Why do people hate ENG dubs on anime?

[Balcerzak]

You ARE kidding, right?

I don't actually remember the anime, but giving a white flower to someone while still alive says you are expecting them to die. Now tell me, would you have known that without a Translation note, if it was not at all mentioned in the dialogue, but simply implied from the shocked faces of the people?

I thought it had to be Chrysanthemum's. Is it all white flowers in general?

---

But yeah, I definitely agree that there are several times when TL notes actually are unavoidable.

On the other hand, the Squid Girl subs used on Crunchyroll managed appropriate pun substitutions in an amazing number of cases, so I could see how it would easily transfer to a dub.

I do disagree on losing out on the subtle shades of meaning by pronouns. Even if they can't be conveyed in subs, the fact that they original Japanese dub means that any listener with basic competence can use their knowledge of the language to enhance what is given in the subtitles. So while that may not be a point in the subs favor (as it actually isn't conveyed), the fact that the original audio remains is not lost.

The real arguement against subs is that it constantly focuses one's attention on the bottom of the screen, while often the animators intend the focus of the original audience to be elsewhere, be it for explosions, special effects, etc. or simply just to watch the scenery pan by. That is an unavoidable loss when one's attention has to be focused on reading, instead of free to roam the screen and let the eye wander wherever the animation catches it.

Despite this, you still won't catch me sitting down to an English dubbing unless I'm with company that won't watch subs.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Balcerzak

[Thor Odinson]

I don't have an issue with subs' "bottom of screen" issue since unless there's an extensively long translator's note, one glance is all I need and I usually watch my anime in Youtube player-size which allows me to see everything in one shot anyway.

[shadowofchaos]

No, I was not. Thanks for giving an example. Your original post was not exactly so informative as to what you meant.

That sounds like a good example. I, at least, cannot think of a way around that. First one I've ever heard of.

However, that alone really doesn't change my point. In 99% of situations there should be a way around TL notes.

I apologize for jumping the gun. I always tend to do that, and it's one of my very obvious flaws.

the Japanese may have a different word for "red," but it's still the color of blood.

Yeah that was a kind of weird example to get me going. Sorry, again I apologize.

[Balcerzak]

I don't have an issue with subs' "bottom of screen" issue since unless there's an extensively long translator's note, one glance is all I need and

I bet that there's a lot more time spent than you may in fact be consciously aware of, either that or you have an exceptionally better memory than average. Try watching an anime while completely ignoring the subs, and see if you can feel the difference.

I usually watch my anime in Youtube player-size which allows me to see everything in one shot anyway.

That's horrible and you should feel horrible.

[Thor Odinson]

I read really fast. And I feel absolutely no difference since I've watched dubs of the same anime. Unless I have to rewind because I can't even hear what's going on in the dub, and even with dubs I still prefer if there's subtitles since I have very bad hearing.

I need to be able to pause and tab over to other programs, and full screen on youtube doesn't always have the best quality at that size, either. On top of that, don't have TV.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Fat Bunny

[Jedi]

4kids.......uhhhh!!! get that evil off the SerenesForest!!! There evil....turning Riceballs into sandwhiches.

Want some brain bleach? I have plenty -pulls out giant bottle-

4kids I always thought they did Ok with Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh when I was younger, the older I get the more and more I just want to watch the Japanese versions lol but I still have some attachment to the 4kids voice cast and early seasons of both shows in english.

Edited June 12, 2012 by Jedisupersonic

[Esau of Isaac]

TL notes are not a solution, they are the sign of an incompetent translator in almost every case. A competent translation gets the meaning across in the main text. This is the worst for jokes, because then you get a Don't Explain the Joke moment and the joke loses all humor.

TL notes are not the solution, but unless you feel like spending a lot of time learning a language they can be handy when dialogue can't be changed enough for western audiences. It goes without saying that there are lots of differences in the way language is presented that can require a bit of explanation for an average overseas viewer.

I actually had a lot of fun viewing some of the longer, more in-depth TL notes when I read Ergo Proxy, for example. They were presented after the episode ended, however, and shed light on many of the terms and concepts that were introduced in the show.

[MacLovin]

I remember some crap like

-Little girls with deep voices.

-Old ladies with little girl voices.

-Muscled guys with little girl voices.

Yeah, how about they just stick subtitles and no dubbing

[Maou]

I never said watching subbed was meaningless and you couldn't get anything out of it. I'm not anti-sub, in case that's what you've been thinking. I just hate the hate English dubs get.

