JRPG's (and Anime too I guess). Japanese or English voices?

[Sangnz]

Sub nearly all the way in both mediums. English voice actors often pull out cringe worthy performances and the voices often don't suit the character, dunno if the Japanese voice acting sounds as bad to native speakers, but i find the performance in the native language much more fitting and credible.

 

[Kingjackl]

I prefer to have stuff dubbed in English. Most mainstream games and anime have pretty decent dubs these days; I think most of the stigma against English dubbed anime is a holdover from the old days of doughnut-riceballs, lollipop-cigarettes and dudes getting sent to the Shadow Realm.

Even back then though, I preferred stuff dubbed English since I find it easier to gauge the tone of the voice. I can recognise good and bad English acting, but I can't tell with foreign voices in any language.

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

I always prefer English dubbed. I don't have anything against Japanese, it's just that I have a better experience with listening to something in my own language. Anime I enjoyed when I originally watch them in Japanese I love even more after watching them dubbed.

I guess you haven't played Chaos Wars...


Shit just got real.

Are you kidding me? That's the only real way to enjoy that game. I can't imagine how boring it would be to play that game in Japanese. That would be like watching Garzey's Wing subbed.

 

[Aesir23]

I prefer English dubbing on both JRPGs and anime. With JRPGs, even if it offers English subs I kind of want to understand what's in the menus. However, I've also never imported games so for all I know they could have an English option.

With anime, it really depends. For the most part I always prefer dubs but there are some where I prefer subs. However, I just find I'm able to get into it more if it's in my own language unless the dubbing is really bad. I also tend to be prone to headaches so sometimes trying to keep track of what's going on, listening to what's being said, and trying to read the subs will give me horrible headaches.

All in all, it's just simpler for me to prefer dubs.

 

[GundamSentinel]

For anime, practically always the original voices. The only exceptions are anime where I grew with the English dubs. For example, I can't for the life of me rewatch DBZ with Japanese voices. They may be the original, but they feel wrong to me.

For games, I don't play too many dialogue-heavy Japanese games, and those usually in English (and there rarely is another choice). Most other games I just play in English, as that's generally the original language. The only instance where I had problems with language in a game was when inFamous forced me to play in my native language (Dutch). Thank god that was patched in a short while.

 

[Ishal]

Don't like anime as a genre, but with everything there are exceptions.

So, I prefer them dubbed. I don't like reading while watching, and I just don't care for the Japanese language when combined with the material. It's very repetitive by itself, which is fine. However, combined with the... shall we say... less than stellar writing found in most anime? It's dreadful.

Most dubs are passable at best, and some are even better than the Japanese versions. They aren't as awful as [redacted] make them out to be.

 

[happyninja42]

Varies depending on the show.

Cowboy Bebop? Fuck yeah, English dubs are awesome.

Kill la Kill? Ehhh, English dub over-pronounces everything and just doesn't sound right.

Yeah I'm the same way, and was going to use Cowboy Bebop as my example of preferring English dub. But for something like Attack on Titan, I enjoy the Japanese way more.

I think it depends on the voice actors they pick. If they're good, then the English can work just fine, but sometimes the Japanese just carries more emotional weight in the delivery, compared to an English performance.

 

[sageoftruth]

Whichever sounds better. If both are pretty bad, I'll probably go with Japanese, since the badness can hide behind the veil of a foreign language. If both are good, I'll go with English.

 

[Scars Unseen]

From the title, I thought this was about a slightly different topic:


Japanese English voices in games and anime are bad. Very bad.

 

[thanatos388]

Varies depending on the show.

Cowboy Bebop? Fuck yeah, English dubs are awesome.

Kill la Kill? Ehhh, English dub over-pronounces everything and just doesn't sound right.

Its actually really easy to explain why both those anime are so wildly varying in quality when I'd say Kill La Kill actually had better voice actors. Japanese voice acting is traditionally super over the top. It comes from its history but it all comes done to "Japanese voice acting is about exaggerating everything" English voice acting is the opposite. It descends from radio, so its traditionally naturally voiced, even in silly scenes and shows. This is actually the second biggest reason to why dubs never have the same mood as a sub, even if their often better done. Now most anime are at a half way point anyway. Trying to be serious, but free to be silly. Because of this, both versions of modern anime are usually evenly matched, with whatever your native language is is usually the better one because its the one you'll recognize the most emotion from.

Now Kill La Kill is about as super over the top and incredibly exaggerated as you get. Its a crazy fucking show. Hence, its one of the few examples where the Japanese version is just far far more fitting then the English version, which voice acted it like it does any other show: A natural tone. Now in a down to earth show like Cowboy Bebop, that gave it a massive advantage over the Japanese dub, which voice acted it with the same exaggerated and over the top way it always does it.

