JRPG's (and Anime too I guess). Japanese or English voices?

[loc978]

JRPGs: text. The dubs are never any good in any language.
Japanese fighting games: Japanese.
Anime: depends on how westernized it is. Some anime works better in English (Black Lagoon, Cowboy Bebop, et cetera), some of it works better in Japanese (such as anything set in a Japanese high school featuring giant robots trying to catch a peek at the ladies' side on a visit to a hotspring. I think a few of them might have run together in my head).

 

[Tsun Tzu]

I prefer subs unless the dub is...well, excellent.

Excellent Anime dubs incluuuuuuuude:

Black Lagoon
Spice and Wolf
Cowboy Bebop
FMA

And... Uh. Probably a few others?

As for games, again, it really, really, really depends on the quality of the dub.

If it's a crap dub, it'll just be crap regardless of context.

Subs are an easy way to maintain the tone and context without having to stretch the acting ability of people involved.

 

[small]

I grew up watching japanese cartoons on saturday mornings.
if something is live action then ill watch it with subtitles but with a cartoon i dont really see the point as its animated.

normally my games are in english (see above)

 

[AdrianCeltigar]

With games it doesn't matter to me much but with anime it does. Bad English dubs are excruciating to watch, and sometimes only one season of something gets dubbed so I'd rather watch subs so the voices stay the same all the way through. I've even watched both the dubs and subs of some shows and I appreciate that with subs I can have the volume way down and with dubs I don't have to focus on my screen constantly; so my preference depends on the situation.

 

[Rabbitboy]

Dubs or Subs whatever works. I often just hit play and stick with comes up. A lot of times I will pick Japanese/English to look if that one is better. But unless that is the case I will stick with the one I have gotten used to.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Japanese voices in both games and anime with english subtitles.

I like sounding the way they were meant to be sound, not a knockoff impression of how it should sound like. The japanese language fascinates me and I haven't grown bored of it after watching hundreds of anime.

I am not an american, but I hope I'm not the only one sharing this feeling.

 

[runequester]

Japanese voices in both games and anime with english subtitles.

I like sounding the way they were meant to be sound, not a knockoff impression of how it should sound like. The japanese language fascinates me and I haven't grown bored of it after watching hundreds of anime.

I am not an american, but I hope I'm not the only one sharing this feeling.

I like languages in general, even if I have no idea what they are saying. It's just more fun and it does help the immersion, particularly if it's intended to be set in Japan (for example).

 

[Mikejames]

Meh, I'll watch both. Some I always watch dubbed, some I always watch subbed. Depends on the series.

Dubs have the benefit of allowing people to fully focus on imagery rather than reading dialogue, working with tone in certain words that English speakers could miss otherwise, and avoiding having to rewind if something is spoken too quickly, etc.

But there are plenty of awful dubs out there, where things are lost in translation and wooden actors don't capture the emotion of the original.