| I will only watch a dub if that's the only thing available, which was most of the time many years ago. Or if there are extenuating circumstances where the dub is (ever so rarely) superior to the original language a title was created in. It's hard to translate subtle emotional tones in different languages. There's always compromises have to be made. |
Reply to LSSJ_Gaming
These days not really. A lot of the dubbing practices of old that people have grievances with such as character name changes, visual edits, episodes being cut, music being replaced, and toning down of various elements are very rarely if ever done these days. Here are a list of pros and cons for both methods of watching anime for english speakers
Either way there are tradeoffs no matter what you watch. Unless you have good listening comprehension in Japanese and can watch raw, you are inherently going to lose something no matter what, whether you watch in dub or with subtitles. I'd say the tradeoffs are pretty equivalent between both formats, especially for newer titles so it mostly just boils down to preference or mood. For me I actually watch both and may rewatch shows in dub after watching them subtitled first. They both have their merits and ultimately you can't fully go "purist" unless you learn the Japanese language and watch Raw since that is the only real way to get the unfiltered full scope of any Japanese show. Or you could just do a funny and watch dub with Japanese closed captions
- +Most of the times it has the original audio track without any edits
- +99% of the time has unedited footage
- +Doesn't need to worry about matching the lip flaps as much, only needing to make sure that the subtitles start at the frame a character starts talking
- +Quicker access to shows as some dubs will take a bit longer to release, or may not even get dubbed at all.
- -Character Per Line and Second Limits can cause the need for truncation in some instances to make sure all the information in the dialogue fits with minimal loss in tone or information
- -Obstruct the screen a little bit. While this is minor in the grand scheme of things, it will lead to the viewer losing out on a bit of visiual information and focusing a bit extra on the bottom third of the screen than intended
- -Can affect dramatic and comedic timing of lines as the viewer may read the lines faster than they are intended.
- -Comedy is much harder to translate in subtitles due the prior issue, as well as the need to adapt jokes into English as well
- -Some older shows made on film have heavily degraded audio in official releases of the Japanese version of these shows. This seems to mostly be a Toei animation problem
- -Some series may have inconsistent subtitles between the show itself and other media, such as the Dragon Ball franchise where the subtitles are a bit more purist in their localization choices compared to the video games which use terminology more in line with the dub, and the English manga which uses its own unique localization completely separate from the dub and subbed anime.
- -For shows not officially licensed, fansubs may vary in quality and terminology used. They can also use unprofessional practices like leaving entire words untranslated when an equivalent phrase exists in English, or cluttering up the screen with translator notes that obstruct the visuals and break character per line and second rules.
Subtitled Anime
- +No on screen obstructions due to everything being spoken out loud.
- +Timing of comedic or dramatic elements are not broken
- +Jokes tend to be rewritten to better fit the English language, which can lead to viewers being more likely to laugh in the same spots that Japanese viewers would since our languages inherently have different humor especially when wordplay is involved.
- +Some shows have an alternate audio commentary track in their physical releases where the cast will watch an episode and give insight on elements of the dubbing process. This is a great way to rewatch some shows you've already seen to get an insight onto the localization process without being distracting like translation notes. This is a rather common thing in the West with film and cartoons, so it is a fun thing to check out on dubs.
- English dubs tend to have a more natural flow with how they are translated due to needing to be spoken out loud.
- -Especially in newer shows there can be inconsistency in singing scenes, as sometimes scenes where a character sings may not be dubbed. A great example of this would be the 2021 Shaman King remake where the songs sung by BoZ were left undubbed, while the voice actors actually sang in character in the 4Kids dub of the original series for those same scenes.
- -Dubbed Openings and endings have fallen out of fashion. In the mid to late 2000s there were some shows that got English covers of their OPs and EDs in the dubs and they were a neat thing to have but its unfortunately stopped being done with a few exceptions like Dragon Ball Super and Beyblade X (where the English version of the OP is even written and performed by the same artist as the Japanese verison!)