Now sure, English voice actors could do the same super excited way that Japanese voice actors do it. You would probably vomit, but they could do it. It'd be so wildly different to what you've seen before you'd be shocked its the traditional Japanese way to do it. Now the Japanese could try a serious approach, but have you ever seen live action Japanese stuff? It feels REALLY boring. Sure budget and popularity issues causing experience issues is a thing, but you'll immediately see how much duller it is. It really isn't (well it usually is but anywho) its just not super over the top anymore.

I always found the VOs for Bebops dub to sound fine for the roles. As in the voices sounded ok, but when they really had to act sincere or had a scene with more emotional weight they just sounded so awkward to me. In the japanese dub they sounded fine all the time. Maybe it's because I don't know the language but Bebop never sounded over the top for me in japanese. I find the amount that it is over exaggerated to be proportional to the show. In english however the actors still sound like they are voicing something else. Like because they voice cartoons they were taught to sound like they are talking to a child all the time.
Also they still use too many of the same actors for all the same roles even if they have zero range at all (like with Steve Blum and Johnny Yong Bosch). Though the japanese use the same voices in a lot of things too. But at least even if they sound the same they voice similar characters for the most part. And they have to go to school to get trained for dubbing whereas most english dubs are done by the directors friend or friend of a friend who brought them in because they are not actually working actors and would be cheap.
Then there are some like Quinton Flynn who strait up say that they don't care about anime, video games, or the intention of the script. They just do it for an easy paycheck and it shows.

 

[infohippie]

Always subs, and not just for Japanese stuff either. I always prefer to hear any media in its original language except in the (very rare) circumstance where the English dub is excellent or even sometimes better than the original. Cowboy Bebop, for example, as others have mentioned.

 

[Spider RedNight]

I love voice acting so I go with dubs; there are games I've gotten just because they have some of my favourite voice actors in them.

I like watching when I'm watching, not reading and I've gotten the counter argument "Well if you watched them often enough you'd be able to read AND watch like I do!" Mmmmm but I don't. I like watching stuff in English unless it's not offered; I have no qualms with watching something in its original language if there's no dub (with exceptions such as El Labyrinto De La Fauno), I just like watching stuff in English. There are also some shows that I know I wouldn't understand the humour in Japanese since I don't speak/study it like Hetalia where the dialects are different... Yeah, I think it sounds funnier in English because of the stereotypical accents that come with each country.

Video games I'll always play in English too even if it's terrible; there's a mute button for a reason. Most of the time I can stomach bad dubs though because again, I love voice actors and voice acting.

There's been a COUPLE of occasions where I've resorted to watching the Japanese dub of a show, usually because ONE actor in the English dub is SO bad for an otherwise good character - I ended up watching Peacemaker Kurogane in Japanese because I couldn't STAND who they picked for Okita Souji.

But short answer long, I prefer English dubs for a couple of reasons.

 

[Rayce Archer]

Always sub. Except for Golden Boy, in which the dub is categorically superior to the Japanese dialog in every single respect.

EDIT: Why tell you when I can show you!

 

[FPLOON]

Well, JRPGs and the like, I don't care enough to automatically choose one over the other... Although, I do love the option of choosing between both voice-overs, especially whenever I want to... That goes double with anime, since I will watch it once with one language and then again with the other if given the option hands down!

Overall, when the option is given, it doesn't really matter for me... unless it's in Japanese with no [English] subtitles, especailly in JRPGs and the like... Otherwise, if it's going to be just Japanese with no [English] subtitles, then that anime better be a hentai OVA...

 

[Leemaster777]

Games? Always in English.

Anime? Case by case. I don't care what anyone says, sometimes the dub is simply BETTER than the original cast (Like Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, or Goku from DBZ).

EDIT:

Always sub. Except for Golden Boy, in which the dub is categorically superior to the Japanese dialog in every single respect.

EDIT: Why tell you when I can show you!

Boom, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Golden Boy is a shining example of a dub that simply kicks the original's ass.

 

[Strain42]

In the few anime that I do watch, I prefer English voices, but a big part of that is because I very rarely just sit down and watch TV, so usually I'm just listening to it in the background and I'll look up if something important sounds like it's happening. I'm usually drawing or writing with the TV on, and so it's kind of annoying to be dealing with a language I don't understand and having to read subtitles on something like that.

As for games, I also prefer the English voices, because I understand them and I actually have a lot of respect for localization teams. I think it's a fascinating job and I love to see what stands out as good or bad localization, and the voices are a big part of that.

 

[TheMigrantSoldier]

I prefer dubs since a good lot of them are tolerable and I really like scanning the artwork and animation rather than the text underneath. Not to mention that I find most female Japanese voice acting annoying, regardless if I can understand it.

If the setting is Japan, I'm inclined to watch it in subs for a more "authentic" feel. Except for the Persona games. The original voices got nuttin' on the English VAs for those games.