Anime where it sounds better Translated

[Johnny Novgorod]

I hate dubs. No, it's not a weaboo thing. My first language isn't English or Japanese, and not a lot of anime gets translated to Spanish. Thus most of the dubs I come across are in English, which beats the purpose of a translation. Yes, I understand spoken English whereas I don't get Japanese, but the idea of exchanging one foreign language with another is just silly to me.

Pretty much this, though I'm Dutch, not Spanish.

I have heard a bit of the Cowboy Bebop English dub, it sounded okay but I ended up switching to the Japanese version regardless.

Some anime does get dubbed to Dutch, but that's mostly kid-stuff like Pokemon (they don't dub stuff for adults over here, everyone is fine with subtitles) and even that's done with terrible voice actors.

There's also part of me that wants to experience the "original" without changes, and I actually like picking up some Japanese.

Exactly, most of the stuff that gets dubbed to Spanish is kiddy stuff (AKA shonen). DBZ, Pokemon, Yugi-Oh, Naruto, etc.
I've heard the US dub for Cowboy Bebop and didn't like it at all... going from Norio Wakamoto to Some Guy is a sucker punch. Also in the original Spike sounds cool and relaxed; in the dub it sounds like a bad Solid Snake impression. And Snake already sounds ridiculous.

 

[Enizer]

to further explain my viepoint, I dont think the original is automatically better
I usually check both the english and japaneze, and then go for the version that better displays the emotions of the character, and over 2/3rd of the time, the japaneze just feels better done, I can often really understand the emotions of the characters in the japaneze version, even though I dont quite understand the language.

The english version, far too often, feels rushed, and like the actors didnt quite put their heart into the work, occationally it's just people reading the lines of paper, but it's usually acceptable, but still, lower quality then the original, less feeling.


Then again, I'm icelandic, nothing is ever in my native language, and when it's attempted, it's really annoying, because we have so few good voice actors, that I can easily recognize their voices,
So even with actors I like, the character gets the feeling of "that actor again" rather then the person in the story

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

I'm gonna say Baccano, too. It makes a lot more sense to be in English, considering it takes place in America during the 1930s. The English dub of Steins;Gate was also really good; the script was well-written, and J. Michael Tatum did an amazing job as Okabe. Similarly, FMA's dub was outstanding.

 

[Asita]

Helsing OVA

To be honest, that one's kinda hit and miss for me. Crispin Freeman (Alucard) and Victoria Hartwood (Integra) really sell their roles, but I can't help but feel that Steven Brand (Anderson) doesn't bring the same raw passion to the role that Norio Wakamoto did.

Spoiler: I think this is perhaps best demonstrated in Anderson and Alucard's first fight

Note in particular Wakamoto's greater propensity for what I can only describe as gleeful screaming as compared to Brand's exertive yells and their respective "Amens". On the whole, Wakamoto's take on the character sold Anderson as a zealous warrior who reveled in battle at least as much as Alucard did, which I feel is integral to the character. Brand's comes off - to me - as a more calm and collected warrior, which feels detrimental to the role.

My opinion of the respective Majors varies almost by scene (I think, for instance that Gildart Jackson did the war speech better but Nobuo Tobita did far better with the anticipation of Alucard's Level 0 release), and I'm definitely giving the better Zorin Blitz performance to Yoko Soumi over Rachel Robinson. And so on and so forth.

Really at the end of the day I think the Hellsing OVAs are some of the few instances I can honestly say that both the sub and [English] dub have instances where they surpass the other and times when they fall short.

 

[katana-409]

Gundam Wing sounded great in english.

Everything else usually sounds decently good in spanish, but I usually hate dubs, so I can't say if this remains true or not.

 

[00slash00]

It's been quite some time since I really watched anime but the only dubs I can remember liking are Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Eden of the East. Full Metal Alchemist was pretty good too though

 

[Risingblade]

Comedy anime is usually better dubbed. The Gundam series had some pretty good dubwork

 

[dyre]

Helsing OVA

To be honest, that one's kinda hit and miss for me. Crispin Freeman (Alucard) and Victoria Hartwood (Integra) really sell their roles, but I can't help but feel that Steven Brand (Anderson) doesn't bring the same raw passion to the role that Norio Wakamoto did.

Spoiler: I think this is perhaps best demonstrated in Anderson and Alucard's first fight

Note in particular Wakamoto's greater propensity for what I can only describe as gleeful screaming as compared to Brand's exertive yells and their respective "Amens". On the whole, Wakamoto's take on the character sold Anderson as a zealous warrior who reveled in battle at least as much as Alucard did, which I feel is integral to the character. Brand's comes off - to me - as a more calm and collected warrior, which feels detrimental to the role.

My opinion of the respective Majors varies almost by scene (I think, for instance that Gildart Jackson did the war speech better but Nobuo Tobita did far better with the anticipation of Alucard's Level 0 release), and I'm definitely giving the better Zorin Blitz performance to Yoko Soumi over Rachel Robinson. And so on and so forth.

Really at the end of the day I think the Hellsing OVAs are some of the few instances I can honestly say that both the sub and [English] dub have instances where they surpass the other and times when they fall short.

I'll be totally honest here...I hated Helsing OVA. I thought it had an unimaginably stupid story, an utterly dislikable main character (Alucard), a terribly boring antagonist, and some seriously shitty dialogue. I only put it on the list you quoted because I know it's a generally well-received anime so in the interest of public knowledge I listed it up there.

