Poll: Dubbed or Subbed?

[Hero in a half shell]

Never watched Anime, (No offence, I can see how it's appealing but it's just not my thing) But when I'm watching those old, so-bad-it's-good Kung-Fu movies, dubbed is the only way to go. Purely because they always got the worst people to do the dubbing, giving either no emotion, in their own European/American accent, or putting on an hilariously racist accent and overpronouncing like their life depended on it. Brilliant.

 

[Andy Marturano]

in my opinion, the Japanese plus subs is usually better unless the main characters is going to swear or have funny dialogue. Examples are Desert Punk and Fullmetal Alchemist

 

[JackandTom]

I perfer dubs. I hate watching only the lower part of the screen to find out whats going on, and sometimes the subs are just horribley written and off track.

If I find a series that has been dubbed really well, and most actually have, i'll wait to watch it dubbed, like FMA: Brotherhood...amazing dubs

but those few anime that sound like each actor recorded their lines on different planes of existance, I'll watch the subs on those

I agree, and the dubbing in FMA: Brotherhood is brilliant

 

[Liudeius]

Generally I prefer subbed, but in some cases dubbed sounds better than the character's original voices (Ex: Full Metal Alchemist).

It really just depends on the voices and how much it seems to differ from the intent of the original Japanese. Sometimes the Japanese voices sound wrong, but more often the English dubs sound stupid (this is aided by voice actors not being very important over here).

Also often the "Official" dubs won't just mess up the intend of what is said and say it in annoying voices/no emotion, they will also censor it. Like back with Naruto (the old one), the English dubbed version just seemed sooooo stupid, and while the Japanese version was still childish, they were something like 13, it also have all of the swearing. It's funny to see the Japanese version with people throwing words like ***** around then watch the English dub and see what they cooked up to stop rabid parents from burning down their office buildings.

The one thing I dislike about subs is that it is harder to multi-task, I usually play video games and watch movies at the same time, and it is most difficult to pay equal attention to both when I have to keep on darting back to the anime screen every time a character speaks.

 

[UberNoodle]

It's not about 'subbed vs dubbed'. It's about watching the film or anime in as close a state as it was conceived by its creators. Regardless of the perceived 'quality' of any voice track, the only factor to take into account is that simple factor. And the idea that the dubs remove 'annoying voices', is like saying that dubs can remove annoying languages, culture or creative strokes. Go for it, if that's how you feel, but in the end, the original voices is how the film or show was conceived by its creators, and they are cultural reflections. That's how it should be watched. I'm just waiting for customised versions of the Mona Lisa.

 

[DefinitelyPsychotic]

If something is in a different language, I prefer subtitled.

But I hate anime anyway...

 

[Justanothergamer300]

I like both but I'm starting to like subs a bit more because I foucs more it due to the reading unlike dubs

 

[Liudeius]

Subbed, because I apparently have amazingly good peripheral vision, so much so that I can watch both the animation and the text...

That, and it's cool to try and learn the language.

Yeah, I still have no idea how I can pay attention to the action and subs at the same time, it all seems to blend in together.
(and yes, I realize that your vision actually has a ~3 degree radius of viewing and peripheral vision is not to be underestimated, but I would still think subs would be distracting).

 

[Vykrel]

i prefer dubbed for two main reasons.

1. i really dont want to have to stare at the bottom of the screen throughout an entire show or movie, especially if there is some kind of action going on that i should be seeing without interference

2. i often find that the english dubs include voices that match the characters look more than the original voices do.

 

[Okuu_Fusion]

Well, for me it depends usually on how many female characters there are and how old they are... If they are young, theres a high chance they are going to sound incredibly annoying in english, so I prefer subbed... Plus I can't wait the 2 to 3 years it takes for it to be translated into english...

But there are still a few shows that I must watched dubbed... Mostly stuff that founds its way onto western TV... They occasionally got good dubs... some are superior to their original versions...

 

[GreigKM]

Yeah, it really depends...
Mostly, Subbed, unless it's FMA, then Dubbed all the way.

 

[Merkavar]

i much prefer dubbed. and i mean decent dubbed. with subs i spend the whole episode watching the bottom 1/4 of the screen. i might as well have just read the shows script instead. so i prefer dubbed so that i can actually watch the show.

 

[Marik2]

Need a third option - for people who like both dubbed and subbed.

Yup pretty much this.

I will watch a dub if I think its good; I will watch subs if the dub sucks or there isnt one.

 

[jonyboy13]

Dubs are horrible, Especially American. It's like they're picking up kids from the street and selecting a random character for them to dub regardless of role, age and gender.
And the Hentai... Oh the horrible, horrible dubs in hentai...

 

[spartan231490]

Well, I used to be firmly against dubbed movies and anime, and insisted they were far better with original language + subtitles. But I recently re-watched Gantz and Elfen Lied with both the english language track and english subtitles on and my god, the english language versions kicks the shit out of the japanese + subs versions! The english acting and writing make the subtitled versions look like piles of poorly translated garbage.

So, which do you prefer, dubbed or subbed, and have you seen any other examples where the english language version is superior to the subtitled version?

Depends on the anime. 10 minutes with the sub on some animes and i want to kill myself, same with dubs on some others.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

It really depends heavily on which anime I watch,but most of all with a very few exceptions I enjoy them subbed with the original language.

 

[Laxman9292]

It's a toss up. Usually there is a lot lost when they try to translate anime and dub it. But I also like being able to know whats being said without focusing on the bottom few inches of the screen.

 

[iblis666]

though i have come across a few good dubs for the most part dubs can be painful to watch and this is mainly due to the fact that voice actors are not held in high regard in the US and as such the product tends to be of lower quality to the original. That and the fact that they like to localize references way more than subers do are the main reasons that i prefer subs.

 

[Wintermoot]

depends is I like th dub,s voices and if Japanese fit,s (for example watching a anime about Chicago gangsters in Japanese looks pretty weird)