Dubs and Subs, which do you prefer?

[SubrosianDimitri]

Okay, I know this kind of thread can get really volatile, and if it does, I'm taking it down immediately.

The idea is simple, which do you prefer, and why?

I personally prefer to watch Dubs, especially ones by ADV (Rest in Peace), and usually only watch the sub if:

1) No dub exists (Dog Days, To Love Ru, Monster Musume, Seitokai Yakuindomo)
2) The dub is really bad (Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan, Higurashi: When they Cry, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Most 4kids dubs)

Exception:
Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z - Haven't gotten to far into this one yet, but from what I've gathered, the dub has a few plot holes induced by dialogue changes. Certainly makes it hard for them to keep their superhero identities secret if they're the same as their regular names (they have actual names in the Japanese audio, the Powerpuff names are their superhero names). Only real problem with the sub is that I can't freaking find it, at least not with properly synced audio. The dub is perfectly fine though, so it isn't too much of a detriment.

 

[TwistedSheep]

It depends on the show I mostly have no preference but some dubs are done either really nicely or really badly, so my answer changes on a show by show basis

 

[Shadow of Death]

99% of the time, the subbed version.

The only exception I can think of is DBZ (and I guess GT, and maybe Dragon Ball itself). The Canadian dub of DBZ had some pretty good voice work, whereas the JP voices are pretty bad, especially Goku's. He sounds like a squeaky teenager or something. I think it's because they kept the JP voice actor that did the voice as a kid? Oh, and for a good part of the show, around the Cell saga, Gohan actually had a pretty cool gravely sort of voice. I think it changed though? I recall something changing about it anyway.

 

[DeathTheGordon]

I used to be sub only but then I watched Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt and the sub version isn't that funny, I don't know the science behind it but reading the jokes I personally missed alot of them but when I did manage to read them I didn't have time to laugh before the next joke or bit of dialogue came along. Now I'm kind of 50/50 because alot of shows are easier to watch when the characters are speaking a language I speak so I can enjoy it more, but then again not all shows like Black Rock Shooter get an English dub and even if they do get a dub it's not always a good dub like Rozen Maiden has a terrible dub. But then again there's things like Rosario Vampire which is visually unbearable so the subtitles give you something less awkward to look at.

 

[Rich Jammer]

If you ask me what you should watch I would say subs. But I personally prefer dubs. Mostly cause,

• I don't like reading subtitles. Even in games, I make sure subtitles are off.
• I like certain shows that have alot of puns in them. This really depends on the dubbing team. Like Squidgirl has some decent fish puns. And there was that one scene in Panty and Stocking that was rife with dirty puns.
• I can identify easier with good English dubbing better than Japanese dub. I remember watching a sub with two of my bros and they were laughing cause the characters were Americans and they had bad Japanese accents. I didn't catch this cause I don't listen/watch anime enough to get the subtle character in Japanese voices. But in English it's easier to identify a character's personality. Example: Space Dandy in Space Dandy sounds like an Elvis Presly or a Bruce Campbell type.
• I got into anime cause one day I was bored at work. So I booted up some anime and watched them in the corner of my work screen as I did data entry. I watched a bunch of anime this way which wouldn't work with subs.
• Also, some English dubs have good voice actors in them like: Hynden Walch as Nia in Gurren Lagann, Steve Blum in a bunch of stuff, Yuri Lowenthal in a bunch of stuff.
• Also, sometimes it's funnier in English.

Also watch the English dub of Ghost Stories, it's way better than the original version.

Also, watch this Japanese dub of The Amazing World of Gumball! Skip to 8:58 if the video starts from the beginning.

 

[Rocketknightgeek]

As a rule, it tends to depend on the density of information being subtitled as Japanese has very different lengths for common statements compared to english and that combined with having to voice act to existing syllables in the animation instead of dialogue being animated can lead to dialogue that's somehow both pointlessly augmented and rushed.

Weirdly, this means that shows that save a great deal of their animation budget for brief bursts of high quality action via heavy padding tend to have much better dubs because there's just more room to move details and flaps around. This is why DBZ, FLCL and Evangelion are shows I honestly prefer to watch dubbed whereas anything more modest like a slice of life comedy will be superior in Japanese.

