#sub vs dub

[theotherpacman]

watching death note w english dub "kira" sounds like a name but watching death note in the original japanese it really really does just sound like they're saying the english word "killer" in a japanese accent. which reminds you that they Are

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Daughter Daddies - 10-Year Time Skip - Sub vs Dub Comparison

I’m going to make a proper post for both Episodes 11 and 12, but I wanted to make a short, separate post for the Daughter Daddies segment of Buddy Daddies in Episode12. Having watched this scene in both sub and dub, I’m thinking the disconnect that some people are getting from the character interactions here are from a combination of two things:

1. The one degree of separation that comes about from listening to one language but reading the interaction in another. We know which characters are saying what words and we can see the way the characters are emoting and interacting with each other, but there is still a disconnect with the language being spoken and the translation being read.

2. The sub translations for Buddy Daddies have been extremely good. But having watched the series both subbed and dubbed, I feel that the dub translation comes out a bit more on top. I think that comes from the fact that there is a little more freedom and wiggle room to work with and dub translations tend to fit spoken language better/more, while sub translations tend to lean more into written language and direct translations a bit more. In most cases, these differences don’t really matter, but with this 10 Year Time Skip scene in Buddy Daddies, I really do think it makes all the difference.

And I think that disconnect that some people feel from that time skip scene is due to the combination of these two factors. It resulted in the sub not really being able to capture the back-and-forth/play off of each other nature of Kazuki, Rei, and Miri in the scene that the English dub is able to properly capture. There is a flow there between the three characters that you can hear in the Japanese, but can’t quite see happening in the subtitles. 

I’ll try to show that aspect as clearly as I can in this comparison post, but I also highly suggest just giving the Daughter Daddies segment in Ep. 12 a watch in the English dub to really see (and hear) what I mean. 

Anyway, let’s dive in!

-----

There really isn’t much difference in the scene where Miri is up in her room and Kazuki calls her down, so I’ll start with when Miri is down in the diner area with Kazuki and Rei.

Sub Miri: Papa Rei! Papa Kazu! Ta-dah! (Rei & Kazu: Oh!) Well?

Sub Rei: A high school student.

Sub Miri: Bingo!

------

Dub Miri: Papa Rei! Papa Kazuki! Ta-dah! (Rei: Nice!, Kazu: Hey!) How do I look?

Dub Rei: Like a high school student.

Dub Miri: Ding-ding-ding! (They had her say this with the Santa snow art scene too).

Thoughts: It’s small, but the addition of Kazuki and Rei actually say things like “Nice!” and “Hey!” (a “Hey” like in “Hey! Looking good!”) and having Miri ask specifically how she looks, instead of just “Well” and having that question be connected to Rei’s answer with “Like” instead of just “A high school student” helps with the flow and connectiveness of the scene.

Sub Kazu: I’m so glad you didn’t break bad! 

Sub Miri: What in the heck?

----

Dub Kazu: I’m so relieved that you never ended up breaking bad!

Dub Miri: Huh? Breaking bad...?

Thoughts: It’s small, but by having Miri repeat the “breaking bad” part as a question also helps with that flow I was talking about above and with it feeling like a more connected conversation.

Sub Kazu: When you’re a parent, there’s so much to worry about. The ten years I spent since opening this diner really paid off!

Dub Kazu: You don’t know what it’s like! Parents have so much to worry about! That’s why I decided to open this diner ten years ago, and devote my life to honest work for your sake.

Sub Rei: Honest work?

Sub Miri: Didn’t you slip out yesterday to go drinking with a girl again?

Sub Kazu: That doesn’t count!

----

Dub Rei: Really?

Dub Miri: I seem to recall someone cutting out early yesterday to go drinking with the ladies.

Dub Kazu: Sorry, what was that?

Thoughts: In the Japanese, Rei does parrot back, “Honest work?” like he does in the sub, but I feel that comes across a bit differently than it does in English. Here the “Really?” sounds a bit more teasing and being more general, and feels less accusatory in nature, more just disbelieving about Kazuki’s statement in general. 

Meanwhile, Miri’s English dub statement clarifies that the doubt that both Rei and Miri express in regards to “honest work” is very specifically about the fact that Kazuki left work early, not that he was drinking with a lady or ladies. Also, Miri saying “drinking with the ladies,” makes it clear that he was likely at a Fairy Lips like establishment and really just out for drinks with them. Not on a date with a lady in particular or anything like that.

