To those who prefer Japanese voices...

skim172

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Nov 28, 2007
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I prefer hearing the audio in the original language, for several reasons. There are some difficulties when it comes to translation - there's always some expressions, subtleties, that aren't quite captured in another language. And I don't trust the guys doing the translation to be the top in the field. I figure it's best to hear the work in the language it was originally written for.

But the main reason is very practical - the actors they get to do the dubs generally ... kinda ... suck. Not that the original actors are necessarily better. Videogames aren't attracting the top theatrical talent of Japan any more than in the US. But for most actors, they'd rather be the voice actor for the original production than be the dub guy. And the original voice actor had the original director and producer and post-production trying to minimize the suck.

So as bad as the original voice talent might be, the dub guy is generally worse. And the dub guy is speaking in a language I can understand, so I can hear and sense and almost taste how much that guy is sucking.

At least in a different language, I can pretend that they're with the Academy.
 

dave1004

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Sep 20, 2010
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Most of the time, the original Japanese voice actors are better than the English dubs, but that's not always the case. Two good references are Dragon Ball Z and Hellsing Ultimate. Both feature gruff, dangerous characters, yet their Japanese actors make them sound like little whiny children. For the Hellsing Ultimate dub, the Germans actually have German accents, and the British sound properly...Well, British! Rather than squeaky pre-pubescent children that the Japanese seem to love.
 

Michelle Weiss

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Jan 5, 2011
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i like duo audio just for the option

Just give English and Japanese or for that matter whatever the original audio is most of the time voice acting is god awful or they Photoshop things(4kids I'm looking at you)

This argument has been going on forever just give both--the person watching will decide what version subbed or dubbed


I prefer subbing myself I like the original audio--it's just personal preference
 

Michelle Weiss

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Jan 5, 2011
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i like duo audio just for the option

Just give English and Japanese or for that matter whatever the original audio is most of the time voice acting is god awful or they Photoshop things(4kids I'm looking at you)

This argument has been going on forever just give both--the person watching will decide what version subbed or dubbed


I prefer subbing myself I like the original audio--it's just personal preference
 

Michelle Weiss

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Jan 5, 2011
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i like duo audio just for the option

Just give English and Japanese or for that matter whatever the original audio is most of the time voice acting is god awful or they Photoshop things(4kids I'm looking at you)

This argument has been going on forever just give both--the person watching will decide what version subbed or dubbed


I prefer subbing myself I like the original audio--it's just personal preference
 

BishopofAges

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Sep 15, 2010
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Edit: ^----T-T-T-T-TRIPLE POST!

I have an interesting number of opinions regarding voices. In anime or games it's literally first come, first serve. If I watched/played it in english then I prefer it continue that way, I get attached the voice actors who play the character. However, there is the rare case senario when I switch, but in that case I have to start over in a manner of speaking to get used to different audio.

I also had heard a rumor, but was too lazy to search it out, that the Japanese Ace Attorney games had semi to full vocal audio, I could be wrong. It would be neat to play with the vocal audio, but english text or even english audio would be cool, but this is more an opinion of novel-based games with little to no audio above sound effects and background music.

If the main character of a show/game sounds whiny or terrible, I sometimes try it in other languages just to see if whiny is part of his character, this is only the case if I cannot tell what the character's true movtives are.

Horror movies, I like original Asian releases because it seems spookier because I don't know the acting as well as the now-cliche actions/emotions of english actors, but again all of my opinions bow to the golden rule which follows:

Honestly, if the show is good enough, it does not and should not matter the language, if the messege is delivered epic enough then it ought to shine through universally.
 

Gardenia

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Oct 30, 2008
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I just want Japanese with subtitles so I can pretend that the bad writing is due to shoddy translation.
 

370999

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May 17, 2010
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rekabdarb said:
Zachary Amaranth said:
rekabdarb said:
I'm gonna bring up Gurren Lagann.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WVfs1FAs10&feature=sh_e_se&list=SL

Watch that episode and right around [censored] dies listen to the emotion of the voice actor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSQww1GOSy8

Then watch this (ignore the spanish subs) and just listen to it. The voice actor has soooo much more emotion.
It'd probably help if you added a time to jump to for people who don't want to watch the whole episode.
The problem would be having to watch gurren lagann in english. YEAAAH i'm good on that one
In fairness, the english actor does play that character more low key, more like an older brother then a maniac. Now I think that decision is wrong, the characater needs to be played ina way that shwos that not only is this guy an inspiringfigure but a bit nuts and over the top. But I do think it justifies it a bit more.
 

