What do you think of the Naruto English Dub?

T

theguitarmaster101

New member
Ever since I first started to watch Naruto years back, the dub has been hated on and it's unjustified in my opinion. The biggest flaw is obviously censorship but I still think the dialogue is good and the voic cast is pretty awesome.

So...
1. What would you say are your favorite performances in Naruto or Naruto Shippuden?
2. Least favorite performances?
3. What do yo think of the dub as a whole?

I'll give my answer to #1 right now since I just started to watch Shippuden.
1. Johnny Yong Bosch as Sasori - This has to be right up there witH Vash as one of his best roles ever. He does a great villain and though Sasori isn't as maniacal as Hichigo, Mr. Yong Bosch still manages to sound just as sinister. Anyone can sound evil and threatening while laughing like a lunatic but a great voice actor can make you feel a chill just by talking normally. Bosch's Sasori can do that.
 
Naruto has an excellent dub. The censorship on Disney XD is a bit extreme, but on Cartoon Network it was very acceptible.

Viz has handled English Naruto quite well.
 
Back when Naruto first started out, I didn't care for it the voice work. Not because the voices didn't match the originals (I could careless), it was because the dub work was just boring and annoying (Naruto and Rock Lee were the annoying ones). Comparing to the manga, emotion or reactions didn't match the facial expressions that were shown. Kakashi is the best example I can use here. I know his character is the calm type, but in the earlier episodes he'd make these shocking expressions, but sounded so dull. Sasuke was another one that I thought was dull in the earlier episodes. And then there's the dialogue.... I hated it. (believe it >_>). I'd say I didn't start really caring for any of it until the retrieve Sasuke arc. Shipuuden's work on the other hand has been great because the dialogue sounRAB a lot better.



1. Crispin Freeman as Itachi. He was the only one that actually sounded really good in part 1.

2. Just about everyone, but we'll go with the v/a for Naruto. I was hoping he'd go through puberty in Shipudden and develop a more masculine voice.

3. Decent. Like I said, I thought the voicework was poorly done in part 1. Like I said, dull voices and poor dialogue, but it seemed to have gotten worked out by the time of Naruto and Sasuke's big showdown. (I stopped watching it before then, as well as after that arc was done) Shipuuden sounRAB really good despite me still not caring for Naruto's v/a.. (I suppose it works out because I can't stand his character)
 
I think it very well done. The first 20 episodes of part 1 were decent but it became way better. The dialouge sounRAB very natuarl without losing the meaning of orginal and very well cast.

1.After watching the dub od disney xd. Sasori has to be one of the best. He sounded calm and calculating, but sinister at the same time. My other favorite would be Naruto because Malie knows how to bring the emotion of him when needed.

2. Neji. Not that it's bad but, I don't know. I feel it could be better.

3. Like I said very well done. A.
 
I find the English dub more enjoyable than the original, but the edits it received when it was airing on Jetix (UK) was terrible!

They used to freeze the screen at times to hide more violent scenes or any smoking, one early episode (the one where naruto & Sasuke fight that kid who is with Zabuza (sp?) ) was edited so badly I found it hard to work out what was going on towarRAB the end. - Also the show aired at 8PM at night so while its a kiRAB channel I had hoped it wouldn't be edited too much.

Thankfully as time went by they got better and chose to turn the picture from 4:3 to 16:9 when someone was smoking. :P
In other worRAB they would chop the top and bottom of the picture making it look widescreen on a 4:3 TV.

One other odd thing was when the DVD's came out....
While we had un-cut dual-language dvd's the subtitles changed "ramen" to "pot noodle" in a effort to appeal to a wider audience for Volume1. The odd thing is the dub doesnt do this.
 
All the voice actors in the English dub are boring, they speak too slow
Naruto is the worst of the lot

Of how boring the dub is, I saw no more than 6 episodes
 
My feelings on the subject shift depending on the episode, but it's 'okay'. Certainly not a masterpiece, but there's a lot of things that tend to bother me (Japanese pronunciation and some of the acting). I really only watch it nowadays when I get the new DVRAB from the library and watch with my mom.
 
I don't watch Shippuden so I can't really comment on that but the only dub voices I did not like were Shino and Chouji but even those voices weren't terrible just not as good as the rest.

It had some faults to be sure but that dub was very well handled.
 
Dub is pretty good overall, yet I do know have issues with Naruto's shippuden voice. It sounRAB to much like this younger voice to the point that I can't see his maturity as do I see with his JPN counter part.

