Shoutout to the subbed version of Attack on Titan over the dubbed

I watched the first two seasons dubbed and thought the screaming was just part of the show, but I switched to subbed last week for season three and realized the voice actors actually have range. The emotional scenes hit way harder when you hear the original Japanese delivery instead of the over-the-top English grunting. Has anyone else had a totally different experience with a show just by changing the audio track?

3 comments

3 Comments

abby_scott1mo ago

The English dub for AoT actually has some great performances, like Matt Mercer as Levi. The screaming in early seasons was a specific directorial choice they moved away from.

the_robert6d ago

The "directorial choice" thing is interesting but I think people forget how much the recording setup dictated the performances. Back in season 1, Funimation was still recording everyone in a booth together, so the actors were feeding off each other's energy and matching the intensity. By season 2 they started doing separate takes for each character, which killed a lot of that raw dynamic. You can actually hear the difference in the crowd scenes too - the background yells in season 1 have this chaotic overlapping quality you just dont get later on. Its not just the directors choice, the whole production method shifted.

grantl941mo ago

Wait, so the screaming was on purpose? @abby_scott, that explains why I sounded like a dying cat trying to copy it in my room...