Recommend an anime dub

S

subedii

Great Teacher
The debate about subs vs. dubs has always been present in anime circles, usually with most anime fans lying on the 'sub' side of the issue.

Still, while I tend to prefer subs as well, I also like some dubs, and it occurs to me, that sometimes I'll get an anime and not even bother to try the dub track, since that's just what I'm used to by now.

Anyway, it got me thinking, which dub jobs do you think really work well with the show and the characters? A really good dub job can make a great show even better, and sometimes, it really helps when you don't have to take your eyes off a stunning piece of animation to read the subtitles (especially in complex shows like Stand Alone Complex).

Personally, my favourite dub job is probably Cowboy Bebop. Really stellar cast of voice actors, and I definitely prefer to watch the show dubbed instead of subbed.

Another favourite is probably Tenchi Muyo, although that probably has a lot to do with the fact that my first expeirence of Tenchi Muyo was in the dubbed format. Still, I feel the voice actors really help to embody the characters well.

Hellsing is relatively well done, although those Mockney accents often grate. I still prefer to watch it subbed though. Alucard just sounds so much more evil to me in the sub. :twisted:

So which dub jobs do you think are well done?
 
Some of my favourite dubs

Noir - I think just about everyone sounds good, but for once Hilary Haag dosen;t sound like an irritating kid sister and pulls off a menacing Chloe. Tiffany grant is great as Altena aswell.

Madlax - The dub takes on the characters are pretty different to the Japanese version, but the entire cast really deliever great performances. My current favourite dub actually. I'm a bit of a Christine Auten fan and shes great as Limelda on this.

Ghost In The Shell : Stand Alone Complex - While im not particularly impressed with the show of late the dub is of a great quality. I far prefer the English track to the Japanese in this case. Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Motoko and Crispin Freeman as Togusa is fantastic.

Last Exile - It's good overall, but Joshua Seth as Dio is really what makes it worth watching.

Burst Angel - While I "slightly" prefer the Japanese track on this one, its a pretty good dub overall and its nice to see Monica Rial not typecast in her usual role of "quiet strange character" , but give a rather psychotic performance as the mildly insane Jo.
 
i agree on Bebop and Noir - the former is fantastic all round and the choices of VAs fit their characters perfectly, while the latter features Grant playing a character who doesn't make her sound shrill and annoying. in fact, she sounds great playing a more restrained role.

The dub for Spirited Away was very well done (heck of a lot better than Buena Vista have ever done with Ghibli films) and the accents that Arumi and Sasshi have in the Abenobashi dub works surprisingly well. American accents on kids from Kyoto could never sound 100% right, but the strong 'hillbilly' type of accent they havereally adds to the comedy.
 
- All the Ghibli dubs are good (though I haven't heard Grave of the Fireflies so I don't include that). The Kiki one kind of changes the character of the film, and Dub Laputa's reluctance to fall back on scenes which were left quiet for impact is frustrating, but they're still bareable to watch. Spirited Away dub is excellent (which is fortunate, because it leaves you to enjoy the artistry of the movie). I hear mixed feelings about the Princess Mononoke dub, but personally I liked it.

To be honest, my list starts and stops there. My situation with most dubs is either:
a) I've not heard them (not got round to it / not available / heard one character's voice and promptly switched it to Japanese)
b) I simply don't like them

Only exception is Metropolis which i'm indifferent to. The dub is competant, but I only really enjoyed it in Japanese...
 
The Excel Saga dub is brilliantly done by ADV, very funny and well chosen voices.

Other good dubs are:

Stand Alone Complex
Bebop
Trigun
Gasaraki

and more that I can't think of right bow.
 
Animated FatCat said:
The Excel Saga dub is brilliantly done by ADV, very funny and well chosen voices.
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Glah, can't agree with that at all. One of the most annoying dubs i've ever heard. Come to think of it I havn't heard even one ADV dub I've liked yet.

Anyway, good dubs. Well obviously Cowboy Bebop, it is the perfect dub they just don't come better than this. Beau Billingslea is perfectly cast as Jet. Stand Alone Complex was also well done, Richard Epcar and Crispin Freeman are brilliant as Batou and Togusa. I can't wait to hear the english dub of Innocence. I liked the dub for Witch Hunter Robin too, it wasn't anywhere near perfect but it was enjoyable.

I didn't much like the dub for Trigun but Johnny Yong Bosch deserves some credit as Vash. He's the first dub actor that i've know to scream as funny as the original japanese. R.O.D the TV was ok up to a point but by the second volume it began to go downhill, the VA's cast as the Paper Sisters and Nenene was great though(I really enjoyed listening to the previews in english).

On a side note, if you're a fan of Love Hina avoid that dub at all costs.
 
I think my favourite dubs are probably Fruits Basket and Last Exile, i think theres just a certain quality about both of them, from the excellent choice in cast to the good standard of acting all round
 
The Bastard!! dub is great. Its cheesy, but very funny, and I find it much more amusing than the sub. Cowboy Bebop and Outlaw Star also have amazing dubs, so much to the point that I almost feel out of place listening to the Japanese dub now.
 
