Do you prefer Japanese or English voice acting?

[Pedeadstrian]

The polls speak for themself. This is my new poll page thanks to advice from sanahtlig.

I would love English dubs of visual novels, but I would love visual novels designed for English/American audiences even more, because I could relate to it/understand the references more.

[Forythos]

I chose "No preference", because I feel I can appreciate both equally. There are many visual novels where I have felt indifferent to the voice acting, but there are a few cases, such as Umineko, where I would say the japanese voice acting really helped put me in the mood. Having played many english dubbed video games and watch some dubbed anime as well, I must say hearing things in english hasn't usualy affected my enjoyment. Even if I watch most of my anime subbed, I'm not the kind to get upset when I must watch it dubbed. Dual-audio when available is of course the best option, but with localization not always a possibility.

For the seconde question, having played japanese games since the age of Sega Master System and Nintendo, I feel that I have grown to really apreciate games made with a japanese audience in mind, but visual novels such as Katawa Shoujo have proven me that something written with western audiences in mind can be just as enjoyable, for different reasons. (such as the cultural references) So I chose "No preference" as well.

[sanahtlig]

This poll is much clearer. I'll transport my response from the other thread.

I got into subs originally due to a perception that Japanese voice acting was better suited to anime than English voice acting (some of this is due to cultural gaps embedded in language); in addition, the English dubs I'd seen just weren't very good. Since then, I've learned some of the language and Japanese audio is a large part of what makes anime "anime" to me. Just as hair color often denotes personality in anime, so too is voice part of the characterization. For eroge, the problem is even more acute, as now the additional issue of vocal attractiveness and H-scene audio comes into play. I think a lot of people get into eroge in part because they reject the tropes in Western pornography, and they might find the Japanese voice acting itself arousing. For those into lolicon or "school life", there's the additional problem of unwanted reminders of "real-life" children/teens, which are easy to dismiss when the voice is in an exaggerated foreign tongue (enforcing the "otherwordliness" of it).

My first exposure to Japanese media was through English dubs. I expect this is the case for most people. Anecdotally, I've exposed people who started on popular dubbed anime to subbed anime (sometimes of the same show). These casual anime watchers emphatically agreed that subbed anime was better than dubbed, though they had no knowledge of Japanese at all.

In general, outside the fandom I'd expect that the average person overwhelmingly favors English dubs (at least in anime). The most prominent reason for this, in my experience, is that they have difficulty reading the text and paying attention to what's going on on-screen at the same time. This is uncomfortable for many people and is particularly problematic for people with low reading speed. Visual novels with English voice acting are almost non-existent so there's little data to draw on there.

[Pedeadstrian]

*snip*

The most prominent reason for this, in my experience, is that they have difficulty reading the text and paying attention to what's going on on-screen at the same time. This is uncomfortable for many people and is particularly problematic for people with low reading speed. Visual novels with English voice acting are almost non-existent so there's little data to draw on there.

That is definitely a contributing factor for me.

Now, I'm not a slow reader, but when reading subtitles, books, visual novels, etc., in my head I read things as if someone was speaking it, at the speed that they may be speaking it. I basically read things as you might hear when listening to an audio book. I have absolutely no idea why I do this, though.

So when it comes to anime with English subtitles, I'll be reading too slowly, so I'll have to rush, and I just end up not enjoying it. Also, A.D.D. gives me tunnel vision; I end up either forgetting to read, or more commonly, focusing on the subtitles.

[sanahtlig]

Now, I'm not a slow reader, but when reading subtitles, books, visual novels, etc., in my head I read things as if someone was speaking it, at the speed that they may be speaking it. I basically read things as you might hear when listening to an audio book. I have absolutely no idea why I do this, though.

That's interesting. I play Japanese language VNs with machine assistance, and when I'm feeling impatient I'll actually skim the *machine translation* faster than the Japanese voice actor can speak the lines. For lines where I know the words, I can do the same with pure Japanese.

Reading at speaking speed is actually fairly common. It's a limiter many of us place on ourselves simply out of habit. You can break the limiter with practice (subtitled anime is actually pretty handy for that), and after you do so the pace of normal speech (and the lack of a skim option) can become annoying.

One of the downsides of immersing myself in subtitled anime, VNs, and the Internet is that my listening comprehension has probably atrophied a bit. When I watch an American movie without subtitles, I often end up missing words or lines. Even when the only option is English voice acting in game cinematics, I still turn on subtitles.

