To those who prefer Japanese voices...

[Alterego-X]

In anime, I prefer japanese, because they have high-pitched voices, that fit better for cartoon characters.

In games, it's depending on how animesque they are. If they are general games, that happen to be made in Japan, english is OK, but if they re notably animesque, I would expect them to sound like an anime. The visual style and the vocal style should match each other.

 

[tzimize]

This is a legitimate question. I'm not trying to mock anyone's opinion. I'm looking for a serious answer.

I play a lot of Atlus games, and one of the things I hear most often is something along the lines of "I wish Atlus would include a dual audio option. I want the original Japanese voices."

Now let me ask something. What exactly does that mean? Does it just mean the first voices recorded? To explain further, let me use two Atlus games as an example. Devil Survivor: Overclocked and Catherine.

Devil Survivor: Overclocked is a very rare case (the first for Atlus, I believe) of a game that came out in the states first. Granted, only by a couple days, but the game was released in English first. Do you prefer the English voices because they would be the original voices, or would you still prefer Japanese voices because these are all Japanese characters and it would be more realistic?

On the exact opposite side of the coin, we have Catherine. Catherine was released in Japan first and so the Japanese recordings were first and would be considered the original. But these are all American characters who realistically would be speaking English.

Or do neither of those points really matter at all and some people just automatically want Japanese voices because they think they sound better (I've noticed even acting considered pretty bad in a foreign language is still often praised by English audiences)

Thoughts? (from anyone, not just people who prefer Japanese acting)

Japanese people talk in a very specific way. If you dont have a VERY good translator, their conversations can sound...odd...or even stupid. No offense to any Japanese people, its just my experience.

This is much easier to notice when people talk, than when you read it. I'm not sure why it is so. Maybe it has to do with the voicing of it...the words just dont quite fit the conversation. When its text its just..."translated foreignness".

I prefer the original language in ALL media. No matter what the original language is. With Japanese, its just more specific because of the differences in language/communication.

Usually its because by not understanding the words directly, the corniness of the dialog virtually disappears, while the emotion of the actor remains.

This is much better put than my post I guess. Agree completely.

 

[drednoahl]

These days English dubbing is much better generally than it was when I first got into anime over 20 years ago; the last two overtly Japanese games I played (Nier and Bayonetta) I didn't mind the English voice cast at all.

I think many people who remember back in the days when anime was butchered "to suit an English speaking audience" will prefer Japanese voices over an English dub. Back say fifteen years ago, anime and the few games that did get an English dub were treated pretty badly; often the translation was inaccurate and pretty insulting to the Japanese story, and also to the intelligence of the audience (most often adding curse words - I think to make the anime appear more "adult.")

Worse than that was when you'd have a character who was supposed to be a youth sounding like a middle aged American woman (regardless of sex.) The worst example of this I can think of is Shorty from the English versions of "Bust a Groove," but there are a fair few fighting games that were pretty bad for this too.

I still prefer Japanese voice acting over an English version if the option is there, but this is probably because I'm stuck in my ways.

 

[anthony87]

If I'm watching a Japanese film, I'd rather have the Japanese voices.

If I watching a German film, I'd rather have the German voices.

If I'm watching a French film, I expect to see some TEETIES!

Seriously though, you can see where I'm going with this. Watching something in its native language just makes it feel more natural. A bunch of VAs recording over what's being said just can't capture the same emotion of the situation.

Don't take away the impression that I'm completely against dubs though. If the dub is good I'll happily watch it. If I know that a certain VA that I know to be good is doing the voice, then I'll watch the dub before the sub. It's just that the ones that are bad are really REALLY bad.

Also, this:

I don't understand it! Unless you speak Japanese how would you know if the Japanese audio track is superior and how could it be if you can't understand it, may as well turn it off completely. So why don't people ask for a option to turn the voice acting off completely instead of a "foreign language I don't understand" option? I guess it's cool at the moment, fads often don't make sense though.

Is probably one of the stupidest things I've ever read. In fact I'd lump it up there with the whole "I hate the subtitles cause I don't wanna have to read while watching something" argument.

That's a fantastic rebuttal. Hey next time you think you could add some substance instead of just saying "This post is stupid"?

My rebuttal is the part above the quote box with your thing. Correct emotion, native language etc.

 

[Arina Love]

Japanese games = Japanese voices even if characters are western like in Catherine. i hate English dub in Japanese games just as i would hate Japanese dub in English games. Original is always better for me. That's why i never watch anime (7 years of experience) with dub. No matter how good english dub, for me, it will never be better than original.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

These days English dubbing is much better generally than it was when I first got into anime over 20 years ago; the last two overtly Japanese games I played (Nier and Bayonetta) I didn't mind the English voice cast at all.

I think many people who remember back in the days when anime was butchered "to suit an English speaking audience" will prefer Japanese voices over an English dub. Back say fifteen years ago, anime and the few games that did get an English dub were treated pretty badly; often the translation was inaccurate and pretty insulting to the Japanese story, and also to the intelligence of the audience (most often adding curse words - I think to make the anime appear more "adult.")

