Anime Dubs Aren't Cringe, Anime Is

[Music] [Applause] wow in life there exists two things that are absolute the McDonald's ice cream machine not working and anime fans arguing over the right way to watch anime English dubbed or the original Japanese voices with subtitles it's a war that actually dates back all the way to ancient Greece in fact famous philosopher Socrates went on record to say I watched my anime dubbed if I wanted to read then I'd pick up a [ __ ] manga it didn't take long for word to spread through the city of Athens and the court sentenced Socrates to death for his wrong opinions forcing him to ingest poison and giving him ample time to reflect on his heinous crimes against humanity many more battles would be fought over the coming years the blood of dub and sub enjoyers alike would paint the streets of Reddit threads and Twitter reply sections as anime grew increasingly popular the feud grew to be more civil but it still continues to this day now it's only discussed by the most refined and sophisticated individuals huh what what do I think about it have a seat let's talk for the people who started watching anime in the early 2000s there weren't many options for you to get your fix like most kids my age I was introduced to anime through Toonami which obviously aired with English dubbing to youngins back then anime were just cartoons this thing is a jelly donut people go to the shadow realm when they die and Sonic is proud to be an American the only anime we had access to in the states were the ones that Western companies licensed and dubbed for American television if you wanted to watch something that wasn't passed through that filter then you had to get your hands dirty now I never dabbled in torrenting I was too scared to download a virus onto the dusty ass family computer but I never really had to because in the late 2000s anime streaming services started to pop up just take your pick of countless different definitely not illegal websites and immediately gained access to hundreds or even thousands of new anime this introduced me to shows that I never would have seen otherwise shows that never aired outside of Japan and thus had no English dub for major series like Naruto in one piece I continued to watch them in English on TV until I noticed a discrepancy why is the newest episode of Naruto and Toonami 50 episodes behind this random website and then I realized it anime comes from Japan dubbing takes time if I just watch it in Japanese I unlocked dozens of new episodes and can actually catch up with the show from that point on I ditched the TV put on my straw hat and became a full-time pirate Toonami was doing its thing but the fan subbers were putting up LeBron numbers the sheer breadth of content that became available to you by watching subbed was simply outmatched so I started watching all my anime in Japanese and that's the story for a lot of anime fans started out as dub Watchers but jumped to Subs so they can further immerse themselves in the medium this is less so the case for people who got into anime more recently with the international success of shows like Attack on Titan and my hero Academia there came a much greater precedent to make anime more easily accessible outside of Japan legit streaming services like FUNimation Verve and Crunchyroll were launched the website sucked but they were legit and more importantly convenient we got simulcasting with Japan almost every new anime had a dub we even got an anime that aired here before it did in Japan at this point it was entirely practical to be a seasonal anime fan only watching dubs yet so many English speakers still stuck to reading subtitles why the common belief seems to be that the Japanese voice actors are just better their casting and delivery is always on point they perfectly capture the very essence of each character and put in significantly more emotion and effort in their performances than their English counterparts I think that's a load of [ __ ] voice acting is a much more prestigious industry in Japan they have dedicated schools for voice actors where they undergo rigorous training and even then jobs aren't guaranteed the most successful va's are celebrities in their own right whose Fame in Japan Rivals those of some of Hollywood's finest the bar for entry is much higher than it is over here but Japan's high standard doesn't necessarily mean that America has low standards you know you know what let me put you guys on to some fire dubs but here listen Iris no this isn't happening there's no reason for me to go on what what am I fighting for uh hold on hold on I got another one peep this one [Music] I love you all right you got me I'm not the biggest fan of Dubs either but I still reject the idea that all anime is inherently better by being in Japanese like if I transition into a sponsor right now would it automatically be better if I did it in Japanese [Music] this video is sponsored by factor factor is a meal delivery service from the 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offer a selection of add-ons like desserts and smoothies for those with Sweet Tooth head to factor75.com or click the link below and use code nasu50 to get 50 off your first Factor box thank you to factor for sponsoring this video even though I started out watching Naruto in English I find it difficult to return to that version of the anime there's just something about that hits different as opposed to fight Fireball Jutsu but I think that has less to do with dubbing and more to do with anime itself take those examples I showed you earlier looking at the dialogue from that Mega Man scene I want you to read this and imagine a scene where a character is holding a loved one screaming this at the top of their lungs and it's somehow not be cringe and the other anime my man's just running at a moving train with tears in his eyes yelling that he loves someone that can't even hear him it's cheesy it's campy it's melodramatic the dub isn't what causes that it just exacerbates it anime can be incredibly eccentric and over the top that's part of the appeal the best abridge series poke fun at this exact thing and it's what makes a lot of the jokes land that tongue-in-cheek nature that doesn't take itself too seriously I made a video last year that you should watch if you haven't seen on live action anime adaptations and why I think they just don't work anime has its own set of tropes archetypes and style all of which translate poorly to live action I think it's a lot of the same principles that work here for why so many fans have such a visceral reaction to hearing dubbed anime hearing all the silly [ __ ] that said in the average anime in a language that you actually understand makes just how exaggerated and campy everything is front and center when you're watching with subtitles the Japanese