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Bloodseeker · 2006-04-22, 11:09

Which do you prefer?

I probably haven't made this apparent on this forum yet since I haven't hung out here much (what can I say? my computer doesn't like p2p connections and most of the active discussion here seems to be on anime that hasn't been officially released in the States yet... its probably going to be another week until Shuffle is done downloading at this rate), but I'm a big fan of dubs. Thankfully, the anime community seems to have become a bit more accepting of dubs over the past two years or so, but there's still a few that refuse to accept dubs as anything but stinking piles of ****.

Some of the old time subbies seem to still be judging anime dubs based off of their experiences with those annoying almost effortless dubs that they heard in the 90s and before, and some of the new comers to the anime community seem to have taken their word for it. But the way that things were done in the 90s isn't the way that things are usually done now. After the American anime boom in the early 00s, the quality of English dubs went up with the demand for them. Studios got more funding and started putting work into their scripts and the VAs started caring, and it showed. If you haven't already done so, go watch Berserk's, Fullmetal Alchemist's, Yu Yu Hakusho's, and Ghost in the Shell SAC's dubs. A few of those blow the original soundtracks out of the water. (especially Berserk)

The nitpickers can be downright ridiculous. "OMMFG! His laugh sounds different! This dub sucks!" "W...T...F?! Why doesn't that 14-year-old sound like he's 12 anymore?! Why does he sound like a teenager?! I can't stand the acting in this dub!" Of course the dub voices are going to sound different than the Japanese voices, they're different people speaking different languages that come from different base languages! And of course the voice is going to change the character... I've seen a few manga characters turned anime that seemed completely different once they got their Japanese voice. (Sasuke comes to mind... he always struck me as calmer in the manga) That doesn't necessarily make it a bad match and it certainly doesn't make the acting bad. If anything, modern English-speaking VAs seem to over-exagerate their speaking less than their Japanese counterparts. You know those sweet sounding voice actresses that you hear a lot of times with the cuter anime girls that can almost turn you on with their voice alone? I've visited Japan, and I live in an area with a pretty large Asian population (most Japanese and Korean), and I've NEVER heard a voice like that in real life. I'm pretty sure that they play with their voices to make them that way. And I've never heard the complete flip outs that you hear so often from Japanese VAs either. (English tracks do something similar, but they at least sound less exagerated than the Japanese tracks) So if anything, the American VAs sometimes seem like more realistic portrayals of the characters than their Japanese counterparts. (the caucasian voices to go with the caucasian looks doesn't hurt either)

I know that its not an easy thing to do, but when you watch a dub, try to judge it by itself if you can, or at least try to make a conscious distinction between "different" and "bad" when you start to find yourself picking it apart in your head.

Sure there are some really bad modern dubs (Crest/Banner of the Stars, Love Hina) and a few a bad character matches in a few good dubs (Shizuru from My-Hime is the only one that comes to mind at moment... she looks like a British accent), but for the most part, it seems like most modern dubbing studios put a lot of effort into their work. I can think of a few other points to make concerning the scripts, but I think that I've made a long enough post here.

2006-04-22, 11:09	Link #1
Bloodseeker Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2006	Dubs or subs? Which do you prefer? I probably haven't made this apparent on this forum yet since I haven't hung out here much (what can I say? my computer doesn't like p2p connections and most of the active discussion here seems to be on anime that hasn't been officially released in the States yet... its probably going to be another week until Shuffle is done downloading at this rate), but I'm a big fan of dubs. Thankfully, the anime community seems to have become a bit more accepting of dubs over the past two years or so, but there's still a few that refuse to accept dubs as anything but stinking piles of ****. Some of the old time subbies seem to still be judging anime dubs based off of their experiences with those annoying almost effortless dubs that they heard in the 90s and before, and some of the new comers to the anime community seem to have taken their word for it. But the way that things were done in the 90s isn't the way that things are usually done now. After the American anime boom in the early 00s, the quality of English dubs went up with the demand for them. Studios got more funding and started putting work into their scripts and the VAs started caring, and it showed. If you haven't already done so, go watch Berserk's, Fullmetal Alchemist's, Yu Yu Hakusho's, and Ghost in the Shell SAC's dubs. A few of those blow the original soundtracks out of the water. (especially Berserk) The nitpickers can be downright ridiculous. "OMMFG! His laugh sounds different! This dub sucks!" "W...T...F?! Why doesn't that 14-year-old sound like he's 12 anymore?! Why does he sound like a teenager?! I can't stand the acting in this dub!" Of course the dub voices are going to sound different than the Japanese voices, they're different people speaking different languages that come from different base languages! And of course the voice is going to change the character... I've seen a few manga characters turned anime that seemed completely different once they got their Japanese voice. (Sasuke comes to mind... he always struck me as calmer in the manga) That doesn't necessarily make it a bad match and it certainly doesn't make the acting bad. If anything, modern English-speaking VAs seem to over-exagerate their speaking less than their Japanese counterparts. You know those sweet sounding voice actresses that you hear a lot of times with the cuter anime girls that can almost turn you on with their voice alone? I've visited Japan, and I live in an area with a pretty large Asian population (most Japanese and Korean), and I've NEVER heard a voice like that in real life. I'm pretty sure that they play with their voices to make them that way. And I've never heard the complete flip outs that you hear so often from Japanese VAs either. (English tracks do something similar, but they at least sound less exagerated than the Japanese tracks) So if anything, the American VAs sometimes seem like more realistic portrayals of the characters than their Japanese counterparts. (the caucasian voices to go with the caucasian looks doesn't hurt either) I know that its not an easy thing to do, but when you watch a dub, try to judge it by itself if you can, or at least try to make a conscious distinction between "different" and "bad" when you start to find yourself picking it apart in your head. Sure there are some really bad modern dubs (Crest/Banner of the Stars, Love Hina) and a few a bad character matches in a few good dubs (Shizuru from My-Hime is the only one that comes to mind at moment... she looks like a British accent), but for the most part, it seems like most modern dubbing studios put a lot of effort into their work. I can think of a few other points to make concerning the scripts, but I think that I've made a long enough post here.