The Fairy Lips establishment worked in a similar way as a hostess bar, just with a gambling aspect as well, so nothing sexual (as in sexual acts) are actually allowed (though, I have no doubt that they do sometimes happen at establishments like that). But the true appeal of those places are the illusions of sex and just female company in general. 

Sub Rei: Miri. Eat.

-----

Dub Rei: Eat up, Miri. 

Thoughts: By having Rei say, “Eat up, Miri,” instead of just “Miri. Eat,” the feel comes off less like a command and more like a general statement that the food is ready for her to eat. There’s a softness to “Eat up, Miri.” Still a command in some ways, but gentler. I also think that in English, one word verbal commands always come off as could and harsh on some level, while in Japanese having a verb just existing on its own is way more common and therefore doesn’t hold the same sort of feel to it. Of course, since we know Rei as a character, we also know that Rei doesn’t mean anything harsh by “Miri. Eat,” but there is likely still a left over feeling of coldness or distance there.

----

The Rei and Miri exchange of her saying thanks for the food, him asking her how it is, and her saying it’s yummy as always is pretty much the same as the sub without any substantial changes or differences. Basically, nothing worth mentioning here.

Sub Kazu: I’m glad you got a signature dish with that toast, but shouldn’t you expand your repertoire a little?

Sub Rei: But why?

Sub Kazu: Ever the one-trick pony...

Sub Miri: Hey, it’s fine! Since Papa Rei’s the best!

----

Dub Kazu: Listen, I know the toast is your signature dish, and that’s great, but shouldn’t you expand your repertoire?

Dub Rei: What for?

Dub Kazu: You are such a one-trick pony.

Dub Miri: Hey! There’s nothing wrong with that. The important thing is that his one-trick pony is yummy!

Thoughts: The use of “listen,” and “that’s great” definitely makes Kazuki’s statement to Rei feel more like general constructive criticism, while Miri’s words in the dub come off more like a warm teasing (like this is possibly a conversation that they’ve had before, lol). Kazuki’s “You are such a one-trick pony” statement also comes off more as more as a warm, sentimental line sort of thing.

The sub translation comes off a bit colder. The way Kazuki’s first line is structured sounds more like just general criticism, as does the “ever” part in his one-trick pony line. Miri’s line as feels less connected, even though it is still on topic, so the comradery feel found in the dub is less present. Of course, tone also matters here and I think the dub really allows for the more teasing and warm tone of the scene to come across than the sub does since, as I mentioned, there is a bit of a disconnect with subs that isn’t as present with dubs.

Sub Kazu: It’s fine like this, right?

Sub Miri: It’s not! Come on, we’re family!

Sub Rei: Family?

Sub Kazu: Can’t be helped, right?

Sub Rei: Hey-!

-----

Dub Kazu: Can’t we make it work like this?

Dub Miri: No way! C’mon, we’re family, aren’t we?

Dub Rei: Well, are we?

Dub Kazu: Get over here, you big lug!

Dub Rei: Hey-!

Thoughts: The dub translation makes things a bit clearer by adding more words and context. In the sub, Kazuki just questions, “It’s fine like this” but what is meant by “it”? The dub line makes the “it” easier to figure out. Adding “can’t we,” “make,” and “work” together with the it makes it clear that the “it” here is referring specifically to the photo arrangement that they had going on (Kazuki and Rei on either side of Miri).

Miri’s lines are largely the same, but by adding “aren’t we?” to the end of it, and then having Rei parrot that with a “well” in front of it, gives a feeling of Rei and Miri sort of coming together in solidarity on this, a little teasing on their end. And Kazuki just going all in on it, with the dub giving him a line that implies a lot of sentimentality on Kazuki’s part towards Rei. “Big lug” is a term of endearment, and implies someone (usually a man) with a strong physique, but a gentle personality, which does fit Rei. 

The Japanese does have Kazuki saying the Japanese equivalent of “can’t be helped,” but...A lot of Japanese translators view that translation of the phrase as being overused and not necessarily the best translation all the time based on situation and context. And this would be one situation and context where I think it doesn’t quite work. 

Kazuki is being put on the spot by both Rei and Miri, “we are a family, right,” him saying otherwise wouldn’t be right and they all know that, while Miri has made it clear that they can’t do their usual photo arrangement, they have to try something new. So, yes, in a sense there is “no helping” the situation. But by the way Kazuki latches onto Rei,bringing him into a one-armed hug, and the huge smile on his face, we know this isn’t a sort of ‘-sigh- can’t be helped!’ kind of situation that that phrase often implies in English.

