Do you prefer Japanese or English voice acting?

[sanahtlig]

Would you rather read Visual Novels designed for Japanese audiences by Japanese developers or for American/English audiences designed by American/English developers?

That's a mess. Try this:

Do you prefer VNs originating in Japan or OELVNs (VNs developed by Westerners)?

[Kendjin]

Misread content, apologies.

[sanahtlig]

This sums up how i feel about the bitching in this thread

What "bitching"?

[Snowtsuku]

This sums up how i feel about the bitching in this thread

Your post will be deleted if whyyoudothis is around.

What "bitching"?

Same thing I thought of.

[garejei]

1) JP voice, JP text.

2) As long as it's good, I have no preference. But it has to be good.

3) I usually find that JP actors do a better job. I'm not being a purist or anything (if an English dub is genuinely good, I'll fully acknowledge it), but that's just how I feel most of the time.

[Ashadow700]

Hm.... you know what? I mostly prefer to just keep the voices on mute. I always found it a bit strange to read english text while hearing japanese voices.

But with english voices I'd run into this personal problem I have in that I can take very cheesy writing, as long as it is not spoken out loud in a language that I understand. This is why I often prefer sub in anime; for whatever reason a really silly line in spoken english can completely ruin my immersion in a series, even though that exact line would not have bugged me if I had only read it.

I have no idea why this is. Guess it is just the way my brain works.

That said, I would still at the very least give an english voiceover a try, if only to hear how it would sound.

As for which audience it is intended; it really does not matter. It could have been made for South Africans and I would not care as long as it is good.

[blaiseantoine]

i'm actually a japanese addicted so i answered japan in all the 3 questions except japan voices with english text cos' i don't understand japanese

[Pedeadstrian]

That's a mess. Try this:

Do you prefer VNs originating in Japan or OELVNs (VNs developed by Westerners)?

I never actually knew was OELVNs are, so that's why I didn't do it. But 'k.

[sanahtlig]

I never actually knew was OELVNs are, so that's why I didn't do it. But 'k.

http://kineticliterature.com/the-meaning-of-oelvn/

Katawa Shoujo is an OELVN.

You'll have to tweak your choices or the wording of the question so that they match up.

[Sen]

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

My main reason for this is that I'm studying Japanese (bit by bit over the years), so it helps me practice in that I listen to the voice acting and compare it with what's written in the text. If at some point I'm already good enough to be fluent in Japanese, then my answer would change to "no preference".

2) Do you prefer VNs originating in Japan or OELVNs (VNs developed by Westerners)

- Japanese

Got introduced to VNs by a couple of Japanese titles and the more popular (and good) ones talked about on the internet are almost exclusively Japanese-made ones. I'm looking for some good Western VNs though, so feel free to recommend me some

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

No surprise here. I'm just interested in Japan, is all.

[FOX]

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

Visual novels are a tool which helps me with English. Thanks to them I can work on it and make it better. I haven't marked 'Japanese with Japanese text', because I can't read many kanji/understand the written language very well.

2) Do you prefer VNs originating in Japan or OELVNs (VNs developed by Westerners)

- Japanese

Well, v-novels are v-novels. Japanese media are 'other' comparing to Western and I like it in Japan.

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

- I'm a Japanese culture aficionado

- 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

[Eurobeatz]

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

Do you prefer VNs originating in Japan or OELVNs (VNs developed by Westerners)?

Japanese

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

-Dubbed ero content would bother me

The fact that visual novels are from Japan is one of the things that drew me to them, and I like for their translations to be as close to the original as possible.

[torbin12]

1. Japanese VA/English subs (Because I don't understand much Japanese)

2. No preference (I don't much care, if it's a good story)

3. I prefer Japanese Voice Acting because *Other* I believe many people may be missing the most important part of the Japanese VA in anime, VNs, and other games. The Engrish spoken by the girls. It is just sooo cute I could never give it up. I dont much care if the guys speak Engrish. Unless they're cute. Then...maybe.

[Pedeadstrian]

1. Japanese VA/English subs (Because I don't understand much Japanese)

2. No preference (I don't much care, if it's a good story)

3. I prefer Japanese Voice Acting because *Other* I believe many people may be missing the most important part of the Japanese VA in anime, VNs, and other games. The Engrish spoken by the girls. It is just sooo cute I could never give it up. I dont much care if the guys speak Engrish. Unless they're cute. Then...maybe.

How would there be Engrish if it's in Japanese? I don't have a lot of experience with Japanese voice acting, so maybe I'm missing something.

[torbin12]

How would there be Engrish if it's in Japanese? I don't have a lot of experience with Japanese voice acting, so maybe I'm missing something.

