Forum - View topicAnswerman - Can English-Speaking Fans Critique Japanese Voice Acting?
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lys
 Posts: 1008 Location: mitten-state |
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I thought this was a great point: suddenly it all makes sense! My preference for watching in Japanese doesn't necessarily mean those actors do it better, just that their acting is enhanced by leaving room for me to add a layer of my own interpretation. It's amazing how brains can combine these different elements into one seamless thing. |
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kotomikun
Posts: 1205 |
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It's definitely hard to tell good from bad acting in a language you don't speak, but you can still tell when something is obviously off. There was an episode of Hyouka where some new characters appeared, and I felt like their acting sounded flat and awful... turned out it was a student film within the show, and the "real" characters commented on how terrible the acting was. I've seen some obviously-low-budget shows where the acting seemed as weak as the rest of the production, but maybe that was just my imagination.
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seeker3218
Posts: 2 |
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Since I don't know Japanese, I'm only obliged to critique English voice acting. Even then, I find it hard to do that, especially English dub voice actors. I've grown so fond of them because most of them do this because they want to do it. I'm the opposite: I can't bring myself to watch an original Japanese version of an anime because I've grown so fond of the work the English voice actors put into it. They have it hard because they have to match the performances of the original Japanese voice actor for the sake of consistency, and most of the time, they get the short end of the stick. Same thing when Japanese seiyus dub a work in Japanese.
Sorry for being the minority in the room, but I don't believe that Japanese voice actors or actresses express the character more. I really don't like it when people say the original is always better and all other adaptations fail. It's not a fair critique, IMHO. This article is proof of it. It's all level ground to me and I really don't like to compare other performances in other languages because I don't see the point. I judge it based on whether a performance gets its message across effectively based on what the character's personality is supposed to be like through its writing. Now, I'm not so stubborn as to watch an anime in Japanese, but only because there's no English dub for it or if the dub for it is ABSOLUTELY atrocious (*cough4kidscough*). I keep my expectations low since I know that story, writing and animation matter more.
I know there's nothing wrong with that and I may be misinterpreting things, but it's the opposite of why I can't watch something in Japanese. Watching something in English actually helps me interpret how the lines should be read. Yes, I'm gonna get a lot of hate for this, but this is how I feel. Perhaps I'm too emotional when people are being too harsh on an English dub of an anime and that the majority of anime fans prefer the original Japanese version. I'm just gonna be the minority and I'm fine with that. |
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Enigmo
 Posts: 17 |
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Though i disagree with the guy's statement of the japanese voice acting lacking--he's probably just one of those guys who can't help but come up with some sort of criticism--I would say if it actually does exist, then that's how it should be. It's all about synchrony. The physical aspects of what we see in animation are very limited. Overly detailed voicing could end up not matching what are eyes see and it'd just be all weird and shit
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WingKing
Posts: 617 |
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Yeah, it's the same with me. I usually start off a show when it has a dub watching a couple of episodes both ways, to see which one makes me feel more engaged with the material. And sometimes it's not always the version I expect. I remember watching the first couple of Gunslinger Girl episodes in sub and it was kind of okay-ish, and then I switched over to dub for episodes 3 and 4 and it was like suddenly the whole series came to life for me. Conversely with Sakura Wars, I only made it through about half of one episode in dub before I switched it back to sub permanently. That's still one of the worst non-Animax English dubs I've ever heard. And then with Kanon 2006, I can watch either version no problem, and I've even been known to flip back and forth between sub and dub from scene to scene, because there are some scenes I like better in one language and some I like better in the other. That's the only series I've ever watched in bilingual, though. With every other show I can enjoy equally in both languages (like Yuki Yuna), I'll still just stick with one language per viewing session. Like Justin said, it's all about which version sounds better to the characters as I perceive them, or if they both do it well for me. |
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vonPeterhof
Posts: 729 |
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Peeping Life is probably the most unusual voice acting experience in anime (or at least, its most recent iteration; I have no idea if the earlier versions were like that). Since it's basically a sketch comedy mostly starring classical Tatsunoko characters, it obviously features some heavy character acting. However, the show combines it with some of the most realistic line delivery not just in anime, but in all of Japanese scripted TV shows - the characters stammer, repeat themselves, talk over each other, slip in and out of extremely colloquial speech patterns, etc. At times it even sounded more realistic than the ad-libbed sequences in shows like Tesagure! Bukatsumono and gdgd Fairies.
This style of speech arguably works for the show's genre, but is probably a bit too realistic for most forms of fiction. Personally I think Shirobako struck a very good balance between realism and "anime-isms" in acting. There are many instances of unrealistically dramatic and unnaturally eloquent delivery, like in most fiction, but there is also plenty of realistic word-flubbing (especially from director Kinoshita and Kunogi) and dialect slippage (Miyamori and Yano) that the show doesn't really draw attention to, and there is very little in the way of unnatural speech quirks in lieu of characterization (Midori's speech pattern is probably the closest the show comes to this). |
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R315r4z0r
 Posts: 717 |
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I definitely don't think you have to actually know a language to be able to critique it. But you do, at least, need to be exposed to it enough to develop a feel for it.