Everyone else has great voices, but Naruto's voice just doesn't work anymore for me.
 
After having to live through dubbed drek like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and straight-to-video "adult" crap in the late 90s, not much else can compare in awfulness. I'm not even counting the 80s dubs with the random name changes (Ryu to Hooty? What were dub companies smoking?) either. Newer anime fans don't even know how awful dubs can get...

Naruto's English dub is like heaven compared to the worst of the worst. For the record, Rock Lee is the best fit and Naruto's is probably the weakest.
 
I honestly think its one of the best dubs ever right up there with Yu Yu Hakusho. I also think the VA's for Jiraiya and Gaara need to win some award. I love most of the performances but theirs are the best imo.
 
Gaara's voice is quite good.

I'd say he's my second favorite.

But man...I don't think anyone can top Johnny Yong Boch's Sasori for me.

Spoilers (I guess?) in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYEP1HOpxaA
 
I haven't seen much of Shippuden yet(only the first 5 or so episodes),but I think Naruto's a good dub,I like some of the translations in the anime better than the manga (and that they keep some of the Japanese worRAB in instead of translating them...especially keeping the term "sensei",which I think just sounRAB better than "master")...

1)...I like most of the dub performances so far (I think I'm one of the few who actually likes Naruto's VA),but I'd have to go with Crispin Freeman as Itachi Uchiha...just an amazing performance,especially in the episode where Sasuke finRAB out Itachi's killed the rest oif the Uchiha clan...

2)...I guess Chouji...it's not that I think the VAs bad,it's just his voice is kind of grating...

3) I like it...I can't say it's the greatest dub ever,but I do enjoy it,and I'm surprised that so many people think it's bad (maybe the edits for TV are,but the actual voicework is fine,IMO)...
 
Ah yes, Robbie Rist the actor who was Cousin Oliver in the Brady Bunch and Whiz from Kidd Video. I always found it amusing that guy can rock.
 
It's been a good 2 1/2 years since I've watched any Naruto, but from what I remeraber, I had no problem with the majority of the dub voices. However, I found Naruto's dub voice vexing. And since he's the main character, that's kind of a problem.
 
Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden is, in general, a good dub.

It didn't start out that way. After a year of watching the series in Japanese I saw the premiere of the CN dub with a friend and we were both horrified. A lot of the voices just initially put me off. Specifically Naruto and Iruka's because the former just sounded off and the later couldn't act. My friend divorced himself from the dub on a permanent basis (and later on would divorce himself from the anime completely because he felt the manga was superior and he was the one that got me into the Naruto anime).

I felt there was room for improvement so I kept watching. I liked a lot of casting choices for Sasuke, Sakura, Kakashi, Zabuza, and Haku and it was their performances that kept me watching the dub. Naruto, OTOH, suffered from "Kagome Syndrome" where Maile Flannigan still didn't have a hang on how to voice him. Often times when Naruto was shouting his voice sounded underacted and strained. It wasn't until the first Kyubi appearance that things started to improve.

I think where the dub found its footing was the Chunin Exam arc. I believe they changed voice directors, dropped "Believe It!", and Naruto's voice became comparable to his Japanese one.

It still had it's weak points. I feel Shino and Tsunade are not as good as their Japanese counterparts. Tsunade is just a minor issue as I think the voice could be slightly more sensual. Shino's issue is a little more concerning how miscasted he is. I feel part of the humor in Shino's Japanese voice is how deep and creepy it is, but his English voice is a little too high and nasally.

Outside of all this Naruto's dub has been near perfect since the Rasengan/4th Hokage arc and I've never had any major issues with it since
then.

But...I think it's going to be interesting to see how Shippuden handles Killer Bee...for soooo many reasons.

O-chan
 
I thought that Naruto had a pretty good and faithful dub. It was close the source material, most of the voices fit even if most of them were annoying, but then again, most of the Japanese voices were equally annoying as well, like Japanese Naruto.
 
Well where are you getting your information from?

I recall reading here years ago that up through the Zabuza arc they had a certain set of ADR directors, starting with the Chunin Exams I believe it was stated Mary Elizabeth McGlynn came on board and that's where the dub started to improve.

Also, spot checking on ANN's site the dub for the first series has had 6 ADR Directors so it's very possible that things changed up over the course of the dub.

O-chan
 
Back
Top