc space, so yeah a bluray probably has more than enough room for the japanese and english voice overs for FF13, but considering that dialogue scenes in that game where redone for english lipsync it would mean having essentially two games on one bluray, and considering all the high res pretty graphics i'm not so sure i'd all fit on there. Besides Microshite is undoubtedly paying square loads of monay to keep both version the same, so the ps3 version having features the 360 version doesn't have seams unlikely.
Hmmmm. I prefer subtitles. I'm not a huge anime fan, but I have seen some Naruto and Death Note, cool shows. Anyway, I don't mind reading the subtitles, but I would like to see English dubs if they were done properly. Some of those characters just sound all wrong. It's so weird. And the mouths are out of sync. But, this is beside the point. Give us options damn it. I do find Dragon Ball Z Budokai Tenkaichi 3 weirdly entertaining in Japanese...
Dubs. After all, how do we know that they didn't hire the Japanese equivalent of that dude from CSI? How is the Japanese VO an initially hire quality?
Well, voice acting is really a much bigger industry, and a more respected career choice, in Japan than most other countries, so generally their dubs should be better... even if that isn't always the case.
Now, personally I'm always puzzled by people saying that they can't tell if the acting is good or not when they don't understand the language. My grasp of the Japanese language is absolutely nothing to brag about, but I can still fairly easily tell if the voice acting is good or not. I can read what they're saying, I can hear how they're saying it, and I can tell from the tone and pacing if it's any good.
Also, I almost always prefer to have a film or game in its original language, regardless of what language that is. Chances are higher that the voices fit the characters that way, rather than just being "stock voices" they use for all of their dubs, and production value in general tends to be higher.
Now, personally I'm always puzzled by people saying that they can't tell if the acting is good or not when they don't understand the language. My grasp of the Japanese language is absolutely nothing to brag about, but I can still fairly easily tell if the voice acting is good or not. I can read what they're saying, I can hear how they're saying it, and I can tell from the tone and pacing if it's any good.
Also, I almost always prefer to have a film or game in its original language, regardless of what language that is. Chances are higher that the voices fit the characters that way, rather than just being "stock voices" they use for all of their dubs, and production value in general tends to be higher.
I'd honestly have to say it's a cultural view of the medium and the origin of the content. Japanese for instance treat anime/games as a legitimate form of artistic expression, so the actors are higher paid, better trained and have been acting behind a microphone professionally for a large part of their careers. They treat it with a sort of dignity that usually "dubs" don't get when the move overseas. Often times in the US (read: Canada) voice actors are underpaid, under appreciated, under trained and overworked; not to mention that hiring good screen actors doth not a good dub make (see: Princess Mononoke/Spirited Away). Plus, a lot of the time the subject matter is decidedly tied to the country of origin, so things like name/location pronunciation are awful when moved to a non-native tongue. I can tell the difference between good acting and not in any language methinks.Onyx Oblivion said:
Onyx, for a more direct answer to your question see the following website:
www.audioatrocities.com
How do you have a straight-up poll? For me it entirely depends on a number of factors. Primarily, the quality of the English vs Japanese voice acting. Heck, there are cases for me when the Japanese actor sounds like an uninteresting, whiny screwup primarily because I can't understand the language intricacies of what he's saying. Of course, then there are instances where the English actor doesn't sound fitting at all, in which I'm fine watching subtitles.
I'm on the give me the option choice. With games for me it comes down to how well the dubbing was done, same with Anime. There are some absolutely horrid dubs which I only have a certain tolerance for. I'll switch over to subtitles and Japanese audio when it reaches a certain level of bad.
However I'm not one of those fan boys that must have everything Japanese. If the English dubbing is good then I'm going to want the dubbing.
However I'm not one of those fan boys that must have everything Japanese. If the English dubbing is good then I'm going to want the dubbing.
The English translation of a non-Western game can be hard enough to understand for those of us who have English as a second language. I can understand subtitles every time, so that's my preference. And honestly, reading a spoken line and watching the animation at the same time won't take up all of your mental capacity (I hope).
I suppose, "I don't care either way".Doug said: