Why do you like English dubs?

SaberRitsu said:
I'll never understand dub haters. One of the arguments they use (To cover up the fact that they're just massive weeaboos) is that they just watch everything in its original language.

XTApocalypse said:


(Except they don't. They watch it translated into English, same as us. In order to watch it in its original language, they'd have to speak Japanese.)

wisetaner said:
Second is that I have comes across a few animes that in the subbed version just piss me off, the Japanese voice actors just sound much to passive and the dialog is annoying. Where as in the English dubbed version the dialog and the voice actors have a much stronger presence and the dialog comes across as witty and sarcastically comical.

gamer2710 said:
The question shouldn't be why we like dubs; that is a given. The real question is, why do we have to justify our opinion to those Sub Zealots who don't listen to reason due to their preconceived notions?

Lalaberri said:
We have had to have this argument/discussion so much that We have crafted what We like to think is a near solid defense of our apparent needed-to-be-defended preference...buckle your seatbelts:

The unfortunate truth is that MOST 'subs rock, dubs suck' crusaders are mindless bandwagoning drones. When they got into the otaku universe they were influenced by a certain environment and came to know that the way to be 'cool' and to 'fit in' was to watch subtitled anime because its so much more original and authentic and uncensored. They have been taught this upon entry, we cannot fully blame them. Its like if your meeting someone for the first time through a friend and your friend tell you before you actually meet that "He's a dick", no matter what that person says or how seemingly reasonable and non-dickish he is, you have now been fed a prejudice that is hard to shake, and most don't try to shake it, they keep it with them and solidify it and spread it to others. This is how most prejudice in this world is spread and taught. Now... before we continue...people tend to glance over words so let us reiterate that this only applied to the Sub Crusaders we all know and love that swear that every dub sucks simply because they exist. To the credit of this inane argument dubs used to have a decent percentage of suckage (We'd say random percentage between 30-40%) when anime first became prevalent in the US and censorship ran rampant in the 90s into the early 2000s. As a dub lover we can admit this, it was very hit and miss then. As a generous historical estimate this general time of post ~2002 we believe this began to change. The 'cheesy' dubs of the 90s began to be replaced by dubs done by VA's who have matured their craft, censorship began to decrease and the video quality of English releases began to increase somewhat (this will always be an issue). Compounded on top of that, shows dubbed post 2005 we have been hard pressed to find many that have not ranged from 'acceptable to all' to 'pure excellence' and this partially due to the bankruptcy of American companies and the decline of US sales, US companies began to give fans more of what they wanted and that is better dubs so they can be influenced against fansubs and uncensored anime. Shows ripe with nudity like Queen's blade and others that include certain taboos (remember One Piece's first dub of Sanji's cigarette turned lollipop?) or violence that are uncensored and dubbed today would not have had a place in the US before. So now uncensored anime isn't the issue and is only done so on TV broadcast and not on video releases as they once were, and the overall quality of the dubbing process has increased, has this changed anything in the minds of the Sub Crusaders? Nope.

Fast forward to why we like dubs, its rather simple in nature. We don't speak Japanese. Yup that's how it starts, but it goes deeper than that. Since we don't speak Japanese not only do we not understand it logistically, it is phonetically a very different language (unlike a language like Spanish) therefore, things like tone, inflections, ACCENTS, nuance, sarcasm and linguistic detail will largely be lost and wasted on a non-speaker. Think of how you hear a person who 'doesn't speak English' as their native tongue when they try to speak to you and how they comprehend, it is a very basic block like form of the language and they don't understand all the detailed curvature of the language. Also note that is a person who has enough understanding to speak English to a person that is a native speaker, unlike the "Sub Crusaders" who overwhelmingly speak not a lick of conversational Japanese. We can understand and comprehend all that was intended to be so in a proper translation with spoken English vs plain text that not only doesn't have a definitive version (translation varies between sub groups) but can and often does miss all of that juicy nuance. Why would I want to watch something that doesn't have a definitive version, where from person to person we only get "the general idea" and not a specified spoken version everyone agrees on and can share that experience through?

