# Why are English Voice Dubs complete crap compared to Japanese dubs?



## YugamiSekai (Aug 8, 2016)

Is it just me, or does the English dubs of Japanese games/anime sounds worst than the original?


----------



## sj33 (Aug 8, 2016)

It's a bit of an urban myth. As somebody fluent in Japanese, Japanese dubs are often just as poor - especially in video games. People just don't notice because it's not their native language. That's also why there's an appetite for 'international editions' in Japan - the perception in Japan that English dubs are superior because it's not their native language so they don't notice the flaws in the dubs like they do when it's in their own language. Ironic, eh?

Of course, there are many genuine cases where one dub is better than the other.


----------



## Deleted User (Aug 8, 2016)

I find it depends on what company's doing the dub, but it can also differ from anime to anime/game to game.
Like, I usually dislike something about Funimation's dubs, but with their Hetalia dub, I thought it was better than the original, and with their Princess Jellyfish dub I thought it was almost as good as the original.
It could also be that you're used to the original Japanese version of a game or anime, because I've heard people who are used to the US release of FE:if say Aqua's song sounds weird in Japanese, whilst people who are used to the JP release (including me) think that the English version sounds weird.


----------



## YugamiSekai (Aug 8, 2016)

Tomato Hentai said:


> I've heard people who are used to the US release of FE:if say Aqua's song sounds weird in Japanese, whilst people who are used to the JP release (including me) think that the English version sounds weird.


THIS


----------



## LittleFlame (Aug 8, 2016)

It's not that they're always crap, as someone that prefers japanese dubs most of the time i can fully say that i heavily prefer some dubs over the original cast like Persona
EDIT: I'm always interested in watching both subs and dubs btw


----------



## earlynovfan (Aug 8, 2016)

I very rarely watch anime in the English Dub, but it definitely feels lackluster when talking about older (80's/90's) shows and movies.

For example, Evangelion is near unwatchable in the english dubbing as it feels very drawn out and uninspired. Like they are just reading the script in a different voice. 

Now, OBVIOUSLY that's what they ARE doing, but it seems to hold very little emotion and like they really just want the money at the end of the production. (Guess one can't really blame them?)


----------



## FAST6191 (Aug 8, 2016)

Several would feel that way, Various reasons
1) Voice acting (seiyuu) in Japan is a semi respectable trade, outside it and with the exception of a handful of European countries (Germany, France and Italy in varying degrees do it well) it tends to be a mix of random actor actor that is slumming it one day or some they rounded up down the local community theatre, especially if you are doing a cheap anime DVD or worse still a game. Bonus points if you are trying to find English speaking actors in Japan to dub in Japan from the get go.

2) Most games and anime are not high art. Presumably you don't understand Japanese so when the usually grade school writing and cringeworthy dialogue comes on you don't inherently understand it and can treat it a bit like some music or something.

3) Check to see what the dubs are mastered in --> your glorious 5.1 DTS Japanese track is likely not going to compete with 2 channel minimal bitrate AC3 that the dub often sports, and recorded in the kind of place that you hire when you are using actors you found in the community theatre.

4) To go with 1) and with the exception of those European countries it is not going to be rewritten that well to match timing in the shows, and most shows will not match timing to the English dub. Japanese in speech is not that much different to English in length to convey a point like it can be for the written side of things but it is not exactly the same all the time either. Also going by some stories from said community theatre types then it is often a factory process and might lack table reads, the option for the actors to go through the script and also do enough takes to get it done properly.

5) You are a filthy weab. It is an unfortunate affliction, you can often cure it by going to Japan and seeing that it is not all sunshine and rainbows (best not to go during the sunshine and rainbows festival) or you can finish going through puberty instead.


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Aug 8, 2016)

Is not complete crap, is a matter of opinion.
You think it is, maybe others don't think so.


----------



## sj33 (Aug 8, 2016)

FAST6191 said:


> 5) You are a filthy weab. It is an unfortunate affliction, you can often cure it by going to Japan and seeing that it is not all sunshine and rainbows (best not to go during the sunshine and rainbows festival) or you can finish going through puberty instead.


Unfortunately such an experience leaves you bitter and cynical. After living in Japan for years with a wife and kid, I almost miss the days when I could actually get excited about pop culture rather than just cringing at it like now.


----------



## YugamiSekai (Aug 8, 2016)

To clarify: I didn't mean all dubs. But there's those few that sounds awful.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

And @FAST6191 no one asked you to be a compete dick about it.


----------



## SomecallmeBerto (Aug 8, 2016)

Always depends on what company is doing the subs/dubs. I find dubs fine for most animes but ohhhh boy there are a few dubs out there that cause my ears to bleed. (Naruto)


----------



## Deleted User (Aug 8, 2016)

kprovost7314 said:


> And @FAST6191 no one asked you to be a compete dick about it.


He was hardly being a dick.


----------



## the_randomizer (Aug 8, 2016)

4Kids ruined English dubbing for me as a whole, they unnecessarily censor things that don't need to be changes, like cultural references (like Yen for Dollars, rice balls for donuts, etc), and blur out signs that don't need blurring out, etc.



kprovost7314 said:


> And @FAST6191 no one asked you to be a compete dick about it.



Don't be a Grumpy Gus, he wasn't being rude.

That being said, as one who actually legitimately lived in Japan for part of my life and learned the language, I detest pretty much all English dubs.


----------



## duffmmann (Aug 8, 2016)

kprovost7314 said:


> Is it just me, or does the English dubs of Japanese games/anime sounds worst than the original?



Depends on the studio handling the dub and the voice actors they hire.  For example, the English Goku sounds way better than the Japanese Goku.  Or a show like FLCL nailed the dub, and I think both versions sound fantastic.  Yet there are plenty of examples of studios that handle dubbing incredibly poorly and it can be very frustrating to watch those anime or play those video games.  It just depends really.


----------



## RustInPeace (Aug 8, 2016)

Sonic Angel Knight said:


> Is not complete crap, is a matter of opinion.
> You think it is, maybe others don't think so.



