Current Events > wtf do weebs mean when they say japanese VA is better

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98% of them dont speak or understand japanese and rely on subs

how tf do you know its better when you dont understand the language or culture

like yeah its easy to tell when english VA is bad

Weebs just auto choose Japanese everytime

But yea, it's not always better. In the movie Grave of the Fireflies I always remember this one example frome a scene where the kids are talking to their aunt. In Japanese the aunt doesn't really pit much emotion into her lines

But in the dub, the English voice puts more effort in I think.

Learning Japanese has only made the voice acting better to me

I actually used to be a dub-only watcher but after hearing the exact same voice cast over and over I got tired of it. Then after watching a few anime subbed, like Nichijou and Yuyushiki, I realized just how much better Japanese voice acting was and never went back.
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Because they wouldn't be weebs otherwise

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

I just finished that game and disagree wholeheartedly with this assessment

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The argument they make is that the Japanese VA sounds more emotional. I can kind of see where theyre coming from because a lot of dubs barely sound better than your average Saturday morning cartoon, but I usually prefer dubs anyway

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Isn't Goku voiced by an old lady? Lol

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meh, sometimes the english voice actors are obviously phoned in, would rather listen to a language i dont understand and read the lines over actual crap voice acting.

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This isn't a Japanese thing, this is an all-language thing. Every media usually sounds better in its native language.
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Njolk posted...

Isn't Goku voiced by an old lady? Lol

She didn't used to be. It is just that they never got a new person. Same woman has voiced Goku since the 80s in original Dragon Ball. She was like 40 then. Now she is 80

Because you have VAs like Hatsumi Takada and Tetsuya Kakihara in BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle. How many English VAs voiced characters in hentai :3

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It generally means they want attention.

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no no you dont understand the shrill female voices enhance the experience
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nine times out of ten when they say that yes, its because they dont understand the language. so basically it's less a way to say the jp voice actors are good and more a way of saying the english voice actors suck

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GiftedACIII posted...

This isn't a Japanese thing, this is an all-language thing. Every media usually sounds better in its native language.

Yeah, if I have the option I'll usually pick the native language of the media. Sometimes dubs can be better, though.

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OudeGeuze posted...

how tf do you know its better when you dont understand the language or culture

The actors understand their own language and culture. A Japanese actor completely understanding a Japanese character and going all in and crushing the roll is obvious.

To me, an obvious example is Attack on Titan. Watch an episode when Erwin is being especially badass first sub then dub. To me its a no brainer why many prefer subs regardless. Even gaming.

For me? Im sub for all media other than gaming. I dont like missing out on party banter and battle chatter and it seems thats what happens going native language in the games Ive played.

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Oh yeah, what if there is no dub :3

https://youtu.be/szdS3tt_xy0

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It's not even necessarily true that the Japanese voice acting is "better," but seeing and hearing the show in its original form is almost always the best version. English dub translation has gotten better in general, but there are still plenty of examples for things just outright changing from the story in the translating process.

Also the lip syncing issue, plus the sound mixing for music vs. voice volume. All kinds of things improve when you just go to the original version.

Don't get me wrong, I love a good dub-- dragon ball super has a really good one, for example-- but as a general rule, sub is the best way to watch. Especially for the first time through.

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Even a person unfamiliar with Japanese can easily find actual amateur performances if you watch the right shows.

Mostly kid shows with magical girls or idols. Stuff where the VAs are rookies with only a few minor roles under their belt. There's a surprising number of shows where a VA is brought on for their singing (and the anime in question has loads of songs for them), but their actual acting is subpar.

Weebs be biased. I think it's usually a matter of which version they heard first, though. People get used to one cast, then can't imagine the characters sounding any different.

Subs vs Dubs is always a dumb argument though. You like what you like. Sometimes one version sounds better, sometimes certain characters are better. I tend to like both for most of the shows I watch, so whatevs.

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Of course it sounds better to Westerners. But to the Japanese it probably sounds awful/cringey since they speak the language and know how the language is supposed to sound.

English va sounds cringeworthy at times. I'd rather read subtitles than listen to out of sync video game level English acting.

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KeeperOfShadows posted...

Subs vs Dubs is always a dumb argument though. You like what you like. Sometimes one version sounds better, sometimes certain characters are better. I tend to like both for most of the shows I watch, so whatevs.

This. I watch and like both depending on the show.

YugiNoob posted...

How many English VAs voiced characters in hentai :3

Didn't Dan Green (AKA the voice of Yugi Moto) voice in a hentai dub once?
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Mr Hangman posted...

Try reversing the roles. Imagine some really good movie/show produced in English for an American audience. Now imagine someone who doesn't know English very well wants to watch it. Does it seem strange to you that they might prefer the English version with subtitles to a version voiced over in their native language?

