The Deviant Art Otaku Spot Issue 20
_{Subs Versus Dubs, who reigns supreme in the anime world?}

Just about every anime DVD you purchase today will give you the option to change the language to Japanese with subtitles, but whice are better? What do people prefer? And why?

Reviews of the issue
Magikano volume 1
3 volumes available from ADV


Plot Summary
Ayumi Mamiya is a witch cursed to lose her powers but there is one boy who can break the spell and save her. Haruo Yoshikawa thinks he is a normal boy but unknown to him his three sisters are witches who use their magical powers to keep him protected and ignorant about the existence of magic. Now Ayumi must wake up Haruo's latent powers to save herself but his sisters will have none of that.

Pros of the anime
In my opinion, one of the biggest pro's going for this series is the sisters characters. They are very amusing, have very individual personalities (like loving to count money) and are very quick to pull out their "Memory Hammers" which they will slam on to someone's head to make them forget what they saw. So they are often using them Haruo because he isn't suppose to know that they are witches. When ever this happens I laugh because it is so absurd! The humor in this is amusing as well, I love the "Shop Magikano" ads. The DVD itself is nicely laid out and changing between languages is easy and getting to the episode you left off on is simple.

Cons of the anime
Typical, very typical. This looks like a blatant ripoff of "Mabuharo". I mean, come on, the girl is trying to get into the male leads pants because she needs to him (because of his name and lineage) to dispel a curse. Also, the male lead is suppose to have these awesome powers that he has not unlocked yet... And they even advertise Mabuharo on the DVD. Also, its a very cliché harem anime using most of the usual themes that you would find in such a series.

Damaged Thoughts
I bought this series on a whim at the AnimeNEXT convention and so far I'm not sure if I am happy with my purchase (I bought all 3 volumes). I mean, I have already seen Mabuharo and I wasn't overly thrilled with that series as well. I mean, sure, it has its good points (I like these types of animes, like Inukami!) but overall I find myself muscling through each episode. I will finish this series because I purchased it and sometimes the humor makes me laugh, but I wouldn't go an recommend that you watch this unless you have some time to kill.

Lucky Star volume 1
1 volume available from Bandai Entertainment


Plot Summary
Meet Konata, an athletic and intelligent girl too dedicated to her favorite primetime animes to excel in anything but otaku culture; Miyuki, the cute, bespectacled living example of moe with an encyclopedic knowledge of all subjects; Kagami, the bitter-sweet, tough but shy straight-man to Konata's constant teasing and pranks; and her younger fraternal twin sister, Tsukasa, a kind but air-headed klutz. Witness this study in the human condition as our heroines explore the unexplored in questioning the ordinary!

Pros of the anime
I loved this anime so much! The inane humor and sheer unadulterated randomness of the series just has to make you laugh. It literally is an anime about the lives of the girls. You will laugh so hard at them trying to decide which end is the head of a choclate cornets and finding out which way people eat it. Konota's excuses for not doing her homework (ever) are hysterical as well. The intro theme is highly amusing and even has its own dance and the ending of each episode with Akira Kogami is just way to funny (the Karaoke is very funny as well). I have not laughed this hard at an anime since Azumanga Daioh.

Cons of the anime
Not a whole lot going in this department except that if you are looking for any real plot (aside from just going through school) you are not going to find it here. This series is all about just the lives of the characters, nothing more, nothing less. I was not personally thrilled with the dub either, but that probably cause I never really give dubs a chance.

Damaged Thoughts
This series is a must see! It is so funny and you will fall in love with the characters and all their silly quirks. The animation is very smooth and Lucky Star makes a great use of expressions in the series that just make you laugh more. When I watched this series I realized that I was so much like Konota (or Konota is like me for I came first XD ) that I wasn't sure how I felt about that fact. She's lazy and unmotivated for things she doesn't like and has the strangest thought process of any character I have seen. I did not get the art box, but the DVD is really nice and easy to navigate as well. I have a feeling that this series is going to become a staple series very soon (if it is not already)

Reviewed By: ^Damaged927

Issue Twenty - Subs versus Dubs
This is often a topic of much debate and it is always a question that will come up when you talk to someone about anime. Did you watch it subbed or dubbed? But which one reigns supreme? What do people like more? Why do people like one or the other more?

