Question about how anime dubs have changed since the 90s

I was watching the old Dragon Ball Z dub from 1999 the other day and then switched to a new dub like Demon Slayer from 2020. The difference is wild. Back then, the voice acting felt so over the top and corny, like they were just shouting lines in a booth. Now, the dubs feel way more natural and emotional, with actors actually sounding like real people. I think the shift happened around 2015 when companies like Funimation started hiring better talent and doing more takes. But some old school fans still swear the 90s dubs have more charm. What do you guys think, did dubs get better around 2010 or did they lose something special?

2 comments

2 Comments

ninas702d ago

Oh man, you hit on something I don't see people talk about enough. The big change isn't just the acting quality, it's how they record now. In the 90s, they'd cram a bunch of voice actors into the same booth and record the whole scene at once. That's why everyone sounds like they're shouting over each other, because they literally were. Now they do most recordings separate, with the actor alone in the booth listening to the original Japanese track. That lets them focus on matching lip flaps AND adding real emotion instead of just yelling loud enough to be heard. The old method had this chaotic energy that some people miss, I get it. But the new way gives us stuff like the English voice for Tanjiro in Demon Slayer whispering during sad scenes, which just wouldn't have worked back in the 90s shouting booth days.

black.margaret2d ago

Oh jeez, I've actually worked in a couple recording booth situations back in the day. The old way of cramming everyone together was a nightmare for sound quality. You'd get bleed from the guy next to you and have to do retakes constantly. My advice for anyone trying to record voiceover at home now is to invest in a decent pop filter and keep your phone on silent. It makes a world of difference for capturing that quiet emotional stuff like you mentioned with Tanjiro.