CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

Babble lost in translation aside, I'm pretty sure we all have at least one Anime we actually enjoy the English translation of, more-so than others. Now personally, since I'm adept at reading subtitles anyway, I'm comfortable watching Anime in its native Japanese or "Engrish tlansration." But, there are some series that I find to be dubbed better for native English speakers, to the point that I prefer them over the original Japanese rendition. Yes.

Please don't stone me. I'm just a prophet.

So basically, yeah, is there any series you enjoy and actually prefer more in English than Japanese. I don't mean hold them both equal or fine, I mean instances where you actually think the English voice acting is superior?

Personally, I can think of two; Samurai Champloo and the Hellsing OVAs. Both have good, strong talent on the English speaking end (bit-part characters overlooked), and due to their respective natures, I think simply flow better with an English cast.

Cowboy Bebop and Last Exile were both excellent in my opinion.

Cowboy Bebop, Rurouni Kenshin, and FullMetal Alchemist all have excellent dubs that I prefer to watch more than the sub. I didn't think the acting in Bebop's sub was anything to write home about, and I can't stand Kenshin's subbed "girl" voice. XD But yeah, there's definitely a number of dubbed gems out there.

I'll have to say Tenchi Muyo, Those Who Hunt Elves, Ranma 1/2, and El-Hazard.

I'm a weird kind of person--I watch the english dub with the japanese subtitles, and every so often, I flip-flop between the engish dub and the original Japanese track!

But in terms of dubs that really stuck out for me, I'll have to go with the following:

Neon Genesis Evangelion (Tristian McAvery, Tiffany Grant, Amanda Winn Lee and Spike Spencer do GREAT as Gendo, Asuka, Rei and Shinji!)

Digimon: Digital Monsters (Two Words: Joshua Seth! He ROCKS as Tai Kamiya! Mona Marshall as Izzy really rocks my socks!)

Nerima Daikon Brothers (I have to give my props to V/A's who have to, in addition to normal dialogue, have to break into song at a moment's notice!)

Midori Days (I like this one because all the V/A's are brand new and do a GREAT job!)

Fullmetal Alchemist (Vic [Insert Groovy Italian Last Name Here] really brings a depth to Ed that nobody could! And who better to play the role of a 14 year old boy THAN a 14 year old boy? My hat goes off to Aaron Dismuke for talking into a metal bowl for over 50 episodes! )

His and Her Circumstances (When I first found out that Veronica Taylor [the voice of Ash from Pokemon] was the voice of Yukino in this, I was FLOORED! I didn't detect one hint of pre-pubesent Pokemon Trainer in her voice!)

Akira (Classic V/A's for a classic movie! Nuff said!)

KhakiBlueSocks wrote:Akira (Classic V/A's for a classic movie! Nuff said!)

Sorry, but I really disagree with that one. The voice of Kaneda was Leonardo from the Ninja Turtles cartoon. That completely ruined the dub for me.

Nate wrote: The voice of Kaneda was Leonardo from the Ninja Turtles cartoon. That completely ruined the dub for me.

Johnny Yong Bosch? Well, look at it this way--the same guy was also "Vash the Stampede" and a former Power Ranger, so he's cool in my book.

KhakiBlueSocks wrote:Johnny Yong Bosch? Well, look at it this way--the same guy was also "Vash the Stampede" and a former Power Ranger, so he's cool in my book.

OH. You're talking about the NEW dub. I thought you were talking about the original dub for Akira. XD In that one, he was voiced by Cam Clarke (the voice of Leonardo, as I mentioned). And I like Cam, don't get me wrong, but his voice just didn't fit the part in that instance.

Cowboy Bebop
Samurai Champloo
Witch Hunter Robin
Yu Yu Hakusho (with the exception of Kuwabara)

The sub of Tenchi is better than the dub.I watched the dub of Tenchi Forever the first time I got it and *Pshaw!*couldn't stand Ayeka or Ryoko's voices.
For me:
Inuyasha.The subs not too bad but a bit overrated.

Full Metal Panic is one of those rare instances where after watching the complete sub first, and treasuring it, I then watch the dub and find that I actually like it better, despite my affection for the original. That's why I'm scared about Second Run's being dubbed by a different company.

Fruits Basket
Ranma 1/2
Fullmetal alchemist... actually, I like this one both ways

Yeah, I only didn't mention FullMetal Alchemist because I feel both the Japanese and English VAs were on equal footing; I've watched it in both languages.

Cowboy Bebop
Digimon Tamers
End of Evangelion (series was pretty meh for me)
Trigun
FLCL
Hellsing
Kare Kano (His And Her Circumstances)
Fruits Basket
R.O.D. (OVA and TV)
Fullmetal Alchemist
Eureka Seven

Stuff Already Mentioned:

Cowboy Bebop
Last Exile
His and Her Circumstances
Fruits Basket (with a couple exceptions)
ROD TV
Full Metal Panic (Etoh: Funi's using the same voice cast for TSR, and it's still good quality. No need to worry.)

Stuff not yet mentioned:

Kino's Journey
Genshiken
Steel Angel Kurumi
Rune Soldier
Vandread
Kamichu!
Lunar Legend Tsukihime

Honorable Mention:

Rumbling Hearts. I don't PREFER the dub, as I absolutely ADORE the performances of the Japanese voices -- but I still thinks it's a very wonderful dub regardless.

Here are mine.

Magic Knight Rayearth: Best dub ever! A ton of super talented voice actors and a great translation (love that they did the songs in english). Julie Maddelena, Wendee Lee, Ruby Marlowe, Mona Marshal, Zan, Barbara Goodson, among others.

Slayers: Totally hilarious! Lisa Ortiz, Veronica Taylor (Ash ^^), and Crispin Freeman all do an excellent job with their characters.

