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Dub or sub?


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Zalis116
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Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6863
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:46 am Reply with quote
Richard J. wrote:
Wow a Dub/Sub thread that hasn't turned into a war zone? Cool, I've literally never seen one before.
Just give it time, I'm sure destiny will take its course. And once it does, that course will lead to Locksville. It's not quite as glamorous as Lock City, but the experience is the same.
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Skys



Joined: 04 Dec 2007
Posts: 101
Location: Minnesota
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:45 am Reply with quote
I prefer viewing media in it's original format. If that means I will need subtitles, then so be it. For anime, it is the same. I like viewing the anime with Japanese voices because I feel it is the way it was made to be presented. Also, it helps me work on my Japanese by listening to the dialogues.
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r-18



Joined: 18 Mar 2008
Posts: 62
Location: northren oregon
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:14 am Reply with quote
The only time i have problems with subs is if the dialogue is heavy and fast i have to pause or back-up to read what was said, now having said that usually i like subs if done well. i have gotten some anime that read like a babble fish translation and even though i try hard not to buy them i was obviously a boot leg when i played it. i like to hear the tonal inflections that a good va can bring to a Japanese sound track if done well a single word can speak volumes, like at the end of scrapped princess when spoiler[pacifica says ask again in a million years baaaaaaka! ]
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Zin5ki



Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 6680
Location: London, UK
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 8:12 am Reply with quote
When a multitude of dubbed Ghibli films were being broadcast on a TV channel a couple of years ago I watched some of them. In most cases the dubbing just made me lose interest; I’d switch off the TV and only come back to the film to see how the ending would turn out.

The first time I watched Akira it was also dubbed. The dub was passable with a few exceptions (Tetsuo’s epic spoiler["YOU LITTLE TWERRRPS!!"] springs to mind) but I enjoyed it far more where I got the subtitled DVD.

I have no problems “reading” anime and find Japanese a pleasant-sounding language to listen to, except in the case of Excel Saga and the like. What I don’t like is the fact that those who prefer subtitles still have to pay for something they won’t listen to when buying DVDs. I understand that there’s no real way around this regarding DVD production, but it irks me nonetheless.
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sj21



Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Posts: 312
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 10:44 am Reply with quote
Intresting how a lot of people say this topic would be a war zone. Never thought about that. But yeah, please take nothing offensive. One thing with subs, i love to watch them on the internet but what i hate is when a big part like a new change in a series. spoiler[In naruto shippuden where sai takes off with orochimaru]. For me i just dont digest it as much.

But in some cases I like to watch dub and then watch subs and the japanese voice without subs. I love the better japanese expirience. I did that with the Naruto movie, i watched it dubbed then japanese without subs. Also i hate though having to watch the cut versions on toonami because were they would curse they would put blast or darn and it sounds stupid.

Last i really hope we can continue our peacefull speech. Very Happy [/spoiler]
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HitokiriShadow



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:19 am Reply with quote
Zalis116 wrote:
Richard J. wrote:
Wow a Dub/Sub thread that hasn't turned into a war zone? Cool, I've literally never seen one before.
Just give it time, I'm sure destiny will take its course. And once it does, that course will lead to Locksville. It's not quite as glamorous as Lock City, but the experience is the same.


You lie. Locksville's country charm makes for an entirely different experience than the dense urban jungle of Lock City.
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Murasakisuishou



Joined: 22 Jun 2006
Posts: 1469
Location: NE Ohio
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:30 am Reply with quote
Sub, although I've never ever watched Serial Experiments Lain all the way through subbed because I heard the dub first and loved it so much I've never had any desire to watch it subbed. I just like the English cast better. Same goes for GitS: SAC, although I have watched that subbed. Something about Tanaka Atsuko just bothers me.

Still, I watch most anime subbed just because I have a better idea of who the cast members are and what to expect from them. If I hear something has Seki Tomokazu or Fukuyama Jun or Kugimiya Rie in it, I know what the voice sounds like and I sometimes watch things just because a seiyuu I like is in them. Also, I like comparing casts between anime to see what other roles a particular seiyuu has had if their voice sounds familiar to me, and since I don't usually watch dubs I don't have as much familiarity with dub actors. Finally, I've seen some truly horrible dubs, and while I can recognize bad acting in Japanese, it doesn't bother me as much.