I don't think you are anti-sub, but I don't understand how you can rate something like Madoka a 10 when you personally believe that you watched it without getting the "full" experience.

Modern or classic makes no difference.

I guess I'll concede that point. But factors like quality control, studio budget, experience of voice actors/actresses, etc. are still up in the air regarding Dirty Pair. (Unless there's another article covering these points)

Regardless, I don't assume that every anime in Japanese has top tier voice acting. It's usually easy to tell when mediocre to bad shows have cookie-cutter voice acting, more so after watching quite a lot of anime. But the cream of the crop really do have wonderful voice casts and staff that come together to create an amazing experience.

Not going to reply to the other stuff since it doesn't apply to me. I prefer plenty of shows in English dub form (Yu Yu Hakusho, DBZ, Baccano!, some Miyazaki movies, etc.) so I don't understand the mindset of people who refuse to give dubs a chance.

Edited June 13, 2012 by Morita Kenichi

[Florete]

I don't think you are anti-sub, but I don't understand how you can rate something like Madoka a 10 when you personally believe that you watched it without getting the "full" experience.

I don't think I said anything about a "full" experience, just what some people believe to be the "original" or "intended" experience, such things of which are not important to me should they even really exist. All I care about is which experience is best for me, whether sub or dub (and sub wins sometimes). And remember: people think Japanese acting is so amazing because they don't understand it. I don't understand it, so naturally, it all sounds fine to me (ignorance is bliss). Thus, what is more important is the story, characters, etc., and that's what my score is based on.

Though, if you didn't know, Madoka has been dubbed and I own the entire series on dual-audio Blu-ray. But I watched the series subbed twice before that, so it doesn't change anything.

I guess I'll concede that point. But factors like quality control, studio budget, experience of voice actors/actresses, etc. are still up in the air regarding Dirty Pair. (Unless there's another article covering these points)

Sure, but the same can be said for plenty of modern anime (and not even just your standard harem or VN adaptation). And Dirty Pair is a pretty well-known and well-received classic, if that matters.

But the cream of the crop really do have wonderful voice casts and staff that come together to create an amazing experience.

I'm not out to pick on Japanese voice actors and say they suck or anything. I'm sure some of them are really great, but again; I just don't know. What sounds like a great performance could just as easily be cheesy overacting.

[Maou]

I don't think I said anything about a "full" experience, just what some people believe to be the "original" or "intended" experience, such things of which are not important to me should they even really exist.

I don't understand it, so naturally, it all sounds fine to me (ignorance is bliss).

Well my previous statement doesn't even matter anymore if all subbed voice acting sounds fine to you.

I don't understand it, so naturally, it all sounds fine to me (ignorance is bliss)

What sounds like a great performance could just as easily be cheesy overacting

This is where competent subs help out, they are there to help derive context from scenes. It's how you can tell that the dramatic scenes in the first half of Clannad and most of Angel Beats are terrible due to bad directing and cheesy voice acting.

Same goes for being able to pick out a really good emotionally involved scene, but we won't ever agree on that subject so whatever.

Though, if you didn't know, Madoka has been dubbed and I own the entire series on dual-audio Blu-ray.

Same here, just got the third volume. Haven't gave the dub a try yet, hopefully it will at least be decent.

And Dirty Pair is a pretty well-known and well-received classic, if that matters.

Don't see how, if the acting in the original was so terrible.

Edited June 15, 2012 by Morita Kenichi

[Florete]

This is where competent subs help out, they are there so you can derive context from scenes. It's how you can tell that the dramatic scenes in the first half of Clannad and most of Angel Beats are terrible due to bad directing and cheesy voice acting.

I don't know if it makes the subs I used more or less competent that I didn't find any of those scenes terrible...

Same here, just got the third volume. Haven't gave the dub a try yet, hopefully it will at least be decent.

I've watched the first 8 episodes dubbed and found it okay, though I don't trust anyone's opinion on a dub if they've seen the show subbed already, including myself. Anyone I've ever heard of who only knows the dub seems to think it's at least okay, and at best pretty good.

One thing I did notice, though, is that, instead of butchering the Japanese names, it almost seems like they tried too hard to be absolutely sure they got the pronunciations correct. Kind of ironic, but better that they tried and it's not that distracting in the end.

Don't see how, if the acting in the original was so terrible.

