Is sub better than dub? Can people really be that irritated by how a character’s voice is? Voice acting is important for an audience to grow fond of a character whether it be in a game, film or an anime. When it comes to asking people what do they prefer when it comes to dub or sub, the answer is commonly subbed and the reason is because their voices sound less whiny and better in Japanese.
Most of us who don’t know Japanese fluently grew up watching a lot of animes in dub so I don’t see the problem. People usually gain knowledge of an anime through dubbed when they were a child, no? Growing up in the UK, I watched a lot of dubbed animes that I thought had good voice actors e.g. Cardcaptors, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragonball Z, Beyblade and many more.
Overtime as I get into Japanese sub-culture pre-2006, I vaguely remember starting to watch subbed anime in 2009/10 and come across forums such as Gaia Online etc. saying the common reasons they believe subbed is better than dubbed. The only reason I started watching subbed back then was because if the anime I am watching is not dubbed yet or is only available to a Japanese audience and isn’t worldwide.
Then I got to thinking how a dub and sub voice can make you feel about a character. The other day I thought about Rikku in FFX-2 Last Mission and how much I disliked her Japanese voice but in English, it was likable for me. I can understand how a dubbed fan would feel.
There was one person in particular who mentioned about translating issues and censorship. Subs can be badly translated as seen as the picture above. With censorship, it will be changed to be TV approved especially for a US audience. The dubbed version can change the meaning of a whole anime. They can take parts out in the subs and change what the character is saying to make it more funnier for a Western audience.
Naruto and Pokémon are examples of animes where people despise the voice actors especially since both the main characters, Naruto and Ash are voiced by women in the dub but I have never had a problem with voice actors. There are a lot of things translated badly in animes from Japanese to English and vice versa which is a shame. In Pokémon, I remembered how Team Rocket called an onigiri a doughnut in the English dubbed and how annoyed I felt a few years ago when watching that and not understanding that in the past.
I must say though I do prefer subbed more though because there are some pretty underrated animes that I am discovering that should be given more recognition too. I especially enjoyed NANA, Gintama, Persona 4: The Animation even though they are pretty know in the anime world.
All in all, I believe both dubbed and subbed is good. Dub is made in your language for people who are not interest in sub and cannot speak Japanese. Not everyone is interested in learning how to speak Japanese. With Sub, it is the original thing, you can discover a lot of animes, and depending on your learning abilities I believe your listening skills will be better when watching anime. To be honest, some people are better readers than others who are better listeners so it depends on people’s choices. What do you guys think?
I prefer subbed over dubbed in general. I’m a quick reader and it’s no problem for me to read along. I also like to hear the “original voices” of the characters. Dubbed anime is alright, but sometimes the dubbed voices are even whinier than the original.
I personally like subbed versions better. I’d just rather hear the original rather than a voice over. Plus, it always bothered me when the mouth doesn’t match up to what the English voice actors say LOL.
Though, there are a few really good dubbed series. I couldn’t name any, though LOL. Not much of an otaku anymore.
The problem with dubs is that they don’t really match the mouth well or get lost in translation. That’s what I felt after I’ve seen Tokusatsu in the original language over to watching it dubbed.
I don’t know. I never really thought about it in terms of which is better than the other. I recognize the need for both, according to taste. As I’ve outlined in my own post on the subject https://discoveranime.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/subbed-or-dubbed/ , for mass-market penetration, you need dubs. The general public, the one who is not motivated enough or tech saavy enough to get it’s anime off the Web, will watch publicly available anime, which means dubs on TV. Subs are almost always treated as foreign film, so are unsuited to prime time. Couple that to the fact that cartoons are usually aimed at children, no network executive would sign off on prime time subbed cartoons for age groups who can barely read.
I personally dislike most dubs, not just anime dubs. In the specific case of anime, I dislike the way the emotion is “off”. But then, I can make that determination as I understand Japanese perfectly. Some languages, for various reasons, make better dubs than others for anime. French is my mother tongue and, as a rule, French anime dubs are 12 leagues ahead of English anime dubs. Good examples of this are Spirited Away and Porco Rosso. Terrible, terrible English dubs.
All in all, I think you pick what you prefer whether sub or dub, but, again, as I said in my own post, that will limit what you end up watching. It doesn’t really make one better than the other, though.
Well in the instance of dubbed anime over subbed anime it depends on the person and wither or not is fan dubbed or not. I prefer to read subs from the original versions, but I do think animes like Black Butler are better dubbed.
I personally like dubbed against subbed because its my language and its a lot easier to understand.
About Naruto being voiced by a woman in the dub…he’s voiced by a woman originally, so, that shouldn’t bother people too much.
For me, it depends heavily on the quality of the dub. Actually, in certain cases, the dub is better than the original. Japanese people do have the capability to be BAD at voice-acting, after all, and people seem to forget this, in my opinion.
Of course, if I’m watching for the cast, chances are that I’ll choose the sub, though, unfortunately, Crisis Core doesn’t allow language changes. I want GACKT. Not this other guy xD
But, really, it’s not a case of it being black-and-white-, dub-or-sub. It all depends and I strongly believe that ;P
my vote goes for subbed. I dont have a problem reading and it helps with learning ot at least getting used to hearing Japanese
Sub is TOTALLY better than dub. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs their head testing. This is especially true of non animes. There’s nothing worse than watching a program where the lip synch is out. Besides voice acting is really important. By using dub you’re basically replacing the actor. I don’t think the original actor would be very happy about that, and the people they usually use for dub replacements aren’t the same quality of actor either. But even in anime, especially Japanese anime, it really annoys me when I hear them talking in whiny American accents. The person who does the voice of Naruto is a prime example. It has to be one of the most annoying voices of all time.
