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Worst dub performances?

matt0044

Well-Known Member
So... what would be a worst performance by the Japanese Voice actors?
 

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
Any female voice on a moe character that tries hard to sound cute with a high-pitched voice, but ends up sounded shrill, like she's squeaking/screaming into the microphone constantly. (Not saying all moe characters are like this, but there's a good handful of them that can't pull it off.) It was a rather common occurrence back in the day that's thankfully starting to die out, but they still show up from time to time. I hear the Little Busters! anime was bad about it (which is why I haven't gotten around to watching it yet, since I don't know if I should watch it subbed or dubbed).

It's why I'm not a fan of Natsumi Yanase's performances, whom I know best as Chihiro from the ef series (but she's also a main character on Little Busters!). Best way I can describe her is she tends to sound whiny and shaky for a moe character, almost like there's a fly buzzing in your ear. And she always sounds the same, so it's easy for me to pick her out if she's in an anime I'm watching. It's rather annoying, though some people hate her voice acting much more than me, and I can understand why.
 

Ampy

Light The Stars
Maka from Soul Eater sounded pretty awful in Japanese imo, just from the first couple of episodes. I switched to the dub after that so I'm not sure if she improved or not.
 

SBaby

Dungeon Master
Mona Marshall as Motoko in the dub of Love Hina. She didn't do too bad a job voicing her, I'm just used to hearing Mona voicing little boys, so it sounded a little weird hearing her voice a woman, lol.

You should hear her as Ryoko in the third Tenchi OVA. She's not terrible (the fans really overreacted when she was brought in to replace her original VA), but it is definitely weird hearing her voice a character like that.


Anyway, Samurai Pizza Cats. Not because of the performances though. The performances were actually great. No, because it is both one of the worst dubs of all time and one of the best dubs of all time, at the same time. Behind the scenes, Saban didn't have any transcripts for the dubbing of the show, so they actually had to write their own material, often times adding jokes (many of them not so kid-friendly) and satire into the show because they needed extra lines of dialogue, essentially creating a completely different show as a result. That's right. Saban invented the Abridged Series.
 

Zazie

So 1991
Could you even properly compare a recent dub to a 20-year-old dub? Dubs these days have gotten much better than they used to, even though I don't doubt there are still bad dubs. I honestly don't see how AoT's dub is bad, even though Bryce Papenbrook might be contributing to that.

This came to mind, and though I didn't mind the dub, the movie Armitage III Polymatrix had Kiefer Sutherland and Elizabeth Berkley as the two main roles. I think that's a hilarious choice.

Yes because the Big Green dub is flat out bad by any standards.

Gravitation is also pretty bad.
 

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
Anyway, Samurai Pizza Cats. Not because of the performances though. The performances were actually great. No, because it is both one of the worst dubs of all time and one of the best dubs of all time, at the same time. Behind the scenes, Saban didn't have any transcripts for the dubbing of the show, so they actually had to write their own material, often times adding jokes (many of them not so kid-friendly) and satire into the show because they needed extra lines of dialogue, essentially creating a completely different show as a result. That's right. Saban invented the Abridged Series.

You know what, I agree with this. I had a blast watching the show, but it was cringe-worthy at the same time as well. It's really amazing just how well it all blended together that no other dub has come close since (though I hear the Latin-American dub of Dotto! Koni-chan is like that). They tried to do the same thing with Digimon, but it was rather mixed at least, and even then, I think the script stayed true for the most part, so they didn't have an excuse to write everything from scratch.
 

Steampunk

One Truth Prevails
See, I have yet to find a dub that had voice acting that I hated. Yes there were some that were....off....but overall didn't detract from the show.
For example, people mentioned that the voice actor for Setsuko in Grave of the Fireflies was "annoying" but I just don't see it. Maybe its just me, idk.
 

Lionel

Active Member
God, I hate the Pokemon dub. It's mostly the reason why the anime was viewed with such hatred (and no, it's not because of the 'anime-logic; many of those logic actually makes sense in the real world). I just finished watching the Advanced Generation episode with Roxanne battling Ash in the Japanese version with Chinese subs, and there was this annoying error where Roxanne called out "Thunder Wave" in the dub instead of "Zap Cannon." This, along with some of the changes in context in the American dub made the American viewers thought that the anime was dumbed down, especially in terms of the game logic. Personally, I felt that the original Japanese version tried to be more logical than the dub in terms of its dialogues, which churned out stupid pun jokes every five minutes, whereas the original tried to remain serious.

