I can go either way. There are some I absolutely have to watch one way, and there are some that I can watch either way.

Shows I HAVE to watch dubbed:
- Fruits Basket: it really bugs me that Yuki is voiced by a girl in the original. It's a big pet peave of mine when boys past the point of puberty are voiced by girls. There are plenty of soft spoken guys out there who could also have voiced him. I hate Toru's voice. It's glass shatteringly high and annoying. And, the final blow is Ayame. Ayame's japanese voice does NOT do his ego justice! There isn't enough passion in his voice!

- Kodocha: I actually really don't mind most of the voices in the original, I think most of them do a good job, but Sana's japanese voice is TERRIBLE. All of her hyperactive antics just sound like yelling. Laura Baily, the english voice of Sana, does a fantastic job with Sana.

Shows I HAVE to watch in Japanese:
- Hetalia: What they did to the dub version was a TRAVESTY. I understand wanting to use accents for each country, but if you are going to do that, then get people who can actually do those accents! And the dialogue changes UGH. Funimation changed so much of the dialogue, and made it as offensive as they possibly could, which wasn't necessary, because the original was already offensive enough! There is playing with stereotypes, and then there is out-right racism. The original had fun with the stereotypes, funimation took it to the racist step. It was hilarious the way it was, it didn't need to be re-written! Yes, some minor things need to be changed, such as jokes that are plays on words that can't translate well, but jokes I KNOW would have translated just fine were changed, and it wasn't necessary. The ONE redeeming factor of the entire dub is England. I actually didn't care much for England in the original, but damn if he isn't adorable in the english version.
(wow, can you tell how passionately I feel about that XD)

- Ranma 1/2 - The original is so fantastic, and the dub is so bad. I actually watched the dub first, and when I saw the original, I switched completely over, and watched all the ones I had seen in dub over again in Japanese.


Shows that I can watch either way, and enjoy both greatly (even taking turns watching episodes in either language):
- Detective Conan: This is my favorite anime, and the show that actually made me stop hating anime (used to be a pretty passionate hater). While, yes, they did some horrible things to the dub (changes that were actually required by Japanese company that owns Conan), there are aspects I actually like better in the dub than in the original, and visa versa. I really like that in the dub, Conan thinks in Jimmy/Shinichi's voice, rather than his Conan voice. It really makes more sense because on the inside, he is still Jimmy/Shinichi. I also waaay prefer Rachel/Ran's voice in the english dub, because her Japanese voice is another annoying high pitched "please, kill me" voice. I also think the dub did get a lot of good english equivalent voices for the original Japanese. But of course, on the flip side, I love the original Japanese dialogue better. and my sweet Heiji's voice is WONDERFUL in Japanese. Just...mmm. (though, he isn't bad in english either, just not as wonderful XD). It's really a show I love both versions of for different reasons.

- Lucky Star: this one has been mentioned a few times, but I will add my 2 cents in on it. This is the most faithful dub I have ever encountered, and most of the voices are fantastic equivalents of the Japanese original. I'm not a huge fan of the show itself, but when I do watch it, I don't care whether it's in English or Japanese. It's good either way, and, taking language out of the picture, it sounds pretty much the same.


Most other shows, I can watch either way. If the dub is bad, I seek out the Japanese. And if the Japanese is bad, I check out the dub. If both are bad, it's probably a bad show :P

I am actually a pretty casual watcher of Anime. Usually don't seek out too many new ones, and typically watch new ones when my friends or brother prompt me to watch with them. But when I find ones I do love (like the ones listed above) I am huge fans of them. I am a very selective nerd XD


And, one last thing: one of my BIG pet peeves of sub-elitests is when they say that the Japanese actors sound more realistic, and the english actors sound cheesy....if you think that's what Japanese people really sound like, you are SADLY mistaken. Animated voices are animated voices in every country.

For Naruto, it took me about 100 episodes to get use to the original voices since coming from dubbed... But after the initial contrast with the English dub, it's become more natural to listen to the voices...

DUB TAKES FOREVER! :sick:

I like dubbed with a great storyline. If you want both Clannad and then Clannad After Story. :') I get all misty eyed just thinking about it.

Subbed, but that's because I've been learning Japanese since high school and I just love the language.

I'm also notoriously impatient, so waiting for the dub to come out seems like a waste of time when there's a series I'm interested in right away lol.

I prefer dubbed in most cases. I have a lot of favorite voice actors and usually watch the work that they're in. I am picky about art style so I rarely watch anything that has icky artstyle (my opinion of icky)... Subbed is generally good. There are some subbed anime that I've watched and loved, but wish they'd be dubbed. Though in the case of the show Special A-great in sub, then it got dubbed and had awesome voice actors, but because I watched the sub i felt the dub was mis-cast.

Also my husband, brother in law, and I are watching One Piece (slowly but surely) in dub, and i prefer it that way due to the fact that some of the arcs are just dragggggiiiiiiiinnnnnnngggggggggg on... we're stuck in the sky island part and I just don't feel like continuing because it's so boring right now. so when we do watch it, i'm glad its dubbed so I can play candy crush and still hear it xD I like not having to pay full attention sometimes.

I'm fine with either.

I think it mostly depends on how well they are done.

Theres several dubs that I just can't stand because the voice actors were either badly chosen/are doing a bad job/ badly translated believing it was for kids. In these cases I will only watch the sub.

Other times the dub can be better, like with project a-ko. You don't have to deal with c-ko's screeching. Also it's nice if you are busy doing other things. Theres several dubs that I love.

I hold with those who operate by exception.

Cowboy Bebop - dubbed (Spike's voice)
Black Lagoon - dubbed (Revvy's voice)
Attack on Titan - subbed all the way. The drama is in the language and wouldn't be the same.

Subbed. I don't mind dubbed and I'll watch it but if I start out watching an anime that's subbed then try to watch it dubbed I hate it. But when I watch something dubbed and switch to subbed I'm always like "wow I should have watched this whole thing subbed." Therefore, subbed. :flowerforyou:

omg guys, how is this a debate? SUBS OBVI

:flowerforyou:

girl_afraid82 wrote: »

Subbed... I honestly cannot stand dubbed anime. I know that anime characters come out with ridiculous lines regardless of the language, but they don't sound quite so bad in Japanese! If I watch it dubbed into English I just cringe.

I have on occasion watched my favourite series' dubbed, just to see what the voice actors are like... Naruto is particularly hilarious. But it also makes me sad that there are probably huge Naruto fans out there who don't know the phrase 'dattabayo' even exists.

Maybe it's because I'm British though, and the dubs are always American. It sounds too cheesy to me.
It's also helping my Japanese loads without even realising, which is a cool bonus.

I 100% agree with this. Subs have the nuances of Japanese and how it was originally intended like "dattebayo" rather than "believe it" in Naruto and Simon's rhymes in Durarara. In dub, things get lost in translation and I usually can't stand the voices anymore. When I was a kid I preferred watching them in English dub (only because I didn't know any better), but now I much prefer sub personally.