Untitled

Not saiding that I feel offended, maybe a little since I feeling strange when I read harsh post.

I'm live in america, and watch alot of dub anime. edited anime started since the mid 80's. When Golion became Voltron, I never knew what anime was back I didn't know that it was it original name was Golion. Now I find a site that show what been cut and I knew why. Some of the violent was kept.

I thought anime was just like cartoon show, but I was wrong. I'm not sure I even was to watch them about. They did give some idea.

Rasengan Zero

I grew up watching dubbed anime (and other cartoons and whatnot to melt my brain), so I have no real problem with it. I guess since I've seen the original show and their dubbed counterparts, I might have realized just how much things were editted out of the dubbed one and how the voices might not seem to fit anymore. But either way, I'm quite mellow when it comes to dubs since that's what I grew up with and that's what we have now too.

Captain Panda

First off, it's worth differentiating between dubbing anime, which is simply changing the dialogue to English, and actually editing, which is the alteration of content. It's the VAST minority of series that are edited for their dubs (in the US at least…I dunno 'bout other countries in that regard), and even then, it's the vast minority of THOSE that don't also get an unedited release. I bring this up only because there are some people out there who seem to equate "dubbing" something, to giving it a 4Kids style saturday morning release, and that's simply incorrect.

That said, dubbing isn't bad at all. It's rather nice. I find it's considerably easier to relax and enjoy something when I don't have to read little words at the bottom of the screen to understand everything. Not to mention the fact that in terms of quality, most of the dubs produced nowadays are just as good, if not better, than their Japanese counterparts.

Editing, on the other hand, I view as something of a necessary evil. Since the majority of edited releases get an uncut release as well, it's not as if edits particularly hurt me. On the other hand, the open series up to vast new audiences. I love the fact that my little brothers tell me about how much they love One Piece, and if I am put off a bit hearing the "Zolo"s, and other comments that are clearly edited down, I think the fact that they can get into it makes the edits worth it on the whole.

Cap'n Carter

I do agree with Captain Panda, while I'm disappointed that One Piece had to be done by 4Kids and editted to hell, I remember that kids get to enjoy a pretty good show.

Solar Knight

I heard a while back that Cowboy Bebop's dub is considered to be better than the original version.

oceanizer

Believe or not, I actually grew up in dubbed world, and I didn't mind it at all, even if it was the other way around; dubbed from English to Japanese.

I watched most of movies dubbed, I watched some American (?) cartoons dubbed. True, some dub created certain way of voicing especially for movies, but it was okay. At least I could understand what's going on. Cartoons were better since I guess they're more experienced in voicing animated graphics than real people talking…

And now after I hear real actors voice and goes back to dubbed version, I find it hilarious XD

Kaizoku-Ou

Originally posted by Solar Knight@Feb 15 2005, 04:02 PM
I heard a while back that Cowboy Bebop's dub is considered to be better than the original version.
[snapback]3388[/snapback]

Nah, in my opinion the dub is worse. The voices dont fit the characters as well. Like Ed.
I dont really care about dubbing as long as its not bad dubbing (OP, Escaflowne=2 worst dubs I've heard). In fact, their is a fair amount of really good dubbing, for example Rurouni Kenshin, FMA (IMO, anyway), and YuYu Hakusho.

Cap'n Carter

I think Watanabe said Bebop turned out way better in English.

Which makes sense, Bebop's Japanese voices are pretty lame.

Rasengan Zero

Ack, I think I just fell victim to Captain Panda's thing earlier (this is what happens when you suffer AP Forums withdrawal, your mind begins to deteriorate). True, dubbing and editting are different things. My apologies.

I guess for the actual dubbing matter, I don't really mind. Sometimes when I'm eating and watching anime (something I like to do), I don't always want to have to look at the subtitles. Sometimes, it's just nice to hear the voices in a language you can comprehend. Although, I guess what I meant with the editting thing, is once I've heard their original voices, I guess I'm somewhat worried about their dub voices. Whether it'll match/fit alright. Matching is a problem, but I guess I'm just worried whether it'll fit for the character or not.

Well, I'm quite mellow about dubs still. Sometimes though, I must agree, some people tend to be harsh about dubs compared to the original version (or they fall victim to dub = edit thing like I did earlier. O_o). But, that's them I guess and they might be real sensitive about what they watch.

Seta Ginny

I'm sorry…this is off topic here, but I just feel the need to say that the Bebop Japanese cast is superior to the original, in my opinion.