Well, I haven't seen any of it myself, but there are lots of different versions and it's been re-released multiple times, including overseas. Plus it's one of those ones you're just bound to hear about if you roam the fandom enough.

[Maou]

I don't know if it makes the subs I used more or less competent that I didn't find any of those scenes terrible...

Well if they accurately translated the dialogue then they did their job, that's what I meant by competent.

[Fala]

I watch all dubs. Even Bible Black of all things. Why? Because of such underrated memes such as: 'Eye want 2 feel ur dyke' or 'You've got rice on ur face!' *readies flame shield*

And there are shows that are meant to have a dub like Hetalia.

[Rehab]

'You've got rice on ur face!'

I can only imagine

is that a euphemism for the same thing? I've heard somebody mention rice once before when using a line of sorts, but that sounds like it could be, uh, a lot of things

[Fala]

Exactly. Sometimes dubs are so bad they're good.

[tenkiforecast]

Most people grew up in the 90s, and if they became anime fans, they started out watching the dubs of those shows. Most of the dubs for 90s anime series were pretty bad, either completely faithful translations (which always sound bad in English) or just bad acting caused the hatred towards dubs. 4Kids is also to blame here, not really trying and making blatantly obvious edits because Japanese culture is scary to little American children. -__-;

Of course, for some series it doesn't matter as much. Most of the Shonen Jump series don't even need good dubs because they are so simple. DBZ, Yu Yu Hakusho, Yu-gi-oh!, all of these series don't require brilliant performances because they are so basic. This isn't a bad thing by any means, and it's why most anime fans from the era who aren't fans of dubs overall still watch those series dubbed. There are exceptions when the show is just cut into pieces and ruined (ONE PIECE. WHY THE HELL DID THEY DO THAT TO ONE PIECE). Except for the Shoujo ones that were brought over, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, to an extent even Fruits Basket were treated *very* poorly by dubbing companies. And then there is the whole mess that Fox turned Escaflowne into...yes, try to make the main character the side character and confuse everybody. They did that with Cardcaptor Sakura too.

There were dubs that did show a great deal of competence, if not brilliance. Berserk has a great dub. Trigun has a great dub. Cowboy Bebop is still heralded as one of the best dubs ever recorded. The problem was they were the diamonds in the rough. Only after that did localization companies really put their efforts into making the dub tracks high quality. The early 2000s were the real turning point, and I would say the first FMA Anime has one of the best dub tracks I've ever heard. Problem is people latch onto what they remember from their childhood and don't look past it... that or they are just weeaboos and have no knowledge of *actual* Japanese culture.

There are a number of dubs that are better than the sub track, and vice versa. Even today, this still holds true. A good example of a great dub within the last 4-5 years is Baccano!. At the same time, there are others that just falter. It does depend on the series but also who is directing the dub, who the voice actors are, and how it meshes with the animation. It is difficult, it is very difficult, but you can tell when there is little effort put into a dub track. One example is a series my anime club voted to watch, Shikibane Hime. It doesn't matter that the voice actors and actresses had a lot of experience, no one on that project cared because the series was so freaking dull and cliche. The level of the perfomance in Cowboy Bebop couldn't save that series because it was inherently boring as tar. That's another issue...unless they went full ham mode and decided to start channeling Norio Wakamoto, then the series would be entertaining for the wrong reasons.

As for the Bible Black quote, I've seen reviews. That line is directly talking about rice, but it's delivered by someone who sounds like a stoned Miss Piggy.

Exactly. Sometimes dubs are so bad they're good.

This. This is the entire reason why the Yu-gi-oh! dub is still entertaining. Dan Green is having the time of his life chewing the hell out of the scenery, and it is amazing.

Edited June 30, 2012 by tenkiforecast

[Aurabolt]

...Finally, I've found a civilized Dubbed vs. Subbed Debate Thread on the internet.

Before I reply to the previous post I will say I'm strictly an English Dubs Man unless it's unavailable. "Mostly Bad Voice Acting" my ass, if the Anime is available in English I will watch it in English end of story. Plus as has been statated bad subs are usually worse but to each their own of course. Contrary to the perceived popular belief of the other side (who considers themselves the overwhelming majority for some reason) I've been watching Anime since the early 1990s.