Yeah. They don't know the language so how can they say with any certainty that it's better?

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In anything live-action, subbed is objectively better (this goes for any source language, not just Japanese). The mismatch between lip movements and voices is awkward as fuck. Animated shows on the other hand can usually get away with it - though only if it's well-made (ie: not leaving traces of the original voice, or cutting out / lowering volume of other sounds, etc).

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Better to hear terrible voice acting in a language you don't understand.

They complain about how corny dub voice acting is (rightfully so for many dubs, but not every one like how they act) while the original acting is just as corny. It's just easier for them to deal with because it's in another language. I can understand why people would prefer subs. Just don't act superior over it.

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Didnt Samus in Other M have bad voice acting specifically because they had a Japanese voice director who thought she sounded great?

I personally think JPN VAs overact way too much. I dont need constant screaming nor do I like their voices for any female character who isnt taller than average height. Or any male who is cool. It all sounds so cringey.

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OudeGeuze posted...

98% of them dont speak or understand japanese and rely on subs

how tf do you know its better when you dont understand the language or culture

like yeah its easy to tell when english VA is bad

Pretty much.

I will say that the one thing subs have going for them is that the Japanese VA market seems a lot larger.

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GallisOTK posted...

Didn't Dan Green (AKA the voice of Yugi Moto) voice in a hentai dub once?

Holy shit he is a GOD. Ive never been more proud of this name :3

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"I'm stuck in the 90s"

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there are some key examples where the dub is a better experience but often the original language's emotion and cadence matches better with the source content. nothing controversial about that. and it comes down to the specific VAs and respective scripts.

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Oh shit Cindy Robinson (Labrys and Makoto Nanaya) did hentai too lol

Oh double and triple shit, the chicks who voiced Hinata and Ash Ketchum did as well lol

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berlyman101 posted...

there are some key examples where the dub is a better experience but often the original language's emotion and cadence matches better with the source content. nothing controversial about that. and it comes down to the specific VAs and respective scripts.

Another thing that bogs down a lot of dubs is music licensing and 'creative changes' regarding music. The removal of certain songs, or the decision to dub an original song with an english version that's never quite the same.

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The majority of English dubs sound terrible, imo. I am not fluent in Japanese to know if their VAs are any better in actuality, but they at least sound better to me.

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Depends on the dub, a lot of anime have real bad dubs. Unless it is a popular series, a lot of the dubbed voices sound like they are reading straight from the lines. While the subs at least have the emotion down if you can't understand what they are saying.

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My wife and I primarily speak Japanese and consume Japanese media, but if we watch something that was originally Chinese (her narive language) or English (my native language), we watch it in that language. When we watched Dark we messed with the various options, and decided it was just better in German, same with a Korean drama called Kingdom. Anime voice acting seems better in general in Japanese (though I honestly haven't seen enough dubbed anime to say), but more so things just seem better in their native language, even ones we don't know (we don't know German or Korean beyond a basic "hello my name is" level).

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Im saying that the english VA is shit and i guess not being able to tell if the JA VA is bad makes it better.

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Mr Hangman posted...

Try reversing the roles. Imagine some really good movie/show produced in English for an American audience. Now imagine someone who doesn't know English very well wants to watch it. Does it seem strange to you that they might prefer the English version with subtitles to a version voiced over in their native language?

No? It's normal for people to want to play/watch something in their native language.
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Probably because Japanese voice acting has a whole educational/institution around it. People specifically go to Universitys and have courses on Voice acting in Japan and its probably seen as a much bigger prestige than anywhere else.

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You're over thinking it. Better is a word to signify preference.

For example, if someone says "chocolate is better than vanilla" then they personally prefer chocolate to vanilla.

i don't understand Japanese but in the One Punch Man anime I confidently say that the japanese dub is better. The english voice actors just don't sound right to me. Genos sounds silly and Saitama doesn't emote enough when he needs to.

https://youtu.be/cTcwZ6gRXnQ

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Why would you want to have to focus on the bottom of the screen to ready and miss out on all the action? Never made sense to me.

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Some VAs can emote better, even if you don't understand the actual words.

That being said, sub-only people who don't even know Japanese are coasting entirely on "it sounds cooler because I don't understand it". The aural equivalent of people who get kanji tattoos without knowing what the fuck it actually says.

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Payzmaykr posted...

Why would you want to have to focus on the bottom of the screen to ready and miss out on all the action? Never made sense to me.

You dont really need to focus on it. It doesnt take long for it to feel like second nature and you dont miss out on the entire picture at all. I cant explain it

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Unless the english is laughably bad, I'll take dubs 90% of the time. I'll watch the subs if it's a new show and there's no dub yet though, but dubbing has improved so much that I can't think of the last time a dub made me wanna seek out the sub.

I don't watch a ton of anime, so I'm sure there's some awful ones still out there.
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