I LOVE Bebop. And I actually like the dub - that is a HUGE compliment coming from me. I am not typically a dub fan - no problem with them if they're not edited, but I prefer Japanese. The Bebop cast was good - many of the voices were extremely close to the original. But I'm sorry - the American voice actors need to take a couple hints from the Japanese ones - Over acting does NOT mean better acting. I was embarassed showing the english version to my acting teacher when I did the scene where Faye confronts Spike in Real Folk Blues 2 - I told him to watch the Japanese version after.

Cap'n Carter

I'd say Japanese voice actors are far more guilty of over-acting than American voice actors.

bevin

Re: the Cowboy Bebop dub– I'll also say I prefer the Japanese actors to the US ones. Some of them weren't bad but honestly, Wendee Lee has done nothing for me in the roles I've heard her in, Faye being no exception-- she was very very wrong for that part, especially in contrast to Megumi Hayashibara's take on her. I didn't hear the indelecate, tomboyish attitude when she was just being herself (ie: not playing up the cheesecake to get a bounty and the like) and that was one of the things I really liked about her, she wasn't a prissy girl and that's how Wendee Lee's voice sounds to me. Ed's dub actress was just every kind of wrong you can be, in my opinion, so I won't even go there. But then I'm not much of a dub person myself-- in fact dubs are a very large part of the reason I didn't like anime until a few years ago. I have nothing against people that do like them, they're free to like whatever they want, and there are a few dubs I do like, but they're pretty few and far between. I just don't hear many dub actors that can actually act and not just sound like they're reading lines off a page in a room somewhere.

--Bevin

Anthony

CB dub was good but i still prefer the japanese one.

Greg

I'd say Japanese voice actors are far more guilty of over-acting than American voice actors.

here here. Cowboy Bebop dub was pretty solid. Spike's VA was a teensy weak but other than that they were all just fine.

I prefer original version most of the time but there are superior dubs. Not many, but they exist.

StrawHatLuffy

I dont think all dubs are lousy. I have heard some good ones and so have I heard some really terrible ones. It just depends on the company and series I guess.

I hate it when some people say 'All dubs suck!' and can't tell the difference between dubbing and editing. I always like to give a dub a chance, and quality can vary even between two series done by the same company…usually anyway. I'm sure everyone here can guess what exception I'm thinking of in this case...

Some dubs, like the oft-compared Cowboy Bebop and Trigun, I find better than the original. Some series, like Hellsing or Chrno Crusade, while perhaps not better acted, come off better in English because…well, they aren't set in Japan. I have more problems accepting Seras Victoria from Hellsing speaking Japanese than with a slightly iffy stereotypical English accent to be quite honest. And sometimes Japanese female voices can come across as rather too high to Western ears.

And I would love to know how people who don't speak Japanese themselves can tell how well or badly done the voice acting is. I heard of someone who, after he had become fluent in Japanese and lived in Japan for a while, went back and watched some of his favourite anime series from years ago and was shocked to find how crappily acted some of the voices really where.

And I get annoyed when people shun a dub just because the original has some big name Japanese voice actor in a role. Like Slayers - the much-loved Megumi Hayashibara does the voice for Lina, but I like hearing Lisa Ortiz as Lina just as much.

Mog

Now now, I speak Japanese well enough, but I still prefer the originals much more often than any dub. The majority of dubs out there plainly suck.

Dubs have the potential to be better than their Japanese counterparts, a lot of times, but they almost always fail, with a few exceptions. I guess that's what makes them disappointing. Puf.

bevin

Mog– I think that's what gets to me the most too, is the wasted potential to be really good. I think the Hellsing dub is very well-done with the exception of Crispin Freeman, who is so mediocre I can't watch the dub for very long. Which is a shame, because without his presence in there I'd actually prefer to watch the English version. There are some dub actors who CAN act, they just tend to get overshadowed by the ones that can't, or at least can't very well.

Is every Japanese voice actor good? No, I've heard some pretty mediocre ones, but the ones that are good I really enjoy and the overall quality of their tracks tends to be superior to most of the dubbing tracks I've heard-- I'd rather people overact than underact, if I had to choose. I've watched both the subbed and the dubbed versions of every show I own on DVD and most of the time I just cannot stand to listen to the dub for an entire episode-- but I do give them a chance just in case.

And if I may offer my own opinion on this subject, yes, theorhetically some shows work better in English than Japanese because they're not set in Japan, but I tend to think of it more like a suspension of disbelief when I watch it. If Hellsing should be in English, then Kenshin should stay in Japanese, Cowboy Bebop should be in-- well hell that could be in Chinese for all we know, I have no idea what language people'd speak in the future-- and Slayers and One Piece should be in some made-up languages, since they don't take place on Earth. And hell, why wasn't Dr Zhivago in Russian, while we're at it, or Les Miserables in French? Why did all the people in Star Wars speak English? I don't have a problem with something being in the language of the audience it was created for. If you prefer Cowboy Bebop in English, that's totally fine, more power to you, but that just seems like a weak argument to me.