- -Recasts are much more common in English dubbing compared to the Japanese industry which can lead to some recasts in long running franchises happening more frequently than in the original Japanese version. Dragon Ball is pretty infamous for this having had the entire cast replaced in the original Toonami airing of the dub after the Goku vs Recoome fight, and then some further actors recast in Dragon Ball Z Kai.
- -Older dubs and dubs of kids shows like Beyblade and Pokémon will tend to have content edits to make them more suitable to airing on American TV. This has laxed a lot for newer kids shows compared to older ones.
- -Some dubs were never finished and may end on cliffhangers. Yu-Gi-Oh GX is the most infamous example of this, with the last episode of Season 3 and the entirety of Season 4 never being dubbed. Another example of this would be Interspecies Reviewers which had its dub cancelled after episode 3 due to a heavily explicit sex scene present in the episode
- -Some information may need to be truncated or may be lost due to needing to match dialogue length with the existing lip flaps
- -Dubs may take longer to release than official subtitle tracks for some shows. Sometimes shows may even have their dub cancelled partway through
- -Older dubs from before the mid 2000s may vary in quality and faithfulness to the source material
Dubbed anime
Either way there are tradeoffs no matter what you watch. Unless you have good listening comprehension in Japanese and can watch raw, you are inherently going to lose something no matter what, whether you watch in dub or with subtitles. I'd say the tradeoffs are pretty equivalent between both formats, especially for newer titles so it mostly just boils down to preference or mood. For me I actually watch both and may rewatch shows in dub after watching them subtitled first. They both have their merits and ultimately you can't fully go "purist" unless you learn the Japanese language and watch Raw since that is the only real way to get the unfiltered full scope of any Japanese show. Or you could just do a funny and watch dub with Japanese closed captions
| @LSSJ_Gaming Very well written and good solid points, all. I find titles that only get partitally dubbed irksome. One I can think of off the top of my head was The Vampire Dies in No Time. I started it subbed and I dropped it after 3 eps. It was boring in Japanese. On a recommendation I tried it again with the English cast, and it was superb. The series was done so campily it was great. 3 Stooges level of slapstick. 2nd Season never got a dub (that I am aware of) and while I finished it, it was boring. It was like the Japanese cast and direction didn't get the comedy and flubbed everything. Still, it's the rare exception. I still prefer subs usually. |
| I think the anime dubs and subs are equally fine. I don't care too much for dubs or subs. They are the same thing for me. |
Reply to LSSJ_Gaming
These days not really. A lot of the dubbing practices of old that people have grievances with such as character name changes, visual edits, episodes being cut, music being replaced, and toning down of various elements are very rarely if ever done these days. Here are a list of pros and cons for both methods of watching anime for english speakers
Either way there are tradeoffs no matter what you watch. Unless you have good listening comprehension in Japanese and can watch raw, you are inherently going to lose something no matter what, whether you watch in dub or with subtitles. I'd say the tradeoffs are pretty equivalent between both formats, especially for newer titles so it mostly just boils down to preference or mood. For me I actually watch both and may rewatch shows in dub after watching them subtitled first. They both have their merits and ultimately you can't fully go "purist" unless you learn the Japanese language and watch Raw since that is the only real way to get the unfiltered full scope of any Japanese show. Or you could just do a funny and watch dub with Japanese closed captions
- +Most of the times it has the original audio track without any edits
- +99% of the time has unedited footage
- +Doesn't need to worry about matching the lip flaps as much, only needing to make sure that the subtitles start at the frame a character starts talking
- +Quicker access to shows as some dubs will take a bit longer to release, or may not even get dubbed at all.
- -Character Per Line and Second Limits can cause the need for truncation in some instances to make sure all the information in the dialogue fits with minimal loss in tone or information
- -Obstruct the screen a little bit. While this is minor in the grand scheme of things, it will lead to the viewer losing out on a bit of visiual information and focusing a bit extra on the bottom third of the screen than intended
- -Can affect dramatic and comedic timing of lines as the viewer may read the lines faster than they are intended.
