Do you prefer anime dubbed or subbed?

Subbed, for the following reasons:

1) 70% of anime i've seen in dub has had a horrid Dub
the exceptions to this was Spirited Away.

2) The american voices are usually jarring and do not suit the character. Also the voices usually sound too old for the given character, and sound fake.

3) Apart form Full Moon Wo Sagashite, i usually enjoy the japanese actors voices, and find they are well suited to the characters. I was originally skeptical of Yuzu's voice (in Aishiteruze Baby) but it grew on me.

4) I gotten to like the sound of japanese. I watched Oseam not to long ago, and the chinese was a bit annoying.

5) I can't stand american accents coupled with stupid voices.

It's all pretty much relative to what you're used to, I think. I'd watched anime on tv for so long before I was ever able to hear anything in original japanese or buy dvds, that I was used to dubbing. And in my opinion, the american voices fit better lots of the time. Female japanese voices often times sound way too high pitched and whiney for my tastes. Prime example? Lina Inverse from Slayers. But again, it's relative to what you're used to.

Or maybe I'm just too americanized ^.^

Raven said:

I like dubbed when it窶冱 extremely good or when the anime is really fast paced. Has anyone seen Kodomo no Omocha? If you tried to keep up with Sana and the way she talks and her dynamics you窶决e head would spin right off.

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I have, and undubbed unsubbed Sana is a definite 'challenge'.
I can follow it, sometimes maybe even mostly, but I'd _hate_ to have to transcribe / translate it.

Japanimaniac said:

It's all pretty much relative to what you're used to, I think. I'd watched anime on tv for so long before I was ever able to hear anything in original japanese or buy dvds, that I was used to dubbing. And in my opinion, the american voices fit better lots of the time. Female japanese voices often times sound way too high pitched and whiney for my tastes. Prime example? Lina Inverse from Slayers. But again, it's relative to what you're used to.

Or maybe I'm just too americanized ^.^

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Well i watched all the free to air anime, pokemon, digimon, astroboy, sailor moon and other junk, and i didn't mind those dubs because i'm used to them. However since i've gotten into more anime, i 've found i definatly have a preference for sub.

I find that american dub (female in particular) voices usually sound far too old for the chracters they're meant to portray. Also all the voices seem to sound the same, from one anime to the next....

Add to this the inaccuracies of the dub translation and you have something i'm not interested in.

"This soup tastes like donkey's piss!" Monoke-himi

I don't mind either. Speaking just for myself, it's cool to have the choice of dubbed when it comes to watching anime on DVD's as, most of the time, I'm too lazy to follow subbed text on the screen!

i like my anime subbed, no dubbbing for me, seems to ruin the integrity of the characters when they are dubbed, take akira for instance, worst dub job ever on a theatrical anime, a shame, because the japanese lang version of the film had a much more serious and realistic tone to it, the english just ruined that. not to mention they covered up curse words with the silliest analogies possible.

All foreign films and (including Japanese anime) should be subbed!! I don't like watching dubbed films...
I once saw a dubbed film in Japan: it was Beverly Hills Cop starring Eddie Murphy, and I must say that it was an awful experience watching Murphy speaking Japanese....

hoho.. I hate dubbed animes since the voice actors often suck and it looses the japanese feeling and chibi dosn't work with english

I ONLY watch subbed animes.

I definetly prefer the subbed versions. I once watched a German dubbed scene of Hellsing. I couldn't watch it for more than 5 minutes. (They even changed the Themesong...brrr )

subtitled buddy!!! but some dubbed is okay ^.^ sometimes there voices are hilarious

I like Subbed better. When the move it over to Dubbed it wrecks the whole anime. I have only seen a few anime with good Dub versions. Other's I can't stand. So I'm going with Subbed. It's more original and it has more characteristic.

I can't bear to watch anything dubbed; it's just pure evilness.

Lol. I agree! I think maybe both sides have their up's and down's to it. Like Soul Hunter the Dubbed version is sooo EVIL! I can't even watch Angel Sanctuary without wanting to hit something hard because I can't stand it. I always watch it in Sub version.

