Forum - View topicThe dubs sub-fans love.
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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If you prefer subtitled anime (like I do) are there shows that you thought were really impressive in dubbed format? I prefer subs because I like hearing Japanese characters voices, you get more of an authentic experience that the creators of the show intended. Also because Japanese seiyuu tend to put effort and emotion into their characterization and all but a few very talented and dedicated English speaking vocal talents are able to do well likewise. Sometimes there are shows that they hit it off really well in the English version and get a good cast of voice actors and actresses, or sometimes there may be new vocal talent in the show that just really did an impressive job.
Some examples for me are Full Moon wo Sagashite - I just love the dub for this. I went into the show watching the dub because I had a preview disk for it. The main character Mitsuki is a girl who has an illness and the parts where she is struggling with her health don't sound fake or forced. One character in this show in particular who I think is voiced by a truly amazing actress is Ms. Oshige. I don't know why she isn't in more shows but she has one of the most genuine, sweet sounding voices, given she plays a very patient manager for her client who is continuously screwing up (Full Moon). A good dub for this show was expected given it is a Viz title (I've always liked their dubs). Last Exile - probably one of the greatest dubs ever done in anime. This is the title I think sets the standard for good dubs and is one I repeatedly give credit for being my favorite dub. Both main characters are done by top-notch vocal talents not to mention supporting characters by big names such as Michelle Ruff and Crispin Freeman. Actually lots of credit needs to go to Johnny Yong Bosch - he did an epic job as Claus as expected from a now veteran-class VA like him. Angelic Layer - one of the many ADV titles that were actually really good dubs. I'm sure that Jessica Boone the voice actress for Misaki had to be very patient to pull off the intense script she was given to portray a young somewhat ditzy and chattery yet introverted grade school girl. Monica Rial delivers a solid performance as her supportive, hyperactive friend Tamayo. The original Japanese cast had some seiyuu veterans and top-notch talent like Kikuko Inoue, Atsuko Enomoto, Kotono Mitsuishi, Yui Horie and Yuri Shiratori so pulling off a dub to match it was quite an amazing feat. Even if you are a hard core sub fan, what dubs would some of you admit to enjoying? |
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Murasakisuishou
 Posts: 1469 Location: NE Ohio |
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I'm generally a strictly sub person - I'm more familiar with Japanese voice actors and most of the English dubs I've heard haven't impressed me. However, there are three dubs in particular that I've really liked:
Vexille - I've had a huge soft spot for Colleen Clinkenbeard ever since I heard her as Riza Hawkeye in the otherwise-unimpressive Fullmetal Alchemist dub, and I thought she did an awesome job as the title role in this movie. She was certainly better than the girl they had as Vexille in the sub, that's for sure. The rest of the cast was pretty solid too; I particularly enjoyed Christine Auten at her ass-kickingest as Maria. The script kind of can't help but be stupid, since this isn't the most well thought out of movies, but everyone did their best. Serial Experiments Lain - I first saw this dubbed because my parents wanted to watch it with me and my mom was knitting and couldn't be bothered to read subtitles. At first I thought, "wow, this is a really awful dub." The acting was really patchy - some of the characters spoke like real people, but some of them sounded like robots. As I got further into the story, though, I realized that this was entirely intentional, and it became one of my favorite dubs of all time. I want Mary McGlynn to be the voice of my computer 
Speaking of which... Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - I don't watch this subbed, ever. I've seen the subs all the way through once, and I honestly think that the dub did a much better job of casting the characters. It's odd, too, because I've really liked Tanaka Atsuko, Yamadera Koichi, and Ohkawa Tohru in other roles - I just can't stand them in this. Tanaka Atsuko especially sounds like she's trying too hard. I can totally buy her "shut up and do what I say!" Major, but when she tries to sound more relaxed and lighthearted it comes across as really false, or in the worst cases she sounds like some sort of high-class call girl. Mary McGlynn's portrayal is much more natural-sounding. Anyway, this is also the best scripted dub I've ever seen, which is especially impressive when you consider just how much talking goes on in this show and how much needs to be explained so that the audience can keep up. There are a couple of narm-y lines here and there, but I think they only really stand out because the rest of the dub is so spot-on. Even the background or one-shot characters are well scripted and acted, and those are usually where dubs cut corners. When I recommend this show to people I always tell them to watch the dub. It's just better. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7995 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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That's kind of a paradox, like asking what being dead is like to someone alive. They can't really answer you because they aren't dead and haven't experienced it yet and probabally are unwilling to hence why they are still one and not the other. Of course I might be over-thinking things a bit.
