Shitty voice-overs for anime's

AmishSlayer

AmishSlayer

Tank
Joined
Jul 1, 2003
Messages
5,898
Reaction score
3
First off - I watch 3 animes regularly.

1. Bleach
2. One Piece (catching up)
3. Naruto (it sucks right now but it'll get better)

I got into each of these shows by downloading weekly episodes that are subbed by various groups but still with Japanese audio.

Naruto and One Piece have been picked up in the US and are dubbed over now with english voices.

Here's a short example of Naruto

http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/tv_shows/video/toonami/index.html

Naruto's voice SUCKS. He sounds like a little girl. Not only that but the voice acting sucks in general. You can tell it totally sucks within 5 seconds.

One Piece has some bad voice-overs as well. Sanji in particular has the dumbest voice I've ever heard. It completely ruins the character.


I was actually considering trying to get my roomates into the few animes that I watch when they came on TV (that'd be easier than telling them to download packs of 10 episodes each weighing in at ~1.7gb)...but even I can't stand watching the english versions and I'm already a fan. How can I expect my friends to get into it.

My point being - The US ruins good animes with shitty voice-overs. These shows could be way more successful with decent voice acting/casting.
 
Thats what my friend's been telling me for years :) I agree, I don't understand why they dub the animes, I'd rather they just sub them, it'll be a lot cheaper and you retain the original experience.
 
there's a reason most true anime fans watch anime subbed... you're never gonna get true, top-notch talent to do the voice-overs except on the biggest of projects, like miyazami's work, the only series i've liked dubbed was Trigun
 
OH DEAR GOD NARUTO SOUNDS HORRIBLE. "Naruto" meaning the entire cast in that clip, not just the character Naruto.

I don't get why they always hire crappy voice actors. It's not like they'd have to pay big bucks to get a decent voice actor. There are plenty of out-of-work actors that probably have great voices. The problem is that the studios re-use people that've worked on previous dubbed stuff like DBZ.

I think one problem with the US cast is that they aim their performance entirely for children. The Japanese actors sound a lot more grown up and mature.
 
That is the problem. In the West, executives think like this: cartoons are for kids. "What we have here, then, is a kid's movie. We need to do an English dub - meh, just get some cartoon voice actors to do it." They just pull whoever did Pokemon or Monster Rancher (:x) and get them to do it. Whereas in its native country anime is considered a viable format and real actors are assigned to the task.

The only anime I've ever watched that was alright in English was the Cowboy Bebop movie. In fact, I'd rather watch it in English - the voice acting is actually good and the dialogue is better than the subtitles (literally translated and very stilted). I can't bear to watch anything else in English usually - take Ghost in the Shell. Eurgh.

Then again, it might be that the acting's crap in japan as well, and we don't notice because we can't speak the language.

Personally I think Naruto is kind of rubbish and is a kids thing anyway... :upstare:
 
Not to be an ass, but it's anime(no 's) for both singular and plural. Just giving you a heads up for the future, because those hardcore anime fans will get you on it, it's happened to me...


I'd have to say in all the anime i've watched, Cowboy Bebop or Ghost in the Shell has got some marvelous voice acting.
 
Where'd I use the word 'animes'? o_O

Ghost in the Shell's voices pissed me off (the movie, anyway) - example, the bit where they're on the boat and she's talking about what she feels when diving. In English, that's done so badly. :(
 
ailevation said:
Not to be an ass, but it's anime(no 's) for both singular and plural. Just giving you a heads up for the future, because those hardcore anime fans will get you on it, it's happened to me...


I'd have to say in all the anime i've watched, Cowboy Bebop or Ghost in the Shell has got some marvelous voice acting.
Click to expand...

Heh. I used it at the beginning of my post by accident and in the title... whoops.

Cowboy Bebop definitely has the best english voice acting of all the animes I've seen.
 
AmishSlayer said:
Heh. I used it at the beginning of my post by accident and in the title... whoops.

Cowboy Bebop definitely has the best english voice acting of all the animes I've seen.
Click to expand...
The title shouldn't have an apostrophe anyway ;)

I never listen to dubbing; it always loses some feeling and description in the dialogue, or just misses sections altogether. Subtitles for the win.
 
Dubbing is the pits. It's so rare that they put a quality dub on an anime, and it preserves so much of the original feeling, not to mention saves money, when they just stick some decent subtitles on. One of the only dubs I can stand is the western version of Ninja Scroll, since it was such a cheesy and comedic film that the western voices (smarmy beefhead hero, and crackly cackling old man) fit pretty well.

Naruto is an OK series, with some great voice acting in the original Japanese (Orochimaru being my favourite). You can bet when they do the dub they're going to reshape the tone so that it's more 'wacky' and childish to appeal to a younger audience. Bear in mind also that it's not only going to be a dubbed but a censored version too.

