Poll: Dubbed or Subbed?

[Zeekar]

I feel like I've answered this before, but I guess not every thread can be unique.

Subbed. I don't understand japanese, so bad acting can be majorly forgiven, where it would otherwise ruin the show for me.

...Except with Cowboy Bebop. Steve Blum will always be Spike to me. I dunno if it's just nostalgia, but the japanese voices irritate me in that show. I think there was just a good synergy there. I didn't like him in Samurai Champloo at all, on the other hand, so I always watch that Subbed.

I think a big problem with dubbing for me is that I begin to recognize the same english voices over and over again. There just aren't enough voice actors out there, I guess.

 

[bob1052]

For anime, dubs are very rarely not complete shit, but reading subtitles while listening to dialog I can't understand is just as shit.

I think I'm gonna choose dubs exclusively because of MXC (on a related note, I recently discovered all five seasons are on Amazon and am tempted to buy them all because I absolutely loved that show).

 

[Yureina]

Dubs unless it is so awful that I need to switch to Subs. But... if its that bad, chances are I don't like the anime itself, and so I quickly move on to something else.

 

[Gabes]

As it has been said by many before me, subbed is the way to go unless the dub is very well done like FMA Brotherhood. Even then, I was forced to the subs. Awesome story + Impatience to know what happens next > My discomfort over the Japanese voices sounding like those from Bleach mostly

Just to contribute though, I feel Death Note should be on the short list of the good dubs. The voice actor for Light catches the maniacal tone pretty well in my opinion.

 

[FalloutJack]

Hmph. You forgot the option for 'Both'.

I have developed a system for dubbing, actually. It has to do with my local anime club. If I watched a show originally subbed because of the club and all, then I'm inclined to remember it as I watched it and follow suit for me DVDs. Well, there are exceptions. I decided to leave Baccano in sub, but that was due to its attachment to Durarara, which I'd also seen subbed. However, if this is something new that I never experienced before, I'm inclined to give the english cast their due. They're hard workers and nice people besides, and definitely with talent. It all depends on how I was exposed to it.

 

[Vrach]

I can't stand dubbed versions of most things, dubbing's usually done awfully and even when done well is still shit and takes away from the experience of watching something 99% of the time. Subtitles all the way (heck I use them even for when I speak the language in question, handy having them there if I mishear a word or something).

I do not speak Japanese, and I don't watch an anime to read, so I'm going to watch the dubbed version. If I wanted to read it I would get the manga, and if I wanted to listen to it with the original voices I would learn Japanese.

I really don't get this argument. Are you people actually saying you're completely incapable of simultaneously reading subtitles and watching a series/movie? Cause... you might wanna talk to a doctor or something if that's the case :\

 

[darkkan2125]

subbed but on that one rare rare occasion dubbed makes a surprisingly good one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE9mQ-6hnVg

 

[Samuel Lombardo]

I tend to prefer dubed, although once I go dubbed, i just cant watch the subbed version. the voice change just throws me out the window and I cant tell whos talking, so whichever version I start on, I tend to stick to.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

If they do the dub well (and if it's uncut), I prefer not having to stare at the bottom two inches of the screen all the time. Not that I watch that much anime, and the only dubs I've actually watched were the Sonic the Hedgehog OVA (which was good) and Excel Saga (which was fine, except the voice actor for Excel herself... Why did they give Excel an American accent?!)

 

[Yopaz]

I love subs when I know the language, but if I don't know it, then I might like it better dubbed to English or Norwegian. You lose a lot of the context in subtitles, only 2/3 of a sentence is actually there in the subtitles most of the time. This is for animated though, and the dub has to be pretty good. In all live action I want subs and nothing else.

 

[Titan Buttons]

I almost always go Subbed as the voice acting for all the shows I've watched just isn't as good. But anime such as, fullmetal alchemist but that was actually written for the english language so that's probobly why it works so well, just as fullmetal alchemist Brotherhood was written for Asian lauguages and doesn't even come in english audio

 

[Flare Phoenix]

Subbed:- for all the people dissing it because you have to read the subtitles, I used to feel the same way, but over time it becomes easier to focus on both the words and the picture at the same time. But still, to each their own.

That being said, I do prefer Gundam dubbed over subbed, so it varies between anime to anime.

 

[The Harkinator]

Dubbed is better when it's done well, a good dubbed movie is so much better than a subbed movie. A badly dubbed movie is worse than a subbed movie however.

 

[tthor]

I use to be purely subbed, and hated dubs with a passion for the normal crappy voice acting, but recently i've found myself starting to open up to dubbed shows

 

[Coraxian]

Subtitles for me. And I'm personally not talking about anime.

It's how I learnt English in the first place.

 

[AyreonMaiden]

It's not about 'subbed vs dubbed'. It's about watching the film or anime in as close a state as it was conceived by its creators. Regardless of the perceived 'quality' of any voice track, the only factor to take into account is that simple factor. And the idea that the dubs remove 'annoying voices', is like saying that dubs can remove annoying languages, culture or creative strokes. Go for it, if that's how you feel, but in the end, the original voices is how the film or show was conceived by its creators, and they are cultural reflections. That's how it should be watched. I'm just waiting for customised versions of the Mona Lisa.

Show me someone who denies that Fullmetal Alchemist, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo or Baccano! were at least 50% inspired by Western sensibilities and I'll show you a big fat fuckin' weeb. I also wanna know how many Japanese characters and locales are in Black Lagoon compared to other nationalities.

But anyway, the point is that I really don't think anyone can speak for the author's intent and I think fans take too seriously the "cultural reflection" crap. I say watch what you enjoy because I'm sure anime studios appreciate ALL their fans, no matter what language they experience their work in. Not everyone wants to create "cultural statements" or "cultural reflections" about their homelands. Sometimes all they want is to tell a story about boys, girls, good and evil, or maybe about nothing at all.

I mean, ask the greatest Hispanic novelist, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, how he felt about the English version of his Nobel-prize winning magnum opus "Cien años de soledad": http://www.amazon.com/dp/0811216659, under "Product Description."

I somehow get the feeling that most of the really awesome artists don't really give a shit at all about translations so long as the original intent isn't butchered outright.

 

[Byere]

For me it's a case of relativity. If done very well, English dubbing can be brilliant. A prime example, as already stated, is Gantz. IMO, Deathnote is much better in the English dub too.
Then again, if the voice acting is terrible, I'd rather have subs with the Japanese track (simply because I don't know how to speak Japanese). Case in point, Chobits. The English voices were so terrible! The Japanese voices were better, so I preferred it subbed.
Oh, another point on that is that sometimes some of the jokes go over my head since I'm not from the Asian parts of the world. Subbing will often have explanations on certain words which help out.

 

[Grimlock Fett]

Subbed! Dubbed has never failed to disappoint me[edit. Since I began watching subbed with the original Jap voices]! The quality of the Japanese voice actors is just so much better! The dub always just seems cheesy and lacks the same emotion!

That said the 1st anime I watched was DBZ and I prefer Gokus dubbed voice in that! Why was he so squeaky in the sub?

 

[SonofaJohannes]

Most dubbed animes just don't feel right, and the 4kids version of One Piece is hilariously bad. There are good dubs out there (Like Cromartie) but for most of the time I prefer subbed.