Worse than that was when you'd have a character who was supposed to be a youth sounding like a middle aged American woman (regardless of sex.) The worst example of this I can think of is Shorty from the English versions of "Bust a Groove," but there are a fair few fighting games that were pretty bad for this too.

I still prefer Japanese voice acting over an English version if the option is there, but this is probably because I'm stuck in my ways.

Here's the thing, Bayonetta doesn't have a Japanese voiceover, even in Japan. The original version is in English and that's fine.


The problem stems when something which is originally in Japanese gets dubbed in English, if it's meant to be in English there's no problem since the game is designed with that in mind, dubbing is the issue.

 

[Some_weirdGuy]

I don't get why people prefer japanese because its the 'original' or its 'what it was made in'.

Games, cartoons, etc are all dubbed. The only things that aren't are live action (though even then it's sometimes dubbed over too).
the 'original', what it was truly made in, was silence. It's an animated picture, and pictures don't make sound. :X

On a related subject, why it it always between english and japanese, what about the other languages? I mean, if you're relying on subtitles to understand anyway, then what does one form of moonspeak have over another?
Yet you never hear 'oh i didn't like the english so i watch it in french/russian/portuguese/korean/canadian/dutch/old norse/chipmunk/etc etc etc'
it's always japanese.

what's with that?

 

[Sangnz]

Voice acting for anime = big deal in Japan so the voice actors generally do a much better job than their western counterparts where it isn't such a big thing.

I have nearly always preferred subs over dubs and can think of very few anime off the top of my head where I felt they got the voices right cowboy bepop being the only one that springs to mind, on the other hand plenty of anime where the dubs just sound freaking awful.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

I don't get why people prefer japanese because its the 'original' or its 'what it was made in'.

Games, cartoons, etc are all dubbed. The only things that aren't are live action (though even then it's sometimes dubbed over too).
the 'original', what it was truly made in, was silence. It's an animated picture, and pictures don't make sound. :X

On a related subject, why it it always between english and japanese, what about the other languages? I mean, if you're relying on subtitles to understand anyway, then what does one form of moonspeak have over another?
Yet you never hear 'oh i didn't like the english so i watch it in french/russian/portuguese/korean/canadian/dutch/old norse/chipmunk/etc etc etc'
it's always japanese.

what's with that?

Original matters because it is that in which the intent of the creator is most apparent and for connoisseurs of the medium that is VERY VERY IMPORTANT.


The original in animation is the voices chosen by the creators of that series. It is not a book or a comic, so it isn't silent. The characters are still characters, whether they be movie ones or anime ones. Just like a movie director picks the actor to fill the role of a character so does an anime creator pick a seiyuu to voice that character.


Oh and if you read this specific thread you will see multiple posts about other languages sucking if they are dubs and other languages being preferred if they are the original. You hear it more for Japanese things simply because more Japanese things get dubbed than other people's media.

 

[Maveroid]

I have always enjoyed Japanese voices more in Japanese games, but that is a really interesting question, because I have always believed that I just like them more because 'thats how they should sound'.

Very interesting question, indeed, but I suppose I do enjoy Japanese dubs more. Most of the time, American voice actors don't seem to take the material very seriously, like giving a little girl an overly high-pitched voice. On the other hand, I am sure I would think the same way if I were Japanese. Then again, I enjoy the english Dante more than the Japanese Dante even though he should be Japanese (right? i actually don't know).

I suppose I just like whatever suits the game environment, but I must confess that I would automatically switch to Japanese in any game without spending any time contemplating whether it should be in Japanese or English, just because I would assume that it is better. At some point I would check out the english voices too, though... Just not right away.

 

[Maveroid]

There was a really interesting article around here on the Escapist, by the way.
It was about a gamer who did not grow up speaking english and, back then, all NES games were mostly kept in english.
He could only speak French , but that did not keep him from playing the games in english with a dictionary just to find out what the characters are saying.

The really interesting thing about the article was the fact that games eventually got translated into French (his example was A Link To The Past). He was a huge Zelda fan and had played the Zelda games in english up until that point. He was very happy to be able to play it in French, but then he noticed how different it was. It seemed more childish and he could not take it seriously anymore. Its not that the translation was that bad, its just that it was different from before.
Imagine, that is ZELDA we are talking about, a game not featuring too much text in the early days, and it still felt like a huge change in character and story.

Also, I wanted to mention Professor Layton... In the German version, he sounds just like a geek. In English, he sounds much better with his british accent and more grown-up voice. The Japanese version seemed a bit younger, but still very similar.
Spongebob is another example that is dear to me. Spongebob in German seemed a bit more grown up, which made his actions a little funnier. In English, he sounds like a kid from the start and you just infer that he is older due to him working, but his voice is just terribly childish.

 

[joshuaayt]

I'm no real judge, as my experience is really limited to the most recent Persona games, the Disgaea series and Valkyria Chronicles, but I prefer the English dialogue.

