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Anime Poll: Sub or Dub?

Sub or Dub?

  • Sub

    Votes: 54 63.5%
  • Dub

    Votes: 31 36.5%

  • Total voters
    85

machomuu

Stuck in Hot Girl Summer
10,507
Posts
15
Years
The only shows where I really avoid dubs are shows like Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z and similar shows. I used to watch them dubbed, but Yu-Gi-Oh! is a different show on Japanese. I mean it's obvious why (4Kids). Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z on the other hand have the same story, but they changed the script and edited some stuff.
^Which dub of DBZ are you watching? I suspect it's not the Uncut Funimation version (which is the best version of DBZ in my opinion, and second to that was the Editted Funimation Dub with the new soundtrack, which was also handled very well).
 

tajaros

Hi I'm dawg
855
Posts
11
Years
I'd prefer dub, so I can understand it more, cause sub is getting on my nerves the japanese language reminds me of something funny lol xD :)
 

Algo Fonix

oh god
535
Posts
14
Years
I usually default to subs, but if a dub is available I'll give it a try. I don't really prefer one over the other, I've just made it a habit to go with subs first. Live action stuff, I never watch with dubs (the stuff I watch rarely has one anyway).
 

Atomic Pirate

I always win.
930
Posts
12
Years
Unlike all the weeaboos who think that dubbed anime is the spawn of Satan, I actually would rather watch dubbed. As long as it's not a 4Kids dub, I'd much rather watch it than a subbed version, as I'd rather watch an anime, not read an anime.
 
41,008
Posts
17
Years
I prefer subs, though I do still like dubs (anime like Soul Eater and Durarara!! were dubbed excellently). As was said by a few others, dub voice actors are not "talentless" like some Japanese fans assume; a lot of the time those people prefer the original Japanese voices because it sounds nicer being foreign iirc, not because it's actually of better quality. The only dubs I dislike are those that heavily change the original dialogue.
 
13,373
Posts
14
Years
  • Age 29
  • Seen Jan 28, 2019
Sub. All the way, I don't know how people can stand dubbed. It just makes me shudder when I think about it.
 
Last edited:

machomuu

Stuck in Hot Girl Summer
10,507
Posts
15
Years
Sub. All the way, I don't know how people can stand subbed. It just makes me shudder when I think about it.
Because they don't all sound bad, most don't. I mean, back in the 50s through 80s (and arguably the 90s) they did (not all of them, though, Dragon Ball Z is a notable 80s anime that has a great dub), but most modern dubs are well done, especially the Funimation ones.

So that's how.
 
13,373
Posts
14
Years
  • Age 29
  • Seen Jan 28, 2019
Because they don't all sound bad, most don't. I mean, back in the 50s through 80s (and arguably the 90s) they did (not all of them, though, Dragon Ball Z is a notable 80s anime that has a great dub), but most modern dubs are well done, especially the Funimation ones.

So that's how.
Touche. I'd have to say that the older ones were better. Cowboy Bebop, Pokemon (old ones), Yu-Gi-Oh, Ghost in the Shell and a few others were great, but, nowadays, not so much.

I know the ones I mentioned aren't all that old, but, they're not like the new ones which aren't very good. But, that's just my opinion.
 
9,535
Posts
12
Years
  • Age 29
  • Seen May 11, 2023
In general I prefer dubbed because the songs etc are better and you can relate the character to their voice more, however most of the time subbed has much better voice acting so it's a pretty hard choice. :p Really it depends on the show most of the time, but in general I prefer listening to English.
 
10,078
Posts
15
Years
  • Age 32
  • UK
  • Seen Oct 17, 2023
Subbed every time :3 I just feel that a lot of the time some character is lost in dubbed voicing - they just seem a bit less emotional? Not really sure :3.
 

digi-kun

Hourai NEET
4,638
Posts
20
Years
  • Age 34
  • Seen Mar 12, 2018

Touche. I'd have to say that the older ones were better. Cowboy Bebop, Pokemon (old ones), Yu-Gi-Oh, Ghost in the Shell and a few others were great, but, nowadays, not so much.

I know the ones I mentioned aren't all that old, but, they're not like the new ones which aren't very good. But, that's just my opinion.

As far as old shows went, they were pretty much hit or miss. While a good deal of the big shows had good dubs, a lot of the less known shows had some pretty atrocious ones. A lot of it could also come from watching the dub first, which puts up more familiarity with said dub. Same goes for subs, tbh.

