Anime

[Ookla de los Cuervos he/him]

kaguya dub is hilarious.

[+Slowswift]

On 8/22/2024 at 9:46 PM, J. Magi said:

I'll have to add it to my (massive) tbr! I love Yor too lol

The site I use is fan-run and mostly fan-translations and I've never had a quality problem so *shrug*

 

Good! I'm glad to hear it. I guess I just had bad luck with the ones I found.

16 minutes ago, TheRavenHasLanded said:

kaguya dub is hilarious.

Yep. One of the best English dubs out there.

[Mags she/they]

I watched the first episode of Mob Psycho 100 yesterday and it was fantastic . . . it'll probably be my next binge. Has anyone here seen it?

Spoiler

(also, I haven't started the Frieren manga yet, but I plan too--there aren't any super aesthetic stark pfp's from the anime so I did what I had to do lol)

[Ookla de los Cuervos he/him]

26 minutes ago, J. Magi said:

I watched the first episode of Mob Psycho 100 yesterday and it was fantastic . . . it'll probably be my next binge. Has anyone here seen it?

  Hide contents

(also, I haven't started the Frieren manga yet, but I plan too--there aren't any super aesthetic stark pfp's from the anime so I did what I had to do lol)

OH I HAVE ITS SO GOOD LOL.

[Mags she/they]

Just now, TheRavenHasLanded said:

OH I HAVE ITS SO GOOD LOL.

Niiice. I've heard a lot of good things, and what I've seen is really promising.

I do have to watch it in dub, but I don't mind the voice acting the way I often do with dub.

[Ookla de los Cuervos he/him]

15 minutes ago, J. Magi said:

Niiice. I've heard a lot of good things, and what I've seen is really promising.

I do have to watch it in dub, but I don't mind the voice acting the way I often do with dub.

i actually like the dub of most anime. 

[Mags she/they]

4 minutes ago, TheRavenHasLanded said:

i actually like the dub of most anime. 

I started out watching sub because of what I had access to, and I've always had a hard time with dub afterword.

Maybe it's just a bias, but I swear the Japanese voice-acting is better and has more emotion in it, whereas the English voices feel out of place and sometimes don't fit the characters. That, and I like experiencing the 'art' closer to it's 'original' form. Like, maybe I don't speak Japanese but I can still feel the original emotion and line delivery that might get muddled in a dub.

But then, there are also dubs that are completely fine and I enjoy, so who knows.

Edited September 5, 2024 by J. Magi

[Ookla de los Cuervos he/him]

2 minutes ago, J. Magi said:

I started out watching sub because of what I had access to, and I've always had a hard time with dub afterword.

Maybe it's just a bias, but I swear the Japanese voice-acting is better and has more emotion in it, whereas the English voices feel out of place and sometimes don't fit the characters. That, and I like experiencing the 'art' closer to it's 'original' form. Like, maybe I don't speak Japanese but I can still feel the original emotion and line delivery that might get muddled in a dub.

But then, there are also dubs that are completely fine and I enjoy, so who knows.

thats fair, its kinda the opposite for me, i started out with dub so thats kinda all i know.

[Mags she/they]

Just now, TheRavenHasLanded said:

thats fair, its kinda the opposite for me, i started out with dub so thats kinda all i know.

I get that. Plus, it's hard to watch sub and multi-task on other stuff at the same time (except for maybe eating).

[Dunkum he/him]

2 hours ago, J. Magi said:

I started out watching sub because of what I had access to, and I've always had a hard time with dub afterword.

Maybe it's just a bias, but I swear the Japanese voice-acting is better and has more emotion in it, whereas the English voices feel out of place and sometimes don't fit the characters. That, and I like experiencing the 'art' closer to it's 'original' form. Like, maybe I don't speak Japanese but I can still feel the original emotion and line delivery that might get muddled in a dub.

But then, there are also dubs that are completely fine and I enjoy, so who knows.

my experience on sub vs dub has been 2 main hings:

1. if there are big enough differences between the voices, then whichever I watch first is my preferred because the second just sounds wrong. e.g. Goku in the DZ dub has a voice that is a LOT deeper than in the sub so the sub version just sounds off to me.