Also in regards of the art of voice acting. We love it, we adore it. To bring a character to life through just vocals is an art within itself, and this is a recognized and award winning art, not simply to be dismissed as "because it exists, it sucks". These same Sub Crusaders will happily watch American cartoons, cgi animated movies and any other sort of animation where the same Voice Acting art is a necessity and find no fault with it, but when applied to Anime its suddenly an arm flailing offense. Sub crusaders NEVER would dare watch a show done in their native language (for poops and giggles lets say Family Guy), say "these guys voices suck" and go on to obtain a foreign dubbed version and watch with English subtitles, or mute their TV's and turn on closed captioning. If you wouldn't do any of these, why suddenly when it comes to anime do you suddenly have this raving urge to view in a language you neither speak nor understand and read it in your native language along the bottom. Deny if you like but you can never be as immersed in something doing this, there are two barriers impeding your potential complete enjoyment.

Who's opinion is valid here in these arguments? Not the self righteous sub crusader. But there are a few. There are the people who's sole reason are that they don't speak Japanese and don't want to hear something they don't understand and read something they do when they can do the opposite. Then there are the people who speak and understand fluently both Japanese and English. They are the only people who can honestly say one is better than the other if that is to be the debate, because they have the ability to evaluate equally between languages. Ever notice how you'll never hear a Sub Crusader say a sub sucks (not the translation but the voice acting)? Because they have no knowledge to say so. They would have no idea if a Japanese voice actor sucked or not. None. Its statistically impossible that ALL Japanese voice actors are great and somehow their English equivalents somehow lack the ability to act behind a microphone (also remembering that VAs doing non-anime are somehow universally acceptable). To native the majority of Japanese speakers a show could have a terrible Jap dub and Sub Crusaders would be puffing out their chest beating the drum of superiority, because it is in Japanese. They watch in something they cannot understand and claim its better than something they can understand. The only realm of our world I can excuse that making sense in is music, for music is universal.

All of that being said, we are not a hater of subs. We are a hater of the ignorance that follows the topic. Subs are fine for shows that aren't dubbed, for you have no option. We believe subtitles exist for the purpose of their creation: to aid in understanding a video in which the language of your understanding is not available and not to cling to for a feeling of superiority and elitism. We do understand and note those who have open minds about the subject and still would like to watch subs, and also those who do it for immersion purposes, this is not a blind rant without understanding. Also do not misunderstand, we are not saying all dubs are great and perfect and everyone must like them, we are just exposing the ill logic of the closed-mindedness of the Sub Crusaders. So far we only have one dub that we hate that we can openly recall, but even if we hate a dub, we can understand it.

P.S. First post, We're new!(group and site) Check us out and possibly friend us! xD

XTApocalypse said:
Feels like there should be a period or two somewhere in there.

SwatKat1990 said:
Because watching subbed anime is like looking at a beautiful sculpture with a great big juice stain on it

XTApocalypse said:


(Except they don't. They watch it translated into English, same as us. In order to watch it in its original language, they'd have to speak Japanese.)

JakeJenMiller said:
Hello ^_^ Well, the reason why I love watching dubs more than subs is because 1.) they're a hell lot easier to follow!! And to understand! I'm glad that I don't have to read the freaking subtitles everytime. I can't watch and read at the same time when watching subs. -.-" another reason why I prefer dubs is because there are plenty of decent and flawless voice actors that can voice the characters just as good as the original Japanese casts. :D

Jerry Jewell, Travis Willingham, Kieth Silverstein, Vic Mignogna, Johnny Yong Bosch, Steven Blum, etc are REALLY talented as the characters they voice in anime. And who can forget that famous line for the voice actor of Vegeta? "It's OVER NINE THOUSAND!" XD

Ginkoart said:


For me as well XD.

