The Subs vs Dubs War

Subs vs dubs.This has to be the most gatekeeping thing that has happened in the Anime community. I am so sick of scrolling through my various Anime, nerd and geek groups on Facebook and seeing the smug attitudes of the subbed Anime viewers. I almost see them like Boa Handcock from "One Piece." Their heads thrown back so much to look down on dub viewers that they're looking to the sky and it looks as if they would break their backs. Its not their superiority that bugs me the most, though; it's the lack of ability to think of WHY others may prefer Dubs to Subs. Most subbed watchers seem to have next to no empathy for the dub watchers in their community.

I get it. Everyone want something to be proud of. For me, its this vocal page, and the number of books I can get myself to read in spite of my depression. I understand wanting to feel accomplished or better than someone else at something, but to put others down to feel that way isn't okay. I've gone on about empathy vs. judgement before and that's something that kind of pairs up with this, but at the same time its mixed in with a bit of vindictiveness and entitlement from being more "cultured" per se. Its another us vs them mentality that I just can't get behind. To be honest, I can't get behind much us vs. them mentalities but that's an article for another day.

First of those who are not a part of the Anime fandom, we need to clear up what I mean by "subbed" and "dubbed" just in case. Its pretty straight forward, but I was always told to write out definitions just in case there is someone new to the terms. Subbed refers to Anime that has subtitles with Japanese audio and/or voices. Dubbed refers to Anime that has been translated and re-dubbed with English voices. These dubbed Anime were sometimes the "cartoons" we'd watch on Saturday morning here in the states like "Sailor Moon," "Dragon Ball," "Dragon Ball Z," "Yu-Gi-Oh," "Fighting Foodons," "Ultimate Muscle," "Escaflone," "Digimon," "Speed Racer," and "Pokemon" just to name a few. The uninitiated of us will recognize these titles, as maybe their favorite cartoon, but to the Otaku (nerd in Japanese) these are our first Anime.

Anime being the distinguisher is a very important thing in the Anime Community. Don't call Anime cartoons please. They are not cartoons, any Otaku will tell you that. There is some anime you would NOT want to show kids like "Goblin Slayer," "Akame Ga Kill," or "How Not to Summon a Demon Lord" unless you want to scar them for life. These Anime would be given an R rating if they were rated as a motion picture by the AMA. Anime is also given its particular title because of the art form. Anime specifically is a term reserved for animation that comes from Japan. It is a badge of pride for how "cultured" we seem to be because we watch entertainment from outside of the United States.

It's another badge of pride to tell another Otaku (weeb is the derogatory term) how many Anime you've watched and in particular what Anime you have watched. It also seems to be a point of pride whether you watch them subbed or dubbed. Many people (like I stated in the beginning paragraph) act like they are superior just because they watch them subbed and call people who watch them dubbed plebs... I've never understood that. This is another type of group infighting that I just don't understand. We are all nerds! We all enjoy anime, why make it another pissing contest? Why gatekeep this wonderful hobby? How does it hurt you that Johnny in the next town over watches dubbed Anime? How is that any worse? How are you any better? Oh, because that way you can pretend you know some Japanese? PUH-LEASE! I think unity is MUCH more important.

I return back to the same argument I used in my group infighting article: Why tease others the way non-geeks or non-otaku's teased us? We should all band together because we have a common hobby: Anime. I love having a community to share things with. I love being able to theorize about the shows I'm watching with other fans. I love sharing who my favorite characters are, who I don't really like, what moves I think are cool and things like that. Arguing over watching subs or dubs gets in the way of much more things we could be taking about, and enjoying together. This leads to my last point: Empathy for those who can't watch subbed anime.

Dubbed Anime isn't only for the "uncultured swine" who don't appreciate the Japanese language or culture. Dubbed Anime is for many different types of people. Those with severe handicaps, those with reading disorders, children, parents who want to share their favorite Anime with their children for the first time, people who want to listen to their favorite Anime and be able to follow what's happening while doing their chores, people who want to rest their minds from the busy work of the day and not have to read the TV, people who enjoy listening to the voices of the American voice actors, or for those who want to show support for their favorite American voice actors. I, in particular, feel that last one since I am related to one through marriage. There are many reasons why. I have to say after a long day of work, or a long day of stress I don't want to have to read my TV to understand the plot. I just want to watch TV, though a close family member of mine has dyslexia and struggles to keep up with the subtitles so he watches Anime dubbed. There are so many more reasons that I'm sure I haven't thought of.

