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The story
Voice actor Hiroaki Hirata appeared at a screening event for the dubbed version of director Christopher Nolan’s new film “The Odyssey,” pushing hard for the dub. The film, based on Homer’s epic and starring Matt Damon, sparked a flood of reactions on 5ch — some argued “the actor’s real voice is better,” others countered that “subtitles eat up all your focus just trying to read them.” While many felt comedies and sitcoms suit dubbing, plenty of others said original-language audio is better for performances that hinge on acting skill, splitting opinion down the middle between subtitle and dub camps.
Mon, 9/21, 17:54
Voice actor Hiroaki Hirata (63) attended a screening event in Tokyo on the 21st celebrating the smash-hit dubbed version of the American film “The Odyssey.”
The latest film from director Christopher Nolan, known for works like “Oppenheimer,” stars American actor Matt Damon. Based on the ancient Greek poet Homer’s epic of the same name, it depicts the hero Odysseus’s decade-long journey home after the Trojan War.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
The "Nagano Movie Channel" on BS-TBS mostly airs foreign films with subtitles, but Cannonball Run was the one exception they aired dubbed.
The Big Bang Theory is definitely better subtitled. Not that the dub is bad, but Sheldon's weirdness comes through better in the original performance.
Agreed. Even shows that aren't full-blown comedies but have a lighter tone work well dubbed — Columbo, for instance.
Same goes for Schwarzenegger, right?
Same with T-Bag from Prison Break. Hearing his real voice with subtitles on just isn't intimidating at all — total buzzkill.
With AI you could probably translate into other languages while keeping the actor's actual voice.
Nah, voice actors have idol-level popularity here, that's not happening. Maybe just for straight dubbing or narration work.
The normal move is to watch the dub first to get the dialogue and plot, then watch the original version.
Besides, Hirata, with the nuance you bring to your own dub performances, that's plenty for casual viewers.
Reading speed varies a lot by person, so someone who reads fast isn't using anywhere near 80% of their attention. Subtitles don't even have that many characters to begin with.
"Old man, you really shouldn't say things like that."
The man himself, Beryl Gardenant (from "The Old Man in the Backwoods Becomes a Holy Sword," voiced by Hiroaki Hirata):
"Yeah, I know, but still……" (a joke playing on the fact that Hirata voices a character in that very anime)
Yeah, I can't picture that character with any other voice at this point.
Dr. Carter, Jack Sparrow, and Sanji all have to be him.
Watching fighting game streams, I love how even the on-screen characters' battle cries get auto-dubbed.
Columbo
Jackie Chan movies
What's the third one?
Taichiro Hirokawa in the Mr. Boo! films.
except for that "It's me, it's me, Border" bit. (a meme referencing one particularly awkward-sounding line from the Japanese dub)
Honestly, you kind of feel bad for both the translator and the voice actor on that one…
Dubbed with subtitles on, you mean.
Well, subtitles are the mainstream choice in practice, so it can't be helped.
Background and Key Points of This Debate
The dub-versus-subtitles debate has long been a recurring topic in how Japanese audiences watch foreign films and dramas, and this time the spark was a voice actor himself publicly advocating for the dub in a public setting. On the thread, the dominant reasoning wasn’t a simple either-or stance but a genre-based split — “comedies suit dubbing,” “serious performances come through better in the original language.” Works like Jackie Chan’s films or Columbo are cases where the dubbed version actually became more beloved in Japan than the original ever was abroad, which can be seen as a product of Japan’s uniquely developed dubbing culture. At the same time, the spread of streaming services — which let viewers freely switch between subtitles and dubbing — has fueled more comments along the lines of “I watch both” or “I pick depending on the situation.” There was also some discussion of whether AI-generated voices might eventually replace voice actors’ work, though it’s worth noting this was purely viewer speculation about the future, not something Hirata himself actually said.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Voice actor Hiroaki Hirata pushes hard for the Japanese dub, yet says “I’m actually a subtitles guy myself” — “Obviously the original voice is better”.”
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