Are anime English dubs really that bad?

Started by SBR*, July 23, 2012, 04:41:53 pm

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SBR*

I've been watching Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters and Avatar: The Leggend of Korra lately, both English dubbed, and I've decided I would like to start watching Naruto. However, everywhere I go on the internet, people seem to hate the English dub. Frankly, I like the Yu-Gi-Oh English dub (although I've never watched the sub), so I was wondering if sub really is that much better. I often see people using weak arguments like "They translated 'retard' with 'bastard'". I honestly don't care if they translate one word in the wrong way.  Some people say that a lot of scenes are cut out, but then again, I'm not sure if they're right; I have the suspicion that they are quite the fanboy. So does anybody know if the dub really is that much worse?

GAX

It's a real quality issue with some anime both in the quality of voices and the translation used.

For Yugioh, the voices were actually far better than the Japanese voices (the JP voices don't really seem to fit the characters themselves), but they had to butcher the script in a few areas.  In this case, it balances good voices w/ decent writing (sadly this didn't carry through to GX, but it did well in 5Ds even though they had to lighten the story a bit).

Lately the quality of dubs has actually increased to the point where it's a matter of if you would rather read or not.  Highschool of the Dead, Asobi ni Iku Yo (the US title is Cat Planet Cuties...not the greatest renaming since the original name is "We're Coming to Play"), Panty and Stocking, and a few other series have had AMAZING dubs done.

The complaints with Naruto actually stem from a few really bad translations because it was being prepared for a young audience (Age Range 8-10) rather than its intended range (12-15) and the use of the line "BELIEVE IT" to mask over Naruto's unique speech pattern which tended to add -ttebayo to the end of the last word he would say in a sentence (doesn't carry any meaning, it's like a catgirl adding -nyan to the end of her sentences).  These problems disappear towards the end of the First Part (Before the Shippuden Timeskip), but I can't vouch for the anime after this point because I was unable to watch it.  Also, if you do watch this, do yourself a favor and SKIP the massive filler arc.  You'll thank me later.

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Blizzard

I agree that lots of anime that have dubs actually sound good. Sure, there are crappy dubs around, but they aren't as often as people complain.
As for translations, people seem obsessed with literal translations. In case they didn't know, literal translations are what caused stuff like "a winner is you". There should be meaningful translations that keep the point. As you already pointed out nicely, it really doesn't matter whether somebody is called a bastard or a retard. The point is that he's being insulted.
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SBR*

Thanks a lot, guys! I'll go for the dubbed version, as it helps me connect to the characters more for some reason.

Ryex

the real problems arose when 4kids did some stupid editing of the shows to remove "mature content" like lit cigarettes, transforming them instead to lollipops. (One Piece). there did a lot of that junk and people hated them for it. it a good thing Funimation does most of the dubs now days
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SBR*

Quote from: Ryex on July 23, 2012, 08:38:41 pm
the real problems arose when 4kids did some stupid editing of the shows to remove "mature content" like lit cigarettes, transforming them instead to lollipops. (One Piece). there did a lot of that junk and people hated them for it. it a good thing Funimation does most of the dubs now days


I found an uncut version of Naruto and it supposedly means that there are no such edits. Is that true?

Ryex

I'm not sure, I'm unaware of what kind of edit the Naruto dub suffered from
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SBR*

It has the original intro, so don't I think it has any of the changes.

Memor-X

i prefer dubbed over subbed mainly because i find the subtitles distracting but some people can read them and not miss a thing going on above, i've started to watch some anime which isn't story intensive to try and get into watching subs

the main argument i keep reading to people saying that dubbed anime is bad is that the words dont match their lips......last i remember, cartoons still don't have perfect lip sync and why are you watching a person's mouth to the point that your picking that up, talk about nit picky

anyway, from what i learned, you can't get subbed anime unless it's been licensed outside japan in which case it would have the dubbed anime in it with the exception to the re-release of Card Captor Sakura that Madman is releasing which is the original japanese version (which would probably will include that teacher proposing to his student like it did in the manga, i can see way the stupid American's cut that out but you got to admit, it is kinda romantic) but i haven't seen anything from Funimation or Madman which was subbed only with the exception of what i just said......unless someone want to correct me in which case, tell me if Valkyria Chronicles are subbed

Quote from: GuardianAngelX72 on July 23, 2012, 05:03:43 pm
Lately the quality of dubs has actually increased to the point where it's a matter of if you would rather read or not.........Panty and Stocking, and a few other series have had AMAZING dubs done.


wait, when was Panty and Stocking dubbed, your telling me i sat though reading those subs missing out on some of the action, it was hard  trying to watch Panty and Stocking fight at the Hellmonkey Gate while reading the subbs, at least i didn't miss the part with that giant ass cannon pointing backwards (seriously, who the hell designs a cannon that big with an ass looking like that)

Blizzard

That's the same reason I hate subs. I usually don't miss anything, but it feels like I'm missing because I have to read.
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Vell

When I was big into anime, I usually went for subs because a lot of english dubs leave out or change things and I read fast andenjoy reading. Also I enjoyed being able to pick up on individual words and saying by carefully listening at times. It was fun! I was actually learning Japanese by watching subbed anime for a while.

And then I got bored.

ForeverZer0

I prefer subs. I find the out of sync lips far more distracting than the text. If you watch videos with subtitles often enough, its very simple to focus on the show, and kinda just read them out of the corner of your eye. At least that's how it is for me.
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Quote from: ForeverZer0 on July 31, 2012, 06:56:26 pm
I prefer subs. I find the out of sync lips far more distracting than the text. If you watch videos with subtitles often enough, its very simple to focus on the show, and kinda just read them out of the corner of your eye. At least that's how it is for me.


actually I'd agree with this, also because (IMO speaking here) subs keep most of the original argument
I'd say what kills off some (not all) anime dubs is that localization, censorship and mistranslations that can
alter and / or cut out critical sections of the whole anime.

aside from that, because subs are also easy to follow (in my case as well) and some of the JP voices are good.
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Vell

Though in some cases the japanese VAs are just... awkward for the character.

Like, the original DBZ voice actors? I heard them once and I was like... "why does Goku sound like a woman"

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Quote from: Vell on August 02, 2012, 01:54:03 am
Though in some cases the japanese VAs are just... awkward for the character.

Like, the original DBZ voice actors? I heard them once and I was like... "why does Goku sound like a woman"


weeeellll..... some not all XD

In DBZ's case... believe it or not the latino version did give it more emotion while keeping voices in their
(natural?) pitch.
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Blizzard

The German dubs were a bit weird in the first part of the series. Goku had a high-pitched scream, it was really creepy. Later they probably either changed the voice actor or told him that they'll burn him with fire if he doesn't scream like a man.
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Blizzard

Let me guess. No battle dialogs stretching over 2 episodes / 100 pages? xD
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Vell


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Quote from: Blizzard on August 03, 2012, 02:21:30 am
Let me guess. No battle dialogs stretching over 2 episodes / 100 pages? xD


quick DBZ joke:

how many saiyans does it take to change a light bulb?

A: 1 but he will take at least 20+ episodes and an OVA to do so....
    and somewhere in the process krillin dies XD

Quote from: Vell on August 03, 2012, 02:22:47 am
That. No filler arcs, no GT...


same applies to Naruto... what killed me was the excessive amount of fillers done, that I barely remembered what the original thing was about, manga versions of certain anime hopefully are indeed much better paced.
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