The dub translation of choosing to translate that as “Get over here, you big lug!” easily implies that Kazuki has accepted this new arrangement for their photo and that they are, of course, a family. The dub has Kazuki use a slangy term of endearment, because that is within his personality. He uses slang and overfamiliar grammar and words, so he would say something like that.

I think the dub does a great job of capturing this new change in the Kurusu family! <3 

[silvermoon424]

I just found the perfect reaction pic to spam at people who refuse to watch non-English language films and undubbed anime because "reading is too much work" or whatever

btw I'm not calling out people with processing disorders or anything like that, just people who proudly have never watched anything in a language other than English because they don't want to expand their horizons

[dead-dove-dolly]

"Oh, Dubbed animes are the same as the dubbed animes! You can watch either one, you'll be watching the same thing!"

Newer anime MIGHT BE MORE ACCURATE in the dub, sure! But older anime? No. Some hot localized and mistranslated so bad, they are completely different.

Newer anime fans, I beg of you, WATCH YU-GI-OH. WATCH BOTH THE ENGLISH DUB AND THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE. OH, HOW ABOUT YOU WATCH THE SEASON THAT NEVER GOT AN ENGLISH DUB! SEASON 0! In which we see some pretty gruesome shit, especially those last few episodes with Bakura, where Yami Bakura literally stabs the sharper parts of the millennium ring into Bakura's chest! Oh, and stabs his hand on a DND castle.

I'm so serious, the dub of Yu-Gi-Oh took out SO MUCH. They cut at least 40 Episodes! The Shadow Realm wasn't even a fucking thing in the original! You just straight up died! Never forget that Marik developed DID from extreme trauma because his father carved a tattoo into his back with a burning knife! Amongst so much more.

How about Yu-Gi-Oh GX! Where 4!Kids literally took out the LGBT+ rep! And 40+ episodes to boot, an entire season that gave context to Yubel and Jaden's relationship! How about the fact the protag is bi or pan, is poly, and has a NONBINARY LOVE INTEREST AND A MALE LOVE INTEREST! Oh, don't forget, they made the nonbinary Duel Monster spirit a female in the English dub.

I'm begging you, PLEASE, if you're going to watch older anime, especially those dubbed by 4!Kids, just watch the original Japanese instead. It is NOT the same thing.

[icantthinkwell]

Watching the dungeon meshi Dub and seeing Dub v Sub discourse again makes me so tired. I mean, it's mainly on Reddit from what I've seen. Shocker.

I really don't care if someone likes subs, its their own taste. But it just boils my blood to see these people say that the English voice actors suck. That ALL English voice actors suck. I agree that the one or two dubs or VAs they actually like are good even great. But it's so upsetting to see people insult such amazing voice actors. You don't have to like them. You don't like dubs in general. But another thing that upsets is that they make other people who like subs look so bad.

Anyway, can you tell I like SungWon Cho as a voice actor a lot.

[matt0044]

"Only 12 Voice Actors"

The "only 12 voice actors" thing in anti-dub circles is frustrating because I've seen animation that only had a limited amount of actors to spread across multiple character. And a lot of them are damn impressive with all that they've had to work with.

Monsuno only had Cam Clarke, Chris Corey Smith, Karen Straussman, Kirk Thorton and Keith Silverstein. Each played one of the five man band protagonist group but also had to play many of the characters either reoccurring or one-offs.

Code Lyoko, a childhood favorite, only had nine voice actors to spread across the show. Aelita and Jeremie, the main couple were both played by Sharon Mann. David Gasman played William and Jim among many other supporting or one-off cast members.

But going back to Anime, it's actually exceedingly rare these days for any dub to have two characters share the exact same voice actors. You only get double casting when it's with maaaaaaybe a random extra but even then, there's additional voice credits for other VAs.

Hell, it's surprising given how dubs aren't known for going for high paying rates. If they wanted to cheap out, they could legit go with a limited amount just for main roles. Yet each character has one voice actor these days.

Buuuuuuut the anti-dub crowd doesn't know about this because it would run against their viewpoint of what they hate passionately. Like... the fact that they think that it's only FUNimation and that they have a "clique" of select voice actors is amazing.

Like... maybe a lot of voice actors get a lot of roles across these dubs because they are good at their jobs. Additionally... it is their job to get a role that can pay period. If they don't voice act, they're not doing their job. Which is to voice act. Ah, doy!

