Dub vs Sub debate popped up at the anime screening room I visited last Saturday

I went to this little anime screening room downtown, one of those places where they show older series on a projector. They were playing Cowboy Bebop which I've seen like 5 times but I stayed because about 15 people showed up for it. Halfway through episode 3 a guy in the back yelled out that the sub track was synced wrong and we should switch to the dub. The host actually paused it and asked everyone to vote. It split the room right down the middle, like 8 for sub and 7 for dub. One guy was arguing that the dub captures the noir tone better because Steve Blum's voice is iconic. But another girl said the Japanese voice actor for Spike has a grittier delivery that makes him feel more broken inside. They went back and forth for like 10 minutes about which version is the real way to watch it. Has anyone else been in a room where a debate like that actually changed how people watched the rest of a series?

2 comments

2 Comments

wendy_clark8d ago

@robinl90 oh man, I get that completely. At a buddy's place we had the exact same split over Ghost in the Shell. One guy swore by the English dub because of the cyberpunk feel, while this other girl insisted the original Japanese voices gave it a more serious, philosophical tone. We actually ended up splitting into two groups on different couches to watch our preferred versions for the rest of the movie.

robinl908d ago

Man I had that exact thing happen with Gitmo ive seen it both ways and honestly once youve watched one version enough the other just feels wrong no matter how good it is.