- -Comedy is much harder to translate in subtitles due the prior issue, as well as the need to adapt jokes into English as well
- -Some older shows made on film have heavily degraded audio in official releases of the Japanese version of these shows. This seems to mostly be a Toei animation problem
- -Some series may have inconsistent subtitles between the show itself and other media, such as the Dragon Ball franchise where the subtitles are a bit more purist in their localization choices compared to the video games which use terminology more in line with the dub, and the English manga which uses its own unique localization completely separate from the dub and subbed anime.
- -For shows not officially licensed, fansubs may vary in quality and terminology used. They can also use unprofessional practices like leaving entire words untranslated when an equivalent phrase exists in English, or cluttering up the screen with translator notes that obstruct the visuals and break character per line and second rules.
Subtitled Anime
- +No on screen obstructions due to everything being spoken out loud.
- +Timing of comedic or dramatic elements are not broken
- +Jokes tend to be rewritten to better fit the English language, which can lead to viewers being more likely to laugh in the same spots that Japanese viewers would since our languages inherently have different humor especially when wordplay is involved.
- +Some shows have an alternate audio commentary track in their physical releases where the cast will watch an episode and give insight on elements of the dubbing process. This is a great way to rewatch some shows you've already seen to get an insight onto the localization process without being distracting like translation notes. This is a rather common thing in the West with film and cartoons, so it is a fun thing to check out on dubs.
- English dubs tend to have a more natural flow with how they are translated due to needing to be spoken out loud.
- -Especially in newer shows there can be inconsistency in singing scenes, as sometimes scenes where a character sings may not be dubbed. A great example of this would be the 2021 Shaman King remake where the songs sung by BoZ were left undubbed, while the voice actors actually sang in character in the 4Kids dub of the original series for those same scenes.
- -Dubbed Openings and endings have fallen out of fashion. In the mid to late 2000s there were some shows that got English covers of their OPs and EDs in the dubs and they were a neat thing to have but its unfortunately stopped being done with a few exceptions like Dragon Ball Super and Beyblade X (where the English version of the OP is even written and performed by the same artist as the Japanese verison!)
- -Recasts are much more common in English dubbing compared to the Japanese industry which can lead to some recasts in long running franchises happening more frequently than in the original Japanese version. Dragon Ball is pretty infamous for this having had the entire cast replaced in the original Toonami airing of the dub after the Goku vs Recoome fight, and then some further actors recast in Dragon Ball Z Kai.
- -Older dubs and dubs of kids shows like Beyblade and Pokémon will tend to have content edits to make them more suitable to airing on American TV. This has laxed a lot for newer kids shows compared to older ones.
- -Some dubs were never finished and may end on cliffhangers. Yu-Gi-Oh GX is the most infamous example of this, with the last episode of Season 3 and the entirety of Season 4 never being dubbed. Another example of this would be Interspecies Reviewers which had its dub cancelled after episode 3 due to a heavily explicit sex scene present in the episode
- -Some information may need to be truncated or may be lost due to needing to match dialogue length with the existing lip flaps
- -Dubs may take longer to release than official subtitle tracks for some shows. Sometimes shows may even have their dub cancelled partway through
- -Older dubs from before the mid 2000s may vary in quality and faithfulness to the source material
Dubbed anime
Either way there are tradeoffs no matter what you watch. Unless you have good listening comprehension in Japanese and can watch raw, you are inherently going to lose something no matter what, whether you watch in dub or with subtitles. I'd say the tradeoffs are pretty equivalent between both formats, especially for newer titles so it mostly just boils down to preference or mood. For me I actually watch both and may rewatch shows in dub after watching them subtitled first. They both have their merits and ultimately you can't fully go "purist" unless you learn the Japanese language and watch Raw since that is the only real way to get the unfiltered full scope of any Japanese show. Or you could just do a funny and watch dub with Japanese closed captions
| @LSSJ_Gaming Echoing that your points are very very excellent, very well organize. Also, I'll personally emphasizing Boy Fansubs sure can vary, and not just in the translation. I temporarily dropped Soul Eater because The site I was using switched from a perfectly servicable fansub mid series, to one where the subs were 1. Extremely delayed, and 2. In the most hideous Magenta Curlyz-esque font that made reading them painful. |
