I'd rather watch anime with subtitles. The Japanese voice actors are better at conveying emotion to the situation whereas americans tend to make it sound cheesy.
Poll: English dubs for anime: good or bad?
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I am not an anime fan but I have watched some and think that they should deffinetly be dubbed right if you want to have a good time watching the damn thing
It depends on the dub. For example, the dubs of Tenchi Muyo! (especially the third season) aren't so great in English, whereas the dubs for Death Note are fantastic. Then there's anime like Dragon Ball Z, which isn't dubbed extremely well, but it's certainly less annoying than the Japanese dub.
I can usually tell within the first few minutes. Some dubbing is utterly awful, but i liked the dubbing in Gundam Wing.
I believe there are good dubs and bad dubs. Good dubs are like Gundam Wing (uncut, non-Cartoon Networkized) Outlaw Star, and Death Note-- good actors, good delivery of the lines, and not deviating too far from the original Japanese. However, dubs like Naruto, Higurashi, and Slayers... not so much.
It depends entirely on what it is for me. Some I can watch either way, like any of the Studio Ghibli ones. Full Metal Alchemist I can also watch either way, but having gotten attached to the characters with their English voices watching the new Brotherhood in Japanese is a bit off putting. It also seems to make very little difference, as the dialogue and emotion are quite similar I've found. Dragonball Z was like this as well, but who watched that for the story or conversation? I watched it cause I was a 12 year old boy and it had overly aggressive fight scenes and such. It worked very well as a "my first anime", but hasn't quite held up as more than nostalgia to me.
Then there are the strict language anime I abide by. Cowboy Bebop is leagues better in English than in Japanese, part of it being that it is in the "Western" genre. D.Gray-Man might fall into this if I ever hear an English version of it, being that it takes place in England with very few Asian characters (and only one Japanese if I recall correctly). But I've watched about half of the series in Japanese so far and it isn't off-putting.
This works in reverse as well. Generally anything that is overly Japanese in culture sounds better in Japanese. Azumanga Daioh is my prime example of this. It sounds amazingly bad in English, but good in Japanese.
Then there are the strict language anime I abide by. Cowboy Bebop is leagues better in English than in Japanese, part of it being that it is in the "Western" genre. D.Gray-Man might fall into this if I ever hear an English version of it, being that it takes place in England with very few Asian characters (and only one Japanese if I recall correctly). But I've watched about half of the series in Japanese so far and it isn't off-putting.
This works in reverse as well. Generally anything that is overly Japanese in culture sounds better in Japanese. Azumanga Daioh is my prime example of this. It sounds amazingly bad in English, but good in Japanese.
I hate having to read subtitles. It takes your attention away from what's acually going on, ruins the immersion, and always gets me picking out awkward lines or mistakes. You can test this yourself: go find any game that has good cutscenes and the option to enable subtitles (let's say... Uncharted). Watch any cutscene through with subs, then watch it through again without them. You'll see just how much you miss when you're forced to constantly look down to the bottom of the screen, and that's when the dub is english as well. Add Japanese language in, and you can't watch the anime for having to read the subs.
That said, there are some absolutely terrible dubs out there. However, there are also some brilliant ones. Hellsing Ultimate has brilliant voice actors, for example, so much so that I'm happy to wait the six or eight months for the next episode to come out in english than to watch it subbed. The voices sound wrong (none of them have the accents, for a start), and it ruins it for me.
Also, branching out a bit from anime, when programs bring in atual talented actors, then the results are great. Gargoyles, for example, struck gold casting Keith David (you might recognise him as the Arbiter from the Halo series) and Jonathan Frakes as the protagonist and antagonist.
That said, there are some absolutely terrible dubs out there. However, there are also some brilliant ones. Hellsing Ultimate has brilliant voice actors, for example, so much so that I'm happy to wait the six or eight months for the next episode to come out in english than to watch it subbed. The voices sound wrong (none of them have the accents, for a start), and it ruins it for me.
Also, branching out a bit from anime, when programs bring in atual talented actors, then the results are great. Gargoyles, for example, struck gold casting Keith David (you might recognise him as the Arbiter from the Halo series) and Jonathan Frakes as the protagonist and antagonist.
I think dubbing is useful to expose more of the populace to the joys of anime and sometimes cultural references just don't translate. I have been watching anime for over a decade now and to be honestly I have seen screw ups on both sides. Bad translation in subtitles is as bad and sometimes worse than bad dubbing. I like dubbing if it is done well such as Cowboy Bebop, Fruits Basket, Ghost in the Shell:SOC, etc... but I will excuse poor dubbing if I find the dialogue funny(Slayers, Ranma1/2).
IF it is done right then dubs are awesome. If they actually got a decent cast of voices and they did a relatively good job then I vote for dubs. Moreover, most Japanese voice actors make men sound like little girls. I am sure you have at least heard one in your life. So most of the time I stick to dubs, just to save my ears, cause once a bunch of squeaky voiced characters get going it sounds like a pack of chipmunks have invaded my living room.
I couldn't do that, I have never liked the second version of anything I watched. It sounds just wrong, even if done really really well. Japanese's always out first, so I never like the dubbed stuff. (Unless I have seen the dubbed one first)RollForInitiative said:
I always prefer to watch subs, but some dubs are really good (such as with anime like RahXephon and Fullmetal Alchemist).