Most people grew up in the 90s, and if they became anime fans, they started out watching the dubs of those shows. Most of the dubs for 90s anime series were pretty bad, either completely faithful translations (which always sound bad in English) or just bad acting caused the hatred towards dubs. 4Kids is also to blame here, not really trying and making blatantly obvious edits because Japanese culture is scary to little American children. -__-;

Even I will concede this point. Case example: Veronica Taylor as Ash Ketchum's Voice Actor. HORRIBLE IDEA! I didn't mind Malik Rose (Brock and James) but Taylor as Ash was horrrible. It's as if the VAs forget or don't care about the fact even if they're doing the voice of the opposite gender, age appropriateness matters. Luci Christain has voiced male roles herself. She did a good job in Ouran High School Host Club (went blank on the boy she voiced all of a sudden). Taylor's natural voice was too overpowering and Ash always came off as sounding whiny and arrogant. What's funny is I stopped watching after Taylor stepped down as Ash's VA a few years back but by then the damage had already been done.

You're right to focus most, if not ALL of the blame on 4Kids for screwing over Dubs in the late 90s to early 2000s. I hold them personally responsible for turning people away from Dubs as they'd planned. Someone mentioned the One Piece incident. Remember the Bandit Keith scene? EVERYONE who saw it went "ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME? REALLY?!" with Keith pointing an invsible gun at Pegasus. They went WELL out of their way to Americanize the original Yu-Gi-Oh. Honda became Tristain, Jounnoichi became Joey...I could go on. What's really sad is some people have read the Manga and had been so "indoctrinated" by the Dub they thought the Manga was wrong! There's also the fact YGO's North American Premere was actually Season 2. Season 1 was skipped because of Yami/Atem's sadistic nature at the time. They felt they were doing the US a service in doing so but it would confuse the crap out of those who would go on to read the Manga (which correctly starts 1 season before).

Of course, for some series it doesn't matter as much. Most of the Shonen Jump series don't even need good dubs because they are so simple. DBZ, Yu Yu Hakusho, Yu-gi-oh!, all of these series don't require brilliant performances because they are so basic. This isn't a bad thing by any means, and it's why most anime fans from the era who aren't fans of dubs overall still watch those series dubbed. There are exceptions when the show is just cut into pieces and ruined (ONE PIECE. WHY THE HELL DID THEY DO THAT TO ONE PIECE). Except for the Shoujo ones that were brought over, Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, to an extent even Fruits Basket were treated *very* poorly by dubbing companies. And then there is the whole mess that Fox turned Escaflowne into...yes, try to make the main character the side character and confuse everybody. They did that with Cardcaptor Sakura too.

I have to disagree here. I think this goes with what you said at the start of the paragraph with this being a very simplistic Anime. You get the whole point of the anime in the first two episodes. I have no complaints for the main cast though a few minor characters could have had better VAs. People who watch DBZ Dubbed enjoy the VAs even if they will never admit it. Every Dub screening of DBZ Kai I attended at Anime Boston this year and last year was filled with "hardcore sub fans". In my opinion, if you hated it before you'd certainly go out of your way to avoid it now. The lines were virtually unchanged from the 90s so there's no real excuse.

As an aside I am aware a few scenes or lines were intentionally changed or removed back when DBZ was airing on Cartoon Network's Toonami. In fact I remember alot of folks on the internet watched the Dub just to see what was changed. I can't really say I don't have a problem with them personally as you don't miss anything plotwise. As for Piccolo's Demon Containment Wave becoming Special Beam Cannon and Mr. Satan becoming Hercule...no comment XD

]There were dubs that did show a great deal of competence, if not brilliance. [/b]Berserk has a great dub. Trigun has a great dub. Cowboy Bebop is still heralded as one of the best dubs ever recorded. The problem was they were the diamonds in the rough. Only after that did localization companies really put their efforts into making the dub tracks high quality. The early 2000s were the real turning point, and I would say the first FMA Anime has one of the best dub tracks I've ever heard. Problem is people latch onto what they remember from their childhood and don't look past it... that or they are just weeaboos and have no knowledge of *actual* Japanese culture.

This has been my experience with prettymuch all the Dubs I watch. That list is incomplete, mind you. I just finished watching High School of the Dead this morning and there's ALOT of Anime I haven't added to that list yet.

Clannad is my favorite Anime of all time. It was the first Anime I bought on DVD (both seasons) after watching it on Netflix last year. Now having it on DVD I was able to watch it in Japanese with English Subs. Both tracks were equal in my honest opinion. Big Dango Family/Dango Daikazokou by Jun Maeda is my favorite non-English Song followed by Open Your Mind (OP for Ah! My Goddess! Season 1) by Youko Ishida and Hitohira No Hanabira (Bleach Seasons 12 and 13) by Stero Pony. Speaking of Stereo Pony: I saw them perform their latest AlbumA Hydrangea Blooms live at Anime Boston last year. It was AWESOME! Oh and I bought the Album too.