That is why, kids, the original is often better. Don't listen to those Japanese-hating elitists. If not for the original, your crappy dub wouldn't have been made in the first place.
 
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Kuvario

I am who I am...because of them.
God, I hate the Pokemon dub. It's mostly the reason why the anime was viewed with such hatred (and no, it's not because of the 'anime-logic; many of those logic actually makes sense in the real world). I just finished watching the Advanced Generation episode with Roxanne battling Ash in the Japanese version with Chinese subs, and there was this annoying error where Roxanne called out "Thunder Wave" in the dub instead of "Zap Cannon." This, along with some of the changes in context in the American dub made the American viewers thought that the anime was dumbed down, especially in terms of the game logic. Personally, I felt that the original Japanese version tried to be more logical than the dub in terms of its dialogues, which churned out stupid pun jokes every five minutes, whereas the original tried to remain serious.

That is why, kids, the original is often better. Don't listen to those Japanese-hating elitists. If not for the original, your crappy dub wouldn't have been made in the first place.

So much wrong with this post. Firstly the anime is hated because of Ash and Team Rocket, the dub has nothing to do with this unless you're talking about the TPCi dub. Oh noes, an error! That's not much of a problem seeing that people do make mistakes, and accuracy isn't always needed for a great dub, it's nice to have it, but as the 4Kids dub of Yugioh and Pokémon has shown, voice work, music, and scripts are more important than extreme accuracy. It's for kids, the show has always been for kids, of course it'll be dumbed down. Stupid jokes every five minutes, again if you were talking about the TPCi dub then it works, otherwise, not at all. And besides there are far worse dubs out there like the ODEX dub of Yugioh, 4Kids's dub of One Piece, the Malaysian dub of Dragon Ball Z, etc. Compared to those dubs, the 4Kids dub of Pokemon is god-tier.

Rica as Ash sounds like an engine, Nyasu's voice can shatter glass by just how high it is, the Japanese original isn't always better. The FUNi dub of Dragon Ball Z shows that dubs can be as good or even better than their original counterparts. Lol, Japanese hating elitists? This post reeks of dub hating elitist by that standard. If the so called "crappy" dub hasn't been made in the first place, then your anime wouldn't have even become popular. This can work both ways.
 
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QCControl

Member
I'm pro subs all the way, but there have been a few dubs I've been pretty satisfied with. Y'know: Full Metal Alchemist, Cowboy Bebop, Dragon Ball Z. Though, I'm not a fan of the dubs of anime at all, but can understand why some people would like them. There are times though when bad dubbing takes it WAY to far. Has anyone seen the dub for "Watamote"? How dare they screw up my Tomoko Kuroki like that. Its borderline horrible. AKB0048 was another really bad recent dub.
 

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
There are times though when bad dubbing takes it WAY to far. Has anyone seen the dub for "Watamote"? How dare they screw up my Tomoko Kuroki like that.

You know, given who Tomoko is, I don't think the voice is bad. I don't think Monica Rial was trying to imitate Izumi Kitta, but she put her own little spin for an English-speaking audience. Yeah, I still prefer the sub (since Izumi gave her a unique voice), but she sounds pretty spot-on for a socially-awkward girl. She talks to herself most of the time anyway, she's going to sound a bit bitter, nervous, and desperate at times (as said by a socially-awkward girl who has had bitter thoughts and sarcastically imitated other people to herself while still having a hard time talking to people sometimes).

Monica Rial is a good voice actress (she can do moe correctly in an English dub, and I enjoyed her as Mayaya in Princess Jellyfish), and she has a good track record. I'm sure someone could've done Tomoko good (or better), but unless someone can name a better English voice actress, she's good for the role. Sucks that your waifu doesn't have the perfect English voice for you (my husbando Senketsu doesn't have the perfect English voice either), but she's seriously far from being the worst voice out there.
 
