So which do you prefer? Me i prefer subs every time. Either that or without the subs at all, though i usually can't do it well. Good practice though...

It all depends on how tired I am, if I at 100% subs are preferred, but I mostly watch dubbed versions because I just get too lazy to read that fast.

\

I am with you, some times i just want kick back and watch with no reading.

Yeah, but it ruins it for me if i listen to it subbed then hear some terrible American voice acting. It always seems better in the original format.

I can't argue with you on that statement. There are a few titles I will not watch the dubs on but some are not half bad.

I'm a dub fan myself.

Yea there's just some anime you do need to watch in sub, like that BECK it looses some of its punch in the dub, but the dub job on it was superber considering the amount of singing in it; so all in all I usually end up watching dubbed most of the time. engineering major with a job and a ranch to manage= not too much time to be in the mood for sub versions sadly.

For me it's subs everytime. I'll try a scene here and there in dub once in a while out of curiosity but i always come back to the subs.

I also noticed that Emma is a sub only release. Trying something new?

I usually watch subbed, but I occasionally watch the dub, usually when I'm re-watching something I really like. But I only stick with it if I really like it. I'm really picky on dubs.

They are usually hit or miss. Ghost in the Shell had excellent dubs but BECK had terrible ones. (anyone else think it odd that two New Yorkers in Japan sound exactly like Ryusuke? Accent and all?)

not all new yorkers sound like their from the bronx, plus the characters moved around alot so it'd be hard to pin down an actual accent for nomad characters, all in all i liked beck's dub. ghost in the shell had good ones too.

I usually watch dub, but I don't mind sub either.

But I seriously can't believe you just said Beck and terrible dub! You're the first person I ever heard say that. So far my friends and a bunch of people online I've talk to, they all liked it even though they're usually the sub only crowd. You know I'm gonna have to go ask my other otaku friends what they think.

I typically enjoy dubs. At one point I was rather indifferent until I concluded that, among modern offerings at least, there was a relatively comparable chance of a bad or miscast voice actor in either language.

The original tiebreaker was for frenetic shows like Excel Saga that are very fast-paced and would otherwise incur countless pause and rewind interruptions [to re-read the large blocks of text that flashed by in a /10th of a second]. These days that criteria also includes the visual preservation of the more beautifully rendered series. It pains me to see a show's lovingly crafted imagery marred by subtitle text (e.g. Mushi-Shi).

I used to be solely a japanese dub watcher, until I realized that watching anime in english can be fun, too. I just don't find it as fulfilling when I'm sticking to one language, even if I love the first set of voices I heard.

A prime example is Ah! My Goddess: I used to think that no one could ever match Inoue Kikuko's Belldandy, until I heard Juliet Cesario in the OVAs and fell in love all over again. Now with every release of Ah! My Goddess (except for Mini Goddess, which I have yet to watch), I watch it in every way I can. Same goes for just about every anime series I pick up.

99% of the time I watch anime subbed. There are a few older dubs such as Tenchi Muyo that were around when I got into anime which I will watch but anything new doesn't even a listen.

So I have no problem with the sub only option on Emma or GALS Season 2. If Rightstuf can continuously deliver great anime at great prices I can live without a dub.

Same here

For me Inoue Kikuko is THE only Belldandy! I haven't tried the dub for the second season where Juliet Cesario was cast as Peroth and Eileen Stevens as Belldandy. Did you notice a difference?

I watch both and my preference varies depending on the series. Traditionally I watch dub first with titles and with DVD's at least watch dubs more often. I like watching anime in Japanese too, though. This is why I prefer DVD's to be bilingual. I only buy sub-only DVD's if it is something I really want.

I guess no forum is spared this age old question...

All anime should tell a story through synchronized dance.

If the dub is good I prefer the dub 100%. Certain shows lose a lot without listening to the original voice cast. And Beck had one of the best dubs last year. Fact. Not opinion.

Sry, i'm gonna disagree with that. I liked the sub 10 times better. You catch subtle nuances in the subs in BECK that is lost in the dub.


Not all anime is the opening to Haruhi...

So true, but at lease this one isn't associated with a flame war.




Indeed!

Yeah but then the Engrish kicks in and it just kind of kills the experience for me, especially when they're singing in Engrish. Also Koyuki is suppose to be this amazing singer, and I have to say Greg was the better singer. And Justin did pretty damn good job, he kind of puts his own flare in to the songs.

The dancing is the ED =P

Would you rather it was the opening to Super GALS? Or Lucky Star? :P

Eh. I'm partial to interpreted dance. But the dancing needs to be subtitled in case I'm too tired to keep pace with the semantics of the flow.

Lucky Star please. Wait how about the Haruhi dance in Lucky Star?! Twice as awesome!

My thoughts exactly!

