Same here; I saw it subtitled in a large cineplex.
I can’t stand dubbing. I once accidentally rented the dubbed version of Cinema Paradiso. I watched maybe 10 minutes of the movie before ejecting it in disgust. The voice actors were all using this distracting, overdone faux Italian accent that was driving me up a wall. I understand it’s an Italian movie and all, but why in the hell would you want to imitate an Italian accent in the dub? It’s not like dubbed Chinese movies have Chinese accents and dubbed German movies have German accents. Bizarre.
One more factor, I wonder how much of the market for dubbed translations has been limited by the fact that many a successful foreign film might be remade in an American/Hollywood version, such as Ring, Grudge?
Speaking as someone who mainly watches anime, I have to say that I generally prefer dubs when they’re done decently well. I went through a short phase where I prefered subtitles, then realised that dubs are easier to watch. I think of it this way–if it’s dubbed you’re watching with your eyes and listening with your ears. If it’s subbed, you also have to listen with your eyes. You may get a bit better sense of what is going on, but it is much harder to follow what is going on on-screen. Which reminds me, I need to re-watch Innocence sometime, I feel I missed half of it for just that reason. I don’t mind subtitles, but I sometimes have to watch something twice to get the full feel of what’s going on.
That said, some dubs suck. In that case, hand me the originals, please. Although with the advent of DVDs, it’s often as easy as switching the audio tracks. Gotta love technology.
On what makes a good dub–I (apparently) can handle bad acting, at least to a point. I never found any problem with the Ranma 1/2 dubs. On the other hand, I hate watching anything dubbed by 4Kids, partly because of bad acting and partly because they’re not that faithful to the originals. I need my dubs to work with the rest of the show. Part of that is making sure they sound good, but part of that is also not altering anything more than necessary. That second part isn’t as noticible, but when it happens you can tell.
Larry Mudd
I can’t speak for Dr. Ken, but my reason for not minding dubbed anime so much is that it doesn’t “look” cheesy. They’re animated lips as opposed to human lips and they can get away with the dub. As I mentioned before I enjoy the original Japanese but I also agree that translation and performance is lacking in dubs.