Absolutely. I'm not an expert on anime, but I'll take whatever I happen to get first. For example, as a kid growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s in the States, the only way to experience my ultimate anime, well TV show, Dragon Ball Z, was through the English dub by Funimation. In hindsight those are really rough, but watching interviews and panel discussions, they were rushing to get that on TV. The uncut overdubs and such they did later were slight improvements, and recently watching Kai, massive improvement, cast members with more years of voice acting under their belts. Sean Schemmel for example, voice of Goku, that was his first VA job, and in Kai he's so much better. I still have an affinity for the original 291 episodes, but Kai is great to see as an adult who hasn't watched DBZ in years, or for the new generation of kids.

What came to me subbed first, One Punch Man. I didn't know until yesterday that Viz started dubbing it, and having watched the first 4 dubbed episodes, yeah. Definitely unknown actors to me, but it's alright. Watching Super now allows me to experience the veteran voice actors for these iconic characters, and that's a thrill. So preference? I don't really have one definitively. It's a show by show case, and it tends to be what was exposed to me first, that tends to mean what resonates with me the longest. So take One Punch Man, a show I watched months ago, have gone back to a couple times, subbed, and the dubbed version, which I just saw yesterday. More likely I prefer the subbed version. Credit to them for sticking with the subs for the most part, as if the mouth flaps were just ideal for both subbing and dubbing in synchronicity.

What confuses me is Prison School. Looking it up after watching the Funimation dub, it got a lot of flak because of the voices. I guess they stuck with the story, they had the material to work with, unlike the initial DBZ dubbing process, where they barely had anything to go off of. I loved the voices! Eric Vale as Gakuto, brilliant voice for a brilliant character. Sonny Strait's voice for Andre was well explained by him, abnormally huge head, abnormally small face, it means a compressed esophagus or whatever, so the voice ends up being like Gollum. If anything those voices were crafted based on the character designs, and it worked. I watched the OVA subbed, and comparing ever so briefly, I don't get the issue. Andre's voice is more tame subbed, but other than that?

Part of me thinks it's also a case of just hard-nosed individuals in one area of entertainment, get that all the time in other forms. That section that can never be satisfied, oldies are the best, in anime's case, the original voices. Just love whatever you want and respect what others enjoy, even if it's vastly different from your tastes. Unless it's something really deplorable like Bieber music, but that's another topic.


----------



## DKB (Aug 8, 2016)

"Opinions are like assholes. Everybody's got one and everyone thinks everyone else's stinks." intensifies

also japan makes stories that a Japanese person would never go through and it makes me laugh some sometimes the dub just sounds better for the story


----------



## PewnyPL (Aug 8, 2016)

It depends. I have met with some awful original Japanese dubs (especially the shouting in original Gundam series, that was just terrible, especially the main character), then some great ones.
I agree that it is partially a thing of not understanding what they say, being able to ignore it partially, but there is also the factor of how well the voice fits the character as well as intonation. That's one thing that MOST OFTEN Japanese dubs excel at, the voices are much more fitting and perfectly fit situations, unlike what tends to happen in English dubs.
But there are some GREAT English dubs, where it sometimes may fit even better than in Japanese one.


----------



## DaFixer (Aug 8, 2016)

I watch all my movies/animes/series in the original language with Dutch or English subtitles.
Most of the dub's are crap, when I was young most cool cartoons where in English. So reading subs with the speed of lighting was early learnt.
With games I have the same thing.


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Aug 8, 2016)

RustInPeace said:


> Absolutely. I'm not an expert on anime, but I'll take whatever I happen to get first. For example, as a kid growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s in the States, the only way to experience my ultimate anime, well TV show, Dragon Ball Z, was through the English dub by Funimation. In hindsight those are really rough, but watching interviews and panel discussions, they were rushing to get that on TV. The uncut overdubs and such they did later were slight improvements, and recently watching Kai, massive improvement, cast members with more years of voice acting under their belts. Sean Schemmel for example, voice of Goku, that was his first VA job, and in Kai he's so much better. I still have an affinity for the original 291 episodes, but Kai is great to see as an adult who hasn't watched DBZ in years, or for the new generation of kids.
> 
> What came to me subbed first, One Punch Man. I didn't know until yesterday that Viz started dubbing it, and having watched the first 4 dubbed episodes, yeah. Definitely unknown actors to me, but it's alright. Watching Super now allows me to experience the veteran voice actors for these iconic characters, and that's a thrill. So preference? I don't really have one definitively. It's a show by show case, and it tends to be what was exposed to me first, that tends to mean what resonates with me the longest. So take One Punch Man, a show I watched months ago, have gone back to a couple times, subbed, and the dubbed version, which I just saw yesterday. More likely I prefer the subbed version. Credit to them for sticking with the subs for the most part, as if the mouth flaps were just ideal for both subbing and dubbing in synchronicity.
> 
> ...


Well funimation has been like the single most active anime localization company for long time in america, and responsible for reasons why even american know about anime, or even like it, then they go and betray them by watching sub only shows and now they do simlucasting which is sad now. I actually enjoy the funimation shows like one piece, Dragonball, Tenchi Muyo, Seikirei, Rosario X Vampire, and dare i say, Highschool DXD. While some others don't really do it as well, or somehow better, funimation does a good LOCALIZATION Job (when is uncensored) There been few other companies that also do well, shows like cowboy bebob, lupin the 3rd, Big O, Naruto, bleach, and code geass, gurren lagaan, and some others. Is just a matter of coordination. Most popular american dubs are by funimation. 

So i am serious when i say is a matter of opinion. If you don't like it, it isn't necessary to insult it by calling it bad or crap. Is easy to understand if someone doesn't like something.


----------



## ertre (Aug 8, 2016)

DaFixer said:


> I watch all my movies/animes/series in the original language with Dutch or English subtitles.
> Most of the dub's are crap, when I was young most cool cartoons where in English. So reading subs with the speed of lighting was early learnt.
> With games I have the same thing.


Pretty much the exact same story for me, to the point where I even use English subs for shows already in English.


