I prefer my anime Subbed!
Why?
I tend to get really sucked into the story of whatever anime it is that I'm watching, in my opinion, the japanese voice actors tend to be a lot better at expressing certain emotions than their english counterparts.
What do you guys prefer and why?
?
Favorite Answer
Subs
Dubs are almost always terrible, and they tend to leave some stuff out (I guess cause they think overseas audiences wouldn't understand). I simply prefer to listen to the anime as it was originally intended to be heard; it's much more authentic that way, anyway. Same goes for foreign movies, as well.
Z-one
For me, definitely subbed, for the following reasons:
1. It's the original version. You hear the original voice actors/actresses and most of them fit really well to the characters that they were doing the voice of.
2. Most dubbed ones are terrible. There may be some good dubs, but most of them do not have the correct voice actor/actress for a particular character and makes the anime look bad. I'm glad that I watched the animes subbed, because Japanese voice actors/actresses can ''merge'' with the anime characters and make us engage with the anime much easily compare to the dubbed ones, which are usually unfit to the characters and makes an anime that has a rating of 10/10 to suddenly drop to 1/10 due to bad dub!
3. Some countries might dub some anime in a way that decreases the age rating so that it's suitable for a younger audience than what it was originally targeted. E.g. Yu-Gi-Oh!, Naruto, Digimon etc. This is the most annoying and frustrating thing that any anime fans would have. It's like watching a completely different show, and sometimes you won't get the real storyline. Not only that, the background music could be changed completely as well, and making an anime show not as epic as the original version. Some anime suffered from editing practices when dubbed, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Digimon etc. are the most notable ones. So you won't see blood, smoking, etc. So I don't really trust the dub.
4. Some dubs, even if there are good ones, but any puns and playing with words can sometimes be lost once been translated to a different language. Shaman King is one of those (nice avatar of Yoh BTW). In some subs I watched, there are some info to show that some puns or wordplay were used, so then I know that this will make sense only in Japanese. But in dubbed versions, sometimes they don't tell you this, and they usually change the dialogue everytime this happens, or simply...cut it.
So that's why I prefer the subs.
Eyes Like Stars
I prefer subbed!
Reasons?
1. Like you said, Japanese voice actors do more justice to the expressions and emotions of their anime character, much more than their English counterparts.
2. Most dubs sound weird...sort of detached...and just...THERE...but not there...get what I mean?
3. Dubs don't always say the exact lines that come in the manga, unlike the Japanese subs, which most usually relay all the information, straight from the book...or manga.
4. In dubs, they also censor. Censoring takes away from the fullness of the experience of watching an anime. I'm not saying it's bad like when little kids are watching it, but most of us otakus are teenagers so we ought to be able to take it on!
5. I'm learning Japanese, so subs are WAY more useful to me. I get to learn, and have genuine Japanese entertainment. ^-*
(But there are some dubs that sound legit, like Naruto and DBZ, but they tend to over-express their lines, in my opinion. But they still sound...normal. ^^")
Those are my reasons. I couldn't find any more, though. But maybe I'll edit if I do? ^^"
Meh
I'd agree that as a while, Hapaneae voice actors are better, but most dubs are actually very good. But I still watch subbed. Why?
• Subbed anime is a lot easier to find and download compard to dubbed anime.
• there are a lot more subbed anime available for me to watch.
• Fan sub groups release the BluRays, and most of the time, dubbed anime BD's aren't online.
Reasoning surprise you? Honestly, the quality of the voice acting is usually Good subbed and dubbed. They both have uncut versions, etc.
Even if I found more hd dubbed anime, I'd probably still watch subbed anime because it's what I'm used to.
Edit
Dubbed anime is censored? Hahaha those people clearly don't watch enough anime. Dubbed Nime is completely uncensored on the DVDs and on streaming services like Netflix. The uncensored version of shows get released the exact same way in the US/Europe as they do in Japan: the DVDs. If you watch currently airing anime in Japan, they're censored, just like they are on tv outside of Japan.
I have the most amazing... :D
I'm kinda in the middle- sometimes the English voice actors don't do a good job of finding the right voice to fit the character. But honestly, some dubs aren't that bad either like Death Note.