What Japanese People Think of English Dubbed Anime

[Tails 6,690]

So I was watching some YouTube videos and this little video randomly popped up on my recommended list and I must say, I find it interesting what Japanese think of English Dubbed Anime.

 

 

 

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

You know, I found this video very interesting, because we always hear about how we think of English Dubs as opposed to the normal Japanese Dubs, so it was cool seeing things from their perspective!  It's normal that they'd prefer Japanese better since they are from that nationality and understand the language, and English feels strange, just as many of us hear Japanese and we go like: "Okay, this sounds off."

 

I like that when they touched upon Naruto, they didn't feel bothered by the English Dub because they thought it was well in tune with the Japanese Dub! I think that's the reason why the creator of Naruto chose Maile Flanagan to voice the character, since she really captures the spirit of him and sounds like the Japanese counterpart.

 

I honestly prefer Dubs, though. I only watch anime in Subs when I have no other choice. X3

[Tails 6,690]

You know, I found this video very interesting, because we always hear about how we think of English Dubs as opposed to the normal Japanese Dubs, so it was cool seeing things from their perspective!  It's normal that they'd prefer Japanese better since they are from that nationality and understand the language, and English feels strange, just as many of us hear Japanese and we go like: "Okay, this sounds off."

 

I like that when they touched upon Naruto, they didn't feel bothered by the English Dub because they thought it was well in tune with the Japanese Dub! I think that's the reason why the creator of Naruto chose Maile Flanagan to voice the character, since she really captures the spirit of him and sounds like the Japanese counterpart.

 

I honestly prefer Dubs, though. I only watch anime in Subs when I have no other choice. X3

I completely agree with you on that. I really think it's interesting and cool to see what actual Japanese people think of English Dubbed anime. So I thought I'd share this with the people of this site. And I pretty much watch both Sub and Dubbed anime lol.

[Movies798 1,358]

I'm from the USA and I agree that the original Japanese versions are way better than the English Dubs. In my opinion, some animes have good English dubs but many other have horrible English dubs. I totally agree with that one Japanese guy who said it's important to have a voice that matches the character. In my opinion, if the English voice doesn't fit the anime character than it's bad. Seriously I honestly feel like some american voice actors are not really trying hard enough to match the anime characters personalities. I know doing voice acting is seriously hard but I wish they learn more about their characters they're voicing and start practicing their voices to fit their characters personalities.

 just as many of us hear Japanese and we go like: "Okay, this sounds off."

Not to me. Hearing original Japanese voices sounds very normal to me. I think that's because I've to been to Japan before when I was a military brat.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

I completely agree with you on that. I really think it's interesting and cool to see what actual Japanese people think of English Dubbed anime. So I thought I'd share this with the people of this site. And I pretty much watch both Sub and Dubbed anime lol.

 

And I thank you for sharing this. It was definitely an interesting video to watch! And yeah, haha, that's the way it goes! Each person has their own tastes in how to watch anime, ya know?

 

I'm from the USA and I agree that the original Japanese versions are way better than the English Dubs. In my opinion, some animes have good English dubs but many other have horrible English dubs. I totally agree with that one Japanese guy who said it's important to have a voice that matches the character. In my opinion, if the English voice doesn't fit the anime character than it's bad. Seriously I honestly feel like some american voice actors are not really trying hard enough to match the anime characters personalities. I know doing voice acting is seriously hard but I wish they learn more about their characters they're voicing and start practicing their voices to fit their characters personalities.

Not to me. Hearing original Japanese voices sounds very normal to me. I think that's because I've to been to Japan before when I was a military brat.

 

I can understand what you mean in that regard. But to me though, I'll always prefer the English Dub over the Japanese Dub. Like I had mentioned, I only watch Subs when the anime I want to watch doesn't have an English Dub. Otherwise, I'm all in on the English!

 

Ooh, you were in the military? I had no idea!

[twilight_roxas 326]

There is a ADV dub of a anime call Ghost Stories which was really bad in the original, but the English dub was praised due to the jokes & pop culture references.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

There is a ADV dub of a anime call Ghost Stories which was really bad in the original, but the English dub was praised due to the jokes & pop culture references.

 

That's the thing with many anime. Sometimes the dub is better than the sub or vice versa. It really all just depends on how well the cast works, ya know?

[twilight_roxas 326]

That's the thing with many anime. Sometimes the dub is better than the sub or vice versa. It really all just depends on how well the cast works, ya know?

But this dub by ADV is way different. They couldn't change the names, couldn't change the spirits origins, and how they are defeated, but they are able to do whatever they want that it became a black comedy.

[Tails 6,690]

That's the thing with many anime. Sometimes the dub is better than the sub or vice versa. It really all just depends on how well the cast works, ya know?

Exactly. You don't know how much I hate the kinds of people that always says "Sub is better than Dub for anime". I mean sure for some anie the Japanese voices are better but there are anime such as Dragon Ball series,  Kill la Kill, and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure that have really good English voice acting. Especially in Dragon Ball Z/Super's case since I highly prefer the English dub over the Japanese one. Not saying that the Japanese voices are bad but the English voices just fits the series more in my opinion. Plus, I hate how some of the characters sound in Japanese lol.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

But this dub by ADV is way different. They couldn't change the names, couldn't change the spirits origins, and how they are defeated, but they are able to do whatever they want that it became a black comedy.

 

Huh, interesting. It's always interesting to see how things change up, ya know?

