An Insight on the Battle of Subs versus Dubs

Sean Wong August 3, 2007

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Depending on how long you’ve been in the anime community, you may have participated in or at least spectated discussions regarding subtitles versus dubbing. Such discussion can progress in an intelligent debate or it may become an all-out flame war, complete with name-calling and personal attacks (the latter seems to occur more often). Naturally, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but when having such a discussion, things get out of hand very quickly because of ignorance exhibited by one or both parties. I’m not going to say one is definitely better than the other; it’s simply a matter of opinion.

In the hardcore anime community, most fans tend to lean toward subs, so I will focus on this group of people. While this is acceptable as it is just a matter of personal preference, what is most irritating is how some (I am by no means referring to all sub-lovers) people in this category speak badly and look down on dubs; it doesn’t help that their reasoning is completely absurd either.

A common argument they exhibit is as follows: “Japanese voice actors always do better than English voice actors!” Now, I’m willing to bet that most of the people who make this claim do not speak Japanese. I think you can see where I’m going with this: How can you make a valid argument saying that voice actors in one language sounds better than another if you don’t even speak that language? Granted, in my experience with English voice acting, it isn’t always executed flawlessly, but such a generalization is absurd. One who does not have a grasp on the language they claim is better would naturally not understand whether the tone, diction, or word emphasis is best for the situation. Such a generalization isn’t reasonable; there are always exceptions. For example, Cowboy Bebop is one series where I actually prefer the dub over the original Japanese track. There are many more series with very good dubs - Full Metal Alchemist, Samurai Champloo, FLCL, and Cromartie High School to name a few.

At the same time, it is usually these sub purists who bash any form of animation that come from any country other than Japan. The whole ordeal of Japanese anime vs other animation is completely absurd. Standards for animation often vary by country; Japanese anime can be targeted towards kids to adults, whereas American animation is usually targeted towards children. It’s also especially unreasonable to judge that one country’s animation, as a whole, is greater than another country’s. There are incredible anime series out there, but think of how many awful series there are as well. It’s about as reasonable as saying that American music is better than Japanese music. You should not make such a generalization. There are good artists and bad artists in both countries, and even then, it’s all in a matter of perspective; art and music are extremely subjective.

Don’t think that I hate subs for these reasons. I like to stay in between the conflict, as there are a number of dubs that I do enjoy, but I tend to lean towards dubs. My reasoning is that anime companies write the script for the series with the Japanese language in mind. I doubt they take into account how translators would translate it into English. This is especially true for anime with a lot of Japanese cultural references involved. The fact of the matter is that in this case, many things get lost in translation. So when people view these the English adaptations of these series, they will either be very confused, or they will not grasp the original meaning that the writers intended. Of course, this isn’t always the case. Cowboy Bebop is a series that is about as western as one can get. You have characters with western names, a western soundtrack and atmosphere, and even western cultural references. As a result, the transition from Japanese to English was probably an easier one than, say, Azumanga Daioh, which is full of Japanese cultural references.

I think a discussion on whether subs are better than dubs or not is ultimately futile since the nature of the subject doesn’t allow for a clear-cut resolution. It’s a very subjective matter. One shouldn’t feel obligated to choose a side. If you prefer some anime subbed, then watch it subbed. If you prefer some dubbed, then watch it dubbed. It all depends on what you want. Anime is meant to be enjoyed, so enjoy it however you feel you should enjoy it.

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Category: Rants & Raves

15 Responses to “An Insight on the Battle of Subs versus Dubs”

ojisan
August 3rd, 2007 at 6:35 am

You’re switching arguments & muddying things a bit by bringing in the ‘Japanese animation purists’ issue - in general, it sounds as though you don’t like purists that you don’t agree with. Really, no one does.

Let’s just compare english dubs to each other for a start. I can think of a few I love - You’re Under Arrest OVAs and Tsukikage Ran come to mind - but they are sooo few. Why? I think it has to do with respect for the product. The studios who generate the product respect it, but only some of the licensers or sub-sub-contracted dub studios respect it as much.
Matrim
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:27 am

I am sorry but I think the argument “If you don’t know the language shut up about the quality of the voice acting” is nonsense. Acting is acting, no matter whether one does it in Japanese or Esperanto. Even if one doesn’t know the language he can usually recognize the type of emotion behind the words and expressing these emotions in a believable manner is what voiceacting is all about.