Older anime dubs are nearly all wonderful, especially the old Pioneer dubs - Tenchi, Moldiver, Green Legend Ran, Hyper Dolls, El Hazard, Phantom Quest Corp., Hakkenden to name a few! I love the old Doomed Megalopolis dub too (so few anime have British voice actors). I also love the fact that ALL old Pioneer dubs have rewritten English lyrics (something they don't seem to do anymore :( ).
I've always been impressed with The Slayers dub, but it does seem the days of truly impressive dubs are long over. I'm far less inclined to watch dubs of new releases although there are a few recent dubs I've been really impressed with.

Modern dubs I've been majorly impressed with are:
Gensoumaden Saiyuki - the humour between Goku and Gojyo was done brilliantly.
Hana Yori Dango/Boys Over Flowers - all the VAs were wonderful, although it took a while to get used to all the names beginning with "R" being changed to "L"!!

To be honest that's all I can think of for post 2000 dubs!!
 
Martin said:
and the accents that Arumi and Sasshi have in the Abenobashi dub works surprisingly well. American accents on kids from Kyoto could never sound 100% right, but the strong 'hillbilly' type of accent they havereally adds to the comedy.
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Actually, i would consider that the single worst ADV dub i have heard, ADV usually uses a New York accent for 'dialects' and that would have worked so much better than the exagerated Texan.

(However it is not my least favorite dub by any means, that is Manga Video's 'Angel Cop' though a lot of the old manga ones are horrid)

My favorite Dub probably is Excel Saga, as comparing it to the japanese one, they completely nailed it. If for a straighter performance, Haibane Renmei is pretty good (But Rakka sounds too whiny, the same voice actress does Nancy in ROD:TV and she sounds worse there) though the rest of the ROD:TV Dub cast is pretty good.

Other good ones include the new Totoro dub, Whisper of the Heart, and Millennium Actress.
 
WTFDaveMustaine said:
Animated FatCat said:
The Excel Saga dub is brilliantly done by ADV, very funny and well chosen voices.
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Glah, can't agree with that at all. One of the most annoying dubs i've ever heard. Come to think of it I havn't heard even one ADV dub I've liked yet.

Anyway, good dubs. Well obviously Cowboy Bebop, it is the perfect dub they just don't come better than this. Beau Billingslea is perfectly cast as Jet. Stand Alone Complex was also well done, Richard Epcar and Crispin Freeman are brilliant as Batou and Togusa. I can't wait to hear the english dub of Innocence. I liked the dub for Witch Hunter Robin too, it wasn't anywhere near perfect but it was enjoyable.

I didn't much like the dub for Trigun but Johnny Yong Bosch deserves some credit as Vash. He's the first dub actor that i've know to scream as funny as the original japanese. R.O.D the TV was ok up to a point but by the second volume it began to go downhill, the VA's cast as the Paper Sisters and Nenene was great though(I really enjoyed listening to the previews in english).

On a side note, if you're a fan of Love Hina avoid that dub at all costs.
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Personally I loved the dub on Excel Saga, partially because I couldn't actually keep up with Excel's sub.

I'm quite extreme in the other sense to most, I love subs, and will happily watch fansubs, but there is ever a dub going, I'll switch to that. I'll even put up with them if they're bad because of the way they don't disrupt the story and allow the anime to flow better. For example, I watched Love Hina and the first DVD of Stratos4 in Dub, both were dire, but it didn't impact on my enjoyment of the shows at all.

My one exception is when I have watched a sub before-hand, I won't be able to change to a dub afterwards. For example, after beginning Mahoromatic in sub, I just couldn't revert to the dub when I bought the DVD.
 
Mangaminx said:
Noir - I think just about everyone sounds good, but for once Hilary Haag dosen;t sound like an irritating kid sister and pulls off a menacing Chloe. Tiffany grant is great as Altena aswell.
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Agreed, the dub for Noir's great, but there was a really scary thick Scottish accent in the last episode or so which totally came out of nowhere! :lol:
 
Oh I reamber that in noir that was so bad. Hated excel dub its so bad, bad bad have to watch it sub. All the ghost in schells are great. Boogiepop phantom good cowboy bebop millium actress good dub I dont like hellsing the stupid english accents.
 
mbygons said:
I really liked the dub on hellsing. Im glad to see they are using the same actors for the upcoming ova again.
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They should let actual brits do the voices for the british characters.
 
Yea right not stupid americans who think all english people are posh snobs or cocknies. Oh the worst dub I have seen is the new Laputa castle in the sky changed the the music score to a holiywood kind of crapy music dulled the cool sound effects so you can hardley hear them. Add whole new lines that werent there before even when there lips arent moving!! and so there always talking or the music is always playing. The scenes that use to be silent and time to reflect and look at the great art is filled with crap music and add lines. And talk about bad voice actors what ever happend to the old dub that kept the origanl music and origanl sound effects and the origanal script at least the new optimum dvd has the sub that go with the orignal japanese script. Made me so angry when I saw what they did to it.
 
yugo said:
Oh the worst dub I have seen is the new Laputa castle in the sky changed the the music score to a holiywood kind of crapy music dulled the cool sound effects so you can hardley hear them.
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Hisaishi himself composed the replacement soundtrack, so it cannot be blamed on Disney.
 
I think you will find that disney would have put in a word to him of what they wanted music wise. Because he's done most if not all the musical scores for the studio ghibli films and none of them are like that one at all. And it is just the same kind of music you have in disney and hollywood so I would say it was them rather than him that made the music that way.
 
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