Forum - View topic

who else thinks that the American naruto sukes(voice acting)

I would really like to hear from people who have never heard the Japenese VA's. Thier opinion counts the most (also because they discovering the show from for the first time).

Wouldn't the original voices be in text? Naruto did start out as a manga didn't it? People talk crap about the voices when they picture their own perfect voice for character while reading the manga.

Naruto as a series has some definite flaws, but the English voice acting isn't one of them.

xanbcoo wrote:

Naruto, I will never get used to his voice. I don't think it fits him very well at all. That being said, the woman is not a bad actress (as far as anime VAs go), and there have been times when I've really felt what she was saying. Kakashi, Haku, and Gaara, however all have (or had) voices I think totally fit their characters. All 3 sound VERY similar to the original voices imo, which is a plus.

This is something I don't understand. How can a voice fit the character? Does our voice fit our character? I've seen people at my local comic book shop who look like they work out, yet their voice is that high pitched, albeit comedic, voice. Most characters should sound different because if we get everyone acting serious, the punchline will never work.

Another thing, how can the "Original Voices", I assume you are referring to the Japanese Dubs, sound similar to the English dub? English and Japanese accents and voices in general are very different. When I speak Spanish, English, or French I sound like a completely different person.

Wouldn't the original voices be in text? Naruto did start out as a manga didn't it? People talk crap about the voices when they picture their own perfect voice for character while reading the manga.

It really isn't. It's a difference between Japanese and English. Dattebayo is a more natural thing to hear than "Believe it" every ten minutes.

Playful suffixes after sentences are a rather common thing in anime and manga.
Not so in Western cartoon.

It's sad that expectations have been driven so very low.

beast wrote:

Playful suffixes after sentences are a rather common thing in anime and manga. Not so in Western cartoon.

Maybe not in cartoons, but definitely in common speech. I teach at an urban high school, and I know students who end sentences with catch-phrases just as often as Naruto uses "Believe it!" in the dub and for more or less the same purpose. Thus I don't see that quirk as odd at all. Is it annoying? Sure. But it's also part of their personal style, just like it is for Naruto.

Are you Japanese? Do you know what all the Japanese people think?

But it is not natural for normal Japanese to end all their sentences with dattebayo like they do with Desu.

Dattebayo might sound childish and annoying. But naruto fan will find it natural because they’re become accustomed to the way Naruto speak.

And if you watch 100 episode of only the English dub Naruto, you will assume that the way he ends his sentences with "believe it" is just the natural way he speaks too.

Everybody is different. We have a lot of rapper that end every sentence with "believe dat" or "ya heard me, son" and it might sound awkward to many people but to rap fans that grew up on slang, it’s natural for them.

Well you just have proven my point, Kunta. Even though you don't know the language, you just assume it sound more natural. Is it a bias opinion? Probably. You've grown so accustomed the voices and the speech pattern that no other way is the correct way.

Maybe not in cartoons, but definitely in common speech. I teach at an urban high school, and I know students who end sentences with catch-phrases just as often as Naruto uses "Believe it!" in the dub and for more or less the same purpose.

I disagree on that; I expect a certain level of competence in a dub performance and certainly come down on a series when I don't hear it. I don't hold original Japanese vocals up as exemplars of perfection, though, so I'm not going to blast a series just for not having Academy Award-level merit in its acting - unlike some people in this forum and others. (And no, I'm not necessarily talking about you, Ohoni, although IIRC your opinions and mine on dubs differ dramatically.)

Heck, I have a ton myself (some I've posted on this board).

In Fushigi Yugi, Chichiri ended most of his senteces with "No da!" (or "You Know" in the dubbed version). It all just depends on how annoying it gets to you or if you're able to tune it out.

A "catch phrase" is kind of a different thing. For example, Bender has the catch phrase "Bite my shiny metal ass!", right? But he uses the phrase, he doesn't end random sentences with it. It's not like he goes "I'm going to go down to the store, bite my shiny metal ass!". The way Naruto employs his "Believe it!" is not the way one tastefully employs a catch phrase.

It's a REASONABLE deviation in the Japanese language, something that fits fairly naturally into Japanese speech, much like the Canadian ", eh?".

And you make the much more common bias, that of assuming that you have no biases, and that everyone else is biased.