Furthermore, even if we ignore the widely held opinion that the original anime voiceactors are in a whole different league than their American counterparts, the point is that it’s always best to enjoy something in its original form if possible. Whoever is in charge of the sound recording for a certain anime would supervise his cast and the end result will be as close as possible to what he wants to hear. While any subsequent dub would simply ape the results of the previous one and even if it’s better, it might not be what was originally intended.

I can’t say I get your point about translation either. Even assuming certain series has to be “westernised” for some reason, why exactly shouldn’t this be done by using subs?
_Rand_
August 3rd, 2007 at 8:57 am

I count myself among dub haters, though its not because I think dubbing is somehow in and of itself, horrible.

I hate dubs because more often than not the voice actors are quite terrible. Sometimes I think they are reading straight off a script 5 minutes after getting it. This isn’t to say there aren’t good dubs, there are. Cowboy Bebop as you mentioned was quite good as was FLCL, as are the Disney dubbed Ghibli movies for the most part.

I just find that they are terrible so often (Maison Ikkoku I’m looking at you!) that I just use subtitles by default. Its just less painful that way.
hayase http://cuteproxy.wordpress.com
August 3rd, 2007 at 9:57 am

One thing that I don’t like about dubs, is that I get the impression there’s no feeling behind it. Almost everybody sounds the same.

Not to brag but, I feel the Tagalog dubbers (from my country) sound better.
tenken
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:47 am

ojisan: Thanks for pointing that out. I’ll have to watch myself for that in future articles.

Matrim: I can see how we disagree on the idea of understanding voice acting, but let me follow up on my opinion.

First of all, perhaps I worded it incorrectly. I don’t mean to imply that you have to be a native speaker of Japanese, but you should at least have a basic understanding of it.

Now, instead of Japanese, let’s use Mandarin. When an English speaker hears Mandarin (a language with sounds much different than English) being spoken, assuming he doesn’t speak Mandarin, he wouldn’t always comprehend the emotions behind the words. With varying tones in the language that can change what word is being said - a concept that English speakers are not very familiar with - he may misinterpret emotions behind words. Even if one can approximate the emotion (e.g. someone screaming may indicate that they’re angry), they have no basis on understanding whether or not the emotion is conveyed realistically or not. With English, anyone can try and act angry, but English speakers can usually identify whether it’s delivered well or not simply because they have experience with the language, as they speak it very often and know how angry people would sound. In contrast, an English speaker may not be able to tell whether or not a screaming Mandarin speaker is doing a successful job at being angry. He would subconsciously run it through his mind and compare it to English, trying to figure out it should sound by the way they’re emphasizing the words that the English-speaker doesn’t understand anyway. For example, if you scream “I hate you!” in English, you can choose to emphasize certain words according to the context. If you emphasize the wrong word, it may end up sounding awkward. An English-speaker doesn’t know what would be the awkward way of saying things in Mandarin.

An African language that consists mainly (or sometimes purely) of clicks would be a lot harder to interpret. To an English speaker, reading emotions that are conveyed with sounds that sound extremely similar to each other (to the untrained ear) would be difficult. And even then, there’s tone and word emphasis. If we were to take out the Japanese (or English, if you prefer) audio from an anime episode and replace it with a dubbed version using an African clicking language, would one be able to read the emotions that are being displayed on screen accurately? How about if you just closed your eyes and listened to the dialogue? Do you think it would be easy to interpret the emotions without a visual aid on the screen? Reading emotions here with no experience with the language would result from comparing the language to English, where you can attempt to decipher how it should sound and how it should be conveyed, but this has a great margin for error because an English-speaker simply does not know how it should sound in that language. He can only draw comparisons, which is not very reliable because the language being spoken is not English.