2. to your point above, I think it is also partly that it is easier to tell good voice acting from bad when it is in your own language. and when you can tell that it is bad, then it gets to b really grating.

[Mags she/they]

4 minutes ago, Dunkum said:

my experience on sub vs dub has been 2 main hings:

1. if there are big enough differences between the voices, then whichever I watch first is my preferred because the second just sounds wrong. e.g. Goku in the DZ dub has a voice that is a LOT deeper than in the sub so the sub version just sounds off to me.

2. to your point above, I think it is also partly that it is easier to tell good voice acting from bad when it is in your own language. and when you can tell that it is bad, then it gets to b really grating.

Oh yeah, I 100% agree

[Eluvianii he/him]

After a year of putting it off I finally decided to watch the last season of Shingeki no Kyojin. Good thing I did, part 1 can get really sour, but it's just a setup for the amazing story it becomes later, and the ending was perfect. Overall a great show from beginning to end.

[Eluvianii he/him]

Started a few of the shows coming out this season and they're actually pretty promising. Honey Lemon Soda is a little too sweet but I'm always up for another painfully relatable socially anxious protag.

Hana wa Saku, being a show about reciting stuff specifically, has some really cool visuals to accompany the texts they read. Got chills with that poem reciting at the end. I swear, if this ends up being the thing that finally makes me appreciate poetry...

Then there's Tasokare Hotel. Pretty cool concept, potentially heavy themes (it will be weirder if it doesn't get heavy tbh), but it doesn't look like it'll be as emotionally charged as, say, Angel Beats. Still got hooked tho.

I really need to catch up on Apothecary Diaries.

[That1Cellist he/him]

On 9/5/2024 at 9:53 AM, Magi said:

I started out watching sub because of what I had access to, and I've always had a hard time with dub afterword.

Maybe it's just a bias, but I swear the Japanese voice-acting is better and has more emotion in it, whereas the English voices feel out of place and sometimes don't fit the characters. That, and I like experiencing the 'art' closer to it's 'original' form. Like, maybe I don't speak Japanese but I can still feel the original emotion and line delivery that might get muddled in a dub.

But then, there are also dubs that are completely fine and I enjoy, so who knows.

Okay I know this is an old comment but I just have to throw in my two cents.

I usually watch in Japanese with English subtitles, and I do generally agree with you. However, there is a show that I only watched in English. Kaguya-Sama: Love is War has a fantastic dub. The English voice acting is really good (and extremely funny) and even better is that the narrator is actually one of the best parts about the show. He. is. so. funny. It was an extremely enjoyable watch.

Again, though, I do usually prefer to watch in Japanese, there are just definitely some very good english dubs out there.

[Mags she/they]

1 hour ago, That1Cellist said:

Okay I know this is an old comment but I just have to throw in my two cents.

I usually watch in Japanese with English subtitles, and I do generally agree with you. However, there is a show that I only watched in English. Kaguya-Sama: Love is War has a fantastic dub. The English voice acting is really good (and extremely funny) and even better is that the narrator is actually one of the best parts about the show. He. is. so. funny. It was an extremely enjoyable watch.

Again, though, I do usually prefer to watch in Japanese, there are just definitely some very good english dubs out there.

Oh no, I totally get that!

Don't think I'm a sub only enjoyer, sometimes the dub is better or more accessible.

For example, when watching Trigun ('98), I switched back and forth between sub and dub out of curiosity, and found myself enjoying the dub a lot more. It's dub is far more loved in the fandom, because the voice-actors do an incredibly good job, and the jokes are done really well. (It might have something to do with the anime in general being more popular to western audiences, though maybe not directly).

When I watched Trigun Stampede (The current remake), I made sure to watch it dubbed from the start, because they got the same voice actor for the protagonist from the original show to come back. That, and Tri-Stamp's dub references the old show more, and from what I've heard has a lot more heart to it then the Japanese version.

[+Slowswift]

And then there's Ghost Stories.

[Mags she/they]

4 minutes ago, Slowswift said:

And then there's Ghost Stories.

