I usually go off of what fits with the characters or what I saw first. If I see it subbed first then I usually stick with that...the whole first impression thing, getting use to a voice only to find anything else doesn't seem right. Some of my favorite dubs are Black Lagoon, Darker than Black, Black Butler, Baccano.
Baccano!: Bryan Massey and Jerry Jewell; also J. Michael Tatum and Caitlin Glass FLCL: Kari Wahlgren, Stephanie Sheh, and Barbara Goodson Death Note: Brad Swaile, Brian Drummond, and Alessandro Juliani
Some people might not agree with me here, but I felt that despite Brittney Karbowski being casted as Black Star, Soul Eater was also quite good: Luci Christian, Chuck Huber, and Maxey Whitehead. And they were just playing supporting characters.
I still can't believe that the same actress does Orihime and Mamimi, Stephanie Sheh is petty awesome! So FLCL is one of those for me as well. Brad Swaille was another I forgot, he is Amuro for me and no one else. And you are so right about Baccano, everyone involved did a great job. Those are some great examples of good english dubs, although it took me a bit to warm up to L's VA.
I actually thought Brittney did a great job as Black Star, maybe I am just V blinded because I think she is super hot!
fumoffu wrote:
I usually go off of what fits with the characters or what I saw first. If I see it subbed first then I usually stick with that...the whole first impression thing, getting use to a voice only to find anything else doesn't seem right. Some of my favorite dubs are Black Lagoon, Darker than Black, Black Butler, Baccano.
same here, although I see so many series first on Crunchyroll or fansubs that I have to try and get past that. Steins gate is one that year ago I would've refused to accept anyone else as Okabe, then I hear Tatum and I can now accept it but still it isn't quite the original. There are a few though that have overcome the first impression, like those mentioned above.
Usually both are good but im more then not found on the english dubbed ones myself. Tenchi Muyo GXP is one you should look up if your lookin for a good one
I just compared Hetalia and even though the Japanese cast is good it is one of those that has to be in your native language. The accents just don't come through in Japanese for a Native english speaker, and I am sure Vice Versa. Hetalia is one that Funi really knocked out of the park. Besides who doesn't love stereotypes
I guess being an old school-ish anime fan that grew up watching shows on TV that I didn't know were anime until well after the fact is probably why I still side with dubs. A dub has to be braincell killing kinds of terrible for me to switch off to the sub track. That said I will watch subbed anime also. Heck I own a sub-only anime in my DVD collection. But yeah, for the most part I default to the dub since that's what most anime with both voice tracks does as well. All in all, everyone should be able to watch it the way they want without being judged harshly for it. Would make things better for all of us anime fans.
I agree with those who say a western setting better fits a dub I also watch dubs mostly just for ease of comprehension, however due to the recent site issues I burned through a few shows on Hulu where most of the content is subbed and I have found I really do enjoy the source material for several reasons. One, translating artistic content is hard and some things are just Lost in a dub, like the significance of two people changing honorifics usage (an evolving relationship) very hard to impart that in English, not impossible but difficult. I also think having Japanese voice actors for characters that are supposed to be Japanese just provides a certain synergy. It's why I enjoyed inglorious bastards so much, yes the history was a bit altered but all the characters in the movie spoke their respective languages rather than English, provides authenticity IMO. I was a language major in school so I like being able to pickup some Japanese as I watch, it's nice to here a quick three word exchange and say "hey I didn't need the subs there".
As far as a dub that out does the original, BECK is the epitome of that, mainly due to all the English vocals.
Romeo x Juliet absolutely must be seen in English. To date, it's the best English dub I've seen from Funimation, and it blows the Japanese dub out of the water. Part of that's due to the script--the Shakesperian dialect really adds to the show (though it's a bit inconsistent in the first half--one episode will have the characters speaking full-on Old English, and another will merely have them speaking formally). But the actors also deserve credit for just overall being better then their Japanese counterparts (particularly J. Michael Tatum's William and Christopher Bevins' Mercutio--those aren't the best roles, but the ones that are superior to the original, hands-down).
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"Of course you realize, this means war!" -- Bugs Bunny
@GTG: I wouldn't call Tenchi GXP an example of a good dub, decent yes, good know. Also, translating artistic content hard? Yeah...no. First off theres the fact the level of artistry *if any* found in any form of media can be debated from here to kingdom come, but overall every media has translations & adaptions, it all comes down to how competent the person behind the project is, weather its a Man in Texas or Canada writing the dub of an anime or someone in France or Japan translating a movie or show into their language. Weather its easy or hard depends on how competent the person in charge is. That goes back even to the company in japan thats taking the light novel or manga and translating it into an anime.
@GTG: I wouldn't call Tenchi GXP an example of a good dub, decent yes, good know. Also, translating artistic content hard? Yeah...no. First off theres the fact the level of artistry *if any* found in any form of media can be debated from here to kingdom come, but overall every media has translations & adaptions, it all comes down to how competent the person behind the project is, weather its a Man in Texas or Canada writing the dub of an anime or someone in France or Japan translating a movie or show into their language. Weather its easy or hard depends on how competent the person in charge is. That goes back even to the company in japan thats taking the light novel or manga and translating it into an anime.
