Dubbing is evil

Cafe Society
1

I just recently (recently as in a year or so ago) got into anime. I like it very much. Been into the games for longer, now just getting into the shows too. My favorite is Fushigi Yuugi, but I also like Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop.
I’ve only seen shows I can get from the library and from my friends, since I don’t get cartoon network. And I’m kind of glad I don’t get it, since I have decided that dubbing is evil. I have heard the dubbing for all three of those series, and they all suck.
Why is it all so bad??? Couldn’t they at least TRY to hire some decent voice actors? Every voice… every scene… is so flat and emotionless it is so stupid. They even change a lot of the words, making the characters say things that weren’t in the Japanese script. Is this some universal thing, all dubbing must be terrible? I vow to be a subtitles only person from now on.

Merla

2

Welcome, my friend, to the Dubbing Is Evil Club. I have dubbing because, as you’ve said, the dubbers change the script. Let me tell you, I’ve heard Pokemon is not at all for children in Japan. 'Course, I could be wrong. But I do know that in Digimon, there is a distinct relationship between Matt and Tai that is not in the dubbed version. o.O

It’s good to have you on our side.

3

I forgot to mention that the dubbing I hate the most is the dubbing in Final Fantasy X. I hate it because you don’t have a choice about whether you hear it or not, it just goes with the game. You can’t get a subtitled version. Tidus’s voice is so childish and stupid sounding! He sounds like a real doof.

Merla

4

I watch alot of fansubs so I’m not really used to seeing dubs. Not all dubs suck though, Cowboy Bebop was done pretty well IMO. But then I never saw the sub for that.

The Japanese language seems to add an extra layer of drama that doesn’t always come through as well in English.

5

The Japanese just use a better class of actor for the original production than typically are employed to supply voices for dubbed versions.

I have the entire run of Blue Seed on VHS tape. Two tapes are dubbed because I haven’t been able to find the subbed versions for them yet. I’d hate to think how Urusei Yatsura would come off dubbed into english.

A coupla weeks ago, I rented the DVD of Spirited Away, and was cheesed to see that they’d done such a lousy job of subtitling it-- it was very hard to read. It got so bad that I actually switched over to the dubbed version, thinking maybe it would be alright since they’d have put more effort into it for the theatrical release. Lasted about twenty seconds. What kind of voice direction did they get? “Remember, this is animation, so try to make your voice as grating and obnoxious as possible, okay?”

6

I watched “Das Boot” recently. The dubbed version has German officers talking with english accents. It was so bizzare that I could hardly pay attention to the movie, let alone follow the plot.

7

While a rare dub comes out that isn’t too bad - Cowboy Bebop or Nadesico were okay dubbed - what really irks me is the amount of stuff that gets edited and changed when they dub it. I just wish they would use voice actors of comparable skills to their Japanese counter parts. While Lisa Ortiz isn’t bad, she ain’t no Hayashibari Megumi.

8

I’m not a big anime expert, but I don’t hate dubs as much as many people. I thought the Cowboy Bebop dub was OK, didn’t mind Trigun much, and most of Hellsing was all right (I thought Crispin Freeman, Alucard’s English voice actor, did a pretty good job, though others disagree) This is just my opinion, please don’t flame m). My husband actually prefers dubs, and if its something my daughter can watch (e.g. Spirited Away) we watch the dub because she can’t follow the subtitles.

However in general I do not watch dubs if I have any choice. I always feel the same as has been stated here, that the English voice actors are just not at all comparable to the Japanese.

My personal opinion on Pokemon (having hung out on a Pokemon message board for years and learned a lot about the original vs. the dub) is that it is for kids even in Japan but there is a lot more latitude of what is OK for kids there. But yeah, because it’s televised it is quite changed by the time it hits the U.S. And though Pokemon is not the greatest example of anime, they actually have some excellent voice actors in Japanese, including Hayahshibara Megumi, so the product we see here doesn’t really compare to the original.

9

Don’t be so sure the dub is inferior to the original. Most anime has acting just as bad. You just don’t know it cause you can’t understand it. You just hear it as a sound, not speech.

And it is quite true that anime is distinctly sexually tinged - TeaRoses has it right. However, its not as acceptable over here, so they smooth it over. This isn’t to say it all gets taken out: Tenchi Muyo is a good example.

Of course, a lot fo the anime we get over here is the very best stuff; the smaller market means the crappy anime or often even the mediocre anime won’t be translated. This means that often the J-dub is from great Japanese voice actors, while the English dub, even if its very good, may nto quite click the same.

Regardless, translation issues aren’t really all they’re cracked up to be. You’re losing something in translation text or no.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people out there who decide they hate the dub watching older anime, which often was pretty poorly dubbed, since they had little money and no market.

Lastly, not everyone can flick their eyes around the screen like I can. I can read very fast, but I’ve missed quite a lot in some series because I’m trying to zip through the text while watching the action. Some people just cannot adjust.

So basically shove off, no one cares what you think, let us who like the dubs enjoy, you poser.

