Subs over Dubs: Which Anime turned you into a 'Purist'?

[balladbird]

Far from a purist. I prefer the dub 80% of the time,and find the hilariously over-the-top hate for dubs that subtitle purists exhibit to be hyperbolic and silly. I'm also not sure how I feel about the implication that "growing" into preferring the Japanese language version is an inevitability. However, OP did admit to making a generalization, so while I felt the need to voice my dissent, I won't argue the point one way or the other, and instead focus on the more interesting question posed.


The first anime I ever saw subbed was the second volume of Trigun. I should probably clarify for the younger peeps reading these things.

Waaaay back in the long-forgotten year of 2000, DVDs were only halfway through the process of phasing the VHS player into obscurity. Back then, you ordered your anime on VHS, and VHS only had enough room one language track, so you either ordered the VHS dubbed, or the VHS subbed.

As mentioned earlier, I'm a dubs man for life, so when it came time to order volume 2 of trigun, I ordered it dubbed. However, due to an error in shipping I got the subbed tape, and was too impatient for more trigun-y goodness to wait for an exchange. Thus, I watched the second volume subbed.

Years have passed, and I've sense gotten the entire series on DVD. To this day I can only stand to watch the second volume in japanese, even though I have the option of not doing so anymore. XD

 

[Flutterguy]

I find the argument conceited.

I watch movies and TV because I don't want to devote 100% attention, otherwise I would play a video game.

Besides, what prize exactly am I missing out on for not being the 'worlds biggest fan' of an anime?

 

[[Kira Must Die]]

Well we are all video game people, that's why we're here.

Look at Avatar the Last Airbender or even Gargoyles. The characters emote better than they do in anime. Actually the Death Note dub isn't bad with some of the characters. But I always think the Japanese does better. And you lose a lot in a dub to RAW.

For example, Yu Yu Hakusho is a bad dub. The voice acting was okay. But what they lost was the culture. In Yu Yu Hakusho, the Japanese version at least. Everyones name is some kind of pun off the premise that only makes sense really in Japanese. Yu Yu Hakusho means Poltergeist Report. So all the characters name is some sort of spiritual pun. For example Kuwabara means to "Ward" its more like a chant to ward off evil spirits. Which is lost in the English translation and is lost in culturization of Japan to English.

The point I am trying to make is that look at the Joker from Batman by Mark Hamil in all the generations of Batman. He could emote the character, he could make the character sound believable. A lot of dubs they do not make the character sound like a human being.

I get that, I was merely stating how most dub haters never elaborate on that or properly back up that point. They just state, "English voice actors give no emotion" and that's it, giving me the impression that they mean they literally don't show any emotion, which I never get.

I never really cared much for how "culturally different" a dub is compared to the original. As long as the story is still intact, and as long as the characters are still the same, then I don't mind if I don't "get" a Japanese pun or joke, because that's not why I'm watching the anime and as a whole they don't add to or take away any of my enjoyment. My favorite anime is FLCL, and it's also my favorite dub. I know about all the changes they made, but I don't care because none of the changes affect the whole product in a significant way for me. I still love it. If I wanted to learn about japanese culture, I'd take a class. It's not a high priority for me when I'm watching an anime.

Honestly, subs take away more from my experience than dubs do.

I can actually see his point, but that's not because they're English voice actors but that's because of a large difference in Western and Japanese animation. Anime has less detailed, less flexible facial expressions. That requires a lot of details regarding expression emotions have to be put in the voice acting. Western animation is often the other way around, with more flexible facial expressions and more subtle voice acting.

Might be a difference between our cultures in general, hence perhaps why a lot of English dubs sound too flat compared to the original Japanese voices. Most voice actors might not realize that difference or just can't really deal with it effectively. I reckon a Japanese voice actor dubbing a Western cartoon as if he'd do anime might, to us, sound as if he'd have to calm the hell down.

Me, I'm still sort of stuck with dubs. These days I rarely watch shows on their own, I almost constantly multi-task. So I often have to listen to a show to follow it and as I can't understand Japanese I have to get myself a dub.

Well, I don't know Japanese, so I can't say how an American voice actor compare to a Japanese voice actor. All I know is that to me, they both sounds fine. I never like comparing the two, and tend to judge them on their own.

To me, a dub is just another means of watching a show, and I find it baffling that people take it so seriously, like it's a personal attack on the original Japanese version, especially if the option to watch it in Japanese is still there and not going anywhere.

I don't know, I'm just annoyed by dub haters.

 

[Hagi]

Death Note.

In a way at least.

