A common argument among Anime fans is that dubbing sucks. However, I happen to be one of the few who actually appreciates dubbing in Anime, especially when it's done right. This thread is for people who have seen dubs they like to list them right here. If you are one of those people who hates dubs for whatever reason, then please do not post anything here. There are enough dub-bashing threads already.

That said, here are my thoughts of the following dubs which I think are well done (ranging from ***** to *** quality)

BEST: (AKA ranging from ***** to **** quality)
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Kiki's Delivery Service
Castle in the Sky (Disney) (it has its shortcomings, but I think it's still a good dub overall)
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Porco Rosso
My Neighbor Totoro (Both Disney and Fox Versions)
Whisper of the Heart
The Cat Returns
Pom Poko
My Neighbors the Yamadas
Howl's Moving Castle
Akira (Newer Dub)
Fullmetal Alchemist (Both Series and Movie)
His and Her Circumstances
Jungle Emperor Leo Movie
The World of Narue
Comic Party
Gokudo
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (ADV Dub; I haven't seen Streamline's--this is quite an underrated dub BTW, although the accents falter at times, the performances and the writing are lively and believeable--casting actual children in the roles of the three young protagonists is also a plus.)
Perfect Blue
Pet Shop of Horrors
Record of Lodoss War OVA (The show that got me into Anime; although the dub has a few stiff and/or awkward moments, it works well for this fantasy adventure and remains one of my favorites to listen to even to this day; Lisa Ortiz is great as Deedlit, and with the exception of Etoh and a few minor characters, the rest of the cast is done well.)
Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars
All Three Slayers Seasons (The first half of Season 1 is a little shaky, but it's all uphill from there. Lisa Ortiz's Lina Inverse is one of my favorite roles from her alongside Deedlit, and she is amply supported by Eric Stuart, Veronica Taylor, and Crispin Freeman)
Wings of Honneamise
The Devil Lady
King of Bandits Jing
Steam Detectives
Infinite Ryvius
Golden Boy
Animation Runner Kuromi 1 & 2
This Ugly Yet Beautiful World

OK DUBS (***1/2 to *** quality)
The Wonderful World of Puss 'N Boots
Now and Then, Here and There (The kids' voices don't sound like children, but the overall dub works fairly well)
Great Conquest: Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Final Fantasy OVA
Grave of the Fireflies
Koihime
Neon Genesis Evangelion (Series and Movies) (Yeah I know, it's overemoted at times, but there are some good performnaces in here.)
Panda! Go! Panda!
Record of Lodoss War TV Series (Weaker than the Lodoss OVA dub, but it's not as unlistenable as I've heard many say. There are a few grating issues about this dub that do bug me, but most of the returning voices from the OVA as well as Crispin Freeman's Spark and Angora Deb's Leaf make up for them.)
The Vision of Escaflowne TV Series (Note: This is the dub existing on the DVD release I'm talking about, not the FOX edit)
Ghost in the Shell

-Jon T.

The only dubs I can stand are the Cowboy Bebop dub and the Ranma 1/2 dub. They were pretty well done.

You fail for not including either of the Hellsing incarnations in your list.

Yeah, I think the Hellsing dub is pretty good. I prefer the Japanese voice actor for Alucard, but aside from that, I think a lot of the voice actors in the dub are better.

Yeah, I think the Hellsing dub is pretty good. I prefer the Japanese voice actor for Alucard, but aside from that, I think a lot of the voice actors in the dub are better.

The woman they got for Integra Hellsing is awesome, at any rate.

Pretty much the entire dub cast is excellent.

And holy crap @ some of the things the OP listed. Some of those dubs are completely awful.

Also, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust was actually originally recorded in English and subsequently dubbed in Japanese, so it shouldn't be listed.

Sorry for not including Hellsing on my lists; I've only seen one episode dubbed, and I was quite impressed with that effort too. But keep in mind, there are still many shows that I'm still seeing and/or have to see.

As for the last guy who questioned my choices on the list, well, I didn't find any of these dubs as "awful" as you or certain fans do--partially because I want to give dubs a chance. Of course I have spotchecked some of these tracks in Japanese, but while I appreciated the other side of the spectrum, I argue that dubs should be enjoyed independently, and not pedestalized to their Japanese counterparts. Which dubs are great and which ones are not is a totally subjective atmosphere, and the list I posted are entirely my choices of dubs which I don't mind listening to. If you think I'm loopy with my decisions, oh well.

Oh, and I DID take Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust off the list, just to make the last poster satisfied, FYI. :)

-Jon T.

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against dubs. I just usually watch whichever version I like more. In some cases, it's the English. Other times, Japanese.