But here are some series that are perfectly dubbed:

Slayers! - (The English voice actors sometimes did their own take on the characters, notably Gourry and Amelia. They did change Zelgadiss’ voice halfway through, to Crispin Freeman (Alucard in Hellsing) and it was MUCH better.

Hellsing - Alucard dead sexy. Gimme hot vampire action.

Excel Saga - (Dear God, the poor actress who did Excel had to quite halfway through due to vocal strain. She was great.)

Cowboy Bebop - Simply the best, period. Actually, I think the English dub is notably superior to the Japanese.

Love Hina - I only started this one, but it looks like they;ve got the characters down pat.

10

Merla you are so so right, aargh his voice annoyed the bejesus out of me. I spent the first 15 minutes of the game eagerly trying to find the menu where I could turn off character voices, but to no avail.

11

The one I hate is the actor who does InuYasha’s lines in InuYasha (as seen on Adult Swim.) Jeezopete, that voice for that character really grates on me.

BTW, I got the Cowboy Bebop movie on DVD last night! Haven’t watched it yet though…

12

The thing that always gets me is that if anyone suggested to a Japanese or European person to watch American shows subtitled they’d think you were crazy.

Dubbing is the norm everywhere else but here a lot of people think it’s “evil.” I always found that funny.

13

Das Boot is an interesting case. The film was shot silent and all the sound was dubbed in later. Most of the principal actors performed their own voices in both the English and German versions. It’s often referred to as an example of how to do dubbing right. I agree that parts of it are a bit strange to watch, though.

The imdb trivia entry has several other interesting tidbits.

14

I prefer dubbing to subtitling in anime I’ve watched for three main reasons.

First, it can be distracting to try to watch the action and read the subtitles at the same time.

Second, sometimes I’ll have the tv on in the background, while I’m reading or something, so I’m not really paying attention to the show. If it’s dubbed, at least I can follow along.

Third, I don’t know Japanese, and it can be annoying to listen to something intended to be understood if you don’t understand it.

The way I see it, since I don’t know Japanese, I wouldn’t know if either the dubbing or the subtitling is faithful to the original. I don’t care much, though. The way I see it, I’m not watching the show because I want it to be like the original…I’m watching it because I want to enjoy it. And, if the English version makes sense and is fun to watch, that’s fine.

15

Put me down firmly in the subtitling camp.

My primarily complaint with dubbing is the amount of depth lost, rather than the grating quality of the voices. When a character’s parents get killed in front of him, the dubbed version sounds pathetically flat, like a high school drama club member reading from a script- “Oh no. Oh no. Not my parents. I’ll kill you.” For cowboy bebop or pokemon or dragonball z that’s fine, the characters generally don’t have much emotion anyway. But hearing evangelion or hack sign defiled like that makes me sad.

While I can see the point about subtitles being distracting and hard to follow if you aren’t paying close attention, the superior emotional communication and vocal inflection more than makes up for it when you are.

I recall hearing somewhere that american dubbing is done by taping each actor seperately then splicing them together, instead of all the actors in one room. I’d say that’s partly the cause of the “flat” feeling - every character sounds like they’re just reading from scripts instead of interacting. Which they are. That and better voice actors would be my suggestion.

16

One thing I DO like about dubbing is when the actors try and duplicate the japanese habit of making small noises almost constantly to show slight uncomfortableness.* Since americans don’t generally do it, it sounds like the voice actors are trying to lift something heavy in the background, or perhaps just grunting at each other.

*I’m not japanese, but this is the meaning I’ve given the habit. If any japanese people are reading this and would like to correct me, let me know.

17

In principle I don’t have a problem with dubs for animation but in practice the ones I have listened to have been distinctly inferior to the original so I stick to subs.

I disagree with the notion that you can’t gauge the quality of voice-acting if you don’t understand the language. A lot of voice-acting is about things like pitch, loudness and rythm which you can follow without knowing the language.

I think the big problem with American voice-acting is that animation is often considered a medium for children and there is a tendency towards going over-the-top and losing some of the subtlety.

Of course a lot of Japanese voice-acting is crap or mediocre but even if you compare the best with the best I don’t think American voice-acting measures up. For instance the American versions of Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Kiki’s Deliver Service ,which were made with well-known talent ,were simply not as good as the originals. For that matter I don’t think that the voice-acting in original American animated films is as good as the Studio Ghibli films.
Having said all this subtitles have their own problem obviously. Often they are neither complete nor accurate. And as mentioned above they distract from watching the visuals.

18

Until this last weekend I thought dubbing was a purely american vice. I understand dubbing for children but why would a literate adult want it?

This weekend I saw Road to Perdition dubbed to portuguese. It was evil? Why would a person that knows how to read want it? Why?

19

I used to watch dubs

Than i joined an anime club that showed mostly fan subs and the octional officaly released sub. After being there a while and going back and listening to my dubs i just couldn’t stand the dub anymore. There are some decent dubs but i just prefer subs.

If you watch anime subed constantly like 4 hours every Saturday i usually do you start to like subs

so IMHO subs are for hard core fans and not the guys who’ll watch something every one in a while

20

I’m fairly indifferent I suppose- I’m ok with either subs or dubs.

I will say however that the dub of Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal is much better than the sub in my opinion.