When watching Anime, do you prefer...

Started by True Justice October 14th, 2008 11:33 AM
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True Justice

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Age 30
Sabaody Archipelago
Seen March 31st, 2010
Posted December 1st, 2008
826 posts
15.5 Years
Dubs, Subs, or Un-Edited Anime?

I prefer to watch the subs of any Anime. It lets me listen to the original voice actors while still understanding what is going on. Any Dub other than 4Kids is okay in my book and listening to English versions of Anime characters is neat. But some Dubbing companies can change some minor details of the plot, where as Subs do not need to change any of the plot. And I can't understand Japanese, so I could only watch Un-Edited Anime without understanding what's going on.

EDIT: Oops, forgot to make it a poll, but I guess it doesn't really matter.
Age 30
Female
New York City
Seen July 19th, 2011
Posted February 12th, 2011
4,039 posts
15.7 Years
Dubs, Subs, or Un-Edited Anime?

I prefer to watch the subs of any Anime. It lets me listen to the original voice actors while still understanding what is going on. Any Dub other than 4Kids is okay in my book and listening to English versions of Anime characters is neat. But some Dubbing companies can change some minor details of the plot, where as Subs do not need to change any of the plot. And I can't understand Japanese, so I could only watch Un-Edited Anime without understanding what's going on.

EDIT: Oops, forgot to make it a poll, but I guess it doesn't really matter.
It's either dub or raw if you ask me. Subs are just horrible and are sometimes inaccurate, especially fansubs*shakes in fear*, especially those. They even add cursing, what the Mudkips. They shuld already know that there are no words in the Japanese language that actually stand for curses, to my knowledge anyway.

I belive 4Kids has made improvements on it's aquisitions(Dinosaur King and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's) a great way. They don't take out words that are in perfect English nor are they taking out nationalitites(i.e.Japan, America) out of them and are acknowleding them. Of course they aren't perfect yet but they are getting better. If FUNimation can be forgiven, so can 4Kids. In time of course.
Seen September 18th, 2020
Posted February 18th, 2018
7,741 posts
16.6 Years
They shuld already know that there are no words in the Japanese language that actually stand for curses, to my knowledge anyway.
I believe there are some words or expressions that one could translate into English as cursing (probably if they were feeling audacious), but true apparently Japanese has no such words, and there are many ways of translating anything (I understand this liberty given the small amount of Dutch I know); as such, I'd rather watch the Japanese with Japanese subtitles (on English movies I even have English subtitles on, some things said can be unclear), but until I actually learn Japanese it's Japanese with English subtitles for me. Simply said, I just like things to be their original language, or as close to that as may be possible.
Female
Seen October 27th, 2010
Posted September 12th, 2009
495 posts
14.9 Years
As inaccurate as they may be, subs. It's an improvement over whatever I can make out of it, in any case; and it's usually not much. My Japanese sucks. As long as I can get a gist of what's going on and watch the anime in its native language, they can add entire strings of curse words that weren't there for all I care.
And ever since 4kids tried dubbing Doremi, I've been deathly afraid of dubs. I only watch them if I can't watch the Japanese episode any other way (such is the case with Pokemon).
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Age 34
Canada
Seen March 7th, 2010
Posted January 5th, 2009
322 posts
14.8 Years
I sighed irl at Beware of Dark Lugia's post.

Subs all the way. Fansubs preferably. Besides hearing the original seiyuus, subbed versions usually have superior translation to the dub. Oh, and piracy issues can go to hell, lol.
I agree with everything you said. :D
Also to note
Fansubs with few exceptions are done because the fans are passionate about the anime and want to uphold the anime's artistic vision- dubs are mainly done by corporations and want to make money so they get dubbed as fast and cheaply as they can.
Bad voice actors don't really care if they get a lot of money and are just happy to have work...
Sentances are often changed when made into english so they don't need to reanimate characters mouthes to fit the english texts

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parallelzero

chelia.blendy

Age 32
The capital of Canada (not Toronto)
Seen May 11th, 2015
Posted May 20th, 2013
14,627 posts
19.3 Years
I'll take whatever is available. I tend to watch subs first, and if I like the series I'll buy it when it gets dubbed, but I don't really have a personal preference. Subs are useful when it's a series that won't get dubbed, but a lot of anime that are released dubbed on DVD nowdays give you the choice of viewing it subbed. Fansub groups are only good depending on the series, as well.