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Aug 8, 2016)

the_randomizer said:


> 4Kids ruined English dubbing for me as a whole, they unnecessarily censor things that don't need to be changes, like cultural references (like Yen for Dollars, rice balls for donuts, etc), and blur out signs that don't need blurring out, etc.
> 
> That being said, as one who actually legitimately lived in Japan for part of my life and learned the language, I detest pretty much all English dubs.


That isn't censor ship, it is a cultural difference, is called Localization. There is a difference between censorship and localization.

Localize = To adapt to ones taste by adding common references viewers can relate to.
Censor = Cut and remove content that could be consider offensive or contraversial to viewers.

Most shows done by 4kids are like that, They even  change the name of characters to make them easy and  memorable. Is for kids. Is nothing against someone. Is a creative choice to appeal to people to watch it.  Yes is true that it shouldn't need any alterations like that for people to wanna watch their stuff cause if you watch Japanese media, you expect japanese things and culture, least a way to learn about their country but if they didn't try to make it appeal to the audience they are targetting, then who would think to watch it if there isn''t anything they like seeing within it?


----------



## Deleted User (Aug 8, 2016)

Sonic Angel Knight said:


> That isn't censor ship, it is a cultural difference, is called Localization. There is a difference between censorship and localization.
> 
> Localize = To adapt to ones taste by adding common references viewers can relate to.
> Censor = Cut and remove content that could be consider offensive to viewers.
> ...


I remember my sister was watching Pokemon Indigo League, and as soon as she saw riceballs, or "donuts" in an episode, she paused and walked towards the TV to try and figure out what the heck those "donuts" were, and IIRC it was before anyone called them "donuts", so she wasn't confused because they didn't look like donuts, she was confused because she didn't know what the fuck they were.


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Aug 8, 2016)

Tomato Hentai said:


> I remember my sister was watching Pokemon Indigo League, and as soon as she saw riceballs, or "donuts" in an episode, she paused and walked towards the TV to try and figure out what the heck those "donuts" were, and IIRC it was before anyone called them "donuts", so she wasn't confused because they didn't look like donuts, she was confused because she didn't know what the fuck they were.


Well that is funny, no offense. That is localization. Usually that happens in most kids shows. Censorship will try and remove any offensive and contraversial content (Like jinx skin being recolored purple from being black) that is censorship.


----------



## Deleted User (Aug 8, 2016)

Sonic Angel Knight said:


> Well that is funny, no offense. That is localization. Usually that happens in most kids shows. Censorship will try and remove any offensive and contraversial content (Like jinx skin being recolored purple from being black) that is censorship.


No, I found it funny too. And I was using it to show why localization may be a good thing, if 4Kids had been able to change those riceballs to look like donuts then that wouldn't have happened, and I'm sure there were other kids out there who were confused as to what those riceballs actually were too.


----------



## earlynovfan (Aug 8, 2016)

Sonic Angel Knight said:


> Well that is funny, no offense. That is localization. Usually that happens in most kids shows. Censorship will try and remove any offensive and contraversial content (Like jinx skin being recolored purple from being black) that is censorship.


I remember in High School I borrowed a few DVD's and VHS tapes of DragonBall Z from a friend and it has a lot of awkward censorship. 

I definitely understand the need to censor nudity (especially child goku) but the way they did it was really not clean. Adding bizarre cut out rocks and shit like that.


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Aug 8, 2016)

Tomato Hentai said:


> No, I found it funny too. And I was using it to show why localization may be a good thing, if 4Kids had been able to change those riceballs to look like donuts then that wouldn't have happened, and I'm sure there were other kids out there who were confused as to what those riceballs actually were too.


Well i doubt any american at the time would eat or make something like this for dinner or meal or any treat. But we know what they are now, just some didn't know back then. 

Every american kid knew what doughnuts were but not riceballs.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------



earlynovfan said:


> I remember in High School I borrowed a few DVD's and VHS tapes of DragonBall Z from a friend and it has a lot of awkward censorship.
> 
> I definitely understand the need to censor nudity (especially child goku) but the way they did it was really not clean. Adding bizarre cut out rocks and shit like that.


Well they did censor it, In fact there was a censored dub and uncensored dub. The censored one was on tv Toonami with cut and removed stuff as well as other things. But the uncensored one was only able to be purchased on vhs and DVD at the time. More detailed explain as to why situations have happend like that. Of course if your rushing to get things out to tv shows that is viewed weekly then you are bound to expect slip ups and mistakes as well. No one is perfect, had they been given enough time to finalize and work to present clearity then it would been fine.


----------



## DaFixer (Aug 8, 2016)

ertre said:


> Pretty much the exact same story for me, to the point where I even use English subs for shows already in English.


 
Yes when I was a kid I watch Spiderman,X-Men,Animaniacs,Transfomers,ThunderCats in English on Telekids on RTL4.
Only I like Alfred Jodocus Kwak in Dutch, becase the script/songs/voices was made by a Dutch men (Herman van Veen).

Most off my English I know form movies/games,not from my shitty school....


----------



## the_randomizer (Aug 8, 2016)

Sonic Angel Knight said:


> That isn't censor ship, it is a cultural difference, is called Localization. There is a difference between censorship and localization.
> 
> Localize = To adapt to ones taste by adding common references viewers can relate to.
> Censor = Cut and remove content that could be consider offensive to viewers.
> ...



They should have at least called onigiri,  "rice balls" and not "jelly donuts", no kid is _that_ stupid to not know what a jelly donut is. I think. That and weapons, yes, YuGiOh had guns, but in the 4Kids dub, the bad guys are just holding invisible guns lol, stuff like that was unnecessary. Top that off with the horrible voice acting, 4Kids is absolute garbage, no wonder they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Cultural changes are fine, but not to extreme levels.


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Aug 8, 2016)

the_randomizer said:


> They should have at least called onigiri rice balls and not jelly donuts, no kid is that stupid to not know what a jelly donut is. That and weapons, yes, YuGiOh had guns, but in the 4Kids dub, the bad guys are just holding invisible guns, stuff like that was unnecessary. Top that off with the horrible voice acting, 4Kids is absolute garbage, no wonder they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.


