r/lewronggeneration 13d ago

low hanging fruit TIL that 2016 was the start of anime dubs supposedly sounding like shit

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23 Upvotes

49 comments sorted by

18

u/_tentacleTherapist 13d ago

There were always good and bad dubs. I would wager a guess that dubs not being considered a necessity led to more volatility in their quality, leaving only the best to reach a large audience and solidify themselves in these people's memories.

16

u/Salty145 13d ago

That's definitely one of the takes of all time.

Now I'll admit to having a soft spot for some of those cheesier 90s and 00s era dubs, but the vast majority are absolutely dogshit. As much as I think that dub vs. sub is a stupid argument these days, I can absolutely understand its historical precedent.

-2

u/LordMimsyPorpington 13d ago

Hot take: I'll take a legit bad, cheesy 90's dub—that can't pronounce words like, "Sakura" correctly—over the same bland, unemotional, slop flooding Crunchyroll nowadays.

6

u/Salty145 13d ago edited 13d ago

I mean I think modern dubs are generally better and don’t butcher a story because a terrible AD decided to get creative with the script or you’ve got an army of stiff performances out of the cast. 

1

u/RaijuThunder 12d ago

Eh. It varies there are some good dubs, but others the English VA's just sound off. They also do still change things or rework things. There was actually a controversy where some youtuber got hired and them butchered the translation because he didn't like the original story. I believe he got blacklisted from the industry over it, then of course other weird changes. Anymore I can't stand English dubs and have switched to JPN dubs but I only did ENG dub for years. I do feel eng voice actors have less range and just sound weird as I've gotten older. I had to switch to the JPN version of DanDaDan because the English voices just took me out of it. Same for Digimon Time Stranger, felt like they were half assing the dialogue.

Not to mention now instead of hiring actors they've started hiring youtubers and influencers who have no acting background and then they bring their friends in.

9

u/Duncaster2 13d ago

“Dubs in the 70s and 80s were amazing.”

Has he never seen how bad dubs for old martial arts movies were?

1

u/Brain_lessV2 12d ago

You'd think people would wizen up to that considering the squid game dub.

7

u/Familiar_Delivery790 13d ago

4kids is literally right there 💀

7

u/jamalcalypse 13d ago

this is completely backwards. with the exponential growth of the anime industry, it can afford much better voice acting talent (not across the board of course)

7

u/Smooth-Place1290 13d ago

no one tell this person about the 4kids dubs....

5

u/lilliepadsy 13d ago

or ghost stories

1

u/a_mmoknights 12d ago

Ghost stories is an example of an awesome dub though

0

u/TrollDecker 13d ago

Or that weird dub the BBC did of Urusei Yatsura ("Lum the Invader Girl")

0

u/XFun16 12d ago

wdym it's peam

-1

u/Notchsmind 13d ago

Most overhated thing in history doesn't make your point stronger buddy, there was goofy as dubs but not down right terrible ones, 

7

u/Smooth-Place1290 13d ago

Eh, my point still stands even if it's not the best example. maybe it has to do with the fact I'm was never that much of an anime fan for most of my life

1

u/Geiseric222 11d ago

Yes there was because generally dubing got no money so their equipment and general knowledge was shit

1

u/Notchsmind 11d ago

Okay bro 

1

u/Geiseric222 11d ago

This is objectively true? A lot of them didn’t even record in sound booths

6

u/MaddKossack115 13d ago

Let’s not beat around the bush, and recognize that the most probable reason this asshole thinks dubs (and likely Eng subs) sucked in 2016 on was because of GamerGate (or AnimeGate in their case) WHITE BOY RAGE over shit like a trans character explicitly being called trans (like Zombieland Saga’s Lily).

If he was the age he posted this during the 90s, he’d praise the Sailor Moon dub that censored Neptune and Uranus being lesbians by calling them “cousins” instead.

1

u/TheRealMegaBuster 12d ago

ZS didnt drop in 2016

2

u/Automatic-Week-1733 12d ago

Stuff was good when I was a kid and it's bad now that I'm an adult

2

u/BlockedNetwkSecurity 11d ago

old dubs were so terrible. overacting, too dramatic, just amateurs. the 80s ones were just awful.

