When reading a manga, whose voices do you hear? Japanese or dub?

F

Frances M

New member
Assume you read a manga that is successful enough to warrent a anime series, that also got a english dub? In most cases the mange comes first, or in the rare case a manga based on a anime series that got a english dub (Pokemon, Code Geass are couple of example that I can think of at the moment), and when you read and get into the story, it is natural to hear the characters voices. Which voice do you hear?

The Japanese voices or the English dub voice? For me in most cases, it is the Japanese version. For example a SJ series like Naruto or Bleach, it is the Japanese voices of the characters that I hear when I read the manga.
 
Actually I don't hear the characters voices at all. Even with something like naruto or bleach where I watch the anime and read the manga I still don't superimpose their voices while I read the manga.
 
Well, when I read a manga, I try to think of a voice that fits the characters. If it's a big-fat mean guy, I think of a low voice. If it's a happy-go-lucky person, I think of a cheerful voice.
 
I imagine English voices when reading manga simply because I don't know Japanese, so it's really hard to imagine the Japanese voices talking.
 
Neither. The voices I hear are the ones I believe fit the character not the ones the people who dubbed (Any language) believe they should sound like.

Especially if I read the manga before I watch the anime.
 
Before I had seen the One Piece english dub I used to imagine Luffy with Son Goku adult english VA's voice and I thought for the longest of time it was a good fit.
 
Which ever one has the better voice.

If it's a Japanese voice that screeches all the time or is horribly out of place, I won't use it. Same goes for English voices that just don't fit.

Sometimes I just use the voices that sound right in my head, like L's VA for Ulquiorra.
 
It depenRAB on the series - Bleach is the Japanese cast, although for some reason Ichigo always sounRAB like a happy medium between Morita Mazakazu and Johnny Bosch in my head. XD It was kinda creepy when they got to Grimmjaw (Japanese) 'cause that was PRECICELY what he sounded like in my head. O.o

Naruto is kind of a toss up - like, say, Kakashi's usually his sieyuu, whilst Sakura's usualy her English voice actor. Now that I think about it, Naruto isn't either. He actually sounRAB more like a 15 year old in my head. Same for Sasuke.

Er... Trigun's the English cast + random other imaginary voices 'cause Trigun Maximum hasn't been animated. One Piece is a corabination of the Japanese and English casts (although I haven't read much of One Piece ).

Gintama's the Japanese cast hanRAB down! And, again, the casting directors prove themselves creepy 'cause Tsukuyo and Housen sound pretty much the way they did in my head. XD
 
You can't imagine Japanese voice actors speaking English? But that is your proactive, who I am to judge.

Though some are easier than others, for example it is very easy to imagine a character Don Kanonji speaking English, since he says as many English worRAB as Japanese worRAB in the Japanese version.
 
DepenRAB on what language, I can read both English and Japanese. So I hear the respective voice actors depending on what language I'm reading the book in.
 
I actually need to focus in order to "hear" the characters when I read... anything, actually. And it slows me down a LOT. Like, when I read One Piece, I try to listen to the characters actually speaking - and it takes me twice as long, honestly. I don't even bother with other manga because it's so time consuming.

But for One Piece I hear a mixture. Like, Zoro is Sabat - without a doubt - but Luffy is mostly Tanaka. Usopp is somewhere between Yamaguchi and Strait. So, yeah, it's pretty much my own interpretation of the characters.
 
I think I may have pretended once or twice to hear the characters speaking in Japanese when skimming through my imports, but I don't think I ever have with translated manga.
 
I hear the English cast since I usually watch an anime series before reading the manga and I don't watch the Japanese version of most of the anime series I've watched. That was the case for DN Angel and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, even the manga for GX is pretty different from the series. When there is a character that appears in the manga that didn't appear in the series, I just try to imagine what voice would work for them and go from there.
 
I generally make up my own English voices in my head, personally. Unless I've seen the anime version of the show, in which I usually go with the dub voices unless I disliked the dub, in which I make up my own voices again.
 
I have two manga series that I've also seen the anime: Trinity Blood and Full Moon. For TB it's the English ad for Full Moon it's the Japanese. That's just how I watched those respective series. I don't always assign a voice when I'm reading, though. For my Vampire Hunter D novels, I imagine his hand talking like the English Bloodlust actor, but D himself isn't either of the film actors. I guess it really depenRAB on if I've watched the anime lately.
 
Considering that most of the manga I read are in English, I just imagine the English voices, because their voices are stuck in my head and the Japanese actors speaking English don't mesh. If they don't have any, I just make up my own voices in my head as I read.
 
Back
Top