 |
| Generally speaking, always subbed for many reasons: 1 - I like getting an experience closer to the original. Besides the text being usually closer to the original, subs preserve the original acting part of the voice acting which may influence the perception of the character. I'm even trying to learn Japanese to be able to skip the translations. With other medias, I usually give preference to the original language too. 2 - English isn't my native language. English dubs are harder for me than subs. Since I never check, I don't know if there are or not lots of dubs in my language, but there are probably less. Considering how I haven't been watching much nowadays, maybe it wouldn't be a big problem, but it was when I started and now it's a habit. 3 - Non-Japanese voices with anime can be a bit jarring to me nowadays. It's even worse when the dub is low quality and the audio feel like it doesn't belong to the video. 4 - I have some hearing issues and difficulty processing oral information. They aren't that bad, but they are bad enough to bother me. It's much easier for me to understand something I read than something I heard. Whenever I have the option to read instead of listening, I choose to read. discogirlsclub said: Have you ever been convinced to try a dub just because everyone was talking about it? Not with anime, but with an anime-style game. I played Persona 5 with Japanese voices and after playing, I saw many people commenting on the characters' voice in English. Some comments were praising the dubs, but most were just about their impression of the character which were influenced by the voice. So I went to check the English version and promptly decided that I preferred the Japanese one. |
| my disdain for dubs comes from the current practices in english dubbing. its not at all comparable to the japanese equivalent, let alone for english voice actors in other industries like western animation, games, and such. the stories and industry practices i've heard from different actors, translators, and directors themselves tells me that behind the scenes, dubbing is actually worse off than before. due to corporate practices, a system that inherently penalizes talent and favors nepotism has formed, and unless you yourself have read source material or listened to the original language of a dubbed show, you'd have no idea. ultimately i feel like most people who pick dub do so out of convenience, and probably dont care if the contracting system voice actors are employed with makes hiring fresh inexperienced rookies who are willing to do it for less a preferable option to casting roles based on the talent and suitability of an actor for that role. so you get a constant influx of new people with no experience, who often are completely unfamiliar with instructions that directors try to give them and dont quite understand how to implement directing instructions, sometimes leading to flat deliveries or overacted overdramatic scenes because they dont have the range to do anything in-between. the higher ups push for speed so often the first take is what gets ran with, translation accuracy suffers, people get paid less, and to top it all off, those who follow this system particularly well are invited to become directors. and then you get the problem of corruption and nepotism, as the director can also be a casting director, producer, and numerous other roles getting paid more for each, so they are inherently driven to cast themselves or their close friends for roles and staff positions because the pay is so pitiful its often the only way to make any money from the process. its not really their fault so much as it is companies like crunchyroll for creating such an embarrassing system in the first place. i know the anime industry in japan is not much better, but when every episode has aired it has made it through a corporate gauntlet once and came out in a way hopefully its creators are proud of. I feel like it is a disrespect to put it through another one just for the sake of convenience. also i've soaked in enough japanese from a decade of watching with subs that i can watch unsubbed episodes of some shows and follow most of what is happening and a good amount of what is being said. the nuances lost from translation might be nearly imperceptible but if you peel off the bandaid and just endure the minor inconvenience of hearing other languages being spoken for long enough hopefully our millions of years of pattern recognizing evolution will kick in and some of it at least leaves some impression on you. |
| "I can fix her". Patron Saint of Lost Causes. Psych Ward-maxxing. without love it cannot be seen |