First I thought it was the dubs that made it seem so horrible despite just about everyone saying it was amazing. Then I watched it with subs and it was still absolutely horrible.

Less horrible than with dubs though, so I went subs from then on. Might be mostly the little extra suspension of disbelief hearing it in an incomprehensible language brings, anime does tend to stray quite far from concepts like realism, logic and sense at times.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I should point out that the Hellsing Ultimate Dub is absolutely fantastic, so I don't see how all dubs are considered terrible. Sure, there's a lot of bad dubs out there, but don't act like every japanese dub is suddenly fantastic. How many english cartoons have terrible voice acting? How is that any different in Japan? Not every show has the budget to hire the best VAs.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Given that the main difference between dubs and subs (in my opinion) is the type of translation (direct vs "Americanized") scanlated manga was probably my first introduction to the Japanese language. Luckily the first series I read had been translated in 2001 so the editors included a bunch of notes. I've seen a few subs but Kill la Kill is the first sub I've really gotten into. Compared to others I've seen, all the characters have great, distinct voices and I hope the dub isn't bad

But I'm not a subbs purist... Yet. The series that might do it for me is Attack on Titan. A friend of mine who isn't into anime surprised me when he started watching it so I figured, fuck it, I'm going to start it to. Its fucking awesome and I'm hooked to say the least. Then I found the English dub is coming out next week but I read a review of it and saw some of the translated lines... Some of the changes weren't really that bad like the iconic "like birds in a cage" to "like cattle in pen" which makes more sense when you think about it. But some of the character's lines were definitely changed for the cheesier. Armin calling someone an idiot turned into "your brain is the size of a walnut". No doubt, I'll be finishing the sub first

]

The problem with English voice acting is they tend to not put any emotion in their voices what so ever.

Sorry, not to jump down your throat or anything, as you're entitled to your opinion, but I can't fucking stand that argument. Every dub hater makes that argument and never properly follow up on it and state it like it's just fact, and I don't get it. I've listen to a lot of dubs, and most of them sound like they're putting the same amount of effort into it as the original Japanese actors. Even that video you posted, even though it's a dumb line, still had emotion put in it. And outside that one line, the rest of that dub is perfectly fine, or at the least it's just as over the top as the original Japanese version.

I agree. Its not like the english VA's aren't acting. That's just silly. And there's plenty of good english VA's like Troy Baker and Laura Bailey. I think the problem is that people don't watch more than a preview or one episode of a dub and don't give it a chance. In a few of the series I've seen, the acting gets better after a few episodes and you get used to the voices.

Honestly there are few series I wish would get a dub because they have a lot of exposition and their voices aren't anything special to listen to (bakemonogatari)

 

[Vault101]

Subs aren't unique to anime...and generally I prefer them, live action dubbing just isn't natural...it's Easyer to get away with in anime but I figure is easy to avoid cheesy acting and weird inflection (no offence to the actors, it's a translation thing) altogether

 

[Gronk]

I would say that when i started watching Anime, I was already a purist, preferring to get as close to the original movie-experience as possible.

Though I had watched some poorly dubbed anime before, the first major anime movie was "Akira". The first time watched it, on a blurry pirated vhs, it was ok, but the dubbing seemed a bit lacking. Then I read that the movie was one of the first where they actually tried to make proper lip-syncing due to being able to have a relatively high number of cells per second. So i sought out a subbed version which turned out a highly superior experience.

Another movie which I tried watching a dub of was "Perfect Blue" (one of my favourite animes btw), but the dub is horrendous compared to the subbed version.

I think one of the reasons i prefer subbed versions of anime is that because i don't speak japanese i can't tell if the voice acting is good or not .

These days however, Having kids, I watch all my animated movies in dubbed versions, just so the kids can follow what happens.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I grew up watching Spanish dubs of Dragon Ball, Ghost Sweeper Mikami, Ranma 1 1/2 and Rurouni Kenshin... and never minded the dubbing very much. However once I went on a Hayao Miyazaki binge and started watching his movies alternatively in dubbed or subbed English, I realized how much was lost in translation and how "fake" the English dubs felt.

 

[Antitonic]

Dragon Ball. I lasted around 5 minutes, then switched back.

If there's a option to do both, I'll take it, but the audio's always going to be dubs for me.

 

[sextus the crazy]

I should point out that the Hellsing Ultimate Dub is absolutely fantastic, so I don't see how all dubs are considered terrible. Sure, there's a lot of bad dubs out there, but don't act like every japanese dub is suddenly fantastic. How many english cartoons have terrible voice acting? How is that any different in Japan? Not every show has the budget to hire the best VAs.

