Is English dub really that good? Why do people keep being hyped over new dubbs?

obvious_troll said:

But the percentage you mentioned is too low. 2.5% means out of 100, 2 shows have good dub. Nowadays the percentage is a lot higher.

Also if you are watching original dub and rely on subtitles. Subtitles translation can be shit as well. So if you truly want to experience original learn the language which I doubt a lot of people have patience to do.

Steiner1411 said:


It isn't a weeb thing, but there are high chances of you becoming a weeb if you watch subs

DaCraziGuy said:
No, you become a weeb when you say some random japanesse word in every sentence

DaCraziGuy said:

1 - Subs tend to be a lot more accuarate compared to dubs... a LOT.
2 - You can get most of the mistakes if you know the language enough.
3 - NO, THEY ARE NOT BETTER THAN BEFORE
4 - you are dumb

Varris said:
Dubs tend to be pretty hit or miss. Dubs can be absolutely amazing (Baccano, Fate/Zero, Code Geass) or they can be trash. Most of the time they're trash but hearing a really good dub in a really good anime is an amazing experience.

Malkshake said:
It depends on the anime. Some I only watch dubbed and others I only watch subbed. With some anime, I have no preference either way.

I do like dubs mainly because I don't have to stare at the bottom of the screen or pause the episode to read the longer sentences before they go away. I'm pretty lenient on voice acting as long as it's not horrible or annoying

The main reason why I usually watch subs over dubs is because of Crunchyroll, but I'll usually watch the dub when they have it.

DaCraziGuy said:
Imo there are 5 reasons for watching a dubbed anime:

1 - The subbed version has a much worse video quality.
2 - You are still a kid.
3 - You are pretty blind.
4 - You don't know how to read well.
5 - You are dumb.
Extra: It's one of those really weird and rare shows with an actuall decent dub and it can be compare to the original (2.5% aprox).

DaCraziGuy said:
1 - Subs tend to be a lot more accuarate compared to dubs... a LOT.
2 - You can get most of the mistakes if you know the language enough.
3 - NO, THEY ARE NOT BETTER THAN BEFORE
4 - you are dumb

obvious_troll said:
Just read my signature first line.

obvious_troll said:

Same here. actually I didn't vote. Also I believe I am one of the few people that can switch from dub to sub or vice versa and not get annoyed by voice actor changing. At max it takes 1~2 episodes to get used to. For MHA I jumped from dub to sub since simul dub ended. I didn't feel anything odd during and after the transaction.

GlennMagusHarvey said:
Now just why do people have to word things in incendiary ways, riling up emotions in the process...?

For starters:

Speak for yourself; I tend (albeit not always) to get a more immersive experience from a dub.

And for the follow-up:
1 - accuracy to the Japanese script isn't as important as a cohesive, fluent script, for me.
2 - I don't know Japanese.

and lol at the last reasons in both lists

Sucks for you; I disabled signature display. :D

Steiner1411 said:


How can you not find Johnny Bosch Young good?

obvious_troll said:
That is not always the case. Loss in translation still happens in subs.

obvious_troll said:
Though you can argue that for sub they can literally translate everything and have no issue. For dubs it is hard. You have to match syllables and context. Like in Steins;Gate main character tries to speak broken English but fails. That joke can be translated directly to sub but would not work in dub at all.

obvious_troll said:
Also lets say you are watching dbz. DBZ isn't that deep or has cultural meaning behind when compared to shows like samurai champloo. So dub would completely work for dbz like shows and may or may not work shows like samurai champloo.

obvious_troll said:

JoJo sub is amazing. Dub is good but sub is iconic lvl.

Dub does have ZA WARDUDO or Road Roller da
Same goes for Joseph Engrish.

WatchTillTandava said:


Yes, but I addressed this. Rarely can things be translated literally 1:1 from one language to another and most sub watchers I've heard from understand this fully, but there isn't anywhere near the same prevalence of random stuff stemming from localizations crudely thrown in there in the way that seems to infect dubs.



Context yes, but I wish they wouldn't bother trying to match the syllables to mouth movements. To some it might be a visual annoyance or distraction, but I consider it vastly preferable to have more directly translated dialogue than worry about what's going on with the characters' lips.



I can't speak about Dragonball Z in an informed manner because I've only seen a tiny handful of episodes of it 15 years ago, but I will say that I think the only context in which dubbing could work for me is when:

A) It's for entertainment aimed at a children's audience that effectively wants to blend in with Western animation and not distinguish itself

B) Something I watched as a kid or for the first time at any age in dub. For me, that was mostly as a kid and mostly before I knew there even was a thing called anime.