Well primarily I feel subtitles take away from the viewing experience to an extent, and I don't have to switch back and forth between what is occurring on screen and reading (unless it's subtitles featured on the opening/ending credits, but otherwise I prefer dubs).

I understand that most anime fans prefer subs, but why do most seem to believe that the U.S. has no good voice actors? It feels like it's mostly people who never grew up with American animation at all, and thus just can't adjust to English voice acting. And you guys are nuts if you think Funimation voice actors suck.

I really do not hear anything wrong with most English dubs whatsoever. In fact, a few series I enjoy so much BECAUSE I thought the voice acting was excellent (Clannad in particular comes to mind). On the other hand, I find that almost all Japanese voice actors sound alike and I can't really differentiate between them.

Additionally, subtitles are usually marred by language barriers. They read like Japanese script translated to English, rather than English script meant for an English reader. Phrases such as "more importantly" and "it can't be helped" probably are normal in Japan, but in the English language the normal English speaker does not use these types of phrases often if at all. This makes it difficult for me to enjoy subtitles, honestly, because it's not believable reading an English script when it was so obviously made for Japanese culture. This isn't a criticism of Japanese culture; the Japanese culture is why I enjoy anime to begin with, but the culture of the language simply doesn't transition well when directly translated the way subs do it.

Official dubs, however, realize that the script needs to fit an English audience. They leave the intention of the original script in tact, but alter it enough to make it conform to the culture of the English language. Then awkward phrases such as that "more importantly" topic transition just becomes "anyway" (or something to that effect) - a topic transition that English speakers actually use. This makes it more believable and allows me to immerse myself into the anime more.

But the main reason I prefer dubbed to subbed is simply because it's difficult to pay attention to what's going on in the anime when I have to read subtitles too.

As a side note, being that the majority of anime are based on a manga, there's no reason to believe the seiyuu are "the way the characters were meant to sound by the creator," unless the mangaka himself picked out the seiyuu for the anime... based on what I know of how involved a mangaka usually is in the production of his manga's anime adaption, I find it very unlikely that he picks out the seiyuu himself.

Hypeathon said:
Why do I like English dubs?

Well, when I first watched english dubs in anime, I never had a problem with it. I noticed some odd dialogue in some shows that were more kid-oriented, and over time, I realized how silly they were. That being said, I didn't mind hearing dubs as I grew up with hearing them. And I don't really mind hearing anime in it's original audio either.

However recently I wondered about why dubs would be good to listen to if say one were to buy DVDs. What I like about what dubs can do is that as far as distributing anime titles to the states is that depending on the dub itself, you can get a good, and even distinct experience compared to Japanese audio with subtitles. Voice directors, script writers, and actors can modify the dialogue to make the experience of hearing the characters talk sound more entertaining and it's still more or less the same experience as with the subs. For example, Crispin freeman at a convention once mentioned about a part in Haruhi where Kyon meets the adult Asahina and she exposed her breasts and the script originally said "they're huge!" He thought a better line could be done than that, so he inputted in "super size me!" Another example was during a part in Bleach where Ichigo met all the Vizards and Johnny saw a line where Ichigo said "no way!" Thought it didn't sound like something he would just say and then changed the line to "bite me!"

There are other examples too like Welcome to the NHK, Nabari no Ou, Big Windup, SGT Frog and what-not where lines were altered to sound more distinctive. I mean, if people want a dub to be outright faithful, then that's what the subs are for. I think dubs are meant to (unless otherwise) to basically capture the same experience as you would in susbtitles while still being uniquely entertaining. There might be instances where dubs can't do that like shows with jokes that are untranslatable through dubs, or maybe the lines in some anime don't sound that obvious and don't need to be altered in dubs. Other than that, dubs can provide a distinct but more-or-less similar etertainment.

