Turning Japanese anime into an international commodity by using different dubs has been tricky. While improvements were made regarding localization practices, especially in recent years, heading to the west and translating the original content proved to be a difficult road. Different cultural sensibilities, standards and practices, and general obliviousness to consumer interest ruined many great anime.
Still, there are plenty of great English anime dubs out there that deserve praise. Some perfectly capture the characters' personalities and work well with the series' overall tone. Others, however, struggled to complete the bare minimum, resulting in cringeworthy English dubs that fans would rather forget.
Updated on October 16th, 2022 by Sarah Martin: We've updated this list with more reasons why these anime dubs are some of the best and the worst in the industry. In recent years, English anime dubbing has significantly improved, making the shows more enjoyable for western audiences. Still, there are plenty of fans who prefer watching anime with subtitles since there's less chance for cultural discrepancies and unnecessary censorship to derail the series.
The Best Anime Dubs Of All Time
Dragon Ball Z's English Dub Is Funimation's Most Well-Known
Funimation's English dub of the classic shonen series, Dragon Ball Z, helped launch the company into the anime giant that its become today. No other anime in the west has been quite as successful as Dragon Ball Z because of Funimation's stellar work on this dub.
Dragon Ball Z's English dub was full of creative localizations for attack names that rivaled its Japanese counterpart. With an iconic voice acting team featuring Sean Schemmel as Son Goku and Christopher Sabat as Vegeta, it's unquestionable why the dub was destined for greatness.
Golden Boy's English Dub Captured The Series' Overexaggerated Characters & General Campiness
Many things, realistically, should have gone wrong with Golden Boy's English Dub. After all, the series stars an obnoxiously loud and charismatic protagonist. Golden Boy also has ecchi plot elements and female roles that requited subtlety, two things that were impossible to handle maturely back then.
However, Golden Boy's English dub surprised fans with its responsible approach to the series' campiness. It played into the characters' over-the-top personalities with bombastic voice acting to create believable, dynamic characters. Golden Boy's English dub was self-aware and handled the series' ecchi elements with a sense of professionalism that other dubs just didn't pull off at the time.
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood's English Dub Encapsulated The Series' Tone
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is one of the most iconic shonen anime series of all time. Many anime fans grew up watching it on Adult Swim after hours. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood forced Western audiences to take anime seriously for a change. Luckily, the series' English dub didn't foil its greatness.
Instead, it took FMAB's emotional aspect seriously and didn't censor its heavy political commentary. At its core, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is an existentialist series with an underlying dread behind every event. The English dub perfectly retold the story and encapsulated its darker tone.
FLCL's English Dub Captured The Characters' Wacky One-Liners & Sincere Personalities
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FLCL is one of the wackiest anime series of all time, so it's understandable why some viewers had a hard time making any sense out of it. After all, the series is chock full of sexual jokes and unpredictable characters. However, FLCL's English dub stepped up to the challenge.
It perfectly captured the characters' wacky one-liners and sincere personalities, all while respecting the Japanese language. FLCL's English voice actors incorporated Japanese words, like honorifics and sayings, into the script in a way that didn't feel tacky or forced. Instead, the dialogue flowed naturally and made sense from an otherwise nonsensical show.
Cowboy Bebop's English Dub Delivered Convincing & Hypnotic Performances
Cowboy Bebop's English dub is just as much of a masterpiece as its Japanese counterpart. Steve Blum, Beau Billingslea, and Wendee Lee entered their voice booths with a poetic script that they were tasked with reading to the viewers. They really pulled through by delivering hypnotic performances that felt realistic and convincing.
Steve Blum's version of Spike Spiegel became iconic since he seamlessly flowed from smooth, cool deliveries to goofy sincerity. The transition between the two never felt bumpy or awkward, and the same can be said for Lee as Faye and Billingslea as Jet Black.
The Worst Anime Dubs Of All Time
Pokémon's English Dub Misinterpreted The Entire Story
Pokémon's English dub was a disappointing interpretation of a classic series since the script seemed to abandon the characters' Japanese origins. 4Kid's dub was full of hilarious, but cringeworthy moments and unnecessary censorship that ultimately misrepresented the series.
One of the most cringeworthy moments in Pokémon's English dub was when one of the characters was clearly eating rice balls, but the script called them "jelly donuts." The dub tried to disguise the source material's country of origin. Sadly, that's not the only example in Pokémon's English dub.
Speed Racer's English Dub Is So Bad It's Almost Funny
Speed Racer's English dub didn't set a good example for what others could possibly be capable of. It's definitely not high quality and it's so bad that it's almost funny. Incomprehensible fast-talking, insincere responses like awkward gasps, and forced dialogue have made Speed Racer's English dub a laughingstock in anime communities.
Speed Racer was one of the earliest anime series dubbed for English audiences. At the time, automated dialogue replacement – post-production re-recorded dialogue – didn't exist.
The English Version Of Garzey's Wing Is Full Of Lousy Delivery & Mispronunciations
The English version of Garzey's Wing lacked passion or enthusiasm, making it hard to watch or take seriously. Garzey's Wing is the ultimate collision course of a bad anime meeting nearly ambivalent voice actors.
The English dub was packed with poor delivery, lazy mispronunciation of fantasy lingo, and terrible sound production. It seemed like the entire cast was confused about where to take Garzey's Wing. It's a waste of fans' time and money but makes for an incredible bad movie night with friends.
Ghost Stories' English Dub Went Out Of Its Way To Misrepresent The Series
Ghost Stories didn't do well in Japan, so the English voice-acting cast was given free rein to interpret the series however they wanted to make it more successful. If not successful, then memorable at the very least.
Unfortunately, it turned into a disaster of embarrassing hyper-exaggerations and misrepresentations of the characters' personalities. Ghost Stories' English dub incorporated out-of-place pop culture references and even alluded to Christianity a few times when it wasn't necessary. It also added juvenile sex jokes that would make it hard for any older viewer to sit through.
One Piece's English Version Has Inconsistent Delivery That Ranges From Too Over-The-Top To Painfully Monotonous
One Piece's 4Kids version changed several things from the original. It also made plenty of embarrassing and unnecessary attempts to Americanize a classic Japanese show. One Piece's English adaptation turned firearms into water guns and cigarettes into lollipops.
Instead of handling the series' most important moments with poignancy and professionalism, 4Kids opted for juvenile humor and unnecessary dialogue that cheapened One Piece's legacy. Most, if not all, One Piece fans just want to forget that 4Kids' tragic dub existed in the first place.
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