Subbed Anime vs. Dubbed Anime

I believe that subbed is much better than dubbed because it sounds so much more delicate. 1) Anime is a distinct art form. 2) Because it is an art form, any alteration to the original anime is an unacceptable compromise of artistic integrity. 3) Because dubbing into a different language compromises the artistic integrity of the anime, the only proper way to view anime is in the original unedited Japanese version with subtitles based on a literal English translation. It is irrefutable that Americanizing anime titles via English dubbing and editing has, on some occasions in the past, led to true travesties. One needs only consider the case of the series known in the U.S. as Robotech, which was really three different and unrelated series melded together through clever editing and dubbing and a creative rewrite of the original scripts. Another prominent case is the series Gatchaman, which U.S. viewers around in the mid-70s might remember as G-Force or Battle of the Planets. This series saw radical personality reinterpretations, gender and setting changes, and even the introduction of a new character that never appeared in the original series. (Remember 7-Zark-7?) Similar treatment can be seen in the current American broadcast of Cardcaptors, aka Cardcaptor Sakura, which originally had a female character as a lead but was creatively edited to focus more on a male character for the U.S. broadcast. Cases of more minor changes " such as switching the gender of an androgynous-looking character, renaming characters, or sanitizing the animation by covering up nudity, eliminating sexual references and bloodshed, and adjusting other things to meet more restrictive American broadcast standards " are far more common. That"s why both Toonami and regular (read: unedited) versions of anime series such as Dragonball Z, Tenchi Muyo, and Sailor Moon are available in the States. The former versions are PG and conform to the animation American parents are used to showing their kids. The latter versions are PG-13 and reflect acceptable broadcast standards in Japan. Anyone who watches both versions will realize that a Toonami version of a series is almost a different series. Another common complaint by purists is that the exact context and meaning intended by the original creator can be altered or obscured when an anime title is dubbed into English. These discrepancies crop up because using the literal English translation often isn"t possible if one wants to have the words synch with the mouth flaps of the characters - and that is something that American audiences value highly in their animation. Two particularly difficult cases to dub are songs and children"s rhymes, which are virtually impossible to translate literally and still keep a proper rhythm. (That"s why songs imbedded in anime sometimes are not dubbed and often sound clumsy if they are.) Other difficult cases include insults and humor based on honorifics or homophone-derived double-meanings. These often do not translate well and their meaning can be lost on an American viewer even if they do translate, which is why such humor and insults are usually replaced rather than translated for an English dub. It is also important to note that outright changes are sometimes done deliberately for the English dub to better explain things for an American viewer, use terminology that an American viewer would be more familiar with, or put something into a context that an American viewer would more easily understand. No matter the reason for the changes done for an English, the argument that meaning can be lost or altered in the process has considerable merit. I have personally run across several cases where characters say significantly different things in the subtitled and dubbed versions of the same scene and the difference distinctly changes the meaning of what is being said, so much so that the scene does not make proper sense until you see a more literal translation. Claiming that this is a prevalent problem with English dubs is ridiculous, however. Out of an entire 26-episode series, this might be a problem in one or two scenes at most if the English dub has been done responsibly. Here's my proof! http://www.usaanime.us...