Subs Vs. Dubs In Anime

(Originally posted on 3-14-2011)

Now let me just say, my personal opinion of this debate is oddly specific and I have yet to meet someone who shares this opinion but it falls somewhere in between, leaning towards the subs.

Let me explain this debate in it's entirely first.

With anime over any other medium there is a constant debate among fans of the medium whether it's better to watch anime in Japanese with English subtitles or if it's better to watch the show dubbed in English. This might seem like something one would passingly comment on when referring to a show but actually it is fervently debated with most people landing solely on one side or the other with no hope of ever bridging the gap.

Why?

Let's get something straight: the reason people prefer one over the other has virtually nothing to do with actual voice acting talent. There are talented Japanese voice actors and talented English voice actors but often one who solely believes in one language or the other will not acknowledge this.

People who prefer the Japanese with subtitles generally feel this way because, "it's the original," or because, "It's a Japanese medium so the Japanese is always better." The English dub advocates have equally silly reasons of either being too lazy to read subs or having a sense of superiority over their own language (in a way, the opposite to the people who believe Japanese is just intrinsically better). In both cases you have people who pick one over the other because of one or many voice actors who they are attached to.

Now let me explain my opinion because, like I said, it's odd. I generally prefer the Japanese with subtitles. Generally. However there are a few specific cases where I prefer the English. What's the deciding factors? Two main ones: 1.) where the specific anime is set and 2.) who is responsible for the dubbing.

To talk about the second point first, when it comes to stuff that is being put out presently I am rather partial to Funimation dubs over other anime companies. Funimation does usually halfway decent dubs where other dubbing jobs I've seen have been pretty shoddy. I could only watch two minutes of "Death Note" before I turned it off and said I'd never watch it again to use one example and although the "Evangelion" dub is supposedly praised, I couldn't stand it. "Gurren Lagann"'s dubs were not great but they were tolerable if you wanted dubs over subs (and that's generally the quality Bandai puts out). On the contrary, "Cowboy Bebop" has one of, if not the best, English dubs in the history of anime so sometimes it's hard to tell.

Aside from what company is making the dubs (which also dictates, possibly more important, which crop of actors will get the roles), I find that where the anime is set actually has a LARGE impact on if I want dubs or subs.
First of all, if the anime is set in Japan or some Japan-based fantasy realm or just somewhere where everyone has Japanese names and speaks Japanese, I want the Japanese with English subtitles, no questions asked. English voice actors always pronounce things weird and often humor that is specific to the location is lost (especially if it's "PokeMon" and you're trying to tell me a riceball is a donut but that's a different issue). Obviously this applies to most anime.
However, if something is set somewhere that the characters speak English, I might be inclined to go for the dub over the sub if the above quality factor is met.

Let me give some specific examples:

* "Baccano!" is the best example of this. It takes place in 1930s America and this really affects how I view the dubbing vs. the subbing. I watched the dub first, knowing the setting, and when I tried to switch to the sub for convenience sake, I couldn't do it. The dub really goes the extra mile by having 30s gangster accents on the appropriate characters and the use of time period appropriate slang which is stuff you just can't get from the sub.

* As I said before, "Cowboy Bebop" has an excellent dub but you again have to consider that although it is set in space, the characters are definitely from the English-speaking world with names like Spike Spiegal and Faye Valentine. Not to mention a slew of many ethnicities that show up, very few of which are Asian, creating a real melting pot worthy of appropriate voices.

* "Hetalia" is a weird example because I love both the sub and dub (having watched both in their entirety) but the dub a bit more. Obviously the world of these characters is nonexistent but to take a real life view on things, politicians from other countries often converse in English as it is the language of business and science. Where this 50 years ago, it would be French. Plus, there is the bonus of the accents, many of which are pretty good. In the Japanese it is far too easy to note mispronunciations of foreign phrases (Italy's voice actor is better at this than most of the other cast) and a lack of accents outside of China's verbal tic. Although I hate Austria's dub voice. China's kind of sucks too. But those are minor complaints. Also, the dub maintains the original jokes but adds in more subtle jokes that would be familiar to the Western world like England telling France he won't lay back and let him defile him.