Preferably silent. There's nothing like the artistry of miming to tell a tale in its truest form. What is this sound bias people have? Bask in the silence. It is the only "pure" way to view anime.

Dub nearly 99.9% of the time.
It's too distracting to try and read while watching, I miss too much.
If it's a subtitle for an anime that has little to no dialogue then I may attempt it.
But, I can count 2 out of over the last 100 animes I have purchased. So, yeah, dub here.

subs.
if it aint subbed, i won't buy it or watch it. tis as simple as that.
but then, that's true for me for any foreign film. it just happens that most foreign film/tv i watch is anime

I like subs best. Sometimes the dubs are pretty terrible (Like the Slayers. It's awful!).

hey now, i like both OPs and both dances for their own reasons. i'll take my GALS and my Lucky Star crack, with a twist and a lime

Never watched GALS but the Lucky Star opening is the best EVER! However i cannot makes heads or tails of the lyrics to the song. Even the subs seem. . . wrong. Weird, but catchy as all hell!

GALS rocks. i loved it

Big dub fan myself. I think the days of all dubs being being bad are long past, although some people don't like to admit it. Yeah sure it can be easy to pick it apart, but I think it's much easier to find flaws when listening in one's own language than in a less familiar one. Not to mention so much work goes into making English versions. So it's dub for me.

i will def agree that dubs in 2008 are far better than they were in 88 or 98. but, dubs are still never going to be as good as the original language.

is that largely personal opinion, yes. but, anime or foreign film, i think it is indisputable that the original is always going to be the best. dubs or adaptations can do the original honor through respect and a faithful script and acting. but, the Original is still the Original. there will always be unique cultural distinctions and inflections that cannot translate and thus that part is lost.

take Pan's Labyrinth for example. for those who have seen it (effing awesome movie!), can you imagine watching an english dubbed version? brrr. i know i sure can't -.-

True. When i first started watching anime i thought that dubs were the only way to go. However, when i had to watch some shows that were sub only i got hooked. To me subs are the only way to watch anime.

Are you fluent in Japanese? Because if you aren’t then this argument is totally invalid. Because if you are reading the reference or hearing it in English, it is still totally reliant on it being translated properly and you understanding what they are trying to get at. You can’t read inflection any way.

This is one of the arguments that get under my skin from Sub only people the most.

I am not against subs as a means to enjoy anime, because they are perfectly valid. But in my mind if I am going to pay for something then it would be nice to have a dub on it as an option. And when that option is totally taken away from me it makes me wonder why I am buying it and not downloading it and ripping it to disk. fansubbers tend to have a better translation any way.

How would you feel if studios did a dub only release on titles like FMA, or Hellsing, or Chobits, or any other number of popular titles? Would you still buy them because you can still watch them or would you take it off the shelf and burn it in the pile in the middle of the store as sacrilege?

I dunno about him but i am. I agree, meaning and inflections are lost and trust me, it makes a big difference.


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! *melts into a pile of goo*

*re-congeals* Then again this point is moot since subs are easier than dubs so subs are always done first

Oh, I fully understand that subs are easier. and I am the kind of person that really could care less if I was watching something with subs or dubs. If a dub isn't available then I am not going to cry over it. But I also will be less likely to buy it. Dubs are just easier on me because I can't read that fast and it drives the other people in the room nuts when I stop and back up all the time. I also don't follow names as easy with subs only. If I hear the name then I can point out the person much easier.

I just wanted to see what your thoughts would be on a dub only release if one ever came out that wasn't a 4kids release.

same here. when i rediscovered anime, i started off watching dub only. i didn't want to "read" what i was watching :P (anime was vhs only back then too). but then anime that i wanted to see got released sub only, so i broke down and bought a couple. i haven't looked back not once.

and yes, my argument is valid, and no i dun speak fluent japanese. i know words, phrases, etc. more than enough to understand and "get" the nuances, inflections, etc. 13 years of watching subbed anime will also induce a need to understand the culture from which anime comes from - Japan. what better than to learn even more about japan and the japanese people from past to present so that i can understand even more about the anime i love. one doesn't have to be fluent to understand. that is, imo, just an excuse of someone who doesn't want to take the effort or try because it is easier to watch it in english where all that "work" is taken care of for them.

and it's not work, imo. it's love, and to what extent each individual otaku wants to take their appreciation and love for their passion. i don't think it's a matter of who is right or who is wrong because it is an individuals choice to decide how they are going to view their anime (and any other foreign films). but it is an undisputed fact that foreign production is best viewed in their original language and setting, and that no matter how faithful and accurate it is, there is a loss of quality when dubbed.

that being said, i do think that the voice actors of today vs 5 and 10 years ago are very good at what they do. i also think that the dub scripts are far more accurate and faithful than they were. a dubbed anime when done well is a faithful creation by the voice actors and production crew. in a sense, it has become a new creation of its own born from the original anime. but that doesn't change the fact that the original Princess Tutu (for example) is still the original work of art/tv series.

