Current Events > I'm finding Japanese voice acting more and more grating the older I get

(+) Yeah! (+)

it's just too much

it's fucking awful in anime and anime games, but i think it's exceptional in yakuza, and especially sekiro. what do you think of sekiro's voice work (if yer familiar)

*anime grunt* Huh???

Meh.
Better terrible voice acting I can't understand, than terrible voice acting I can.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Meh.
Better terrible voice acting I can't understand, than terrible voice acting I can.

not when its japanese

There are people that unironically enjoy old grandma Goku

Let that sink in.

never heard Japanese voice acting
examples?

Shabriri posted...

it's fucking awful in anime and anime games, but i think it's exceptional in yakuza, and especially sekiro. what do you think of sekiro's voice work (if yer familiar)

Never tried Sekiro but I like the voices in Yakuza (Akiyama especially).

I think it's any generally any character under the age of 30 I have a problem with

alphagamble posted...

Never tried Sekiro but I like the voices in Yakuza (Akiyama especially).

I think it's any generally any character under the age of 30 I have a problem with

god i love Akiyama. have you played the judgment games? the main ensemble are all top notch in them too

cant recommend sekiro enough btw. Isshin is one of my favorite performances in a game. period

fair warning tho: the english dubs for both Judgment and Sekiro are really really bad

I don't mind it. It's really over the top a lot of the times, but it works for a lot of anime/anime inspired stuff. And it's not the case across the board.

I think a lot of the stuff aimed at kids seems to be worse because the voices are supposed to be kinda goofy.

EH?

NANl DESUKA???

Shabriri posted...

have you played the judgment games? the main ensemble are all top notch in them too

cant recommend sekiro enough btw. Isshin is one of my favorite performances in a game. period

I got burned out on Yakuza after 0 but I'll go back eventually. I meant to get Sekiro earlier this year but ended up buying all the Arkham games. I'll check it out again when I see it on sale

I've always thought the women sounded too timid and the men too intense.

Are you primarily watching Anime? I don't really watch anime myself and watch a lot of TV shows/movies and listen to music.

Even the girls sound different with their deliveries compared to what most people are attuned to (with Anime). The language has always sounded lovely to me. It's actually made Anime hard to listen to personally. So maybe I'm in the same boat as you?

Shabriri posted...

it's fucking awful in anime and anime games, but i think it's exceptional in yakuza, and especially sekiro. what do you think of sekiro's voice work (if yer familiar)

Fuck yes! Games like Yakuza have exceptional voice acting!

Overall, I find the quality is definitely better than English voice acting. The number of characters with voices that don't at all match or have noticeably poor delivery is fairly low. I think their biggest strength is a larger amount of strong VAs compared to America that has the big staples that voice nearly everything and the filler people.

People that think Japanese voice acting is bad are only watching/playing trash

It was always terrible.

When you're younger, or just a goober, you think it's "better" because they "have more emotion" but as you get older you realize they're just over-acting most of the time. People don't actually talk all hyper and melodramatic all the time. It does get annoying.

Trickfinger posted...

It was always terrible.

When you're younger, or just a goober, you think it's "better" because they "have more emotion" but as you get older you realize they're just over-acting most of the time. People don't actually talk all hyper and melodramatic all the time. It does get annoying.

I think for anime you can excuse it, especially for Shonen as it's usually over the top as a genre. So it fits. But I really do prefer the more toned-down and realistic voices myself.

Trickfinger posted...

It was always terrible.

When you're younger, or just a goober, you think it's "better" because they "have more emotion" but as you get older you realize they're just over-acting most of the time. People don't actually talk all hyper and melodramatic all the time. It does get annoying.

Eh, it's not all bad. It's just that it's mostly like if you had Adam West voice everyone.

SpiritSephiroth posted...

Fuck yes! Games like Yakuza have exceptional voice acting!

my man!

SpiritSephiroth posted...

Are you primarily watching Anime?

I used to watch more anime in the past since a lot of the newer stuff doesn't appeal to me. (I'm keeping an eye on the Trigun remake) but the VA never bothered me that much.

It's more the games I've played recently that's brought this up.

I decided to replay Valkyria Chronicles and put on Japanese for a change but the voices just sound overly forced.

Same with Trails from Zero which I recently started after enjoying a muted trilogy of the Sky games. As soon as Lloyd started talking it just completely put me off.

On the flip side, I don't think I'd have enjoyed Somnium files and all the Zero Escapes as much if not for the English voices.

Same but depends what it is -- Ghost of Tsushima for example, the voice acting is natural, like a movie or people having a real conversation; when it comes to anime/cartoons/games, the acting is incredibly overdramatic to the point of absurdity. I understand the cultural reasons why, but we're not watching/playing the thing at the back of a damn theatre and their faces are visible!

alphagamble posted...

