c/anime-discussions

TIL some anime studios only pay voice actors $15,000 per episode

I was reading an industry blog post last month about the business side of anime. It broke down how much money actually goes to the voice actors on a big show like Demon Slayer. I figured they made decent bank since those shows make millions. But the article said the top tier actors get around $15,000 per episode before taxes. Newer actors get way less, like $1,500 or even lower. That really surprised me because the dubbing industry in the US pays way higher for similar work. Found it on a site called Anime News Network. Has anyone else looked into how uneven the pay is between the Japanese and English voice acting scenes?

Binged all of Code Geass in three days last week and my sleep schedule is wrecked

I started watching Code Geass last Thursday night thinking I would just watch a couple episodes before bed. Fast forward to Sunday morning at 4 AM and I had finished both seasons plus the Akito movies. I don't know what happened, the cliffhangers just kept pulling me in and I couldn't stop. The chess strategies and mind games between Lelouch and Suzaku were so intense I found myself rewinding scenes just to catch all the details. Now I'm walking around work half asleep but I keep thinking about that ending and how it changed everything for me. Has anyone else gotten completely absorbed in a series like this where you just lose track of days?

Shoutout to the person who convinced me to watch the sub over the dub for Attack on Titan

I was two episodes into the dubbed version and something felt off, so I switched to the subbed version on a whim last week. The emotion in the voice acting hit way harder, especially during those heavy scenes with Eren and Mikasa. Has anyone else had that moment where swapping the audio changed the whole show for them?

Dub vs Sub debate got heated at my local anime club last night

I went to the monthly meetup at the library downtown and a argument broke out when someone said they only watch dubs now because they can't keep up with subtitles. Half the room jumped on them saying dubs ruin the original voice acting and change the meaning of scenes. But the other side argued that not everyone can read fast or has the time to focus on text instead of animation. I noticed the club leader tried to calm things down but nobody was backing down. It made me wonder if the whole dub vs sub divide is really about accessibility versus preserving the original work. Do you think there's a middle ground or is one side just being gatekeepy about how people enjoy anime?

Spent 3 hours hunting for a single scene in Evangelion because I misremembered a quote

I spent way too long trying to find that 'I'm so fucked up' line from Shinji, only to realize it was actually from a fan dub I watched in 2016. Anyone else waste a whole afternoon chasing memories that aren't even in the real show?

I think ranking for 'best anime openings' is a total waste of time and budget

Everyone in this community keeps talking about going after that one big broad keyword like 'best anime openings' or 'top 10 animes to watch'. I spent 6 months and about $800 in content writing trying to rank for 'best anime of 2023' and got nothing but crickets. Then I stumbled onto a trick by accident. I wrote a super specific post about 'why the animation style in Kaguya-sama season 3 is so unique' and targeted that long tail keyword instead. Within 3 weeks I was on page 1 for it and getting actual comments and shares. The problem was I was trying to compete with Crunchyroll and every blog out there for the huge terms. The trick was just focusing on one tiny weird angle about one show. Has anyone else found that going super niche on a specific anime detail works way better than the big generic lists?

Thought Steins;Gate was overhyped for years, then I actually watched it

I avoided it because everyone kept saying it was a masterpiece and I figured it couldn't be that good. 15 episodes in and I had to admit the way they handled time travel consequences was way more solid than I expected. Anyone else brush off a popular show for a long time before giving in?

TIL that buying a Crunchyroll subscription for the backlog was a total mistake

I paid $8 a month for a year thinking I'd finally watch all those classic shonen series I missed. Turns out the dub delays are horrible and half the shows I wanted weren't even on there. Has anyone else gotten stuck paying for a service with no good way to cancel mid-year?

The before and after on my seasonal anime watching is wild

I used to be the person who watched every single new show every season like clockwork. That was about two years back when I had 8 hours free a night. Then I started my own flooring business and suddenly a 26 episode show takes me three months to finish. The difference hit me when I realized I dropped 15 shows halfway through last spring and didn't even care. Has anyone else's anime watching changed because of real life getting in the way?

Unpopular opinion: Death Note's second half is better than the first

I spent a full 8 months trying to figure out why everyone hates Near and Mello, but rewatching it last winter changed my mind. The cat-and-mouse game gets way more tense after L dies. Anyone else feel like the first half gets too much credit just for being nostalgic?

Was watching Attack on Titan at 2 AM and the sub/dub argument almost ruined the whole episode

I was in a Discord watch party for the new episode of Attack on Titan on Crunchyroll last Friday. About 10 minutes in, two people started going back and forth about whether the subtitles or the dub was better. They kept typing over the action scenes and I couldn't focus on what was happening on screen. I had to mute both of them and ask the mod to step in before the whole vibe got killed. Has anyone else had a viewing session get derailed like that?

Talked to a 65 year old lady at the grocery store about why she watches Attack on Titan of all things

She told me she started watching because her grandson kept talking about it. Then she got into it herself and said it reminded her of living through WWII in Japan as a kid. Said the chaos and people turning on each other felt real to her. I never thought about that show that way before. Made me wonder how many older folks watch anime but just don't talk about it. Anyone here got a parent or grandparent who got into something you were surprised by?