[Pedeadstrian]

That's interesting. I play Japanese language VNs with machine assistance, and when I'm feeling impatient I'll actually skim the *machine translation* faster than the Japanese voice actor can speak the lines. For lines where I know the words, I can do the same with pure Japanese.

Reading at speaking speed is actually fairly common. It's a limiter many of us place on ourselves simply out of habit. You can break the limiter with practice (subtitled anime is actually pretty handy for that), and after you do so the pace of normal speech (and the lack of a skim option) can become annoying.

One of the downsides of immersing myself in subtitled anime, VNs, and the Internet is that my listening comprehension has probably atrophied a bit. When I watch an American movie without subtitles, I often end up missing words or lines. Even when the only option is English voice acting in game cinematics, I still turn on subtitles.

I always turn on subtitles for video games too. Even in-game subtitles, and not just cinematic subtitles. But I hate closed captioning for tv... weird.

[Metaler]

It really depends on the quality. As it was mentioned before, anime and VNs are specifically made with Japanese voice acting in mind, and the same can be applied for Western media, like American games and movies. Just as some English dubbed anime feel odd, a Japanese dubbed cartoon would feel strange. Try imagining an episode of Family Guy in Japanese, and you'll kinda get the idea.

Admittedly, though, I prefer Japanese and Portuguese voice acting. Both languages give me the impression that they can convey meaning and emotion in a way that the English language simply can't achieve.

One of the downsides of immersing myself in subtitled anime, VNs, and the Internet is that my listening comprehension has probably atrophied a bit. When I watch an American movie without subtitles, I often end up missing words or lines. Even when the only option is English voice acting in game cinematics, I still turn on subtitles.

I used to feel the same for a very long time. I wasn't able to understand what the characters were saying unless there were subtitles onscreen, like in games. Though sometimes, I think that's because some games had terrible audio quality.

[Wahfuu]

Ah. This is a good poll. Nice.

Anyways, I believe dubbing over the original language inheretly runs the risk of ruining the artistic direction by too steep a margin. Even english translations of the text aren't always well preserved of the originals, it'll almost always be some form of a downgrade regardless. The voice acting a long with the text is just way to much margin for error when dubbing over the original. It compromises the original intent far too much.

That being said, an OELVN that was voice acted would be interesting to see so long as the voice actors are up to par. I'd be willing.

[Snowtsuku]

I have no problems with Englih dubbed media but the accent when pronouncing names and things that you can't translate in English bothers me.

[RusAnon]

Ugh, so many topics on the same matter. Will just quote myself from other one:

> Last option, because you cannot just substitute superior 声優 with random gaijin and expect anything good. Dubbers voices sound too "out of place" and irritate me beyond my threshold of tolerance, so there's not even a single anime/vn title I've finished with dub.

I've tried both eng dubs and rus dubs, and it just doesn't work — voices do not fit characters and setting at all.

For the seconde question, having played japanese games since the age of Sega Master System and Nintendo, I feel that I have grown to really apreciate games made with a japanese audience in mind, but visual novels such as Katawa Shoujo have proven me that something written with western audiences in mind can be just as enjoyable, for different reasons. (such as the cultural references) So I chose "No preference" as well.

I'd strongly disagree that Katawa Shoujo is designed for west audience. Even title is japanese, and it draws strongly on common VN elements. One of reasons why it was so successful in introducing people to VNs is because it IS typical moege.

[Snowtsuku]

Ugh, so many topics on the same matter. Will just quote myself from other one:

> Last option, because you cannot just substitute superior 声優 with random gaijin and expect anything good. Dubbers voices sound too "out of place" and irritate me beyond my threshold of tolerance, so there's not even a single anime/vn title I've finished with dub.

I've tried both eng dubs and rus dubs, and it just doesn't work — voices do not fit characters and setting at all.

And they were made by the same OP. I think OP is trying to create something *creates conspiracy theories*

[Metaler]

Ah. This is a good poll. Nice.

Anyways, I believe dubbing over the original language inheretly runs the risk of ruining the artistic direction by too steep a margin. Even english translations of the text aren't always well preserved of the originals, it'll almost always be some form of a downgrade regardless. The voice acting a long with the text is just way to much margin for error when dubbing over the original. It compromises the original intent far too much.

That being said, an OELVN that was voice acted would be interesting to see so long as the voice actors are up to par. I'd be willing.

Tradutore, traditore.

