Why are Japanese voice actors almost always superior to English voice actors?

[Peter_20]

I always seem to experience this: Japanese voice actors constantly seem to do a better job than the English ones.
We've all heard it before: "the English voice-overs are stupid, I prefer the Japanese guys".
Well, that's too true - the Japanese voice actors always seem more serious and more "into their work".

Could it be because video games are more accepted in Japan, and therefore the Japanese voice actors do their job with more respect? :rolleyes2

[JKTrix]

Just had this topic in the Lounge, about Anime.

http://forums.eyesonff.com/lounge/106001-you-elitist-bastards.html

Copy/Pasting part of my response here:


In many cases, the Japanese version 'feels' better. Aside from the elitism and the language barrier, the stuff is Made In Japan. The voice actors are directly influenced by the Director of the show who moulds their performances to fit with his vision. Sometimes a character is designed to perfectly fit with a particular actor. Anime is serious business in Japan.

There's a lot of inbreeding with anime and videogames these days, so oftentimes the voice actors often do both games and anime (in both Japan and the US).

[Ishin Ookami]

It's simply that the standards for acting are very much higher. Seiyus (japanese voice actors) are often called upon to play multiple roles that call for vastly different inclinations. In the anime of Inu Yasha the same Seiyu for Kagome (hyperactive, immature, ditzy school girl) played Jakotsu (psychotically gay killer with a wickedly pimped out sword and the habit of brutally killing those he falls in love with). Yet without looking at the credits, you would never know the actor for both were the same. And if you aren't that good an actor, you don't get jobs. period.

If the same standard for excellence was applied to american animation, the english voice acting market would get a lot more respect.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

Just had this topic in the Lounge, about Anime.

http://forums.eyesonff.com/lounge/106001-you-elitist-bastards.html

Copy/Pasting part of my response here:


In many cases, the Japanese version 'feels' better. Aside from the elitism and the language barrier, the stuff is Made In Japan. The voice actors are directly influenced by the Director of the show who moulds their performances to fit with his vision. Sometimes a character is designed to perfectly fit with a particular actor. Anime is serious business in Japan.

There's a lot of inbreeding with anime and videogames these days, so oftentimes the voice actors often do both games and anime (in both Japan and the US).

I think that is more it.

I'd also go out on a limb and say that there are more Japanese voice actors than English ones. I mean after watching so much dub, you will start hearing familiar voices. So you have, with English voice actors, the ones who normally do mainstream series and then some who do lesser known series and more often their voices are not suited for the roles (e.g. Gravitation or Mirage of Blaze, both have terrible voice acting in the English version). There is also the fact that most of us do not know enough Japanese to tell whether or not the tone/pitch/expression of the voice is appropriate for the character. We surely can make a judgement on what sounds right to us, or feels right, but the thing is we would not have the same feel of the Japanese language as we do for our own, thus there is a chance that we would be less critical of the Japanese voice acting.

[Peter_20]

It's simply that the standards for acting are very much higher. Seiyus (japanese voice actors) are often called upon to play multiple roles that call for vastly different inclinations. In the anime of Inu Yasha the same Seiyu for Kagome (hyperactive, immature, ditzy school girl) played Jakotsu (psychotically gay killer with a wickedly pimped out sword and the habit of brutally killing those he falls in love with). Yet without looking at the credits, you would never know the actor for both were the same. And if you aren't that good an actor, you don't get jobs. period.

If the same standard for excellence was applied to american animation, the english voice acting market would get a lot more respect.This explains how Konami Yoshida managed to do so well in sounding completely different when she recorded voices for Milly and Fear in Star Ocean. :D

[Araciel]

that's not true. depends on what you play and who the voice actors are.

[Odaisé Gaelach]

It's simply that the standards for acting are very much higher. Seiyus (japanese voice actors) are often called upon to play multiple roles that call for vastly different inclinations. In the anime of Inu Yasha the same Seiyu for Kagome (hyperactive, immature, ditzy school girl) played Jakotsu (psychotically gay killer with a wickedly pimped out sword and the habit of brutally killing those he falls in love with). Yet without looking at the credits, you would never know the actor for both were the same. And if you aren't that good an actor, you don't get jobs. period.

If the same standard for excellence was applied to american animation, the english voice acting market would get a lot more respect.

Nonsense. Most of the voices on the Simspons are handled by a group of seven or ten people. Eg Harry Shearer - who plays Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, Smithers, and Kang.

[Ishin Ookami]

It's simply that the standards for acting are very much higher. Seiyus (japanese voice actors) are often called upon to play multiple roles that call for vastly different inclinations. In the anime of Inu Yasha the same Seiyu for Kagome (hyperactive, immature, ditzy school girl) played Jakotsu (psychotically gay killer with a wickedly pimped out sword and the habit of brutally killing those he falls in love with). Yet without looking at the credits, you would never know the actor for both were the same. And if you aren't that good an actor, you don't get jobs. period.

If the same standard for excellence was applied to american animation, the english voice acting market would get a lot more respect.

Nonsense. Most of the voices on the Simspons are handled by a group of seven or ten people. Eg Harry Shearer - who plays Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns, Smithers, and Kang.

