"Purists mostly prefer subtitles, claiming that audio dubbing strips the story and its characters of personality or life. And sure, bad dubs abound for anime translated from their native Japanese - but there are just as many great dubs, performed by actors who've become the defining voice for iconic characters. Like any voice work, it's an art form so long as it's taken seriously, but even sitting through a bad dub is a small price to pay for accessibility."
"In the race to compete with heavyweights like Crunchyroll, Amazon has quietly rolled out a new beta program that creates AI-generated English and Spanish dubs for anime. While not officially announced by the streamer, fans streaming select anime caught on pretty quickly, sharing clips from shows like Banana Fish and films like No Game No Life Zero. To no one's surprise, Amazon's AI-generated dubs sound pretty awful, with tonally disjointed and lackluster line deliveries robbing major moments of all their narrative weight."
Anime fandom splits over dubbed versus subtitled releases, with purists preferring subtitles and arguing that dubbing can strip characters of personality. High-quality dubs exist, however, with veteran actors defining iconic roles and demonstrating dubbing as a valid art form when done seriously. Dubbing enhances accessibility for viewers who cannot or prefer not to read subtitles, and some notable titles lack official English dubs. Amazon Prime Video launched a quiet beta creating AI-generated English and Spanish dubs for select anime, prompting fan-shared clips from Banana Fish and No Game No Life Zero. Early AI dubs sound tonally disjointed and lackluster, and AI dubbing threatens human voice actors as it improves.
Read at Inverse
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