If you're looking for any really deep thoughts, then you've come to the wrong place. However, if you're looking for simple opinions on ordinary, mundane things, then you've come to the right place.
By now you've heard me complain about how much I'd like to see such movies as Godzilla, King of the Monsters and Rodan in a subtitled version (if you haven't, check out the reviews in Monster Mania). Well, now you get to hear me debate the pros and cons to choosing the English dubbed versions over the English subtitled versions and vice versa.
Maybe I should start at the beginning. First of all, if you didn't know it before, all the Japanese monster movies and television series imported into America--Godzilla, Gamera, Ultraman, etc.--were dubbed into English. That is, you get to see Japanese actors doing the physical stuff while English voices speak their lines in an English translation. Lip movements don't match the dialogue (it's more pronounced in all the imported martial arts movies) and sometimes--many times--the voices don't really match the characters. This is all right, I guess. It didn't bother me at all when I watched these movies and series for the first time.
That was before I was old enough to judge quality and before I started learning Japanese. Then all the problems started. There was a marked difference between the Godzilla movies I so loved and the American-made movies and television programs that took up so much more airtime. Dialogue in the dubbed versions seemed abrupt and stilted, and sometimes made very little sense given the scene onscreen. Voices and inflections never seemed to match facial expressions and body language, further reducing what I had originally perceived as quality.
Living in Hawai'i means I have greater exposure to Japanese subtitled programming than someone in, say, Michigan (maybe I'm wrong, correct me if I am). I started learning Japanese by watching samurai flicks--my favorite to this day is Abarenbo Shogun--and associating the words printed on the screen with the dialogue. Of course, it was only those small one-word things like "what" or "who" or "why", but you'd be surprised at what you can learn. Then I selected Japanese as my foreign language in high school--and later in college--and learned that much more. That made the bad dialogue of my favorite monster movies that much more depressing.
Now that I've discovered Japanese anime, the problem has resurfaced. Of course, with anime you don't see the lips moving at the wrong time or facial expressions and body language at pronounced variance with the dialogue. So, the English dub isn't so bad. Even the tendency to misportray the characters isn't all that bothersome (although having a yakuza sound like the stereotypical surfer dude, as in Suikoden Demon Century or a Japanese waitress having a Southern accent, as in Demon City Shinjuku isn't all that easy to stomach). What's really bad is when the ones doing the translating for the English voice actors decides to add in all sorts of profanity which just doesn't appear in the Japanese version. In the subtitled ones I have seen, the worst swearing I've ever heard is someone shouting hentai--abnormality--or sukebee--satyr--which translates loosely to "pervert", or kuso--feces or dung--which translates to "damn", or baka and closely related words, which translate as "idiot" or "fool" or "moron". So where did the translaters come up with any number of profane four-letter words? None of which I use, by the way (the closest I come is "damn" or "darn" or "drat").
Dubbed anime, barring the occasional profanities that pop-up, is usually enjoyable. Some, such as Fire Emblem, are really quite good, so far as I can tell (I might feel different when I watch the subtitled version, but I doubt it). The story line comes across clearly, and just by watching you can tell that the dialogue is at least appropriate to the scene. In these cases I have a feeling that the translaters knew how to translate Japanese to English. They didn't just look in Japanese-English dictionaries and translate, they understood what they were trying to convey. Still, you have no way of really knowing if what the characters were actually saying in the original is what you're receiving in the dub.
Subtitled anime poses its own difficulties. For one thing, unless you're a very quick reader, you usually end up paying more attention to reading the words instead of watching the film, which means you have to rewind over and over to associate what you've just read with what you're seeing. Then, there's the problem of those who understand Japanese trying to reconcile what they're hearing with--if they choose to do so--what they're reading. So far that isn't a problem for me, but it's getting there...I'll explain why later.
Subtitled, however, also has an advantage over the dubbed version. First of all, you're a step closer, more or less, to the original. What you're seeing is essentially what the actors are saying. It might be hard to reconcile it all if you understand Japanese, but it is easier. You aren't receiving an "adapted" version of the original...that is, you don't have voices speaking what the translaters think you want to hear because it seems appropriate to the situation (i.e., profanities and obscenities). Really, it wouldn't be so bad if the scripts for the English dubs followed exactly the translations for the subtitled versions. Of course, voice inflections might then end up in all the wrong places, and I know from experience that those don't always translate over. After all, how can you really express emphasis in English when saying something in Japanese in a certain way adds whole new levels of underlying meanings?
Strangely enough, when Japanese anime are released here for theatrical presentation (on the continent, not in Hawai'i so far as I know) they appear in subtitled format, yet when broadcast on television, such as on the Sci-Fi Channel, they appear in dubbed versions. It doesn't really make much sense to me. My cousin tells me that the subtitled versions are actually preferred over the dubbed because the English dubs make so many adjustments for American colloquialisms and cultural characteristics. I had originally thought that perhaps the English dubs would be more popular because it would be more easily understandable. I guess I underestimated the truly devoted anime fans and I apologize.
To be honest, though, there's no real way to choose between the one or the other. It all depends upon which one you as the viewer want. The English dub usually has the added benefit of costing a few dollars less than the English sub, which I admit was an initial attraction for me. However, after seeing the English dub for Demon City Shinjuku on video tape with all the profanity they put in (it didn't make its way onto the Sci-Fi Channel's Saturday Anime presentation, thank goodness), I've decided that maybe the subtitled isn't so bad a buy after all...especially because I can understand some Japanese. Personally, I can go either way, though ultimately it depends entirely upon which version happens to be available at the time I'm at the video stores.
I'll let you in on a little secret. With a few exceptions I'm now buying more subtitled than dubbed, the exceptions being the series I already have a few in dub, those I've seen on television (like Tenchi the Movie, which aired as Tenchi Muyo in Love on Sci-Fi Channel), and those that aren't available in subtitled version except by ordering directly through the company that releases the anime. I have an ulterior motive to buying subtitled, though. I'm trying desperately to recover what Japanese I learned in high school and college. It isn't easy, you know, to retain when you don't use it. Nobody at home speaks Japanese regularly, which means I never really had cause to use it. Watching anime at least gives me a chance to identify situations and which mannerisms and which degrees of formality are appropriate to said situations. I also get to learn more vocabulary than I did in school, though it's sort of difficult since they're speaking so quickly. I know I won't be able to master the Japanese language this way, but every little bit helps, ne?
I don't know if this has prompted any deep or interesting thoughts in you, but if you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to send me an e-mail. I'm generally up for any debate and maybe--just maybe--we can start some sort of regular exchange of thoughts.
Comments? Suggestions? E-mail me with your words of wisdom. I'm up for a hearty e-mail debate if you are!
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