voices act as a kind of barrier between what's being said and what's being understood if you don't speak Japanese there's an additional degree of separation when it comes to interpreting the dialogue reading is shown in protagonists give a power of friendship as speech is one thing but actually hearing them say I fight for my friends also English speakers are uniquely unqualified to rate Japanese voice acting of course a strong performance can transcend language but you're still not going to be able to notice the finer nuances and nitpick the same way you could with English ask anybody who hates English dubs to name a single anime with a bad Japanese voice acting they can't they can't scrutinize the performance without being able to speak the language take the 2016 anime erased the Japanese casting for the show was unique in the two live-action actors with zero prior voice acting experience were chosen to play the protagonist One Voices him as a child and the other voices him as an adult I watched this anime as it was airing and closely followed the online discourse but I never once heard any complaints from sub Watchers that the voice actors sounded out of place or inexperienced it's not something that I picked up on either on so I looked into the casting and Revisited the anime trying to find differences between the performances of these two actors and everyone else on the show are the Japanese just born to be voice actors and master craft without needing any practice well no casting inexperienced voice actors for the protagonist was a deliberate decision to isolate him from the rest of the characters and make him sound more like a real person than an anime character oh yeah anime characters don't talk like real people and if a script is Faithfully adapted to another language regardless of the voice Talent they're still not going to sound like real people a perfect example of this is the anime tomochan is a girl there's a character called Carol who's played by a Japanese American voice actress Sally yamaki in both Japanese and English despite literally being played by the same exact person there's still something about the sub that just seems to work better because to any English speaker watching the dub it's immediately apparent that hey uh nobody actually talks like this I think Flames would be better I agree with you how about we do a simple sporty outfit that feels familiar but also looks a bit more feminine but with Japanese Western viewers don't have a point of reference to compare to just Anime so the voices aren't going to sound so off-putting [Music] go to Japan and be like where where are the subtitles and nobody talks like this anime is Japanese but anime is not Japan having your sole interaction with Japanese culture be through anime makes for a slippery slope where some fans base their understanding of Japanese Norms off what they see in anime let me spin you a little yarn back when I was a youngin you know just a hormonal teenager enjoying my Japanese cartoons I was watching the show Kaicho were made Sama or some other Shojo anime and a thought crossed my mind huh these maid Cafe things are kind of interesting I wonder if we have one of these over here so I looked it up and I found one in Detroit Michigan now I got love for my black brothers and sisters but what I Saw made me want to gouge my eyes out grab the nearest sharp object and commit Sudoku any desire I had to ever visit a maid Cafe was swiftly cringed out of my body when you see something anime outside the larger context of Japan it's pretty easy to look at it and go hey this [ __ ] kind of weird but even within the context of being in Japan it's still weird genuinely I don't think I felt more uncomfortable in my entire life not everybody watches anime let alone talks like an anime character otaku aren't looked upon favorably I guarantee you that if you're late for work in Japan and you walk up to your boss with a piece of toast in your mouth and tell him uh boss I'm sorry I'm late I I stopped by the maid Cafe to have some omodai sin tea your boss is not going to turn around and be like who is your favorite tomato mine is so Kawaii everything Japanese is heavily romanticized and even fetishized all over the Internet and Japan does hold some blame anime is a cultural export and an incredibly profitable one there's a reason why Obama thanked Japan's late prime minister Shinzo Abe for introducing the rest of the world to the art form like karate and karaoke manga and anime and of course hentai too all of the things he listed contribute to Japan's soft power soft power is a form of power that comes from cultural influence rather than military might Japan has had a Chokehold on pop culture for many years now and Anime is a major part of that and it's not by coincidence countries are very cognizant of their public perception and are always looking for ways to increase their soft power Japan even put together the cool Japan proposal a strategy to make Japan seem more cool the country first started making an effort to reform their image post-world War II after they did some things that were not so cool hey weren't you guys responsible for horrible atrocities and War crime cute anime [Music] that cute aesthetic is something that's prominent throughout Japanese media and is a direct result of how Japan markets its culture they perpetuate harmful stereotypes that give foreigners a messed up perception of the country now I gotta explain to my son that not every Japanese girl speaks with a high-pitched voice and Only Knows two words basically what I'm saying is I created you a country that severely lacks soft power is China if you look up China on social media instead of getting popular franchises you're just gonna see social credit memes that one [ __ ] with the unique head shape and was inside while you're being chilling being chilling but in recent years there's been something working it's damn hardest to change that genshin impact genshin is a Chinese video game but you'd be forgiven for thinking it's Japanese it's extremely anime but also extremely popular unsurprisingly with anime fans now the last line of defense for a lot of dub haters is to say that honestly I just like consuming things in the original language that it was made in dubbing to English changes too much but in this Chinese game made by Chinese people I have not met a single person who plays with the Chinese dub it's either English or more times than not they're playing in Japanese this is what makes me think that it's because I'm an established association between the anime aesthetic and Japanese language rather than some innate quality that makes Japanese voices Superior to all others I don't even entirely disagree with the original language thing maintaining the Integrity of the original script is important when translating