ericjackson•15d agoMost Upvoted

Subbed vs dubbed for Kaguya-sama, no contest after episode 3

I started Kaguya-sama last week and watched the first 2 episodes dubbed, thought it was fine. Then I switched to subbed for episode 3 because the dub wasn't out yet and WOW, the narrator's delivery in Japanese is just on another level. The timing of the comedy hits SO much better with the original voice acting, especially the internal monologue scenes. Plus the dub changes some jokes to fit lip flaps, which loses a lot of the wordplay. I'm now 12 episodes in and I can't go back, anyone else feel like certain shows just demand subs no matter how good the dub is?

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robinl9013d ago

Oh man, I totally feel this one. I remember reading an interview with the director where he talked about how the narrator was basically written like a fast talking announcer on purpose, and you just can't recreate that energy in English. The Japanese VA for the narrator is WILD, he goes so hard on every line it's like a comedy show all by itself. Plus the whole show leans on the wordplay between the two leads, and once you notice the dub has to water it down, it's tough to enjoy it the same way. I'm not one of those "subs only" snobs normally, but Kaguya is definitely a show where the original language is part of the joke.