Of course, the latter example is too extreme, but what I’m trying to convey is that Japanese is not English, so while you may be more successful reading emotions in Japanese dialogue than in an African clicking language, you don’t have a full grasp on how things should sound because you don’t have anything to base it on, just the English language. You don’t know how things such as syntax, diction, tone would have an effect on emotions conveyed in the language. In English dubs, we may say, “That sounds really strange.. He should’ve said it like this.” But with Japanese, we don’t do this as much (if at all) not because Japanese voice acting is inherently better but because we don’t understand the intricacies of it.

I don’t quite understand your question regarding westernized anime, but I’ll try my best to answer. I’m saying that if a series is more relatable to western audiences (i.e. Cowboy Bebop), then the dubbing process would be easier and perhaps more likely to be successful. To explain this, let’s use the counter-example, shows with many Japanese cultural references. Taking shows with many Japanese cultural references and translating them into an English dub can create some very awkward sounding script. Regarding this issue, I’m not saying subs are not acceptable at all. I’m merely making a point on dubbing series that may be more geared to western audiences (or at least easier to relate to).
kuromitsu
August 3rd, 2007 at 4:20 pm

I believe that the whole sub/dub debate all boils down to people trying to justify their personal preferences. Me, I prefer subs, not only with anime but with everything else - movies, TV series, etc., simply because I prefer to hear everything in the original. I want the least distance between me and the show, I want to hear the voices of the actors I see on the screen (there are some people out there whose voices simply can’t be “replaced” even in the best dubs), and in general, even if I don’t understand the language, I want to hear them talk, emote, etc. on it, instead of listening to “interpreters.”

I speak Japanese and still say that Japanese anime dubs are better than any other anime dubs I’ve seen. Why? Because in general, the voice actors do better. That’s all. They don’t only have years of experience on their own (well, except for newcomers), there’s also a very long tradition of voice acting (that I suppose goes back to bunraku), there are actual schools for aspiring voice actors, etc. And most importantly, voice actors, sound directors, etc. actually care about doing the best job they can, if not because they care about the show then because they know that doing a constantly great job is important for their carriers, for getting recognized by people in the industry which results in more jobs. It’s “get out there and do a good job” rather than “get out there and get the job done.” Of course these are generalizations, and Japanese anime voice acting has its negative side such as clichés (for the role of Haruka in Noein, Kazuki Akane specially wanted a voice actress who was a newcomer and still fresh and “unspoiled”), there’s hammy acting (like everywhere else in the world) and there are some very uninspired or downright bad dubs (Tenjou Tenge comes to mind). Still, on the whole, anime in Japanese sounds better and more “natural.” In my experience.

I’m not saying there are no good western dubs. (By the way, people around me say that German and Italian dubs are generally the best western anime dubs - I’m inclined to agree based on my memories of what I’ve seen in my childhood, but then, I don’t speak German or Italian.) It’s just that most of what I saw sounded either flat and lifeless, or hammed up. Seems to me that western voice actors are somehow reluctant to express real emotions in a cartoon - emotional scenes, tortured cries and whispers, etc. always, always fall flat. It seems to me that most English voice actors don’t put too much effort into their roles (there are always exceptions, of course), and voice directors are too often satisfied with an acceptable or mediocre work. Here I have to admit that since I’m not American (or even a native English speaker) I probably can’t appreciate English dubs as much as a native English speaker may, so I’ll say this about the anime dubs on my first language (Hungarian): the voice directors and actors have no idea how to approach anime, and they don’t have the inclination to find out and learn. They just don’t care (except for a very, very few people) because there’s not enough money and appreciation (on the professional side) in anime dubs and cartoon dubs in general, unless it’s some big-profile show. The voice directors generally have either only a vague, no idea at all what the show is about, they only want to get the job done as fast as possible, while the actors do the cartoon routine, with overplaying scenes, turning even antiheroes into typical cartoon villains, etc. And it’s not because they don’t KNOW how to do it or there is no extensive voice acting and dub tradition (as is the case in the USA, afaik) - there are some fantastic dubs here for live action series, and back when studios had more time and resources to work on dubs, they used to make some absolutely stellar dubs for movies. No, they simply don’t care to do quality dubs for TV cartoons. They also don’t care about the translations - all anime dubs here used to be translated from English by people who didn’t care about doing a quality work, and as such, the translations are full of stylistic errors and horrible mistranslations.

