02-10-2003, 05:31 PM
I don't know if this makes me newb or not, but I'll take a well done dub over subs every single time, and even some horrible dubs over the subs. I don't speak Japanese, so the Japanese voices really mean nothing to me. I mean, they sound as cool as random noises that I can't understand can sound, but as I don't know or understand the language, I can't catch any of the nuances and intricacies of speech that acting really is all about. Of course the base emotion comes through, but I don't know if they're saying "you *AND* him" or "you and *HIM*".
On top of this all, the subs usually are unnatural and sound incredibly stilted compared to the dub. Try watching Cowboy Bebop with the english subs and the english dialogue on at the same time and you'll see what I mean.
Most important of all however, is that subs divert your eyes from the visuals. Maybe this bugs me much more because I'm a film major, but anime is so crucially dependent on it's visual element, so much so that it's genre is defined by it, not by the usual measure of content. I have watched many many many foreign films, from 1930's German Expressionism, to 1940's Italian Neorealism, to 1950's French Post-Modernism, and on and on, all subtitled, naturally. Out of all the foreign films I've seen, Anime is the most visually dependent, and it is the one that suffers from being subtitled the most as well.
This is even made more ridiculous by the fact that the Japanese voices aren't inherently attached to the characters. Dubbing Anime isn't nearly as atrocious as dubbing say, The Four Hundred Blows, or The Bicycle Thief, because in those films, the voice is actually physically tied to the person on screen. You can swap out seiyuu much easier than you can swap out live actors, and dubbing over live actors appears much more unnatural than simply getting a new voice actor for an anime.
In otherwords, I think overall that the voice acting in an anime is rather inconsequential compared to the animation, and subs, especially in dialogue heavy animes, can hurt a person's perception of the visual element.
In terms of animation in general, I think dubs are simply the best way to go hands down, and I'd tell everyone in Japan to watch American masterpieces of equal caliber, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, in Japanese.
On top of this all, the subs usually are unnatural and sound incredibly stilted compared to the dub. Try watching Cowboy Bebop with the english subs and the english dialogue on at the same time and you'll see what I mean.
Most important of all however, is that subs divert your eyes from the visuals. Maybe this bugs me much more because I'm a film major, but anime is so crucially dependent on it's visual element, so much so that it's genre is defined by it, not by the usual measure of content. I have watched many many many foreign films, from 1930's German Expressionism, to 1940's Italian Neorealism, to 1950's French Post-Modernism, and on and on, all subtitled, naturally. Out of all the foreign films I've seen, Anime is the most visually dependent, and it is the one that suffers from being subtitled the most as well.
This is even made more ridiculous by the fact that the Japanese voices aren't inherently attached to the characters. Dubbing Anime isn't nearly as atrocious as dubbing say, The Four Hundred Blows, or The Bicycle Thief, because in those films, the voice is actually physically tied to the person on screen. You can swap out seiyuu much easier than you can swap out live actors, and dubbing over live actors appears much more unnatural than simply getting a new voice actor for an anime.
In otherwords, I think overall that the voice acting in an anime is rather inconsequential compared to the animation, and subs, especially in dialogue heavy animes, can hurt a person's perception of the visual element.
In terms of animation in general, I think dubs are simply the best way to go hands down, and I'd tell everyone in Japan to watch American masterpieces of equal caliber, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, in Japanese.
o-('-')-o HuG
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