My, my! Such unbridled vitriol against dubbing! Just for fun, I guess I'll come to it's defense!

I've got no beef against dubbing, in fact, I prefer it, like I said earlier, I'm often too lazy to read subtitles! HA! I understand that people have preconceived notions, or are convinced beyond any shadow of doubt that all dubbing is bad, I think that's just taking things a wee bit too far. Personally, subbing has it's drawbacks, at least for me anyway as I sometimes can't tell one voice apart, especially female voice actresses! I'd never know what's going on without the subtitles!

Is stuff lost in translation when it comes to dubbing? You bet! I won't deny that for an instant! But that doesn't take away or decrease my overall enjoyment of the anime I watch. I'm willing to take dubbing with an open mind, even enjoy it, so I'm not the least bit offended by the medium as most here are. Maybe I'm just too easygoing or not enough of an otaku to rail against the evils of dubbing, perhaps that's because I don't see any evils in it. But that's just my opinion, for what it's worth.

Amen, flashjeff. ::bows down::

Subbed for Skippy! (though if I only have access to just dubbed, I will deal...)

I prefer subbed. I cant stand American voice actors. Although Cowboy Bebop has good dub.
In all honesty Im scared for Naruto to come to America because I know they will pick horrible voice actors. When I first saw the anime, everyones voice was exactly how I imagined it from reading the manga. Im also scared theyre going to make it a "Saturday morning cartoon". Meaning they will edit the hell out of it. Even if it goes to Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, I still think they will take from its original context.
My boyfriend wants them to release it here, since we bought DVDs that had horrible subbing. Despite the bad sub, I still pick up on some Japanese. But honestly Id rather watch the horrible subbing, than listen to horrible voice actors.

willuknight said:

Subbed, for the following reasons:

1) 70% of anime i've seen in dub has had a horrid Dub
the exceptions to this was Spirited Away.

2) The american voices are usually jarring and do not suit the character. Also the voices usually sound too old for the given character, and sound fake.

3) Apart form Full Moon Wo Sagashite, i usually enjoy the japanese actors voices, and find they are well suited to the characters. I was originally skeptical of Yuzu's voice (in Aishiteruze Baby) but it grew on me.

4) I gotten to like the sound of japanese. I watched Oseam not to long ago, and the chinese was a bit annoying.

5) I can't stand american accents coupled with stupid voices.

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I prefer subbed as well, for pretty much the same reasons you already listed.
Not only that the US voices are too old and don't fit the character, they don't have talent most of the time either, so you get the idea they picked up some random people from the street

@Japanimaniac:
Dragon Slave!
You better don't say anything against Hayashibara-sama!

With what little I've seen of Slayers (I've only seen one ep, but in both languages) Hayashibara-sama destroys what's-her-name in the English. However, I don't really like slayers so I wouldn't know any further for that series.

9 times of 10, I watch dubbed anime, because my boyfriend isn't learning Japanese so it's only fair to him to watch it in English. There are good dubs, and there are really, really bad ones:

El Hazard: I believe the creators have said the English dubbed version is the "definitive" Magnificent World OVA. I've got it and watched both languages, and prefer the English by a long shot.

Tenchi Muyo! OVA and Tenchi Muyo! In Love: Okay, maybe I should just say, "anything by Pioneer is good" because for my list it looks that way, although more accurately it would be "everything by Pioneer that I've seen is good." I absolutely love Tenchi. However, the original OVAs and the first movie are all I've seen of it, and it's equally as good in Japanese. (Achika's big line in the film puts me in tears no matter what language I hear it in.)
***So I don't have page upon page of Pioneer titles, Trigun I've never had a chance to listen to in Japanese yet, but the English is entertaining; Bebop I've only seen one ep of in Japanese and while I don't know about the rest of it, I like the voices.

Maison Ikkoku: Only seen 1-36 in English, and while most of the cast is okay, I hate Kyoko's voice. I've got the entire series on my comp subbed, and I really, really like it so far (especially Akemi's voice in the sub).