I would also agree with you on the last sentance. In fact it's likely the main reason people hate Dubs. Well, I hate Facebook, You Tube and Twitter but there's no escaping them for me. Guess we're even?

I will say though that I am not ignorant of Japanese Culture. I have been having debates with people who write Anime-based Fanfiction on the subject of Japanese honorifics. I don't use Japanese honorifics personally but I know how and WHEN to use them properly. Some people believe their Fanfic isn't "authentic" unless they use honorifics (which has been creeping into Dubs now based on what I've seen in Ouran and Clannad). I'm concerned people are going to go around using the honorifics with no real idea of when it's appropriate and when it isn't or worse, use them liberally in everyday life like it's the shit.

...Anyway we'll save that for another thread XD

There are a number of dubs that are better than the sub track, and vice versa. Even today, this still holds true. A good example of a great dub within the last 4-5 years is Baccano!. At the same time, there are others that just falter. It does depend on the series but also who is directing the dub, who the voice actors are, and how it meshes with the animation. It is difficult, it is very difficult, but you can tell when there is little effort put into a dub track. One example is a series my anime club voted to watch, Shikibane Hime. It doesn't matter that the voice actors and actresses had a lot of experience, no one on that project cared because the series was so freaking dull and cliche. The level of the perfomance in Cowboy Bebop couldn't save that series because it was inherently boring as tar. That's another issue...unless they went full ham mode and decided to start channeling Norio Wakamoto, then the series would be entertaining for the wrong reasons.

SO TRUE.

The same can be said for Video Games as well. I'm sure you guys are aware the debate has recently spilled into video games, too. Koei decided to release Samurai Warriors Chronicles and Warriors Orochi 3 Subbed (English Text but Japanese VAs). I was disapponted but my love of the Warriors games did not stop me from buying AND enjoying both games as they were. Interestingly, the Wii-Only Samurai Warriors 3 was billingual English and Japanese. I was surprised they didn't do this for WO3, at least even as DLC. Johnny Bosch Young sells Yukimora IMO and I prefer Kenshin, Nobunaga, Shingen and Kunoichi's English VAs to their Japanese ones.

...If you're annoyed by the way the voices SOUND and not the dialogue itself, mute the fucking TV, problem soled.

Edited July 10, 2012 by Aurabolt

[shadowofchaos]

Clannad is my favorite Anime of all time. It was the first Anime I bought on DVD (both seasons) after watching it on Netflix last year. Now having it on DVD I was able to watch it in Japanese with English Subs. Both tracks were equal in my honest opinion.

I have to agree on that part. That thing is a tear jerker on After Story no matter which language track it's in. XD

I just prefer the Japanese track because I'm a Mai Nakahara fan. XD

Edited July 10, 2012 by shadowofchaos

[tenkiforecast]

I've never watched CLANNAD, and I honestly do not plan to. That sort of series has never appealed to me, and I doubt it ever will. Same thing with Lucky Star. I do know people love that series but I can't stand it, I'm bored to tears. I just do not like the "moe" aspect of the shows. As a result, I can't say anything about the sub or dub tracks.

As for my statement about Fruits Basket, I'm not referring to bad performances, I'm referring to horrible pronunciations and trying to Americanize a series that is extremely tied down in Japanese tradition and East Asian folklore. You can tell it is from the 90s because they also tried to sell "Onigiri/Rice Balls are BURGERS! =D". Otherwise, are the performances good? Well, yes. Those little details just irk me and I can't get past them easily. That's why I said "To an extent". Plus if I want Fruits Basket, I just read the manga which has an actual ending.

I guess the thing I was trying to say about the early Shoujo adaptations is that the localization companies tried to turn them into shonen series. The example with Cardcaptor Sakura is that they tried to write out Sakura. They tried to write out the main character of the freaking show. ... Because boys won't watch shows about girls. A similar thing was attempted with Sailor Moon, but that boiled down to censoring anything close to objectionable since the BSSM anime has no actual male lead (Mamoru in the anime is not really a human being, he is a thing) so that plan failed. Instead they tried to hide any sort of female appeal so boys would watch it.