 
Personally, I'm neither and both, so I don't know if I'd qualify to answer the question. I'm just an "anime fan" instead who takes what he can get. I could list plenty of dubs I liked but I don't know if that's the type of criticism you're looking for. 
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Shiroi Hane
Encyclopedia Editor
 Posts: 7585 Location: Wales |
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I agree with gitsac. It helps that it has some of my favourite VAs in it, but I listened to the English track first and never once felt the need to switch to the Japanese track even out of curiosity and while I've only ever watched the whole thing once, I will probably go with the English track again when I rewatch it (which reminds me that I really must get the first series back from my cousin).
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Mai Yukino
 Posts: 217 |
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I loved the dub of Cowboy Bebop and I always enjoy hearing the voices of Steven Jay Blum and Wendee Lee. They're two of my favorite dub actors out there and the roles they played as Spike and Faye is my favorite one that they have played.
I also enjoy the dub of Hellsing, and the role of Alucard is my favorite Crispin Freeman role. I also find the dialects used for the dub a nice touch. I also enjoyed the ADV dub of Saiyuki and I liked the performances of David Matranga as Sanzo, Greg Ayres as Goku, Illich Guardiola as Gojyo, Braden Hunt as Hakkai, and Vic Mignogna as Kougaiji. I found the dub of the series as enjoyable as the Japanese version. My other favorite dub done by ADV was Full Metal Panic and hearing two of my other favorite voice actors, Chris Patton as Sousuke and Luci Christian as Kaname was really awesome. The both of them did a wonderful job in the roles thes as much as I enjoyed the work of the original Japanese voices, done by Tomokazu Seki and Satsuki Yukino. |
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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Gto and Rurouni Kenshin dubs. I'd say Gto was great in both subs and dub and I don't really mind watching either. Rurouni Kenshin was more about the fact that I just couldn't get to like Kenshin's japanese voice actor, but it's not really about loving the dub. Another that gives me a chill down my spine is Goku from Dragon Ball... I tried to give it a shot but... man, they really should've picked someone else to do Goku. When there's a dub version out there I'll give it another try.
Edit: Forgot to mention I'm talking about the new Dragon Ball. Last edited by egoist on Sun Aug 30, 2009 11:03 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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einhorn303
 Posts: 1180 |
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I nearly always watch subs, and vastly prefer them. However, there are a few dubs I like more:
FLCL Trigun: Likely because I first saw it as a kid on broadcast TV, so that version of the voices is burned into my memory. Welcome to the NHK: I wouldn't say it's superior, but it definitely holds it's own. It kind of feels like the English dub is weaker in the comedic parts but stronger in the dramatic parts. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8511 Location: Penguinopolis |
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There's a reason why certain characters are voiced by women. In the case of Kenshin or Goku, they're characters with whimsically lighthearted personalities. Kenshin's is a little bit of a mask, since he's deeply troubled by his past, but Goku is meant to sound naive and childlike, because that's how he is. In the English dubs, I find Goku sounds like a generic superhero who will lecture you on not starting forest fires. In Japanese, he's a manchild hillbilly who loves a good fight and is pretty selfish. Also, of course, they're generally better at voicing young men (like in the case of Romi Paku as Edward Elric in FMA) than men their age, capable of giving the characters more "oomph". On the subject of dubs, there are several dubs I enjoy, the best of them being Cowboy Bebop, The Big O, Hellsing, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, FLCL, and Death Note. I even tend to prefer Cowboy Bebop and Big O's dubs to the Japanese versions, but that could be a little bit of a case of nostalgia. There are plenty of others, too: Outlaw Star, Yu Yu Hakusho (Funimation's best dub to date), Darker than Black, Tenchi Muyo, Vision of Escaflowne, Last Exile, Excel Saga (one of the few ADV dubs that hold up), and most dubs of Ghibli films. I wouldn't say I prefer any of these dubs to the Japanese cast, but they're decent. @Murasakisuishou - I'm glad somebody finally agreed with me that the FMA dub was unimpressive. |
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Jozoiscute
 Posts: 252 |
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The new dubbing (being released next month by Funimation) for Sgt Frog is excellent!!