Ranma series vs. Ranma movies: Only seen pieces here and there of the series (VHS so English only), and then both movies (first on VHS and second in each language on dvd). Ranma-chan is probably the only role I don't really like Hayashibara-sama in. Other than that, I adore both language tracks for the Nihao My Concubine. In the series, there are okay eps and there are bad ones that I've seen, both for the dubbing and the plot in general. Give me the manga anyday over the anime. (Actually, same goes for Maison Ikkoku: I love the anime, but I cried my way through the third graphic novel.)

Escaflowne: Dubbed sucks. Final word. I like Allen's dub voice, just cause it's Zechs from Gundam Wing, but the rest can rot in hell.

MARTIAN SUCCESSOR NADESICO: Seen half in subbed, all dubbed. Really, really want to see the rest in Japanese, but it's my boyfriend and my (grammar?) favorite anime, so he REALLY insists on seeing it in English, even though he can probably recite the script for the entire series. I do prefer the dub over the part of the sub that I have seen, just because I love Jennifer Earheart's version of Yurika.

Evangelion: Subbed is much better, in spite of Tiffany Grant being one of my more liked VAs.

Devil Hunter Yohko: Only seen subbed, and wouldn't have it any other way.

Also all the voices seem to sound the same, from one anime to the next....

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That's because all the VAs have contracts with each studio.

I like Subbed better, but if they did a sloppy job...its just...bad. But some Dubs are good too if they do a amazing job or match up's to the mouth's and the voices are very similar to the original Japanese!!

Something else that should be mentioned regarding this thread, and I'm sure this will probably anger some folks: who the hell are we to criticize dubbing? None of us are experts, none of us know about the long hours and hard work I'm sure must go into preparing a dub for anime. I for one appreciate all the actors and actresses who do what they do when it comes to dubbing.

Sure, the early stuff was bad, horrible even, I won't deny that, but that was then, and this is now. Speaking as just somebody who likes anime, I've compared stuff from the past and stuff from today, and things are markedly better, thanks to better technology. But the innate prejudice (and that's the only word that best describes what I've read here) people have towards dubbing is quite perplexing.

Again, I'll admit my viewpoint comes as someone who isn't fanatical about the imagined "evils" of dubbing. I just enjoy anime, both ways and don't get caught up over whether one is bad and the other good. Life's too short for that sort of nonsense.

BrennaCeDria said:

Okay, maybe I should just say, "anything by Pioneer is good"

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BINGO! And Manga usually does a decent job, too. The only dubbing that I usually can't stand are the "saturday morning cartoons". Digimon, Dual Masters, Yu-Gi-Oh!, etc.

Lina Inverse said:

You better don't say anything against Hayashibara-sama!

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I don't really need to. BrennaCeDria said it all.

babar-san said:

i like my anime subbed, no dubbbing for me, seems to ruin the integrity of the characters when they are dubbed, take akira for instance, worst dub job ever on a theatrical anime, a shame, because the japanese lang version of the film had a much more serious and realistic tone to it, the english just ruined that. not to mention they covered up curse words with the silliest analogies possible.

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i too prefer to see anime subbed, helps learning process and sounds more authentic

i have only seen akira in its dubbed format, i will have to borrow the dvd off my friend again to watch it subbed, thatnx for the tip

yorkii said:

i too prefer to see anime subbed, helps learning process and sounds more authentic

i have only seen akira in its dubbed format, i will have to borrow the dvd off my friend again to watch it subbed, thatnx for the tip

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no prob yorkii, you will be pleasantly supprised!
although im interested to see how they dub the new appleseed movie, if they screw it up im gonna write some hate mail >_<

Local TV stations in my country like to dub animes in our language. I don't like it though because there are times they change the names of the characters like what happened in Ghostfighter.

Subbed will always be my favorite even though the translation might be poor. The original voices of the anime appeal so much to my sense. If its dubbed I'd feel like something was stolen from me. I dunno why...