Hello there,
DownsofFire here…. Two months later. Okay the thing is this: we are lazy as
fuck. So, to excuse the leave of absence, I’m going to start a shitstorm. How
is that, I hear you asking. Well, I’m going to talk about a sensitive subject
among the anime fan community: Dubbed Vs. Subbed. As you can tell, this will
turn out pleasantly and, for future reference, this is a rant that I’m doing
because I don’t have the equipment to make a video rant for youtube. So, with
that out of the way, let’s get to the rant.
As an anime fan, however minor my fan-ness is, I’ve
noticed something among the various fanbases in that people prefer different
viewing styles. I’ve categorized these people into four groups.
Group A: The Dubbed Elitists. These are the people who
think that every dubbed version is equal, if not better than, the original
Japanese dub of anime. And they’re assholes about it.
Group B: The Subbed Purists. These are the people that
believe that any and all English dubbed anime is shit and that Anime should
stay Japanese. They are also assholes about it.
Group C: The *Insert Language Here* (*ILH* for short)
Elitists. These are the people who think that dubs in their languages are godly
and better than anything else, except the original Japanese version, but they
tout their language more. It should be mentioned, these people are assholes
about it.
And Group D: The Flexible Fans. These are the people who
don’t care one way or the other. They can watch both dubbed and subbed and see
the ups and downs of both. They can watch one thing more than the other, but
they’re decent people about it… for the most part.
If you give a damn, I’m a part of Group D. I can watch
both subbed and dubbed and enjoy it either way. However, I watch more dubbed
since it’s my native language and I enjoy the voices, for the most part. Is
every dub good? Not in the slightest. However, is the original Japanese version
God? No. Are other languages better? I don’t know, I couldn’t care less.
Now the thing is that not every person who is completely
one-sided for a certain version is an asshole. Some people just don’t like the
English dub and they say so respectively and with decency. The same with some
pure dub fans. And *insert language here* fans.
However, my main gripe is with the fucking opinionated
assholes who think that touting their preferred version makes them fucking
ARCEUS! Seriously, you assholes have nothing, NOTHING, better to do than put
down anything you don’t like. I don’t care if you think this anime is better
subbed, but don’t find every video related to it spouting your crap about how
the English dub is trash!
I’ve seen this a LOT on Digimon videos. At about Christmas
time, I started re-watching Digimon from season 1 in English. It’s awesome and
I’m on season 4 as of this writing. So I go to youtube to find videos about
Digimon related stuff. What do I find in the comments?
“Boo hoo, Japanese is better! This theme song sucks! The
voices are shit! Wah wah fucking WAH!”
Or, “This sucks! *Insert Language Here* is WAY better
than this! :)”
To put it bluntly, WE DON’T CARE! It’s becoming a risk to
look at the comments section on ANY Digimon video now because these people make
it seem like fans of the dub are the fucking Devil. You like the
Japanese/*Insert Language Here*? That’s perfectly fine. Just don’t be an
opinionated asshole about it.
To give a more specific example, I was watching the
opening for Digimon Adventure 01 (Season 1). I go down to the comments, some
good, some bad. One said specifically
“This is horrible. My language, Finnish, is my favourite
:)”
… Okay, cool. You’re a complete douche about it.
Congrats! That’s an example of *Insert Language Here* asshole-ness. But I did
see one comment that brought a little faith back.
“Nice, but not as epic as the Japanese or German intros.”
That’s a decent, respectful comment. He admits that while he likes the English
opening, he prefers others. But the one thing that REALLY makes me sad is that,
no one will defend the English version. So I finally posted a comment saying
“Am I the ONLY one who likes the English version?” I got
13 replies from fans of the English opening finally stating, to the internet,
that they like it as well. That’s sad that one person has to illicit the aid of
13 people.
But, away from Digimon, what is my overall feeling of
this whole scenario? Well, I don’t mind people with different opinions if
they’re respectful of others. Dub/Sub/*ILH* people who respect that something
is good but prefer something else or say something is bad but won’t talk
blatant trash about it are people I can respect.
It’s the god damn, shitfaced, motherfucking, cock
sucking, anal fisting, jizz guzzling, nausea inducing, opinionated assholes who
piss me the fuck off! I don’t care if you prefer something else, JUST DROP THE
ISSUE AND WATCH WHAT YOU WANT TO WATCH GOD DAMN IT!
I’m DownsofFire. I rant about it so you don’t have to
(Please forgive the obvious Nostalgia Critic ripoff line)