I know for a fact that Persona 3 and 4 feature some excellent English VAs (Vic Vignogna, Michelle Ruff and Danielle Judovits, for example. Like sex to the ears.), so maybe I've just been lucky.

 

[The_Merchant]

one game:
Yakuza
It showed how an english dub can oh so much fail in the wrong setting,from that sega learned and included Jap voices only for the sequels
I prefer japanese voices if the setting and character background/origin underlines it.
I.e.:It'd makes more sense for Ryu,originating from japan,to speak with a japanese voice rather than an english one,Guile,being in the american military and american himself,would rather speak english.
But i honestly want games to do like tekken,every character speaks his/her mother tongue.Or at least english with a slight accent.

another,but trivial matter why i prefer jap voices is mispronounciations sometimes minor,sometimes major.

 

[Vrach]

Uhm, I'm a complete stranger to the argument, but I feel I need to respond to the following:

Devil Survivor: Overclocked is a very rare case (the first for Atlus, I believe) of a game that came out in the states first. Granted, only by a couple days, but the game was released in English first. Do you prefer the English voices because they would be the original voices, or would you still prefer Japanese voices because these are all Japanese characters and it would be more realistic?

Where it released first has nothing to do with whether the voices are "original". Original is what the game was initially done in, what it was mainly done in or maybe what it was locally done in. Your statement is like saying a new Volvo being released in America first chronologically makes it an American car.

That said, I imagine what people don't like (as I don't, though my preference has nothing to do with Japan/Japanese games) is shitty English voice dubbing. A game can be made somewhere else, in a non-English speaking area, but made to be for the English speaking audience and therefore primarily done in English. That means good voice actors and a quality of the voice actors that would suit the game. When it's translated and dubbed however, it usually just means shitty voice actors that were hired, just so the English speaking audience would have English to listen to, rather than Japanese (or any other language).

 

[Otaku World Order]

When it comes to anime, I pretty much always do subtitles. This is largely due to the fact that English dub jobs have mostly been horrible in my experience. The only exceptions that spring to mind are Miyazaki's films under Disney's watch.

I'm no real judge, as my experience is really limited to the most recent Persona games, the Disgaea series and Valkyria Chronicles, but I prefer the English dialogue.

I know for a fact that Persona 3 and 4 feature some excellent English VAs (Vic Vignogna, Michelle Ruff and Danielle Judovits, for example. Like sex to the ears.), so maybe I've just been lucky.

What you say is very true. NIS and Atlus usually due a good job of voice casting. And even I was surprised at how good the English voicework was in Valkyria Chronicles.

 

[brutalfang]

Personally, I like English dubbing and the Japanese voice work more or less equally, though I will usually go for the English dub over the Japanese when watching anime (I tend to multitask a lot, so being able to understand completely what is being said without needing to think much about it is a major plus).

That said, I do understand a fair bit of Japanese - enough to tell that there are as many bad Japanese voice actors as there are English ones. And I don't mean "grown woman who sounds 8 years old" when I say bad. EDIT: Gosh, I skipped an entire line of thought -- adding on to the bad VA work, I meant to say that the Japanese VA work I've heard in some games (ESPECIALLY games) can be choppy and come off as rigid/uninterested, especially when you know what they are saying. :END EDIT. There are just some Japanese voice actors who don't fit the character, just like there are some English voice actors who don't fit characters /they/ get assigned. So in a way, I honestly don't get why some people jump for the "original Japanese" every time, even in cases where the English dub actually flows better/is just as good. I'm talking about people who only watch the Japanese with subtitles (which, by the way, are often wrong or slightly altered to what the translator thought would sound cooler/funnier) and absolutely refuse to give the dub a chance while still saying how it's completely inferior to the Japanese acting when I say that, though.

In the end, especially in the cases of people who don't immediately assume "IT'S JAPANESE SO IT'S BETTER AUTOMATICALLY", it's just a matter of taste/opinion, though.

 

[Saltyk]

If there is an English option, I watch or play that. If there isn't, I'll take subtitles. It's not about which is "better" as that is subjective. It's about understanding what is going on. I don't mind reading, though.

And if we're talking about fan dubbed/translated, I'd like to point out that they tend to be full of errors. Usually, I can understand what is trying to be conveyed, but sometimes I have to reread a sentence to get it.

 

[kasperbbs]

Whatever it is i will watch it in original audio with subs, original actors simply sound better, they put in more effort into their work, maybe i simply havent heard any good dubs because i tend to avoid them and i guess Lithuanian TV kinda put me off dubbed media because they do such a horrible job at it, one person translating on top of the original audio for all male and female characters, f that.

 

[ZehMadScientist]

I would only want the Japanese voices if it is from a franchise I am familiar with, and that happens to be Japanese. For instance, I have watched Naruto in Japanese from begin to end. When I play Ultimate Ninja Storm, I naturally want the original Japanese voices. Habits are hard to break.

If it's a game like Catherine where I have no clue what the original sounds like, I don't mind it being English.