 

[SubrosianDimitri]

Also watch the English dub of Ghost Stories, it's way better than the original version.

You mean this?

 

[Oreo]

For subs, I used to order a 12 inch Buffalo Chicken, but they don't carry Buffalo Chicken anymore and I'm trying to lose weight. So usually I go with a six inch Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki on Italian Herbs & Cheese.

As for dubs, in '87, Huey Lewis released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself.

Spoiler

I don't watch a lot of anime, but when I do, I usually rather have subtitles because I feel like the performances feel more natural when they are delivered in the language the script was originally written in.

 

[Rich Jammer]

I don't watch a lot of anime, but when I do, I usually rather have subtitles because I feel like the performances feel more natural when they are delivered in the language the script was originally written in.

Yeah, honestly the dubs are very unnatural mostly due to having the actors sync their dialogue to the lip movements. Just look at Speed Racer dub for an extreme example. Like I got used to them for a time then after like months of not watching anime I went back to watch my favorite one and I was like "what the fudge is this stuff?"

You mean this?

Yeah that one. I was gonna post a vid but most of the ones I found were inappropriate for the site.

 

[Poppun]

For me it's more of a case by case matter, there are some where the dub is really jarring for me and I prefer the subtitled version and there are some cases where I like both equally; including one series where the series was handled as a semi-gag dub (they didn't toss out the original script entirely, but there were some things that were handled differently because of how much of the humour relied on puns) and with that there were some episode where it didn't work and some where I enjoyed the dub more than the original

Though one thing that dubbed releases have in their favour is that you expect the dialogue to be different. To explain I've been studying Japanese since I was a child and after passing a certain point inaccurate subtitles started to bother me much more since I knew what was being said and noticed when the subtitles got it wrong, whereas with the dubbed versions some of the dialogue has to be altered to match the timing or make a joke work so the bar is set lower. (Plus I've had a few negative experiences with people being self-taught from subtitled videos and the stubborn pride that comes with it)

Spoiler

Yeah, honestly the dubs are very unnatural mostly due to having the actors sync their dialogue to the lip movements. Just look at Speed Racer dub for an extreme example. Like I got used to them for a time then after like months of not watching anime I went back to watch my favorite one and I was like "what the fudge is this stuff?"


Yeah that one. I was gonna post a vid but most of the ones I found were inappropriate for the site

.

I think part of the reason for that, as well as why Japanese dubs don't feel as....strained I suppose, is because in North America voiceover work is usually done before the animation starts and the animators work based on the performance, which allows the actors more freedom (or at least the option to add-lib), thus dubbing feels really unnatural. However, in Japan the animation is done first based on the scratch voices and then the actors record and base their performance on what they see, thus dubbing is no different than any other job. Of course neither is inherently better or worse; for some it's more comfortable to be able to play around more and for some it's more comfortable to have a structure to build from

 

[Rich Jammer]

.... there are some where the dub is really jarring for me...

Yeah, I know the feeling. Just recently watched the English dub of JoJo's Bizaare Adventure Battle Tendency and Joseph Joestar is voiced by Ben Diskin the voice of Numbuh 1 from Kids Next Door. He delivers his lines exactly like Numbah 1 so it's totally distracting.

I think part of the reason for that, as well as why Japanese dubs don't feel as....strained I suppose, is because in North America voiceover work is usually done before the animation starts and the animators work based on the performance, which allows the actors more freedom (or at least the option to add-lib), thus dubbing feels really unnatural. However, in Japan the animation is done first based on the scratch voices and then the actors record and base their performance on what they see, thus dubbing is no different than any other job. Of course neither is inherently better or worse; for some it's more comfortable to be able to play around more and for some it's more comfortable to have a structure to build from

I've heard that Japanese anime is all over the place when it comes to voice acting. Some anime like Akira and Studio Ghibli do voice acting first before animation. Some do animatics first, do voice recording then finish up animation. Some will do rough animation, record voices, then do final touches on animation. Then others will just do the whole animation and repeat frames for the voice actors then the actors just voice over that which was common in old anime in the 70's and before.