Also, anime is not the only victim of crappy dubs. Remember how Final Fantasy X was hamstrung by a bloody awful dub which pretty much ruined the game for some people.
So yeah, subtitles FTW, to hell with people who say "lol hoe can u rede it at the same time???////"
 
All the DBZ films not only are the voices badly acted but all the characters sound completely different(Goku is a mocho man, Krillin and Gohan sound like girls), they pronounce things wrong(like Vegeta's name) and they're badly translated(Big Green, Crystal Balls, Magic Beans, "We must explode the roots").
 
You want a quality dub? FLCL. I was amazed.

You want a decent dub but HORRIBLE voice choices? Try out Azumanga Daioh. Can you say HUGE DISSAPOINTMENT? I prefer subtitles to dubs anyway, you get the original feel of the show, and I really dont mind reading down at the bottom. Plus I love the Japanese language, and the high pitched female voices :D
 
Every Anime should be ALWAYS in their native language that applies also to Foreign Movies, dubbing something you will always lose the true interpretation of the characters, besides subs not only will help kids read faster but it will help everybody to familiarize with foreign languages, I don’t understand why people would want to hear something in English that was not made in an English speaking country. Add the fact that most of the times Anime not only are dubbed but Censored and Edited, thus ending up with a whole different product that most of the times is way inferior and doesn’t resemble the greatness of the original product. Examples: Naruto and Saint Seiya (Knights of the Zodiac)
 
owww my ears.
i think this was designed for little kids. i remeber watching gundam/sailor moon/dbz when i was about ion the 4t - 5th grade and i enjoyed it the voices didnt really make a difference to me but now im older and i want more accurate voice you know. so this cartoon was pretty much designed or dubbed for the young crowd. its kind of annoying because it comes on at nine, most kids are sleep at that time. i dont know why they dont sub i guess the corporations dont want to look like "Teh japs are t4kin 0ve"
 
I would like to note that two of the three said shows have be lisenced. Downloading these is against the law.
 
Pressure said:
I would like to note that two of the three said shows have be lisenced. Downloading these is against the law.
Click to expand...

Well yeah, but so is downloading your favorite TV show if you miss it...but that's not going to stop me from enjoying some great shows. God help me I'm not going to wait for the English versions of animes to catch up to the originals and watch it only on TV...
 
I bet by the time naruto catches up itll lose alot of interest.
 
IMO, downloading episodes of anime isn't any worse than taping the show. After all, what's the difference between recording a show on tape and doing it using a TV tuner card and your harddrive? Not only that, there are so many more episodes(ie: Naruto) that are out in Japan, but won't reach america for another 4 years, it wouldn't matter if we downloaded them.
 
I find that dubbing sucks in general. If the game or film was originally created in a foreign language, I always prefer subtitles unless the dub actors are amazing (which is pretty much never).
 
Pressure said:
I would like to note that two of the three said shows have be lisenced. Downloading these is against the law.
Click to expand...
:eek: :eek: :eek: Looks like mods to engage in warez after all :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
Pressure said:
I would like to note that two of the three said shows have be lisenced. Downloading these is against the law.
Click to expand...

Actually it is only illegal if you make any profit with the TV show you downloaded; otherwise it’s like taping your favorite TV show and watching it afterwards. No hardcore Naruto Fan is going to wait 4 years (yeah that is the time Naruto have been airing in Japan with 150 episodes and counting) to catch up with the story. Besides, God only knows if this crappy censored-edited-bastardized-Americanized-poorly dubbed version of Naruto will be all that famous; there is the possibility it will flunk and it won’t reach the status of the original version, thus ending up not airing all the episodes…
 
It's only been licensed in the US, right? Or is it showing in the UK anytime soon?
 
StardogChampion said:
It's only been licensed in the US, right? Or is it showing in the UK anytime soon?
Click to expand...

So far in the US and Canada.
 
AmishSlayer said:
Well yeah, but so is downloading your favorite TV show if you miss it...but that's not going to stop me from enjoying some great shows. God help me I'm not going to wait for the English versions of animes to catch up to the originals and watch it only on TV...
Click to expand...
If I made a thread about how I illegally downloaded HL2 it would get closed. I was just pointing that out.
 
Pressure said:
If I made a thread about how I illegally downloaded HL2 it would get closed. I was just pointing that out.
Click to expand...

But this isn't a thread about illegally downloading anything, is it?
 
Absinthe said:
I find that dubbing sucks in general. If the game or film was originally created in a foreign language, I always prefer subtitles unless the dub actors are amazing (which is pretty much never).
Click to expand...
Like I said, the dub for FLCL is brilliant.
 
Voice-overs only suck when they completely rewrite the whole story from the Japanese version. :borg:

By the way dose anyone know what is going with Half-Life fallout are they down or something?
 
There are a few anime's that I watch that have great voice overs. Gundam 08th MS Team had a great one *on the exception of Karen...ick*

Chrono Crusade is by far the best one I've ever seen. They actually act like they care about their job doing it, and sound like they aren't just reading a cue card... :(
 
CyberPitz said:
There are a few anime's that I watch that have great voice overs. Gundam 08th MS Team had a great one *on the exception of Karen...ick*
Click to expand...
That is the problem throughout dubbing. There are great performances in most dubs, but there are always bad ones. Sadly, because we talk on a series by series basis, it doesn't ever matter that there are good actors in anime, because even a single super-irritating voice can make a series a "bad dub" in anyone's estimation. To me, it seems that there simply aren't enough decent voice performers available to the anime industry, far too many amateurs who either can't or won't take it seriously, or who're simply just out of their depth.