Even if you don't understand the meaning behind words being spoken, it doesn't mean you can't understand the feeling behind them. From there, it's just putting two and two together. Read the scene and how it should effect the character, then compare it to the way that character sounds. Simple. Because, it doesn't matter what language you're speaking, emotions are always expressed the same way. Something I like to say sometimes: Fire is hot in every language. |
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Merxamers
 Posts: 720 |
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After some thought, i was reminded of an instance where, even though i don't speak japanese, the voice acting affected me in an emotional way.
Take this scene, from one of last year's best anime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSkeqYkd-ng Even as an english speaker, i thought it was quite touching, and even got a bit misty eyed. Maybe it's not "good" in an objective sense to a native Japanese speaker, but it works for me. |
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Raebo101
 Posts: 794 |
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I feel the same way. It can be really frustrating sometimes. 
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TamenishDragon
 Posts: 43 Location: Australia |
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Watch the FMA dub with him - it's got the emotion you seek.
Or watch Attack On Titan subbed for the same effect. |
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Izanagi009
 Posts: 464 Location: Pittsburgh, PA, USA |
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I will be honest, I love Japanese subs but I can also acknowledge that sometimes what I think is a good voice can be very bad to a Japanese ear and vice versa
One situation that this happens is when they are trying to voice deadpan and cold characters. Sometimes it sounds too bland and unnuanced to me (Blake in the Japanese dub of RWBY) and other times it sounds good to me (Makishima Shougo in Psycho Pass). And yet I will admit that I have no idea if i'm correct. One thing I note when I see if I like a seiyuu is the voice range they can do. like Saito Chiwa can do Taokaka or she can do the reverse with Homura Similarly, there is my favorite seiyuu, Tomohazu Sugita who does Gintoki and Ragna and generally has a distinct voice. At the same time though, I would love to hear some tips on how to detect good voice acting from the Japanese side because I bet that my judgement on these two seiyuus would be refined if I did know. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11349 |
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I think this phenomenon is part of why people generally prefer the book over the movie. The best written books are a collaboration between the author and the reader, with the author guiding the reader toward creating the story and its world and characters for themselves, at their own pace. That's why people usually don't like writing where every tiny detail is spelled out with excessive modifiers that just get in the way and make you wish they'd just shut up and get on with the sentence. And with a movie, everything has been decided for you and you end up just being a passive consumer of the director's vision of the story. It's just more satisfying when you get to participate in bringing it to life in your head. Anyway, I've been watching Guin Saga since I was told it wasn't all as terrible as that bizarre section of the dub that's up on YouTube, and while it's not that bad, it's pretty terrible. But I tried watching it in Japanese and it's every bit as awful! Everyone from the writers to the seiyuu to the voice actors totally phoned this one in. 
They were. Thanks for bringing this up before I had to.  As I understand it though, it's not scripted but is almost completely improvised (I'm sure they get a setting and characters, and maybe a basic story idea, like any improv troupe). I suspect one of the things besides the rotoscoped animation that turns some people off is that it does sound so very different from what they're used to hearing (and seeing) in anime, and they just don't know what to make of it.
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13555 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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My criticism is based off of the performance itself and not the seiyuu's overall skills.
A criticism I currently have is when I hear Mutsumi Tamura as Lux in "Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle". I am criticizing that it is another case of a woman playing a teen boy character in a fan service show. |
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Valhern
 Posts: 916 |
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Considering I've watched anime in Japanese, English, and Spanish (with varying accents) I've easily came to the realization that one way or another voice acting comes with some short coming.
The first time I watched anime in Japanese was when I watched Saint Seiya OVAs, and I must say I actually laughed when Morita screamed "SAORI-SAAAAAAN" like a mad man, and some words and phrases sounded funny, in fact, some sound like swear words in Spanish. But there's charm in it, in those overwhelming screams for no reason, nobody speaks or screams like that, but holy hell does it look cool. For example, I watched FMA Brotherhood in both Japanese and English, with clear attention to Mustang's center episodes, and even if the English actor sounded cool and serious, I didn't feel the bits of anger, playfulness Mustang has from him, like in his last fight, those small growls and screaming was very nice. It happened to me too when I watched Levi vs Female Titan, in Japanese there are certain quirks to the voice (like when he goes all beyblade mode on the Titan) that the English voice can't catch. This happens in Spanish too. While we can easily pronounce most of the Japanese terms and names (sometime I really struggle with when watching in English) the lenght and grammar of the Japanese speech tends to make our dubs quite unnatural in pace and wording, plus adding the fact that in Latin America you cannot use any other than a "neutral" language, only specific anime (mostly comedy) are allowed for the famous "mexicanisms" or any other reference to the broad dialects in Latin America. I don't think movies isn't the perfect example for voice acting, most movies don't portray realistic dialogue (both in tone or wording), even watching local productions in TV or movies I realize that there is no way people talk like that, it's very hard to find good speech in that, just like in anime, but I try to forget how unrealistic it is so I can enjoy it more, otherwise it'd be like having a No Fun Allowed placard on my ears. By the way, I may put forward Chihayafuru as an interesting example, in which we see many of the dialects (not Kansai only like in most anime), even if those are perfectly spoken dialects, when I hear them I feel like I'm closer to listening to what a Japanese person sounds like. |
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Wingbeats
 Posts: 272 Location: Boise, Idaho |
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I can't recall ever watching an anime where I thought the Japanese voice acting seemed bad, but I can think of some examples where it just sounded really good. Of course, this is all to my very Western ears, haha.
Showa is the most recent standout I can think of. |
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