I can agree and disagree with your statement here; you're right that artistic quality, or wha tmakes something art, or worthy of being called art is left for debate.
I also agree that doing the raw translation for foreign material is easy for people who write and speak the language fluently and merely get the lines written out.
However, I do disagree with the entire process being easy; script writers, like Monica Rial, J Micheal Tatum, Jamie Marchi and Eric Vale (there are way more I know) take these raw translations and watch each episode of a given anime (and they watch as many times as it takes) and try to get the emotions and meaning of the translations to fit the mouth flaps of the characters. Remember, they need to be as accurate as possible in terms of getting the meanings and emotions of the characters and scenes down. They also need to phrase everything in "normal" English; the way your average person talks, the sort of slang used here in North America etc. So, it isn't easy, even if someone is competent, or better yet, sometimes it takes a competent person to be able to assess when something is going to be difficult, sometimes people that are very good at something want something more difficult, they want that challenge.
This is why it's difficult, that's one of many reasons (there are so many others) why art is art; it always challenges the artist and forces them to grow - it's why I consider many anime (even if others don't) art; when they make a fanservice anime worth watching (that actually gives the viewer motivation to watch aside from the pandering on set anime) which I've come across a few, or an anime that has a good balance of scifi, humor, action, character development and we get Stein's;Gate or FMA/FMAB; basically, any anime I've found that can really attract, and retain my interest, is good in my humble opinion. I know this drill all too well, it's why when I play bass, I always try to expand upon my skills and push myself out of my comfort zone.
It's the very reason Gearge Lucas pioneered many special effects on the original Star Wars movie; he had a vision, he knew it was going to be difficult, and now, even to this day, many of those same visual effect techniques are used or have become common place.
Understand, that I'm a dub enthusiast, I already wrote of why I prefer dubs, but I'm also inclined to say, in the case of Japanese dubs, sometimes the girls sound like toys because their voices are so high, there are other things that make me cringe whilst watching the Japanese dub. Overall though, English dubs pretty much from the start of the 2000's have been very well done.
All in all, everyone should be able to watch it the way they want without being judged harshly for it. Would make things better for all of us anime fans.
I hope no one feels judged harshly for their preference in this threat at least, I for one understand both opinions and prefer subs at times and dubs many others.
I certainly wouldn't say Dubbing is easy, though those who are very talented make it seem that it is. There are many cultural references and even words that just don't exist in other languages so knowing when you have encountered one and how to work with it is definitely not simple. I also still feel there are anime that just don't work being translated, Gintama probably being the best and first example that comes to mind. I don't believe the movie was a bad dub because the people hired by Sentai weren't good, but just that it is culturally way too different. How does one dub Kagura ending words with -aru into english when you still have to work with set animation and can't change the mouth movements to perhaps create some type engrish for her to speak? Then you risk turning her into a Benny Hill spoof of a chinaman because native Chinese speakers speaking Japanese do something completely different than native Chinese speakers speaking English. I am constantly amazed by the good work American translators and Dubbers do, especially having grown up in the 80's and 90's when there were some downright crap performances in dubs.
I usually go off of what fits with the characters or what I saw first. If I see it subbed first then I usually stick with that...the whole first impression thing, getting use to a voice only to find anything else doesn't seem right. Some of my favorite dubs are Black Lagoon, Darker than Black, Black Butler, Baccano.
I still can't believe that the same actress does Orihime and Mamimi, Stephanie Sheh is petty awesome! So FLCL is one of those for me as well. Brad Swaille was another I forgot, he is Amuro for me and no one else. And you are so right about Baccano, everyone involved did a great job. Those are some great examples of good english dubs, although it took me a bit to warm up to L's VA.
I actually thought Brittney did a great job as Black Star, maybe I am just V blinded because I think she is super hot!
same here, although I see so many series first on Crunchyroll or fansubs that I have to try and get past that. Steins gate is one that year ago I would've refused to accept anyone else as Okabe, then I hear Tatum and I can now accept it but still it isn't quite the original. There are a few though that have overcome the first impression, like those mentioned above.
Usually both are good but im more then not found on the english dubbed ones myself. Tenchi Muyo GXP is one you should look up if your lookin for a good one
I just compared Hetalia and even though the Japanese cast is good it is one of those that has to be in your native language. The accents just don't come through in Japanese for a Native english speaker, and I am sure Vice Versa. Hetalia is one that Funi really knocked out of the park. Besides who doesn't love stereotypes
I guess being an old school-ish anime fan that grew up watching shows on TV that I didn't know were anime until well after the fact is probably why I still side with dubs. A dub has to be braincell killing kinds of terrible for me to switch off to the sub track. That said I will watch subbed anime also. Heck I own a sub-only anime in my DVD collection. But yeah, for the most part I default to the dub since that's what most anime with both voice tracks does as well. All in all, everyone should be able to watch it the way they want without being judged harshly for it. Would make things better for all of us anime fans.