Don't really watch dubs all that often anymore, but from what I see, most of the dubs these days don't really stand out too much unless they do something out of the ordinary (Haruhi, FMA), can make full use of stereotypical accents (Baccano), or have little to no (young) female roles.
 

machomuu

Stuck in Hot Girl Summer
10,507
Posts
15
Years
In general I prefer dubbed because the songs etc are better and you can relate the character to their voice more, however most of the time subbed has much better voice acting so it's a pretty hard choice. :p Really it depends on the show most of the time, but in general I prefer listening to English.
Wait...did you seriously just say that you prefer dubbed songs over the originals? Seriously? That's the first time I think I've heard anyone say that...ever. Not that I have anything wrong with this, I'm just very interested in the fact that you say it. Do you have any anime in mind where that's the case? I mean, I can understand songs like Freckles (Ruroni Kenshin's OP), because they sound almost the same in terms of vocals (and the English version is redone, so the intro to the song is cleaner)
Spoiler:

(Seriously, it's hard to believe that they're different people)

Some more examples would be Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho, both of which actually really care about the songs they're singing, and get quality singers to do the job (often trying to match the voice or tone of the original singer), that way it will still pull in in viewers. This isn't a common practice, mainly because originally English openings were created to make the anime more localized and less Japanese.
Spoiler:

As you can see, authenticity was key, and they tried to match the original songs as best they could, most likely because that was the way the original composers meant for them to be sung.

Then, you have shows like Digimon and One Piece. All of these shows suffered from certain producers wanting them to seem little Japanese as possible, and for this reason they changes their openings entirely, often using lower grade and weakly put together openings, often using scenes from the show (or rearranged pieces of the original opening) and adding sound effects to the song (though, this wasn't uncommon among the original songs), as well as going off of some type of fad as the basis for their song (Rap was often used, mainly since it was used in cartoons, and it worked- in cartoons, that is, not anime).
Spoiler:

They're goals, however, weren't to create a good translation or even a good substitute, but rather, to create a catchy opening that people would remember, especially children, even if the song itself wasn't that good.

Then, there were shows like Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, and Yu-Gi-Oh! which did the same thing, except they took care in what they were doing rather than simply what they were trying to do. While the former shows indeed had openings that were catchy, not nearly as much care and effort were put into their creation than these, and even if the audience didn't care about the quality of the shows, the songs themselves ingrained themselves into the memories of their viewers. It's hard to find someone who watched any of these shows as a child who can't remember how their themes go.
Spoiler:

Even still, they couldn't resist showcasing action-packed moments rather than going for the tone of their originals, not that they went to their discredit.

And yes, I did use your post as an excuse to take a look at dubbed openings. Though I still am interested in the ones you have in mind
 
Last edited:

Weeaboo Name

Banned
7,540
Posts
13
Years
Never understood the massive dub hate, I mean I've heard loads of dry seiyuu performances. Guessing it's just a case of Japan being the coolest place in the world ecsdee.
 

Sector

Banned
2,331
Posts
12
Years
  • Age 33
  • Ohio
  • Seen Oct 10, 2016
100% all for Dubbed. I only understand English, so there's your answer. Yes, I know Subbed is Subtitled, but why not read a book instead? I've always been a watcher over a reader, that's my style.
 

Mentalii

Back
653
Posts
12
Years
By far, sub. Dub sounds just awful. Japanese voices are awesome, and hearing the original voices also allow to learn japanese expressions and so on. The english dubbing, and not only the english one, the french one, the german one, the spanish one, they sounds very odd to me. Some are just ridiculous. And dubbed anime are often censured a lot, that point is pretty annoying. I can't watch a dubbed anime, if I don't find it subbed, I prefer not to watch it at all x) Really.
 

machomuu

Stuck in Hot Girl Summer
10,507
Posts
15
Years
By far, sub. Dub sounds just awful. Japanese voices are awesome, and hearing the original voices also allow to learn japanese expressions and so on. The english dubbing, and not only the english one, the french one, the german one, the spanish one, they sounds very odd to me. Some are just ridiculous. And dubbed anime are often censured a lot, that point is pretty annoying. I can't watch a dubbed anime, if I don't find it subbed, I prefer not to watch it at all x) Really.
There are other anime than ones dubbed by 4Kids, y'know.
 
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