Anime: Dubbed or Subbed?
I love Anime and have been watching various Anime shows and movies for more than a decade now. One of the things that is important if you are planning on watching anime is the question: dubbed or subbed?
Anime Basics
Anime is hard to define, it is a Japanese form of animation aimed at all age groups. Anime has a distinctive style where characters often have exaggerated large eyes and hairstyles. What makes Anime different from Western animations is that Western animations are mostly aimed at kids and preteens and Anime has movies and shows that are also for mature audiences. If anything most Anime have themes that are not suited for young children.
Popular Anime shows are Naruto, One Piece, Sword Art Online and Attack on Titan (Attack on Titan is definitely not suited for young children).
Language barrier
Since Anime is Japanese it stands to reason that the original language spoken in Anime shows and movies is also Japanese. To overcome this there are two options that are very foreign (no pun intended) to native English speakers but very familiar to non native English speakers, Dub or Sub.
The Dub
Dubbing is where the foreign dialogue is replaced with another language. In the case of Anime, English speaking voice actors will record the new dialogue in English instead of Japanese. This way the English speaking audience will have a better understanding of what is happening in the Anime.
The Sub
Instead of replacing the dialogue, you can add English subtitles to the Anime. This way you retain the original voice acting but have to add text to the Anime for the translation.
Pros and Cons
Living in Europe and in the Netherlands in particular, I am used to subtitles. All Foreign movies and shows are subbed. I even find that I can not watch a movie or show without any subtitles. It's not that my grasp of the English language is that bad but it is just something that I have grown accustomed to. Even when watching American shows online I add the English subtitles just because it feels "familiar".
It also has its advantages when dealing with different accents, Scottish and Irish accents for example (I am talking about the British Scots and Irish) can be hard for a non native English speaker to understand.
For native English speakers subtitles can be distracting, they are more likely to have a preference for dubbing.
However I feel that dubbing takes away a lot of the authenticity of the Anime. A lot gets lost in the translation and it does a disservice to the original voice actors.
To Conclude
My opinion is that to really enjoy Anime you should watch the subtitled versions because these show the Anime as it was intended (with exception of the subtitles of course).
It is hard for Western audiences to get over the cartoons-are-for-kids state of mind. But Anime are worth watching even (or especially) if you are an adult. There is a wide variety of genres available from action, romance, thrillers to horror and the always popular adult xxx- themed Hentai.
Tips
If this post peaked your interest in Anime my advice would be to start with the cult classic Akira.
Other great Anime aimed at adults are:
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Great show about giant Robots with a theological theme and also addresses things like emotional child abuse.Death Note
Psychological thriller about a serial killer with a supernatural notebook and the genius detective who is trying to catch him.Attack on Titan
The last remnants of humankind are trying to survive and defend themselves against giant beings who would like nothing more than to eat them.Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
In a post apocalyptic world overrun by zombie-like creatures the last survivors of human kind are trying to find a safe harbor.
Anime lovers tell me what you think, Sub or Dub? Let me know in the comment section.
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Definitely depends for me. I normally love it subbed, but in the case of anime like DBZ, I like it dubbed because the subbed voiceover for Goku is so girly!
I love dbz and growing, the dubbed version was the only one available. It was uber cheesy. Now I watch the subbed version. It is way better.
Huge anime fan here. Personally i cant stand dubbed and go for subbed everytime. I just find there is more lost in translation with the dubbed also i find the voices the generally use to not fit the characters.
Exactly how I feel. The voices are always kind of "wrong". But when you hear the japanese voices it is right on the nose.
Exactly. It just drives me crazy sometimes. I wish they would put more effort into making sure that the voices actually suit the character.
Got to second all of those recommendations.
I tend to avoid dubs myself, but there are some exceptions. The oldest probably being the Slayers franchise. The english voice actors did a FANTASTIC job with that one at a time when all dubbing seemed to be done by the lowest paid amateurs a studio could find (which makes sense, the money wasn't there for expensive productions)
More modern anime has the budget for better voice acting, but the second pitfall that comes up is how it's translated. With a anglified sub you eventually learn some of the words and can re-translate the meaning to something more appropriate. If a dub changes things to be more palatable for an english audience then the original intent will be completely lost in translation. At the same time, this translation may in-fact portray the intent better for an english audience that may not understand the vocal inflection in japanese voices. Sarcasm, for example, could be lost on an English audience watching a sub.
Subs are generally the best way to go, but there are some benefits to dub beyond being lazy. Being a seasoned anime watcher, with some understanding of Japanese, I still sometimes wish I could leave the room to grab a drink while leaving the show running.
Thanks for your reply. I will see if I can find a copy of the Slayers series/show. I haven't found one dubbed anime that didn't sound horrible. The germans and French also like dubbing. Sometimes when I am on vacation I try to watch american shows that are dubbed but man o' man it's just painful to watch.
I actually found the English voices to be better in Slayers. The main character, Lina Inverse, has a slightly too squeaky voice in the japanese version. It's about the only one I'd recommend watching dubbed. Even with higher budgets, they're better but not great these days.
I am the biggest anime fan and my baby son is also in to the anime family world hahahaha ohhh I like them subtitled , if you watch them for years you begin to understand the language hahah upvoted and resteemed😎👍
Thank you. I also watch Boruto with my son. It' s great sharing these moments
Awesomely cool 😊boruto and One Piece he love them so mutch😊💖💖💖
An anime fan buddy here! Upvoted and followed o(≧∇≦o)
I personally as well find myself putting English subtitles on movies and series because of growing up watching Japanese subbed anime, it's weird without having the subs on. English isn't my first language as I am from Lithuania.
Finished Attack on Titan recently and I can't wait for season 3 to come out. Great post, very informative and a good choice of suggestions!
Thanks, glad I am not the only one using the English subtitles:). I still have to start with the second season of attack on Titan, I hear it is really good. If it's available in you country check out amazon prime. They have some excellent anime in their line-up
Its phenomenal! you should definitely watch it ^_^ and I mainly watch on crunchyroll and other streaming sites like gogoanime, they are very good quality :)
Great post! I agree with subtitled. I understand both Japanese and English. I think putting the dub on anime ruin ANIME!!!
Thats what I think also. I find most of the time that the japanese voice actors are better than the english
great post :) I'm a pretty big anime fan as well and i totally agree with using subs, both in shows and movies where they speak English , and in anime.
i also agree with most of the recommendations (haven't seen them all yet) especially Akira. it was a great movie with a lot of beautiful pictures and a very interesting story.
Thank you, be sure to check out the recommendations.
Upvoted!
Thanks man
Np, also prefer subbed, nice recommendations!
upvoted. very nice post. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, just sharing my love for Anime
Definitely, SUBBED! Everytime I watch anime, I watch the subbed version... As mentioned in your post, there's this feeling of getting into the anime better when you hear the original audio... and it helps us improve our Japanese listening skill.. hahaha
BTW, you got a great list there! Let's be friends.. ＣＨＥＥＲＳ! for the love of anime...
I would love to have more friends, followed.
Great! Thank you so much. :) I'd love to see more anime-related stuff from you.. Of course, other posts as well. ^^