If you’ve spent any time in anime fandom, you’ve no doubt encountered the debate over whether it is better to watch anime with the original Japanese audio and English subtitles or if the English dub is just as good. There are a few hardliners on either side, but most anime fans fall somewhere in the middle and I am no different.
There are many factors I consider when deciding which version to watch of an anime. The most obvious is whether or not an English dub exists in the first place. English dubs are only produced when a studio thinks the anime will be marketable in the West. As a result, some of the most creative, artistic and inventive anime never receive a dub, especially if they weren’t big earners in Japan to begin with.
Even if there is a English dub, the quality might vary greatly between the two versions. This is especially true of older anime where a lot of the English voice acting comes across as wooden or overly dramatic. This is largely responsible for the poor reputation dubs have with some fans, but as anime became popularity in the West, the production budgets and quality of voice actors improved immensely. There are exceptions, but today the Japanese and English dubs are usually of similar quality. At least when they’re aimed at adults, that is.
For anime aimed at children, things can be a little more sketchy. Since kids don’t particularly care about little things like accuracy to the source material, these shows are often heavily edited to remove potentially confusing cultural references and allusions to sex, firearms or alcohol. In some cases, the show is reworked to appeal to a different audience than it was originally intended, such as the 4Kids version of One Piece which skewed much younger than the original or The Vision of Escaflowne and Cardcaptor Sakura which were recut to appeal more to boys.
Personally, my level of investment in an anime also plays a huge role in what version I choose to watch. If the premise of a show really grabs me or it’s from a creator I like, I’m probably going to go with the subtitled version just because I want to get as close to the original authorial intent as possible. For instance, I’m always going to watch Hayao Miyazaki’s work subtitled if given the choice, even though his films get some of the highest quality dubs around.
Conversely if it’s an anime I’m not as excited about, I’m perfectly happy watching the dub. There are plenty of series I wouldn’t watch at all if I couldn’t surf the internet or play a game simultaneously, and for shows like that, having to keep my eyes glued to the screen to read subtitles just isn’t worth it.
Nostalgia can also play a role. I can’t imagine watching Cowboy Bebop or FLCL in the original Japanese because I’m already so attached to the dubbed versions. Even if the English dub is objectively inferior (like the 4Kids dub of Pokémon), nostalgia often wins the day. I’m just never going to have the same warm feelings about Musashi and Kojiro that I do about Jessie and James.
Ultimately, the choice between subtitles and dubs just comes down to personal preference. Those that say no dubbed anime is worth watching come off as snobs and those that refuse to read subtitles are just cheating themselves. For most fans, the best way to enjoy anime is somewhere in between.
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