* "Fullmetal Alchemist" is an example where I like the sub and dub equally without exceptions. Being that it is set in an English speaking country, the dub is welcome. I think I have seen both series in both languages (the last time I watched the first one in it's entirety I watched in Japanese but the first time and when I watched bits of it with Sarah I watched it was in English; "Brotherhood" I watched in Japanese and now I'm slowly watching the dubs as they come out). There are no voice actor decisions that are really glaringly bad to me in the dub although I dislike Hohenheim's dub and the fact that Greed and GreedLing are two different people even though I like them both. The Japanese voices are great too and what's interesting to note about the difference between the two series is that while the English voice cast is almost entirely the same both times (Scar is older sounding and Al is different because the original VA grew up) the Japanese cast is entirely different except for Ed and Al. TVTropes called this to my attention when it noted that Roy sounds younger and Riza sounds more feminine in keeping with their different personalities in both series (I can't find where I read this!!). Overall, with these two series, either one works for me.

With all other shows I watch in Japanese (although with "Fruits Basket" I'd rather English just because the Japanese Tohru bugs the hell out of me but I didn't think this was important enough to note above since it has nothing to do with setting; also although I watch "Ouran" in Japanese, the English dubs are decent too).

So there. That's my two cents on this nonsensical debate.

On a related note, I wanted to talk about voice actors themselves.

First of all, I enjoy watching voice actor panels on YouTube even though, as I said before, I don't really watch dubs often and hell, technically I don't watch much anime overall.
Here's why:
* If you like a show/movie/album/whatever it is always cool to hear the people involved in it, talk about it.
* Voice actors are far more honest and interesting (and often really funny) than movie actors because they don't have publicists breathing down their necks to demand they say the right, unoffensive thing. While voice actors also talk about how they love the shows they make and the people they work with, they also tell stories about weird gifts they've gotten, getting drunk with other voice actors, and silly things that have happened on the job, stuff that is restricted by movie actors. The only thing they can't do is talk about parts of a series that has not been aired on TV/released yet (and in some cases, watch ahead in a series they're working on; I know Vic Mignona (Ed Elric) wasn't allowed to watch ahead with "Brotherhood" because there's one panel with him, Travis Willingham (Roy Mustang), and Colleen Clinkenbeard (Riza Hawkeye) where Colleen vaguely mentioned that she had a backstory and Vic was in the corner asking Travis what it was).
* Voice actors are accessible in that they are selectively famous but they aren't crazy wealthy and superior. In fact, they usually aren't recognized outside of conventions and lead really normal lives.
* Voice actors genuinely seem to enjoy what they do and like the medium they're working in. Just because a movie actor stars in an action movie does not mean they know a thing about action movies or even like them. This also means that voice actors are nerds. They will talk about what show got them into anime voice acting and what video games they play and it makes someone like me feel better about being an adult nerd.

In regards to what I said about selective fame, I think Japanese voice actors have much more fame than English ones. Probably because anime is from Japan and everything whereas in America it's a very specific form of entertainment. I bring this up because there was a story I heard about this one well-liked Japanese voice actor, Mamoru Miyano who voiced Light Yagami, Tamaki Suoh, and Ling Yao (quite a resume). To quote TVTropes: "Recently announced that he will be married and his soon-to-be wife is pregnant (after he heard he might be infertile). This produced a nerd rage by his rabid fangirls which was a sight to behold. Only the Japanese fangirls, however; the American ones congratulated him several times over. And when the American fans found out about the Japanese wankage... boy, were they pissed." Apparently his Japanese fans were mad that he didn't mention that he was even dating someone and started sending hate mail. Seriously. What is wrong with you that you would do that to someone?

Then again now that I think about it, I also remember seeing a panel or two where some nosy fans asked Vic when he is going to marry his girlfriend; one time he took it in humor and actually called her to ask her and the other time (which was a panel with Travis and Colleen and it was the FIRST question asked), he gave a more polite version of, "that's private" (although they are engaged now so there you go).

Nerds without people skills scare me.