Back to English dubs and scripts - what I really bothers me (aside from the acting) are two things: one, that there’s generally way more talking than in the original. I’m not talking about longer sentences or whatever, I’m talking about a tendency to insert random sounds and lines where there’s none in the original. Sometimes these are “harmless,” throwaway sentences, but there are shows like Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust where the English version has about twice as much lines than the Japanese, and they’re twice as cheesy and corny (and I don’t care which came earlier, a corny script is a corny script). Why? Does the audience fall asleep if there’s silence for more than one minute? It’s so damn annoying. And two, there are all the changes dub scripts often make. Again, I’m not talking about necessary changes, I’m talking about changing bits of information or even whole situations or characters. In ROD TV, the dub neglected to mention that a character’s parents were dead, it said they were “away.” It downplayed the love (rather innocent love, mind you) between two characters as much as it was possible. In Cowboy Bebop, they changed Gren’s backstory trying to give him an excuse for his drug addiction (by blaming it on experiments). Why? Then there are shows like VHD:Bloodlust (again) where the English and Japanese versions are practically two different shows (and mind you, I always thought that the movie was incomprehensible and disjointed until I saw it in Japanese… that was a real “Ah-ha!” moment). I hate this. I don’t want a dub to make up its own version of the show. I want a faithful translation, down to the smallest bit of throwaway information.

And, well. Dubs are easier to screw up. With subtitles, there’s only the translator who can screw it up. With dubs, there’s the translator, the person who adapts the script, the sound director and the actors, and there needs to be only one screw-up to ruin the whole thing. In my experience, mediocre subtitles are way better than mediocre dubs… but that may be just me.

So yeah, these are my thoughts on ~~yaoi~~ anime dubs.
Matrim
August 4th, 2007 at 2:50 am

These examples about Mandarin and certain African language are enlightening and I probably made a more sweeping generalization than I intended but they still don’t change the fact that it’s quite easy to understand the emotions in spoken Japanese because it’s not a tonal language or something else very different to English or other languages in the countries where anime gets exported to. I for one have been learning Japanese and although my knowledge is still very basic, I don’t see any difference in appreciating the voiceactors work - I still think certain actors are great, while other are not, I haven’t suddenly started to notice things acting-wise I hadn’t noticed before just because of knowing the basicas of the language . And what has syntax to do with anything? It’s a matter of script, not voiceacting, after all. Of course, one can appreciate the dialogue a lot more if he happens to know even a bit of Japanese but that has nothing to do with voiceacting either.

Also, after watching a few series, one usually gets used to the Japanese dub and starts noticing the differences in acting and general modus operandi of expressing emotions. So even if we assume, it’s not easy to discern good acting in other language at first, I think it becomes very easy, after one listens to it a bit more…as does pretty anyone who has a say in the debate subs vs dubs. I certainly would prefer that (as it is intended) than the lifeless flat voices that I have had the misfortune to hear from certain English dubs (though, admittedly my experience with such dubs is very limited since I am not American and I would rather watch subs whenever possible, anime or no anime, in a language that I know or don’t know). But even if they were all great, I would still prefer the original voices, that does not mean I am saying they are necessarily better, I jsut prefere it that way.

Anyway, I am not in a mood to write more right now, Kuromitsu put it quite well and I pretty much agree with that opinion.
tenken
August 4th, 2007 at 4:28 am

kuromitsu: Thanks a lot for the input. You’ve helped me understand the situation better.

Matrim: Regarding syntax, you’re absolutely right in that it is a matter of script. I now realize that when I included that, I was straying away from the main subject of voice acting and more on the idea of understanding of languages. Apologies for the digression. But I meant with syntax was that, if we had an English dub where a line is said with awkward syntax (certainly a matter of script), then English-speakers would be able to spot this strange-sounding sentence in that context. In contrast, one with no Japanese knowledge wouldn’t be able to spot strange syntax errors because he has no experience with the language. And after reading kuromitsu’s post, it seems such errors would be a lot less frequent too. But this is does not relate to voice acting, I am simply following up on what I was thinking at the time.