Subbed, for sure! Otherwise, how will I ever learn all that delicious Japanese? I only wish there were more movies subbed in both languages, so I could watch them once with English subs to get the gist of things, and then again in Japanese, to fully understand the words.
By the way, thanks for your comments on my crazy site, http://www.japaneseruleof7.com/ . I’m glad you like it!
I like subs a lot better than dubs, though I must admit I’m a newbie to anime and have had only some exposure to it (just to let you know). However, it does seem to me that the original voices in Japanese are mostly better than the English dubs. For example, in Revolutionary Girl Utena, I always got the sense that the English voice actors sounded too old for the characters. I’m not sure if that makes any sense, though. :-/
In general, I feel that the original voices are probably a lot truer for the characters.
Like a lot of people are saying here; I prefer subbed over dubbed. A lot can be lost in translation when it comes to dubbed. The original Japanese plus subs is like a cultural window and you start to pick up subtle titbits about Japanese customs that translators don’t bother with when making an English dub. That being said the English dub of Mai Hime and Dragonball Z was infinitely better than the original Japanese. I get really frustrated listening to the female voice actor for Goku (DBZ) shrieking like a banshee for a grown, male character. In the case of Mai Hime, the Japanese actors were too high-pitched and whiney by comparison.
SUBBED FOR SURE.
If you don’t believe me, check out Golgo13, dubbed.
No, seriously, go ahead.
Some of the most painful stuff you’ve ever heard.
Subbed is just better…very rarely have I heard good dubbed. Usually the only good dubs I hear involve anime movies (Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D) but never have I heard a good dub in an anime series.
Ok, well maybe Kenshin dubbed is good.
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I do have a general issue with tampering with the original product in any way. Dubbing is an obvious (and mild) example of this but can be useful in opening up a text to a greater audience. Personally I’ll favour a sub over a dub because it is closer to the original product but you are still a step removed. I mean if we wanted to be absolute purists you would have to learn whatever language it was being translated from and view it with no subs in its original language. For most of us, that is not practical.
I don’t agree with the sub-over-dub-snobbery though. It’s elitist and stupid: a hangover from the days of old. Dubs can be fun and *gasp* can even be good. I think a lot of this one-or-the-other mentality came from the early days of anime entering the West when you had crimes like Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind being dubbed and edited (the two often going hand-in-hand) into the mutilation, Warriors of the Wind. Some of the original dubs were pretty woeful—check out the original Akira dub. Although I think English dubs have been improved a thousandfold since “the early days”. Akira and Nausicaa are both cases in point. They have both been re-dubbed and are now decent. And I think Disney has done a great job with the Ghibli films. Once again, my preference is the sub but the decent quality of some of the current dubs have allowed me to enjoy some of my favourite anime with friends that would otherwise not have watched them. And what’s wrong with that?
Is this considered creepy? I’m just going through your blog now, leaving my trail of dust bunnies.,,
Well, from me, subs are generally infinitely better. Yes, yes, another one for subs, but as an Asian fangirl who is surrounded by like animals, I’d like to think I’m well versed in anime and can make a proper judgement on this.
Moreover, I usually watch the series I really like in both languages, just because I’m obsessive like that.
Generally, dubs sound more forced, and usually give me this awkward feeling of “off” that I can’t really shake. (DGM, I don’t know, it’s done pretty well, but for some reason I just can’t like it.) There’s this roughness to most of the english voice actors that just don’t lend themselves well to anime.
And the pronunciations of names and terms, dear god. I’ll just roll over and die in my corner now.
I’m sure everyone knows of enough reasons to prefer subs, but there’s a few dubs that stand out as being quite excellent indeed.
Just, Yu Yu Hakusho. The dubbers were fitting, and their voices lent themselves to the characters pretty well. Yusuke sounds like a rebellious teenager, Kuwabara sounds a tad dull in the head, and Hiei sounded suitably snide. And Koenma, yes, him.
Just an issue with Kurama’s voice, just not as smooth as the character design implies. :I
However, this anime was wonderfully dubbed because they did not try to directly translate, nor was the meaning changed much at all. They made use of colloquialisms and slang in English that has the same vibe as what is used in Japanese. In fact, character wise, I like the English version of them than the Japanese because of how witty they were. For goodness sake:
Urarashima: “What is it? What is this terrifying yoki? I’m sure I sent him back to before he was a baby…”
Yoko Kurama: “I thought…the day would come when I returned to this form. This Yoko form.”
Urarashima: “Y-Yoko?! T-Then you’re… The legendary yokai, Yoko Kurama?!”
Compared to:
Urarashima: “Where in the world did this power surge come from? I could have swore he regressed all the way back!”
Yoko Kurama: “I think perhaps I regressed further than you intended; and just as I have come to accept my human captivity…Yoko has returned they cry.”
Urarashima: “YAHHH- did you say Yoko-? Yoko the spirit fox Yoko the legendary bandit Yoko?! What did you do with Kurama I liked him a lot better!”
For one, the Japanese never had “Yoko has returned they cry.”
Honestly.
I liked Geass, Inuyasha, and Kuroshitsuji in English, just to name a few ;D
(Maya, stop, no, this is long, stop.)