Quoted for truth. Not every English Dub is amazing, but don't act like there aren't any talented people in the english dubbing industry. There are tons of anime shows with excellent/ superior dubs.

 

[Fijiman]

I don't think I'll ever be an anime "purist." It's mostly because I find it very distracting to try and read what they're saying while trying to pay attention to what's going on behind it. It's also a little bit because, due to the fact that I neither speak nor understand Japanese, I basically completely ignore the voices in any subed episode I do watch, which I think is a little bit insulting to the original actors' work.

 

[CyberSinner]

I much prefer watching the anime as it was intended. And that means I like experiencing the difference of culture as well. I find Japanese humor funny now even more so. And I think some animes just lose their essence when dubbed.

 

[Souplex]

While I dislike 90% of Japanime, when I do watch, I watch the dub.
It's not that the voice acting is better in Japanese, it's that you can't understand them, so you don't realize how bad it is.
Also, I like to watch stuff and play video games simultaneously, and I can't do that if I have to read the dialog.

 

[FPLOON]

The only thing I am a 'purist' about with subtitles is live action shows. The dubs just feel out of place.

This.
I have always found the dubbing of anything live-action to be just weird to me, since unlike with animation, you can't really "manipulate" the mouth flaps of real people so easily without it looking like the annoying orange or something like that...

OT: Anyway, to answer your first question, I remember watching Romeo X Juliet and Pani Poni Dash subbed LONG before watching them dubbed... But, even then, I still like having the option of either subbed or dubbed atmy desposal so that I don't end up always choosing one over the other... (I'd rather stay neutral about the "sub v dub" debate every time...)

With that said, I have only allowed Shin-Chan (and to a better extent Samurai Pizza Cats) to be the only exception to the rule, since the dub is nothing more than a "professional abridged series", at best...

Oh... and also I can't think of any anime that would make someone like subs... or at least place subs on the same level as dubs...
(Maybe show her the original Godzilla movie, Gojira? Yeah, I REALLY don't know...)

 

[WouldYouKindly]

I take them how I can get them. Sub, dub, little matter. The only thing that changes is a bit of semantics usually. Well, that's outside some of the more infamous dub companies. Doesn't matter anyway, I don't watch those shows. I haven't actually come across a show that had a dramatic change in story depending on dub or sub(barring the fare I used to watch as a kid). Mostly it's a change in tone, some character modifications in some scenes. If I hear there's a drastic difference, the better one isn't instantly the original, it's the one I like more.

If the dub quality is abysmal, I'll take the sub. If the dub is good, it's nice to not have to read the bottom 3 inches of the screen. Hell, sometimes you get a better experience depending on which version you watch. In NGE, I prefer Dub Asuka to original Asuka because the German is much better.

Also, I get her distaste of Japanese honorifics. It can get a bit grating depending on the VA.

 

[flying_whimsy]

I much prefer watching the anime as it was intended. And that means I like experiencing the difference of culture as well. I find Japanese humor funny now even more so. And I think some animes just lose their essence when dubbed.

I agree on that one. Once I learned how much some of the meanings could change due to translation, I started leaning more towards subs. Also, I got into fansubs because they were of much higher quality than official releases. I wouldn't avoid english dubs, although given that for a while there it seemed like every english dub had the same cast of three voice actors I got tired of it sometimes.

The thing that made me a purist was when I was watching castle in the sky dubbed and realized they changed the score. I don't know why they changed it, but it altered the movie and pissed me off quite a bit. I haven't bothered with a dub since.

 

[Double A]

Just get her to watch a lot of Funimation dubs and she'll eventually switch to subs. It's not that they're bad or anything (far from it), just that their VA pool is like 20 people with little voice range and it gets grating after the fourth or fifth time.

 

[pspman45]

dubs over subs, nerds
if the dub's awful, chances are I won't watch it!

 

[Storm Dragon]

For example, Yu Yu Hakusho is a bad dub. The voice acting was okay. But what they lost was the culture. In Yu Yu Hakusho, the Japanese version at least. Everyones name is some kind of pun off the premise that only makes sense really in Japanese. Yu Yu Hakusho means Poltergeist Report. So all the characters name is some sort of spiritual pun. For example Kuwabara means to "Ward" its more like a chant to ward off evil spirits. Which is lost in the English translation and is lost in culturization of Japan to English.

This argument makes no sense. Even with subtitles, the pun still doesn't make sense if you don't speak Japanese.

OT: I still prefer dubbed anime, but, thanks to Kill La Kill, I'm now willing to watch subs when they're the only available version.