These two points often coincide. To this day, the only dubs I can watch and not cringe are for the original Pokemon Indigo League episodes I started watching at 8 years-old and Spirited Away, my first Ghibli and anime film in general. With the latter, I was in high school the first time I saw it and by that point, knew what anime was and that the film was Japanese, but happened to see it first in dub.

Like I said in my first post though, I can understand the argument for it more if the anime has an American setting or setting of another English-speaking country (even just generic West/old Europe isn't as bad), but I abhor when they want to shove Southern country colloquialisms and surfer dude slang on people that are supposed to be 16th century shrine miko in Hokkaido or something outlandishly incongruent like that. And it seems far too frequent an occurrence in the dubbing world. Localizations kill the art and even kill the entertainment value as something I can care enough to be engaged in, in my opinion.

HopefulNihilist said:
Whereas in English dubbed anime, girls sound way older than they are, which is hot.

GlennMagusHarvey said:
Sidenote: for some reason I sometimes wonder if I like the art of girls in anime series from the 00s on average more than the art of girls in anime series from the 10s, and if this is the case, whether it's because the girls in anime series from the 00s on average look more mature.

FMmatron said:
Not a eng dub hater, in fact there were some instances where I the watched the English or German dub and I liked it, but then there are also hilariously bad dubs

ReaperCreeper said:
>Implying this example is bad
Please, it's amazing.

SwatKat1990 said:
This topic has been ran into the dirt time and time again... I'm a dub person because subs get in the way of my viewing experience.

GlennMagusHarvey said:
I actually watch both dubs and subs, but when you force a dichotomous choice like this, then I'll pick dubs in my native language since I tend to get more out of them.

I had the reverse experience with Asterisk War and with Four Rhythm. When I first watched them with Japanese audio, they were okay, but when I rewatched them with English audio, I got a lot more enjoyment (as well as little details) out of the experience.

I can't speak for French dubs, nor even for English dubs that I haven't watched. Also FWIW sometimes I choose Japanese audio over English audio (such as in the case of Chaika and Kannazuki no Miko).

Well, for starters, I disagree with the opinion that watching in the original language is better. In two ways: I'm not necessarily concerned with "understanding the vision of the creators" as much as I simply want a coherent story that I can enjoy; I can read up on the creators' vision and appreciate that later, and that's something I like to do, but I believe the work should stand on its own. And (perhaps more importantly) in my opinion the best way to understand the experience of a person who natively speaks a given language, without learning that language itself, is to get the meaning of their experiences, rather than merely the script to those experiences.

It's not because I can't read subtitles; I mentioned that I watch both subs and dubs. (Occasionally, at the same time, as in I have the dub audio going and a different sub track going.)

It's that I want to be able to hear the voices actually reciting the script. Simply reading the words in text and having non-understood speaking sounds accompany them is an acceptable experience, but when I get to hear the voices, their lines have the potential to be far more powerful, far more memorable, far more impactful. For me, a dub can bring the story to life more effectively than a sub can. (Doesn't mean a sub can't succeed at this, but it does mean that I'm more likely to very much enjoy a dub than to very much enjoy a sub.

Whether they are professionals doesn't really matter to me, as long as their work is effective, which I think it by and large is.

I think they don't make as much impact for you because (1) they're not in your native language (which I presume is French), while they are for me, and (2) you may already have ideas of how anime characters "should" sound and dub voices may not match those ideas. (For example, maybe you enjoy the squeaky cute girl voice that shows up more often in Japanese voice acting. Meanwhile, that trope happens to be not something I really like. This is of course a matter of personal taste.)

I've heard some western anime fans say they enjoy anime because it's different from their usual experiences; for them, it may very well be the case that Japanese sounds better because it's foreign to them and thus different. (This is not my perspective on anime, but obviously different fans have different tastes.)

These two questions presume that (American English) dubs are somehow inherently "bad", which they are not. Rather, it's simply a matter of preference.

You can get different things out of a dub vs. a sub. Which things people value more depends on the person in question.

ISOQuorra said:

Well first of all, there's nothing wrong with wanting to hear a piece of media in your own native language. I don't see how that could be seen as bad taste in any way whatsoever. Plus I doubt that people growing up with anime would even care about the quality of the voice actors they were hearing. Also how come it's so unexpected for there to be fans of dubbed media? It makes perfect sense for people to enjoy that; some people just don't like hearing things in a different language. I just don't see that as a valid argument against dubs.

I do, however, understand your first point about wanting to enjoy something in the original language. And you've admitted that you don't hate dubs (at least not explicitly), so I'm going to believe you don't have any strong personal reasons for preferring subs, other than the reason you have stated.

But as for which is better? That honestly depends on the person.