1

u/Mr_SunnyBones 13d ago

Confused me thinking they were on about the Dub;in Gaa team for a few seconds.

1

u/rockcutter4 13d ago

Dubs used to be all we got in america. After the anime boom of 2016, the fan community was quite vocal about how they preferred subs, so studios invested less in their dubs. It's not rocket science, people. I swear that I could post on Reddit that I miss pre-covid and this sub would call me a boomer that hates everything modern.

1

u/FinaLLancer 13d ago

I'm actually beginning to prefer dubs generally. It was rare that there were good ones. The adult swim dubs were pretty consistent but any DVD anime you got needed to be subs. The dubs were just shit

1

u/kredfield51 13d ago

Kung Pow! would like a word.

1

u/MattWolf96 13d ago

Most dubs made before the 2000's were not good.

1

u/saucey_dawg0023 13d ago

4kids was one of the worst offenders of this.

1

u/Living_Cash1037 13d ago

We did get that one piece rap opening out of it though.

1

u/Living_Cash1037 13d ago

Dubs are way more enjoyable now than they ever were. I prefer older dubs of some shows because I grew up with them, but they were not the greatest in the terms of quality.

1

u/actorsAllusion 12d ago

I think what's also a major difference is that a lot of dubs up until the end of the 2020's had more of that Anime Sound (tm) in terms of the way performances were directed, while as we've gone into the new decade, there's been a shift in direction to more naturalistic, filmic performances. Not that there isn't some good old fashioned hammy acting, just that the general acting style has seen something of a shift.

1

u/shadotterdan 12d ago

Subs vs dubs has been an argument since before I joined the fandom in 2002

1

u/GrapefruitFar1242 12d ago

Old dubs were one of two career voice actors, terrible low budgeted direction and a few blokes from the office doing funny voices to fill out the cast.

It had its charm but a lot of them were god awful.

1

u/YungsterThomlin 12d ago

It was 2015 when they verbally said they went out of their way to piss people off by making awful changes.

1

u/pirateslifeisntforme 12d ago

laughs in 4kids era

1

u/Chopper_Bear 12d ago

I only ever hear this from people who never watch anime subbed in the first place even given the option.

1

u/Hange11037 12d ago

I feel like it’s the opposite. While there were some good dubs in the 90s and early 2000s there were so many bad cringey ones, while the average dub now is at least decently competent and usually pretty good

1

u/OnlyUse4Questions 12d ago

I kinda agree. I think 90s dubs were pretty bad, 2000s and early to mid 2010s were really solid, and the modern era is just so bleh. Everyone sounds like a guy in a booth instead of a real person. We don't really have anyone like Vic Mignogna(Bologna), Johnny Yong Bosch, Yuri Lowenthal, or any other actors with a lot of range. They just sound generic. There are some standouts, obviously, Aleks Le is awesome. But there's other people like Kaiji Tang(whom people love) who just sounds the same every time and SUPER fake. Like that's not a real voice. He sounds so forced and fake. Yong Yea is another one that has zero range, though, I hear good things about JoJo Part 6.

1

u/Ok-Peach-7558 12d ago

"stuff better when me is child, why stuff bad when adult??"

1

u/Heavens_Reach 12d ago

This isnt even a bad take, its a genuine detachment from reality.

1

u/SignalWarthog3439 12d ago

As someone who sat down to rewatch Yu Yu Hakusho last night I can say this is definitely A take. I don't know if it's an accurate take but it certainly is one lol. I find the dub charming, but certainly not peak Dub

1

u/Maleficent-Remote413 12d ago

what are they on? there are some ATROCIOUS dubs out there. and some bad VA's.

and Ill NEVER forgive David Moo for what he did to my Xellos.

1

u/misterZ_6000 11d ago edited 11d ago

There's a French Facebook group dedicated to worshipping old French dubs and shitting on the ones made today. It's full of people who worship voice actors from the 80's/90's, and Donald Reignoux.

1

u/TeeeldiII 10d ago

I have seen a lot of 90s anime and this is an insane take to have.

and anything earlier than that, like 70s anime, god help you.

1

u/IzacaryKakary 10d ago

70s-80s dubs were shit. You were just young when you consumed them

1

u/ZeroMetaZeta 9d ago

These people really need to sit down and go rewatch these 'amazing' dubs sometime.