"Sub = Dub" We LIKE SUB ONLY Cause We CANT UNDERSTAND IT (Dub Retrospective)

You're partially right, at least for me. I watch most anime in sub because I prefer the acting. When watching in a language you don't understand, there is a certain disconnect between the acting and the actual lines. I read the context, but hear the emotion. What we don't focus on a lot is most of the subtitled lines we read are very stiff, straightforward and unnatural, making even the most emotional lines very expositionary to read. Perhaps this is just a translating issue or a speech pattern difference between cultures, but the fact is the lines we read would never fly in America. They're too awkward. We don't get that awkwardness in sub because of that disconnect. Because we don't know how the lines are actually said and how the words are fundamentally different (how they're heard in Japanese), all we can focus on is the inflections, tone and the emotion of the actor.

That's why dub gets the hate it does. Because we can actually hear the awkwardness of the lines. No one speaks like the lines of dialogue I see in anime. It's so janky and unnatural and that becomes apparent in dub. Sometimes it's bad acting, but a lot of it is because there is no natural way to say these lines. We just don't get that feeling from dub. That's why dubs that are praised, like Cowboy Bebop of Black Lagoon, get the praise they do, because they change the lines and sometimes alter the characters to better match the language they speak.

Think of if you watched the Star Wars prequels without knowing English. I think it'd be a lot more enjoyable.

@BadGuyBoog I wonder if whoever does the dubbing was to write a new script in each dubbed language and also focused on the sound quality and choosing great voices that fit the character images if I would want to watch a dubbed anime. My main issue is what you mentioned where the phrasing and the flow just doesn't work if they try to translate things perfectly, especially when saying things like onee-san it's hard to include all the connotations that that could have in english if they aren't focusing on what the original script wanted to imply. I also have found that some voices just really don't fit the characters I'm looking at but I haven't watched a lot of dubbed things so I'm not sure if that's common.
In regards to what OP says about loving dub if we didn't understand it I believe that if the anime makers who made the dubs put as much effort into making dubs as they did the original language that could be the case but since I don't feel like they usually do those of us who don't mind watching things with subtitles will probably just take the most reliably good quality option

I'm learning Japanese for 10 years now and what I can say is the more Japanese I understand, the more I like the subs. I won't go into why I think dubs suck, but as for the Japanese version only, understanding Japanese really boost your enjoyment of this version.

I prefer sub just because its weird watching japanese characters speak english with american accents. for the same reason i wouldnt watch something like ben 10 in spanish because itd be a white kid with a mexican accent speaking spanish

I prefer sub just because its weird watching japanese characters speak english with american accents. for the same reason i wouldnt watch something like ben 10 in spanish because itd be a white kid with a mexican accent speaking spanish

Anime is a pretty wild extreme medium and many dubs just arent.
when a character is supposed to sound like he just reached the lowest point in his life i want to taste that in my mouth while i listen to him .

i dont want him to sound like he just got bothered by something that ruined his day.

Japan puts a much bigger focus on their voice actors .

compare german movies with american movies .
how come so many german movies suck ass ? well there is no hollywood equivalent here so less talent is being found and less people go into that profession.

voice acting is the same.

also over the time ive been learning japanese now i just grew to appreciate the original more rather then less.

I feel like a lot of the time the dub voices don't match the character or sound cringy. I've heard Japanese and other dubs that had bad voice acting in them. It is harder to tell when a voice actor is doing a bad job when you can't understand the language, but there is also a lot more competition in voice acting in Japan which leads to higher quality voice acting.

There is also aesthetics of particular languages regardless of whether you can understand them or not. Japanese suits anime. There's also a lot of anime fans who will watched donghua dubbed into Japanese and then subbed into English because they prefer the way that Japanese sounds over Mandarin.

@CuteAssTiger

this is the issue, its case by case, you say you want to taste it, well there are dubbed scenes that i feel in my god damn soul:

https://youtu.be/muHZ3k0KPdU?si=pxOPSqNjD-MP8BuR


Apparently the guy actually broke down crying durring this scene. you don't get any better than this.

@Ionreallysleep what if the show isn't set in japan?

Not true. I understand Japanese and English and I can say with a high degree of certainty that sub is superior.

Dubbing in video games is amazing, Bayonetta, Nier, and many more, it's just anime receives the worst talents for dub.

@Yuu_Kanzaki used to be worse.
i think a huge part is really the amount of time that goes into searching and developing talent.
Japan seems to be way more serious about voice acting .

i mentioned it in another comment but German TV/movie productions tend to be kinda shit . thats because we just dont have something like hollywood . less people pursue this kind of profession.

i feel its similar with dubs vs the original . voice acting in japan seems to be much more serious/bigger then it is in the west.

@APolygons2 im gonna avoid this for spoilers but i dont doubt there are good performances in dub . but they are more the exception while in the original they are the norm.
i think the time of truly awful dubs is over.
back in the day when anime was kinda small they didnt get outstanding voice actors most of the time .
They are better these days because there is a bigger focus on anime . but its not as big as it is in japan .
like they have actual TV shows that are just about inviting voice actors to perform scenes on tv xD
They have stage performances of jojo voice acting. Its kinda huge there.

Sure there are good examples but those are exceptions rather then the norm.

There are also some old anime that have really nice dubs . death note and code geass for example sound good in the 3 versions that ive seen.

alot of shows not set in japan still usually have a japanese main character atleast what ive watched has

@CuteAssTiger honestlg nevermind the debate, how the hell have yoy watched 700+ anime and never seen steins;gate?

WHAT?


.... you gotta watch it man.



on the discussion note tbough... yes i can see how one can argue thay the average quality of all subbred a anime is above all of dubbed anime. specially if we include some older shows.

but i feel like that is a super pointless way kf looking at it, it should be a case ny case thing.

I can name dozens of shows that prefer the dub of, so its not like they are so far off each other now days to not even be comparable.

its like cartoon vs anime

sure if you really sit down and argue you can probably make an argument on what js better on average.... BUT WHO CARES?

it shouldn't matter. what matters is how good any singular dub/sub is, not their collective average.

@Wi11ow13 I feel dubs try real hard based on the budget they get and people are really hard on them