Not only that but where the voices themselves sounded more distinctive, which is something else I like about many dubs. I like how with certain anime shows either the dub makes the characters sound more appropriate like with the Key visual dramas, or the actors challenge and adjust their voice to sound like a whole different character in personality. I think people who find characters to be "mis-casted" in dubs aren't aware of how the other roles those actors have played in comparison.

Case in point, a lot of people found Brittney Karbowski as Black Star from Soul Eater to be not that masculine. And while I can agree compared to other actors, it wasn't until after I heard some of Brittney's other roles like Ayu from Kanon, Himeko from Pani Poni Dash, and Apis in One Piece that I looked back into Himeko as Black Star and realized, "wow! Compared to Brittney's other roles, Black Star does sound pretty masculine!" Speaking of Brittney, I wonder how she's been doing since her car accident? Hope she's recovering steadily.

GEO9875 said:
And 3. Liberal Subs. Horrible Weeabo subs as i like to call them are the subs which leave in as much japanese as possible. These can range in between Honorifics, Some Words like One-chan, Oni-chan (Brother and Sister) Itadakimasu (Either Thanks for the Meal or I accept this meal ect) These problems with subs used to only be found in very crappy fansubs, however im seeing this incident more and more often as the days go by official companies sub. (Crunchyroll im looking at you)

TL;DR: Prefer Dubs hate liberal subs and i admire the work most companies but in it.

Zadion said:
Additionally, subtitles are usually marred by language barriers. They read like Japanese script translated to English, rather than English script meant for an English reader. Phrases such as "more importantly" and "it can't be helped" probably are normal in Japan, but in the English language the normal English speaker does not use these types of phrases often if at all. This makes it difficult for me to enjoy subtitles, honestly, because it's not believable reading an English script when it was so obviously made for Japanese culture. This isn't a criticism of Japanese culture; the Japanese culture is why I enjoy anime to begin with, but the culture of the language simply doesn't transition well when directly translated the way subs do it.

XTApocalypse said:
I'm still pretty confident that 95% of cases where people claim that a subtitled voice cast is "absolutely superior" to a dub is because the sub came out sooner, they watched the sub first, and they then had a model for what the characters were "supposed" to sound like that the dub did not match with its own original cast.

Zalis said:
While I do know Japanese to a good extent and generally prefer watching subbed, I like dubs because they offer a different approach to a series, and a way to keep shows fresher when rewatching. After seeing Ghost Stories and some other heavily rewritten dubs, I found that "different from the Japanese" did not have to mean "worse," and that good dub rewrites could save otherwise mediocre shows from being utterly lame.

And after meeting some dubbing company reps, directors, and VAs, I eventually realized that they're not all evil hellbeasts dead set on censoring and ruining anime forever and ever. Thus, following the work of industry figures I've met or seen at conventions has become another reason to seek out dubs.

Um, what? Liberal subs tend to be freer with the translation and try to be more natural in English, perhaps localizing honorifics and other Japanese expressions. Perhaps you're looking for "literal" subs, which do cater to weeaboos. Real liberal subs are often much closer to what you might find in a dub script.

The language barrier is an issue, to be sure, but imo sufficiently liberal subs can salvage things. In the subs I create, I aim for "liberal but unlocalized." While I use honorifics, Eastern name order, untranslated sibling terms and a few other Japanese flavorings, I try to keep the overall writing more natural and varied -- trying to avoid cookie-cutter translations of cookie-cutter Japanese scriptwriting. Some subs do that and localize as well, though subs are still limited by the need to have some relation to what the Japanese dialogue says. (Not that that stops some groups from shameless rewrites.) Of course, dub dialogue is primarily limited by the broader outlines of the characters, the story, and the visuals, so it can get away with more and be more entertaining as an English-language viewing experience.

The real rule is that for most people "first audio track wins." That's why even relatively dub-averse people will still admit to liking dubs for shows that got wide exposure on English-language or whatever-language TV. Somehow, they believe that those dubs are the only good dubs out there, as if they were made in a vacuum by people who worked on those dubs and never worked on anime again.