Japanese or English audio in Sonic games: which one do you prefer?

[back2s0ul]

English. I'm not picky when it comes to how good or bad voice acting is. If it's bad then it's kinda humorous. If it's good then it doesn't call attention to itself.

[Raxz]

To me the Japanese voices are the voices of the characters -- when I think of Sonic's voice, I hear Junichi Kanemaru. This is kind of backed by the fact that the JP version has actually kept the same voice actors the entire time (except for Tails, for some reason they had a different JP VA for him for SA1) instead of deciding to swap them out every 3 or 4 games, but it's mostly just because I've been listening to the JP voices forever.

So yeah. Even when the voice acting of the characters isn't bad, I'm just so used to the Japanese voices at this point that the English ones sound wrong to me. Basically it starts at the voice acting being terrible in SA1 and Sonic X/the other things that use those VA teams, and then once we get to Colors, even though the voice acting itself is finally half-decent, I just don't like the voices themselves for the most part, that and I'm just really used to the Japanese voices at that point. So I always use the Japanese voices in Sonic games if it's an option, even if the English voices are "fixed" because the Japanese voices are simply the ones I want to hear.

Edited June 4, 2012 by Raxz

[PerfectChaos]

Played Colours in Japanese recently, and it was actually surprisingly bad. Definitely prefer English.

[JezMM]

What are subtitles?

Distracting lines of floating text that spoil the end of the sentences and ruin comic/dramatic timing. >.>

Seriously, just what the hell were they thinking with Unleashed's intro?

"Ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho ho! ...Huh!?" it displays during the dramatic zoom in, about 10 seconds before the mood is actually supposed to be broken by the "Huh!?".

Edited June 19, 2012 by JezMM

[Sephy]

They have changed the VA so many times that I usually put the japanese dub...they're at least the same VA since Adventure

[...]

I prefer Japanese. :V

Edited June 19, 2012 by Fix-It Felix

[Vertekins]

I prefer Japanese.

Probably because I'm slowly becoming a weeaboo. =P

Having an appreciation for excellent voice acting is being a weeaboo?

[Sami]

I usually play Sonic Adventure with the JP track on, but that's the only one. I prefer leaving subtitles on even when I'm watching in English, so it doesn't really make a difference in that regard.

[Tails spin]

English audio with Spanish subtitles. That's how I started to learn how to translated word and read in spanish when I was in middle school.

[Scar]

Having an appreciation for excellent voice acting is being a weeaboo?

.......Actually, I don't really like Eggman that much in Japanese. Personally, Mike Pollock is better.

Other than that, not everyone likes the Japanese dub.

[Wittymations]

English. For some reason, I can't help but imagine horny Japanese people saying sexual things when I hear a Japanese dub of anything. It's weird.

[Vertekins]

.......Actually, I don't really like Eggman that much in Japanese. Personally, Mike Pollock is better.

Other than that, not everyone likes the Japanese dub.

I'm remarking on the load of bull that is the assumption that having an appreciation for characters voices in Japanese makes you a weeaboo on general principle.

It doesn't.

Edited June 19, 2012 by Verte

[Kuzu]

I'm remarking on the load of bull that is the assumption that having an appreciation for characters voices in Japanese makes you a weeaboo on general principle.

It doesn't.

It does when you go on about how much better they are than the dub.

[Vertekins]

It does when you go on about how much better they are than the dub.

And that would only make you out to be weeaboo'ish if the reason as to why is purely because they're Japanese voices rather than appreciation for good VA'ing.

[Nepenthe]

Please don't tell me we're now arguing about the notion that merely expressing the opinion that some of the Japanese voice actors are better than their English counterparts makes you a weeaboo.

[BakingBluePotatoe]

I have no real preferance, it depends on my mood... at some point I'll changes either the text and/or the voices to Japanese though.

[Tornado]

What's the point of listening to something that you can't understand? English obviously.

If something is directed, produced and written well, it doesn't really matter what language it is conveyed in. It's not a book on tape. You have visual clues to go along with the diction. Pretty much half of The Godfather Part 2 was in Italian, and that half wasn't any worse than the regular part of the movie.

[Diogenes]

I'm not sure how accurately you can appraise voice acting in a language you don't understand...

[-Mark-]

I tend to like listening to languages I actually understand. However, I will listen to a Japanese audio track if I think the voices are better suited for it.

For Sonic? Yeah, it loses all it's "cool" feel whenever I tried it. Sonic is just something I'd never want to listen to in Japanese.

Ironically, that's the exact opposite of how I feel. Sonic is something that just doesn't feel 'right' to me in English.

I dunno, I think Sonic X plays a large part in it for me. I watched it week on week , and really got familiar with the Japanese cast. The fact the JP cast has remained largely consistent since Sonic Adventure whilst the English dub is on its third set of voice actors probably has something to do with it, too.

[Kuzu]

I'm not sure how accurately you can appraise voice acting in a language you don't understand...

[Nepenthe]

Unless the acting is terribad to unexplainable levels then it doesn't take a rocket scientist to innately understand the emotions and subsequently the acting of a fictional cartoon character, mainly because both voice acting and animation require exaggeration to even work in the first place. You can go on to argue that not understanding the Japanese language and culture from a first-hand experience like an actual native does will allow some cultural context and wordplay to be lost on an English viewer, but I'd argue this isn't enough to completely destroy the universal nature of emotion and thus make ranking actors from different cultures somehow untenable. When Junichi needs to be angry, I understand that he's angry merely from the way he talks; doesn't matter that I can't understand all of the words. And if he so happens to talks angrily better than Ryan, or Jason, or Roger, then I consider him the better actor in that instance.

[Diogenes]

I tend to go by how much emotion is put into the work.

Edited June 19, 2012 by Diogenes

[Dantemustdie00]

Japanese gives me a major migraine whenever I here it, so I'm a English jockey for all games I play. When I'm normally watching some anime, I turn the volume off or very low while I simply read the subtitles.

[C.J]

I prefer English, even if I dislike or hate the voices I still leave the english audio on most of the time, I'd like to understand what the characters are saying which is why I leave it on a language that I know well. Even though I actually don't like the current voices, I still would prefer to listen rather than read all the time so I can actually know what's going on. I don't normally switch to Japanese audio but there are times when I do occasionally.

Edited June 19, 2012 by C.J

[Coral]

^ This, even though I do like the current voice cast. This also applies to anime and movies. Subtitles just don't do it for me but if there's no choice but to use subtitles, that's fine. The only time I switch to Japanese is when I'm feeling curious about that version. :}