I think we may have reached some understanding, though. To follow-up on your second paragraph, anime companies write scripts, naturally, for Japanese, so there could be some awkwardness in the transition from Japanese to English or Hungarian. Certainly, it is a matter of preference too. What I was referring to in my original article was how there are many people out there who claim that all dubs are terrible, even without listening to them. I have heard people say, “No! I can’t believe they’re bringing it to the U.S.! The dubbing’s going to be terrible!” which is quite irritating. It doesn’t make much sense either as one can simply just switch the audio track to Japanese and go on with their lives.
nm
March 6th, 2008 at 10:07 pm

I totally agree on this agruement. Although there some great Japanese voice actors or actresses can express their emotions and it’s a _Japanese cartoon, people still can’t understand the tone or accent of these actors. Subtitles can’t help it. It can tell about or what they said of the story but can’t how they express with a different tone or accent. Learning a Japanese language isn’t helping either. It’s a very complex language to learn in my opinion and very eerie to learn a different lanuage that is trival.I’m not hatting on these “Japan make-belive fans” or very hard core sub fans but seeing the reality here. I’m an American. I like Japan culture but not fell in love with it. I love watching anime not because it is an Japanese thing, but a enertainment thing. It only bring out the fact of reality.
lonewolfnm
March 6th, 2008 at 11:28 pm

I totally agree on this article. I think many people,especially serious sub-fans, missing the point. Anime is a Japanese cartoon entertaining to ages kids to adults, not only in Japan but around the world.

People can understand the subtitles but can’t understand how the subtitle presented by our own language (Some translate good but other are just terrible by saying it in English). Culture difference are the problem when a word they can’t comphrend when reading a subtitle and seeing the anime at the same time such as a person says:Neigma-san when the dub say the same thing but in English:Neigma( to dub hater out there, I know it means,which they say it to respect somebody or a friend) There are some great Japanese voice actors who can express their emotions but sadly, their tones and accents can’t work in American or anywhere in the world because of their comphrension of their saying in this diverse speaking-lanuage world.The subtitles are not helping. We have talented dub actors or actresses who love anime or respect anime bring their emotions to the cartoon. Yes, this is an cartoon,duh!!. Dub is work on animations not live action shows or movies.

This is a wake-up call to all in this furtile war. I am not making an opinion but a fact. Dubbing is important as subtitles in a translation of the original anime. It makes the anime more expressive and comphrensible and more easy-to-grap by our own language than our friends in the East. It just everbody really wanted to see on television .
Make this real,fans. I don’t want to watch an “educational “anime. I watch it for entertainment.

Plus, you people common there above, people don’t give a crap about the oringinal or the voice acting. It is good anime or not, people watching it because they think is good as you pick to see a the remake movie of the original instead its original piece. And for Martin: Yes, people understand the emotions of the actor but why is he expressing his emotion. It looked like you don’t take theater classes as I do.
Thalinor
May 5th, 2008 at 8:20 am

As for a debate on Anime dubbing vs subtitles; I have yet to hear ANY valid reason that Animes should not be dubbed. First off, characters lips rarely line up with what is being said in the audio, no matter what language the Anime is in and if care is taken in dubbing the same result as the original audio can be obtained. Second, if the actors doing the voice overs take the same effort and pride in their work as the originals, the same quality of dialog can be achieved in any language, not just the original. Lastly, subtitles have the same inherent flaw as dubbing; that is the loss in translation effect of certain phrases and cultural sayings.

Just because you put words on a screen vs speaking them aloud, it does not make that problem go away. Taking all this into consideration, and the fact that Anime is composed of two components both Audio and Visual, it is impossible for one to argue that by subtitling an Anime and keeping the original audio, one is experiencing the Anime in the manor in which it was meant to be viewed. The visual aspect of an anime is as much important as the audio and it is impossible for ANYONE to be able to follow an Anime visually while reading subtitles. While it is possible to watch the movie and read subtitles at the same time there is a fatale flaw in that thinking. The human brain processes audio and video at the same time with ease and little effort. Subtitles however add a third component for the brain to process. You still have audio and visual but now are required to read text and comprehend what is being written. Not only do you have to read text but do so while a foreign and presumably incomprehensible language is being played in your ear. I am sorry but there is no way one can argue that you can pay as much attention to what ever your watching while reading subtitles.