I'm hardly fluent in Japanese, but I do know enough to be able to follow along with the raws fairly well, and I've studied acting for a number of years-- that aside, I hardly think preferring Megumi Hayashibara to Lisa Ortiz makes me a dork who only says so to be pretentious about a big-name Japanese voice actress. Regardless of experience in a given language or with acting in general, you can still tell when someone is acting well or not-- you don't have to be an artist to appreciate "Starry Night" by Van Gogh. Should I become more fluent in Japanese, I may suddenly hear something I hadn't heard before and change my tune, I can't honestly say, but for right now I don't have a problem with a lot of the Japanese tracks I hear and that's fine by me.

If people like or prefer dubs that's peachy, I like a few myself and I'm all for diversity of opinion, but let those of us that prefer the Japanese voices to have our opinions as well without calling us ignorant, please, or this is going to turn into an argument and I think we can agree that no one wants that.

--Bevin

I never really cared about the issue. Editing makes me mad, but uncut DVDs where I can choose English or Japanese make me not mind. If I don't like the dub or Japanese version, I don't have to listen to it, and if I like both, I'm free to alternate between the two.

As a Japanese student, I find it more helpful to watch it in Japanese because I get more used to the language. At the same time, there are a few dubs I enjoy. Like many people have already stated, I was surprised with the quality of the Cowboy Bebop dub (Even though I've only seen the film and first 5 episodes). I enjoyed watching it in Japanese and then rewatching it in English.

On the subject of Hellsing… I have mixed feelings. While I love the casting of whoever the heck they got to play Integral (she's brilliant, I love her even more than her Japanese voice actress)... I just can't stand Sera Victoria's. There's nothing I hate more than a badly done accent - especially as it's a badly done accent from where I live. I mean, it's okay, but I've lived in London all my life and I've never heard anyone talk like that, and it just makes me cringe whenever I hear it.

Though that's just me being picky. Though I like the whole "Hellsing's in London, so I should watch it in English" thing, the Hellsing London is nothing like the London I live in so it already seems like it's set in another world anyway. So I can watch it in Japanese or English. Watching it in English doesn't make it seem more Londonish to me.

(I know I sound really rude ^^; Sorry...)

Cap'n Carter

And I would love to know how people who don't speak Japanese themselves can tell how well or badly done the voice acting is.

Thank you.

Mog

… So you're saying you speak Japanese fluently, Cap'n Carter? Otherwise, you're being a bit of a hypocrite.

Cap'n Carter

HONG TONG CHING CHANG HOYAKU PIKKA PAKKA SHISH COOM BAH

Seriously, I know enough about the language to know that a lot of Japanese VAs overract and aren't that good.

Mog

Sorry, dude, but that means you're just contradicting yourself.

Cap'n Carter

Oh well.

Viz Hater

The rules I live by are that if it isn't dubbed by the old Bandai,Bang Zoom Entertainment,The ADV when Eva was dubbed, Funimation and a few other companies, then I watch it in Japanese.

Zio

To me, dubbing is not a cardinal sin. I was first introduced to the world of anime by dubbed versions of DBZ, Robotech, and Voltron and I still rely on dubbed anime to get into certain series. I do have greivances over certain edits, but I don't launch crusades against the dubbing company for one reason and one reason only.

Merchandising.

See, if anime series become popular, toy compaines snap up the rights to making stuff to sell to kids and consumer whores around the country for lower prices than using eBay or online stores. Which is great for me seeing how I don't trust online stores, don't have a credit card to protect myself from getting into debt, and the fact that I am a lazy, lazy man.

Viz Hater

The main thing is that if it's NOT dubbed by 4Kids,it might be OK to watch in English.

If your're thinking that only kiddy watch 4kids dub anime. My Mom to watching Shaman King. They're rating is Y7FV,[fantasy violences] kids 7 and above could watch it. age 7 to 17 could watch them athought 6 year olds might watch it
contain the might be frightening for kids under 7, small fry 2 to 5 won't watch it.

Names changes like DBZ for example. Hercule is Satan in the uncut version. Which his original dub name was Savage. It wouldn't be a good idea to have someone call Satan unless they want to be boycotted by christans..

PirateFetus V.2

i think it all depends. sometimes it's good, or good enough to be watchable. most times it sucks tho

Cap'n Carter

Savage? Man, that would've sounded so much better than Hercule.