Breaking Point

[Gozar]

So I just posted a New Blog Entry over on my website about how my new goal is to watch the entire franchise from beginning to end through in Japanese. If you're not interested in reading my Blog, the general point was that I've pretty much hit my breaking point with the Dub and am tired of being disappointed.

So this lead me to a Topic idea for the Forums here...Most people here at one point or another started out as a Dub fan (For many it was their gateway to Anime). So I ask you this. What was your breaking point with watching the Dub? It can be a specific Episode, scene, release. Whatever.

Also, so not to leave anyone out. For those who have tried to watch it in Japanese, but just can't get into it. Same question.

[PuppetDoctor]

I decided to quit the dub sometime during the Season 4 Orange Bricks back in 2008. Back then I didn't know that the English dub was unfaithful to the original Japanese version so I decided to watch every episode in Japanese once and then watch it again in the dub. I think it was the episode when they were explaining about Dr. Gero building the Androids and I was watching the dub with the subtitles on. The dialogue was completely different in the dub then the Japanese version saying Dr. Gero was the "head of the Red Ribbon Army."

At that point I realized how backwards the story was in the dub and I immediately changed it back to the Japanese version. I would say that was my breaking point.

With the original Dragon Ball my breaking point was when I heard Goku and Kuririn's voice in the Funimation English dub. I hated it so much I changed the track over to Japanese.

I think right now with Dragon Ball "Z" Kai I am hitting my breaking point right now with Trunks' voice and the dropped lines. However, that is a different story.

[VegettoEX]

My breaking point was, "Oh, this is Japanese. I should find a way to watch it that way."

AND HERE WE ARE TODAY...

[Kaboom]

I never had a single "breaking point," really. It was a much more gradual transition for me, although still relatively quick.

I would would watch the odd dubbed episode here and there on Toonami during the broadcast of the Androids and Cell arcs, gradually getting hooked by all the cool fights, then really started watching on a regular basis once the Majin Boo arc kicked off (Super Saiyan 3's first appearance was the nail in the coffin where BAM, now I'm definitely a fan).

As I got more and more into it, I started doing "research" on the internet, watching clips, reading articles, and doing just about everything I could to learn more about the show. Through doing that, I was inevitably exposed to the original Japanese version, and likewise just how much had been needlessly changed for the dub. So I gradually came to favor the original, sort of out of principle.

But I still like the dub productions when they're actually good (Kaaaaaaiiiii), and have a soft spot for the main cast, as well as even a liking for certain parts due to either nostalgia and/or the rare moments of brilliance ("people-popcorn!"). So in a way, I'd still consider myself a "hybrid" sub/dub fan, and so there really is no single instance or moment when I "converted."

Which means this entire post was pretty much pointless.

Thank you, and good night.

[JulieYBM]

Probably three years ago when I realized the dub was no better than a 4Kids dub.

Anyhow, I think Kai's dub pretty much 'confirmed it'. I'm pretty much done expecting it to be any good.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

Not trying to knock your thread and I'm willing to read your blog but I have to know what's with the re-emerging dub hate all of a sudden? I've been on this site for almost 3 years and I swear I haven't seen so many "moving to the sub"; "I'm enlightened by the sub" and threads like these were people talk about moving to the sub because Funimation did something wrong 12 years ago. There is nothing wrong with it but why is there such an explosion all of a sudden?

I'm interested in your blog though, sounds like a fun read. Are you marathoning or are you doing like I do and watch 3 episodes a night?

For the record, and the sake of this thread:

I never really had a breaking point but I didn't really start watching the sub version until I came to this site. I watched the original; love the original; but I still go back to the dub as my standard viewing preference. The reason I checked out the sub was just out of respect to the original. Like VegettoEX said, the show is Japanese so you might as well watch it in it's original format at least once. A fan of any version should really watch it just because it's the original, but I'm not going to force myself to make it my standard viewing preference for the sake of fitting in with the majority of this site. I love the Dub, and those are the voices in my head. My reason for watching the Sub was just out of respect and curiosity.

[Gaffer Tape]

For me, it was also more of a gradual thing, both in terms of getting the internet (and through it learning more about DB as a whole, and, by extension, what the dub was doing wrong) and coming to the realization that, as much as possible, media should be taken in in its original format. But I suppose my first "breaking point" was when season 3 first premiered in 1999. That was the first time I found myself truly disappointed with the quality of the dub. And even though I'd continue to happily watch through the third season, it was truly the first "crack" that led to me solely watching the series in its original format.

[Castor Troy]

Well, it was pretty easy back in 1998-1999 when Seasons 1-2 + Movies 1-3 were the only things you had access to and every website drilling "The Japanese Version is Superior" in your head.

Wanting to be part of the "cool crowd", I made the jump and haven't looked back since.