With all of this said I conclude that if an anime is dubbed with the same TLC as was originally taken in its creation, dubbing is the only solution for someone who can not comprehend the original spoken language in an anime film.
Bluntx
November 16th, 2008 at 5:01 pm

I think the problem i have most times with dubbing is the presumption that they have to tack on Americanized “snobby” or to “cool for school” acting. even FMA the dub vs the sub, you’ll notice the brothers acting is way better in the sub, you will here there voices seem much more real of a reaction to whatever the situation calls for. More intense i think.
I think that hits a point why many people like anime to begin with.
It feels that the characters have a good blend of razor sharp respect combined with some kooky antics now and then. Think about the eyes!!!!
think how many times they show a shot of a characters eyes and the intent..

I myself want to get as close to what the original creators intended. I want it to feel Japanese.. i want them to put those japan specific phrases up and not be excluded in the dub.now im not completely digging on dubs… i did happen to like cowboy bebop dubbed, but the top anime i wanna say 9/10 of the time should be watched subbed.. the implications of a language change on acting are far reaching, especially with the difference in culture.
Kuyukly
May 26th, 2009 at 3:10 am

Thank you so much for this article. I agree entirely, and I hereby resolve to do my best to avoid taking part in this stupid little “war”. I like dubs, and nobody is ever going to change that.
Woosta
August 16th, 2009 at 4:37 am

Don’t mean to revive this but i do want to note that alot of this has to do imho with both performances as well as quality of the dub script as well as the process of the making of the product as well.

I mean if hte dub actors do not know or go into a product with zero knowledge of hte motivations, characters etc etc to crank out a dubbed show then how can it be good?
Michael
August 19th, 2009 at 11:15 am

I think this dub vs Sub war is just hypocrisy and pointless. I mean without dub anime we wouldn’t have a anime market today. Also the English dub in anime has improved over 10 years. If you watch anime like Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Trigun they all have good English voice. Also, I lost faith in Fansubs since I found out they have mistranslations. Also fansubs carry censorship from Japan (the fansubbers did not censor), the fansubs anime they use is the network broadcast version, it is subjected to censorship. I watch Girls Bravo in Japanese fansubs and I watch the dub and uncut version. It turned out the fansubs had nudity censored and they cut out a scene where Miharu fondle and taste the Bananas in a sexual manner (she was depicting a blowjob). Also Air Gear fansubs has censorship (censored for Nudity), Claymore (Graphic Violence cut or altered), and Rosario + Vampire (censored for Panties??!!!). Stay away from fansubs, they carry mistranslations and censorship. You’re also hurting the anime industry if you do that. So if you want to watch the anime uncut, buy the DVD, or download it off of Itunes, Xbox Live Marketplace, and PS store.

Another problem is that the Japanese voice acting are not perfect. I had problem with Japanese voice acting that does not match the character (or gender). Take DragonballZ in Japanese, why would Goku and Krillin have female voice. Shouldn’t they have deep, masculine, tough guy voice. That’s why I chose the English dub for DBZ, I just think the voice in Japanese didn’t fit, no disrespect to Masako Nozawa. Another anime I wasn’t happy with the Japanese voice was Saber Marionette J, Otaru’s Japanese voice didn’t fit him so that’s why I have to choose Brad Swaille’s voice. Also they aren’t aware some of our voice actor who English dub anime have also done non-anime work like for example:

-Steve Blum who voiced Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop is famous for voicing Scott Mitchell in Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter series and Endwar.
-Laura Bailey who voiced Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist voiced Rayne in Bloodrayne. Ironically, Romi Park (Edward Elric in JPN version FMA) voiced Rayne in the Japanese dub of the game.
-Troy Baker who is well known for voicing anime characters such Father Nightroad in Trinity Blood is also well known for voicing Sargent Matt Baker in the Brothers in Arm series.