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QCControl

Member
You know, given who Tomoko is, I don't think the voice is bad. I don't think Monica Rial was trying to imitate Izumi Kitta, but she put her own little spin for an English-speaking audience. Yeah, I still prefer the sub (since Izumi gave her a unique voice), but she sounds pretty spot-on for a socially-awkward girl. She talks to herself most of the time anyway, she's going to sound a bit bitter, nervous, and desperate at times (as said by a socially-awkward girl who has had bitter thoughts and sarcastically imitated other people to herself while still having a hard time talking to people sometimes).

Monica Rial is a good voice actress (she can do moe correctly in an English dub, and I enjoyed her as Mayaya in Princess Jellyfish), and she has a good track record. I'm sure someone could've done Tomoko good (or better), but unless someone can name a better English voice actress, she's good for the role. Sucks that your waifu doesn't have the perfect English voice for you (my husbando Senketsu doesn't have the perfect English voice either), but she's seriously far from being the worst voice out there.

Firstly, Tomoko Kuroki isn't my waifu. While she's in my top ten for favorite anime characters of all time, that doesn't make her my waifu. That honorable spot belongs to the amazing "Niko Yazawa" from the Love Live franchise! Yes, Monica Rial is a fine English Voice Actor and maybe nobody else could fit the role, but that doesn't mean they need to dub an anime that pathetically. I'm not even dub hating. The dub is known as a really bad dub and most people from "myanimelist" would agree, even the dub fanatics. Her voice just doesn't fit the vibe Tomoko Kuroki gives off, its how it is.
 

U.N. Owen

In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night ...
Agapio Racing Team dubs. It was so bad, that the first line of their Wikipedia page calls them "infamous." Just listen to their Digimon dub (Episodes 1-26).
 

CyberBlaziken

A Greater Evil
Cardcaptor Sakura, the one named as 'Cardcaptors'. Awful, just awful. They sound like they're in their mid-20s, edits and censors here and there.

I actually watched the Omni/Animax dub when I grew up, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I recently rewatched it and then came across this crap, then leaned towards the subs.

Pokemon whilst DP and BW genuinely sucked, XY Ash sounds more gelled in.
Though I cringe every time Professor Oak, Delia, and the Rocket trio come on screen.
 

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
Cardcaptor Sakura, the one named as 'Cardcaptors'. Awful, just awful. They sound like they're in their mid-20s, edits and censors here and there.

I actually watched the Omni/Animax dub when I grew up, but I couldn't find it anywhere. I recently rewatched it and then came across this crap, then leaned towards the subs.

I'm of the minority [of the minority], but I actually don't mind the Ocean dub of CCS. There were edits, yes, but most of it was because of Kids WB, something Nelvana, the distributor, didn't have much control over (and all of the episodes were dubbed, but Kids WB didn't air all of them). The voices are not that bad given the experiences of the voice actors and actresses--most of whom are still active in the industry (Matt Hill sticks out to me the most). If the voices came off weird (something I've noticed more with the first movie, but I don't cringe too much with that one), this is the fault of the voice director. I will always say Cardcaptors was probably an experiment, because no other of Ocean's shoujo dubs did this and I don't think Nelvana chose to distribute shoujo afterwards.

I'm honestly pissed that NIS America didn't redub CCS when they got the license and instead used the old Animax dub, probably because it's cheap or whatever. It sucks, because there's talent there as proof with Toradora!'s dub, but I can't stand the Animax dub. I don't care if the voice actors are actually good voice actors for their respective countries the dub's been aired in, I don't like how squeaky the voices are, and some voices just don't work in English--Yukito I don't think works well in English played by a woman. I made that attempt to watch the Animax dub, but I gave up before I could reach Li, I just couldn't take it anymore.

I'm just really sad this is what happened to CCS over here, and I hope that Tokyo Mew Mew will get rescued and treated better.
 

XY&Z Legend

Just chillin
Any anime that was dubbed under 4Kids, except Pokemon and the first Yu-Gi-Oh series, is likely to give fans a slap on the face. Though I appreciate how Dan Green and Eric Stuart provide energy and potential to their Yugi and Kaiba characters, most of the voice actors in the series sound out of character and provide performances that some would find cheesy and laughable, much like a Shakespearean play you are forced to listen to back at high school.