I used to watch more anime in the past since a lot of the newer stuff doesn't appeal to me. (I'm keeping an eye on the Trigun remake) but the VA never bothered me that much.

It's more the games I've played recently that's brought this up.

I decided to replay Valkyria Chronicles and put on Japanese for a change but the voices just sound overly forced.

Same with Trails from Zero which I recently started after enjoying a muted trilogy of the Sky games. As soon as Lloyd started talking it just completely put me off.

On the flip side, I don't think I'd have enjoyed Somnium files and all the Zero Escapes as much if not for the English voices.

Eh I guess you could regard those as anime too.

Try watching some TV shows or movies (If you are into any Japanese ones) and see if you feel the same way. I think it's totally different:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxBM1sEX8_0

https://youtu.be/0lUN93_2lDU?t=26

Or something like this. Nothing like anime or the games you probably are used to.

Trickfinger posted...

It was always terrible.

When you're younger, or just a goober, you think it's "better" because they "have more emotion" but as you get older you realize they're just over-acting most of the time. People don't actually talk all hyper and melodramatic all the time. It does get annoying.

I read somewhere that Japanese media has strong roots in kabuki theater which explains their over the top acting.

Do you understand the language?

St0rmFury posted...

I read somewhere that Japanese media has strong roots in kabuki theater which explains their over the top acting.

This is it exactly, and it's not restricted to Japan: if you go see any theatre shows, you're going to experience the same thing -- dramatized overacting. The reason is because back in the day, there were no PAs and there were no big screens to see them on. Acting like that is still a mark of prestige for theatre actors, it's a completely different world to screen acting.

It still exists in the west, and is still present in western animation but to a lesser degree.

Nobody in Dexter's Lab or Jimmy Neutron sounds like any real person would sound like having a conversation; nor do Goku or Luffy.

SpiritSephiroth posted...

Are you primarily watching Anime? I don't really watch anime myself and watch a lot of TV shows/movies and listen to music.

Even the girls sound different with their deliveries compared to what most people are attuned to (with Anime). The language has always sounded lovely to me. It's actually made Anime hard to listen to personally. So maybe I'm in the same boat as you?

Yeah, I recall once reading that anime uses a more simplified yet over-the-top version of the language, and because of that, using anime is actually not recommended for learning Japanese. People recommend films and TV shows instead.

Solar_Crimson posted...

Yeah, I recall once reading that anime uses a more simplified yet over-the-top version of the language, and because of that, using anime is actually not recommended for learning Japanese. People recommend films and TV shows instead.

Yup. You would never talk to someone in real life with the words they use in anime. Most of it would seem demeaning or rude to another person.

I haven't really watched or played much of anything with Japanese voiceovers in ages outside of when Graffiti Smash was still Japanese-Only.

I didn't mind the voices there honestly, and that was just like, two years ago. Some were still cool.

I think though, I'd get annoyed with a lot of those moe anime ones.

Sayoria posted...

I think though, I'd get annoyed with a lot of those moe anime ones.

Oh yes, I cannot stand those high-pitched voices that they give certain girls. It's like... why?

I don't like it. For some reason it all sounds so high pitched. And it is not like normal Japanese voices ( at least to me).

Solar_Crimson posted...

Oh yes, I cannot stand those high-pitched voices that they give certain girls. It's like... why?

Yeah puts me off too slightly, even though I keep telling myself I'll start watching anime again one day. But I really just enjoy Japanese movies and shows more.

Like what another poster said before, western cartoons are also like this. Its no different when it comes to animation.

Cell sounds like Plankton

https://youtu.be/Vd5YgpEqUYY

xGhostchantx posted...

This is it exactly, and it's not restricted to Japan: if you go see any theatre shows, you're going to experience the same thing -- dramatized overacting. The reason is because back in the day, there were no PAs and there were no big screens to see them on. Acting like that is still a mark of prestige for theatre actors, it's a completely different world to screen acting.

Stanislavski would kick your fucking teeth in for acting like that after like 1895.

SpiritSephiroth posted...

Yeah puts me off too slightly, even though I keep telling myself I'll start watching anime again one day. But I really just enjoy Japanese movies and shows more.

Like what another poster said before, western cartoons are also like this. Its no different when it comes to animation.

True enough, and I find them annoying in English as well. But at least I can understand what they're saying, as grating as it is. Since I can't understand Japanese, to my brain, it's just noise.

This is not eleganto, TC

DrizztLink posted...

Stanislavski would kick your fucking teeth in for acting like that after like 1895.

Eh, it might be a bit more toned down today, but it's still prevalent.

xGhostchantx posted...

Eh, it might be a bit more toned down today, but it's still prevalent.

It really isn't.

Specific performances (from actor or production crew) might use melodrama cues as flavor, but the entire field has been functionally abandoned in favor of realism.