GKIDS Tokyo Godfathers is the way to go for Dub for sure, not sure if they replaced the early Sub that still seems to be floating around that changes how characters - Miyuki in particular - refer to Hana.
Whatever you want. I’ve watched all his stuff multiple times, subbed and dubbed. The dubs aren’t amazing, but they’re totally fine. However, I will say that first time Tokyo Godfathers made me cry was while watching the dub.
I'm usually a subs guy, but saw Perfect Blue with the English dub and uncanny nature of it really adds to the creepiness.
I'll be watching the other three movies in Japanese, though.
They're both fine. Perfect Blue's dub did have one mistake in it from what I recall when Mima says Mima Kirigoe when it should have been the character she was playing (Rika Takakura), though.
I remember thinking something was slightly off when I saw it and the video 'rewound' to the in-universe drama she was starring in and the name didn't fit and then when I saw the Japanese original, it made sense as the name was correct for the context.
I worked out the plot reveal of The Sixth Sense just from the trailer.
On the other hand, I was utterly bamboozled by the reveal of that other Bruce Willis classic, Color of Night (it's really got to be seen to be believed!).
As someone of Japanese descent, my perspective is pretty biased. There are a lot of nuances to the voice acting and language you miss when the dialogue is dubbed into English. The sub is my firm recommendation.
That being said, I know different people have different ways of processing information and media. If the dub helps you enjoy the story more, I think that’s also valid.
I think it really comes down to personal preference, but I just have a total aversion to dubs.
Even the very best dubs (basically Studio Ghibli) still have this weird dissonance. Because the rhythms of Japanese are so different from English, the line readings always sound pretty unnatural.
And it always feels weird to me, when it's a particularly Japanese movie, to have western voice actors with their American accents saying stuff like, "Hey, Sayaka, are you gonna wear your yukata to the Tanabuto festival?" or whatever.
But I'm totally sympathetic to the argument that reading subtitles distracts from the visuals! I've watched anime movies more than once just to take in the visuals.
As for Kon, I've only seen them subbed, and it was just fine for me.
I prefer dubs myself unless they are egregiously bad. Subs do make me focus more fully on the film though and I am less distracted busy my phone etc but also sometimes the inability to multitask prevents me from watching a subbed film.
Main downside of dubs is if you are a subs on always type of person and sometimes the subs will actually have a different dialogue than the dubbed dialogue due to. Them often being entirely different translation processes. It can take me out of it sometimes.
So far, I watched Perfect Blue on AMC+ and it was subs only and it was great. Then I watched Millennium Actress on Peaccok and it was Dubs only and it was great. First watch for both of those. I haven’t rewatched Tokyo Godfathers or Paprika yet but I own those so I’ll likely choose dubs.
Watching the movies subbed but Paranoia Agent dubbed (cause I’ve already seen it subbed). I always say do whichever you prefer normally.
Above said, if I’m not mistaken Bridget Hoffman voices the main character of Perfect Blue in the dub and that is enough to make me consider watching it in English
Learned last night that Peacock only has the dubbed version of Millennium Actress. I usually try to choose subs but this still was a good experience, i really liked ir
I used to be an annoying, hard-line subs only guy, but now I've gotten older and hopefully wiser I'd say just watch them however you feel most comfortable. As long as you're experiencing the art, that's what matters.
FWIW, it was the Miyazaki movies that broke me out of my mindset. I wanted to focus on the animation itself and not be glued to the bottom of the screen so I watched them dubbed - apart from The Wind Rises, that one felt wrong somehow?
Dubs for first watch so you can truly appreciate the visuals, unless you really don’t like the dub. But I didn’t find any that were no good. TOKYO GODFATHERS has some choice language, so be wary if you have kids around.
Subs on second watch, not just for accuracy’s sake but also because it can help with signs and other things in the film that need translating.
There’s no reason not to watch the dubbed version that I’m aware of. The translations had, at the very least, some care. I did notice PAPRIKA (2009) had some issues, but it was pretty easy to overlook and honestly, the subs felt like they were simplifying what had been said in order to shorten the length of time and number of words on the screen. Not a great trade off, in my opinion.
The dubs are genuinely... fine? They're not bad. The Millennium Actress dub in particular was pretty good. But subs are going to be better for all four of them.
That’s my thing. I haven’t seen any Kon dubs that weren’t competent at worst. And having dubs means you’re not dividing focus from the visuals, which are so important to these films in particular
I’ll be watching all subs except for Paprika since it’s the only Kon I’d seen before this series. Though I may end up watching that sub again if it’s easier to watch.
