[TobaccoRoad]

..why do they sound so unnatural? It's as if they purposely alter their voice (or accent if you will) in a way so that it sounds NOTHING like how people talk in real life. Original Japanese voice actors sound very fluent and realistic, so I'm assuming this isn't some sort of anime tradition of voice acting. It only applies to english dubs. It's one of the reasons why I can't stand dubs, and I KNOW I'm not alone on this. I just never understood the purpose of such method when so many are turned off by it.
 
Sorry if this has been discussed before. I tried searching in general but came up empty. I'm not too big on anime.

 

[deadlylover]

Sometimes you get good English dubs, most of the time they aren't so good.
 
It's the same thing with the Japanese voice acting, sometimes they really balls it up.

 

[mastershake2393]

I thought FLCL had one of the best English dubs...
 
The worst would have to be: Jungle wa itsumo Hale notchi Guu. I love that anime, but I couldn't stand the dubbed version...

 

[mibutenma]

Quote:

..why do they sound so unnatural? It's as if they purposely alter their voice (or accent if you will) in a way so that it sounds NOTHING like how people talk in real life. 

Your right the way they talk nobody who speaks English talks like that.
 
I always thought the problem is they try to match the voice tone style of the Japanese actor but what they should do is let them speak English naturally take the personality but do it in a natural English speaking way.
I think dubs have potential to be great probably even better than the original Japanese voice overs but since they don't actually talk or act normally with English it just comes out very badly done.
 
 
 
 
 

 

[MorbidToaster]

Cowboy Bebop is better in English...and so is Excel Saga. 
 
They're bad because most people have a hard time translating emotions through languages...and it's even harder to do when you're so disconnected from the character (aka, an animated one).
 
EDIT: True that fluent speakers have a similar 'disconnection', but they also have the original material to build on. 

 

[ocswing]

Part of it is the timing as well. They'll translate/dub stuff to try and match the mouth movements of the animation and with Japanese having a different sentence structure the timing can be pretty weird. And not to over generalize, but I don't think there is a ton of voice acting talent working on anime dubs.

 

[RexAeterna]

try watching Golden boy in japanese. it's horrible and sounds nothing like the character should. this is the only anime tho i highly suggest to watch in english to be enjoyed and is very funny and one of my favorites.

there is some anime that is done properly in english. lot of japanese voices can sound very high pitched and annoying.

 

[MorbidToaster]

+1 for Golden Boy
 
STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY
 
Quote:

try watching Golden boy in japanese. it's horrible and sounds nothing like the character should. this is the only anime tho i highly suggest to watch in english to be enjoyed and is very funny and one of my favorites.

there is some anime that is done properly in english. lot of japanese voices can sound very high pitched and annoying.

 
 

 

[sidel]

I was browsing through netflix the other day and got quite a few anime suggestions (unusual),  so I gave it a shot.  I swear it was the same horrible voice actors in every single one.  Before this I had never found an anime where I thought the dubbing was so bad I couldn't watch it and assumed people adamant about hating dubbed anime were just being smug about their preference.

 

[kiteki]

Dubbing should be outlawed as a profession and those that currently adhere to it sent to prisons in China where they can only read books until they forget how to speak.
 
Have you noticed how in European countries the ones that dub don't speak english, and the ones that sub-title are very good at english?
 
 

 

[Equus]

 
Quote:

Originally Posted by MorbidToaster /img/forum/go_quote.gif
...
 
They're bad because most people have a hard time translating emotions through languages...and it's even harder to do when you're so disconnected from the character (aka, an animated one).
 
EDIT: True that fluent speakers have a similar 'disconnection', but they also have the original material to build on. 

 
Quote:

Part of it is the timing as well. They'll translate/dub stuff to try and match the mouth movements of the animation and with Japanese having a different sentence structure the timing can be pretty weird. And not to over generalize, but I don't think there is a ton of voice acting talent working on anime dubs.

I think the two points about disconnection from physical state and timing differences are two major contributing factors.  It's not very easy to connect to the lines of a script when you are not doing the physical actions that the animated character is doing, not in the same environment, and often not looking at the person you're supposed to be conversing with.  Sure, there are ways around this, but I doubt all voice over actors have even the same amount of training as I do.  Adding to all this is that sometimes even the subtitles trip over cultural idioms, traditions, and subtleties of address in Japanese (or lots of other languages).  I mean, how would you dub Kansai-ben?  Most of the time they just use a bad American Southern accent, but that doesn't really capture the cultural connotations of the dialect.
 
As if I weren't over-generalizing enough already, one other thing to consider is that I think the general level of professional voice actors in Japan can be slightly different.  Several of them, especially the female seiyuu, actually have musical training and can hold their own selling vocal CDs.  Not saying that it's the best way to judge "talent" and "skill", but directionally it seems the level to which one can be successful as a voice actor/actress in Japan is a slightly different level than in the west.

 

[Apalachian77]

I'm not a huge anime fan but I watch it from time to time. Prefer subs generally, it comes off as goofy when dubbed I find.

 

[TobaccoRoad]

So basically what we're getting is that it's simply harder to dub than it looks. That's interesting. I thought you just roughly translate the language and simply dub it out on the mic. I honestly believed anyone with a right voice could do it. Ignorance on my part I guess?
 
Still, despite the "disconnection" and other difficulties, can't the actors just speak like how they do in their daily lives? With the exceptions like Cowboy Bebop (pretty much only dub I enjoyed) I feel that American actors are taught with certain standards which literally tells them not to speak naturally for the sake of viewers. I can't really explain it, but like the above poster said, everything just comes off as goofy to me.

 

[maverickronin]

The English dub of Azumanga Daioh is one of the few good ones, along with Bebop.
 
I don't really know why English dubs usually suck so much, especially because all the voice actors that do both the (few) good ones and the bad ones are all part of the same small stables that work for the American distribution companies.

 

[RexAeterna]

+1 for Golden Boy
 
STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY STUDY
 


 
 

i just open up a can of kick-*****. i have used my karate with stupidessdty.

lol,i haven't watched in sooo long i think i will now again.it's one of the funniest animes i ever watched. sucked it only had like 9 episodes and they never decided to continue it.