Case in point: I won't even consider watching Hellsing in Japanese just because most of the voices are flat in comparison to the dub. R.O.D the TV is good enough dubbed and close enough to the original version that I see no reason to bother watching it with subtitles.

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against dubs. I just usually watch whichever version I like more. In some cases, it's the English. Other times, Japanese.

Case in point: I won't even consider watching Hellsing in Japanese just because most of the voices are flat in comparison to the dub. R.O.D the TV is good enough dubbed and close enough to the original version that I see no reason to bother watching it with subtitles.

Hearing you say that makes it easier for me to respect your opinion, because LOTS of times on other forums I come across people who absolutely DETEST dubs for whatever reason and won't even listen to any of them. As long as you're not one of those people (in other words, if you're somebody who DOES listen to dubs and subs), then it's easier for me to respect what you say.

-Jon T.

People like that are just elitist idiots. It makes me sad that you thought I might be one, even if just for a moment.

People like that are just elitist idiots. It makes me sad that you thought I might be one, even if just for a moment.

So sorry. No offense meant.

-Jon T.

People like that are just elitist idiots. It makes me sad that you thought I might be one, even if just for a moment.

lolololol

your not? ;)


and are you guys talking about how they gave victoria a fucking english accent? (obviously i know it's correct for her to have one) but i fucking laffed my ass off when i first heard the dubs for it. i don't remember any one elses voice so i can't say for sure if i liked it better or not. all i know is it made me laugh when i first heard it.

celes: "so are ye be wanting I shet them inda back eh?"
integra: "quite right, quite right, indeed good lady"
alucard: "the loif of the woif is ended by my muskets"

ROFLMFAO

sorry. btw. i'm talking about the 13 ep series. i don't know if they got the same peeps or anyting with the new one.

I have to second the Hellsing statements. It was an exelent dub as far as dubs go.

Whats your view of Negima? It doesn't seem that bad, but then again some was apparantly in latin to begin with.

Hellsing dubbing was excellent.

I also thought Evangelion was pretty good dubbed. Other then that, I haven't really come across many dubs I've liked. Then again, I haven't really had much experience with dubs.

Have any of you seen the Love Hina dub? I'm still shivering over Kitsune's horrible "southern" accent and cheessy dialogue.

Have any of you seen the Love Hina dub? I'm still shivering over the entire casts accents and cheessy dialogue.

Fix'd.

Fix'd.

Usually I'm pretty tolerant of dubs, but Love Hina definitely threw me off (hence why I didn't include it on either of my lists). Partially because I was so disappointed with the show itself, but also because it felt really weird to have the accents. The only other inappropriate dub I've seen who gave accents to all the characters was Demon City Shinjuku; this is a Japan-setting, but the characters in that dub speak with Texan, British, Transylvanian, or Irish accents! That was not only off-putting, but it made the dub pretty awful as a whole. The first OVA dub of Vampire Hunter D also suffered from this flaw--providing the nobles with Transylvanian accents is a fitting idea, but when they're done as cheesy and laughable as as they turned out to be, then there's no good in that.

I'm all for dubs with accents, though, as long as they're appropriate and/or done right. Nadia, as I mentioned previously, is a European-based series, so it's fitting to have the characters speak with the appropriate accents (especially in the case of the Nautilus crew members, and, perhaps to a lesser extent, young hero Jean); some of them were a little shaky, but at least the actors made an effort to do a good job, so I'm OK with it. Disney's dub of Laputa is another interesting example: Sheeta speaks with a somewhat mixed-up accent (British/New Zealand/Austrailian); perhaps this is how Anna Paquin speaks in general, but I felt it added another depth to the character, considering she was from far away. And from the little bit I heard of Hellsing, I thought the accents were well chosen.

Like I said, it's a matter of preference.
-Jon T.

Well, i remember watching the first 3 eps of Trigun dubbed a while back (I didn't finish the whole dubbed version but that's not to say it butchered the original version) and remembered I actually liked some parts.

like.. where Vash sidesteps a bullet and then chokes and screams "scary!!!|

Oh, and Hellsing.. lol! I only watched the dub version of that actually.

I liked Yu Yu Hakusho's dub. I thought that was pretty well done

ANIME DUBBING IS GOOD WHEN IS GOOD TRANSLATED BUT THE CASE IS THAT ALWAYS LOST QUALITY �COS TRANSLATIONS "CHANGE EXPRESSION AND MISS THE ORIGINAL SENSE" IN JAPAN THEY HAVE THOUSAND OF PEOPLE WORKING PERFOEMING VOICES HERE IN AMERICA(WORST IN EUROPE SPECIALLY ON SPAIN THEY HAVE 12 PEOPLE!, ALL SHOW,MOVIES,GAMES HAVE THE SAME VOICE OVER AND OVER AGAIN) WE HAVE A FEW LITTLE PEOPLE SO ALWAYS LOST QUALITY WHEN I SAW FULL METAL PANIC OVA! TRANSLATE WAS AWFUL TRY TO WATCH BOTH TRANSLATED AND NON TRANSLATE AND TELL ME

SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU MORON. TYPING IS CAPS IS MORONIC AND MAKES YOU LOOK LIKE AN UTTER FOOL. YOU ARE ALSO A MORON FOR YOUR VIEW ON THE MATTER, BUT I'LL PICK ON YOU FOR THAT LATER IF YOU DON'T FUCK OFF LIKE YOU SHOULD.