They are literally bashing the voice actors not knowingly they voiced in non-anime stuff also.

Also, why are dub haters complaining about anime getting dub in English? Well here’s the bad news, I never heard them complaining about how American and Western stuff get dubbed in Japanese. An example of Double standard come into play. Have any of you hear American game like Gears of War in Japanese? Go to Youtube and type in “Gears of War JPN”. Also, type in “Ben 10 Japanese”. I tried to put the link in but I got a message saying it failed when I tried to add the comment. All right dub haters/weeabos, do you think those dub sucks when Japanese voiced American game or are you thinking it’s better because the Japanese is the best language in the world? This is where I catch dub haters playing American game or American TV shows in Japanese dubs!!! Double Standard, folks.

Also, I hear people keep bashing dub anime over the editing and changing the opening of the anime removing the theme songs. Well, that might be unforgivable. But I can understand why they did it, censorship, appealment, and trying not to cause cultural confusion. But however, when American cartoon goes to Japan, they face some censorship and also they change the opening on American cartoon also. Sometime they would rename character for the Japanese version also. This was not only American practice, but Japan do this also to American cartoon. It’s not hating another country, it’s a common practice to change foreign animation so they can appeal to their audience. If you don’t believe me, I have several video on Youtube you can look up. I can’t put the link on this post for some reasons. But I’ll tell you what to look up. Look at the 1977 Batman cartoon, type in (without the quotation mark)

“Denkou Sekka Batman (The New Adventures of Batman) intro opening”. This is the Japanese opening of the 1977 Batman Cartoon, notice it has a J-pop-ish music for the intro. This is not a Japanese anime, it’s a American Cartoon going through Japanese-ization. Do any of you watch Hanna-Barbera Cartoon like the Jetsons, Flintstones, and etc from the 1960’s-1980’s? Did you know Hanna-Barbera Cartoon were not only popular in US, but also in Japan and they play influence in Japanese anime today. This is why HB and Toho team up and did the 1978 HB version of Godzilla just right after Terror of Mechagodzilla was made (no Godzilla film was made for another 9 years until Godzilla 1984), Hanna Barbera Cartoon (most of them) had some changes in the Japanese version. look up (without the quotation mark):

“1969 Dastardly And Muttley In Their (Japanese Intro)” and “Wacky Races - Theme Song (Japanese)”.

They have different intro from the US version. This was a common practice long time ago when American Cartoon like Hanna Barbera went to Japan. Also Dick Dastardley was renamed “Sukaikido Buraku Maō” or “The Skykid, Black Devil” in the Japanese version. Muttley was renamed “Ken-Ken” in the Japanese version.

Also, Another Hanna Barbera cartoon had face some changes when it comes to Japan, The Herculoids. Look up “1967 The Herculoids (Japanese Intro)” on Youtube.

If you go to Wikipedia and look up The Herculoids, you’ll find out it was renamed 怪獣王ターガン Kaijû Ô Tâgan (Monster King Targan). The character were renamed in the Japanese:

Zandor—->Targan (hence the titled,name Monster King Targan)
Tarra—–>Marmi
Dorno—->Kane
Zok——-> Maryû
Igoo——>Rikira
Tundro—>Tangurô
Gloop—–>Hyûhyû
Gleep—–>Bôbô

I hope my rant help for this blog. I know it’s hard I wanted to show you why this dub vs sub flame war is pointless. The past is the past. Look at anime market today, it’s evolved and now we know it’s wrong to destroy the art in anime. To all dub haters/weeabos, you need to quit the double standard. I think this war should end because I found new evidence which could destroy the war and also prove that dub haters are bunch of double standard loving Japanese wannabes. Thank goodness for Youtube and Wikipedia, that’s how I found out that the Japanese made changes to foreign shows. Seeing that reminds me of how we made change to anime back in the past. Now I have a reason not to get mad at US for changing anime, because I know Japan did the same to American or Western animation. I hope my rant help and I think it’s about time we end this pointless and stupid war.

Thank you