Dubbed verse Subbed

[master109]

if im going to watch something i want to know what everyones saying without having to read annoying subtitles so i love dubs way more than subs

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

Notice how everyone is picking preferences and OP didn't even ask for them. Just saying.

Everything you listed was correct. I can usually watch dubbed or subbed equally without problem if the acting is equally good and the actors fit the characters. I prefer them based on how well they represent their characters. This can probably be a little hard if I watched and got used to one version for a very long time without seeing the other though.

In the end, however, I tend to prefer subs. The reason being is that my biggest peeve about dubs is #3. I don't like things being lost in translation. There are some concepts that simply don't exist in English. Leaving in or removing honorifics might sound silly. Cultural barriers might exist that can't simply be explained outside of a note on the top of the screen. If the acting is equal, these things will be the deal-breakers for me.

For example, I don't like when jokes don't work in English and make no sense when they try to say them. I can list a few times where characters speak English and the entire joke hinges on the fact that they're speaking English. That can never translate properly without being rewritten. They change the random English into random French or something. I'm remembering a moment in K-on where they say something about going to America and try speaking English. I have no idea how they'll translate that in the dub.
The last time I posted in one of these thread, I listed Cowbow Bebop as having an amazing dub. They don't do honorifics and don't need them. There are no big cultural terms to get lost in translation and the acting itself is superb. I only ever heard one person dislike it (a friend in real life), and I suspect him to be very quick to judge and a subs-forever person. I pretty much gave him the wall of text that I'm posting now and asked him to give it another shot.

Snip of Doom
So in summation:
A good dub is the ideal situation, but the most difficult to pull off.
A good sub is the most practical situation, but may be lacking mass appeal.
A bad sub is workable, because you can get away with it.
A bad dub will comdemn a work to obscurity at best, provided it avoids the ridicule.

This is pretty much everything I mean, snip included. I want to add one thing to the final point though. A bad dub will condemn a work to obscurity unless the bad dubbing becomes wildly popular as "so bad it's good." I don't think I can name any examples off the top of my head.

Edit: After reading a few posts, I have a few fan-complaints that annoy me a bit and I just want to get it off my chest.

I don't complain about having to read since I read fairly quickly and can watch the action mostly without missing anything. I realize that some people don't read quite as quickly and I kinda understand this argument, though "being forced to have your eyes glued to the subs" is probably an exaggeration and I don't like hearing it. When you rewatch something, you should probably have an idea of what they're saying and can mostly ignore the subtitles that time around. Or you can just rewind a few seconds if you really must.

Don't blindly hate on dubs and automatically list the actors as bad. There's really no excuse for that one.

Try not to compare the sound of the English and Japanese actors if you can help it. Open your mind a bit more and stop comparing. Watch them both on their own merits. I kinda know it's a bit hard if you watched one for a very long time and can't hear it any other way, but try watching both versions of a new show one of these days and see what you think.

 

[SoulSalmon]

If dubs are available I try those first.
If the dubbing is terrible, or if only subs are available, I'll watch it subbed.

Not really sure why people have to pick a 'side' on something this insignificant...

 

[phantasmalWordsmith]

I like subbed. Mostly because I'm used to it and there are more subbed animes than dubbed. Do I need to remind people of One Piece? Then there's the fact that the dubbers aim the show at young kids thus a lot of stuff, such as fanservice, blood and such, get censored or removed which just takes the fun out of it for me. Also, it just seems to feel better in Japanese and I think I'm slowly picking up a couple phrases here and there should I ever travel to Japan.

 

[Rallus]

If the dub is good I'll watch it. I won't be snobby and rule out all dubs because some/most of them are bad or come up with some confounded reason that I'm getting more information out of somebody's interpretation of a show that I can rarely understand anyway. Also taking into account that there are a lot of very bad fansubs around with either too literal or just direct translations without taking into account the subtleties of the English language.

 

[neoontime]

dubs preferably when anime usually has those moe ear-raping girls.

 

[Jonluw]

Subs.
In Norway, dubs are seen as a childrens' thing. When you learn to read at an acceptable speed, you watch shows with subtitles, and I've grown up with this mindset.

That, and I get the Japanese voice acting which is most of the time far better than the English. And I don't have to wait for shows to be dubbed to watch them.

And I'm a bit of a purist. I always want whatever media I consume to be as close to how it was originally intended as possible.
It really annoys me when people try to not only dub, but also localize shows. Ugh.

Yeah, fellow Norwegian here and I got the exact same view when it comes to dubs. Seeing live action shows getting dubbed is the worst, but take Pokemon as an example. That has some of the worst dubbing I've ever seen. It makes the English dub seem fantastic!

I haven´t watched Pokemon since I was too young to notice the horrible dubbing. I wouldn´t want to ruin it by checking it out again.

To be fair, we do a pretty good job of dubbing Disney films.

I haven't checked out any recent dubs of Disney movies, but I always thought the Lion King movie and Toy Story movies had some good dubs. Oh and Shrek, even though that's not Disney.

Yeah, I can´t really claim to have watched any of the recent ones either.

 

[likalaruku]

I have rules regarding dubs.

1)If you have read the manga, then you already have an idea in you head of what the characters would sound like with english speaking voices & the dub will never live up to that, so never watch the dub if you've read the manga.

2)A bad dub is ok if it qualifies as "so bad it's funny" or "abridged."

3)Dubbs are ok if you think the Japanese voices were actually pretty bad (Cho Gals) or you have never seen the subs.

