Best/worst dub?

[nommayomnom]

Yeah, I know everyone hates dubs, but I'm making this topic anyways.

My vote for worst is Naruto, best is The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. But I've watched almost no dubbed anime, so I'm just curious.

[Pzc]

My vote for worst is Fullmetal Alchemist and for
best it's probably Girls Bravo.

[zherok]

I've only heard a little of FMA's dub, but since one of the major characters is voiced by an actual child with a horrible echo effect, I'd say I've heard as much as I need to hear.

As for best, I don't listen to dubs frequently enough to really know a lot of examples, but Cowboy Bebop was great, so I'll say that.

[dbml]

Worst is Naruto... some of the voices were worse than nails on a chalkboard to me. Best is Ghost in the Shell: SAC. Every character was perfectly cast... I was shocked how great it really was.

[maxxjulie]

best is You're Under Arrest.  no idea on the worst.  i do agree that naruto blows in english.  naruto sounds a little annoying, sasuke sounds gay compared to his japanese voice, and kakashi is just not as cool sounding.  sakura is the only one i find acceptable even though she sounds a little too kiddy.

[yt1DER]

Not sure about the worst, but I know InuYasha had some pretty talented voice actors (haven't watched many English dubs though)...

[ray1301]

Best would be 'Ghost in the Shell: series' they seem to fit nicely.

I'd have to also agree on the worst as naruto as I recall seeing it on TV once and it was the episode when they were taking their exams or something and he CONSTANTLY kept repeating 'believe it' it was so annoying, but I'm sure there are many awful ones out there, but just can't recall it at the moment.

(on a random note, it also makes me feel bad for the english voice actors, it just can't really be done in most cases like silly comedies where japanese voices and enthusiasm make it sound great and in english it just seems weird.)

[relic2279]

I do not think there is a worse dub (by dub, I mean voice acting, translation and editing) then Dragonball Z.

It is like taking bleach, and dumbing it down for 10 year old kids. I'm not trying to be a fanboy and I'm not exaggerating. But that is exactly what they did. Bleach is the Dragonball of the 00's, but thankfully Viz licensed it instead of funimation.

If you don't believe me, go ahead and watch dragonball z subbed. Funi butchered it.

[zherok]

That's less the dub than it is the sheer editing of the show in general. Personally though, Goku being voiced by the same women regardless of his age sounds incredibly out of place. The content of the English Dub is often severely edited, but at least the voice makes more sense.

On an unrelated note while confirming that Goku sounds like a little girl in DBZ, I discovered that Frieza has the same voice actor as Mayuri Kurotsuchi in Bleach.

[shadowmaniac]

I've only seen a handful of dubs but best one IMO was Ruroni Kenshin and worst one was One Piece (one by 4Kids; dunno about Funi version).

[Zalis116]

You may want to have a look at this thread:

http://forums.boxtorrents.com/index.php?topic=2730.0

[relic2279]

On an unrelated note while confirming that Goku sounds like a little girl in DBZ,

That is the point. That is why it's a horrid dub. Goku's personality is supposed to reflect a naive child with a pure heart. The only way to reflect that other then the story and lines, is in the voice acting. They did a wonderful job in casting. That is why it was so popular in Japan. Goku isn't supposed to be a strong manly type like Vegeta.

Though, the only way to know that would be to watch DBZ fansubbed as Funi won't help you with what the original author intended. And that's why it gets the "Worst dub ever" award.

[zherok]

I still stick to the opinion that the original voice was crappy and ill-fitting. Having an immature mind has nothing to do with whether you sound like a women faking a man's voice. The problem isn't even that a women voices it, but that it SOUNDS like a women is voicing it.

[Zalis116]

Though, the only way to know that would be to watch DBZ fansubbed as Funi won't help you with what the original author intended. And that's why it gets the "Worst dub ever" award.

Why won't watching Funimation's releases in Japanese with subtitles work?

[Wizzy123]

Still think there is no such thing as a "good or best" dub, but I'll haft to say DBZ is above average. Only Dub I ever bought and felt like I

didn't waste my money.

[relic2279]

Why won't watching Funimation's releases in Japanese with subtitles work?

