Fail Dub

[viridian5]

I used to look at the subs vs. dubs debate as a matter of preference and some folks feeling that keeping the original voice actors' voices is purer. I can see that. I never had an issue with dubs because most of the ones I've seen have been pretty good, even if one voice really doesn't work for me. (Example, I want to punch dub Hakkai in the face

Comments

[purkledragon]

I hate Dan Green with a passion! All I hear when he speaks is Yugi/Yami and it makes me cry.

Watari is Eric Stuart doing his (it's been awhile, but I beleive it's the) James (Pokemon) voice.

[viridian5]

Ditto. I was enraged when Glühen replaced Aya's original dub VA with Dan Green, who played almost every moment in dramatic Yami Yugi style. I loved the original dub actor's voice.

In Descendants of Darkness none of the voices have the right resonance. If Watari had all the voice tones of James I wouldn't mind so much. Instead, I don't know what the hell they did when they recorded but everyone sounds too light.

[purkledragon]

Totally refuse to watch Gluhen in English due to Dan Green. When I first saw the series, I was watching with my kids who prefer to not read so they like the dubs; they were SOL as soon as THAT voice came out.

[wirrrn]

Oddly, I'm a total Nazi for listening to the original language with subtitles for all foreign films- *except* animates films- then I prefer to listen to the dubbed track (there's no way I'm missing out on Keith David as the Boar God and Gillian Anderson as the Mother of All Wolves in PRINCESS MONONOKE!)

[viridian5]

For foreign films I tend to prefer subs too.

Some of the translations in anime subtitles can be cracktastic or composed in really formal styles even if it doesn't suit the characters, so I'm not totally wedded to subs. Besides, for some properties a dub is easier to follow. For example, Saiyuki often has its main characters in a jeep arguing with each other and/or sometimes talking over each other. That's really hard to follow in a sub.

Gillian Anderson as the Mother of All Wolves? I can't see her pulling that off.

[wirrrn]

Sometimes the choice of voice actor in an animated film can be... questionable (ie Billy Crystal as Calcifer in HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE or the dreaded 7-Zark-7 in G-FORCE/BATTLE OF THE PLANETS) every now and then a dubebd actor fits a character like a glove- Gillian Anderson was *perfect* as the Mother of Wolves, simultaneously maternal and predatory. ("You're injured, child? ...Move closer". Likewise I thought Lauren Bacall was an inspired choice for The Witch of the Wastes in HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE, and late SOUTH PARK actress Mary-Kaye Bergman was *phenomenal* as the diabolical Lady Kagami in the English dub of the Playstation game TENCHU 2. English actress Miriam Margoyles single-handledly voiced *all* the female characters in the English dub of the cult Seventies series MONKEY, and you'd never know- they're all totally different.

Part of the fun of the first two SIREN games (asides from the actual sheer terror the games engender) are the deliberately awful upper-class English dubs given to rural Japanese village characters *g*

[kitsukatze]

Dubs doesn't exist. Really. When one of mkv files of Saiyuki was missing the subs, I watched it un-subbed, even though there was a English dub-track on it too.

Seriously, I'm too much a fan of certain Japanese seiyuu to even consider watching things dubbed.

[viridian5]

Then you must think me saying that there are some dub actors I prefer to the original actors is blasphemous. *g*

[kitsukatze]

Hahaha... Indeed. But I don't really mind blasphemers that much. Each for his own, and all that.

And the auguring in Saiyuki? Only reason I can follow that in the subs, is that I speak some Japanese.

[viridian5]

The early dubs went way offscript at some points, but often in rewarding ways. One dub conversation in the jeep where Hakkai and Sanzo are talking trash about Gojyo and Goku's arguing goes into slashtastic directions. Or in the introduction to Rikudo episode:

Gojyo: "What kind of fag fights with a fan?"
Sanzo: "The kind of fag who will kick your ass!"

[lady_ganesh]

I have and will continue to insist that if they had to give Watari an accent, it should be Indian.

And IIRC, I watched about two minutes of the Yami dub before throwing the towel in. Violently.

Normally I watch dubs if I'm watching with hubby because he doesn't do well with subtitles. Otherwise it's usually subs, because I like to pretend I know Japanese. And of course, it's always dubbed if I'm just watching it on TV, like Hell Girl.

[viridian5]

I had it on in the background and occasionally died as I heard something horrible.

I'm actually used to reading as I watch TV because I keep closed captioning on all the time. I started it when I wrote my reviews for Andromeda and now it's cool to see what people are actually saying or catching something that might have been in the original script but didn't make it to air.

[lady_ganesh]

I've been doing it more and more as my daughter's reading skills improve. Or when she's playing on the computer and I want to see what's on the news. ;-)

[the_other_sandy]

The voice actors for Weiß Kreuz were the ones who put me off dub tracks. The Japanese Aya sounded sufficiently grim and humorless, but the English Aya sounded like a generic college frat boy. When Japanese Omi cried, he broke my heart. When English Omi cried, he made me think, "Wow, he sounds really embarrassed to be doing this crying scene."

I got through the Jeep arguments in Saiyuki by freezing the DVD and advancing one frame at a time so I could read what everyone was saying.

The only dub track I'll listen to is for Fullmetal Alchemist, partly because those are the voices I got used to on Cartoon Network, and partly because, with a few exceptions in minor parts, the dub actors were really good.

[viridian5]

See, I preferred dub Aya over sub in Weiß Kreuz because Japanese Aya sounded to me like a generic humorless hero badass. I like that dub Aya sounded somewhat hoarse and occasionally bratty. He's young, he's not really that heroic, and he can be selfish as hell.

I'll give you the point on Omi, though I retain great love for dub Omi for his offscript stylings on the dub outtakes.

I really prefer dub Lust for her really weary-sounding femme fatale. She's a been there, done that sex bomb, and she's so tired of it all. I hated dub Envy though.

[the_other_sandy]

Dub Omi definitely had the best outtakes.

The only character in FMA whose voice I really hated was little Nina. I liked the character, but I hated the voice actress with a passion.