Troublesome Lagomorph

The Deadliest Bunny
May 26, 2009
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A lot of dub actors just... sound really hammy and odd. The Japanese voices often sound better... often, not always.
Plus, I like Japanese as a language, and therefore I'm glad to have the language as that. I also tend to prefer the work's original language unless the English version is much better... which in the case of every Japanese game I've played is not the case.
Edit: Also: English with English subs is redundant. I always use subs. Always.
 

Nuke_em_05

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Mar 30, 2009
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In animation, I prefer English dub, because it is hardly ever matched well no matter what the language. In general I prefer dub because if someone speaks English, they probably have a better grasp of it than a caption author who just copy/pasted from a digital translator.

In live-action, however, I prefer the original language and subs, because then it doesn't look off. Though the translation tends to be off as well.
 

Adultism

Karma Haunts You
Jan 5, 2011
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Catherine was an amazing game in itself, I would have liked to replay it in japanese though, voices.
 

Rad Party God

Party like it's 2010!
Feb 23, 2010
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Simple, if the english dub sucks, wich is most of the time, I just prefer the original japanese voices, quite simple really.
 

CMDDarkblade

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Jun 14, 2010
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I usually prefer English Dubs over the Japanese Dub for Anime because I am an American and I actually like the English versions licensed by companies such as Bandai and Funimation. I think the voice actors they choose are great and I like hearing them in different roles.

I understand that people outside the United States don't always get quality localizations and many people prefer the Japanese dub with subtitles. That's fine by me; I don't care which version you prefer.

However, I don't understand how watching a show in a foreign language you don't comprehend and reading the subtitles in your native language makes it more authentic than a localized dub.
If you don't understand Japanese then how do you know that the translation in the subtitles conveys the original intent of the Japanese voice actor and preserves the story.

You don't because you don't understand the language. You have to rely on the subtitles to tell you what the characters are saying and the subtitles aren't necessarily going to preserve all the meaning of the Japanese audio and some things might be lost in translation as in anycase from going to one language to another. The English dub is basically the subtitles in vocal form and therefore it's just as liable to alter the meaning of the Japanese version as the subtitles.

What am I trying to say is that if you want to preserve the "original" and "authentic" meaning of the Japanese version then don't rely on subtitles that could be wrong and learn the goddamn language and stop complaining about how the English version is "flawed" because it changes stuff from the Japanese version. The argument that not knowing Japanese somehow makes the Japanese version sound better than the English dub is bullcrap. It just means you are protected from bad acting in the Japanese dub, but it does not mean that the Japanese version is better than the English version.

I understand Japanese enough to know that their dubs can have just as many bad actors and bad line readings as the English version. Knowing that I still prefer the English version because I like the voice actors and I usually like the scripts too.

If you prefer the Japanese dub then by all means listen to it, but don't assume the English dub is crap and the Japanese version is pure distilled honey to your ears if you don't understand Japanese and have to rely on subtitles to comprehend the characters are saying.
 

Awexsome

Were it so easy
Mar 25, 2009
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I'll take most dubs over subs anyday. Unless the game or anime in question is so badly translated that it's obvious or has performances really phoned in I much prefer my own language over a foreign one. For really no other reason than it's mine and I understand it better.

I can tell if someone puts a bad or good inflection on a word or phrase in English better than others.
 

ckam

Make America Great For Who?
Oct 8, 2008
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I usually watch or play things with the original voices and such. I vastly enjoyed the the Japanese Gurren Lagann voices more than the English ones; Kittan's English VA was pretty awesome, though. I enjoy the English voices for Animaniacs more than I did for any other, etc.

That is unless, the original makers say they prefer a dubbed version, I usually just avoid it.
 

Candidus

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Dec 17, 2009
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FF-X was supposedly a good benchmark for western voice acting in eastern videogames. I found it unbearable. Utter garbage.

The American anime "talents" that usually get drafted on to Japanese games are beyond dreadful. Together with unwelcome censorship, they make up a good 50% of the reason that most people stick with fansubs, whether they're legal or not.

So that's why I prefer Japanese voice acting to English (specifically, american) voice acting. Because the latter is usually ear-cancer. As a matter of fact, I won't touch a game if it's been dubbed to English from something else and doesn't include both tracks.
 

boag

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Sep 13, 2010
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him over there said:
Many people I know who watch anime tell me subbed trumps dubbed because it hasn't been ruined by localization or adaptation. I never really followed this because I watch both and find literally no differences besides the actual voices. People tell me the japanese voice acting is of a higher quality but if you don't speak japanese I don't think you're really in the position to make that call, If you don't understand what they're saying how do you know it sounds genuine?
You havent encountered the dreaded Onigiri Cookies?

or the Chocolate Syrup bottles of sake?