09-30-2003, 08:30 PM
Quote:Originally posted by sanosuke
all the mods must be in bed because this thread has had too good an innings.
based on the arguements ive read it looks like sub is well winning, the dub crew aint got not real good points. infact this debate would convince me to watch anime in japanese if i already didnt!
Dub points:
1) It's the native Language of the watcher and it allows them to concentrate on the animation instead of text at the bottom of the screen.
2) It's more how like a Japanese person would be watching an anime (that is, they would watch the show and listen to the dialogue, not read text all over the screen).
3) Voice acting can be pretty irrelevent, since there are many bad and good Dub jobs both in Japanese and in English (damn how I hate the way Kenshin sounds in the Japanese version).
4) It's plain easier to listen to dialogue than it is to read it while the show is playing.
Sub point - It's more how a Japanese person would watch the show since it's in Japanese, however, a Japanese person would not watch it with English subtitles all over the screen, so that argument is invalid.
From what I can tell, the Native Language Dub watchers have a better argument. As was said before, it all boils down to personal taste. You can't make sweeping generalizations that all English Dubs suck and all Japanese Dubs are far superior, because we know that to be untrue (and in some cases both the Japanese and English Dub are just awful, like in Sorcerer Hunters' TV case).
Talking about how much better Japanese VAs are over English VAs is irrelevent, considering there are many series out there where all emotion seems to sound the same, that is, unless you know the language. I listen to the Dubs, and they have some pretty good Voice Acting skill. So it balances out, some good and some bad in both camps. Lastly, as I already said before, you can't have English VAs act in the Radio drama sort as opposed to the Japanese VAs, considering the Japanese VAs have no control over the script, they read and act, whereas in the English VAs case, they have to tinker with the script to make it fit correctly, do multiple takes. Can you imagine doing that with three people at once? You'd have each person saying their line over and over again to try and sync the words, then wait for the next person to do their lines, then try and do it ALL at once. It wouldn't work that way. Anyways, methodology isn't always the determining factor behind the quality of the acting, but rather how good the actor truly is.
Saying that you're watching it in Japanese, because that's how the artist meant it is also irrelevent, not only because of the argument I gave above, but also because in localization, scripts are often run by original directors and writers for approval. The same goes for the actual dub. Anyways, think about it. Do you think the original writer is in control of EVERY aspect of a show? No. You have multiple people doing multiple tasks. YOu have character designers, music composers, dialogue writers, VA producers, key frame artists, producers out the Wazoo, directors out the wazoo etc etc etc. There are MANY artists in the mix. Having an English VA director and producer is just adding one more artist to the mix.
That, my friends, is my argumentation. Shit, I should write a dissertation :p