[Speaking Mute]

Quote Originally Posted by Robert Adam Gilmour

Quote Originally Posted by Speaking Mute I can understand the annoyance at poorly acted and poorly edited dubbing - but this ignores the number of films with poorly translated and poorly edited subtitles. I don't think so. Bad dubbing is way more damaging than bad subtitles.

I personally wouldn't generalize either way. A poor translation is going to hamstring a movie whether it's in subtitles or dubbing. I immediately think of how Akira and Tetsuo were viewed as either completely incoherent or given over to all sorts of esoteric interpretations when both actually had straightforward plots and themes.

In a different direction, dubbing can cover bad voice acting or bridge cultural differences in acting aesthetics. I have nothing against Japanese language itself, but one of the reasons I dislike anime is because female Japanese voice roles seem to be typecast as either obnoxiously squeaky and girlish or a kind of sleepy monotone. Since this acting aesthetic doesn't carry over to Japanese film, I have no problem watching them with subtitles, but when it comes to anime, I definitely prefer dubbing.