Worse Anime character in English dub

Started by .Azelf March 28th, 2008 4:56 AM
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Ryoutarou

Seen April 2nd, 2023
Posted December 29th, 2020
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That sounds really ignorant of the great acting in the English side of things. The Japanese seiyuu are by no means infallible. Just because it's the original language doesn't mean that the voices are good. There are plenty of horrible seiyuu out there and there are plenty of series (Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, Fruit's Basket, Full Metal Alchemist, Blood + to name a few) that I think are way above their Japanese counterparts.

I thought we were at a point in the anime fandom where we could actually take an objective look at acting and not just base our opinions on what came first or what we think has more energy and emotion based on a language that most people can't even muster five words out of.
Seen November 18th, 2015
Posted November 17th, 2015
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Ok, maybe I should've put most… since I don't have a big knowledge of anime… But from your list I actually preferred the Japanese voice actors for Samurai Champloo and Cowboy Bebop… And I guess you are right about the words thing to I can only do a 4 word sentence … and those are lines from anime anyway xD

Aizuke

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That sounds really ignorant of the great acting in the English side of things. The Japanese seiyuu are by no means infallible. Just because it's the original language doesn't mean that the voices are good. There are plenty of horrible seiyuu out there and there are plenty of series (Samurai Champloo, Cowboy Bebop, Fruit's Basket, Full Metal Alchemist, Blood + to name a few) that I think are way above their Japanese counterparts.

I thought we were at a point in the anime fandom where we could actually take an objective look at acting and not just base our opinions on what came first or what we think has more energy and emotion based on a language that most people can't even muster five words out of.
I liked Yuki from Fruits Basket voice better in english because he sounds WAY too girly in japanese. (Because he was voiced by a girl, obviously) >_< So I agree with you on that. :D

Anywho, even though I don't hate this character and he's actually one of my favourites; Susumu Yamazaki from Peacemaker Kurogane, he sounds so awesome in his japanese voice, but then when I watched it in english, his voice really sucked. D:

It kept changing from a normal accent, to a texan kind of accent. I was like.. What?
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The Pokemon cast used to sound great, but when the voices changed; they just didn't suit the characters at all.

Ash sounds like the English version Sailor Jupiter now, and Brock sounds like Adult Simba from Disney's The Lion King, to name a couple.
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After watching one episode of the Kanon dub,I have to say Nayuki Minase's voice is horrifying ;-; They ruined her completely,IMO,but it could've been worse.

They made her sound 100000x less cute than her Japanese counterpart.~ ;;
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Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji all sound horrible in the 4Kids One Piece dub. In FUNimation's dub, Luffy and Usopp still sound bad, but joining them in the ranks of irritating voices are Zoro, Nami, and Buggy. Sanji sounds all right in the FUNimation dub, though.

Pharaoh Atem/Yami no Yuugi from Yu-Gi-Oh! sounds terrible in the dub. I also was not fond of Mai's voice in the dubbed version of the Doma saga. She sounded like a middle aged prostitute.

In PUSA's Pokemon dub, I hate all of the voices that I have heard save for Gary's and Professor Oak's. Of all of them, I would say the worst of the bunch are Ash's, James', and Meowth's.

Additionally, Usagi/Serena's voice in the dubbed version of Sailor Moon has always made my ears bleed.
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Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji all sound horrible in the 4Kids One Piece dub. In FUNimation's dub, Luffy and Usopp still sound bad, but joining them in the ranks of irritating voices are Zoro, Nami, and Buggy. Sanji sounds all right in the FUNimation dub, though.

Pharaoh Atem/Yami no Yuugi from Yu-Gi-Oh! sounds terrible in the dub. I also was not fond of Mai's voice in the dubbed version of the Doma saga. She sounded like a middle aged prostitute.

In PUSA's Pokemon dub, I hate all of the voices that I have heard save for Gary's and Professor Oak's. Of all of them, I would say the worst of the bunch are Ash's, James', and Meowth's.

Additionally, Usagi/Serena's voice in the dubbed version of Sailor Moon has always made my ears bleed.
Usagi/Serena's voice did suck in English.

All of the voices in pokemon sounded alright. All of the Sailor Scouts voices in Japanese was a bit better.

