Worst Dubbed Animes!

RamonesFan2020204 · Post by **RamonesFan2020204** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 12:50 pm

And it seems like you won't watch anything that's in english, even if it's american made. I bet you even won't even watch Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse unless it's in japanese.

Heero_Yuy84 · Post by **Heero_Yuy84** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 2:53 pm

I'm reminded of two quotables here (both from iffy sources, but hey)

1. "Never assume...when you assume, you make an ass out of u and me." -- Unknown.
2. "Only Sith deal in absolutes!" -- Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars Episode III

You're making the big mistake of assuming you know how other people think. In this case, I'm amazed you didn't start calling him 'Wap' and 'Weaboo' (as the other popular term for it seems to be.)
Frankly, what bugs me about the whole thing is your insistence it has to be one way or the other, with no ground in between. Contrary to what you think, some of us do like dubs (Hell, I still have yet to check out the full subtitled version of Now and Then, Here and There because I was so impressed with the English dub track...likewise, I honestly prefer the English tracks for Big O, Hellsing, and Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket to their Japanese predecessors...however, there are definitely some animes I also feel just didn't convert well to English, such as Aura Battler Dunbine, Getter Robo: Armageddon, and, to a lesser extent, Martian Successor Nadesico.)

I'm inclined to ask...have you ever actually tried to watch some of these animes in subtitles before you gave them the brushoff? ... If the answer is no, then as far as I'm concerned, you've got absolutely no right telling this guy to step off.

You keep sticking up for the dub voice actors, but at the same time, you make it seem like the Japanese seiyuus somehow don't matter. They work just as hard, or in some cases, harder (to again make reference to an earlier listing, the Japanese voice cast for Getter Robo: Armageddon all pretty seriously strained their vocal chords recording for that show...to the point some of them were reportedly bleeding between takes...and it definitely shows when you compare the two recordings. By comparison, the American cast, while they sound the part, lack the appropriate enthusiasm needed for a super robot anime.)

It's also worth pointing out that, by making yourself dub exclusive, you're actually missing out on some things (for example, there's numerous cases in anime of Japanese language puns (such as in FLCL, Nadesico, and the 80s SD Gundam OVAs) that would not translate all well into English (you can see this in the first ep of FLCL where, even with a good dub, the word-play in the manga scene backfired in a big way. Hell, if you check the Nadesico discs, the translator's notes even talk about how he felt the translation kind of killed Izumi's jokes.)

As for calling Macek a legend, again, I'll point out his only real accomplishment was being the first in the field...and even that's technically not true (to get down to brass tacks, the first pioneers for American-released anime would be the people who oversaw the releases of Speed Racer and Gigantor...to say nothing of the numerous underground fansub circuits that were in existence long before Macek came along. It's not like he singlehandedly brought anime over here. He was just another stepping stone in the steady progression.
and, once again, like Freud...first doesn't make you above scrutiny. Macek's dubs are average on a good day (some of Robotech, Megazone 23) on a bad day...I won't get into details (dub Minmay, Aura Battler Dunbine, Fist of the North Star movie, Vampire Hunter D.)

Hell, were it not for Harmony Gold's legal battles with Studio Nue over Macross, half the anime world probably wouldn't even know his name.

hypes · Post by **hypes** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 3:03 pm

amen, Heero Yui, amen.

mokulen22 · Post by **mokulen22** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 3:40 pm

*clap clap* well put

xerocool · Post by **xerocool** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:08 pm

If I had a hat, it'd be off to u, Heero_Yuy84.

gunsou · Post by **gunsou** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:35 pm

Damn, Heero sorta stole my thunder. RamonesFan needs to calm down. This thread is about the worts dubs; I haven't seen an argument saying that all dubs suck.

In general, I prefer the subtitles for several reasons. It has been my experience that the Japanese voice actors just make things sound more natural. This is especially true for the shows like FLCL or even Bobobo that rely heavily on word play and puns (in Japanese). While I don't have a problem per se with the dubbing of either show, I prefer the Japanese in both.

My biggest problem with the English dubs is the force-feeding of accents to try and represent the different dialects in Japan. Again, some of these aren't bad, but a whole bunch are. The two greatest offenders that come to mind are GTO and Samurai Deeper Kyo (Azumanga Daioh gets an honorable mention for Osaka). GTO is among my favorite series ever, and the dubs had potential. Onizuka's English VA is very good. Many of the other chaacters are OK, but there was one student (whose name escapes me at the moment) who was sporting a poorly-faked British accent. The least they could've done was to find a person with a real accent to play the part. Samurai Deeper Kyo is awash in mediocrity. By far the worst is Migeira; he souds like a wannabe-matador. It sucks.

More often than not, though, I enjoy both audio tracks. Seriously, though, RamonesFan, calm the hell down. I'm not trying to convince you of anything (nor is anyone else), but you insist on taking everyone's opinions about bad dubs as a personal attack. <--This is stupid.

If you want good dubs stick with Cowboy Bebop, Golden Boy, and Hellsing.

If you want passable dubs, try Scryed, Naruto, and FLCL.

If you want crap dubs, try almost everything from Funimation and 4Kids.

If this offends you, Ramones....well, I don't really care. Either contribute to the thread or piss off.

Malificus · Post by **Malificus** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:01 pm

I found that while the sub is better for FLCL (If only for the word play jokes), The Dub is still excelent. Of course, what do I know. I've gone through half an episode before realizing it was on japanese dub with subtitles a few times (Same for english dub).

x_rex30 · Post by **x_rex30** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:08 pm

Honestly I can read emotion and bad acting pretty easily whatever the language might be. There is heart in what people say and how they say it.. even if you don't know what the F they are saying. If the Dub has good acting I would prefer to watch the dub so I can enjoy the art/animation more. At times I things work out better for the Japanese, and other times American. I've switched between and english and japanese a lot before when trying to figure out witch one I want to watch.. With Escaflowne with the first few eps, at the more emotional times I would go back and forth to see how well the english and japanese cast did for those parts.. and since I was pretty impressed with the english I just stuck with it.. Other times I've tried out the english and shit just didn't work out, like with love hina.. I just hate the valley girlish voice acting they have for it.. and they sucked IMO at the more emotional scenes. I just felt it more with the Japanese.

RamonesFan2020204 · Post by **RamonesFan2020204** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:51 pm

No, I never tried to watch subtitled stuff from beginning to end, and I don't intend to, because I've seen bits and pieces, and I can't even stand seeing a second of anything subtitled!!!!

Malificus · Post by **Malificus** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 9:56 pm

Then why do you keep posting here? You are clearly opinionated on you utter hate for subs and religious devotion for Macek. Why post on a thread for the worst dubs if you absolutely hate subs, therefor eliminating a reference point to go from?