Unessary yes, but funny. But that how they do it. Is no doubt 4 kids does a crappy job in censorship, but is not easy to be consistent especailly if your realeasing the shows on weekly basis with less time for proof reading checks and making things fit into better situations. They had little to work with and it looked silly on their behalf. To be honest as adults is hard to determine what kind of content to remove and cut from a show to still make it clear what is going on.

Maybe they were thinking Finger guns were what kids were into. So finger guns is what they went with? 

To be honest i think everyone should stick to watching shows with a TV-14 or higher rating (Depend on country rating system comparisons) and also avoid watching it on tv or some video streaming sites. Just buy the DVD or bluray format or digital since most of those kinds of shows are not heavily censored, supports dual audio, (official subtitles) 

Most of the reasons why anime is that way was cause they were aring it on tv, and they usually censor a lot of stuff even in MA rating. Is why you see people sell movies and dvds with (UNCUT AND UNRATED) Label to reflect that "Yes there was cut content of this media and now you can watch all of it" Is just a matter of public serive media. Owning videos there is no need for any cuts since is in the hands of the consumer and not going through public display like tv shows.

Anime on tv has been having lots of trouble maintaining broadcasting rights due to some contravertial reasons and now most people are required to just buy DVD or subscribe to on demand services like Hulu, netfilx, Amazon, Or the publisher websites (Funimation, Vizmedia) To be able to watch them. Toonami shared with adult swim program scheduel and cartoon network survived a long time over the past 20 years but as far as that goes, is the only service on network tv with anime for mature audience, while Nicktoons and Disney XD has only kids anime.


----------



## Deleted User (Aug 8, 2016)

the_randomizer said:


> They should have at least called onigiri,  "rice balls" and not "jelly donuts", no kid is _that_ stupid to not know what a jelly donut is. I think. That and weapons, yes, YuGiOh had guns, but in the 4Kids dub, the bad guys are just holding invisible guns lol, stuff like that was unnecessary. Top that off with the horrible voice acting, 4Kids is absolute garbage, no wonder they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Cultural changes are fine, but not to extreme levels.


Oh, I didn't know they filed for bankruptcy. Now I know why the 4Kids channel doesn't exist at all anymore lol


----------



## the_randomizer (Aug 8, 2016)

Tomato Hentai said:


> Oh, I didn't know they filed for bankruptcy. Now I know why the 4Kids channel doesn't exist at all anymore lol



Yup, they went under a few years back, I'd rather deal with Funimation's dubs lol.  At least that company retains the original soundtrack to the anime where 4Kids has to change it.


----------



## LittleFlame (Aug 8, 2016)

the_randomizer said:


> Yup, they went under a few years back, I'd rather deal with Funimation's dubs lol.  At least that company retains the original soundtrack to the anime where 4Kids has to change it.


Funimation is pretty great for dubs


----------



## the_randomizer (Aug 8, 2016)

LittleFlame said:


> Funimation is pretty great for dubs



They are, but given that I lived in Japan and studied the language actively for five years, I honestly find the Japanese audio to be less painful for my ears


----------



## Chary (Aug 11, 2016)

It can really differ based on the licensing company behind it. Funimation has quality dubs like Ouran HSHC, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fate/Zero, and Psycho Pass. Their Steins;Gate dub was also good...in terms of performance, but the script absolutely botched it in the switch from Japanese to English, making it completely inferior. You also have groups like Sentai or Aniplex that usually dub things with a low budget...such as Sword Art Online or Fate/Stay Night...which can range from moderate at best, to unwatchable. 4KIDS of course, dubs shows meant for a younger audience, so they tend to censor things that don't fit American culture as to not confuse the viewers. It makes sense on paper, but comes off terribly in practice.


----------



## Deleted User (Aug 11, 2016)

FAST6191 said:


> Several would feel that way, Various reasons
> 5) You are a filthy weab. It is an unfortunate affliction, you can often cure it by going to Japan and seeing that it is not all sunshine and rainbows (best not to go during the sunshine and rainbows festival) or you can finish going through puberty instead.


Took somebody long enough to say this. New quote to add to my sig. 

Also, I really don't see a problem with english dubs. I can watch the dub of JJBA part 1  and see nothing wrong with it. But I am not a anime fanatic so...


----------



## FAST6191 (Aug 11, 2016)

VinLark said:


> Took somebody long enough to say this.



11 minutes from the OP posting?

Are you one of the people that joins IRC, says hello and then leaves 15 seconds later citing it being inactive?


----------



## anhminh (Aug 11, 2016)

Well, I think Japaneses voice actress has higher voice than NA voice actress so they usually sound cuter, plus Japanese fit with that high pitch voice more than English did.

But for deep voice female character and male character, NA voice actor is really good and most of the time better.

So if Japanese dub are cute then English dub are cool af. I pretty sure Japanese think English sound cool too, that why when we see something cool in Anime/Manga it usually write in English, like Evangelion or Saber.


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Aug 11, 2016)

Chary said:


> It can really differ based on the licensing company behind it. Funimation has quality dubs like Ouran HSHC, Fullmetal Alchemist, Fate/Zero, and Psycho Pass. Their Steins;Gate dub was also good...in terms of performance, but the script absolutely botched it in the switch from Japanese to English, making it completely inferior. You also have groups like Sentai or Aniplex that usually dub things with a low budget...such as Sword Art Online or Fate/Stay Night...which can range from moderate at best, to unwatchable. 4KIDS of course, dubs shows meant for a younger audience, so they tend to censor things that don't fit American culture as to not confuse the viewers. It makes sense on paper, but comes off terribly in practice.



Yeah, the 4Kids people do bad job. probably budget isues as well as time limits for episodes to spend on. Also Localization and censorship is different. Eventhough they often cross over to the same territory. 

Localization like changing names from japanese to something more common in english (Example Yu-Gi-oh) Are often done for younger audience, like kids, is easier names to remember and for undeveloped mind. Adding american food and snacks instead of Stuff like sushi, riceballs, takoyuki and other japanese related things, are localization.