Kare Kano: Veronica Taylor totally rocks ^^.

Tenchi Muyo: This dub will always be nostaligc to me. I saw it in english first and now those are the voices that I think of when I think of these characters.

Pokemon: Annoying and pointless edits aside, the voice cast of Pokemon was excellent 99% of the time. *kills PUSA for changing the voices*

Chobits: I just enjoyed it a lot more in english than in japanese. Had a lot of the same people as the MKR dub + Crispin Freeman in the lead role.

Fruits Basket (This dub is excellent. Laura Bailey does such a good job as Tohru.)
Fullmetal Alchemist (Nothing to say about this one that hasn't been said already. =P)
Haibane Renmei (I very much liked this dub. One of the reasons I enjoyed it was because the English voices were very similar to the Japanese ones.)

Adie wrote:Fruits Basket (This dub is excellent. Laura Bailey does such a good job as Tohru.)

Oh, heck yeah! Laura Bailey is very talented! I love the fact that the same person who voiced sweet, innocent, (slightly dingbatty) Tohru Honda could turn right around and voice "none of the above" Marlene Angel on Blue Gender.

IMHO, the best V/A's are the ones who can play a good guy fighting on the side of truth and justice, and then turn right around and play a really bad guy (or girl, if you REALLY got it!)

KhakiBlueSocks wrote:Oh, heck yeah! Laura Bailey is very talented! I love the fact that the same person who voiced sweet, innocent, (slightly dingbatty) Tohru Honda could turn right around and voice "none of the above" Marlene Angel on Blue Gender.

IMHO, the best V/A's are the ones who can play a good guy fighting on the side of truth and justice, and then turn right around and play a really bad guy (or girl, if you REALLY got it!)

She can also turn around from Sweet Innocent Tohru, to Lust from FMA.

I rather like the Naruto Dub...*ducks and dodges any flames of hatred*
I also like the Bleach Dub, and trinity Blood as well XD.

I agree with many others already said here, so no need to repeat them, heh.

All right, here are my top dubs.

Full Metal Alchemist
.hack Liminality (You know, the anime DVD that came with the games.)
Black Cat (I like all the voices and felt that the VA's did a really good job, except for the one that does Kyoko.)

[quote="Fish and Chips"]Yeah, I only didn't mention FullMetal Alchemist because I feel both the Japanese and English VAs were on equal footing]
The FMA dub is only mediocre. Ed's voice is a tad raspier compared to the sub, and I cannot stand Al's dub voice.

Well, it's all what you're used to I guess. I think Ed's raspier voice fits him, and Al is believable, even if you hate it. But again, I keep them (and many other shows I enjoy both languages of) on the same level, not superior to the original.

I'm really more of a sub person myself, but Evangelion and especially Rahxephon are good dubbed. I found Rahxephon's quality excellent.

TriezGamer wrote:Full Metal Panic (Etoh: Funi's using the same voice cast for TSR, and it's still good quality. No need to worry.)

You've just made me a happy happy boy!

Fish and Chips wrote:Well, it's all what you're used to I guess. I think Ed's raspier voice fits him, and Al is believable, even if you hate it. But again, I keep them (and many other shows I enjoy both languages of) on the same level, not superior to the original.

My friends and I were at Akon when FMA was originally announced. The version of the trailer that we saw, Ed and Al both had southern accents. It was wild!

Whoever says Fruits Basket I'll have to disagree! All the dub voices for Furuba were like finger nails on a chalk board for me! I don't see why so many people think it was so well done, but maybe its just me... oh, but the one voice I did like was Aaron Dismuke who did Hiro's voice (and is it just me, or did just about ever VA who had a part in Furuba have a role in FMA as well? With the exception of Christopher Sabat [Ayame Sohma] and maybe some others that I didn't look at)

Anyway, this isn't about the WORST dubs, so the best ones...

I"ll Agree:
Full Metal Alchemist (I liked the VA's from Furuba in this!)
Cowboy Bebop
Full Metal Panic
Wolf's Rain
Scryed (but apparently people just don't like that series)

And there was something else, but I can't think of it...

I actually really liked the Fruits Basket dub. It was nice to have a MALE do Yuki's voice. I like Aya Hisikawa, don't get me wrong, but for the most part I have problems with females doing voices for adult male characters.

Which brings me to my next one, Rurouni Kenshin. Sorry, but I can't stand Kenshin's Japanese voice. At all. The dub for me is far superior just for Kenshin's infinitely better voice.

Actually, really the only character I hated in the Fruits Basket dub was Ritsu and his family. But I hate them in Japanese too, so I guess it hardly matters. XD

Like I said, maybe its just me...XD

I thought Noir's dub was exemplary. All the voices fit the characters, and there wasn't very much "overacting" which a lot of dubs fall prey to.

FMA and pretty much every dub with Steve Blum as the lead VA, I usually find superior to the sub.

Rahxephon: When I watched it for the first time, I didn't feel like I was listening to a "dub" at all. The acting was so well done and natural. (plus I find Ayato's Japanese voice irritating)

Spriggan: I haven't seen the sub (yet) but they took a lot of care with this one. Chris Patton is easily one of the best English VAs out there.

Hellsing (both versions): Come on. It's set in England. Therefore they will sound better if spoken in English.

L/R: Same reasoning as above.

Black Jack: Sparky Thornton's best performance to date as the mysterious doctor. Side characters are also handled very well, with Richard Hayworth giving a good turn as rival Dr. Kiriko.

Noein: I'm REALLY enjoying this one, the girl who did Edward from Cowboy Bebop is finally back! Very fun to listen to.

And of course the old standbys Trigun and Cowboy Bebop.