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I agree with those who say a western setting better fits a dub I also watch dubs mostly just for ease of comprehension, however due to the recent site issues I burned through a few shows on Hulu where most of the content is subbed and I have found I really do enjoy the source material for several reasons. One, translating artistic content is hard and some things are just Lost in a dub, like the significance of two people changing honorifics usage (an evolving relationship) very hard to impart that in English, not impossible but difficult. I also think having Japanese voice actors for characters that are supposed to be Japanese just provides a certain synergy. It's why I enjoyed inglorious bastards so much, yes the history was a bit altered but all the characters in the movie spoke their respective languages rather than English, provides authenticity IMO. I was a language major in school so I like being able to pickup some Japanese as I watch, it's nice to here a quick three word exchange and say "hey I didn't need the subs there".
As far as a dub that out does the original, BECK is the epitome of that, mainly due to all the English vocals.
Romeo x Juliet absolutely must be seen in English. To date, it's the best English dub I've seen from Funimation, and it blows the Japanese dub out of the water. Part of that's due to the script--the Shakesperian dialect really adds to the show (though it's a bit inconsistent in the first half--one episode will have the characters speaking full-on Old English, and another will merely have them speaking formally). But the actors also deserve credit for just overall being better then their Japanese counterparts (particularly J. Michael Tatum's William and Christopher Bevins' Mercutio--those aren't the best roles, but the ones that are superior to the original, hands-down).
"Of course you realize, this means war!" -- Bugs Bunny
"Here we gooooo!" -- Mario
@GTG: I wouldn't call Tenchi GXP an example of a good dub, decent yes, good know. Also, translating artistic content hard? Yeah...no. First off theres the fact the level of artistry *if any* found in any form of media can be debated from here to kingdom come, but overall every media has translations & adaptions, it all comes down to how competent the person behind the project is, weather its a Man in Texas or Canada writing the dub of an anime or someone in France or Japan translating a movie or show into their language. Weather its easy or hard depends on how competent the person in charge is. That goes back even to the company in japan thats taking the light novel or manga and translating it into an anime.
But i'm rambling so I digress.
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I can agree and disagree with your statement here; you're right that artistic quality, or wha tmakes something art, or worthy of being called art is left for debate.
I also agree that doing the raw translation for foreign material is easy for people who write and speak the language fluently and merely get the lines written out.
However, I do disagree with the entire process being easy; script writers, like Monica Rial, J Micheal Tatum, Jamie Marchi and Eric Vale (there are way more I know) take these raw translations and watch each episode of a given anime (and they watch as many times as it takes) and try to get the emotions and meaning of the translations to fit the mouth flaps of the characters. Remember, they need to be as accurate as possible in terms of getting the meanings and emotions of the characters and scenes down. They also need to phrase everything in "normal" English; the way your average person talks, the sort of slang used here in North America etc. So, it isn't easy, even if someone is competent, or better yet, sometimes it takes a competent person to be able to assess when something is going to be difficult, sometimes people that are very good at something want something more difficult, they want that challenge.
This is why it's difficult, that's one of many reasons (there are so many others) why art is art; it always challenges the artist and forces them to grow - it's why I consider many anime (even if others don't) art; when they make a fanservice anime worth watching (that actually gives the viewer motivation to watch aside from the pandering on set anime) which I've come across a few, or an anime that has a good balance of scifi, humor, action, character development and we get Stein's;Gate or FMA/FMAB; basically, any anime I've found that can really attract, and retain my interest, is good in my humble opinion. I know this drill all too well, it's why when I play bass, I always try to expand upon my skills and push myself out of my comfort zone.
It's the very reason Gearge Lucas pioneered many special effects on the original Star Wars movie; he had a vision, he knew it was going to be difficult, and now, even to this day, many of those same visual effect techniques are used or have become common place.
Understand, that I'm a dub enthusiast, I already wrote of why I prefer dubs, but I'm also inclined to say, in the case of Japanese dubs, sometimes the girls sound like toys because their voices are so high, there are other things that make me cringe whilst watching the Japanese dub. Overall though, English dubs pretty much from the start of the 2000's have been very well done.
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I hope no one feels judged harshly for their preference in this threat at least, I for one understand both opinions and prefer subs at times and dubs many others.
I certainly wouldn't say Dubbing is easy, though those who are very talented make it seem that it is. There are many cultural references and even words that just don't exist in other languages so knowing when you have encountered one and how to work with it is definitely not simple. I also still feel there are anime that just don't work being translated, Gintama probably being the best and first example that comes to mind. I don't believe the movie was a bad dub because the people hired by Sentai weren't good, but just that it is culturally way too different. How does one dub Kagura ending words with -aru into english when you still have to work with set animation and can't change the mouth movements to perhaps create some type engrish for her to speak? Then you risk turning her into a Benny Hill spoof of a chinaman because native Chinese speakers speaking Japanese do something completely different than native Chinese speakers speaking English. I am constantly amazed by the good work American translators and Dubbers do, especially having grown up in the 80's and 90's when there were some downright crap performances in dubs.