Censorship is like the Fire emblem Fates petting feature (Seen as sex related) Changing jinx from black to purple (seen as racist), and removing any contraversial scenes like beach, bikini, obsessive discussion of breast, touching fondling, Removing breast physics (Sexual content) Even stuff like removing nipples from characters, the detailed features of things (curves leading front and rear end or cleavage), Cuting content that could seem offensive. Most kids anime are censored, and some.

Most funimation published content is uncensored if you buy the on demand DVD VHS OR BLU-RAY whatever, Or visit their website, and i think also on netflix (not hulu) So if you want to watch it close to uncut as possible, buying the on demand DVD type is best option, cause on tv it will always be censored, dispite aring on "ADULT SWIM" AFTER 12 AM Which is very dumb to me.


----------



## vayanui8 (Aug 11, 2016)

There are a number of reasons dubs tend to be inferior, though not all of them are bad.
In many cases they simply use shitty actors because they have a small budget. This is the issue with alot of dubs, especially older ones.

Another issue with alot of dubs is censorship. This effected alot of shows aimed at children and 4Kids is an infamous example. While I can understand toning things down for kids, it was often done very poorly and just made the scenes harder to understand as a whole. It also didn't help that they would take shows like One Piece and completely change them in an attempt to advertise them to a younger audience than intended.

Another Company that I feel deserves mention is Funimation, as their dubs are good in some areas but terrible in others. They actually tend to put together a solid cast for most of their dubs, but they have no variety. When they use the same small pool of actors for every dubs, it starts to become a big issue and prevents new talent from joining in. They also have a tendency to be overly liberal with the script and make unnecessary changes. A notable example is the GamerGate reference in their prison school dub, which aggravated alot of people and was completely out of place. These kind of intrusive script changes are unwelcome and can ruin an otherwise solid dub.

Some character archetypes translate very poorly to English as well, which is why so many dubs end up with young female characters having obnoxiously squeaky voices.

That said, with all of these examples of bad dubs, what can make a good dub? Good dubs are unfortunately pretty rare these days, but they do happen. One of my favorite game dubs of the past few years was The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. The game had a great cast, and they weren't the typical overused English VAs. In fact, the main character, Rean, was voiced by a fairly new actor who doesn't have alot of experience, but he fit the role very well. We need more dubs that take the time to scout new talent. On top of this, the game also had a fantastic translation and the script was well adapted to English while staying faithful to the original Japanese. This is the biggest issue with all forms of translations these days. We either end up with something that is translated so literally that things aren't conveyed properly, or we end up with something that no longer resembles the original Japanese script.

Localization is a very complicated process that has been a big issue with alot of games these days. Fortunately, alot of companies seem to be getting a better idea of how to produce a good localization with a good dub, but some will continue to fuck up and may never learn unfortunately.


----------



## KazoWAR (Aug 11, 2016)

i think it really depends on what your used to. What you see(hear) first is usually what you like better. pretty much every show i saw as a kid dubbed and cant watch it any other way. for example DBZ I like the original dub, the Japanese i dont like and also the redub for kai, i don't like it either.


----------



## Deleted User (Aug 11, 2016)

FAST6191 said:


> 11 minutes from the OP posting?
> 
> Are you one of the people that joins IRC, says hello and then leaves 15 seconds later citing it being inactive?


I was talking about in general. Places outside GBATemp. You know. The internet. World Wide Web. Cyberspace. Information Superhighway.
You really didn't think about my post any other way before you posted you're reply...?


----------



## Bubsy Bobcat (Aug 11, 2016)

kprovost7314 said:


> Is it just me, or does the English dubs of Japanese games/anime sounds worst than the original?


I'm pretty sure you're just being a weeb about it and that's why you prefer the Japanese voices. The few dubbed games I've actually played didn't sound bad anyways.


----------



## MionissNio (Aug 11, 2016)

FAST6191 said:


> 5) You are a filthy weab. It is an unfortunate affliction, you can often cure it by going to Japan and seeing that it is not all sunshine and rainbows (best not to go during the sunshine and rainbows festival) or you can finish going through puberty instead.



THIS!

Anyways, I also think getting used to it matters a lot. I mean the english voices in FE fates are ao much diverse for females and yet some males sound the same whilst in the Japanase version males sound a lot better and diverse yet females have no character yet I still like the english voices cause I played it and I am used to it :3.


----------



## Kamiyama (Aug 11, 2016)

FAST6191 said:


> 5) You are a filthy weab. It is an unfortunate affliction, you can often cure it by going to Japan and seeing that it is not all sunshine and rainbows (best not to go during the sunshine and rainbows festival) or you can finish going through puberty instead.



This. So MUCH this! FAST, you are my new god. You've always been.

When I joined to these forums, I was about 15-16 years old and I can say that I was one of those filthy weabs (hence my name). I couldn't stand any dubs or what so ever, even if those was just fantastic. Why? Because it was not in Japanese. 'cause anything Japanese is the thing. Japan is the best! Japan is life!

Now I'm almost 30 years old and I prefer always the English dubs. Maybe I'm too lazy to read the stuff, maybe I just don't have so much time for that. It's just so much easier when you are actually read what you are hearing. I don't even remember any "horrible" dubs from any game I've played. Except those Japanese voices.

Don't get me wrong, I like Japanese culture and stuff. I've also been translating the stuff from JPN to FIN for YEARS. When I did "grow up", I just didn't stand those helium voices anymore. I did grow tired of those voices. Like sj33 already said, they just don't sounds right. I don't know any Japanese people who would ever speak like characters in the anime/games/etc. Just go to the nearest theater and see a play. Or watch a movie or even some television series. Go to the work and try to speak with your co-workers (they are the worst). Even those doesn't sounds right. Why? Because they are acting (or they should). There's tons of clichés going on. And those clichés are just plain awful in Japanese pop culture. In the most of the games/animes, the Japanese voice actors are the ones who are just reading the scripts using their helium voices while the English counter part is even trying to add some depth to it. Troy Baker, anyone? Love that guy and ALL of his dubbing roles.

