Best / Worst Dubs of Japanese Films

[The Mad Plumber]

I've finally gotten around to watching the MST3K version of Gamera vs. Guiron and am halfway through. Sometime ago, I was thinking about the dub stereotype that you might see performed on shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway?, where you would hear the dialogue of the dubbed character stop and yet the character's lips are still moving. I was considering inquiring as to if there was actually any films that featured any kind of atrocious dubbing to warrant such a stereotype. However, in what I've seen so far of Gamera vs. Guiron, I may have just had my question answered. In GvsG, there are several instances of atrocious dubbing where the dub artist poorly paces his or her dialogue or that the character's lips continue to very visibly move after the dub artist has concluded his or her dialogue.

So, I thought I would throw out this inquiry to the more seasoned aficionados of Kaiju and Japanese films to tell me what might some of the best examples and absolute worst examples of English dubs.

Thank you.

[Torgo]

I don't really think there is a such a thing as a "best" dub of a Japanese movie. It's very difficult to sync their language with English. However, there ARE dubs I prefer to the original

Frankenstein Conquers the World and Godzilla vs. Monster Zero restore Nick Adams performance in the film. It's surprisingly good, compared to the lesser quality English actors you usually see in an Asian film.

There are a few editing choices in the English version of War of the Gargantuas that make it a slightly stronger movie. I especially like the delay of the opening credits until after the opening scene. Sets the mood perfectly.

The dub of Godzilla vs. Gigan is reccomended for several reasons, though it's not that good. But surbrisingly the actors dubbing actually sound like they're emoting, which is an improvement over the original acting in the film. There's also a wacky scene where the movie actually dubs Godzilla and Anguirus.

I hear that the dub for Godzilla 2000 is an improvement on the original, but I haven't seen the Japanese version so I can't compare.

As for worst, outside of the Godzilla series, I haven't listened to many dubs. Much prefer subtitles. But the international dubs on the Heisei and Millennium series are all pretty awful. There's usually only three or four people doing the voices

[angilasman]

The Japanese language is so different from English in mouth movements and rhythm that it's an inherently difficult task. The same people who dubbed the Sergio Leone westerns dubbed a lot of the '60s Godzilla movies, and while some people don't seem to notice For a Few Dollars More is dubbed everyone points out Godzilla dubs with derision.


... but as Torgo points out, there are a few Japanese monster flicks where there is an American lead, so you in the US version you're getting the lead actor's original performance and everyone else is dubbed. I generally prefer those, and I give special notice to King Kong Escapes, which has a US lead (the brother of the star of This Island Earth - they could be twins!). The over-the-top villain of that flick is played by the great character actor Hideyo Amamoto, and in the US version he's made even more over-the-top by having the voice of Paul Frees, who's basically playing it as a Japanese version of his own Boris Badenov! I think it does nothing but help the loopy, '60s cartoon feel of the flick.

[reaperg]

The AIP releases of these films that had Titra and Peter Fernandez doing the dubbing were the best. However, the best dub of anything was "Iron Chef".

And while "Godzilla vs. Gigan" had some changes in the dialogue, how can you not love "You cheeky pig!" and "Somebody kick me, kick me hard!"

[Torgo]

Best dub ever was MXC. Ever.

[caucasoididiot]

Dittos to a lot of what's already been said by Torgo and Angilasman. Another problem with Japanese in particular is that it contains a lot of filler phrases that are only said out of politeness and don't have ready English equivalents. That's the basis of a lot of the "hello," "hello," "hello," in Gamera vs Guiron. The Japanese also do a lot of single word narration to express feelings, saying "happy" or "sad" to indicate the feeling, again something that's hard to fit an English line to.

Re-edits are kind of a separate topic; Miyazaki apparently expressly prohibited it in his foreign release contracts. It seems like that's almost a "paper or plastic" issue. According to the commentary, the re-edit of Millenium was just a matter of tightening it up. It may be no more than differing US and Japanese senses of pace. On the other hand, the US release of Yousei Gorasu apparently edited out a giant monster that the director was forced to insert by Toho. You could thus argue that it was actually restored to the director's vision, and I find the monster needless. Yet I know at least one person who was disappointed by it because it's precisely for loopy kaijuu that they like Toho movies.

I also prefer subs whenever possible, and aside from the rubber monster genre Princess Mononoke is about the only film where I can make the comparison. I first saw it in a tape off Japanese TV. Knowing I'd missed quite a bit, I went and rented the dubbed version. One point that the Millenium commentary also made was that they had deliberately cast Asian voice talent because they felt there are subtle but detectable variations in voices by race. Now, I know some purists get bent out of shape by things like Kuroneko Jiji being voiced by Phil Hartman when the original Japanese voice is female. But in Mononoke the character voiced by Jada Pinkett Smith leapt out. She has a fine voice, mind, but it felt really weird to have the voice of a black lady coming from a clearly Japanese character.

As an aside, just last night I was watching Tora! Tora! Tora! and noting Paul Frees' dubbing of the English dialogue of Ambassador Nomura. He actually did a pretty decent Japanese accent. Too bad they didn't use him in the trailer, where the title is shouted by someone doing a goddawful "You suplise I speak you language, Joe" travesty.

Even aside from dub versus sub is the question of translation itself, which can get quite tricky. The subs on my Totoro were based on the dub script, I think, and it was interesting to see subs at points where no character was speaking. I don't remember if it seemed to be cultural backfill that Japanese audiences wouldn't need or if it was extra dialogue, added because Americans probably would be saying something even where the Japanese characters didn't. As my first Japanese girlfriend put it, "Americans are so talkable."

[angilasman]

^Is your Totoro DVD from Dinsey? Disney's Ghibli releases have two English subtitle tracks: one for the hard at hearing which is the dub transcribed and one a translation of the Japanese dialog.

[caucasoididiot]

I actually had a region 2 release. I don't have it anymore, and memory fades, but I think I read somewhere that it used what was originally the US closed captioning script.

[reaperg]

If the dubbing was by Titra Productions in the 1960s, you're going to get a good dub. I just got the "Destroy All Monsters" DVD which includes two dubs. The Toho International version is embarassing, but the Titra/AIP version is a great listen. Plus you have Hal Linden dubbing Akira Kubo.

However, the best dub ever was "Iron Chef".

[bladez636]

I find it stupid to have clearly Asian people be voiced with broad American accents, such as with the Gamera films featured on MST3K -- I feel like how do these dubbers not find this totally ridiculous sounding when dubbing. When hearing the alternative dub from the 60's of Gamera - "Gamera the Invincible" where all the Japanese are voiced by actual Japanese voice actors speaking English. When it comes to dubbing, nothing is perfect really.

The best dubbing i've seen is really for "Star Fleet" - but that being done with puppets that have only one mouth flapping movement makes it easier. In fact, I think the English dialogue syncs better with the footage than the Japanese dialogue does. The second that comes to mind is a dub of the original "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" movie -- not Japanese, but still I don't get out a lot