English dubs versus Original Japanese or Fanboys Need to Grow up and Gtfo

This is something that I wonder about every now and then, and I keep coming back to how Americans just love their language so much, so it's impossible for them to be objective about it.

Coming from a country where the only dubbing is done for children's cartoons, I've always watched my movies in their original language, whether it's Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Chinese or whatever. I don't watch "funny" dubs for kung-fu films. It doesn't matter if it's a language I don't understand, just as long as it's the original language the film was made in, because that's what good, professionally made subtitles are for.

Dubbing is for people who can't read, meaning kids. That many countries (Germany, Italy, France, US) have picked this up for foreign films and series alike really doesn't mean it should apply for everyone else as well. I personally think it's an absurd effort, a bid to hide the origin of the movie, just in case some idiot might not want to see it if it's not made by their own country. To cater for people who are not interested in the film enough to bother reading. If you think it's entirely justified to alter a film because you feel uncomfortable hearing a foreign language, or are too lazy to read, there is something seriously wrong with you.

This of course wouldn't be so much of a problem if english wasn't the norm for most games and anime releases outside Japan. Most the anime I get, I need to import from either the US or the UK, which means dub centric, usually dubtitles. Almost always a dub only, if it's a game. I generally support any Finnish releases of anime they bring here (unless I already own the title), but even when stuff gets brought over, the problem remains. The Ghost in the Shell movie on DVD here has Finnish subtitles, but these are made from the english dub instead of the original Japanese script, meaning plenty of lines where none of the characters are talking on the original audio. Besides that, the film copy itself is the US/UK version, meaning the end credits music was changed.

I just see it like this. I don't watch any movies dubbed, I want to see them in the language they were made. I don't want my music dubbed. Why would I want my anime or games dubbed?
Of course, there's plenty of Latin or Indian pop songs that get English versions released as well, which is just as absurd to me.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I have to agree on what Elixir said. It's bad enough hearing english voice actors pronounce Japanese names, but Japanese VAs speaking English is painful as well. It kinda works when it's used for comical effect, but when characters are supposed to pass for foreign or professional scholars or something, it's quite embarrassing.

Originally Posted by RockgamerXIII

I could care less, as long as the story is conveyed the way it was originally intended to be. Because of this, the first time I watch something I usually watch it dubbed and with the subtitles on.

This doesn't really work, because a lot of the times the subtitles are dubtitles, meaning they repeat the dub script, instead of the original script. Many of the publishers think they already have one translation there with the dub, and that the dub is close enough to the original, so why bother making another just for subtitles (which a large amount of audience won't use). This often works though, with the dub being just a translation, but there's also cases (like the Ghost in the Shell movie) where the distributor takes considerable efforts to alter the script to better fit the dub for english viewers, the alterations meaning not only added swearing and somewhat different lines to counter the japanese metaphors, but also characters talking off-screen when there was no dialogue in the original.
It's true, Ghost in the Shell's dub is still one of the best I've seen, and the work is very professional, but anyone wanting to see the original, it's a bit of a lost cause because the subtitles mirror the localized script instead of the original. It's no wonder if the dub and subtitles happen match, when they are essentially the same thing.

Same with something like ADV's original release of Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's troublesome because finding info on how true the subtitles are to the original script is difficult as it's either not known or not considered important enough to mention.

There's nowhere I can't reach.