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Nabuka
 Posts: 6 |
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What about the subs that dub-fans love? Don't want to be left out...
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JacobC
ANN Past Staff
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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Well, that's pretty much just "any show with a bad dub," since dub fans will default to the dub unless it sounds abysmal. But just so I can cheat and participate in this thread (because I'm a dub fan, hee hee,) I'll pose a response to that flipsy question with two shows that do NOT have horrible dubs, but I still just have to watch the Japanese version anyway. Escaflowne -- The dub is not too good on any level, but it's certainly listenable, and mostly the problem is just Allen Schezar and a few smaller roles that are played poorly. My sister watches it in dub, so I have to watch it in dub there anyway, so it's not that the dub is bad, it's just sorta okay...and the Japanese is REALLY wonderful. Seki Tomokazu as Van, Sakamoto Maaya as Hitomi, Nakata Jouji as Folken, and those are just my favorites, but there's lots of great voices in this. It's like everything the English did fine, the Japanese did WAY better. The best roles in the decent English are the best in the awesome Japanese. For example, Dilandau is a nasty little feller, played by an actual young boy in english, which is a really nice touch. It's fine if you haven't heard the sub. Then you hear Takayama Minami's version and...WOW. One of the most memorable villain performances EVER. 
Gankutsuou -- The dub in this one is actually completely passable, with a few really excellent performances from Stephanie Sheh as Haidee and Abe Lasser as Villefort among others. The big problem is that the rest of the cast sounds...too bland! Yup, I'm calling the english cast for an anime wooden and deflated, rather than the usual stereotypes like "overdramatic and cartoony." It's not like some bad dubs where everyone's monotone or obnoxious (Fushigi Yuugi and the horrible Revolutionary Girl Utena which I was rewatching,) their acting isn't poor, it's just plain not dramatic enough for a very theatrical show. The worst parts are the embarrassing performances from the VAs for Franz and THE COUNT HIMSELF!, characters layered with rich emotion and subtext being played like a monotonous washboard by two VAs I shan't name, but I almost always disapprove of unless they're playing 1-dimensional, harmless characters. The end result is an overwhelming desire to see the visuals done justice and switch back to Japanese, even if it meant a potential seizure juggling the gorgeous colorama against lots of subtitles. (And yeah, Nakata Jouji plays The Count and is absolutely amazing.) The dub wasn't even bad, it was just average-sounding juxtaposed against an amazing-looking show. It wasn't good enough. And what was with giving the spirit of Gankutsuou...a gloomy English-speaking voice? He's supposed to have a threatening French-speaking voice. Is this difficult? Another unforgivable slant against this dub. -.-' |
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Nabuka
Posts: 6 |
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I dunno, you could look at it the same way with Japanese voices. Remember, it's all a matter of opinion! And I'll add one to the list: Zipang. Why? Because for a show that revolves around the Japanese military (or navy, or whatever) it's odd when the dub has a bunch of English voice actors that all have crazy (yet different) accents. The sub just feels right...and I usually don't say that...since I watch 99% of my anime dubbed. |
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Ktimene's Lover
 Posts: 2242 Location: Glendale, AZ (Proudly living in the desert) |
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I am more of a subber but do love to watch dubs equally. I find the Kanon dub was better because: I find Chris Patton's version of Yuichi more sarcastic than his seiyuu counterpart. I find Brittney's role of Ayu was more moe in terms of voice. Just how I maybe biased preferring subs over dubs for various reasons, the vice versa also occurs.
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Faceman
 Posts: 300 Location: Boston |
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I personally don't care, but I have a friend who's very much dub-only with the extremely rare exceptions. The latest one being Pani Poni Dash. I had seen the full series with only the dub, and it was his first time viewing it. We watched the first episode in Japanese w/ subs, and then was going to try the 2nd with the English dub. 5 minutes into the second episode he proclaimed the English dub to be better, and every subsequent episode was with the dub.
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DragonsRevenge
 Posts: 1150 |
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The first season and a half of Sailor Moon, purely for nostalgia.
The original Tenchi OVA and the movies. I always liked Tenchi, Sasami and Ayeka's dub voices. They were always unique. End of Eva - the Dub is very capable. Spike Spencer makes Shinji go insane a lot better than the sub actor. In fact, the only low point in the whole movie, dub-performance wise is Asuka's VA. Samurai Pizza Cats - I wont even bother with the sub. The Dub is just way too much fun. |
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