Picked watching dubbed over subbed for my last anime binge and honestly it was fine

I had to decide between watching Attack on Titan with the English dub or sticking with subbed like I always do. The dub had like 60 episodes already done and I could multitask while folding laundry at work. I went with dubbed and finished the whole series in 2 weeks instead of dragging it out for a month. The voice acting was actually solid, not the cheesy stuff from 90s anime. My only hangup was some lines felt off compared to the original Japanese, but for a busy schedule it worked. Anyone else switch it up based on how much time you have?

Picked the sub over dub for Bleach and stuck with it through all 366 episodes

Everybody I know swears by the English dub for Bleach, says the voices fit better. I went with the Japanese audio from episode 1 back in 2018 and never looked back. Yeah, I read subtitles for over 300 hours of content. The emotional scenes hit way harder with the original VAs, especially during the Soul Society arc where the voice acting carries the weight. Has anyone else made this choice and felt like they missed out on the community hype around the dub jokes?

The debate over dub vs sub is getting louder in my local anime club

I went to a meetup last week at a coffee shop in Brooklyn, and things got heated when someone said dubs are ruining the experience. Three years ago, I was all in on subs, thought dubs were garbage. But last month, I watched Cowboy Bebop dubbed for the first time and actually liked it more. Now I'm stuck in the middle, seeing both sides. Some people argue dubs lose the original emotion and voice acting, while others say subs make you miss the animation because you're reading. My question is, does the quality of the dub matter more than sticking to the original language? Has anyone else flip-flopped on this over time?

Tried watching a classic anime from 1988 on a modern streaming service and the subtitles felt completely off

I popped in Gunbuster on a whim last week since it's been on my list forever. The subs were using modern slang like 'no cap' and 'bet' in scenes that clearly took place in a serious military setting. I ended up digging around and found a fan translation from 2005 that matched the tone way better. Has anyone else run into this where new official releases change the vibe too much?

Binged a 90s mecha series over the weekend and the pacing is painfully slow compared to today's shows

I counted 7 minutes of actual robot action across 4 episodes of Gundam Wing - the rest is just staring at clouds and talking about pacifism, so how do you guys even get through old anime without falling asleep?

I noticed a shift in how people talk about anime endings after a forum thread last month

Last weekend I binge-watched 3 shows and one of them completely flopped by episode 5

I went into that new fantasy anime thinking it'd be a 10/10 based on all the hype, but the pacing got so slow by episode 5 I almost fell asleep. The fight scenes were cool though, has anyone else felt let down by a hyped show lately?

Heard a kid at the bus stop say something about Naruto that hit different

I was waiting for my coffee this morning and this kid maybe 13 tells his friend 'Sasuke was right all along.' It made me stop and think about how I used to root for Naruto without really questioning the whole system he was fighting for. The village treated him like trash but he still wanted to be their leader. That's not noble that's kind of messed up when you think about it. Has anyone else had a show flip on them like that after hearing someone else's take?

Met a guy at a con who changed how I watch dubs vs subs

So I was at Anime Expo 2023 waiting in line for the Makoto Shinkai panel, and this guy next to me starts chatting about Weathering With You. He told me he actually prefers the English dub because the voice actor for Hodaka added a stutter in emotional scenes that wasn't in the original Japanese. I never noticed that before, and now I rewatch scenes in both versions to compare those little choices. Has anyone else caught a voice acting decision in a dub that totally changed how you saw a character?

Debate: Did hitting 100 completed series make me a better fan or just a binge machine?

I just crossed 100 anime finished on my MAL list last week and it got me thinking. On one hand, I've seen a ton of variety from slice of life to mecha and I feel like I can spot tropes quicker. But on the other hand, I noticed I started rushing through shows just to bump that number up, especially with shorter 12 episode series. Some of my friends say hitting milestones like this means you're a real enthusiast who knows the medium. Others argue it just turns anime into a checklist where you forget half the stories a month later. I'm sitting here with 100 shows done and I can't even remember the plot of like 20 of them. Which side do you lean toward? Does a big number mean depth or just volume? Let me know where you stand on this because I keep going back and forth.

Watched Naruto in Japanese vs English dub and it was like two different shows

I saw a before and after difference when I rewatched the Chunin Exams arc in Japanese after seeing it dubbed for years. The pacing felt faster and characters like Orochimaru had way more menace, you know? Just wondering if anyone else noticed how much the voice direction changes the whole vibe.

Appreciation post: How my anime opinions changed after 6 months of binging slice of life

I used to only watch action shonen like Demon Slayer and thought slice of life was boring... then I gave Laid-Back Camp a shot during a slow week in February. After 6 months of nothing but slow paced shows like this and Flying Witch, I noticed I actually cared more about character moments than big fights now. The big change came when I rewatched an old favorite and realized the best parts were the quiet scenes between battles. Has anyone else had their whole taste shift like that after digging into a new genre?

Finally found out why my old subs were dead silent...

I've been on this anime forum for like two years now and kept wondering why some of my posts just got zero replies while others blew up. So last month I decided to test something I read on a random blog about posting times. I took one of my favorite old discussion threads about character motivations in Attack on Titan and reposted it at exactly 8pm EST on a Tuesday instead of my usual late night weekend posts. The difference was insane... the same kind of post got 17 replies in the first hour. Turns out my whole problem was just hitting the wrong time slot for when the community was actually active. I tried it again with a thread about filler arcs in Naruto and got the same result. Has anyone else noticed a huge difference depending on what day or time you drop a new discussion?