Fun watching the series in Japanese without subtitles?

[Super 17]

For the people that have tried this before, is it enjoyable to watch all of the series without subtitles? I mean, I've watched the series so much in Japanese with subtitles and also watched it in Spanish Mexican dub, therefore I know almost every detail that happens in the episodes during the series. I want to buy all of the Japanese Dragon Boxes of DB/Z/GT, movies and specials. The Japanese boxes are the most superior because it has all of the Japanese title cards, next episode previews, all of the opening and endings and the insert songs on the few episodes.

Now, is it fun and enjoyable to watch it in Japanese without subtitles or do you think I will be bothered during the series for whatever is going on, even though I know what is going on? Even if there was subtitles on the Japanese boxes, I still want to know what it's like to just watch it without the subtitles. I hate having to read and read and sometimes missing the actual video footage because I'm concentrating on reading, which also make me tired.

Damn, so anyways, what do you guys think?

[Chuquita]

Yes, it can be fun because you can focus more on the voice actors and actresses' performance rather than balance that with reading the subtitles. My grasp of Japanese is good enough for me to do this with some shows, but not all the ones I watch.

[TheGmGoken]

I don't use subtitles that much anyways. But honestly it's very fun. Especcially when they're fighting. It's amazing how great the actors are when the battling start. The acting is better when they're fighting as well. The battle cries, how they chant the attack name, the low sound at times to make the moment seem desperate, the screams, the pain, and the anger in the voice of the characters. Gets me pumped EVERYTHING. Trust me. Watch Goku vs Freeza, Goku vs Cell, Majin vegeta vs Goku,..and hell MOST fights in the series in Japanese with no subs. You'll see how epic it feels

[theoriginalbilis]

When I was first collecting the DBZ movie and GT via fansub tapes, there was the occasional movie or episode that was left in raw Japanese. I was still excited to be watching some new Dragon Ball stuff I'd never seen before. I could still enjoy it for the action, music, and I could more or less tell what was going on in a scene thanks to the tone and inflections the VAs were using.

I also watched my BR of Battle of Gods raw, because I wanted to see the movie before America does.

[dprez]

I did this when I was 11-12 watching the Buu saga on the International Channel. Of course it was fun because it was all so new and exciting! I didn't know what was really happening and couldn't wait to find out when it aired on Toonami. The over all mystique of Dragon Ball was greatly enhanced through this experince.

It's a bit difficult to explain how Dragon Ball affected me when I was young. ( Although I do imagine many of you can relate.) I have always been fascinated by the wonders of our world. Anything cool and mysterious gets me off, lol. DBZ seamed to be the pinnacle of boy hood wonder. Aside from space and dinosaurs, this is one thing I really wanted to know about.

Early fan made sites were a great window into the Dragon Ball universe back in the day. Thank the heavans for Kanzenshuu! Long live our great fandom!

[MCDaveG]

As I'm not fluent in Japanese, even tough I can catch lot of words by years of watching anime, it's pretty stressfull experience for me.
Not fun at all.

[Roland_ELoG]

For me? No. I speak (like most males educated in America) schoolgirl Japanese, which is as far removed from dialect and casual speech as you can get.

In Japan my Japanese friends laughed at everything I ever said, and the local dialect was impenetrable without copious gestures and pointing.

[Super Sonic]

As I'm not fluent in Japanese, even tough I can catch lot of words by years of watching anime, it's pretty stressfull experience for me.
Not fun at all.

Agreed. Why I didn't watch the show on International channel as without understanding dialogue would have no clue what was going on. My cousins watched, then when watching my vids or CN they'd go, "Ohh."

[penguintruth]

Ah, the old International Channel days. I watched a good portion of the Artificial Human/Cell arc that way. It was so thrilling to watch the show in its original language on television, without the need of a fansub tape. I could follow because I had read the manga.

It was back before I became unrelentingly hostile and bitter. Halcyon days of youth.

[ErikB]

I don't know that I've ever done this with any anime except for the fourth InuYasha movie. I was really impatient looking for that movie and when a raw of it turned up, I went for it. I didn't particularly like the experience, though I had picked up a very small bit of Japanese in the past that helped me understand a little bit of it.

