Summary
People can get quite precious about localization, especially if they have long memories. In the past, anime dubs could suffer from bad acting, dodgy direction, worse production, or all three depending on the budget. Even the ones with cash to splash could end up making an otherwise serious anime sound like a Saturday morning cartoon.
But nowadays, figuratively and literally, “dub” isn’t a four-letter word. There are English performances that are on par with their Japanese counterparts and some that even exceed them. These seinen anime are fine in Japanese but have fantastic English dubs.
8Akira
Akiraopened the way for anime in the West, though that didn’t mean its original Wally Burr Entertainment dubwas exactly Shakespeare. It hasn’t aged well with its more corny, over-the-top performances and rougher translation. That, and Cam Clarke using his Leonardo voice fromTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesfor Kaneda does take some of the gravitas out of the movie. Not that it isn’t worth hearing as it can be quite entertaining.
The movie received a new dub in 2001 via Animaze, which is much more on point. The new translation makes the plot easier to understand, and it has more serious and fitting performances, particularly from Johnny Yong Bosch as Kaneda. This dub is much easier to find nowadays too as it’s been used for every official release used since. If viewers wantAkiraat its best dubbed, they should go with Animaze’s work.
7Psycho-Pass
Made by Production I.G. as a sort-of successor to Mamoru Oshii’s work onGhost in the Shell,Psycho-Passis also a cyberpunk series about future copsdealing with techno-crime and introspection. This time, it’s set in a Japan that assesses guilt by a person’s Psycho-Pass. The series follows rookie inspector Akane and Enforcer Kogami as they track down the criminal mastermind Makishima, who has somehow managed to game the system in his favor.
The dub also found favor with fans, who particularly clicked with Alex Organ’s delightfully evil take on Makishima and Robert McCollum’s edgy Kogami. Many still prefer the subs for Hana Kanazawa’s Akane. Ironically, others also cite that as a reason to go for the dub as Kanazawa is a very prolific VA whose voice can be heard in multiple shows fromNisekoitoDemon Slayer. Kate Oxley’s dub work gives them a new voice to hear for a change.
6Samurai Champloo
Shinichirō Watanabe’s work has generally received solid dubs. Even his early 1990s OVAMacross Plushad strong work from Richard Epcar and a pre-Malcolm in theMiddleBryan Cranston. Thus, it’s little wonder thatSamurai Champloo, his tale of two swordsmen and a young woman journeying across feudal Japan in search of the sunflower-scented samurai, would get a good dub too.
Steve Blum, Kirk Thornton, and Kari Wahlgren fit the roles of Mugen, Jin, and Fuu like a glove, bouncing off of each other and the curious cast of extras really well. Blum’s Mugen in particular is a chaotic tour de force that got fans sticking with the dub just to hear him in full. Still, it’s more on par with the Japanese acting than exceeding it. For any other work that would be fantastic. But that kept it in the shadow ofanother series Watanabe directed.
5Berserk (1997)
The 1997Berserkseries is generally regarded as the best adaptation of Kentarō Miura’s seinen masterpiece. Yet it’s not perfect, as the beautiful, bold artwork couldn’t quite live up to Miura’s original pages, and their animation wasn’t always up to snuff. Scenes from the original “Golden Age” arc also had to be cut or trimmed down to both meet broadcast standards (less blood and extreme content) and fit in its single 25-episode season.
However, its dub was quite good, especially for the late 1990s. Compared to the Japanese cast, the English cast’s delivery was much stronger. Marc Diraison’s Guts in particular became the defining voice for the character, but Kevin T. Collins could also be quite chilling as Griffith (“This is the last tear I’ll ever shed”). The cast returned and were arguably better in theGolden Agemovies, but even with their expanded Memorial Editions, many fans still prefer the 1997 series' pacing and performances.
4FLCL
Comedy is hard enough to translate within one language, let alone to another. When Japanese comedies get translated, the writers often end up having to make new, similar jokes in their place. It’s that or add pop-up context blurbs explaining the gag likeExcel Saga’s DVD extras, or like the fansubbers of yore, who did that even for simple words (“All according to keikaku*”).
FLCLmanaged to avoid either by having its English dub crew work with the Japanese cast and art staff, who were already inspiredby certain Western cartoon shows. As such, the dub is almost identical to the Japanese in tone, performance, and humor. The subs include educational notes to explain the quirkier jokes, but they often pass by too quickly because of the rapid-fire Japanese delivery. Unless one’s a fast reader, it’s easier to switch to the dub.
*“Keikaku” means ‘plan’.
3Black Lagoon
Rei Hiroe’sBlack Lagoonfollowed Lagoon Company, a band of pirate mercenaries who’d do jobs for one contact or another across Southeast Asia. Basically, it’s kind of likeCowboy Bebop, but on a literal ship instead of a spaceship, and its co-lead is a foul-mouthed gunslinger called Revy. Or at least it’s foul in the 2006 anime’s dub. She still has an attitude in Japanese, yet it feels less fitting for her.
The serieshas a multinational cast, which the English dub tried to get across with their performances, be they Chinese, Thai, Russian, or largely American like the Lagoon Co. The Japanese dub doesn’t do that, so it sounds more basic to fluent ears, and out of step to non-fluent ones. Thus, Revy is not only more accurate speaking English as a Sino-American, but she and her gang have more character that way too.
2Ghost In The Shell: Stand-Alone Complex
The 1995Ghost in the Shellmovie was the next big anime hit afterAkira.Mamoru Oshii’s sterile, serious approach to identity issues, memory, and technology has since overtaken Shirow Masamune’s original funny and fanservice manga. Even so, it could be too stiff and sterile, particularly in the voice department. Luckily, most of the movie’s cast was brought back in 2002 for another go withGhost in the Shell: Stand-Alone Complex.
It hit a balance between Masamune’s yuks and Oshii’s introspection, which comes through in the dub’s direction as Richard Epcar’s Bato and Crispin Freeman’s Togusa could trade barbs in between their musings. With Major Kusanagi’s new VA Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, the three did their roles so well thatSAC_2045used their return as part of the series’ promotion. As ground-breaking as the movie was,SAChas the better performance.
1Cowboy Bebop
What can be said about Shinichirō Watanabe’sCowboy Bebopthat hasn’t already been said? Its space western story about bounty hunters flying around the solar system has gone well beyond Japan in its appeal. LikeBlack Lagoon, its multicultural cast already lends itself well to English and other languages. It can get deep and thoughtful likeGhost in the Shellwhile throwing in some more light-hearted moments for fun.
It gave Steve Blum his most iconic anime role in Spike Spiegel, the easy-going bounty hunter, and had a strong supporting cast with some familiar voices like Mary E. McGlynn and Kirk Thornton. The original Japanese acting is good too, as Koichi Yamadera’s take on Spike is just as laconic. But the English dub feels so natural to English speakers that it’s become thedefinitive way to check out the series.
