Arclight_Dynamo's Anime Frustration

[MetricFurlong]

Jin-Roh is great, always been a shame it's never gotten much attention.

Granted, the Kerberos Saga* isn't terribly well-known in general, so that may have a fair bit to do with it.


*Mamoru Oshii's series of alternate history Manga, radio plays and films, of which Jin-Roh is a stand-alone part.
Note that while Jin-Roh was written by Oshii, it was directed by Hiroyuki Okiura, who had previously worked under Oshii on the Ghost in the Shell film.

I'm perfectly happy watching things with subtitles. They don't bother me in the least. So... apart from rare exceptions where the tenor of the show is entirely changed by dubs (for example, as I understand it, Samurai Pizza Cats was entirely chopped up and changed to be comedic when it was dubbed), is there any reason why I might want to watch a dub over a sub, when the choice is available to me?

There is not.

[Tapir12]

If you don't mind reading subtitles, then the only reason to specifically choose a dub would be if you are watching an anime with a lot of cultural nuance in it. Sometimes, when these get dubbed, they alter the speech a little to provide a little more context for an international audience.

As a simple example, in Spirited Away, there is a plot point that has to do with the characters in people's names. In English this doesn't make as much sense, since cutting off one syllable doesn't change the whole meaning of the name in the same way. In the dub, they tried to make this make more sense for an English speaking audience (more for kids who might be confused).

It's a pretty minor thing though, and I find I can usually figure out whatever I've missed. I'll almost always watch with subs unless the dub is showing in theatres or something.

[Arclight_Dynamo]

Ah! So subs tend to be more literal in their translations, while dubs tend to make allowances for English idiom/cultural references? Well, that makes sense, then, thanks.

In that case, I think I'll stick with subtitles, generally; if I think I'm missing something, I can always Google it.

[Tapir12]

Ya, it depends a lot on who is doing to subbing/dubbing too. Some subs do a really good job of adding context as well.

[FITorion]

Mamoru Oshii has done most of my favorite anime movies. Namely Ghost in the Shell and Patlabor.

Though he does seem to like using high pitched archaic Japanese singing to set the mood... a bit like us using latin choirs... but high pitched. It can really grate on people. Doesn't bother me. I find it interesting that Japanese people would have trouble understanding the singing.

[Moussefilledkitten]

It's all about personal preference. If I'm doing something else while watching anime then I'll use dubs because I don't want to have to always be watching the screen to follow along. Sometimes the dubs have very good voice acting so I like it more. Sometimes dubs have awful voice acting or no dub exists. I agree that subs tend to be a more literal translation whereas dubs sometimes have a more "natural" translation.

There are phrases or words in Japanese that don't tend to have direct translations into English and I find subs tend to do awkward long direct translations whereas dubs will do a more natural sounding translation that conveys the general meaning. However, that is just my experience and others may have different experience. Dubs can also have painfully bad voice acting and while the original Japanese voice acting might also be bad, not understanding the language makes it so I don't know that the voice acting is bad. What this all boils down to is just do what you like more.

As a side note - I have found in some badly done dubs/subs I can actually only understand what's going on in a scene if I have both the dub and sub going at the same time, as each only managed to convey a different portion of what was happening in the original scene. That is the rarity and won't happen in what people have recommended. They all have well done subs, I think.

[LunarJade]

Ah! So subs tend to be more literal in their translations, while dubs tend to make allowances for English idiom/cultural references? Well, that makes sense, then, thanks.

In that case, I think I'll stick with subtitles, generally; if I think I'm missing something, I can always Google it.

Yes and no? It really depends on who is translating what.

Probably the bigger difference between subtitles and dubbing is that when something is dubbed they also have to match the lip flaps. So they have to not only convey what is being said by translating it into a different language but also make sure it works with the mouth movements on screen.

Translation itself is different. Subtitles done by a fansubber have a tendency to be more literal. A lot of fansubbers will put up cultural notes to explain it, however there are those that are so inside the anime community that they assume people watching already know these things.
For example a lot of them will assume that people understand a term like "Sempai" or "Kouhai".

Official dubs and subtitles might use words like that now because people have caught on. Though I do remember a lot of older days where if a dvd did use that if often came with a card inside explaining such terms.

I find how translation works to be really interesting so I could talk about it for ages but I'm gonna stop myself because there's so much more I could talk about on it and this isn't really the place.

Ultimately as long as you're fine with reading subtitles there shouldn't be an issue. The hardest to translate stuff that needs a lot of referencing is related more to puns and sight gags. And a lot of subs are pretty good about having cultural notes these days.

Other reasons to maybe enjoy dubs has to due with things like if the animation in the scene is very quick it can be easy to miss out on something if you're busy reading. Or if you want to sit back and not wear glasses.. that kind of thing.