| Like I'm the opposite I nearly always watch the Dub, mostly because I want to chill out and sit back and just watch the anime - take in the scenes, and fights without looking down at the bottom of the screen to read what there saying. As a result, I don't watch a lot of Subbed Stuff. I've only watched a handful of subbed stuff, and it all down to how badly I want to see something.  For instance I wanted to watch Garden of Sinners, as I am a huge fan of Type Moon but those were only subbed so I decided to get them and watch them anyway. There's a few other series I'm thinking of watching subbed, there's LOTGH as well the remake dub I think is unofficially cancelled and Yamato remake series as I started watching those dubbed but they clearly stopped dubbing those when Funimation was absorbed into Crunchyroll.  |
Sometimes it takes a real man to be best girl. Gilgamesh is also chad.   |
| (I'm talking about french dubs since I speak french but it's the same with english) I always go for the subtitled version because it respects the creators' choices for voice acting and direction, and it fits the characters way better. Nothing feels more off than a Japanese character using French expressions. The seiyuus are much better imo, the emotional scenes are much better, they're more diverse, plus there's no waiting time since a lot of anime never even get dubbed. But the worst thing about dubs that I hate is the localization, it kills a lot of the authenticity. For example, there aren't honorifics, it makes relationships evolution way less clear. And if they keep flipping first and last names, I’m not watching (for example, in Bocchi the Rock, Kita hates being called Ikuyo, her first name. But in the awful French dub, since they insist to reverse names, the characters call her Ikuyo all season long despite that. Imagine keeping such a huge inconsistency the whole season just for a dumb localization choice). tl;dr Subs are the closest to the original, dubs have much more inconsistencies and localization changes, I don't want to miss out too much with them, so I’m sticking with subs. But ofc that's my opinion do whatever you want. |
 |
| i usually go for dubs if that is available but if it isn't I will gladly watch it in sub. I like both but I am more familiar to dub voice actors. |
 |
Always sub because I couldn't stand dubbed anime whether in English or my country's language as they're always pretty subpar |
 (っ◔◡◔)っ 𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓼𝓱 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓪 𝔀𝓸𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓾𝓵 𝓭𝓪𝔂 ♥ |
Reply to Elitar
discogirlsclub said:
Do you stick to subs no matter what, or are you open to dubs if they’re well done?
Do you stick to subs no matter what, or are you open to dubs if they’re well done?
Original is always the thing I want to watch. Crap sub will be always superior to masterpiece dubbing. And this includes everything - like if you watch donghua (like Link Click) with japanese dub then you are EXACTLY the same as ppl who watch anime with english dubbing - japanese language is not better or does not sound better.
The other thing is - why would I even consider watching something with english dubbing if I still need subs to understands it ? That sounds stupid, im not native english speaker.
Elitar said: Original is always the thing I want to watch. Crap sub will be always superior to masterpiece dubbing. And this includes everything - like if you watch donghua (like Link Click) with japanese dub then you are EXACTLY the same as ppl who watch anime with english dubbing - japanese language is not better or does not sound better. I would heavily disagree on this point. BubblegumPatty brought up an excellent point in this thread about how fansub quality if it is so bad can actively hurt your experience with things like subtitles that are delayed which can be incredibly distracting. I would much rather watch a mediocre or servicable dub over a subtitle track that is horrendously bad like that |
This post is brought to you by your local transfem gamer goblin. Will not tolerate bigotry and will fight against "anti-woke" sentiment to make the anime community a safer place.  |
| ive only ever watched one anime dubbed and it was fmab, its not that im a dub hater, i just dont think the voices fit the characters tbh. i prefer sub for that reason and also, people who watch dub can probably relate, u get used to characters in general sounding a specific way and recognizing voice actors. so sub/dub doesnt really matter to me when i watch something, i tend to only watch subbed! |
| It's not something I think about when deciding which anime to watch. After I've already decided on an anime if it has a dub then I'll think about if I want to watch it dubbed or just stick with the sub. Usually I watch subbed, but if a dub is good or fits better with the series I might watch it that way. |
  |
| It depends. My take on the "authentic experience" is that the dub matches what the characters would be actually speaking. Example: I watch English dub for anime set in the US. |
| These days I've been watching more dubbed anime. I used to watch subs only, but most dubs are serviceable enough. I'll watch subs if I don't like an anime's dub or if it something I've seen before subbed and I've grown attached to the characters' Japanese voices. Sometimes I'm surprised by a dub. I just recently rewatched Kill la Kill, and this time I watched to dub. I was impressed by how good it was. |
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