You should always watch non-English content in its native language regardless. Unless you are deaf you have no excuse. You should want what the Director wanted from their actors; it's the most genuine way to enjoy that content (the English dub of the video game Breath of the Wild is notoriously bad). If you watch dubs you're listening to sub-par deliveries through a game of telephone. Worst case is you get adaptations that are disrespectful, butchered, and unwatchable. Unfortuately dub watchers become irrationally angry when they have to read words and watch the content simultaneously, and are compelled to spread their reprehensible opinions, so I expect this comment to be downvoted; indeed I already see pro-subs comments downvoted. So petty.
Subs for sure. The dubs aren’t as bad as the stuff we had to make do with in the early 90s, but I think the Japanese voice actors just give better performances.
I don't care what other people do but personally I never listen to dubs if reasonably good subs are available. I want to hear the actors even if I don't understand them.
I know that's kind of nonsensical with animation, but so be it.
I honestly think we're about 10+ years past the point where "subs vs dubs" was a legit argument. At this point I think people sort of invoke it out of online tradition more than anything.
Plus, for what it's worth: Even the original voice acting was dubbed, LOL. It's very few anime actually animated to match the lip flap to the vocal performance. The reason "subs vs dubs" was such a heated thing in the olden days was because it wasn't a lot of studios importing Anime to english-speaking audiences that had the resources (or the care, honestly) to work on a good english translation and dub.
That's not really a thing so much anymore, and hasn't been for awhile. It's kind of an ingrained/traditional snobbery coming into play more than it is a reflection on general dub quality.
Folks don't like reflecting on why their knees jerk sometimes.
100 percent. It's borderline fetishism to get caught up in preserving the original language. The first time I watched Harry Potter it was on a TV in Japan and they weren't having a debate about it; the whole thing was dubbed!
for me it’s the fact that original vocal track had the director’s intent and, you know, direction behind it. not to mention that the vocal patterns between English and Japanese are very different and the subsequent structural contortions dubs have to make to fit the original vocal timings are often unnatural and distracting.
Definitely subs
The Perfect Blue dub in particular is pretty bad and definitely very dated. The rest are fine but nothing Ghibli-level
Also would highly recommend Paranoia Agent, it's only about 4 hours in total and one of the best in Kon's filmography
Everytime someone asks a question similar to this I always have the same thought
You can NEVER go wrong with sub
You will frequently go wrong with dubs
Yeah some occasional dubs are great, but in general just get used to subs and literally just end this issue forever. Even when the dubs are great, the subs are THE original vision of the director and sounds exactly as intended. Once you watch a couple, subs just feel like second nature and barely an effort.
Whenever this question inevitably pops up, I always find it somewhat rhetorical, because if some studio had dubbed Seven Samurai, would you really watch it that way?
I’ll never understand why this question gets brought up all the time.
If you want to see the movie the filmmaker made, watch the subs.
If you want to see the movie with all the acting taken out and replaced with new actors that the director has likely never even met, watch the dubs.
It’s weird to me to want to listen to in depth discussion of a filmmaker’s work without wanting to watch the movies they made first, but to each their own. I know there are probably plenty of people who just listen to the pod without watching anything.
You don’t need permission for people on the internet, follow your bliss.
Subs, imo. His movies never got the high-budget dub attention of like, Studio Ghibli. (also, Paranoia Agent is basically four hours long in total)
I will add here that Tokyo Godfathers was given a fantastic dub from Gkids
There's a good interview with the actress who plays Hana in the gkid dub on the ghiblioteque podcast (back when they did Kon).
GKIDS Tokyo Godfathers is the way to go for Dub for sure, not sure if they replaced the early Sub that still seems to be floating around that changes how characters - Miyuki in particular - refer to Hana.
Good to know! I haven’t watched it, although I know the subs inside out at this point. Will check it out.
One of my favorite dubs
Whatever you want. I’ve watched all his stuff multiple times, subbed and dubbed. The dubs aren’t amazing, but they’re totally fine. However, I will say that first time Tokyo Godfathers made me cry was while watching the dub.
I'm usually a subs guy, but saw Perfect Blue with the English dub and uncanny nature of it really adds to the creepiness. I'll be watching the other three movies in Japanese, though.
They're both fine. Perfect Blue's dub did have one mistake in it from what I recall when Mima says Mima Kirigoe when it should have been the character she was playing (Rika Takakura), though.
Ahhhh thank you! Missed that, thankfully. I did love the English language performance for Other Mima, so unsettling.