my good friend of almost 13 years watches the large majority of his anime dubbed. even now, when we have conversations about an anime, there is always at least an instance or two where i will be talking about a scene, plot development, or character and he will have no idea what i am talking about because i watched it subbed, and in the dub, it was changed. it kills me sometimes -.-

i wouldn't buy a dub-only release because it's not the original release. it's a matter of principle for me. so yes, i can understand ur frustration that it isn't being released in the language u normally watch it in. personally, i would say take this as an opportunity to give a subbed anime a chance

I watch probably 50% of my anime with subs, or have you not been reading that subs/dub isn't that big of a deal for me. But I just prefer having a dub to watch and I am more likely to buy one dubbed over sub only.

And when you said that just because I don't watch only subs that I don't or can’t learn anything about Japanese culture or don't know anything about it in the first place is a little disturbing.

that was my bad. i misread/misunderstood one of your posts, and for that, i do apologize -.-



i may not have worded it properly. i'm sorry if it was disturbing. what i meant, and didn't get across properly, was that (for a large majority) dubbed anime just isn't going to have the ZING that subbed anime has. what the individual viewer does with that reality is their choice, and i do believe that i wrongly ranted at you for that. i am sorry.

and in defense of dubs, it is disturbing and upsetting for me when the subtitles get a lackluster, shoddy treatment. i feel cheated, maybe even just a little disrespected, which may be how you feel when not being given the option to view anime in your personal preference of anime.

Blood+ for example. i have heard exempler reviews of the dub, and yet the subtitles are dubtitled. i about cried when i saw that because i was so looking forward to buying and watching it

~sighs~

looking back, i think i cam across rather harsh. peace? i'll make cute kitty faces and sparkle at you

Its all good man, I was a bit defensive myself because this can be a touchy subject for me for no reason. I have had people jump all over me in the past about how I am not a "sub luver" so I get a bit trigger happy.

I also find it particularly disheartening when I do happen to watch the subs and they are giant white block letters that take up 1/2 the screen. Fan subbers seem to understand that colored text and fonts can had so much to the experience to watching anime also. I have noticed several titles in the past that will put dual track subs on it, one literal and one that is word for word what the dub is. But in the case of Blood+ it is actually pretty remarkable that it got a DVD release at all so we should be thankful for what we got at all. I am personally waiting for some kind of sale that will enclude the box set in it *hint hint Dark Lord wink wink* so I can buy it. Wile it is an awesome deal at the current price but still.

While there are many shows one can consider "unlikely" licenses, because they're too niche, too cultural, or stuck in a genre the R1 mainstream does not like... Blood+ is not one of them. Action and vampires and a tie-in to a well known movie?

Hardly a "remarkable" license. It was almost inevitable, and so one shouldn't really settle for less with the self-excuse that we're lucky to see it at all. (Not that one should settle for a bad release in general, but less so here.) Now Aria, Marimite, Kanon, Air, those are pretty shocking licenses.

i know what u mean. it's human nature, i think, to feel defensive about something u/we/i are passionate about. if it's malicious, then that's another story. then i give em a piece of my mind, then move on. i gots things to do, ya knows

ugly subs, ugly fonts, bad color choices. all of them are huge no-nos in the k-chan english subtitles rule book. many companies get it right most of the time nowadays, but i remember some back in the day that were horrible. i had to brush up on my japanese even if i didn't want to. that way i knew what was being said even though i couldn't read the subtitles.

i mean this in a good way, any studio reps on this forum, but there are a few fansub trends that i would love to see on my domestic anime dvd releases:
**english and romanji/kanji subtitles for the OP and ED. a ton of fansubbers do this and i love it. usually the english subtitles are on the bottom with the romanji/kanji subtitles on the side or top.
**more information all-around about the many cultural, historical, symbolic references in the anime. if some can be pointed out during the anime, great. otherwise, i have absolutely no problem seeing and reading them as extras on the dvd. for a little bit a few years ago this was semi-prevalent. now, i dun see it at all anymore. it's quite a loss, imo.
**some things just don't translate over well into english. use the word, or small phrase in japanese and subtitle it up above. i'm already "reading" anyway, so it won't mean anything different to me. if anything, i won't be aggravated that it got changed, and not necasarily in a good way.

i dun think it's a miracle Blood+ go licensed at all. like the previous poster, Blood+ screams mainstream. i was more surprised than anything else that a US license for it wasn't announced until the 2nd season was almost over in japan.
Blood+ is available as a single dvd release, or you can buy the whole first season in a collected box-set. the box-set is already out, which baffles me as to why the heck they are even bothering with a single dvd release then O_o

ah, but i digress... ~sweatdrop~

dun forget Yawara and Macross tv. how for many years i hoped they would get licensed and VOILA