IN JAPAN THEY HAVE THOUSAND OF PEOPLE WORKING PERFOEMING VOICES

Japan doesn't have nearly that many people doing voices.

Dubbing is undeniably getting better. There will always be people who prefer subs because either they'll a) watch it in Japanese first and thus be jarred when they hear other voices for a series they love or b) continue to be elitist and bash the American anime licensers without really understanding the industry

As producers get feedback though and as they get more in tune with what they need to look for and ask for out of a voice actor, you'll see quality shoot right up

Japan doesn't have nearly that many people doing voices.

Dubbing is undeniably getting better. There will always be people who prefer subs because either they'll a) watch it in Japanese first and thus be jarred when they hear other voices for a series they love or b) continue to be elitist and bash the American anime licensers without really understanding the industry

As producers get feedback though and as they get more in tune with what they need to look for and ask for out of a voice actor, you'll see quality shoot right up

Actually, back in the early 1980's up to the mid 1990's, it was probably legitimate to say that dubbing for Anime was below par, since a majority of those dubs were terrible. (I steer around that argument for some dubs from this era, because there WERE some that were done decently. e.g. Lodoss OVA, Slayers, Macek's Totoro) Today, however, there is a noticeable upgrade in terms of quality as far as dubbing is concerned, which make reasons for disliking dubs more challenging. There are exceptions, of course, but for the most part dubbing has gradually improved from the old days.

For any examples of dubs done right, any of the Disney-Studio Ghibli productions (Kiki, Laputa, Mononoke, Nausicaa, etc) definitely qualify--all have excellent actors and are done with care (if there are any "lesser" performances, they're not very noticeable, unless you're looking to find fault); Disney haters and purists of the originals will tell you different, but these are some of the best around. Fullmetal Alchemsit is another, although I am serious about my choices in the list above.

Of course, there will still be people who will say nay to dubbing for whatever reason, and I've seen this even with the Ghibli dubs. But those guys are either hardcore fans of the originals and think that hearing these Japanese movies in English is an insult to the ears no matter what, or just hate dubbing period. The only thing that counts is YOUR OWN opinion. Bottom-line: don't listen to anybody who tells you to skip a dub just because they say it's terrible. Listen to it and find out for yourself. That's the best way to enjoy dubbing, in my book.

-Jon T.

jt should be quoted for truf!

All I ever saw were in-house dubs on Animax-Asia; all I can say is that there were some good and bad points (Inital-D 1st Stage was terrible). The only english dubs I liked were of Fullmetal Alchemist, The Inuyasha movies, Blood + (all U.S. dubs), and suprisingly, a in-house dub of Cardcaptor Sakura (NOT Cardcaptors). Of course Robotech was shown before on local TV, but that's a different subject.

I've seen spirited away and the cat returns in dubbed version, they were good. maybe that's because they're movies.
I also saw a few episodes of .hack//sign in dubbed version, but one of the characters was acting so overexcited it annoyed me.
Never seen hellsing in dubbed version, maybe i'll watch one of the ova in english if it's available.
It's just that american dubs sound so fake, it's like the characters try way to hard. Talking with a normal voice doesn't hurt. One of the best examples i can give must've been pokemon.

I'm currently watching the English dub of Full Metal Alchemist. It's actually pretty darn good imo.

Azumanga had a good dub.

I think i'm the same as most of you when I say I pick whatever sounds better to me. But with every series I make it a habit to watch one full episode Dubbed, and one with Subs. I usually end up going with Subs, mainly because the original voice actors have more emotion (in my opinion) and because I like my experience to be as true to the original Japanese version as possible. For instance, I prefer to watch Irresponsible Captain Tyler in Japanese because I think the original voice actors portray the emotions better. On the other hand I prefer to watch Golden Boy Dubbed because I like the way Kintaro sounds in English.

Cowboy Bebop and FMA were better than the jap
i kinda liked Yuyu Hakusho, and Trigun wasn't bad

Yeah the dubs of Cowboy Bebop and FMA were really good. I also think the dubs of Samurai Champloo and Black Cat are good too.