[Pedeadstrian]

And they were made by the same OP. I think OP is trying to create something *creates conspiracy theories*

Conspiracy theories? NOW we're getting somehwere! And yeah, sorry, my first thread was asking if anyone knew of any VNs with English VA, that got derailed into some good, ol' fashion flame wars, so I made a new topic with a poll, but the poll was admittedly not organized well, so I made this one, which I think is a better structure and has less hate speech.

[Pedeadstrian]

I have no problems with Englih dubbed media but the accent when pronouncing names and things that you can't translate in English bothers me.

Yeah, I agree. In the English dub of FLCL, the actors pronounce Japanese words that, at least to me, make it sound actually Japanese. I would love more voice acting with voices true to the character and the origin.

[zoom909]

Marked 'Other' on last question because I think, on the whole, Japanese VAs and their directors are superior, or at least take their work more seriously, than English VAs and their directors.

In first questio, I would've voted for "both new English audio and original Japanese audio provided, and you can choose which one you want from the game's options menu.

[Snowtsuku]

Yeah, I agree. In the English dub of FLCL, the actors pronounce Japanese words that, at least to me, make it sound actually Japanese. I would love more voice acting with voices true to the character and the origin.

Because of the GD thread I realized that Shiritori and Jap word plays won't make sense in English.

[jaxter0987]

I don't get the point of the first option of the first question. Wouldn't that defeat the point of "localizing" it?

1. In general, would you prefer Japanese or English voice acting in localized visual novels originating from Japan (assuming quality of the voice acting isn't an issue)?

Japanese voice with English text

2. Would you rather read Visual Novels designed for Japanese audiences or American/English audiences?

Japanese

3. If you prefer Japanese voice acting, why? (you may select more than one choice)

I'm a Japanese culture aficionado

I'm studying Japanese

I prefer localizations that are as close to the original as possible, and I believe a dub is a step further from this ideal than a text translation

I've watched a grand total of two anime in English dub and will probably never watch a dub ever again unless a good friend gives a compelling reason why the anime would be better dubbed. I'm definitely going to rewatch those two anime with subs whenever I get the chance to.

Honestly, if I had somehow ended up watching Clannad dubbed instead of subbed, I'd probably be a lot less antagonistic towards English dubs. But because I enjoyed that masterpiece with Japanese voices and English subs, I just can't view dubs the same way again.

I would rather read a novel with Japanese audiences in mind because I'm just fascinated by Japanese culture. That, and I'm tired of "American" culture to put it simply.

[Pedeadstrian]

I don't get the point of the first option of the first question. Wouldn't that defeat the point of "localizing" it?

That's true, but I still wanted the option there in case people don't like English text or VA.

[shcboomer]

I chose no preference for the first question, Japanese for the second, and other for the last.

For me, it doesn't really matter and it all depends to some extent on the VN and what it is about. There are some parts where I would feel that the English VA would be appropriate while others would have to be the Japanese VA. The second question brings me to why I dislike targeting the English speaking population. A lot of the time this is where things get censored and removed completely to become more "all-ages", even when they don't need to be.

[sanahtlig]

The second poll question is pretty vague. Is it referring to Japanese companies making VNs for Westerners, Japanese companies modifying VNs for Westerners, or Western companies/fans making VNs for Westerners? I think some might change their answer depending on which of these implied questions they thought was being asked.

[Pedeadstrian]

The second poll question is pretty vague. Is it referring to Japanese companies making VNs for Westerners, Japanese companies modifying VNs for Westerners, or Western companies/fans making VNs for Westerners? I think some might change their answer depending on which of these implied questions they thought was being asked.

Updated to reflect that.

[Eldin]

1: Japanese with English subs.

why? I can't read Japanese.

2: either one is fine.

why? as long as the story is enjoyable, idc who it was designed for/by.

3: other.

why? because with very few exceptions, English dubs are absolutely terrible. I just get the feeling that they're trying far too hard to sound like the Japanese actors, and it really just sounds like they're just reading off the script. mono-toned, emotionless, almost like the actor is bored. I can't help but wonder sometimes if people watching in japan feel the same way about their voice actors. I certainly hope not.

[REtransInternational]

For completeness there should be a "English voice with Japanese text" option... although not sure if anyone here would take that.

[Pedeadstrian]

For completeness there should be a "English voice with Japanese text" option... although not sure if anyone here would take that. :lol:/>

You know, I thought about that. I figured it would be a nonissue.

[Snowtsuku]

For completeness there should be a "English voice with Japanese text" option... although not sure if anyone here would take that.

Oh you. Why you do this?