dialogue often has to be localized so that it makes sense to the audience you're translating for but sometimes localization turns into bastardization and scriptwriters make something completely different sometimes it works out usually it doesn't like with the aforementioned Donut from Pokemon jelly filter my favorite nothing beats a jelly filled donut and with this anime if you've got stick up your ass are you one of those dumbass gamergate creep shows well that that localization is meant to take foreign Concepts and rewrite them in a way that's easy to understand introducing entirely new lines that have nothing to do with the dialogue does neither of those things this being something that puts people off of Dubs I completely understand but localization can be and has been done well what I find to be more important than the country of origin is the setting of the stories and Creator's vision for the piece of media for example I mentioned before that ever since I picked up the Naruto sub I never went back to the dub despite not being said in Japan most characters in Naruto have Japanese names and the story is heavily inspired by Japanese folklore so the Japanese voices feel more appropriate conversely Fullmetal Alchemist is an anime that I watched dubbed given the Western setting and character names it made more sense to me to constantly hear them saying Edward Elric instead of Eduardo ricu also the official language of a masters is English so I found it to be more immersive something like Cowboy Bebop I couldn't imagine watching subbed shinichiro watanabe's work have very clear Western and he's even said that he prefers the English dub himself or that that's at least what everyone says I've never actually found a source for that my sources that I made it the [ __ ] up the setting is the main thing I consider when choosing which version to watch but it's not a definitive rule I still went with the sub for Attack on Titan because I found some of the English voices insufferable Armin sounds three times his age and Aaron sounds like he's permanently clenching his teeth anytime he says something there are some trash ass dubs you won't see me denying that but I still think it's goofy to write off Dub's wholesale if you're gonna be a hater at least take the time to experience what you're hating on to come up with some better reasons why you hate it [ __ ] I'm being a hater right now be like me a hater with extra steps Japanese dubs have their own set of problems when an anime has non-japanese characters from Black Lagoon there's a scene where two characters have a language barrier this is revi she speaks English this guy only speaks Japanese and he's trying to beg for his life give me what Karma oh we got death is to mop up the breasts huh wait a minute I I thought you can't speak Japanese she just goes from speaking broken English to fluent Japanese villain Saga is filled with scenes like this here's thorphin who speaks Old Norse telling an English woman that he can't understand his language because he doesn't speak English while they're both speaking in Japanese I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me the Japanese is the ideal way to experience this story personally I think that in a perfect world there would be no dubbing for different demographics every character would be voiced in their canonical spoken language you're making a game based in ancient Greece doesn't matter if your target audience speaks Swahili dubbed in Greek or you're making a show set in a fictional land with a made-up language then all your characters should be dubbed in a made-up language and everybody gotta read subtitles whatever best suits that piece of media should be the only version produced some Japanese game companies have had this figured out for a minute now despite being based in Japan Capcom has games like Resident Evil and Devil May Cry where the English dub is heavily prioritized the recent Final Fantasy XV is lip synced to the English voices rather than the Japanese from software didn't even produce Japanese dubs for any of the souls games given the medieval fantasy setting English better fits the Creator's artistic vision for the games and all of these titles have phenomenal Voice work I never met somebody who said um actually I would prefer to play the Japanese game Dark Souls with Japanese voices but if I did has nothing to do with Japanese things inherently being better in Japanese and everything to do with anime tropes and Aesthetics specifically feeling all the more unnatural in English the more anime and Anime is the more likely it is people are going to bounce off the English dub there's a reason you recommend your friends FMA or Death Note as a Gateway anime as opposed to something like chaon these games aren't very anime so you don't see nearly as many people complaining about the voice acting since fromsoft released the souls games with only English it's safe to assume that their 2019 game based in sengoku Period Japan only had Japanese audio nah that [ __ ] had six different language options but it did default to the Japanese and it gave players this little message saying uh the game is Japanese please play the game in Japanese because God forbid you release a game in the west without English voices just like how there are anime fans who refuse to watch dubs there are people who won't consume anything that requires subtitles my running theory is that they're all illiterate free [ __ ] but they're still not as nearly as annoying as the subbed anime crowd most of them just want to be able to understand what's being said without having to be distracted by text at the bottom of the screen which is a decent enough reason but even that is a sentiment that I've been hearing less and less with the insane popularity achieved by shows like squid game and the film parasite more people have become open to the idea of watching foreign media they realized you know what maybe I can read faster than 15 words per minute and that's pretty cool it's in stark contrast to the level of closed-mindedness that you see from alleged cultured individuals there's definitely a middle ground to be reached between avoiding all subtitles and worshiping everything Japanese language can have a profound effect on how you experience media and you'd be doing yourself a disservice by limiting yourself to just one it's okay to have a preference just try not to base that preference on [ __ ] and remember trying to push your own preferences onto someone else's doesn't make you cool it just lets everyone know you have an unwashed ass that's it for this video see y'all in the next one thank you [Music]

Channel: Nasu

Views: 510,420

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Id: T-JrP0_OqFc

Length: 21min 27sec (1287 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 25 2023