Dubbing…Yeah.

Gee, there’s dubbing, and there’s hell. For me that is. Only the American Duo Maxwell did a great job, because the character was supposed to be American to begin with! Sheesh, other than that, dubs are atrocious.
You don’t think so? Well, which American voice overs for Japanese animes (for ghibli works don’t count – Disney gets these big time actors for that) took at least 4 years of voice training for voice over? Name one, tell a name to a foolish and knowledgeless person like me (who also can’t spell, but hey, I’m Asian!) And listening to something that just isn’t authentic makes me wanna puke my guts out.
I guess it’s true that these American voice over (I wonder what the voice overs in other countries sound like) tried hard. But they just sound so flat and no feelings. There’s a reason that the Japanese anime characters come alive – the seiyuus made them sound alive. If the seiyuus were dead, and novices (unfortunately, they use them too many times these days) are all of the sudden used, we may get some really enthusiastic people (think that lock out season for football – oh wait) voicing hard. But I’d shoot myself in the head before finishing listening. Art is attached to the culture, and blasting it with different voice is just atrocious. I hate Robotech and love Macross. So flame me, shoot me all you want. I welcome it.
Oddly enough, I’m all for the Americanization of the entire world. That would make my life easier everywhere. So sue me.

Author: Ray

I'm a hardcore Anime Fan and I'm proud of it. I know so many things and I've acquired so much knowledge you wouldn't believe. But my love is anime. I've been drifting in this world for so long that I don't even know what an anchor means. I've seen so many shows that I've lost count. The only thing I'm sure of myself is that I care for the lowly and disenfranchised. I hate the rich and powerful and I love what I do, or what I can do. I like anime and I don't mind watching different types of shows. I have experience in different types of Japanese animation. I would be called an "expert" in a bizzaro world. One day, I'd like to start a revolution. I love the US, pizza, beer, sashimi, Chinese food, and steak. But I love freshly baked bread more than a well-aged steak. In reality, if I were born Japanese I'd be a real, hardcore Otaku. I love to love and I can hate strongly. I'm passionate in nature and I don't mind shedding tears. I can be reached at rayyhum777 at animediet. My Twitter is rayyhum777 at twitter.

8 thoughts on “Dubbing…Yeah.

  1. I hate all American voice actors as well. I think the only one that can come close is the dub voice of Naruto and Ash from Pokemon. Everyone else (especially girl actresses) make my ears hurt because it sounds like they’re trying too hard

  2. haha these whiny sounding or rough sounding women are absolutely terrible. But I’m sorry to say that the only 5 seconds I watched Pokemon I hated all the voice actors, and Ash was emphasizing his (her?) voice too hard that I wanted to spit on the TV and take him/her out with the Lance of Longiness right away. Today I would use the Sword Cutlass of Revy’s to get that job done well.

  3. It seems like Mr. Dumbass (that would be me) enter the comments not in the track back section, as I should’ve, but in the regular comments section. Well, that’s fine by me to be a common everyday person who leaves a message on a board.
    Now where’s Revy to blow my brains out when I need her? Even that blond in Madlax would do well. I’d ask her to assassinate my ass on the spot (see eps two of the show…oh wait, you can’t unless you paid ADV huge bucks for the show first).
    It’s nice to understand Chinese since I watched this off Chinese fansubbers. But, nothing beats learning the original language, which Mr. Dumbass here didn’t quite do it.

  4. I think my favorite example of bad dubbing is Spike Spencer’s Shinji in Evangelion. Shinji isn’t really whiny so much as filled with resigned self-loathing, an attitude which isn’t really part of the American DNA as much (unlike the Brits–see the British version of “The Office”). But Spencer just plays him as this really whiny kid that you want to strangle…I personally think the reason why so many people hate Shinji is really because of his performance than anything written by Anno (though I suppose, especially in the movie, Shinji does plenty of unlikable things).

  5. Quick FYI: the trackback section is actually for other blogs linking to this entry on their blogs (it automatically shows up as a list under the Trackbacks). It’s intended to give an idea of who else is reading and linking to the entry. So actually you put your comment in the right area, the comments section. 🙂 (I may modify the style sheet later so that our comments will show up in a different color background, which is what a lot of other blogs do.)

  6. I don’t know why everyone seems to hate dubs but the best one I have found is the English Onsokamaru from Ninja Nonsense. He owned that show.

    Another good one (IMHO) is Gunslinger Girl. Funimation went all out for that.

  7. There has been some good ones on Cartoon Network. I especially liked the voice overs for Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell the season 1&2, but only from that cable network cause the one on the DVDs are awful.

  8. It’s OK to appreciate a culture without listening to every word that’s being said, but listening to some people who just don’t get it speaking over the original voice is just so painful that I’d get Mirellu or however the blond’s French name is spell from Noir shoot me ASAP. I’d pay her twice as much for market price to shoot me in the ass for it!
    When I watched AVALON, I first used the default language, knowing that it was made with Polish actors but not knowing that the default language was Japanese voice overs. I cocked an eyebrow when I heard Japanese. I went, “What the hell, Polish people speak Japanese these days?” And before I became an absolute idiot I realized that I should’ve selected the Polish language track. Immediately I could tell that the Poles did a great job speaking lines that belonged to them – yes, a Japanese director wrote the lines, but these Polish actors did a great job in their native language – well, yeah! It’s their native language. So it’s not just Japanese language that I rather hear for anime.
    One exception for me would be Hong Kong films, because when I was a kid I listened to Manderain dubs, and I just can’t get use to the original. OK, so I’m a hypercrite. But the American voice over just never quite sound right when compared with the Japanese voice over. The Japanese folks just work so freaking hard that we have no idea how they use all their power to do the voice over.

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