Best Dub

[Echoes]

Cowboy Bebop, I can actually stand it, a rare occurrence. I agree that Golden Boy wasn't bad either, the male lead was actually had a very amusing voice in the English cast.

[wingdarkness]

Cowboy Bebop goes without question as probably the most definitive dub (perhaps in the history of dubs) that totally trumps the Japanese version in voice-acting and overall audio asthetics...What's incredible is the Japanese version is pretty damn good too, but the english version brings it to a new, more universal level...

Others:

Ghost in the Shell SAC 1st and 2nd. OVA (Brilliant voice-acting)

Paranoia Agent

Basilisk

Fist of the North Star

Mobile Suit Gundam (Any G-dub with Char's many VA's as all 3 of them kick a$$)

[Major1138]

Full Metal Panic does a pretty good job with its dub, although some of the actors put a slightly different spin on the characters.

Azumanga Daioh isn't bad either. Some people don't like Osaka's accent, but I think they did a pretty good job in giving her that spaced-out quality.

Planetes is another series that's not unwatchable in English, although it is a bit uneven at times.

His and Her Circumstances I only mention because the actress who plays Yukino does a great job - everyone else is either average or bad. The worst is Arima, which is somewhat problematic as the relationship between the two is pretty much the entire point of the series.

[wingdarkness]

Originally Posted by Major1138

His and Her Circumstances I only mention because the actress who plays Yukino does a great job - everyone else is either average or bad. The worst is Arima, which is somewhat problematic as the relationship between the two is pretty much the entire point of the series.

You must be inside of my brain or something I was gonna say the same thing, but then I thought about how those two Voice Actresses did the episode previews and how much they annoyed me sometimes...But many elements of that dub for some reason just seem to work...Even the obnoxious voices fit the hyperbollic nature of most the characters...

[Kyuusai]

First, let me just drop some contradictory opinions:

Azumanga Daioh's dub was not anywhere approaching "good". It was awful.
Cowboy Bebop's dub was also pretty bad. I was appalled by the dub before I ever saw the original.

Honestly, how low have our standards fallen?! Have we just been shoveled crap dubbing for so long that we think that anything above the level of inspiring a desire to stab one's self in the ear is equivalent to "high quality"?

Don't think I adore the originals just because they're in Japanese--I can admit when the original Japanese dub is awful. The simple fact is that even if you can gloss over how most shows are animated not just for different lip movements for for a very Japanese style speech delivery, and even if you can ignore those characters that clearly are intended to have distinctly Japanese voices... most dubs are still awful.

Comparing the average anime English dub to most other native-English animated productions shows a drastic difference in quality. Why?

There are some talented people working in the field. Scott McNeil and Brian Drummond are two excellent examples. Even so, the lack of proper direction, which can hurt the performance even of great voice actors, is quite apparent.

So, good dubs?
- Gundam Wing. Actually, I don't think the dub was that good (I'd be embarrassed to watch it with company), but it's head and shoulders above most English dubs, and since the Japanese dub was pretty lousy, anyway, I think it stacks up well. The fact that it lends itself to Western delivery helps.
- Kiki's Delivery Service. With the exception of the choice of Phil Hartman as Gigi (he was one of my favorites, but wrong for the role), I think this was an excellent dub. The little localization details occasionally bug me, but that's because I'm a nerd. I've have no problem watching this in English aside from already being attached to the original from years of wearing out my Japanese VHS copy as a kid. OK, OK, and the miscasting of Gigi and the inappropriately added music. Again, the western style made it work more naturally when translated.
- The original Fox dub of My Neighbor Totoro. I may be remembering this through rose-tinted earmuffs, but I recall thinking this dub sounded very natural. I never obtained the newer dub to compare. Again, having watched the Japanese original so much before there was an English dub, I'm more attached to the Japanese version, but as I remember, the English version was pretty good. Ironically, despite the setting, the pace of the movie made it work well in English.

[KholdStare]

1) Cowboy Bebop: Of course this anime is famous for its dub and it is excellent.

2) FLCL: They kept some honorifics in the dub, which is a surprise yet very realistic.

3) Most of the Ghibli films.

[Ziv]

Cowboy Bebop. It's not as though the voice actors were amazing, it's just that the voices fit the characters so perfectly.

[~ Lawliet ~]

I don't believe in such a thing. Cannot stand dubs.

[Kyero Fox]

S-cry-ed, DBZ, Haruhi, Trigun,Yu Yu Hakusho

[Fruitfly]

Cromartie High School, Gun x Sword, and Full Metal Panic (the football episode in Fumofu was especially well done) are some of my favorites with good dubs.

I think I actually liked whoever voiced Minawa from Mahoromatics as well.

[Kyero Fox]

Originally Posted by Fruitfly

Cromartie High School, Gun x Sword, and Full Metal Panic (the football episode in Fumofu was especially well done) are some of my favorites with good dubs.

I think I actually liked whoever voiced Minawa from Mahoromatics as well.

AWww! damn I forgot Cromartie D:

yes that anime as well has good Voice acters

[ChibiMenos]

Fullmetal Alchemist is probably the one series I will only watch English dubs for---somehow, the voices just work better for it, at least in my opinion.

I also thought the dub for Last Exile was well done, maybe because I saw it in English first, but it seems a lot more energetic than the Japanese version.

[Kazuma77]

Inuyasha

[KholdStare]

InuYasha is weird. I watched the dub first before the sub, and I quite liked it. I find InuYasha's voice in the dub more soothing and less aggressive than the sub, but those who watched the sub first say that the dub has no emotions. I think it's a matter of reference based on what you watch first, because i prefer the more calm InuYasha in the dub.

[monster]

For audio, I'd say POKEMON, especially the pokemon themselves. What little I've heard from the Japanese version (mostly from the movies) was ok too, but I still prefer the English version.

[mcruz1014]

Originally Posted by Major1138

Full Metal Panic does a pretty good job with its dub, although some of the actors put a slightly different spin on the characters.

While I agree that the dub was fairly decent, I must say that I think Chris Patton was the wrong choice for the voice of Sousuke. Patton's voice is a little softer and gentler than Sousuke's character was intended to be IMO. You can note the aggressiveness and harshness to Tomokazu Seki's voice in the original track.

Although I have a few problems with Sousuke, the rest of the cast was pretty solid. Luci Christian and Vic Mignogna were spot on in their roles as Kaname and Kurz.

[Kyero Fox]

Trigun was dubbed very good! those who disapprove SHALL BURN IN THE PITS OF HELL FOR ALL ETERNITY!

[hideFan]

hmmm... Munto had a nice dub to it... (Huzzah Wendy!)

Also, I like Gatekeepers' dub.

[DarkCntry]

Goldenboy, FMP's overall dub, Nerima....I can go on with a few that I'm sure others will disagree, but again, dubbing is an acquired thing

I'd also have to add in Ghost Stories, simply because I watched the original language and understood why it wasn't very well-received overall, but ADV's rewrite actually worked flawlessly adding it into a comedy.

[siya]

Originally Posted by ArCainum

Same as worst dub, but instead the best dubs! I'm usually not a fun of dubbing, but I found that Full Metal Alchemist had really good dubbing, and good jap audio.

I would agree, FMA did have some good dubbing, I for one find they made Ed's voice better, the whole high voice in the raw was abit anoying