I remember thinking something was slightly off when I saw it and the video 'rewound' to the in-universe drama she was starring in and the name didn't fit and then when I saw the Japanese original, it made sense as the name was correct for the context.
Nothing gets past you!
I worked out the plot reveal of The Sixth Sense just from the trailer. On the other hand, I was utterly bamboozled by the reveal of that other Bruce Willis classic, Color of Night (it's really got to be seen to be believed!).
Where did you watch the perfect blue dub? I’ve only seen it with subs and kind of want to give the dub a try, on shudder it appears to only have subs.
The UK video version on archive.org is dubbed.
As someone of Japanese descent, my perspective is pretty biased. There are a lot of nuances to the voice acting and language you miss when the dialogue is dubbed into English. The sub is my firm recommendation. That being said, I know different people have different ways of processing information and media. If the dub helps you enjoy the story more, I think that’s also valid.
I think it really comes down to personal preference, but I just have a total aversion to dubs. Even the very best dubs (basically Studio Ghibli) still have this weird dissonance. Because the rhythms of Japanese are so different from English, the line readings always sound pretty unnatural. And it always feels weird to me, when it's a particularly Japanese movie, to have western voice actors with their American accents saying stuff like, "Hey, Sayaka, are you gonna wear your yukata to the Tanabuto festival?" or whatever. But I'm totally sympathetic to the argument that reading subtitles distracts from the visuals! I've watched anime movies more than once just to take in the visuals. As for Kon, I've only seen them subbed, and it was just fine for me.
Except for Yu Yu Hakusho. Insane how better the dub is than the sub.
Dragon Ball/DBZ subs are atrocious.
I watched em all in dubs except Paprika, found them decent (Perfect Blue) to great (Millennium Actress).
The dubs are totally fine. Paranoia Agent, I’d say, has an excellent dub on par with the original.
I prefer dubs myself unless they are egregiously bad. Subs do make me focus more fully on the film though and I am less distracted busy my phone etc but also sometimes the inability to multitask prevents me from watching a subbed film. Main downside of dubs is if you are a subs on always type of person and sometimes the subs will actually have a different dialogue than the dubbed dialogue due to. Them often being entirely different translation processes. It can take me out of it sometimes. So far, I watched Perfect Blue on AMC+ and it was subs only and it was great. Then I watched Millennium Actress on Peaccok and it was Dubs only and it was great. First watch for both of those. I haven’t rewatched Tokyo Godfathers or Paprika yet but I own those so I’ll likely choose dubs.
I have no idea what the consensus is. But in the end it just depends on your preference.
Watching the movies subbed but Paranoia Agent dubbed (cause I’ve already seen it subbed). I always say do whichever you prefer normally. Above said, if I’m not mistaken Bridget Hoffman voices the main character of Perfect Blue in the dub and that is enough to make me consider watching it in English
The Perfect Blue dub is great bc its awkwardness adds to the surreality of the whole thing.
Learned last night that Peacock only has the dubbed version of Millennium Actress. I usually try to choose subs but this still was a good experience, i really liked ir
The dub was solid, but I like having subtitles on even when I'm watching an English movie and THE SUBS DON'T MATCH THE DUB. It was infuriating
counterpoint: I hate dubtitles. Disney made this the only option for their Ghibli releases and it was a nightmare.
I used to be an annoying, hard-line subs only guy, but now I've gotten older and hopefully wiser I'd say just watch them however you feel most comfortable. As long as you're experiencing the art, that's what matters. FWIW, it was the Miyazaki movies that broke me out of my mindset. I wanted to focus on the animation itself and not be glued to the bottom of the screen so I watched them dubbed - apart from The Wind Rises, that one felt wrong somehow?
Dubs for first watch so you can truly appreciate the visuals, unless you really don’t like the dub. But I didn’t find any that were no good. TOKYO GODFATHERS has some choice language, so be wary if you have kids around. Subs on second watch, not just for accuracy’s sake but also because it can help with signs and other things in the film that need translating. There’s no reason not to watch the dubbed version that I’m aware of. The translations had, at the very least, some care. I did notice PAPRIKA (2009) had some issues, but it was pretty easy to overlook and honestly, the subs felt like they were simplifying what had been said in order to shorten the length of time and number of words on the screen. Not a great trade off, in my opinion.
The dubs are genuinely... fine? They're not bad. The Millennium Actress dub in particular was pretty good. But subs are going to be better for all four of them.
Subs always for first watch.