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

So, while randomly going through the Crunchyroll Dubs youtube channel, I stumbled across this debate over whether you should watch “Spy x Family” in dub or sub. The dub is great, but there was the usual band of assholes saying “sUb oNLy!!111!”. However, one user actually wrote that people should only watch the sub because the “right” way to watch anime is to watch in the “culturally accurate” way. 

That argument is hilarious to me because, if you REALLY want to watch a culturally accurate “Spy x Family”, you’d watch it in the German dub. The show is based on Cold War-era East and West Germany and the capital city is literally called Berlint. Also, even without the German background, the English dub would be more culturally accurate since all the characters and setting are obviously European-based.

So in the pointless war of subs versus dubs, this is one instance where the dub side wins. 

[themuffinsoup]

Dub watchers annoy the fucking shit out of me I'm sorry. I get that you get your feelings hurt by sub elitists or whatever but I legit can't even talk about how much I love the Japanese voice actors of One Piece or other shit without someone being like "BUT THE DUB?!??? DONT YOU LIKE THE DUB?" NO. No I don't lol but like I don't fucking care that you dooo. Like I'm not telling people to stop watching it and to watch the sub like just let me talk about talented people. It's not that deep. And it also depends on the series for me!! It depends on the acting cast. Sometimes I like English better. Other times I like Japanese better. That's it. That's all lol AHHHHHH ANIME FANS ARE JUST SO ANNOYING IN GENERAL GOD

[autumnmobile12]

Okay, so sub, dub, whatever. Like what you like.

Personally, I cannot sit still and watch anything, so I normally have a craft project with me. But since I can't read subtitles and knit/crochet/hand-stitch or what have you at the same time, dub it is.

And of all the things, I decided to catch up with the My Hero Academia anime this October, which ultimately meant binging Seasons 5 and 6.

After that, I also decided to re-watch a couple episodes of Fruits Basket.

And it is fucking jarring to go from Eric Vale voicing this menace to society...

...to this guy talking about gardening.

Completely forgot they had the same voice.

[forteania]

Got tired of waiting for the official localization of Pokémon Horizon’s to come out, so I’m watching subs online.

[twerg45]

I decided to check out the dub version of the scene that made me fall in love with Fuecoco and Roy in the pokemon horizons anime and was astonished by the difference between the two... here is a comparison video, let me know your thoughts!!

my thoughts will be in my reblog on @tubzly

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Buddy Daddies Ep 9 Sub & Dub Comparison

There aren’t too many things that stand out in this one. The dialogue was largely kept very similar.

In Japanese, the general way to encourage is to say 頑張れ (ganbare) and other variations of that, like ganbatte. The subs translate this as “Go for it!” We also see Kazuki cheering 行け (ike), which means “Go!” 

When Rei first starts cheering for Miri, in his very soft voice that Kazuki doesn’t hear. He parrots Kazuki’s ganbare, so in Japanese they are both saying the same thing, and in the subs they both say the same thing, “Go for it, Miri!” / “Miri, go for it!” But in this scene:

When Rei starts cheering for Miri a bit louder, Kazuki is saying ike (Go!) and Rei is saying ganbare, which the subs also translate as “Go.” But, the Japanese does have them saying two different things. 

The dub has Rei completely parroting Kazuki though:

Kazuki: Go for it, Miri!

Rei: Miri, go for it!

Kazuki: That’s it!

Rei: That’s it!

Then Kazuki takes notice that Rei is cheering. Rei says another “That’s it!”

In the Japanese, Rei is using ganbare this entire time, even when Kazuki starts using ike. Then, in Japanese he gives a huge shout of ganbare!

Which the subs translate as “Go for it, Miri!” But in the dub Rei shouts: You’re doing great, Miri! - which is a cheer that he hasn’t heard Kazuki shout towards Miri. So, I found the dubs way of showing Rei parroting Kazuki completely while he was working up the courage to cheer, and then having him shout something totally different from Kazuki’s cheers that he heard and was parroting before, was extra effective and got across the message of Rei learning how to cheer from Kazuki, and then making it his own, a bit better.

In the sub, Miri tells Rei:

“I’m getting that gold medal this time!” while in the dub she tells Rei: I’m definitely gonna get that gold medal for you this time! Which fits with how Miri’s earlier disappointment with not getting the gold medal was because she couldn’t get it for her papas, so the dub translation works really well with that earlier moment and Miri’s overall personality/character.

Finally, we have this lady again, lol.

The “That oil baron is so hot!” lady. In the dub they have her saying: That oil baron heats me up!

