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Loading ...Sub Vs. Dub.
Big_Adam
There’s a golden rule in the world of anime.
A rule I’m sure many will not know but one that I have learned over the years.
And the rule is this : Never watch a series in more than one language.
Simple translation is you either go sub or dub. One or the other, no faffing about with both. Today I broke this rule. And thus ruined a series for me.
The show is FLCL, a proper mind f**k of a series but it has a very good story once you mine down into it and have seen it a few times. I’ve seen the series many times in Japaneses and loved every second of it. Right down to the obtuse Wolf the 3rd references is a few shows. It’s a awesome show.
Then I watched it in English. Only for 10mins or so and only one ep. Now I have ruined the memory of that series. I fell in love with the JP dialog, it worked, it flowed and everyone sounded right. When in english everyone sound like they either had their balls crushed in a vice or they sound of the people makes you want to rip you own ears off. Although the acception to this rule is Cowboy Bebop. The ONLY show that MUST be watched in English.
Problem with dub work is that the cheese burger inhaling yanks try to make JP culture work but in a US way. For example Azumanga Diaho has a character called Osaka in it, from (oddily) Osaka which is a bit more slow paced place. Unless it was pointed out to you though or you where fluent in Japaneses then you probably wouldn’t notice. Some dialect is diffrent but you don’t really notice this (could be my ignorance thought).
So, how do the Americans get this point accross? Simple, they turn her into the most southen redneck sounding girl on the planet.You fully expect her to bust out a trucker cap during the series and sit on a porch. It’s horrible.
If they sounds isn’t butchered then things people might find “difficult” are glossed over to make them simpler or completely changed see the “donky p**s” line from “Princess Mononoke”.
I don’t get why when a series is translated it translated so someone thinks the fans of the series have a brain in their head. Rather than making it all simpler than a cheese roll.
In terms of live action films such as Das Boot or Crouching Tiger etc, I prefer subtitles as I feel dubbing loses a lot of the emotional effect from the characters. Das Boot is ruined by watching the English dubbed version.
With anime, I prefer dubbing. Though I do agree with you about how the Americans can ruin the dubbing. One example I like to use is Castle In The Sky. I find the 1986 English dub much better than the Disney re-dub in 2006.
Well that’s something I’ve learned today, even if it’s a cheap exercise I’ve no idea why a studio would bother to record more than one dubbing for the same alternative language.
Funny you should blog this on the day that BBC4’s showing Spirited Away, dubbed. If I ever want to watch any of Miyazaki’s films properly I’ll buy them.
Spirited Away is on…. and it’s being subtitled…. although judging by the look of the subtitles it seems they’re just playing the DVD version.
Can they do that?
On example for me is Sakura Wars (original OVA), I have watched it 100 times in Japanese, once I watched it in English, 2 seconds after Iris comes on screen I realized she was French. I hadn’t realized this the previous times I had seen the show.
As for FLCL I prefer Dubbed, the characters seem much funnier to me. The direct translation didn’t make me laugh as much, especially the dad and his reactions.
I did that with neon genesis evagailon the English dub sucks beyond belief. But i still love it
“As for FLCL I prefer Dubbed”
Oh no, I can’t belive how Haruko sounds in US FLCL. It’s horrible!
This post is bullshit in every way imaginiable; saying that Anime should only be watched one way is a very close-minded way to view this form of media. I’ve watched Anime in English AND Japanese, and do I feel like I’m missing out on anything? No. All I feel is that I am just getting a different feel of a great story.
And to counter l3v1ck, sorry, but my views on the “Castle in the Sky” dub is quite different from yours. I personally found the first dub made in the early 1980’s to be very bad, based on a sample I saw, with the voices having absolutely no enthusiasm for their characters. Even though the translation may not have been as chatty as Disney’s, it suffered from being clunkily written and not very smooth. Disney’s is far better in terms of acting, energy, and writing–none of their dubs ever sound like they’re just cheaply made for Japan Airlines, which is what this first dub of “Laputa” was, hence its subpar quality. Even though some of the vocal choices are somewhat eccentric, I still think it’s a good dub.
I gotta admit one of the only Animes ive watched that was dubbed is Hellsing, i saw about 5-10 mins and almost ruined it, since then ive watched everything subbed and would not go back, I have however seen the advert for Death Note dubbed and it looks terrible…