Hmm I guess it could now that they sell the "Extreme uncut version with the lost episodes".

But when it originally aired, it was censored and edited.

I still stick to the opinion that the original voice was crappy and ill-fitting. Having an immature mind has nothing to do with whether you sound like a women faking a man's voice. The problem isn't even that a women voices it, but that it SOUNDS like a women is voicing it.

Plenty of females voice male characters, especially young males and children. Probably even more so in the US. She voices a lot of the characters in the dragonball universe. Not just Goku. But when Dragonball first was created (not Z) he was a 6-7 year old child. She gave Goku a deeper voice as he aged.

He doesn't sound strange to me. I could be a bit biased as I watched/loved Dragonball and DBZ in the mid 90's before funi ever got their greasy hands on it.

[chubbysumo]

worst dub by far is eureka 7.  They completly changed the story line, and made it a joke.  FMA was bad, and the best i have heard was mononoke hime, and the girls who lept thru time.  I prefer jap audio with subs, as you get what is meant to be said, and not what fits the lip movements.

[zherok]

Plenty of females voice male characters, especially young males and children. Probably even more so in the US. She voices a lot of the characters in the dragonball universe. Not just Goku. But when Dragonball first was created (not Z) he was a 6-7 year old child. She gave Goku a deeper voice as he aged.

He doesn't sound strange to me. I could be a bit biased as I watched/loved Dragonball and DBZ in the mid 90's before funi ever got their greasy hands on it.

She doesn't do a substantially different voice for the older form, despite the massive muscle and body development he goes through from DB to DBZ. That's my problem. I don't think anyone seriously begrudges Nancy Cartwright doing the voice of Bart Simpson, but her work creates an age appropriate and male sounding voice. Whereas in DBZ, it sounds like Goku never hit puberty in Japanese. I'd argue that the shift is far more realistic and natural sounding in English. You could definitely begrudge the editing effort on Funimation's part, but he sounds like he looks a lot more in English.

[deadskin]

BECK. The songs were redubbed great as well.

[Zalis116]

I prefer Japanese audio with subs, as you get what is meant to be said, and not what fits the lip movements.

I'd say you don't truly get what's meant to be said unless you actually understand Japanese. When you're reading subtitles, you get text (with some degree of localization, no matter what kind of release you're watching) that's designed to fit within a certain amount of screen space and to be readable within the allotted time. Yeah, some sacrifices have to be made to fit lip flaps, but it's better than ignoring lip movements entirely and winding up with, "Oh! It is Godzilla! We must flee the city! *close*open*close*open*"

Anyway, now for something completely different, by which I mean "on-topic"...

The best, in no particular order:
Cowboy Bebop
FLCL
ROD TV
Ghost Stories (the dub that almost single-handedly converted me from a dub-hating purist to a more "middle of the road" stance)
Kamichu!
Kanon (2006)
Big O
Nerima Daikon Brothers
Desert Punk
Magikano
Haibane Renmei
Koi Kaze
Fullmetal Alchemist (people seem to either love or hate this one)
The El Hazard franchise
Planetes
Wolf's Rain

Dubs that do a good job of improving on the source material: (That is, you probably won't like these if you value fidelity to the original Japanese dialogue)
Generator Gawl
E's Otherwise
Orphen/Orphen Revenge
Wedding Peach
Eden's Bowy
Gantz
Ikki Tousen
Girls Bravo
Negima (2005)
s-CRY-ed
Colorful
Cromartie High
Yumeria

And finally, the worst: (because yes, there are dubs that even I don't like)
Love Hina
Crest of the Stars
Fantastic Children
Petite Princess Yucie
Kaleido Star (a lot of dub fans like this one, but I could never get into it. Maybe I'll give it more of a shot next time around)
Gravitation
Happy Lesson (they apparently thought the main character's name sounds like a snack product)
Green Green
Risky/Safety (a perfect example of why you don't want to be too faithful to the original Japanese track)
Kimagure Orange Road Movie #2 (the rest was released sub-only)
Maze TV

Lastly, in the "so terrible it's comedy gold" category: Garzey's Wing.