Anime Dubs = Anime Duds?

A few days ago, someone told me about the addition of the anime channel Animax to Malaysia's cable TV network. Never too impressed by their repertoire of channels and shows, mostly due to the crippling problem of repeating waaaay too many series/movies, and the blatant insertion of rather inferior local advertisements which are always so lengthy that they take away parts of the show to air it, I was pleasantly surprised by this development. Or so I thought. I was then told that, at least for now, all animes will be aired with both the American-dubbed English voice tracks, and the native Japanese track. Sounds okay. Then, I was informed that subtitles are not available for most of the animes, and for those that DO contain subtitles, they are in the malay language. =.= To make a long story short, let me just say that malay is not a language you want to be using to subtitle anime. Even in English there is trouble getting half the nuances of Japanese culture across, what more malay? So, with a majority of people in the country knowing 3 words of Japanese, the bottomline was, either watch anime with customarily sub-par English dubs, or read malay. What a way to ruin the experience. Nothing to do with anything, really... So, this got me thinking about the subject in the title of this post...namely dubbed anime. Let's take a look at dubbing, shall we, and not just english dubs. Have you ever watched dubbed anime/shows and just felt that the voices sounded SO out of place and unsuitable that for the entire 25 minute episode, you find yourself wondering how the original would sound like, and whether that guy doing Goku is gay? ^^ While I understand that there are people out there who really don't mind dubbed anime, I think most anime-watchers with even a hint of seriousness in their hobby would beg to differ. I haven't watched a great deal of dubbed anime, but I've seen enough to know I fit into the latter category, obviously, but why is this so? Why is it that dubbed animation turns me off? And how is it that dubs usually sound so 'unnatural'? In response to both questions, here are a couple of points I've read about from disgruntled anime fans in forums and also stuff I myself cannot stand. 1) Lousy Voice Direction - What is it that voice directors do? Well, for starters, they cast the voices. Voice casting is probably the most important part of starting a dub. Choose the wrong guy/girl, and you'll end up with Belldandy sounding like a college co-ed, and Goku like a homosexual. (Just examples, not necessarily true) I don't understand how dubbing studios can choose voices which are worlds apart from the original after watching the Japanese version. Or do they not even give a damn? Voice directors also choose and FIT the dialog to the show, and the movement of the character's mouth. Obviously this isn't given it's due attention sometimes, as we hear english dubs where characters speak at almost supersonic speeds just to end their sentences in time with the lip movement. Hardly riveting, watching shows like these. 2) Identifying with Authenticity - I believe I wouldn't be far from the truth when I say most people want to consume media in it's original form. You don't want to watch a Bollywood movie in english, a Chinese kung fu flick in spanish, or the Lord of the Rings in mandarin (unless you have no choice, of course). This applies especially to anime. I have the DVD of Ah! My Goddess The Movie which features both English and Japanese voice tracks. On impulse, I decided to watch the whole movie in English first. It was acceptable, to say the least. Then, I watched it in Japanese a day later. Imagine my surprise (lol) when the movie became 5 times better than the first time I saw it. Despite the fact that it was exactly the same movie, with the same animation, and I hardly understood the dialog, I found myself getting more caught up in the setting and the whole tone of the movie. In English, the characters sounded too drab,and voices were more often than not, lacking in emotion. Perhaps the voice actors did not grasp the animated personalities being put across through these big-eyed characters? Unlikely. Anyway, the point is, animes are made for Nihon-go, and making them sound different is a bloody crime. I won't go into detail, but let's just say some shows need to stay in their native languages. Imagine Bollywood singing dubbed in English. Now, that WOULD be a good lesson in the sheer hilarity of some of these anime dubs. 3) Bad Voice Actors - Yes, one of the simplest factors in causing anime dubbing to go awry more times than we'd like. Just like how they use and re-use seiyuus in Japan, voice studios in America tend to employ the same voice actors over and over again, regardless of their talent or quality. The problem is, voice actors in the US hardly have the talent of the numerous seiyuus in Japan. They sing, they act, they do voices AND they are able to diversify themselves enough to fit into a huge amount of totally different animes/games. Sadly, this is not true for their english-speaking counterparts. They not only lack emotion, but seem to be devoid of the range or the acting ability bestowed upon their Japanese equivalents. Making them inept and very often unsuitable for the job. It's like they just picked an decent sounding guy/girl of the streets and dragged them into the studio. Just to name one well-known seiyuu, let's take Yui Horie for instance. She's probably best known for her role as Narusegawa Naru in Love Hina, but has also played parts in other big animes such as Sawachika Eri in School Rumble, Sasaki Makie in Negima!, Shiina Yuya in Samurai Deeper Kyo and also Siesta and Yoko from the recent Zero no Tsukaima and Inukami! respectively. True, some of these may be similar roles (girl that likes guy) in similar genres (romance, comedy), but I think she's done a good job for all of these and even managed to sound different and convincing enough that I didn't recognize her in some. 4) Lack of Motivation? - Probably the hardest to prove, easiest to deny, but lack of motivation is probably the number one reason why American dubs are so bad. First of all, the Anime companies know that their biggest critics, anime fans, are rarely ever satisfied by dubbing efforts. Therefore, since they know they can't win, why should they try? Better dubbing involves higher costs in hiring better talent, using more studio time, and mayhaps also for getting better translators. These are costs anime studios don't feel the need to bear due to the aforementioned reasons. The "If people think we suck anyway, why bother to do anything to change that?" mentality holds many animes back, and makes dubbed episodes unwatchable to the hardcore anime fan. 5) Difference between Dialogue and Subtitles - Those of us used to subtitles, be it fansubbed or DVDs, would be rather surprised when actually comparing the subs with the dubs. Dubs usually deviate from subtitle sentences due to the fact that they have to i) translate the Japanese language and try to keep the nuances and meaning, and ii) fit this all into the few seconds of mouth movement alloted to them. Hard to do? I'll say. Subtitles are usually much longer than what is being heard on screen, because it's easier to get everything in a long sentence without actually saying it out. That's already a natural hindrance to the dubbing process. Cut sentences short and lose the meaning, or adhere to the 'supersonic speed talk' rule? Both options are hardly encouraging. 6) Since I Don't Understand It... - The Japanese seiyuus probably have a better chance of getting away with crappy voice acting compared to the english-speaking ones, for me. After all, I DO understand english very well, compared to japanese, and would probably spot every irregularity or weird uses of words. This isn't a very good reason though, as I still feel more involved in an anime shown in japanese, rather than english or any other language. I guess you can take the anime out of Japan, but you can't take Japan out of the anime, haha. Conclusion: Dubbed anime usually sucks ass. Stick with subtitles if you don't understand japanese. And if you actually LIKE dubbed versions, learn how to start liking the Japanese versions STAT. Or you'll be missing out on a whole lot of goodness. Oh, and girls in Hentai animes sound better in japanese too. ^^ I have seen A FEW good dubs over the years, but the way dubbed animes are the butt of jokes for the otaku community worldwide, it looks like there won't be much effort anytime soon from voice studios to motivate themselves to do any better. After all, even if I buy a US DVD, I listen to the japanese track and switch over to english only for laughs, or if I need to puke. =D >>> Animania Tags: Animation, Anime, Japanese Animation, Manga, Anime Dubbing, Anime Dubs, Tenjou