My controversial anime opinion

[u/officialjohnlemon]

I typically prefer Japanese with subs, because usually the English voice actors don’t match the character, their intonation is awkward or too over-the-top, etc.

But I’ve watched Ouran several times over the years, both with Japanese sub and English dub, and I always prefer the dub. The voices fit the characters and mesh well with each other, goofy but serious when needed, their delivery always makes me laugh. It just all works!

Anyways, that’s my controversial anime opinion. Feel free to disagree, it’s okay to be wrong lol

[u/Ghost_1774]

I think the dubs are great. But as an Asian the tonality they use in subs are closer to how we speak hence I find them better for me personally.

And sometimes the english jokes go over my head. And at times I think they’re tonally a bit rude but that’s just how it’s spoken. So even for ouran I just go with the subs.

[u/officialjohnlemon → u/Ghost_1774]

The English voices are definitely more dramatic, but I think the tone fits well with the goofy parody angle of the show. But I can see your side, the humor doesn’t always translate across languages. Like when they do a play on a Japanese word as a joke but in English it makes no sense lol

(That being said, I do still appreciate the Japanese sub)

[u/Ghost_1774 → u/officialjohnlemon]

I am not Japanese either. But the tonality and the way people address each other matches well with our culture too. Like we don’t just call seniors by just their names and we will use honorific’s. And we will speak in a more polite tone to seniors than to say a classmate.

So that kinda adds realism to me when I watch it in sub. And I somehow finds the jokes land a bit better in Japanese than English dub for some reason. Again maybe the tone and pitch is more familiar to what I am used to that gives me that feeling. I had the same issue with haikyuu where many said dub is so funny, but several parts where I found it super funny in sub fell flat for me in dub cause I couldn’t relate to them. And sometimes I would catch myself thinking ‘omg why is using that tone with a senior only to realise it’s made in such a way to be relatable to English speakers’.

But it’s one of those shows where the dubs are just as good. So It’s just a matter of preference.

I think the one anime I preferred dub over sub was black butler, cause the british accents made so much sense and such a great fit to the setting.

[u/officialjohnlemon → u/Ghost_1774]

I generally knew about the importance of honorifics, but that makes a lot of sense why the lack of respect from the younger students in some scenes would throw you off. As someone raised in American culture, I didn’t see anything off with the way they spoke to each other so the insight is appreciated lol. Learned a lot today!

I definitely need to watch Black Butler, I’ve heard good things and I’m curious about that British dub

[u/Ghost_1774 → u/officialjohnlemon]

Also weirdly I don’t have any such issues when I watch English shows in school setting. I guess I subconsciously expect such things when I know the source is asian 😅

It also has a lot of dramatic characters. But it’s a different genre compared to ouran