west.henry•24d agoMost Upvoted

Subs over dubs after 10 years, here is what actually flipped me

I always defended dubbed anime because I could multitask, but catching the small jokes in Steins;Gate during a rewatch with subs made me realize I was missing half the character intent, so now I only watch subbed unless the dub is genuinely praised like Cowboy Bebop, anyone else switch sides after one specific show?

2 comments

2 Comments

clark.robin24d ago

Dropped dubs after watching Ghost Stories dubbed and realizing the jokes were completely made up. Then went back to subbed shows I thought I knew and caught way more layered writing. Now I only bother with dubs if people swear they improve the source material. Most dubs still flatten the characters into generic anime voices.

felix14724d agoTop Commenter

The "flatten the characters" part is what gets me. I get what you're saying, but it's not always the dub's fault. A lot of times the original Japanese tracks also use pretty stock performances, especially in action or comedy shows. The layered writing you're picking up on might be better pacing or translation choices in the subs, not necessarily the voice acting being deeper on one side. Not saying you're wrong about Ghost Stories, that dub was a whole other thing. But I've seen dubs that actually bring out more personality than the original, like when the actor adds little quirks the script didn't call for. So it's not a blanket rule for me.