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Age 33
The N-Field
Seen September 12th, 2009
Posted November 5th, 2008
108 posts
14.6 Years
Now, that would depend on the quality of the voice acting. If its something like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, I'd prefer it to be dubbed (excluding the abridged gig movies and their crappy new VA) because I have difficulty enough following it sometimes as is.
But if the quality of the dub is horrendous, such as Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, Rozen Maiden, Pokemon DP and numerous others...I'd sooner watch it with subtitles. I need decent voice acting if I'm going to watch it in dub.
my house
Seen October 15th, 2008
Posted October 15th, 2008
544 posts
15.1 Years
Definitely subbed...
I prefer the original language and well i'd like to understand what their talking too so
SUB FTW!
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Age 97
Shimoda City
Seen 2 Days Ago
Posted January 25th, 2022
9,705 posts
15.5 Years
I'll usually watch an anime at least twice. First time will be the dub if available, then usually the sub afterward. Subsequent watchings will be of the format that I preferred.

I listen to both then decide which is better. Dubs range from utter crap to rivaling the quality of the original voice actors, depending on who performs the dubs.

Long story short, my preference varies depending on how good the dubs are for a particular show XD

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Seen February 24th, 2016
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16.3 Years
Dubs, I can't really strain my eyesight, especially if they use font that definitely blends in the background, and with low quality? no way.

i pretty much prefer dubs.
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Seen March 28th, 2023
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13,114 posts
18.5 Years
I have no set "preference". Whether I watch a series subbed or dubbed depends on a few things: namely, what I feel like watching at the time, and what's even available to me. Sometimes it's also a matter of what I'm used to hearing, though even that's not always the determining factor in which version I end up preferring more. I know there have been a few times when I've gone straight for the dubbed version on a DVD just because I wanted to listen to english instead of japanese - and also times when I've actually liked a dub over the original version.

I know there are a few (older) series where I absolutely will not watch a dubbed version because I can't stand it at all, for whatever reason - but that's about it, really. Otherwise, all versions get an equal chance from me.
Seen November 18th, 2015
Posted November 17th, 2015
8,170 posts
18.6 Years
I sighed irl at Beware of Dark Lugia's post.

Subs all the way. Fansubs preferably. Besides hearing the original seiyuus, subbed versions usually have superior translation to the dub. Oh, and piracy issues can go to hell, lol.
I agree with deviruchi…
And it help me learn to speak Japanese too… xD;
Ireland
Seen April 18th, 2009
Posted January 24th, 2009
21 posts
14.6 Years
Subs rule! No offence but sometimes in the dubbing, it turns out bad. I think, in my opinion, that, the dubbed version of animes should really be the translation of the Japaness script. I'm not sure if the following effects all animes, but, I know for a fact that when Bleach is dubbed they get a guy in to design a brand new script 'designed for American audiences.'

Phanima

That servant of the evil one

Seen October 11th, 2011
Posted February 12th, 2010
1,566 posts
17.3 Years
There aren't many dubs that I've found that have the same impact the raw versions have, which is all mainly due to the projection of the voice actors. Dragonball/Z is the only series that comes to mind where a few of the VAs are decent, the rest being choppy and unenthusiastic. Although, it's probably because of the constant power-up scenes where they scream endlessly that impressed me, despite the raw version's cast sounding quite different (and a little younger iirc).

So all in all, I prefer subs. I'm still debating whether dub or raw is better, since its basically just a matter of understanding Japanese, but all of the series I've watched so far have been subbed, so I haven't really needed to decide. Official or fansubs don't really matter either, as long as the general script remains the same.
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