It doesn't matter if a show is aimed at girls or boys, if it is written well and has a heart and soul, people of both genders will watch it. See My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Legend of Korra (To quote one of the creators when asked about the lead being female, "Test audiences didn't care that Korra was a girl. They just thought she was awesome."), Powerpuff Girls, or any extremely successful Western Animation franchise.

Also, the attachment to the Shonen Jump dubs, I think has a nostalgia factor to it. It's also easy to make fun of, because there is nothing evil about the DBZ dub even with some of the censorship changes. Yu-gi-oh!'s is still really bad, not the fault of the voice actors but the direction and 4Kid's mandates. Once I really found out what happened to a lot of the series I watched in the morning, I just stopped watching them because I was just shaking my head at the insanity...and I went through a "Dubs are evil" phase because of it. Thank god I grew out of that...I usually try both tracks out and pick which one I like better now. One example would be Spice and Wolf. I don't know if it is the pseudo-European setting or the level of performance that J. Micheal Tatum and Brina Palencia bring to that show, but I just can't watch it in Japanese. I find the English track far superior.

It is the same for Video Games, I agree completely. One of the reasons I like Persona 4 over Persona 3 is that the voice acting is leagues better in Persona 4. My guess for why is just poor direction. Persona 3 was probably the first Atlus game brought the the US that featured voice acting so their attempt at localization was very shaky. By the time they got Persona 4, they learned from their experience and were able to direct the actors to make a much, much better dub track.

[BrightBow]

The same can be said for Video Games as well. I'm sure you guys are aware the debate has recently spilled into video games, too. Koei decided to release Samurai Warriors Chronicles and Warriors Orochi 3 Subbed (English Text but Japanese VAs). I was disapponted but my love of the Warriors games did not stop me from buying AND enjoying both games as they were. Interestingly, the Wii-Only Samurai Warriors 3 was billingual English and Japanese. I was surprised they didn't do this for WO3, at least even as DLC. Johnny Bosch Young sells Yukimora IMO and I prefer Kenshin, Nobunaga, Shingen and Kunoichi's English VAs to their Japanese ones.

...If you're annoyed by the way the voices SOUND and not the dialogue itself, mute the fucking TV, problem soled.

I'm not sure that those issues really are related.

Good dubs costs lots of money so I could see that they simply don't think they can afford it. Japanese companies simply do not dominate the video game industry anymore like they did back in the day.

Add in the fact that a lot of teenagers seem to get an allergic reaction to anything that visually reminds them of Final Fantasy and I could imagine that a lot of Japanese developers do rather bad internationally these days.

There is also the issue that a lot of games that might receive an A-rating by CERO might get a teen rating or higher in the states, therefore excluding it from a significant part of it's potential audience.

Another reason why I think is the case because if you live in the non-english speaking parts of Europe for example chances are a Japanese developed game is in English anyway. I would argue that was actually the standard in the 90s.

The most recent one I bought was Tales of the Abyss for the 3DS. I don't think that the decision not to have German text in such a text-heavy game was done because the audience simply prefers it that way but simply that the audience simply isn't huge enough to warrant the extra costs.

Edited July 10, 2012 by BrightBow

[Gold Vanguard]

I'm not sure that those issues really are related.

Good dubs costs lots of money so I could see that they simply don't think they can afford it. Japanese companies simply do not dominate the video game industry anymore like they did back in the day.

Add in the fact that a lot of teenagers seem to get an allergic reaction to anything that visually reminds them of Final Fantasy and I could imagine that a lot of Japanese developers do rather bad internationally these days.

There is also the issue that a lot of games that might receive an A-rating by CERO might get a teen rating or higher in the states, therefore excluding it from a significant part of it's potential audience.

Another reason why I think is the case because if you live in the non-english speaking parts of Europe for example chances are a Japanese developed game is in English anyway. I would argue that was actually the standard in the 90s.

The most recent one I bought was Tales of the Abyss for the 3DS. I don't think that the decision not to have German text in such a text-heavy game was done because the audience simply prefers it that way but simply that the audience simply isn't huge enough to warrant the extra costs.

Theres also games RPG games like Dragon Quest that get the same treatment.

[marcus90]

Good anime ham is japanese produced ham.

[Gold Vanguard]

What I never understood was that people complain at english dubs, but never say anything about other country dubs like spanish, french, etc. Not saying that there bad but english dubs are always targeted first.

[Florete]

Probably because you hear English-speakers complain and they don't know anything about dubs in other languages.