Dub vs Sub? Again?

|240x240px|Medieval fighting game ;-)In days of long ago, in uncharted regions of the internet, a war raged among anime fans.  It was a bitter struggle, dividing families and tearing apart once-friendly anime clubs.

It became known as The Sub/Dub War.

This was back in the old days of the 90's, when anime was released on VHS (if at all). As a fan, you had to choose between an English-dubbed tape or a Japanese audio, English-subtitled tape. Anime was so expensive (about $10 per episode) that buying both wasn't feasible.

(Before then, you rarely even had a choice.)

The war raged on multiple fronts:


 * Fans of subs pointed out that the Japanese dub was part of the original work, so a subbed version was closer to the original intent of the creators. They were seeing what the original creators (and original audience) saw.
 * Fans of dubs retorted that the original creators and audience understand Japanese, and we don't. In other words, the Japanese version was dubbed in the native language of the country. Japanese fans weren't watching little words pop up on the bottom of the screen.
 * The dub version was almost always cheaper than the sub version of the same show, for simple economic reasons: dub tapes outsold sub tapes by a large margin, and dub tapes were accessible to a more casual audience that wasn't willing to pay premium prices for a show.
 * Translation's a tough enough job, and Japanese is about as different from English as you can get. Worse, anime is rife with cultural references which make little to no sense outside Japan. English dubs tended to rewrite such material, in an attempt to be more accessible to the American audience.
 * English dubs varied wildly in quality. Early American anime voice actors hammed it up or droned like airplane engines. (I've heard that many of them were originally radio broadcasters; producers figured it best to find people who were used to microphones in studios. Unfortunately, having a voice for radio doesn't mean you can act.)

Plus, there were a few anime series on TV, and fans of those shows had grown used to the English voices, and wanted to hear those.

Then came DVD. Blessed DVD. You bought one disc, and it had both dub tracks and an English subtitle track. Combined with a dramatic increase in English dub quality, The Sub/Dub War died down to an occasional pot-shot at voice actor quality.

|160x240px|Old School from FlickrThe Dub/Sub War has been quiet for years. Then I stumbled on "The Sub-Only Debate, and Why Dub Fans are Upset" (since removed), over at JANAiBlog. The author raises an interesting point: The American anime industry has been shrinking for the past few years, with several companies going out of business (like Central Park Media) or completely restructuring (like AD Vision). As a result, some companies aren't dubbing some shows; they're releasing DVDs with just English subs, and skipping the considerable expense of making an English dub.

This adds an interesting new wrinkle. The War no longer comes down to a question of which version to buy; it's a question of whether you have a choice. You may just not be able to get an English dub of a show.

It should be acknowledged that other forms of cinema don't get consistent dubs. J-Horror, Korean dramas, and Hong Kong films (these days) don't get an English dub unless the appropriate companies are preparing for an American theatrical release. So anime fans sit in a privileged position, compared to most other lovers of foreign entertainment.

Still. Some shows aren't being dubbed.

What's the answer? There isn't one. As JANAiBlog points out, it doesn't make sense to dub every show. We're going to see this happen.

I do think dub fans would do well to make a case for the dubbing of their favorite show. Often, the complaints come down to "I'd buy it." One lone voice isn't enough. But if you can demonstrate that there are enough English dub fans to make a dub worth producing, you've got a chance at affecting the companies.

Maybe a slim chance. But it's a chance.