I think I know why many subbers (that's what I'm going to refer to Anime fans who like subbed Anime) look down on dubbers (term for fans who like dubbed Anime) is because of how bad localization was when Anime was first being brought over here from Japan. In the early days things like Onigiri which is a rice ball with filling was called a jelly doughnut in Pokemon and things similar to that. That gave dubs a bad reputation. I don't blame subbers for thinking that way. Many subbers also complain about the voices cast as certain characters or that their voices are "annoying." I really don't understand that one myself, as I find that most voices are good, and the fact that American voice actresses who voice boys will eventually be able to deepen that voice unlike Japanese voice actresses makes more sense to me. I'm sorry, but Alphonse shouldn't have a high-pitched squeaky voice when he hits puberty! No way! I don't understand why that's considered high brow... but I digress.

I plead to all subbers to take in to consideration how they would feel if someone was calling dubbers "uncultured idiot swine" and someone you cared about watched dubs because they couldn't watch dubs? I hope it would upset you, because it should. They can't help that they need to watch dubbed. People who watch dubbed are not all "uncultured closed minded people." And yes, I have seen/heard people I'm debating with call dubbers that. They are someone who has a love for the same hobby we do! They're not hurting anyone by watching dubs. You are hurting people by insulting them for watching dubbed Anime, so that makes those who are not insulting people superiors.

Insulting others, calling names, and casting stones does not make you superior, it makes you look like a gatekeeping, insufferable, closed minded jerk. The very thing you call dubbers. Some dubbers can be like that, my ex was. The only Anime he would watch was "Dragon Ball Super," and he would still call it a cartoon and refuse to watch anything else. I understand why there is a desire to gatekeep and protect your hobby, but not everyone who watches dubs are like my ex. I'm not. I'll watch either, but I prefer dubs because I rather read a book when I want to read and watch TV or a movie when I watch TV or a movie. Also... I am a bit lazy in that regard. I have a long-distance friend who watches all his anime subbed, and then re-watches it dubbed. I share groups with people who only watch subbed. I'm glad I know such a variety of people, but its subbers who end up causing the most pain, because they are the most gatekeep-y.

Personally, as long as your not hurting anyone, I don't care what you do. I don't care if you watch subbed or dubbed and why. I don't need to know. I start to care when you use it as a way to say "I'm better than you because of [Insert thing here]." That hurts people. Me watching dubbed, shouldn't hurt you just because you watched subbed. I don't care - heck in the early days, I didn't even know that was an option so I was in awe! I didn't learn about subbed Anime until I was in High School, and then I stopped watching Anime for a while because I got into boys and had a social life that was too busy to even sit down and read a book. When I did go back and watch Anime, I still didn't watch subbed because I didn't have the time or wanted to exert the energy. I had gotten to a place where I was working a very taxing job and so I didn't want to expend energy on reading a TV screen.

I have tried the whole subbed thing when I have to. Its feels weird to me because I'm used to my shows being in English, but I can adjust to it and I had in the past. I wanted to watch the "Digimon" story continuations bad enough on Cruchyroll (not sponsored... I wish I was sponsored.) and all they had were the subs, so I watched those. I got used to it, but the hard part for me is when I read too fast for the story and I have to wait for the subtitle to change, then there are times I'm not fast enough. That's why I prefer dubs, I can follow the story and the action on screen enough that I know what is going on. I know others though that do not have the convenience of choosing which they watch. I know if I have trouble with subbed Anime, they have much more trouble than I do, and I can't imagine what that is like, but I try.

My close family member that has dyslexia has tried to watch subbed Anime. He sometimes has to pause the show to read the subtitle to know what is happening. He tried subs because he wanted to know more of the story for his favorite Anime "One Piece." He loves it so much he got me into it. There are over 900 episodes of "One Piece" that are subbed, there are only over 600 that are dubbed. The story line ends in Dessrossa for the dubs, and in Wano for the subbed. He wanted to know what happened after the dubs dropped off in the middle of Dessrossa and up to Wano. He decided to watch the subs no matter how hard it was for him. I admire him for doing something so hard because he is so dedicated to his favorite Anime. He rarely does that, and I think the only one he has done that with is "One Piece." I admit that "One Piece" is worth it.

All in all empathy in the face of superiority is what needs to happen in the Anime community. Its the same as the wars between the "PC master race," console users, and casual mobile game players. We need to come together as a community and support each other. In the end what is important is we all have a similar interest and love for our hobby. That is what matters. We need understanding that there may be others who need to watch dubs and that is okay. We need understanding that some others don't need to watch dubs but do because they want to, and that's okay. We need to understand there are people who are only going to watch subs and that is okay too. We need understanding that some people are going to go between both when necessity requires it, and that's okay too! All of these ways of watching Anime are completely valid! In my opinion there is no wrong way to watch Anime. No one should be made to feel like they're inferior based on something they can not control, or for the choices they make.

If you like what you've read, I would like to recommend a few articles that are a cousin to this one. "My Thoughts on the Anime Civil War" , "Group Infighting" , "Empathy vs. Judgement" and one that is kind of in the same vein but not a long essay type article "Overlooked Superheroes." I hope you like them, and if you do consider leaving a tip, even something small like a dollar will go a long way.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you have a great day!