And then there's Ghost Stories 

[That1Cellist he/him]

42 minutes ago, Slowswift said:

And then there's Ghost Stories.

Ghost Stories is definitely one of the dubs of all time.

[Retsam]

My view is generally "good dub" > "good sub" > "bad sub" > "bad dub".  You're much more 'in-tune' with your native language so you can both appreciate good acting more, but you also notice bad acting a lot more, too.  Plus, I find comedies work better when you hear the joke with proper timing and delivery rather than reading the punchline on screen.

Sometimes it's just carried by a specific voice actor: Trigun, as mentioned, is a classic example (Johnny Yong Boshe), (shame that Tristamp Vash was mostly too depressed and angsty to really show of JYB's abilities).  I'd also put Code Geass in the same category for the same reason.  (Johnny Yong Boshe) 

Sometimes it's the localization: e.g. Steins;Gate and Kaguya - not that English voices aren't good, but it's really the localization that carries it - the dubs add or modify jokes to work better to Western viewers ("You're such a Wesley", or the Spongebob joke in the Kaguya dub).  

Other miscellaneous shows where I liked the dub better: FMA, Planetes, Mushoku Tensei

(I don't really count Ghost Stories - yes it's great, but it's IMO closer to an abridged series than an actual translation)

[That1Cellist he/him]

On 1/11/2025 at 6:20 PM, Retsam said:

My view is generally "good dub" > "good sub" > "bad sub" > "bad dub".  You're much more 'in-tune' with your native language so you can both appreciate good acting more, but you also notice bad acting a lot more, too.  Plus, I find comedies work better when you hear the joke with proper timing and delivery rather than reading the punchline on screen.

Sometimes it's just carried by a specific voice actor: Trigun, as mentioned, is a classic example (Johnny Yong Boshe), (shame that Tristamp Vash was mostly too depressed and angsty to really show of JYB's abilities).  I'd also put Code Geass in the same category for the same reason.  (Johnny Yong Boshe) 

Sometimes it's the localization: e.g. Steins;Gate and Kaguya - not that English voices aren't good, but it's really the localization that carries it - the dubs add or modify jokes to work better to Western viewers ("You're such a Wesley", or the Spongebob joke in the Kaguya dub).  

Other miscellaneous shows where I liked the dub better: FMA, Planetes, Mushoku Tensei

(I don't really count Ghost Stories - yes it's great, but it's IMO closer to an abridged series than an actual translation)

Code Geass mentioned! Yippee!

That's another show that I only watched in Japanese, so it's entirely possible that I missed some stuff in English.

Spoiler

Rollo deserved better

I do generally agree with your ranking, but I think that the amount of good subs is reasonably larger than good dubs, which is why many people say that subs are simply better. (Although, admittedly that could just be my own inaccuracy. As you say, people are naturally more in tune with a language they actually speak.) At least, that's my view of it.

I also think that there's something to be said for the "original form" of a piece when it comes to art. While this is technically a matter of personal preference, a reason I usually watch in Japanese is simply because that is most often the original. I suppose this mentality is also why I generally enjoy reading the source material over watching an adaptation for the screen, though there are naturally a decent number of exceptions there as well.  

[Retsam]

4 minutes ago, That1Cellist said:

I think that the amount of good subs is reasonably larger than good dubs, which is why many people say that subs are simply better. (Although, admittedly that could just be my own inaccuracy. As you say, people are naturally more in tune with a language they actually speak.) 

I think part of it is that that used to be more true - I think older dubs tended to be lower budget and often worse; but anime is a bigger business in the West now and dubs are a lot better.  Also if you go back far enough you get into the era where "hiding the Japaneseness" was a goal.  (Eat your hamburgers, Apollo)  But that really hasn't been true for awhile.

Nowadays?  I legitimately struggle to remember the last time I ran into something that I'd really call a "bad dub".  I can name a few voices that I didn't care for (e.g. one character in Mushoku Tensei, despite my overall preference for that show's dub), but that's also true of subs (e.g. there's one character I dislike in 86, despite my overall love for that show). 