 

Exactly. You don't know how much I hate the kinds of people that always says "Sub is better than Dub for anime". I mean sure for some anie the Japanese voices are better but there are anime such as Dragon Ball series,  Kill la Kill, and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure that have really good English voice acting. Especially in Dragon Ball Z/Super's case since I highly prefer the English dub over the Japanese one. Not saying that the Japanese voices are bad but the English voices just fits the series more in my opinion. Plus, I hate how some of the characters sound in Japanese lol.

 

Yeah, I get you. It just really all depends on the situation. But yeah, I've read comments on different videos of anime on Youtube or on other sites where people don't give Dubs a chance, and it's just sad, considering that there are many dubs out there that are exceptional, ya know?

[twilight_roxas 326]

Look up Ghost Stories episode 1 on Youtube or Crunchyroll and you'll see why the dub is popular.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

Look up Ghost Stories episode 1 on Youtube or Crunchyroll and you'll see why the dub is popular.

 

I might just take a look at it one of these days!

[Renault 29]

The main complaint that I've heard on content is that a lot of the lines have had to be improvised to match the mouthflaps, and a lot of things lose context when making the transition, often to...terrible results. I know a sub purist, and he's all over my ass for actually enjoying dubs, but there's a way that certain groups manage to pull off more technical shows, in one of my favorite cases Gundam 00, where it syncs up pretty well, at least to me. The only thing that generally irritates me is when enough context is lost, that it differs from the translation and buffer lines are added that detract from the original source material. In extreme cases, shows like Robotech I'll outright refuse to watch, considering what it did to Superdimensional Fortress Macross, despite the fact that most people recall the former from their childhoods (because Harmony Gold, the group that localized it, was responsible for bringing anime to the West in some way or another). Terms were mistranslated, lost meaning, or worse.

 

I'm usually a mixture of dubs and subs myself, but there's a few things that I absolutely HAVE to watch subbed over dubbed, mostly in the vein of super robot shows. Gurren Lagann was a pleasant surprise for me, and it's actually mildly jarring to go back to the sub, but everything else...there's something about the emotion put into a screaming mecha protagonist. Getter Robo Armageddon can be absolutely hilarious to watch dubbed, not gonna lie there, but the sub...yeah, I prefer Ryoma's manly shouting in the original. That being said, I have my favorite English voice actors in the same way that many people have their favorite Japanese voice actors, but lately Super Robot Wars has introduced me to Kenichi Ono and Noboyuki Hiyama (the latter being, surprise surprise, Link from the Zelda series), so I guess I'm a bit of a mixture?

 

I can understand wanting to watch a series in your own language, though. Whatever is most comfortable for the viewer, to be honest. Just like how I won't let public opinion that one voice actor can ruin a show affect how I enjoy watching it.

J. Michael Tatum as best dark-haired, stoic protagonist, though.
 

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

The main complaint that I've heard on content is that a lot of the lines have had to be improvised to match the mouthflaps, and a lot of things lose context when making the transition, often to...terrible results. I know a sub purist, and he's all over my ass for actually enjoying dubs, but there's a way that certain groups manage to pull off more technical shows, in one of my favorite cases Gundam 00, where it syncs up pretty well, at least to me. The only thing that generally irritates me is when enough context is lost, that it differs from the translation and buffer lines are added that detract from the original source material. In extreme cases, shows like Robotech I'll outright refuse to watch, considering what it did to Superdimensional Fortress Macross, despite the fact that most people recall the former from their childhoods (because Harmony Gold, the group that localized it, was responsible for bringing anime to the West in some way or another). Terms were mistranslated, lost meaning, or worse.

 

I'm usually a mixture of dubs and subs myself, but there's a few things that I absolutely HAVE to watch subbed over dubbed, mostly in the vein of super robot shows. Gurren Lagann was a pleasant surprise for me, and it's actually mildly jarring to go back to the sub, but everything else...there's something about the emotion put into a screaming mecha protagonist. Getter Robo Armageddon can be absolutely hilarious to watch dubbed, not gonna lie there, but the sub...yeah, I prefer Ryoma's manly shouting in the original. That being said, I have my favorite English voice actors in the same way that many people have their favorite Japanese voice actors, but lately Super Robot Wars has introduced me to Kenichi Ono and Noboyuki Hiyama (the latter being, surprise surprise, Link from the Zelda series), so I guess I'm a bit of a mixture?

 

I can understand wanting to watch a series in your own language, though. Whatever is most comfortable for the viewer, to be honest. Just like how I won't let public opinion that one voice actor can ruin a show affect how I enjoy watching it.

 

J. Michael Tatum as best dark-haired, stoic protagonist, though.

 

 

Yeah, well, when it comes to translating dialogue from Japanese to English, it is understandable that some things are worded out differently, or as you said, things can be taken out of context, but for the most part, I think that Dubs work really well. I have nothing against Subs, as I find myself watching Subbed anime when I can't find them in English, and it's not a problem for me, but I just much rather prefer watching anime in English, ya know? But yeah, it's pretty interesting to see how the process makes each anime unique and different or horrible and criticized, ya know?

[IwasBornAsVentus 396]

Sometimes when I watch anime I just find dubs to be more creative with their voices. Just personal taste I guess but sometimes I find Japanese dub to sound the same. 
The exception however goes to when dubs soften or simplifies important dialogue from Japanse. 

 

Just out of curiosity is there any anime out there that have male characters with a higher pitch than the usual pitch that sounds so grown up? I'm thinking of a young adult sounding like a young teenager, in voice. Cause either it's something Ive missed or it's rather rare.