Try to watch *5 Centimeters Per Second* in Japanese. That's the line how the Japanese voices should sounds like. It's been a while when I watched that last time, but I do have a faint recall, that the voice acting in that movie was pretty good. I really should watch it in English too.

You guys know what's also sad? When the western publisher doesn't add the Japanese dubs in the games, the weabs are crying because they want their game with JPN voices. BUT! When the western publisher is bringing the game to the west with JPN ONLY voices, the same weab groups are making or asking the FANDUBS for those games! W-w-w-why? What the hell, people?! Even I can't understand this.


----------



## the_randomizer (Aug 11, 2016)

So for those who legitimately learned the language, spent five years (three in high school and two from living abroad), who prefer not to listen to often-bad acting in English dubs, surely, one would *not *label them as weabs, right?  Because I watch Japanese audio versions to help retain the language, because I want to keep improving. I really hope people don't take that the wrong way when I say that.


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Aug 11, 2016)

the_randomizer said:


> So for those who legitimately learned the language, spent five years (three in high school and two from living abroad), who prefer not to listen to often-bad acting in English dubs, surely, one would *not *label them as weabs, right?  Because I watch Japanese audio versions to help retain the language, because I want to keep improving. I really hope people don't take that the wrong way when I say that.


No, i understand sir. 
Is a matter of opinion, and preference. We all here can make respectable opinions and discuss them like mature members. Right?.... I hope...

We can also make jokes too.



MionissNio said:


> THIS!
> 
> Anyways, I also think getting used to it matters a lot. I mean the english voices in FE fates are ao much diverse for females and yet some males sound the same whilst in the Japanase version males sound a lot better and diverse yet females have no character yet I still like the english voices cause I played it and I am used to it :3.



There is voice acting in fire emblem fates?


----------



## MionissNio (Aug 11, 2016)

Sonic Angel Knight said:


> No, i understand sir.
> Is a matter of opinion, and preference. We all here can make respectable opinions and discuss them like mature members. Right?.... I hope...
> 
> We can also make jokes too.
> ...


In dem sex scenes
*( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)*


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Aug 11, 2016)

MionissNio said:


> In dem sex scenes
> *( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)*


Either i gone def, my speakers broke, or they hardly say anything.... besides only thought the japanese had those scenes.


----------



## Cyan (Aug 11, 2016)

don't compare only japanese with english.
You could compare english with french too !

FAST said French has good dubbers, and that's partly right.
all is a matter of "the studio handling the dub and the voice actors they hire." (to quote duffmmann from the first page)
Some movies or TV series are very good, some others are really unsync and voice intonation really off, if not even translated differently. But that's due to the HARD work they do to sync the lips with French language, and THAT is a hard work to do. they are doing a good job at that, even if sometime words are little different at least the lips are sync. the actors they choose on the other hand are not always the best.
it's just a matter of how much money the company can put and how much success and well known a movie/series/game/whatever is.

But in general, I prefer watching a movie in its original audio version, with subtitles. English voices are far better than dub, and I'm sure all original version are better than dubs. (talking about movies and TV series)
of course anime don't have real actors talking in front of the camera and are only dubs, but again, interest and money is the key to a good dub.


----------



## Feeling it! (Aug 11, 2016)

Here is an honest and on topic answer to that.
You have to talk over the japanese so the quality is alot lower and it is louder.
Also the characters are meant to fit in with those jap voices.....and they translate wrong.


----------



## Cyan (Aug 11, 2016)

Feeling it! said:


> You have to talk over the japanese so the quality is alot lower and it is louder.


english is not always dubbed over a mute version of the video?
we have some videos with french voices over american voices too, but that's usually for american shows like "storage war" or "Extreme Makeover" to add dramatic effect... but that's the lowest dubbing job we can get here.

movies, series and anime are always done clean, with the original voice removed.


----------



## Feeling it! (Aug 11, 2016)

Cyan said:


> english is not always dubbed over a mute version of the video?
> we have some videos with french voices over american voices too, but that's usually for american shows like "storage war" or "Extreme Makeover" to add dramatic effect... but that's the lowest dubbing job we can get here.
> 
> movies, series and anime are always done clean, with the original voice removed.


^Yeah most of the time nowadays they will mute it and then re-add the SFX and then do the voices or in whatever order but the quality is always off in terms of volume and lip-sync and kinda everything else.
I do watch subs and then dubs all the time to see how good the quality is.....and also dubs take forever to come out.


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Aug 11, 2016)

Cyan said:


> english is not always dubbed over a mute version of the video?
> we have some videos with french voices over american voices too, but that's usually for american shows like "storage war" or "Extreme Makeover" to add dramatic effect... but that's the lowest dubbing job we can get here.
> 
> movies, series and anime are always done clean, with the original voice removed.


Well yeah, i mean when i watch kung fu movies, they sometimes still speak chinese and then you hear english over the voice. Sometimes is muted and then the voice is voiced over and the pace speed and timing is all to match the lip movements instead of just being like how some forigen documentaries have the people talk normal and then louder voice over 

Anime is different, as in the people in japan record the voices last, and is a different audio track not inserted into the video, cause they know they should out source it for localisation and they do it. They make the video animation, and then send videos over to international localisation companies so the audio track don't intefere with recording. To be honest the whole proccess is complicated but it works. Funimation has some videos explaining and showing their process of doing the dubs and localisation for anime, that maybe people should find interesting


----------



## Xenon Hacks (Aug 11, 2016)

Most of the time you just lose feeling and raw emotion in tone of voice even more so when they change certain words you expect them to say a classic line but something completely different comes out of their mouths.


----------



## Feeling it! (Aug 11, 2016)

Xenon Hacks said:


> Most of the time you just lose feeling and raw emotion in tone of voice even more so when they change certain words you expect them to say a classic line but something completely different comes out of their mouths.


Just like if they would take the beginning of jojo's bizarre adventure and replace Dio saying "You expected jojo but it was me Dio!" With something like "I was your first!"