And it's VERY easy to tell that they are the same person. Seiyus can voice various roles and you won't be able to tell its the same actor/actress, save for reading the credits. Thats a rare talent in the English VA industry. For japanese seiyu's, thats a required skill

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this thread is more about Japanese voice acting in anime over their English dubbing counterparts than Japanese voice acting in anime versus English voice actors of English cartoons.

[Odaisé Gaelach]

Yep, I think you're right Leviathan.

[Mirage]

They often are, but not always.
Sometimes, the directors choose voice actors themselves, making for voices that fit the characters better. Other times, it's just because there is more competition among voice actors in Japan, because (I think) there are more animated series and films coming out of there than in many other areas, compared to their population.

I prefer the original language no matter what it is, anime and games are no exception.

[MecaKane]

games and anime are more popular in Japan.
More popularity brings in more money.
More money brings in higher skilled workers.

[JKTrix]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this thread is more about Japanese voice acting in anime over their English dubbing counterparts than Japanese voice acting in anime versus English voice actors of English cartoons.

The Simpsons argument is not entirely irrelevant though. As a US show, it has its original directors and such. So the director can do his visionary moulding or what have you as he sees. If you watch Simpsons with a Japanese dub (no clue whether it exists or not), would you be able to say that the Japanese version is better? Things in their original language are usually better, or at least truer to the intentions of the director.

While vocal variety is indeed an incredible talent to have, I wouldn't go so far as to call it a required skill. If one is really good at a certain type of voice, they will often have first dibs at roles like that.

On the English side as an example: Crispin Freeman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispin_Freeman). He's probably one of the most popular male VA's out there. He has a deep, expressive voice, and is often cast as 'The Badass'. Take a look at his roles: Alucard from Hellsing, Tsume from Wolf's Rain, Holland from Eureka seveN, Itachi Uchiha from Naruto... he has a few different roles, but those all suit his deep, 'Badass' voice.

On the Japanese side: Jouji Nakata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jouji_Nakata). I wouldn't go so far as to call Crispin Freeman his English Parallel, but they have similar qualities. Deep, powerful voice, often gets cast as someone in a position of power. He share's Freeman's role of Alucard from Hellsing, he's Folken from Escaflowne, The Count of Monte Cristo from Gankutsuou (one of my favourite favourite anime), etc.

So the ability to create totally different voices is a great skill to have, but it's not exactly a golden rule of seiyuu. It would definitely open up more opportunities to a person though, so they're not stuck always playing one type of role.

[Tigmafuzz]

english voices usually suit a character expression, though...

[Værn]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this thread is more about Japanese voice acting in anime over their English dubbing counterparts than Japanese voice acting in anime versus English voice actors of English cartoons.

The Simpsons argument is not entirely irrelevant though. As a US show, it has its original directors and such. So the director can do his visionary moulding or what have you as he sees. If you watch Simpsons with a Japanese dub (no clue whether it exists or not), would you be able to say that the Japanese version is better? Things in their original language are usually better, or at least truer to the intentions of the director.
Exactly what I'm thinking; when a cartoon is dubbed you need to sync the words to the character's lip movements which are meant for them to say something in another language.
There might not be so much complaining about English dubs if they edited the video so they could say exactly what they're supposed to, but editing the video as well, instead of just audio, would probably screw up other things.

[The Summoner of Leviathan]

As a sidenote, French dubs of English sitcoms are horrible.

[Zeromus_X]

While this may have been true in the past, English voice acting has improved greatly in recent years. I have many favorite English and Japanese voice actors, I never always favor one dub or another (unless in the case that one dub is unbearably bad).

[ShunNakamura]

As a note I am really curious on why the lip sync is considered absolutely necessary. I would rather have the correct dialog/etc than properly synced lips.

Hmm.. for example the Miyazaki Films are certainly what I would consider a solid dub. Heck, I watched the Marathan that was on AMC* that dealt with Miyazaki. They had both Subs and Dubs that they showed. And in several cases I preferred the Dubs overall[even given if it was one of his films I hadn't seen up till that point]. Anyways the point I was aiming for is I just plugged in my old Castle In the Sky VHS and I noticed that the lip sync was off. Not by much, but it was something I recalled noticing before in that particular film[and as a note, Castle in the Sky was one of the Dubs I really did like; I wish I would have recorded the subtitled version when they aired it so I could compare the differences].
*I think it was AMC anyways.


I also want to say that the English Dubbing scene is getting far better. I did fear ADV Films would butcher Utawarerumono when they dubbed it; however, they did a fairly good job from what I have seen of it(bits and pieces for evaluation purposes). And heck, it looks like they even managed to lip sync with little dialog change. An A class Dub from what I have seen.



And yes I have no life, if I get the chance I'll watch the subtitled version right beside the dubbed version just to compare(and I will do it with Utawarerumono when I get the chance).

[Madame Adequate]

It could well suck ass and we just don't know because we don't actually speak Japanese like a native, and thus can't hear how retarded the intonation and pacing actually is.

[DK]

It could well suck ass and we just don't know because we don't actually speak Japanese like a native, and thus can't hear how retarded the intonation and pacing actually is.

Beat me to it.