[B]

I wouldn't call it a "breaking point," as I wasn't forcing myself to convert; it actually wasn't all that hard. I learned of the dub changing a plethora of things, which went off in my mind as "Hey, so there's more to this here cartoon!" and then I watched the Japanese version of one of my favorite fights; Vegeta VS Buu. The sheer amount of amazing blew me away, and I eagerly sought out the dub version of it to kickstart my memory and... well, I wasn't blown away. I never looked back.

[Makaioshin]

I changed the voice track to one of the video games and I found that I liked the Japanese cast much more. That's pretty much it.

[Raithos]

It was actually my friends at work who introduced me to Japanese/subs, up until about age 15 I was watching dubs thinking "this is real anime, sweet". Oh how wrong I was, so very wrong.

[Echo64]

I first switched over to the Japanese version from the dub of Dragon Ball GT mainly because of the music, and once I realized how far off and sometimes ridiculous the lines were (not as much in GT as in Z), I never listened to the dub again on any Dragon Ball media (excluding movies and Kai).

[Rory]

I changed the voice track to one of the video games and I found that I liked the Japanese cast much more. That's pretty much it.

This. Then I re-watched the whole series.
Good times.

[CODii]

The first time I watched the show in Japanese was when the Orange Bricks came out. Since they were the first home releases of the show I had ever owned, it was my first opportunity to watch the show subbed. Before that I had only seen the show on Cartoon Network. I never really particularly wanted to watch the dub, but it was my only option.

[Levlik]

Was 12 years old in 2001, DBZ Movie 4 finally gets dubbed and released on DVD (We thought they'd never start dubbing movies again!), friend lent me the movie and I was REALLY excited to see something with the new cast with the same quality as the Pioneer dubbed movies. I watch it, am annoyed that they didn't keep the original music in like the last three, but still press on. Slug smashes Goku through a window and says something along the lines of "How about a little window shopping? Hyuh hyuh hyuh hyuh!" (No offense to Brice Armstrong, he's one of my favorite of Funi's in-house actors). I ask myself why I'm even putting up with this garbage since I have the clear opportunity to watch a better version. Switched the audio track, switched the subtitles on, and pretty much threw my loyalty to the Japanese version at that point.

[penguintruth]

I wonder sometimes.

You know, even after watching fansubbed tapes of the show during the break between seasons 2 and 3 of the English dub, I still watched the English dub. Faithfully. I'd tape it and replay those episodes on the weekends. Did I prefer the Japanese version then? Yeah. But this was higher quality video than those fansubs, and I still liked to follow the action and basic storyline. I watched to the very end. I even watched the redub of seasons 1 and 2 when that aired. I knew, knew that what I was watching had substandard voice acting and bad scripts, but hell, it was free, and it filled up some time decently.

But, at some point, I don't know when, I just stopped acknowledging the English dub as a valid representation of DBZ. The original DB series, fine, that dub gelled a bit better, but DBZ? No. GT was a nonentity, because I could barely stand to watch that in any language.

I think what may have happened first was, I lost most of my interest in the franchise, period. When people brought it up, I'd still bitch about the inaccurate English dub, but I wouldn't stay in the conversation long, because I'd "moved past" the show. I didn't care. Long after I had the option of obtaining bilingual releases, I just didn't care enough to do so.

Then Dragon Ball Kai came along and reawakened the Dragon Ball fan in me. I was suddenly back to insisting a certain voice was better than another, pointing out the mistakes of the dub script, performances I hated, the superiority of the Kikuchi track. Were these things I cared about suddenly, or were they always there and I just got tired of it all? Surely I didn't become a DB fan again just to fight with others!

Nowadays, I just cannot stand the DBZ dub. I won't hear of it. Even some of the parts that I thought were decent at some point are now unbearable. It waters down the spirit of the original product. I've tried to watch the dub a couple of times with the Dragon Boxes, and it wounds me.

Fortunately, Kai's dub is the balm that soothes those wounds.

[roidrage]

I respect the dub for what it is, I enjoy it from time to time for being unintentionally funny (Androids Saga Vegeta), and some of Bruce Faulconer's music I get an honest charge out of. But I ultimately placed the Japanese version at #1 because the dub kept failing me when it came time to be serious. Some of the moments that are supposed to be dramatic are just painful to watch.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

This type of thread seems like a monthly thing on Daizex.....




Anyway, as I've said before, my "breaking point" was the Season Sets. Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to switch over to the Japanese audio track.

[Super Sonic]

I didn't have a breaking point, but then again, I haven't really watched DBZ in a long time. Back when I did, I watched both versions, but sometimes Japanese more due to watching lots of times or having seen on CN. Other series, mainly been watching English due to being lazy.

[beast mode]

As a kid, having access to the series in Japanese with English subtitles is not even something I thought you could get! I've never bought the series on DVD but if I did, I'd prefer the Japanese version. Consuming art that's in a foreign language, meddled with, is not interesting to me in the slightest if I have a choice.