I can’t with that lady!🤣🤣🤣

[overobsessedfanboy23]

Revolver saying "Lightning" instead of "Light Ignis" was just a mistake

This probably sounds petty but it's what I genuinely believe. Hear me out. In the sub, he only ever calls any Ignis by their name three times, twice in a row with Lightning and once with Ai. Him calling Ai by his name is specifically pointed out and given attention to:

This is clearly supposed to be a big deal story wise and watching it with the thought of "he never calls any Ignis by their names, just calls them all "its" and "*insert attribute here* Ignis," made this moment mean a lot to me.

Revolver calling "Lightning" by their name meanwhile isn't pointed out.

And while, yes, it was definitely the show itself making this mistake and not the subtitles since the actor himself says "Lightning," I do think either the script itself made this mistake or the actor misread his line, as later in this same monologue he goes back to saying "Light Ignis":

After all, VRAINS' production was incredibly troubled and towards the end of its run especially, rushed, I wouldn't blame them for not catching or not having time to fix an error like that. An error that can and did for me go easily overlooked.

Even if you want to argue some reason for Sub!Revolver to be legitimately saying "Lightning" in that moment though (ie: foreshadowing him coming around, repeating Lightning's name because Playmaker and Ai just said it), Dub!Revolver saying "Windy" during their duel THIRTY EPISODES BEFORE THESE OTHER INSTANCES is undeniably a mistake. It's nowhere in the original version, doesn't fit the context of the scene at all, sticks out like a sore thumb, and is honestly just embarrassing.

[ancientevangelions]

Do you have any preference on the ADV Dub x Netflix Dub x Japanese with subs?

I watched the original ADV subs but I keep seeing this ongoing debate about the accuracy and nuance of the voice acting in both dubs, and I wonder if I lost something of the story along the way that's been lost in translation? Everybody seems to agree that the subs are better, though

I actually don't watch anime dubbed. I have been watching Chinese cinema since I was small so subtitles made sense to me.

My husband watched the ADV dub and after watching NGE subbed he commented that they took some liberties with the interpretations on scenes, adding comic relief where there was previously no dialogue.

I have watched clip comparisons of both dubs, but my biggest problem with localization is that dubs tend to focus on "being hip with the kids" and adding slang or comedy in strange spots in the show OR they take everything so literally that the translation is clunky and you end up with dialogue that no native English speaker would ever say.

I have HUGE respect for voice actors and translators, they do work that is demanding and the industry has improved in some ways, but in others, they are still very much exploited and overworked.

You can see some interesting script notes and such over at @jinruihokankeikaku with the Evangelion Annotation project! The storyboards and groundwork art also provide insight into plot and story, sometimes with notes on the tone of the story or things to include.

[sometimes-i-write-good]

Deciding whether or not to watch Attack on Titan in dub or sub is so hard bc on one hand we have

Dub:

Eren- who’s English VA (Bryce Papenbrook) also voices rin okumura

Erwin- who’s English VA (J. Michael Tatum) also voice kyoya ootari and sebastian michaelis

Moblit - who’s English VA (Jerry Jewell) also voice kusuo siaki

BUTTTTT

Sub:

Levi- who’s Japanese VA (Hiroshi Kamiya) also voices kusuo saiki

Mikasa- who’s Japanese VA (Yui Ishikawa) also voices violet evergarden

Erwin- who’s Japanese VA (Daisuke Ono) also voices nendou riki and sebastian michaelis

There’s more, but like these are the three I always struggle with bc they voice my favorite characters Dub AND Sub 😫✋

[crowned-alien]

im still super fuckin pissed about the situation with mp100 dub actors & crunchyroll its literally #justameeting i was ready to pay for a subscription for crunchyroll so i could watch the dub as it came out. but no. crunchyroll is so fuckin anti-union they wont do a simple meeting. its so fuckin ridiculous that its seems like dub actors cant get a fair pay. crunchyroll is just this huge fuck of a company and i guess im going to continue to pirate anime rather than my money go into money grubbers rather than people who actually work on the show. not to the animators, voice actors (dubs or the original cast), writers, composers, and so much more. and companies like crunchyroll who don't care about these people are a part of the reason why these people are severaly underpaid. and the second they decide to stand up to themselves like kyle mccarley, chris tergliafera (jjk), several members of the miraculous ladybug dub, etc.. they LOSE their jobs. they leave because they deserve better!!! but its clear that all of these companies would rather gouge around for someone else to take advantage of. then treat their employees with respect.

FUCK ANTI-UNION COMPANIES