Worst Anime Dub you've ever experienced

[Celes Chere]

If a topic like this exists by all means... merge or w/e. I thought of this bc a few friends of mine on twitter were discussing it and they showed me some of my most beloved Anime series being destroyed by dubs. I had said hey madoka magica is probably the worst dub I've EVER sat through... dang I didn't think it could get worse. OBSERVE

IT GETS WORSE

mawaru penguindrum dub:

tsuritama dub (THE WORST OF ALL):

seen any worse than this? It'd take a lot to defeat these. (also the DEEN!fate stay night dub is shite as well)

 

[Tetsujin]

 

[Splintered]

I don't think Madoka and Penguindrum's are bad per say, they're average... it's just that the original are so powerful and it's weird that as big as those series were, they didn't get top billing. The only thing really bad was the announcer's voice in Penguindrum. (I didn't see tsuritama so I can't say anything.)

Also I just realized how awkward and seemingly badly done the Penguindrum scene looks without context. It's really amazing but you've really got to see it in the episode, or hell, even understand what's been happening in the show. Even with the best voice acting, that scene is going to feel strange without the rest of the meaning of what's going on- and maybe it gets more leeway in Japanese because it's not our native language?

That said, I've recently been showing Digimon to my niece and nephew, and man, I didn't realize how much that voice acting fluctuates. But anything from the late 90s and anything from 4kids definitely wins.

Also, do games count? Because I recently played Infinite Undiscovery and ooooh man lol

 

[JBedford]

I don't really get most criticisms of dubbing. I thought Penguindrum and Madoka were fine (dubbing anyway, I don't like Penguindrum). Although after watching as many Funimation dubs as I have I get tired of the voices.

I hear the preference of subs vs dub depends a lot on the order you see them in. I know after seeing subbed anime and then listening to the English I decide I don't like some of the casting.

But undoubtedly the worst dub I've ever heard: Fencer of Minerva. I can't find many videos. Some of the VAs are in other things and aren't so bad, so this must show how bad the voice directing/other things come into play. The anime is as hentai as non-hentai gets though, and (for me) not very watchable even with the original voices.

 

[Strangelove]

i cannot bring myself to even attempt to watch the dubs of the new eva films because the horrible memories of spike spencer's shinji from the original series still haunt my mind

 

[Flintlock]

This video is a "greatest hits" compilation of a Finnish dubbing team's work on Digimon. You don't need to be able to speak Finnish to understand how bad it is; just listen to the first minute or so

 

[Octo]

^ fucking hell like....thats got to be the worst ever. It's like it's just been done on a laptop mic or something, like they haven't even bothered to make it sound like they're in the locations in the show - just in a fucking cupboard or something.

But anime dubs are always kind of strange, theres a unique 'style' that I can't quite put my finger on. TBH other than the Digimon and Sailor moon vids, I don't think the others sounded that bad (although not being familiar with those shows they did seem kind of weird) Most of the time I've only seen the dub anyway, so I don't feel like I'm missing out.

 

[HylianMogget]

The Ghost Stories joke dub is simultaneously the best and worst dub. Really, though, I don't think I've seen enough dubs to pick out a worst one.

The worst part of the old Sailor Moon dub was the changes/censorship. The dub itself is still bad, but it has its so-bad-it's-good moments, especially since it's such a relic of the 90s.

I've only seen clips of the Penguindrum dub, but I remember really disliking Kanba's voice and being really underwhelmed with the dub in general even though some characters sounded OK. Utena's dub isn't very good, either (iirc, from what I've seen, Anthy doesn't work at all, which is a huge problem). They might not be the worst dubs ever in the grand scheme of things, but for whatever reason they just don't cut it at all for the shows. Maybe it's the weird mix of seriousness/emotional sincerity and comedy/general eccentricity that both shows have? For what it's worth, the Utena dub is tolerable in the Nanami episodes, - but those episodes are so immaculately perfect that nothing can ruin them.