I used to think the 'subs vs dubs' debate was just people being snobs...

Ivan Murphy · 2026-03-11T00:55:04.880876+00:00

Then I watched 'Vinland Saga' in English first and felt something was missing. I switched to the Japanese audio with subtitles for the second season, and the voice acting for Thorfinn hit completely different... way more raw. That one show changed my whole view. Anyone else have a series that flipped their opinion on this?

ryan9476mo ago

Guess my ears were just being snobs too.

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susansingh6mo ago

Yeah, I had that exact same thing happen with 'Attack on Titan'! I watched the first few episodes dubbed and it was fine, but a friend insisted I try the sub. Levi's Japanese voice just has this cold, tired edge that the English version never quite matched for me. It totally changed how I saw his character. Now I almost always go for subs first if I can.

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nathan_hall446mo ago

Honestly, the music hits different in the original too.

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ray_williams4mo ago

My own turning point was "Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood" about ten years ago. I was a dub-only guy until a roommate played the sub, and Mustang's Japanese voice had this scary, quiet anger the English version smoothed over. I felt like a total fool for missing it. @nathan_hall44 is right about the music too, the original score just fits the voices better. I had to admit my old stance was pure stubbornness.

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