The biggest offender ought to be 4Kids' version of One Piece. Though I would give most praise to Marc Diraison's portrayal of Zoro/Zolo, most actors sound like nails on a chalkboard, particularly Sanji's voice. Had it been dubbed by Funimation in the first place, One Piece would not be infamously be known today for 4Kids' travesty of this beloved anime.
 

CyberBlaziken

A Greater Evil
I'm honestly pissed that NIS America didn't redub CCS when they got the license and instead used the old Animax dub, probably because it's cheap or whatever. It sucks, because there's talent there as proof with Toradora!'s dub, but I can't stand the Animax dub. I don't care if the voice actors are actually good voice actors for their respective countries the dub's been aired in, I don't like how squeaky the voices are, and some voices just don't work in English--Yukito I don't think works well in English played by a woman. I made that attempt to watch the Animax dub, but I gave up before I could reach Li, I just couldn't take it anymore.

I'm just really sad this is what happened to CCS over here, and I hope that Tokyo Mew Mew will get rescued and treated better.

I found the dub by Animax one of their best works, probably after Inuyasha. It just gelled and the squeaky part wasn't the biggest issue with the VA's. The voices were squeaky in the subs too.
Compared to the other dub, this was amazing. Skipping fillers is fine, but cutting episodes that are actually important crossed the line.
Or maybe it differs what you watched the first time whilst growing up. I'm not saying the VA's are bad, just that it was handled very poorly. I couldn't watch more than 1 episode.

I actually found a torrent of the Animax/Omni dub and going to download it.
 

Kutie Pie

"It is my destiny."
I found the dub by Animax one of their best works, probably after Inuyasha. It just gelled and the squeaky part wasn't the biggest issue with the VA's. The voices were squeaky in the subs too.

I'll have to take your word for it with Animax. And I know the original voices were squeaky as well, but that's to be expected. I honestly struggled a little bit to watch the original Japanese the first time around because it was too cute for me (squeaky voices notwithstanding--I'm a bit sensory sensitive when it comes to voices). And I think that's a bit of a problem with CCS--if I have to find something negative to say about the series, it's that there's too much cuteness regardless if that was the point. It was also too happy. Was it too much trouble to give actual conflict? "The Clow Cards will destroy the world" doesn't really count because we didn't get to see that in action, at least not on a nationwide scale (Earthy I think could've had more done with destruction). Why couldn't Eriol be a legitimate threat?

Sakura becoming a tomboy in the Ocean dub may not have been the best thing to do (hasn't personally bothered me, though), but at least the voice actress didn't attempt to scream "HOEEEEEE" because it wouldn't have worked. I also laugh more with Matt Hill's portrayal of Kero, he just screams "Kero" to me, not that Aya Hisakawa wasn't great but I think a little bit of the performance was lost on me.

Compared to the other dub, this was amazing. Skipping fillers is fine, but cutting episodes that are actually important crossed the line.

Kids WB and/or Nelvana skipped them, Ocean dubbed all of the episodes (which baffles me because the Sand Card episode was fully dubbed, yet it was shoddily-put together as a "backstory" episode with the first one for broadcast).
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
Cardcaptor Sakura, the one named as 'Cardcaptors'. Awful, just awful. They sound like they're in their mid-20s, edits and censors here and there.

Agreed the voice acting was off especially Sakura's voice which was youthful in the original but sounded much too old in the dub. One Piece's 4kids dub was also bad. ^^;
 

XY&Z Legend

Just chillin
Agreed the voice acting was off especially Sakura's voice which was youthful in the original but sounded much too old in the dub. One Piece's 4kids dub was also bad. ^^;

Same here, the 4kids dub of One Piece is the one of the main reasons for One Piece's lack of popularity in the west mostly due in part with the ridiculous voice acting, unnecessary censors, and omission of important story arcs. Simply put, One Piece was never meant to be a show for kids. Sorry for being off topic, but it's just like turning a Rambo movie into a saturday morning cartoon show.
 
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