As an animation fanatic, I tend to watch quite a bit of anime. They always look good, usually have a decently interesting story. Sometimes even catchy music. One thing tends to be a hit or miss for most, and it’s if the anime is subbed or dubbed.

Basically, a subbed anime has everything the Japanese version has, with the exception of subtitles in English. By contrast, a dub is the Japanese version translated to English, with English voice acting and, in some cases, edits to the animation and music. Some dubs even alter the anime’s story by cutting out details not seen as acceptable in American society, such as with the altering of a lesbian couple to a pair of close cousins in the “Sailor Moon” English dub.

Many people seem to be finicky about which they watch, which is understandable. Viewers have a harder time reading fast enough or keeping their attention on reading the subtitles and would rather have it dubbed over out of convenience. A major problem arises with English dubbing. Many times it’s the case of bad voice acting plaguing the entire series, as well as music not up to par with the original Japanese version.

The company called out most on the subject of horrible dubbing would have to be 4Kids. 4Kids claimed its mission was to Americanize anime for children, yet all they usually did was cut certain scenes and episodes, alter animation (ex: Cigarette to Lollipop), and adding ridiculous voice acting. The “Pokémon” dub faired well, but the “One Piece” dub… it’s a whole other beast on its own.

Anime’s aren’t the only media suffering from bad dubbing, such as with video games like the original “Resident Evil” and some of the modern Sonic games like “Sonic the Hedgehog (2006),” ironically dubbed by 4kids voice actors from the “Sonic X” anime.

From this it may seem dubs are just more trouble than they are worth. Yet there are still many cases of fantastic English dubbing, like the video game “Persona 4,” which has some of the catchiest music and best voice acting in a heavily Japanese game. Even a popular series like “Deathnote” has a good dub, albeit some weird translations, and just about every Studio Ghibli movie is dubbed with big name actors while keeping its original Japanese score. Funamation is one of the key innovators of great anime’s, even going back and doing the “One Piece” anime justice after 4kids.

I, for one, don’t have a particular preference. I’ll watch either the sub or the dub; which ever is a available. Usually I can excuse awkward voice acting, and I’m fast enough to read subtitles. Although I do to have certain preferences for certain anime’s. I quite enjoy the dub of “Ouran High Host Club,” and I only watch the subbed version of “Megaman Starforce,” which retains its catchy theme song. So it isn’t really fair to choose one over the other given the differing circumstances. It’s a never-ending debate.