Anime where it sounds better Translated

[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.

 

[scorptatious]

If given the option I usually watched dubbed.

I particularly liked Fullmetal Alchemist's dub.

At first, I watched Panty and Stocking's anime subbed, then after watching all the episodes, I watched some of it dubbed. I was kinda surprised at how much more often the characters cursed. Panty in particular seems to love the use the word fuck every other sentence. I didn't mind of course.

 

[Ishal]

I can't force myself to watch subbed anime. I've held off on watching Attack on Titan until the english release is out. Even a bad dub is better than subbed for me. I don't get how the idea that translations will automatically suck has gone on this long.

Its the classic conflict in most imported film/TV fandomes, be it Anime, French film nor, or Hong Kong kung fu classics.

The two sides tend to not getalong in the same manner as Jack Thompson and Gamers; PETA and people who eat meat; Raiders adn 49's; France and England; Yanks VS Confederates; Coke and Pepsi; Halo and Kill Zone; ok you get the idea.

Does it make any sense? No, not really, but these are geeks and we all know how we act.

On the Sub side: Dubbers tend to at best loose the original feelings, meanings, or message and at worse be absalute crap.

Dubbers don't want to read a whole bunch of text when they want to focus as much on the Visuals, that if it wasn't for dubs these otherwise niche markets would not have exploded as they have, and most importantly: Sturgons law: 90% of everything is crap, so the original so bound to have some clunkers.

Or in more detail, and to quote anime reviewer Jesu Otaku (note this is a ruff guess going from her persona experience):

About Sixty Percent of Anime sounds much better in Japanese. Rouphly Thirty Five Percent of anime sounds good in either languange, and there is a rare five percent of anime that sounds better in English.

That and you don't have to deal with engrish as much

I watch dubbed whenever possible, period end of story.

I'm going to be upfront about this. I don't like the Japanese language when combined with the writing in anime. Writing in anime in general is repetitive and redundant. It's part of the style. Something happens on screen, some sort of action or big event, then it's explained to the audience in boring and pedantic dialogue. Combine this with the Japanese language which is very didactic in nature, and it's like nails on a chalk board for me. I can't stand it.

Come on, we've all seen it.

bad guy: how were you able to hit me? Oh... now I understand...
good guy: I hit by using this technique, and it's by this technique I was able to win (explains further in detail how it worked)

Good guy's companion watching the fight: Not only did the good guy do this, but the attack also did this, this and that. (further redundant explanation)

It's awful, just awful. Certain dubs change things with the dialogue as well. Some things just sound better when changed, or when the dubbers add things to the script. Revy in Black Lagoon had a fantastic line when talking to a drug dealer. "Your breath smells like you've been suckin' cock all morning." The voice actress added that in herself because it fit the character. She improved the scene. These things can happen.

Sometimes dubbed voice actors actually fit the character more.

 

[gagagaga]

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.

Black Butler had a good dub, actually. It fits a lot better with the setting, I think.

To address the topic of the thread, Baccano is one of those rare anime where the dub is nigh-universally considered superior.

 

[FriedRicer]

YuYu Hakusho-nuff said.

The original lines are so cliche its numbing.

 

[gigantor21]

YuYu Hakusho-nuff said.

The original lines are so cliche its numbing.

This, so much.

Also, I can't watch DBZ, Black Lagoon or Cowboy Bebop in Japanese. They all sound so much better in English.

 

[game-lover]

*shrugs* I like both about equally. I have no preference. In fact, I'll watch an anime dubbed then go back to see parts of the sub so I can compare the voices. That's my thing. *nods*

Generally, there's not many anime where I find one better than the other so when I find some, they stick.

For this topic, I have four that come to mind easily.

Dragonball Z: No! No, Goku. Bad! Awful voice. Awful, awful!

Yu Yu Hakusho: Ehhhh... Kuwabara turns me away. Yusuke doesn't sound as cool

Mai Hime: Oh dear God in heaven! What did you do to Mai?! What?!

Blue Seed: Owww. Momiji's voice hurts my ears!!! Kusanagi is old. Blah.


By the way, my language is English. I assume American English but maybe it's more Universal English

 

[KnightOfTwo]

My preference will always be towards subbed, I just enjoy things more when they use the original language. Not really restricted to anime, I just like watching things in the language they were made in, helps me learn a few things from those respective languages. (Native Language: American English)

That said, I have nothing against dubs and I happen to really like a few.

Gundam Wing for instance had a really good dub imo. It is practically the only anime that I can watch in either English or Japanese and be happy with either way.

Cowboy Bebop is another that has a fairly good dub. Prefer the original but the dub does a decent job

Ghost in the Shell, Outlaw Star, and Trinity Blood also all had some decent dub work.

Miyazaki films also tend to have some good dub work. Particularly liked the dubs for Princess Mononoke and Naussica (it has Patrick Stewart as a wandering swordsman who rides chocobos, how could that not be great?!).

All in all, I prefer subs, but there are some good dubs out there. If given the option I will always take the sub but I'm certainly not one of those people who thinks dubs are inherently awful. Some are, but then some of the shows themselves are just rubbish to begin with.

 

[Autumnflame]

Full metal panic, zoids and Hellsing for me.

but i loves me my anime sub or dub

 

[FPLOON]

-snip-

Basically this to the 100 power! Sure, it's usually better to watch an anime in its original language especially when A LOT of the jokes only work in its original language... but when the English dub could add some unexpected spice to the character in general (usually in the form of great line delivery), then that, to me, could trump the original language to me...