Engrish is a term applied to Japanese voice actors when they say some random word or such in English, but with an accent and just reading it, it comes out...funny. Like, if you have ever seen Steins;Gate, when Okabe says stuff like 'Mad Scientist is so cool!' Thats an example of Engrish

[Shikitohno]

It prefer visual novel with Japanese voice and English text. Since I am trying to learn Japanese it help to be able to read the sentence in English and then hear spoken in Japanese. Though I really do not require voice in visual novel I got the visual novel to read in the first place. The Japanese voice tend to go from cute to terribly annoying depending on the situation or scene example Chinami in Hoshizora no memoria.

[Pedeadstrian]

Engrish is a term applied to Japanese voice actors when they say some random word or such in English, but with an accent and just reading it, it comes out...funny. Like, if you have ever seen Steins;Gate, when Okabe says stuff like 'Mad Scientist is so cool!' Thats an example of Engrish

I didn't know random Engrish was so common. But yeah, I could see how it'd be appealing. Just like if there was an English VA translation and they said random Japanese words.

[Yeah Way]

In the end, I would just prefer JP voices for ero, because... you lot understand.

[SkySound]

I rather choose japanese voice with eng-text cause it's japanese voice sound cute and suit to the character while i don't understand japanese

i ever trying to watch anime with eng-dub but the voice was odd

[marjoni01]

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)?

Answer : Japanese voice with English text

Reason : Because I really like japanese voice than english voice because if it's japanese game then it have "Something" that english voice couldn't make it good as japanese voice ._.

Do you prefer VNs originating in Japan or OELVNs (VNs developed by Westerners)

Answer : Japanese

Reason : Well maybe you could say it's from my inner self ._. I prefer Japanese VN than OELVN .-.

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

Answer : 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

Reason : just as my answer said ._. I prefer localizations that are as close to the original as possible~ :3

[Clephas]

If it is a localized version of a VN I prefer to have the Japanese voices with English text (though I prefer to play the Japanese versions over localized versions). My main reason for this is quite simple: English dubs are so hit and miss in comparison to the more stable Japanese voices that it isn't even right to compare them. Of course, Japanese VAs have their crap moments - in particular the excess of high-pitched voices in cute girls - but English dubs still have a bad habit of being either awkward, awful, or both. A lot of this is because Japanese just doesn't translate well into spoken English. The struggle to balance translation with speakable English tends to create abominations that offend everyone, rather than just one side of things. Worse is the bad habit - illustrated by such infamous characters as Welch from Star Ocean 4 - of voice directors to want to imitate or surpass the high-pitched voices of the Japanese version. To be blunt, a lot of those characters voices grate so badly I feel like I'm listening to fingernails being dragged across a chalkboard. For lower-pitched voices, there are good English VAs... the only problem is that good VAs cost money and money is what localization studios don't have for VN or anime localizations. They cut corner after corner, until the result becomes something that just isn't quite right. Good dubs are so rare that I have almost never encountered them, and most of the ones I encountered were - quite ironically - before the professional English voice-acting community was well-established, rather than after.

As an example of a series that was hurt badly by dubbing: Code Geass. The anime was not nearly as good in dubs as it was in Japanese. The melodrama of the anime was one of its biggest draws, and they somehow managed to ruin that in a lot of the key scenes. I gave up watching dubs for anime altogether after that...

[Okami]

I answered first pool with Japanese voice with English text because of various reasons. First would be quality of Japanese dub that is alot higher than the English dub, also I love original dubs no matter wath language it is + I love how Japanese sound, and as I don't know Japanese well inaf to reed VN's I need English text so I can understand it. The second pool I answered with Japanese, I am Anime fun (Otaku) and the anime is made in Japan, Wester cartoons will never be anything like the anime. True unlike Western cartons that are very very very far from anime, there seems to be some western VNs that are good but that is because they are made so that they would be like they are made in Japan by people who themselves like Japanese VN's so they made their VNs closest to Japanese ones as possible.

[Crimrui]

Japanese voice, of course, with Japanese text would be my vote but since I don't know Japanese at the moment, I would go with English text. And I would love if the localization would be close to original as much as possible. Removing all signs of Japanese origin and setting in games/VN usually bothers me.

[nemchua]

Last question:

I chose other because I think that in Japan, they take voice acting really seriously, and so, the japanese voice acting has a better quality than the english one. Moreover, according to me: transcribing the feelings is better done by japanese since it's something cultural, they know how to do it better.

[Shikitohno]

I would always go with Japanese voice but English sub. I for some reason cannot stand it when English voice actors do the voice overs, it so now when I watch anime, play video games, or read VN's from Japan they have to be in Japanese otherwise the quality of the material drops for me. This is a habit built up from one of my friends who would always criticism for watching dub and the next thing I know, after watching anime subbed I cannot go back to dubbed. Plus, the Japanese voice attack is so much better then the English and it matches the character perfectly most of the time, though there were a few character were I hated the voice in Japanese.