To me, Dubs are often a painful necessity. I can't personally name a dub I prefer to the original Japanese audio, so I can never really "win" with watching Anime. You have to ignore the art and focus on words, or you have to put up with bad voicework in order to focus on the art. The only memorably good jobs I've seen are in the Ghibli movies, basically because mainstream popularity = big budgets. Lesser known movies are an ordeal by comparrison. Perfect Blue for instance, is ultra cringe worthy, due mostly to it's Pop Songs I think...

Metropolis is another interesting example. There's nothing wrong with the dub acting as such, but it just comes across as an entirely different film in Japanese. To me it's a kids cartoon in the US dub, something a little bit gritty and mature in Japanese. Same can be said of the Ghibli movies, even Kiki's Delivery Service becomes less widely appealing, despite already being a pretty kiddy movie in the first place.
 
Sulkdodds said:
That is Then again, it might be that the acting's crap in japan as well, and we don't notice because we can't speak the language.
Click to expand...

I doubt it; in Japan the voice actors are a central part of the anime- you want them to be as good as possible. I mean you don't say "hey let's hire some shit actors for our film", do you? I think the US just has a generally lazier approach to dubbing things, from cartoons to anime to films. Alternatively, it could be that US voices are really damn irritating anyway. Have you ever played Xbox live with microphones? Urrrghh...
 
currently watching naruto dubby stile. it still has the comical first 2 episode merit with him transofmring into the girl and what not the voices are pretty lame but what can you expect.
 
Ahhh god. Naruto sounds like a tomboy redhead.
 
The only anime that has good dubbing is Ghost in the Shell series. SAC and movies.
 
There are some anime that I actually prefer the dub over the sub. It's indeed very rare, and definately doesn't happen with anything current (with the notable exception of Cowboy Bebop [which isn't even current], simply because Ed's Japanese voice irritates the hell out of me), but older anime that I watched dubbed, I can only hear it dubbed. For example, Tenchi Muyo...I've heard the Japanese voices, but any time I picture the characters I think of their English voices. Same with Ranma, and even DBZ. I can't picture Vegeta with his Japanese voice no matter how many times I've heard it; I always hear that cocky American accent. In my opinion those shows have good dubs, and I'd much rather watch them over the Japanese versions.

On the subject of NAROOTO, the only voice I found that was close to the original voice was Konohamaru. Too bad nobody cares about Konohamaru and you only see him every now-and-then. What I found crazy about this dub isn't so much the horrible quality of the delivery, or the voices themselves, but the fact that every time they attempted to pronounce a Japanese word, its pronounciation would change. And even if they could manage it right, it sounded like they were reading it right off the script, phonetically. "Nah...roo...to. Don't give...Meezuuuukeyyyy...the scroll! It contains forbidden ju...jut...jootsu! Forbidden jootsu! He wants to use it to make himself stronger!" I'm really, really curious to see who they're going to cast as Orochimaru. My guess? Pegasus from Yu-Gi-Oh, or Cobra Commander. I actually think Pegasus was Ebisu...

At least they didn't give Naruto an intro rap.
 
Just watched Scrapped Princess english dubbed...I'm amazed. This is one of the higher quality dubs. I'm impressed to no end. With it being one of my favorite animes out there, I'm happy.

Chrono Crusade also has some damn great dubs as well
 
I prefer the original Japanese audio over any dubbing.

Currently waiting for more Yakitate Japan! eps =p - If you havn't seen this go download it NOW!

Sulkdodds said:
Personally I think Naruto is kind of rubbish and is a kids thing anyway... :upstare:
Click to expand...

The whole series turned into DBZ for me. Bigger battles, big ass powers, etc.
 
Kyo said:
I prefer the original Japanese audio over any dubbing.

Currently waiting for more Yakitate Japan! eps =p - If you havn't seen this go download it NOW!



The whole series turned into DBZ for me. Bigger battles, big ass powers, etc.
Click to expand...
I got very board of DBZ after the first few episodes. But it wast he cool thing to watch, so I sat through it. From Raditz, to the middle of the Cell Saga. That's a lot of friggin torture for me :P
 
I just don't like the whole "Look a slightly harder enemy!" storyline of DBZ. The rest of it's fine and occasionly I get around to watching a few eps when babysitting.

Oh btw if you havn't seen Yakitate Japan you should slap yourself. For a series about making bread, it is the funniest show I've seen in ages.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

SpotEnemyBoats
*SPOILERS*PC gamer Ep2 preview*SPOILERS*
2
Replies
53
Views
6K
Asknoone
A
Evo
The Orange Box - Mini-Review
Replies
4
Views
2K
Evo
Evo
Back
Top