Plus, the only time where I would openly say to avoid the dub and just watch the sub without me first saying to try to hear both (if possible) and choose for yourself... is with hentai... (and, if you hear the dub for just Bible Black... That's all the proof you need... Just saying...)

OT: Basically any anime directed by Shinichiro Watanabe as well as most anime series done by Gianax... I will never say that they're better than the sub, even if it's true to an extent, but I digress...

Also, most comedy-driven anime series seem to swing both ways no matter what... So, there's that...

 

[Cerebrawl]

Subs always.

The only time I've prefered the english was back when I was just starting to watch anime(except Robotech as a kid) and the first movie in a series was dubbed and the second one wasn't, which threw me off. That's 16-17 years ago.

It does help that I'm familiar with Japanese grammar and have at least a small vocabulary as well, so I often pick up on subtle things that get lost in translation, even though I couldn't follow the conversation fully in Japanese.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Going to have to echo some other suggestions in here...

Black Lagoon (Revy!)

Cowboy Bebop

Samurai Champloo

Spice and Wolf (Horo!)

And, yes, I actually liked the Bleach dub.

Edit: I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT!

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt!

 

[Saint of M]

Dragon Ball and DBZ in English.


Appleseed: Ex Machina, English all the way.

Naruto:I like it better dubbed then subbed...and now I am going to get flammed for either saying Naruto is better dubbed or likeing Naruto. Bring it!

Advent Children: Dub

 

[Elvis Starburst]

English.
Code Geass: Besides Lelough's sister, the cast is amazing. Once again everyone's voice fits.

+1 for the Code Geass vote. I found the dub to be very very good.

Edit for actual freakin content: Full Metal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Yu Yu Hakusho also get my vote. I liked them all~

 

[likalaruku]

Cho Gals, aka Super Gals, Yu Yu Hakusho, Special Duty Combat Unit Shinesman.

The Japanese version of Gals has really obnoxious voices, especially Mami Honda. The dubb sounds way better but the dub translations just don't match up at all with the subs.

YYH had a really questionable voice cast in Japan. Mostly a lot of grown men & teen guys having voices that make them sound like little girls, & really short guys having deep booming voices. Age, height, & body weight effect voice & the Japanese voice cast did not take that into account.

Haven't seen SDCUS in over 10 years, but I watched it in both languages & though the dub, while terrible, was funnier. & when you're watching a comedy, you want the funniest.



On Par: I like both the English & Japanese voice cast: Slayers & Excel Saga. ES is also good in Italian.

 

[TheSYLOH]

Axis Power Hetalia.
My knowledge of Japanese is not good enough to recognize them parodying foreign accents.
Which is where the dub comes in.

 

[Bat Vader]

Both series of Fullmetal Alchemist to me. Vic Mignogna plays a great Edward Elric and Travis Willingham is good for Mustang. Plus, the guy who plays Fuhrer Bradley has an awesome voice.

Hellsing is another one, especially Hellsing Ultimate. Crispin Freeman is the perfect voice for Alucard and the woman who does Integra is really good too.

 

[Kameburger]

For me English and Japanese are both fine(I speak both and won't use subs for maybe 90% of anime), to be honest it is really more about the quality of both the animation and the voice acting. And it is really a case by case basis. English is a bit easier for me, so if it?s a really wordy show with kind of sub-par animation I prefer English, Detective Conan (Case Closed) is a good example of this. Really half of that show is people sitting around talking and it gets really mentally exhausting to go through all that especially since the quality of the voice acting isn?t much of a consideration for either version.

Cowboy Bebop in English just fits so well but it?s a good quality show so either way is fine. Steve Blum though in general just has a great voice.

Actually though on that note, Samurai Champloo is just fantastic in Japanese, and in English, while it feels like the quality is no different from Cowboy Bebop in terms of animation and voice acting, the Japanese fits the show much better because of the context. Jin for example always talks down to Mugen but a lot of it has to do with the way Mugen talks, (Choice of words, use of slang,) in Japanese he sounds like a proper thug, and Jin consequently uses a more formal Japanese which makes his talking down to Mugen all the more condescending. It?s captured in English too, but the Japanese version really does a better job of showing why these guys are always at each other?s throats. It?s not a problem with the English dub, its more just a consequence of language. English?s more formal language is still English, but Japanese has many different levels from downright rude, to over the top polite, and there are a lot of little nuances that can tell you a lot about even where and how well a person is educated or who they are. Mugen for example has to tell you in the English version that he was raised as an exiled convict on the island that is now Okinawa, but in Japanese you know that just by the way he talks.

Ironically that?s just context. Rurouni Kenshin for example has the Kenshin really using some pretty funny Japanese. Very polite but in a strange way, but when you watch it in English, nothing is really lost, because it doesn?t tell you anything about the character other than that he just talks that way for now real reason. His teachers don?t talk that way, nobody around him talks that way, it just becomes kind of a joke, and when you translate it into English nothing is really lost. And that show really works in both languages despite being set as a kind of period piece in Japanese history.

Dragon ball also incidentally is completely different in both languages and yet somehow manages to bed good in both. I can watch English and Japanese Dragonball interchangeably, have two completely different experiences and still have a good time either way.

So after all that my verdict is really really case by case, I can think of some rules, but even those rules have nuanced exceptions and would really make this post too long.