there are some reoccurring comments that...well I have thoughts about. Now look, if you like experiencing any given media in Japanese more, that's cool, that ain't what I'm talking about. I just kinda want to rant about the ones that are...douchier. Cool? Cool. Strap in.
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The one I read that started this (and I've seen similar comments elsewhere) was "English VA's just don't have the experience or talent of Japanese VAs". Now I gotta stop you right there. I'll not claim I'm a seasoned vet or anything, but all English VA's are unexperienced?
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A lot of these folks have been working for years if not DECADES on their craft, have gone to school for it, studied it, spent years competing in the most competitive markets to get where they are, so...nah dawg. Though that leads nicely into the talent part.
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I'm not sure how anyone unironically believes that an entire country of actors is inherently inferior to another, when they don't fluently speak the language of one of those countries.
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I get it if you prefer having that language barrier in your media, but I feel like that's an aesthetic choice. If you don't speak Japanese fluently it's gonna be hard to pick up much from the performance other than basic tone and pacing.
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And that's cool! There is nothing wrong with enjoying that. But I think it's important to keep in mind when comparing dual audio tracks that just because you feel like hearin the dialogue spoken in Japanese makes the experience better for YOU it doesn't make the English track bad
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The second comment I see a lot that kinda bugs me is always a variation of "The English is less accurate than the Japanese" and this one...I really have mixed feelings on. On the one hand, I understand
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Wanting to experience the story as the original creator envisioned it, I get. But again we're back to that language barrier. If you don't speak the language fluently you are not experiencing the story completely as the creator made it because you are reliant on subtitles
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That means someone had to translate the story, then had to take that raw translation and put it into scripted form. And translation is not really something that's measured in accuracy. There are words and mannerisms that don't have one-to-one parallels across the languages
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The point is no matter if you are listening to an English track or relying on subtitles, you are still having the story taken out of it's original language and that means by definition you are not experiencing it 100% "accurately"
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As to the actual English tracks, English actors take the words on the page, their characters (motivation, backstory, etc) and the context of the scene and act it all out, same as the Japanese. Is it a slightly different experience? Well, this is personal opinion, but yes and no.
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Yes, the execution is not the same so it is different, BUT if a script is well translated and well written it can actually put a lot back in that you might miss from just a straight translation. Puns are the go-to example.
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Puns don't cross languages because...well, word play. But if the adapter thinks of an Eng pun that achieves the same thing, all of a sudden a moment that would be a dud in a straight translation is a moment where you get the same emotional experience as a Japanese audience.
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And that's just an obvious example, the phrasing of a sentence can also change the reading drastically. Word choice reveals a lot about character but since translation isn't one to one...
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an attempt to simply "accurately" translate can make characters seem stilted, off, or just leave out a critical element of what makes that character. My go to example is the X-Men anime. In Japanese Wolverine felt really off to me and one lines comes to mind in particular.
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He's talking to Scott after Jean disappears and Scott is a mess and has abandoned the X-Men, Wolvie and Storm are attempting to get Scott back and he's refusing, claiming he'd rather just mope around being broken.
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In the subtitles Wolvie says something akin to "You're pathetic, if Jean saw you like this I doubt she'd still love you". This came off...out of character, needlessly cruel and too blunt for Wolvie. He can be a jerk, but he still cares. In English however it played much better
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Wolvie's line was akin to "You're being ridiculous, Scott. If Jean could see you like this, what would she think?" the intents are similar, but one feels more like Wolverine just because of the choice of words. It gets across the point but he doesn't need to spell it out
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It shows he still cares about Scott, but he's willing to be mean to get the point across. I like this example because it's of Japanese creators interpreting an American property, but it can be applied the other way around as well.
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Lastly, one comment I hear a lot with a pretty easy rebuttal is "Why do we always hear the same English VAs? Can't they get someone new?" Few things to unpack, first...you don't hear the same Japanese VAs a lot? The reality is new folks are breaking in all the time
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And that's amazing! But the talents that you hear a lot of? Yeah that's because they are good, reliable, fast, fun to work with, have versatility, etc. Typically when you find someone who fits that description you're gonna keep them around and keep using them because...duh
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So what was the point of this deluge of tweets? This over-bloated essay? Just me being bitter at youtube comments? Well...yeah, I'm petty like that. But more so, I think I get irritated by these because they are common misconceptions that feel so disconnected from reality to me.
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End of the day you enjoy media the way you want. No one can judge you for that. But also don't shit on another way a lot of people enjoy? I don't expect to change the hellscape of youtube comments
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But if even 3 or 4 people walk away from this feeling like they don't want to regurgitate these points, because maybe they realize there's more nuance to it than "Japanese good, English bad" I'll be happy. If not, well fuck it, no one claimed the internet was a place for nuance.
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