----------



## Sliter (Aug 11, 2016)

my answer is more generic but I think I can explain my point :
Cultural difference/ language
I don't know very well hoe to explain but in englsh you can show irony with words, in japanese it work more with entonation.
for example in smash DX/Brawl I noticed that the original dubthe character talk half of the redub XD like Wolf, japanese in his taunts he says " Doshita, doshitaa?", in english " What the matter, scared?", it's a good translation  but how can the actor say too much with the same entonation effect? other are like wth they are doing, like PIt , he does V sign and " PISSU"  ad in english : VICTORYYYYYY xD It's most for cutural meaning of the sign.... bad dubs I consider there LIke ike that they totally changed the character or sonic that for some reason is an asshole in western versions and a cool dude in japanese (come on, sonic looks down at TAILS, HIS BIG BUDDY  it's not right prouction lol) well, in brawl he as on the better times yet .... anyway

I'm very critic of that, yes, I rather have dub on the original than a lot of these lazily dones :/ even if original is not that good...
I mean, did you even watched a USa cartoon in japanese? one time I was curious and looked for mickey XD it's scary how it's similar, they don't want to put all their cultureon the thing like a lot of "jelly filled donuts" we know , they just dub trying to be near the original, the redubs of japanese stuff should be like this, the animation are made to match it, doing diferent don't go :/

I really don't understand how, in general, first english dub of something is really very good, but if it's a redub, rarely is good :/ (Or I'm unlucky... or much critic XD)



sj33 said:


> - the perception in Japan that English dubs are superior because it's not their native language so they don't notice the flaws in the dubs like they do when it's in their own language. Ironic, eh?


nope, enlish is not my native language and I ever hated TAils englsih dub, even before getting my otaku card XD


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Aug 11, 2016)

Sonic Heroes, Best sonic voice cast 

Except amy.... thank god for the mute button.

Oh god Sonic X rouge over Sonic Adventure2 ? Don't make me laugh.

Someone please stop me!

Although the new modern sonic breaks 4th wall a lot so I find it charming.


----------



## lampdemon (Aug 11, 2016)

I was listening to the Japanese voices of Overwatch characters a few days ago, and the English voices are a lot better.

The thing that makes English better is probably the accents.


----------



## Sliter (Aug 11, 2016)

Sonic Angel Knight said:


> Sonic Heroes, Best sonic voice cast
> 
> Except amy.... thank god for the mute button.
> 
> ...


the SH cats was the best english cast (exept tails urgh I was going to play in english but just the "You're gonna crash AH!"part , I had to look for jP iso hahha )  but the localization was +/-... 
Now in SA, jp voices even not being that good in jp, an dthe english subs , we can see how wth they did with the script ... BIG  more derp than normal, knucled self expliative ( from "Hm? ", 'GYAA!!!" to "what is this?" and " OH NO !!" ? really, english native people are this emotionless to don't understand what he meant without words? )

And with games being produced by western it only went worse.. sonic being an asshole , everything needed to be explicated even being very cleary shows, and talking TOO MUCh
(like in sonic boom:
*hey activate the alarms* oh no sonic we activated the alarms!
*show robot guards coming* the robots guards are coming! we gotta get out!)
By myself I say like western and JP sonic are different characters :/ I don't tell they killed the franchise but they don't really continued it :B whta happened with the history between sonic 3&K to SA ? 
SH was a bit generic for me in history , was reapeting the formula : pass the stages, get emeralds ,last battle in space, no relevant history, more of " let's do what is working " XD

(sorry kinda offtopic :v .. well still a bit in because say about dub diference? XD)


----------



## Futurdreamz (Aug 13, 2016)

I don't like it when the lips don't match the sounds. And I'm half deaf, so I catch more reading the subs.


----------



## TotalInsanity4 (Aug 13, 2016)

Actually, I completely agree. It seems that original Japanese anime typically sounds more... um... Fluid? Energetic?... I don't know what the right word is...

English dubs, on the other hand, tend to sound s u p e r  s l o w and expressionless



Maybe that's just the case with most dubs, anyway???


----------



## Futurdreamz (Aug 13, 2016)

TotalInsanity4 said:


> Actually, I completely agree. It seems that original Japanese anime typically sounds more... um... Fluid? Energetic?... I don't know what the right word is...
> 
> English dubs, on the other hand, tend to sound s u p e r  s l o w and expressionless
> Maybe that's just the case with most dubs, anyway???


I think there's more emotion in the original audio. The original voice actors are working with the director who can better explain how the character is supposed to be acting and feeling, and are using the original script with the right wording. It's just really weird watching an anime that's set in Japan and has a heavy focus on japanese lifestyle and culture, then the voices have American accents and use American slang and wording.


----------



## The Catboy (Aug 14, 2016)

I feel like it depends on the Anime and the studio. Take DBZ, DBZ Japanese dub is just painful. Their voices are too high, the lip syncing is somehow worse, ect. 
But the English dub is actually pretty solid. Everyone's voices match their characters, the lip syncing is a bit better (they try harder,) and much more.
Then there's some cases like Speed Racer...


Still, I feel like it's mostly an opinion saying that English dub is shit when it's pretty clear that English dubbing has gotten a lot better compared to the old days.


----------



## reiyu (Aug 14, 2016)

i usually dislike any sort of dubbing and prefer to listen to anything in their original audio.  a few exceptions would be dragon ball z and metal gear solid series.


----------



## Subtle Demise (Aug 14, 2016)

English dub of MGS is far superior to the japanese.


----------



## Sicklyboy (Aug 14, 2016)

Jojo's bizarre adventure English dub is as desirable as hot garbage.


----------



## Subtle Demise (Aug 14, 2016)

Subtle Demise said:


> English dub of MGS is far superior to the japanese.


Except for MGS 3, the Russians don't even have fake accents and it's really jarring after playing through mgs2 many times.


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Aug 14, 2016)

Crystal the Glaceon said:


> Still, I feel like it's mostly an opinion saying that English dub is shit when it's pretty clear that English dubbing has gotten a lot better compared to the old days.



PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE.

