Anime+ with English dubs you actually prefer?

This sprouted from the recent Kill la Kill English dub trailer discussion, and it caused a curious thought to cross my cranium:

It's often the consensus, sadly, that the English dub of a production that originated from a Japanese (or other foreign country) studio is vastly inferior, for whatever reasons. But I question: are there anime, video games, movies, or what-have-you where the non-native dub was the version you preferred? Or even a few specific castings?

For example, I vastly prefer the English version of Goku from Dragon Ball Z (specifically, the performance of Sean Schemmel.) I've heard the Japanese one and don't think it fits his character at all.

As for entire anime that I've preferred to watch in English, there are Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, and Angel Beats, to name a few.

 

I always prefer the English dub, I like understanding what people are saying

 

Dragon Ball Z, Persona 3 (well...except for Fuuka), and Persona 4 come to mind right off the bat.​

 

Dubs for anime are usually bad.

Not badly received. Not misrepresented. Not misunderstood. Just bad. 'Kay, so why? Money. It's always money. They don't have huge budgets to dub these things so they cut corners wherever possible and try to find pandering spots wherever they can. Best example is Puella Magi Madoka Magica. The dub is one of the worst ever and it's obvious why. They cast Christina Vee as Akemi Homura. Cardinal sin. They hired the fan favorite as the fan favorite without regard for how well it fits which is ridiculous because she fit the titular character better. Then they proceeded to not give half a shit who else was cast as the rest which is the same amount of regard that most people put into casting. That's just more money issues because casting someone you know will show up and not waste your studio time as opposed to the person who sounds like the character incarnate but has no rep. As a result, a youtuber named Nyanners did a better job than all of them together as a joke. It's embarrassing. But it isn't even the VAs that are at fault, they probably also had to do most of their lines in one or two sessions because they only buy that must studio time for voice acting and studio time costs money. So why is money such a huge issue? Why are budgets tight? Because anime is niche over here. Cartoons are still considered the lesser and comics are unpopular. Some 30% or so of all print media in Japan is manga and in general TV actors and VAs have a better rep that film actors so anime by extension have these bigger budgets and monetizing potential for the people in charge of the purse strings. Over here more people than not think anime is a word for gay porn and that anyone who watches cartoons past childhood is downsy. So the market is small and the profits are small. Then there's that the small community doesn't have a lot of buying power. Some of us are poor, some of us are cheapskates, some of us just don't buy things for other reasons, but the bottom line remains the same. There isn't a ton of money to be had in relation to something like video games where the dubs are in general good. A good example of what a budget can do is any Miyazaki movie that isn't Nausica Abridged (thanks Disney). Yeah, they're good because Disney is rich. Aniplex dubs are bad because they're poor. Simple as that.

So the long and short of it is dubs are bad because anime is unpopular and the recent surge of popularity brought on by series like SnK isn't gonna increase the quality unless it becomes a trend that they can rely on.

 

I'm just someone who likes English dubs. However, I have noticed that a lot of the better dubs have a strong western feeling to them. Things like Attack on Titan, Romeo x Juliet, and Fullmetal Alechemist have their stories influced by western culture, so it would make sense that an English dub would feel a lot more natural.

 

Not mentioning Baccano! and Black Lagoon which are the prime examples of it. 'Kay.

 

I can't think of a single one that I would have a reason other than "it's what I grew up with" or "it's what I'm used to" to support it.

I think a lot of the problems I have with English dubs stem from the directing given to the voice actors, and not the capabilities of the actors themselves. The voices are often trying to replicate certain vocal tropes found in anime, and these simply don't translate well or sound good English. I also don't like this hang-up with trying to pronounce certain words, usually names, in Japanese while saying everything else in colloquial English. It sounds ridiculous. Example: Naruto (because I'm sure most of us are, for better or worse, familiar with it), specifically the early episodes. I have no idea what it sounds like now. Sasuke says Naruto's name with a Japanese pronunciation, rolling the "r" or whatever, while Sakura says it with an English pronunciation, with a hard "r". I much prefer the latter because while I'm listening to something entirely in English, it sounds very unnatural and, to be frank, bad, when everything is being said in English and suddenly this one word is being said with a foreign pronunciation for the sake of "authenticity". At least this is how I remember it, either way the example stands. I don't want it to sound COMPLETELY faithful to the source, I want it to sound good. Like Simon from TTGL, which was mentioned earlier. Unless his name is actually pronounced See-Moan, and not simply the Japanese pronunciation for Simon, it should have been given the English pronunciation in the dub. And I think female characters get the bulk of bad voices. When I look to American cartoons, or shows in English, the voices sound fine. Generally. They sound like real people, meanwhile there are animes are using voices that sound like the furthest thing from a real voice, which has everything to do with the tropes I referred to. Like Jakuzure from KlK, and Shiro from No Game No Life. Who the **** talks like that in real life? Nobody. It takes me out of the show and really bugs me. Though this is entirely a personal hang-up. I'm sure there are people out there who like it, but for me it's one of the biggest eye-rollers in anime.

this should be moved to discussion

 

Because I have yet to see those shows, but I am interested in Baccano. Can't say something is good or bad if I haven't seen it.

 

My thoughts basically.

 

Well, they're better than anything you mentioned. So... Yeah.[DOUBLEPOST=1401501703][/DOUBLEPOST]

No, that is where things go to die.

 

Ummm.... Lots XD I prefer Killer is Dead in English, and No More Heroes only gains with ******* Travis (that was in Japanese, right? I'm not imagining that?). B-games gain a lot by being in English, I think.

You know what, I really prefer FFX's English dub.

Most of the time, me too. I really like the intricacies of language and don't get that with subs :/ There have been a few instances where I haven't, like Star Ocean 4 but yeah.[DOUBLEPOST=1401501843][/DOUBLEPOST]

Maybe in 1980...?

 

Dubs are bad right now. I will die before I change that.

 

we should all voice act the latest and most greatest animated television in English text language and proof to the world that we are best of them all. make Funimotron and Analflex poop head in dirt because shame. We do it, come guys!​

 

Well um... That's wrong. I'm sorry. But it's wrong.

 

And you've got shit taste, but I waited for you to be a bitch about it before I said it.

 

Happens I guess? I'm just saying.. You can't say dubs are bad when dubs like Baccano and FLCL exist. You could say most are, you could say very little get what they're doing for this reason, but just blatantly saying dubs are bad is wrong. I can have shit taste all day, but you're still wrong

 

HURHURHUR DUBS R BAD I'M A HARDCORE ANIME FAN.

But in all seriousness I am fine with English Dubs, the only reason I always stick with subs is because they (obviously) come out first. Yay impatience.

 

Yes, I can because they're not the norm, dude. I even said usually in the first thing you took issue with so you're clearly both mistaking my meaning and claiming that outliers are the defining characteristics of a medium.

 

I avoid putting threads in post-counting areas because of posts like the following:

No offense to you two, just examples of what I wanted to avoid.

 

He started it.