I hate how bad the dubs sound but when Im watching anime I'm playing Minecraft or an elder scrolls on my other monitor and I don't understand japanese so dub it is.

Dubbed every time unless there isn't one. That's the only time I'll watch subbed.

Subbed, but I also don't mind dubbed in most cases. Unless it's a situation like the Chinese donghua All Saint's Street where they changed the opening theme song for the Japanese dub and I prefer the original better. I have little experience with the Japanese dub* outside of that, but I kinda like the VAs better for the original dub. I know donghua is not technically anime, but I don't care.

Though, I will switch dubs to another language if I like the voice actors better. So, sub or dub is purely up to preference. Case Closed? Really wish they continued the Jimmy Kudo ENG dub so badly that if I ever became rich enough, I would buy the rights and continue that dub. BEASTARS? Sub is better, IMO. But wouldn't mind checking out the French dub for just a singular character.

*compared to the original dub

I haven't watched anime for quite a while, but when I do, I've certainly preferred subbed.

That being said, I can imagine computer voice synth hypothetically getting to a point where I'd prefer dubbed.

Both. I prefer subs but that requires attentive watching. Subbed I can work on my bike with it in the background.

Dubbed with subs. Often the best understanding comes from seeing both translation attempts

I watch dubbed, it doesn't bother me that they pronounce things stranglely, I'm use to it, I'm Hispanic and live in usa T.T

I always watch subbed.

On one hand because I just like the Japanese language.

But also because there are no dubs in my native language, and whether English or Japanese... it's all just foreign languages anyway. So I don't see a banefit to watching dubbed. Sure I'd understand what's said, but it's really not that hard to read subtitles. In fact, information tends to stick better for me when I read it rather than hear about it, so I only see benefits for myself with subtitles.

when I was young the preference was subtitled but my eyes have gotten worse as I aged. both far and near sighted and although the near should not matter everything is kinda worse. anyway now favor dubbed.

Dub. The problem with subs is that if you blink, or take your eyes off the screen to grab your drink or something, you miss stuff. Ears still work if eyes get distracted. 👂

That said, I’ve seen some dubs that were so bad I gave up watching the thing (live action).

90% dubbed. Sub only of no dub available. I'm happy for anyone who can read that fast but I just prefer looking at the scene. Also most dubs I know are pretty good anyway, I never understood the hate.

If I know the dub is good I would watch that. The same reason non-english speaking television or movies are less interesting; I want to be able to not have to watch the bottom of the screen every few milliseconds.

Depends on what's available. Dubs are high ceiling/low floor, whereas subs are low ceiling/high floor, so when both are available, I try the dub first and if the dub is bad I fail over to the sub.

Subs for almost everything, including things like donghua or live-action stuff, it just always feels way better to me.

The only exception I can think of where I preferred the dub is Dragon Ball. And I've seen Princess Mononoke in Japanese, English, and German, and enjoyed all versions a lot. Outside of anime, also SpongeBob and The Simpsons in German, but that might just be bc that's how I grew up with them.

Both

Subtitled, unless I watch it with family members who all prefer dubbed. I actually rewatched Frieren recently, this time with the German dub, and was surprised at how good it is (even if the German character/place names become even weirder in that version).

Substitle. I really hate dubs. The english voice actors have always the same annoying tone and lack of diverse emotions

Sub with subtitles, my neurodivergence won't let me watch a show otherwise. If the two aren't synced that's a big nope.

I always watch subs, that thing they do in dubs where they say words in a weird cadence to lipsync better is really offputting to me.

I just started watching some anime and was thinking about this!

I watched a few different series in English, dubbed, and they seemed good... then I tried another "classic" dubbed in English (Attack on Titan) and I didn't like it. I had a gut feeling that it would be better w/ Japanese and subtitles, so I decided to try it, and it was almost a different show... much better. Not only did the voices make more sense, the words are very different, almost completely different on some occasions.

I'm scared to rewatch the shows in Japanese that I already watched in English, haha.

I totally understand about not wanting to read subtitles, I don't necessarily want to, either, but it can completely change the show and be the difference between it being good and not good... not to mention the creators' original intentions...

Subs, gotta have that original language. I want to have the feeling of the character as it was intended by the director and/or casting director.

Sometimes when you watch a show with dubbed language, it can completely change the vibe of the character if the voice is too different.

Dub if the dub is solid so I can focus on the animation. Sub if it isn't.

Dub, I rather listen to a show in English just helps me get into the story easier.

Sub, English voice actors never feel like they fit the characters and either come off as overly cartoony or they don't have enough energy.

Mostly Dubbed. I like listening to my favorite animes while doing chores.