I've actually found it fun to do precisely the opposite though; watch the English dub with the Subtitles for the Japanese turned on. I found it interesting to pick out how much dialogue changed, was added or dropped, and what few lines stayed the same between languages.

[samuraix123]

It wouldn't make sense for me to death that considering I don't speak a lick of Japanese when I do watch the Japanese dub I just keep the subs on. doesn't bother a bit to read and watch.

[kei17]

When I watch Japanese shows, I occasionally wonder how they would sound to me if I didn't speak Japanese.

[Tzigi]

When I watch Japanese shows, I occasionally wonder how they would sound to me if I didn't speak Japanese.

I may tell you what they sound to me (a native speaker of Polish, knowing also several other languages - Japanese only a little bit [one semester]). The words are surprisingly short and... barking like? It's like putting your hands over your ears and covering and uncovering them rapidly - you hear only every second syllable or so. Also the fact that Japanese has almost no consonants clusters (your words are mostly consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel-etc) makes it seem like a word game we did in kindergarten where you added some syllables to Polish words to make them like this.
None of the above means that I dislike the sound of Japanese - it's actually one of the most enjoyable languages for me to listen to (much more so than French and more or less the same as German).

As to the main topic - I sometimes enjoy turning of subtitles while watching DB. I know the series almost by heart now so I don't really need them anyway. Also my Japanese is good enough for me to know when they're saying this, and when that. The fun part is that the lack of subitles let me concentrate more on the screen (and not get angry about bad dubbing).
The downside is that I can't watch DB this way with my friends - they don't know any Japanese and while some of them liked DB when it was aired in Poland in ~2001 they aren't that hardcore fans to know it all from memory.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I've really only done this once before, but it was a pretty interesting experience, that's for sure. When Kai first started, I did end up watching a raw copy of episode 1 on Youtube, just to see what it was all going to be like. It was amazing how easily I was able to follow it without subtitles, just from how much I had seen the dub of that episode (via the Ultimate Uncut/Orange Brick version) and having read that volume of the manga. It was also where I started noticing I could pick up on separate series terms and Japanese words far better than I had years before that.

[Super 17]

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm definitely more on watching it with no subs on. I just want to enjoy the video picture, the amazing Japanese music and the Japanese voice actors. Like I said before, I've seen this show so many times with subs on and on the Spanish dub, so I know what's going on. Now, just a few more months and I'll have that money ready for those Japanese Dragon Boxes.

[Adamant]

The downside is that I can't watch DB this way with my friends - they don't know any Japanese and while some of them liked DB when it was aired in Poland in ~2001 they aren't that hardcore fans to know it all from memory.

I watched DB with my roommate using my DVDs back when I was in college. He wasn't all that familiar with the show as a whole, and while we started off with subbed Funi Dragonball DVDs, we moved over to the first Z Dragonbox after that.
And what do you know, despite not knowing any Japanese, he was able to follow the plot well enough with just some minor narration between episodes from me. So the lack of subtitles isn't THAT much of a dealbreaker.

[TheGmGoken]

The downside is that I can't watch DB this way with my friends - they don't know any Japanese and while some of them liked DB when it was aired in Poland in ~2001 they aren't that hardcore fans to know it all from memory.

I watched DB with my roommate using my DVDs back when I was in college. He wasn't all that familiar with the show as a whole, and while we started off with subbed Funi Dragonball DVDs, we moved over to the first Z Dragonbox after that.
And what do you know, despite not knowing any Japanese, he was able to follow the plot well enough with just some minor narration between episodes from me. So the lack of subtitles isn't THAT much of a dealbreaker.

To be honest. DBZ's plot is so simple that just looking at the animation can tell you what's happening. To a degree. Yes you might need some narration here and there but overall the animation can tell the story.

[Ringworm128]

I usually play the "how many Japanese words can I understand" game.

[Roland_ELoG]

When I play that game, I lose.

[doomydoomydoom]

If you know the story of each arc and\or episode by heart then yeah I don't see why you would need subtitles to watch and enjoy. Especially if you've picked up on some Japanese words then I'd imagine it's just as easy. I'm still not at that point with the series though, I need Steve's help (save for some words I've picked up on). :P

I do this sometimes with HK movies like A Better Tomorrow 1 & 2, I've seen them enough times that I don't have to rely on the shoddy subs that are on the BDs, I know what's going on completely.