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It's Time for a Rant

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by , 11th January 2013 at 03:56 PM (412 Views)
...about anime. Now, I'm no otaku. I'm more the traditional RPG, book, and movie brand of geekery. But I watch the occasional anime, if the story and characters are good, and if it's for kids, well... :3 I watch the dubs if I can..

What I don't understand is why people rat on dubbed anime. Can you speak and understand Japanese? Probably not, which is okay. It's a complex language. Subtitles help when you can't find a dub, but if I had a choice, I'd like to hear the dialogue so I can focus my sight on the anime itself.

I guess some people are just "hardcore", but I don't understand why dubbed anime is almost always considered "bad". Is it the actors? Sometimes they're cheesy, I suppose, but I'm okay with cheesy. Most of the VAs put effort into the character, so why turn down a version you can actually understand? I especially hate it when one doesn't even watch the dub, and brand it as "bad" anyways. The English doesn't "ruin" the original Japanese version, it makes the creator's work available to more people. And with kid's anime, it's usually not serious to begin with.

I know of some very funny and awesome dubs. "Lucky Star"'s dub is great, and so is "Axis Powers Hetalia"'s (which is so offensive and stereotypical it wraps back around to being hilarious, which is just like the original anime).

I guess I just don't get it. I'm a fan of dubs over subs and that's the way things are going to stay.

I wonder if in Japan there are "Ameriboos" who want to live in the US and are obsessed with Western Animation, and hate on the Japanese dubs.

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  1. Contrary's Avatar
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    Usually I go with both sub and dub for comparison. But I feel that the sub usually captures the spirit of the show better. Though some dubs are better than the sub, such as the Panty and Stocking dub.

    But I'll show my complaints about the Pokemon English dub. Aside from a few of the VAs, most of the characters can't mote nearly as well in the original. Not to mention many poor dialogue edits (such as giving the Rockets annoying alliteration and '90's slang no one in the '90's actually used), and bad background music changes. I think it's good that you can like both versions of the show, but the dub is rather poor in comparison to the original.

    I think it's really a case-by-case basis, but I feel that subs usually do the show justice.

    Doesn't mean they shouldn't try hard. All shows, dub or original language, for adults or kids, should always try hard to achieve great quality in their work. If you do something, do it well.

    <s style="color: rgb(255, 255, 255); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I wonder if in Japan there are "Ameriboos" who want to live in the US and are obsessed with Western Animation, and hate on the Japanese dubs.</s>
    I'm really, really sure there are.
  2. Haxie-kun's Avatar
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    It depends on the company for me, really. I always find subs better when I have time to focus on the anime, it just brings some spirit into it.

    as for dub, well.. I normally only watch dubs when I'm multitasking. Cause you know, plus ten tabs I tend to not be able to see those delicious boobs animations.
  3. Reila's Avatar
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    Original audio with subs are always better.
  4. Dark Chocolate's Avatar
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    I watch the Pokemon anime in dubs if possible because I'm not familiar with the Japanese names. I do have to admit that the English VAs are a lot cheesy than the Japanese VAs. Nothing beats the original, I guess.
    @Miles101; I once saw some people who were digging the Looney Tunes, and drew fan arts of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in anime style, wishing how they wanted to live in the US. I'm not sure about that being a trait, though.
  5. Miles101's Avatar
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    @Dark Blueberry; Oh lol.

    Meh. I grew up with he Pokémon anime. I don't know any of the original voice actors, only 4kids and Funimation and such. So I find the original to just be odd and not what I'm used to. Personally I think the anime is cheesy in a fun way.
  6. Lugion's Avatar
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    ^I'm pretty sure Funimation has nothing to do with the dubbing. TCPi hires non-union actors, same as Funi, so there are some people who do work with both companies (Sean Schemmel, who voices adult Goku in Dragon Ball and several side characters in both DB and Pokemon, comes to mind).

    As for sub vs. dub, I generally watch dubs. That's not to say I dislike subs, but I can multi-task while watching dubs. Subs require you to pay more attention.
  7. Pokémon Master Ash's Avatar
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    I also generally watch dubs for the most part unless I feel the sub is so much better (like One Piece, though I do like FUNi's dub of it). In Pokemon's case, I'm actually most fond of it watching the 4Kids English dub among the three options I have (subbed, 4Kids dub, TPCi dub): call it nostalgia or whatever you like, which is why I often watch the first eight seasons for fun sometimes. I really don't care for the edits/such companies make, so long as the voice acting and the music's good, and I'm watching a nice show in general with a good message.

    To me, the 4Kids dub is the best for Pokemon, but growing up with them for 8 years and 400+ episodes does leave a noticeable impression on you so I'm biased in that way. I'm finally happy with TPCi's voice actors too (I've been with them since they started back in the Battle Frontier as well), although I really don't think they're as good as the former crew. Show felt really different without 4Kids dubbing it, so it was a tough adjustment to make. In time, I've managed to do so, though.


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