by Lesley Aeschliman

Created on: May 25, 2009

As a viewer of anime (animation from Japan), I find that I prefer hearing the original Japanese voice actors and reading the subtitles on the screen. More often than not, when I hear the voices of the English dub versions of the anime, I find myself thinking that the voice doesn't fit with the characters. I've also heard, on a number of occasions, that the English dub voice on some of these productions sound like they're not trying very hard to act. I know that with the language differences and the timing, that it can be hard to cram in everything that's being said in the dub, but I honestly feel that some of the English voice actors could at least try to sound like they're trying to use emotion in their performance.

When it comes to dubs, there's always the risk of meanings being lost or changed completely from the original filmmaker's intention. A perfect example of this is Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke. In the original Japanese film, Miyazaki went to effort of not falling into a trap of the forest animals and the animal spirits being the "good guys" in the story, and Lady Eboshi and the citizens of Irontown being the "bad guys." In fact, the word "evil" never shows up anywhere in the subtitles. In fact, throughout the film, there is never any clear cut idea of "good" or "evil." However, when you listen to Disney's English dub of the film, Ashitaka says the word "evil" in his dialogue. By using the word "evil" in the dialogue, the dub makes a change to the meaning of the film. Some people might see this as "nitpicking" and it's a "minor" thing, but this "minor" change in the English dub significantly alters Miyazaki's intentions and storytelling.

Another reason I prefer subtitles to dubs is that you are more likely to see the culture of the country of origin left intact. Back in the 1970's and 1980's, when anime was brought over from Japan and dubbed into English, many cultural references where changed and Americanized. Space Battleship Yamato (better known to American audiences as Star Blazers) is a good example. Not only were the characters' names Americanized, but the Yamato was renamed the Argo, sake became "spring water," and rice balls became "chocolate cake." While I can see the reason for sake to be changed to spring water (since in America, the series was being targeted to children), there really wasn't any reason to turn rice balls into chocolate cake.

Since the dubs have the potential to change the original meaning of a film or series, I appreciate having the subtitles. While an argument could be made that the person who is translating the original Japanese for the subtitles could potentially translate the dialogue in such a way that it changes the meaning, I think this is less likely with a translation than with a dub. I believe that when I watch a foreign film or series with subtitles, I'm getting something that is much closer to the original intent of the piece than I do with a dub.

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