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Hourai NEET

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i think the main thing that happens with the older english dubs and the 4kids dubs is that they try to put some sort of stereotype on everything they can. I'm not sure how this makes stuff child-friendly, but it's had a reputation of producing some pretty horrible dub voices

and ya, Nayuki(Kanon) voice acting did suck pretty badly

Saryka

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Posted July 16th, 2013
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I think both Téa (Anzu Mazaki) and Joey (Katsuya Jonouchi) from Yuugiou have terrible English voice actors. Anyone who thought a Boston accent sounded good on Jonouchi was... just not thinking at all. D:

On that note, Yami Yugi in the English dub sounds like a forty-year-old man. o_o

Also on my list are Serena (Usagi) from Sailor Moon and most of the characters from Sonic X. XD;

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On that note, Yami Yugi in the English dub sounds like a forty-year-old man. o_o
Lol, he does! xD

And, to make this post relevant... I don't like Ryuk from Death Note's English voice. I read the manga first, and imagined him more scary sounding.
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Alistair

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Well the worst one I have to say was Sanji from the 4Kids dub One Piece. :3
You are a mind reader. Yeah, Sanji's old voice sucked bad. He sounded like a wanna-be Boston gangster.
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There are only two English voices I can't stand: Hinata Hyuuga from Naruto and Yuki Sohma from Fruits Basket ._.

Hinata is whiny and annoying ;;
Yuki sounds demented...
And, to make this post relevant... I don't like Ryuk from Death Note's English voice. I read the manga first, and imagined him more scary sounding.
In their defense, Hinata was already whiny and annoying in the original Japanese; Stephanie Sheh was just trying to emulate Nana Mizuki's example there. Also, Yuki Sohma was voiced by a female in the original Japanese, which in and of itself is a rather demented casting choice on their part considering the fact that he's supposedly an adolescent male; Eric Vale was several steps up from the original seiyuu in terms of general quality.

For the record, Brian Drummond was excellent as Ryuk.

Lucy Lu

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I got to say the new voice cast for Pokemon, they really messed up their characters. Like for example, Ash and James. That is it. I really miss the old voices. I got used to Meowth, Jessie, May, and Max, Professor Oak, and Gary. But not Ash and James...I just can't do it.
I stopped watching Pokemon about year and half ago(no, the reason is not because of the new voices). But I did hear Dawn's and Paul's voice...they are alright. But still I got to hear Ash's and James'. Can't do it.

And 4Kids version of One Piece...omg. My ears were bleeding when I heard Luffy's voice. His voice was so annoying. Usopp's and Sanji's were pretty bad too. Now their voices are excellent. ^^ Thanks Funi!

So in conclusion, Ash, James, Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji had the worst dub voices in history.

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I agree with Ryoutarou; why is it that English dubs are being forever criticised whilst the Japanese version is viewed as perfect? Nearly all dubs are faithful, so if you hate the English voice, more often than not, you'll dislike the original voice because the dub will emulate the original. Differences do have to be made however: take Steven Blum's voice for Orochimaru. In the original, Kujira's voice was deep but spoke in a formal female tone. The nearest that could be achieved in English was the high-pitched raspy voice he has in the dub.

On that note, Yami Yugi in the English dub sounds like a forty-year-old man. o_o
Is that because he's a centuries-old pharaoh, I wonder?

Basically, the worst voices are solely from the 4Kids dub of One Piece. I could wax lyrical about it, but I'll state the creme de la crap:

Monkey D. Luffy (Bella Hudson): I know Luffy is meant to be loud-mouthed, but he yells in scenes that show talking. Hudson also makes him spout this ridiculous noise - see the fight with Arlong when he's falling towards the pool; he sounds more like he's clowning about than about to get skewered. He says "I'm gonna be KING of the PIRATES!!" far more often, albeit more annoying. Also, there's the "poison suction cup" scene; when pulling them out (or should that be off?), he makes it sound like he's in a ton of pain, and even then, Hudson overdoes it. Also, he makes terrible jokes and lacks emotion.

Usopp (J. Griff) - Sounds, quote, like a clown on crack getting repeatedly kicked in the nuts while speaking every word...unquote. Usopp is meant to be the most sympathetic character, always pulling through despite his cowardly nature, but 4Kids turned him into comic relief at every opportunity. Griffin's voice constantly sounds the same; there's no variety between: "This is a-MAZE-ing!" and "Hey! Groundhog! You got some nerve picking on my friend Luffy!"

Sanji (David Moo) - Am I the only one who finds it ironic that despite his cig being edited out, he sounds like a chain-smoker from the Bronx? Seriously. They ruined one of my favourite characters with those ridiculous new names for the Red Leg style, and doesn't sound in love with every pretty lady he runs into.

Chopper (Heavy Point) - His voice doesn't change when he changes to Heavy Point, so why the hell does his voice change to a gruffer version? Does he have a testerostrone imbalance or something?

On that note, Zoro's 4Kids voice is excellent.
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Saryka

Seen July 16th, 2013
Posted July 16th, 2013
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Is that because he's a centuries-old pharaoh, I wonder?
Actually, Yami Yugi is assuming the form of a teenager a little big older than Yugi. His voice in the original Japanese was a lot younger sounding. :x

Actually, the first few episodes of the English dub, he had a great voice. Higher pitched than his current one, but more mature. Then they changed it to this forty-year-old man voice, and it's just awful. XD