Practice makes perfect. 
Can't be upset for people trying new things until they find what works. and oh dear god, why replaces snake voice in MGSV


----------



## FeverishJackal (Aug 14, 2016)

It depends. I watched Akame Ga Kill and Fate/Stay Night in dub, because the subbed voices sounded irritating. But I watched Soul Eater in sub, because the English voice choices for certain characters were beyond irriating. I prefer to go dub because I can better connect with what the characters are saying, if that makes sense


----------



## pasc (Sep 2, 2016)

FAST6191 said:


> Several would feel that way, Various reasons
> 1) Voice acting (seiyuu) in Japan is a semi respectable trade, outside it and with the exception of a handful of European countries (Germany, France and Italy in varying degrees do it well) it tends to be a mix of random actor actor that is slumming it one day or some they rounded up down the local community theatre, especially if you are doing a cheap anime DVD or worse still a game. Bonus points if you are trying to find English speaking actors in Japan to dub in Japan from the get go.
> 
> 2) Most games and anime are not high art. Presumably you don't understand Japanese so when the usually grade school writing and cringeworthy dialogue comes on you don't inherently understand it and can treat it a bit like some music or something.
> ...



I'll add one reason:

6) Every new approach to an already existing source will undoubtly alter it... That said.... Death Notes dub was quite good (also Mirai Nikkis was rather well done... for the show...)


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Oct 21, 2016)

Tomato Hentai said:


> I remember my sister was watching Pokemon Indigo League, and as soon as she saw riceballs, or "donuts" in an episode, she paused and walked towards the TV to try and figure out what the heck those "donuts" were, and IIRC it was before anyone called them "donuts", so she wasn't confused because they didn't look like donuts, she was confused because she didn't know what the fuck they were.



I found this video not too long ago. It shows the 10 worst cases of censorship in anime, In the video close to the end, it shows the episode of pokemon when ash tried to catch mankey with "DOHNUTS" instead of rice balls.


----------



## osaka35 (Oct 21, 2016)

There are a few reasons.

- Japanese isn't your native language, so you don't pick up on weirdness
- Current japanese culture isn't your culture, so the "foreign"ness helps your brain categorize it as new norms, rather than compare it to your norms
- The above can also apply to the voice actors
- Japanese voice actors have a lot of respect (well, potentially)
- american voice acting has only really gotten any respect in the last 5-10 years (there's actually a voice-actor strike in the states, or in the works, because of how little they get paid). Not sure about other countries.
- Translations are hard, and a voice actor has to work with what they're given
- In japan, sometimes they'll record the voices then do the mouths to fit the voice. it's better now, but voice actors used to have to fit their voice to the way the mouths were drawn. I'm not sure how limiting this is nowadays, but something to keep in mind
- "hey, read these lines" "what's the story? what're my motivations?" "just be sad and read the lines, k?" = crap
- sometimes actors like to add their own spin/perspective/personality. Same holds for translators, or director, or whatnot

Probably loads of other things I haven't thought of. Probably already posted. Even with this, there's still some really good English voice acting.


----------



## Condarkness (Oct 21, 2016)

it depends on the company doing the dubs, and also the talent of the dubber. Sometimes dubs come out great like the Hellsing anime, but other times they just suck. Also sometimes the dubs are better than the original (although that is a matter of personal opinion; dragonball I believe most would instantly recognize the voices).


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Oct 21, 2016)

2 words, XENOGEARS CUTSCENES! 

Just to remind everyone, this game is Rated T for teens by ESRB in my country (Must be at least 13)
So awkward censorship by production IG for a Video game by square soft. 



Spoiler: WARNING, Contains, "Censored Nudity"


----------



## osaka35 (Oct 21, 2016)

Crystal the Glaceon said:


> I feel like it depends on the Anime and the studio. Take DBZ, DBZ Japanese dub is just painful. Their voices are too high, the lip syncing is somehow worse, ect.
> But the English dub is actually pretty solid. Everyone's voices match their characters, the lip syncing is a bit better (they try harder,) and much more.


I feel the opposite . The japanese voices sound brilliant to me. The english goku is a very different character than the japanese character. Though I grew up watching the japanese dragon ball, so the English dragon ball Z has always sounded...weird. Goku especially.

Though I think we can all agree DBZ abridged is the superior product XD


----------



## Supster131 (Oct 21, 2016)

It's just personal taste. I don't mind either, but I usually prefer dubs.
They aren't really bad, ya know?
You just have to give them a chance.


----------



## Cyan (Oct 21, 2016)

Sonic Angel Knight said:


> 2 words, XENOGEARS CUTSCENES!


I didn't remember it was that bad!


----------



## Sliter (Oct 21, 2016)

and one big problem of english "localization" is that this version is what goes to the world later for being easier to translate ... and the one sthatcome from englisg tend to be more close to english than the english was to the original :v some lasier nd others better ... like in pokemon on older times XD
german, freanch etc don't wanted to have it like the english and added their localization, using english as base, italian , spanish where lazy and kept more stuff, just translated (I wonder why they use the english pokemon names and change characters names ..... why peole change character names?? I mean, old times NES/SNES JRPG the character could only have like 4 chars in his name, so " Takashi", became "RICK" , ok acceptable or not, was a reason ... but now ?? lol in pokemon they are makin so much propaganda like "looks it's france tre bien", " look this tropical paradise ok hawaii here" but theystill wnat to deny that kanto-> Shinnoh is japan for some reason ... want t keep them as "generic pokemon world" lol

his is why I don't agree with " cultural" localization .. they should do more like brazilian dub yuyu hakusho that kept the charaters as they are but the acting was great, they sounded more " Brazilian" than actual Br shows XD (lol),  but US localization is like : lets say i'ts los angeles and change everyone name so the people will fell confortable and understand stuff ... why??? 
anyway. if they do great with Disney, why not?


----------



## Sonic Angel Knight (Nov 9, 2016)

Now tell me if you agree with this video in list of worst annoying voices in anime, the list is international, meaning English, japanese, or whatever localization it is considered bad, so just keep that in mind, when you watch.


----------