For those that prefer dubbed over subbed, they have their justifications: as previously stated - not wanting to watch something in a different language. I see this one as the most reasonable. There's no need to push someone to be comfortable hearing things in a different language. Not wanting to read. You mentioned this one and while I don't agree it's due to laziness I won't deny that it is easier to process. But I don't really see this as a strong reason for dubs unless you are someone who can't actually read that fast or that well, or if the show in question has a lot of fast-paced action. Not liking the sound of the Japanese voice actors. This relates back to my first point but whether it's something like actual tone of the voice or something more subtle like delivery I think this is a valid point as well. You can argue whether or not the voice fits the character design or whatever but the difference in voice is the reason I can't switch languages mid-series. The dubbed cast is better. Purely subjective argument, so it doesn't have much weight to me.

Again, those that prefer subbed also have their points: as you stated - wanting to enjoy something in the original language. This is fine as long as it's from a standpoint of wanting to understand the original version, instead of a place of superiority. The original language is better. I don't accept this, as it's as subjective as can be. You can say things like better delivery and more personality if you want, but you can't just say something is better just because it is. Not liking/hearing the dub. I honestly don't understand this one. You talk to people and go about your life speaking and hearing your own native language. Why is it terrible all of a sudden to hear in a TV show? I get it if the performance isn't that good for a show or something, but you can't generalize that to every single show. It's more accurate than translated dubs. I understand this one. Anything that is dubbed has to be translated, and things are sometimes written or delivered differently, not to mention things might end up being changed or omitted for cultural reasons (though, unless you can understand the native language flawlessly, subtitles are still translations, albeit more accurate ones). Dubs aren't readily available. I'm behind this one, as it's the reason I prefer subbed for airing anime.

I think the only thing you can do is say which you prefer, but not which is objectively better. They both have their merits as well as their flaws.

Animxee said:
I wish there a vote for "Both" because personally I like both. I'd rather not choose one over the other. Sure there are a few bad dubs out there, but I find most of them to be good. So I can't really vote because I like both of them

GERXjakobson said:
I watched a lot of Eng Dubs and they are not that good. The latest experience
of a dub was the first Episode of YuYu Hakusho I saw because the Dub is
pretty hyped and I thought it was gross for ears and brain and switched to the Sub
version immediately.

HopefulNihilist said:
Because Japanese voice actresses sound incredibly obnoxious. Take Kanon 2009 for instance: the girls in the Japanese version sound like 5 year old girls. How does nobody find this annoying? Whereas in English dubbed anime, girls sound way older than they are, which is hot.

HopefulNihilist said:


But that's the thing though: so many female anime characters in Japanese sound like pre-pubescent children.

WatchTillTandava said:


From the shows I've watched they mostly just sound like a heightened version of a lot of Japanese women speaking in real life who often come across to Western ears by the way many of them compose themselves as slightly more delicate, softer-spoken, feminine, and younger than their actual biological age than their Western counterparts, and many men find that an attractive and compelling feature; not literal children though. I don't watch any real zany over-the-top comedy or ecchi series though, so that may be the case in there, but not in more serious dramatic shows.

obvious_troll said:


1. That is complicated because in dub you have to match syllables and context. Like in Steins;Gate main character tries to speak broken English but fails. That joke can be translated directly to sub but would not work in dub at all.
2. Okay
3. Yes. Just watch NGE movie dub or watch new Code Geass movie and compare them to original series. They are a lot livelier. I straight up hated NGE old dub and Code Geass was also so so. Just shouting what you said early won't make it come true.
4. Really is that the best you can say? I disagree so must be stupid and dumb. Just read my signature first line.

GlennMagusHarvey said:
Now just why do people have to word things in incendiary ways, riling up emotions in the process...?

For starters:

Speak for yourself; I tend (albeit not always) to get a more immersive experience from a dub.

And for the follow-up:
1 - accuracy to the Japanese script isn't as important as a cohesive, fluent script, for me.
2 - I don't know Japanese.

and lol at the last reasons in both lists

Sucks for you; I disabled signature display. :D

Steiner1411 said:


Exactly, this is what I'm talking about, you wont see dub watchers doing this

DaCraziGuy said:
Well, if you have that problem you should try to practice reading a bit more...

DaCraziGuy said:
the last time I watched a dub by my own will was at 13 yo, I compared a lot of dubs vs subs and I couldn't believe how they butchered the scripts (Not only in anime, in every media happens the same).

Accuracy is the most important thing, especially if you like shows with dense dialogs as me. Having them butchered, having a totally different meaning and sometimes, even completly changed is a fking sin.

DaCraziGuy said:
besides that almost every "dubber" in every language tend to be worse than the original.