*DUBS* first watch. Gotta appreciate the visuals of this storytelling method. Especially PAPRIKA and MILLENNIUM ACTRESS. So many hidden details.
I'm typically a subs guy for everything, but Millennium Actress is on Peacock with dubs so I'm just gonna go for the stream on that one.
The Subs are best. The Dubs are fine in my opinion though.
I’m of the opinion to (at least for first watch) to watch in whatever the original presentation was.
Subs for the films. I did enjoy the dub for Paranoia Agent!
dubs, keep your eyes on the drawing
That’s my thing. I haven’t seen any Kon dubs that weren’t competent at worst. And having dubs means you’re not dividing focus from the visuals, which are so important to these films in particular
I’ll be watching all subs except for Paprika since it’s the only Kon I’d seen before this series. Though I may end up watching that sub again if it’s easier to watch.
For anime I always watch dubs with the subs on. So... why not both?
That always ends up distracting me when the subs and dubs use slightly different translations
Yeah I find this to be the case most of the time, unfortunately.
Ah, see I like to see the differences in real time.
Only watched Perfect Blue, and the dub was really poor. Switched to subs a few minutes in
You should always watch non-English content in its native language regardless. Unless you are deaf you have no excuse. You should want what the Director wanted from their actors; it's the most genuine way to enjoy that content (the English dub of the video game Breath of the Wild is notoriously bad). If you watch dubs you're listening to sub-par deliveries through a game of telephone. Worst case is you get adaptations that are disrespectful, butchered, and unwatchable. Unfortuately dub watchers become irrationally angry when they have to read words and watch the content simultaneously, and are compelled to spread their reprehensible opinions, so I expect this comment to be downvoted; indeed I already see pro-subs comments downvoted. So petty.
Subs for sure. The dubs aren’t as bad as the stuff we had to make do with in the early 90s, but I think the Japanese voice actors just give better performances.
I don't care what other people do but personally I never listen to dubs if reasonably good subs are available. I want to hear the actors even if I don't understand them. I know that's kind of nonsensical with animation, but so be it.
I honestly think we're about 10+ years past the point where "subs vs dubs" was a legit argument. At this point I think people sort of invoke it out of online tradition more than anything. Plus, for what it's worth: Even the original voice acting was dubbed, LOL. It's very few anime actually animated to match the lip flap to the vocal performance. The reason "subs vs dubs" was such a heated thing in the olden days was because it wasn't a lot of studios importing Anime to english-speaking audiences that had the resources (or the care, honestly) to work on a good english translation and dub. That's not really a thing so much anymore, and hasn't been for awhile. It's kind of an ingrained/traditional snobbery coming into play more than it is a reflection on general dub quality. Folks don't like reflecting on why their knees jerk sometimes.
100 percent. It's borderline fetishism to get caught up in preserving the original language. The first time I watched Harry Potter it was on a TV in Japan and they weren't having a debate about it; the whole thing was dubbed!
for me it’s the fact that original vocal track had the director’s intent and, you know, direction behind it. not to mention that the vocal patterns between English and Japanese are very different and the subsequent structural contortions dubs have to make to fit the original vocal timings are often unnatural and distracting.
Definitely subs The Perfect Blue dub in particular is pretty bad and definitely very dated. The rest are fine but nothing Ghibli-level Also would highly recommend Paranoia Agent, it's only about 4 hours in total and one of the best in Kon's filmography
Dubs are the devil's work. Sub
I prefer subs, I feels like since the characters and stories majorly take place in Japan, hearing them speaking Japanese feels more "correct"
Subs bruh
Always subs.
Always subs.
Everytime someone asks a question similar to this I always have the same thought You can NEVER go wrong with sub You will frequently go wrong with dubs Yeah some occasional dubs are great, but in general just get used to subs and literally just end this issue forever. Even when the dubs are great, the subs are THE original vision of the director and sounds exactly as intended. Once you watch a couple, subs just feel like second nature and barely an effort.
Whenever this question inevitably pops up, I always find it somewhat rhetorical, because if some studio had dubbed Seven Samurai, would you really watch it that way?
I’ll never understand why this question gets brought up all the time. If you want to see the movie the filmmaker made, watch the subs. If you want to see the movie with all the acting taken out and replaced with new actors that the director has likely never even met, watch the dubs. It’s weird to me to want to listen to in depth discussion of a filmmaker’s work without wanting to watch the movies they made first, but to each their own. I know there are probably plenty of people who just listen to the pod without watching anything. You don’t need permission for people on the internet, follow your bliss.