Well, these topics are very subjective and there is no way that I could answer for everyone and more importantly there is no one right answer. So for this article I made a poll to see what peoples thoughts were on the matter. In this article I will tell you my thoughts and give a few quotes from that poll as well. Just a fair warning, I will be talking only about English Dubs for it is all that I am familiar with and I can't talk about other languages. So please just bear with me. But, before I get started I would like to thank the Deviant Art creative staff for the lovely DAOS banner! Thank you so much!

So what do I prefer and why
Personally, I much prefer subtitles over the dubbed language. My reasoning for this is because you hear the show as it was meant to be heard. Sure, its not my native tongue and sometimes it is annoying to have to read the show I am watching, but as a whole, I would much rather hear the Japanese voice actors over the American voice actors.

But why? For me its a number of reasons. First and foremost, I don't like a lot of the dubs that we get. The voice actors seem to be lacking in emotion and that really kills the scene. Or the voice just straight up doesn't fit the character at hand. Also, another thing that seems to often happen is that when it becomes dubbed people's names change or what they do changes (for instance Bleach they went from Shinigami or God of Death to Soul Reapers...). I have also been told that in early anime's they have been known to flip scenes around so people get in and out of the left side of a vehicle so it would look more American. And, sometimes, the dubs are just bad.

One of the main reasons I think that dubs are so bad is not necessarily the voice actors because some of them really do put forth a great act but the language itself. English uses a lot of words to get from start to finish of a thought where as Japanese (and many other languages) use much fewer words and the language is faster. So for an English sentence we could use, lets say, 15 words where as Japanese would use, lets say, 5. So the animation is done according to 5 words as opposed to 15. What that does is make the voice actors have to go faster and due to the language it sounds funny. How many times have you seen someone go "Oh, alright then, lets do that instead" and you have to laugh because they didn't pause after "Oh" and "then" where there is a natural pause after these words due to the comma? I bet a lot. But the reason for this is because they have to get that whole line out in a few seconds because the animation may have been set for only 2 words.

Though, in the defense of dubs, it does have the upper hand in the fact that you do not have to READ the show, but you can just watch it. So if I feel like sitting back and having a few brews I don't have to worry about the words getting hazy and not being about to read them (from experience). I can also get up and get something from the kitchen and still HEAR what is going on and know what is happening unlike the subs where I have to read the screen so if I get up I miss something.

Those are my thoughts on the matter, lets see what you had to say ^_^


The poll that I put together had overwhelming results for subtitles being the preferable means of watching anime. To see the poll you can go here. The results are:

73 Deviants said that they prefer subtitles - 85%
11 Deviants said that they prefer dubbed language - 13%
2 Deviants said that they don't watch anime - 2%

That last stat is kind of amazing to me, only 2 people? Wow! But thats a topic for another day. Anyways, here are a few quotes from the poll.

=kimicatdemon said:

"I've heard great subbed and great dubbed. However, certain anime, like Azumanga Daioh, it makes ALOT more sense if you watch it in japanese. (Mostly because of the running gag on how kagura cannot speak/know english very well. It doesn't make much sense when Tomo ask her to say it in a diffrent language when they are speaking in english, however, in japan they use the saying "Say that in english." which is a commonly known phrase.) So in the end, it really depends on what you are watching. >:"

=Electromechanical said:

"Splendid subtitles. Not only are they easier to locate compared to dubs (or so it seems at the moment for me) but I also am forced to do an activity other than laze around as I blank out at the screen-- I must read as I hear their lovely original voices!"