The only people I liked were Seras and Pip/the Wild Geese (and actually I really liked those characters) and I liked their dubs more, so I ended up giving my preference to the dubs. Also, having different accents for different nationalities was a good touch that was absent in the Japanese version.

 

[Weaver]

I watch pretty much all anime when it's released in Japan, and thus only see it subbed.
I prefer subs.

Even shows everyone says was dubbed really well don't really sound that great to me.
I mean I guess if you really like Steve Blum and Vic Mignogna who I'm convinced do 90% of the voice work for imported anime, then you'd like dubs.

 

[viscomica]

One of my favorite animes of all time is Kuroshitsuji (don't judge me!) and it isn't dubbed to my knowledge so I just watch in japanese with subtitles. It doesn't bother me. Also, I've watched the spanish dubbed version of Death Note and surprisingly enough I like it better than the English version and like it as much as the original japanese version. I guess they kind of aced that one.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

One of my favorite animes of all time is Kuroshitsuji (don't judge me!) and it isn't dubbed to my knowledge so I just watch in japanese with subtitles. It doesn't bother me. Also, I've watched the spanish dubbed version of Death Note and surprisingly enough I like it better than the English version and like it as much as the original japanese version. I guess they kind of aced that one.

The Simpsons for that matter sounds way better in (Mexican) Spanish.

 

[Sonicron]

Give me English-dubbed anime any day. I'm not into subs, as I enjoy looking at the art instead of keeping my eyes glued to the bottom edge of the screen and sadly don't get along well with Japanese phonetics.
Also, if done right the English language in both text and delivery can add welcome layers of gravitas to a lot of situations.

A good example of what I'm talking about is Dragonball Z, specifically the Funimation dub. Bruce Faulconer's music is the bomb, and Chris Sabat's Vegeta still gives me chills every time I watch one of his awesome speeches.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

But if say maybe 10% of anime sounds better dubed, what is it?
Say what language you get you anime dubbed into and why you think it sounds better.
For Me: American English
Gundam Wing: This is more for nastalgia, and I think the sub is good, but I grew up on the dub so the dub sticks. This is the most subjective.

I've never heard the sub of Gundam Wing, but the dub was pretty okay, so I could see that.

OT: Also American English.

Slayers, Slayers Next, Slayers Try, Slayers Revolution, and Slayers Evolution R.

Lisa Ortiz is the best American voice actress in all anime (IMO) and this is the series where she had the staring role. Not only is it well acted, but the jokes are funnier in English than in Japanese.

....

I also quite liked Ranma 1/2 dubbed.

Edit: Oh! And Evangelion. Both the original and the reboot.

 

[teh_Canape]

in my own experience, the 3 animes that did/do dub best are Cowboy Bebop, Space Dandy and Golden Boy
seriously, to me, the only way to watch Golden Boy is to watch it dubbed

 

[Ikasury]

GITS has already been said, as has Black Lagoon. Fullmetal Alchemist has a fantastic dub and so does FMP. Desert Punk has probably the best dub I've ever heard. Shit is amazing.

"I'm gonna get you for this, Tits McGee!"

oh dear i totally forgot about Desert Punk... yes!! YES!!!

 

[Casual Shinji]

Some anime does get dubbed to Dutch, but that's mostly kid-stuff like Pokemon (they don't dub stuff for adults over here, everyone is fine with subtitles) and even that's done with terrible voice actors.

We used to have terrific voice actors here. Cartoons like The Smurfs and Dommel had the most delightful Dutch voices.

I've heard the US dub for Cowboy Bebop and didn't like it at all... going from Norio Wakamoto to Some Guy is a sucker punch. Also in the original Spike sounds cool and relaxed; in the dub it sounds like a bad Solid Snake impression. And Snake already sounds ridiculous.

Yeah, I really had that too. Original Spike sounds super mellow, which makes him cool. Dubbed Spike is trying his best to sound cool, which comes across a bit obnoxious.

 

[Wasted]

I enjoy the English versions of Fullmetal Alchemist greatly over the original Japanese.

For Attack on Titan the English dub I recently saw a trailer for sounded great. Looks like I will just rematch the series in English once it is available.

 

[Hochmeister]

Typically I prefer subs since I can tell when the English voice acting is bad, but can't tell if the Japanese voice acting is off. Being able to read very fast helps too. However, I've got nothing against dubs and will listen to them if the voice acting's good enough. There are a few shows which are absolutely better in English:
Dragonball: Mainly because Goku's Japanese voice actor is just plain wrong
Hellsing: Alucard's English voice actor did a terrific job, and the national accents (especially the major's) added a lot of flavor.
Baccano!: Good voice acting and the regional American accents enhanced the show.
Panty & Stocking: Swearing is much more entertaining in one's native tongue.

Also, anything redubbed by teamfourstar or littlekuriboh has better voice acting than the japanese or official English dubs. Someone should seriously hire them as a dubbing team.

 

[Queen Michael]

Like all Swedes, I know that Sailor Moon must be watched with the Swedish dub or it's just not the same.

 

[TakerFoxx]

I don't know if watching Ghost Stories (Gakkô no Kaidan) dubbed makes it better per se, but it certainly makes it more entertaining.

Good Lord, that was like an abridged series without actually cutting the episode down. And this was the official dub? I know what I'm watching next.