Dubbed and subbed, I do other things while watching, and when I do pay attention I like seeing the difference in translation.

Dubbed. I can't just watch TV. I always want to be doing something else while I've got the TV on

I watch subbed because the dub is almost always shit. only problem with that is the subbed voice acting tends to be a lot hornier

Mainly sub, there probably aren't any Czech dubs of anime besides the mainstream like naruto and such. And most of the English ones sound kinda weird and there's just something about the Japanese dub and its energy.

I prefer to watch movies and TV shows in their original language. I feel it loses some of its cultural identity when it's dubbed in another language. I especially hate when companies change the context of the show to make it relevant to the foreign audience. (e.g. changing rice balls to "jelly donuts" in the English dubbed Pokémon series.)

So when it comes to anime, I'm a huge advocate for watching subbed. I lived in Japan for 3 years and anime just sounds weird to me in English. It's unnatural. And there are so many interesting cultural quirks with their language that get lost when it's translated into English. It's boring when the show is really identifiable as my own culture. I wanna enjoy a different culture's perspective!

Broaden your horizons and learn more about foreign cultures. Watch your anime subbed! It'll also improve your reading speed and comprehension skills. I don't even notice that I'm reading subtitles anymore.

Plus, you'll be able to easily identify Japanese in the wild after a while. I also lived in South Korea for a couple years and I'm very good at picking out Japanese, South Korean, Chinese, and Tagalog (Philippines) languages, just by sound. Not to mention a handful of European and Scandinavian languages from a few years living in the EU.

I never realized how ignorant and closed-minded I was, living in the US. Traveling abroad made me realize there's a whole world out there that is extremely different from what I'm used to back home, and it's given me a new perspective of the world.

I didn't realize how much of an echo chamber America is. We're isolated on the other side of the planet from most everyone else and are exposed solely to our own media propaganda, which promotes the idea that we're the best country in the world and looked up to by everyone else. (We barely make the top 20 lists when compared to other nations, and are generally seen like a cringey edgelord by other countries).

Plus, we only have 2 foreign neighbors, but America is so huge, a majority of Americans don't live anywhere near the borders and will never bump into Canadians or Mexicans. So most of us live our whole lives without foreign cultural experience, and it's easy to fear-monger about "invading foreigners." Watching subbed movies and shows, of any language, is the easiest first step toward stepping outside your comfort zone and exploring other cultures.

SUBS4LYFE I can read fast and i almost always prefer the tone and flow of the natural language.

Generally neither. I live in Japan so if wife watches something, it's usually in japanese.

I have always watched subbed except for a few shows that I watched on TV back in the day. I don't really know what it is, but the dubbed voices just always feel off. I can watch American animation and the English voices feel perfectly fine. But show me an anime with English voices and it's like an uncanny valley sort of thing.

No I do not.

Subtitle, never dub.

Subbed. I have horribly delayed audio processing so I prefer subtitles either way and anime having such high standards for subs makes it my favorite form of media - they don't feel like an afterthought.

Subbed for sure.

The only anime I've ever watched dubbed was Cyberpunk Edgerunners due to my playthrough of the game being in English.

Subbed, because the Japanese VA is often the better actor and that carries the performance. If an anime has higher budget dubs, I'll watch those (not many of those; anything dragon ball usually meets the bar and witch hat atelier is treating English dubs with respect).

Subtitled. The English dub comes off as over the top and is more intrusive. I always check to see if the dub is good though

subtitled… I want the voice acting the creators intended

Subs; aside from being better quality typically and me reading pretty fast, I also understand enough Japanese to get what's going on. If you do it for over two decades, you get used to it.

Ironically, my Japanese wife sometimes makes me watch dubbed because she sometimes works with English VAs as part of her localization job, lol.

I usually default to subs, but there are certain dubs that are pretty iconic and I'll sometimes choose over the Japanese. For example I always enjoy the English-language cast of Cowboy Bebop and count that as one of the times they really Got It Right translating the dialogue and casting the dub.

And, of course, there are the gag dubs like Samurai Pizza Cats or the Funimation version of Shin Chan in which the dub clearly veering away from the source material and doing its own thing is the whole point.

Depends on the dub, quality of voice actors, sometimes whichever one I was exposed to first. I generally prefer a good dub because I can get fixated on the words and don't pay as much attention to the actual show.

I watch all my anime in braile.

First time always dubbed. I want to take in the visuals and not miss anything. Later on if I rewatch and I hear it's a bad dub because the meanings are wrong or things are missed, then I'll watch sub to take in more nuance of the writing.

Either way I find there are cultural memes that simply never translate and sometimes the dub, while less accurate, makes more of an effort to translate the memes into something similar that I can understand better.