(For context, I watch quite a bit of both subs and dubs - my default is subbed, especially since dubs are usually delayed, but I often end up rewatching shows dubbed with a friend, or I sometimes watch things dubbed in the background when working which doesn't work with subs)

1 hour ago, That1Cellist said:

I also think that there's something to be said for the "original form" of a piece when it comes to art. While this is technically a matter of personal preference, a reason I usually watch in Japanese is simply because that is most often the original. I suppose this mentality is also why I generally enjoy reading the source material over watching an adaptation for the screen, though there are naturally a decent number of exceptions there as well.  

I think there's some truth to this - but I think an argument in favor of dubs is that dubs can sometimes give you closer to the original experience better than a sub.  The true "original experience" is to watch it in Japanese while being completely fluent in Japanese language and culture, and that's... tricky to pull off.  (I should know, I've been studying Japanese for quite awhile now)  Failing that, a good translation can be better than a more literal one.

Comedy is the most obvious example: if you want to have the "original experience" of watching a comedy anime, you should laugh, but often the way to make a Western audience laugh is not to tell the exact same joke.  That's what I mean about why, e.g. Steins;Gate is such an amazing dub - it replaces a bunch of Japanese nerdy cultural references (e.g. 2chan) with Western equivalents (Dr. Who, Star Trek) because the point is that the protagonists are huge nerds, not the specific references being made, and Western references bring that across better than things that going to fly over the head of most of the audience.  

(Strictly speaking this is mostly about the literalness of the translation, but "sub = more literal translation, dub = potentially more localized" is broadly true - my understanding is dubs generally have actual writers who decide how to localize it while subs have translators who really aren't empowered to make meaningful changes)

[Eluvianii he/him]

I actually enjoy the history lesson that comes with subs when it comes to Japanese jokes or references. That's actually one of the best features of the Steins;Gate VN, it has quite the glossary explaining every little thing they mention. Both what the joke is supposed to be, and what irl thing they're a copyright-free version of. Though this view itself is personal preference.

It actually annoys me when they change something like that because instead of enjoying the piece of dialogue I'm just left wondering what it said originally. 

[Retsam]

Yeah, it just depends on what your goals are.  If your goal is to be educated about Japanese culture and language as a higher priority than experiencing the story as it was originally intended, then a literal subtitle is better.  

But I think for most people, (and hence the general approach that most translations take), the goal is to give as close to a native experience as possible which often means a less literal translation and more of a "thought-for-thought" translation.

And the reality is somewhere in the middle on both - if you go too far on the "thought-for-thought" translation you end up with "Eat your hamburgers, Apollo", but if you go too far on the "word-for-word" translation, then everything goes "according to keikaku".

---

I actually have a little formal background in translation - studied biblical translation in college (though not to the point of a degree) and it's the same general ideas - more literal word-for-word translations are good if you're really trying to dig into some technical meaning of the original language... but less literal translations (while still accurate to the original idea) tend to be better for everyday usage.

Edited January 13, 2025 by Retsam

[Briar King]

Yesterday I finally finished MSG Seed Destiny and it was everything that Seed was not barring that’s last arc which is awesome. It will take some time to think about but it may have taken MSG The Origin top slot. The difference between Seed and Seed Destiny is night and day. Today I dove into MSG Seed Freedom and it was a nice ending(?we shall see) for the world and these characters. I didn’t realize till today it was made in 2024 so if there is more to come it’s gonna take a long time before it comes.

Ive started the 1st few minutes of MSG Requim. I ll properly get into it tomorrow most likely.

[Eluvianii he/him]

Watched a couple episodes of Sakamoto Days and I can't believe I'm 5 weeks late to this. The show is hilarious and I was kinda tearing up on episode 2. It's wholesome, dumb, and has mindless violence in spades, it's great. Like a happy comedy version of John Wick.

I also finally watched Psycho Pass: Providence and it was a pretty good watch. Boy did I miss Akane. Season 3 was pretty good and all, and I really liked First Inspector, but for me the thing that carries the show is its original protagonist. And having her back for this movie was really worth the wait.