*ancient-twilight said:

"Well it depends... if the dub is done by a good company then I'd prefer the dub to the sub because it saves me having to read and I could focus more on actually watching the show. But since many companies are complete retards then most of the time I like the subs. Plus there are some animes that just wouldn't work with english dubs. I'm of the opinion that an english dub of Host Club, for example, would be horrendous because there's just this tone and way of expression that the original Japanese version has that can't be captured by english actors because certain ways of expressing one's self aren't part of western culture."

*VAngelLJ said:

"I watched dubbed the first time round because I'm a tad slow and can never manage to read the subtitles and watch the action at the same time. After I know the story though I tend to watch in Japanese with subtitles turned off."

*Berii-Chan said:

"Subs of course
You see the series how it was meant to be seen originaly...

I tend to like the VAs way more (more emotion maybe?), since for most series, English does not do it justice . There are however a special few I could stand, and enjoyed (I liked English Elfen Lied a lot! One of the only ones I've ever been truly pleased with.). I'm not saying Japanese VAs always rock, I've seen some preeeeety annoying voices (Nanoko from Amazing Nurse Nanoko would be a prime subject here ) .

Also, there's the whole censorship problem >_> , which I'm sure you know very well from seeing Kodomo no Jikan being censored in Japanese, and they aren't even bringing it to America now :< .

Then some jokes can not be brought over to whatever new language it's being dubbed in. For example some otaku jokes or Japanese puns in Lucky Star may not be brought over to the English version.

Sometimes the words match up horribly with the mouth in English...I tend to make fun of that "

*frankman said:

"Dubbed, because I have ears.

The only reason why most people like subbed is because the dubbing sucks, but that's pretty much just the dubbers faults, not the concept of dubbing itself. I've seen animes with good dubs like Samurai X & FullMetal Alchemist, & I don't see a problem with those.

I'd rather have my eyes watching the show rather than the text below it."

~zetsui101 said:

"That's though to say.... I like certain aspects about dubs and subs. Some dubs are better than the subtitled, but on the other hand some subs are better than dubs. I watch dubs mainly, though, because they're more readily availible to me than subs. (Having dial-up isn't that helpful.)

I've bought anime DVDs that are subtitled only, though. My Princess-Princess boxed set from Media Blasters has no dubbing at all on all three discs. (Though I didn't expect it to be subs only.) Both subs and dubs are great; I just watch dubs more often."

=MissRedRose said:

"Although there are a lot of really good dubbing jobs done in the anime community (FMA, 2nd half of DBZ, The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya, Trinity Blood, Rozen Maiden)a majority of otakus today, still watch most of the newest and hottest animes to come out of japan via-subtitles. So, when the series finally gets to the US and is formally dubbed, most people will here the dub and go "Man this is wack!" and either not buy the DVD or change it over to subtitles. Which is many the case for some if not a lot of animes in rotation right now and to come.

I have heard rumors that some companies intend to completely take out the Japanese track from the DVD's and just focus on English Dubs, I will tell you now that would be a terrible mistake for all anime companies everywhere, especially in a shrinking anime economy.

As I always say, the best thing about otakudom is that we have the rights to choose from so many sytles as well as what language we get to view the entire series in, take that away, and you take away an otaku's rights to choose and we go to someone who gives us that choice.

So my final say is that the choice is personally in the ears of the beholders. And if you don't like the dubs, that doesn't mean you should not buy the anime DVD's just cause. Just change your language and subtitle options and you are all set and ready to go!"


Let's wrap this up!
Well, thats about all I have on this topic and I hope you have enjoyed the read. Please feel free to send in suggestions about what you would like to see written about

See you next issue


Anime in Focus: My-HiME

Plot Summary: Tokiha Mai and her sickly younger brother, Takumi, have received a scholarship to attend the prestigious Fuuka Academy. On the way, the ferry they are travelling on becomes the site of a destructive battle between two girls wielding apparently supernatural powers. This is only the beginning of their troubles, as Mai learns that she herself possesses these powers - the powers of a HiME.