There are also cases like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, where I'm just so used to the subs that the English version seems wrong (even though I thought TMoSH had a decent dub).
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B-rian96



Joined: 29 Mar 2008
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:31 am Reply with quote
Well I love to watch dubbed but as you said somtimes they do sound werid. When I read subbed I get annoyed by the talk of another languege. So it matters what you watch.
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sanbyaku



Joined: 25 Oct 2007
Posts: 34
Location: london, england, uk
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:57 am Reply with quote
i personaly dont like dubed content, if theres alot of talking then i just read fast xddd i read alot anyway so it matters not!!!!
Another funny thing is that when i watch anime i get into this state of comatose where its like i´m not even reading subtitles, i can just understand right of the bat. Thats why i watch anime alone or with chilled out people so that i can just doze... some of my "friends" call it a gift.
And he fact that most dubs just make all the characters sound like high pitched children or girls, i hate that.
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marshall2000_uk



Joined: 04 Jan 2007
Posts: 46
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:18 pm Reply with quote
I watch everything dubbed (bar Memories, which is only available subbed). I always have ever since my dad showed me Devil man back in the 90's. I just like to be able to relax and not have to concentrate on reading.

Plus I always watch my anime late at night, so sometimes I am tired, again this is how I was introduced to anime and its stuck. Very Happy

BTW, very nice to see that there is a few dub fans, on a site I go to (UK), there is a hatred for it and it riles me. Its nice to see both formats appreciated, without the arguments Very Happy
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Veoryn87



Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 808
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:41 pm Reply with quote
Murasakisuishou wrote:
Sub, although I've never ever watched Serial Experiments Lain all the way through subbed because I heard the dub first and loved it so much I've never had any desire to watch it subbed.


Well I thought the Japanese cast sounded exactly the same as the dub cast so you're not really missing anything.
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TheVok



Joined: 09 Mar 2007
Posts: 613
Location: North York, Ontario, Canada
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:39 pm Reply with quote
Subtitles. And I find I have no problem relaxing and eating while reading 'em. In fact, they have a huge advantage in that respect because I can keep the volume down a bit if it's late at night or early in the morning, so as not to bother other people with loud dialogue in either English or Japanese.

I'm almost always eating while watching anime. But it's certainly convenient that said subtitled anime is on DVDs that can easily be paused while I run to the kitchen and back.

I do watch some shows dubbed, simply because that's how TV presents them, e.g. Death Note. But there are definitely times when those dubs get goofy, even 'good' dubs, simply because you have English-speaking actors delivering lines that would never in the real world be spoken in English. Languages can't just be translated literally from one to another; context is very difficult to replicate, especially given the idioms of spoken--rather than written--language.

I'm especially finding this in my Japanese classes. There are many terms used in spoken Japanese that don't show up in written Japanese and vice-versa. It's much easier for written subtitles (in either language) to provide a mostly literal translation without sounding goofy because, well, you don't hear 'em, you read 'em.

And even when I've watched and enjoyed an entire series dubbed (e.g. FullMetal Alchemist on YTV), I regret that I'm being denied the option of subtitles. When I finally rented the FullMetal Alchemist movie on DVD, I played it with subtitles and was able to appreciate how much more sense it made to have the two brothers voiced by adult women than by two males of jarringly different age groups, given the brothers are only supposed to be a few years apart.

Yesterday I caught a bit of Naruto just before the beginning of Avatar. I'd never seen Naruto, but hearing his gratingly aggressive English voice, I had to wonder how anyone could sit through an entire series of this guy. Is the Japanese voice equally annoying?
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sj21



Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Posts: 312
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:46 pm Reply with quote
The japanese voice of Naruto is definetely not annoying and i do see your point. The shippuden series of Naruto is definitaly better. More mature in voice and personality.
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Murasakisuishou



Joined: 22 Jun 2006
Posts: 1469
Location: NE Ohio
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:15 pm Reply with quote
TheVok wrote:

When I finally rented the FullMetal Alchemist movie on DVD, I played it with subtitles and was able to appreciate how much more sense it made to have the two brothers voiced by adult women than by two males of jarringly different age groups, given the brothers are only supposed to be a few years apart.


Yes! That's exactly what bothers me about Ed and Al in the dub; I loved Aaron Dismuke, but Vic Mignogna just sounds too old for the role. The brothers had far better chemistry in the sub, I thought; you could believe that they were only a year apart.

Another reason I usually prefer subs is that in Japan, voice actors record together in the same studio so it's easier for them to act off of each other. In America the studios are much smaller, so each role is done seperately, and that can sometimes kill the interaction between characters.
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DemonEyesLeo



Joined: 20 Feb 2005
Posts: 844
Location: Japan
PostPosted: Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:16 pm Reply with quote
It has been a while.

I'm mostly neutral but preference for dub/sub depends on several factors like the particular series, who I'm watching with at the moment, how I'm feeling...

I read a lot (books, magazines, academic journals etc...) so I lean towards dubbed; but overall it really doesn't matter to me.
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