Do you prefer to watch anime subbed or dubbed?

[Emelie]

Only subbed, sometimes even raw if I want to challenge myself.

 

[PainterFight]

Certainly depends on which version I could get my hands on. Take for example, an anime show is best watched with english subs on Crunchyroll, Netflix, or any other third-party streaming services, but there's also an official english dub of said show that's up on Youtube, so I ended up watching it on Youtube.

 

[Pikasso]

I normally watch dubbed because it's easier to understand without the need of subtitles, but it depends on which anime I'm watching. Sometimes, I prefer watching subs because the voice acting in dubbed anime can be so cringe-worthy. Also, I don't mind watching subs every now and then because I think Japanese is a very pleasant-sounding language.

 

[impervious_gakko42]

Subs. My gaze tends to wander while looking at a screen, so needing to rely on the subtitles for context keeps me from getting distracted. Also I just like listening to other languages.

 

[Calvinッ]

Subbed, only exception I can think of is Dragon Ball, I don't watch it anymore but if I was to ever get into Super I think I'd watch it dubbed, maybe nostalgia plays a factor but I think I've always preferred the English dub for it. Every other anime I've watched subbed.

 

[Princess Viola]

I only watch anime, and all foreign language media for that matter, with subtitles these days.

No hate towards dubs, I understand why they exist and why people watch them, but I just prefer watching shows and movies in the original language.

(I do give exception to really old dubs, like I'm talking 'dubs from the 80s when companies were just using anime as a way to get cartoons out for cheap to take advantage of the growing home video rental market and/or broadcast syndication' because a lot of them can be hilariously cheesy at times. Just look up any clips of the dubs of Captain Harlock from the company ZIV International, how can I not laugh at a dub that includes such lines as 'It's the same person I chased this morning. Only it wasn't a person dad, I think it's a woman!' and 'People don't visit the Statue of Liberty anymore, it costs $5000 to go up in the hand'? Or the Omni Productions dub of the 80s Transformers anime, again you can't not laugh at a dub that includes such gems as 'The Earth is like a hard-boiled egg with its outer layer as the shell; this is the thinnest part, then there is the egg white, and the yolk represents the center of the Earth; hot, red, and boiling. The topic of the metting is the morphic rocks, which lie in the second layer of the Earth; the egg white!' and 'Fortress Maximus has come himself. OK! Then I shall get Fortress Maximus to fight me, huh huh huh!')

 

[Seven.]

Always dubbed,im the weird one i Guess xd

 

[MelodicCharm]

i prefer dubbed for serious anime but if i'm just watching something silly or the dub adds its own special entertainment factor to it, then i spring for the dub

 

[guzmania]

whenever presented with the option i always go for sub, but i wouldn't skip an anime just because a dubbed version is the only one available (for whatever reason)

 

[mastermind lissi]

Usually just dubbed, its easier for me just to wait than to find the actual subs

 

[Blanc]

Honestly? It depends on the anime.

I know it's been an age old belief that "dubs are bad" in the anime community for as long as I can remember, but I don't think that take holds the water it used to. Due to growing up watching anime with my dad (who prefers dubs) and then going away to watch anime on my own (usually subbed) I've been exposed to both types over the years, and both have their merits.

A prime example I prefer dubs is a lot of TRIGGER anime, such as the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime or PSG of course. In Cyberpunk, the characters have very distinct ethnicities that come through in the voicework and the in-universe slang the characters use, it's way more immersive and just over all a more powerful experience. For PSG, it's more that the diction and overall tone just carries better in English for the type of story that's being conveyed.

That aside-- when I'm on my own, I usually just choose subs in general only because I can be fussy about how voices sound so it's habit (though like I said, english dubs are genuinely not bad these days) but when I'm visiting my parents I watch dub because it is what my dad prefers. Right now I'm watching Frieren dubbed and the voicework is very nice.

Dubs are also nice when I'm busy drawing though so I don't have to look up as often. I just kinda pick and choose these days.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

It really depends on the Anime and the VA work: some casts in English I really like VO wise (4Kids' cast for Pokemon in the Ash Series & TPCi's Origins cast, Crunchyroll LLC's cast for DBZ Kai) and some I really dislike (TPCi's cast for Pokemon in the Ash Series & Generations-LA based dub, Odex One Piece & Yu-Gi-Oh). I can even tolerate music replacement and script changes (though I dislike both of these things very much), forget visual edits (same as prior, but I'm more forgiving than 99% of people here since I get some stuff can't be shown to kids on Sat AM blocs), if the VAs' performances make it salvageable for me, but if not-- I'm out, if I'm not having any fun with it.

 

[Insanish Danish]

Honestly depends on the show and/or cast. Sometimes I only watch the sub, sometimes I only watch the dub, sometimes I'll watch one first and then watch the other later.

 

[Sheep]

Mostly subbed, I usually prefer watching the original shows for most things. But I can get behind certain dubs and watch them with my husband since he prefers understanding what characters say. We've watched a few dubs in the last year or two, like DBZ Super and Aggretsuko, both were good ~

 

[Daenerys]

Subbed anime ~95% of the time. The only exceptions are stuff like the early Pokemon episodes, which I'll watch both dubbed and subbed (though I lean towards dubbed because of nostalgia). There's some dubs that I can tolerate like FMAB and Death Note, but even then I usually re-watch those anime subbed.

 

[Railgun]

I actually like dubs. There are several anime that had some great ones (Code Geass, Death Note, Madoka Magica). I'll watch subbed though if need be. I don't have a preference, haha.

 

[AgedVeteranofShow]

Subbed anime ~95% of the time. The only exceptions are stuff like the early Pokemon episodes, which I'll watch both dubbed and subbed (though I lean towards dubbed because of nostalgia). There's some dubs that I can tolerate like FMAB and Death Note, but even then I usually re-watch those anime subbed.

I could actually bear the Pokémon Anime dub under 4Kids for Ash's Series, but TPCi's on the other hand...ugh, I think I hated every single recast as I felt their dub VAs were changed for the worse across the board, TPCi IMO kept the worst script writer under 4Kids and let him ream Team Rocket's dialogue hard for most of the rest of the series, and on top of all that with the most recent censorship they did being worse than the worst under 4Kids' tenure coupled with the music replacement levels being at their objective worst pre-Horizons in XY-JN...just give me the sub please in the modern Seasons, for so many reasons.

I'm in a similar boat overall, though, I do like DBZ Kai and Death Note's dubs but even with DB Super I go to the Japanese Version because Crunchyroll LLC (what FUNi calls themselves now) has made cringy dialogue at times like Hit's "Time to make the donuts" stuff- yuck, an assassin saying that, what the heck?

 

[Guinea]

It really depends on the show tbh