This is not just about anime, although I’m sure anime makes up the majority programming we make this decision for, but rather about the state of the sub vs. dub world. I’ve always been a subtitles guy, save for when I was a child watching old kung fu movies, the ones where the guys mouth would keep moving long after the dubbed English voice stopped speaking, but I was a kid and couldn’t read anyway, so there was no real choice to be made.
Once old enough to make my own call I found dubs to be far more engrossing, so much so that if I try to watch an anime and/or Fist of Legend or whatever movie dubbed I cringe. My question to you dubbed watchers though, is how are things nowadays? Have we (America) gotten better in terms of hiring English voice actors?
Are there any anime/shows where you actually PREFER the dubs to the subtitles? Like, where they actually have the proper accents when needed, etc? The emotion is the right amount?
I’ve been out of the dub game for so long, I’m wondering if I’m missing anything.
Any dub for HK film is trash. Matter of fact, any dub for live action film is trash.
Anime can be hit or miss. I remember being highly impressed with both the dubs of Cowboy Bebop and Full Metal Alchemist. But I know I’ve seen some trash dubs too.
Generally, I like the Japanese dubs with eng sub. The common reasons are that the Jap VAs are of higher quality and are often befitting the character.
The exceptions are Cowboy Bebop and DBZ. Cowboy Bebop is enjoyable in both languages. DBZ, having watched it in Jap, Eng, FR and Spanish, I would say Spanish is the best.