4)Dubbs are normally much funnier when it comes to comedy, though there are rare cases in which this is the opposite (Lost Universe, Juubei-Chan).

 

[DeltaEdge]

I'm of the opinion that prefering dubs is mostly something that occurs in countries where the main populace speak English. It's a spoiled brat kind of thing to me (who is from a non-English country); everything should exist in my superior language!

Anyway, goes without saying, I prefer subs. Partially of course because I've grown up with it and I'm used to it, but I think I'd prefer it anyway. Original soundtrack feels more "authentic" to me, it suits the culture of whatever you're watching better, be it anime, Disney or foreign language film. Plus, having subtitles in your language/English along with original soundtrack is a great way of learning words.

its spoiled to want to enjoy content in your native tongue?

Does the same apply to literature or text heavy games, what about research journals , news, legal information.

Its just a case of people wanting to get the best experience possible. Not everyone has the free time to LEARN A NEW LANGUAGE, so in your world they should punished for this?

Get off your high horse

I never said you had to learn a new language. That's what subtitles are for, no? What I was saying (in a slightly muddled way) is that the whole "What, you want me to READ?!" is a a very spoiled brat sort of response and it certainly is the most common one when you suggest to an English speaker to watch something foreign.

Besides, I like horses.

But for this particular issue, I don't thinks it's that we are being spoiled about not wanting to read subbed anime, but in stead we are defending dubs because there's a giant group of anime loving elitists that are too lazy to learn the language it's in and watch it raw and cling to subs for dear life so they can still experience their precious Japanese voices and then look down on those who watch it in English voices because they, in the most cases, deem dubs to be inferior. Not because of any legitimate reasons like the fragmentation of dialogue (although you will probably hear it in their arguments worded very poorly), but simply because they have decided in their heads that any thing that didn't come out of a Japanese persons mouth is simply poppycock (I wonder if they would notice if we swapped out the Japanese language with Chinese). OT: I like my fair share of both. If the dub is done well, then I prefer to watch it in English. If not, no biggie, I'll just watch it with subs. Some anime have great dubs (i.e., Fullmetal Alchemist and Baccano) and some, well they aren't so great.. (4kids one piece).
My main point, if it's good, I watch it dubbed, but I can watch it subbed just fine. If you are a Japanese audio elitist, then Learn the damn language so you can watch it in raw because if it's that important to you, then you should invest some time in learning to enrich your experience!

 

[Arina Love]

i will never watch anime dubbed because for me original is always better. i've been watching anime for 7 years now and at this point dubs just feel awkward, out of place and painful to listen. I count all dubs as equally bad, because no matter how hard they try, for me, English dub will be never as good as original.

 

[ServebotFrank]

Depends, I personally only do dubs for Fullmetal Alchemist and Gurren Lagann because they both have insanely good dubs. Normally I do subs for everything else only because I hate it slightly less than dubs.

 

[Kotaro]

For me, it depends on who dubbed it. If it's a Funimation dub, I'm probably going to go with the dub. If it's, say, a 4kids dub, I'll stick with subs.

 

[Mysticgamer]

Unless the dubs are good, with voice actors that sound like they fit the roles, I'll watch subs. I've watched and enjoyed both Full Metal Alchemist (and Brotherhood) and Inuyasha with dubs. Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z too, though chances are that's nostalgia driven. Oh and personally I think Berserk has great english dubs.

But if they're particularly hard on the ears, like Sailor Moon for example, I'd rather go for subs.

Apparently the DBZ sub is terrible and the dub is much better, but i haven't watched the subbed to find out. What i do know is Vegata's voice is amazing in dubbed.

It always bothered me that Goku and his sons were voiced by the same woman in the subtitled version.

 

[Korten12]

Depends,

One Piece - Sub
Gundam Seed - Dub.

Depends on the show.

 

[karloss01]

I like dub if its done right;

I prefer subbed naruto to dubbed, "Believe it" pissed me off.

I tolorate bleach dub as i frown on some of the names they give for soul cutter for Zanpakutô ( i know thats it's meaning but the Zanpakutô sounds better)

I can view either version of Hellsing Ultimate as both are done well (and the fact 5-9 haven't been dubbed yet.)

I like the dragon ball z dub voices better then the original though King Kai's voice is annoying in the dub.

usually i find that they hire voice actors that can't alter their voices so it sounds really put on or have to rush through their lines to match up with lip syncs instead of just extending the scenes.

A bad dub will comdemn a work to obscurity at best, provided it avoids the ridicule.

and a good example of that is 4kids One Piece.

 

[Torrasque]

I don't like most dubs because they'll fuck up the dialogue and create un-necessary things. 4kids created romance between Ash and Misty, and Ghost in the Shell gets some of the philosophy wrong.
There are some fantastic dubs that I prefer over the subs, but that is mostly because the dialogue's meaning doesn't change much, and the voice actor fits the role better (see Eric Vale in any role, and/or Desert Punk).

I usually follow certain voice actors and if they are in an anime that I am about to watch, then I'll give the dub a shot. If I don't recognize any of the voice actors, I'll stick with the sub.

 

[Rikomag132]

I really hate dubs, probably because the only dubs I get to hear are the retarded ones on the child channels on Norwegian television (no, I don't watch them, but a lot of my classmates are really immature, childish and annoying). So I might have a slight bias against them.

So yeah, I prefer subs/nothing, unless it's not English, which is very rare. This even goes for Norwegian, which is my mother tongue (Norwegian often sounds like gibberish on TV, especially if you speak it yourself).