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Rolling out the new site slowly, fixing things and updated a decade of content, also slowly. If you encounter any issues please shoot me a message on Bluesky or Instagram.

Audio: English

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Audio: English: My Favorite English VAs in Anime


With the Audio:English series, PenguinTruth takes a critical look at the English
dubs which grace some of anime’s most defining series in North America.

As somebody with a critical eye on anime English dubs, I’m often at odds with a reputation for "hating" dubs and dub voice actors. But the truth is, there are plenty of very talented voice actors working in English dubs of anime. I’m fond of quite a few of them and have definite favorites. I’ve even been able to rank them in their own "tiers". But let’s put tier rankings aside, because this is just a list of the dub VAs I like the most. I’ve also listed the roles I like them in the most. read more

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Audio: English: Tykes, Toys, Rude Little Boys: A Look At Shin Chan


With the Audio:English series, PenguinTruth takes a critical look at the English
dubs which grace some of anime’s most defining series in North America.

My last article was about my quality categories for anime English dubs. I set down general rules for what makes a dub "good", "tolerable", and terrible. Good dubs have accurate scripts and solid voice acting. Tolerable dubs are the ones that just sort of make it, but don’t impress. And terrible dubs are, well, pretty explanatory. Either they have terribly inaccurate scripts, or bad voice performances, or more usually, both. There are a fair number of dubs I could classify in any of those three categories. But one English dub I never know quite where to put is Funimation’s Shin Chan.  read more

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Audio: English – Good, Tolerable, and Terrible and the Tiers Game


With the Audio:English series, PenguinTruth takes a critical look at the English
dubs which grace some of anime’s most defining series in North America.

If you’ve ever been to 4chan, you know that they love tier charts. This is where they seperate things in categories of quality. Usually the top tier is "GOD TIER" and the lowest is "SHIT TIER", and I’ve done this myself, even here (my Gundam Tiers articles, for instance, which you can expect a follow up to sometime this or next year). However, unlike Anonymous at at 4chan, I’m actually capable and willing to explain and/or defend my choices as to what is truly "god" and what is "shit" in terms of the trival stuff I like. read more

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Audio: English – My Philosophy


With the Audio:English series, PenguinTruth takes a critical look at the English
dubs which grace some of anime’s most defining series in North America.

I’ve done a few of these articles on English dubs for anime, and I’ve discussed at great length specific anime dubs I’ve liked or disliked. However, I haven’t really explained what it is I look for in an anime dub, what I think of English dubs for anime in general, or anything of that sort. Because of this, people may misunderstand some of my views on them. So I’d like to dedicate this particular entry to laying out what it is I expect from the anime dubs I listen to, when I listen to them. read more

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Audio: English – Exploring the Gundam Dubs


With the Audio:English series, PenguinTruth takes a critical look at the English
dubs which grace some of anime’s most defining series in North America.

There isn’t a group of animated programs that dominate the world of entertainment for me quite as much as the Gundam franchise. What started as a passing interest in Gundam Wing‘s hamfisted philosophical debates and cool mecha evolved into an obsession, much as man is meant to evolve into the Newtype. (Or maybe not. Don’t even ask Yoshiyuki Tomino about that one. He doesn’t know.) What are essentially elaborate (some more than others) robot toy commercials have so my anime fandom that I’ve forgotten what life was like before Gundam. Did I dream? Did I breathe? Now I have several DVDs of Gundam material and a mind filled with useless trivia. And I’m not even the biggest Gundam geek. I’ll save that honor for the guys who can give you the exact specs of the engines of a Zaku II.

Maybe because I’m the breed who, perhaps foolishly, watch Gundam for the plot(s), for the characters and themes, the presentation of the English versions of these show are important to me. I want to be sure that the voice actors who portray these roles, many of them iconic anime characters, do at least some justice and show the proper respect for them. Whenever available, I’ve heard the English dub for every Gundam anime I’ve ever seen. read more

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Audio: English: Why I Disliked The Fullmetal Alchemist Dub (Article)


With the Audio:English series, PenguinTruth takes a critical look at the English
dubs which grace some of anime’s most defining series in North America.

"What do you mean?! I sound good in any language!"

I love Fullmetal Alchemist. It’s one of those rare shonen manga that has a decent complexity to it and maturity most other shonen titles lack, making it both exciting and thoughtful. I was a big fan of the first animated television series, my first exposure to that world. And of course, while I loved the original cast, I also had high expectations for the English version, even when I heard Funimation, a company with a somewhat mixed reputation for dubs was going to dub it. I was pretty excited that Cartoon Network was going to air it on the Adult Swim lineup, and tuned in with my hopes high. I was let down.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not a complete wash. I immediately took to Aaron Dismuke’s Alphonse Elric, for instance. Though I also immediately noticed some strange directional and script oddities. At first I attributed the difference between this and the version I was used to as being the difference between fansub translations and professional translation into an English dub. Over time, however, these sort of things became more pronounced. What bothered me the most is characters speaking in one style in one scene and having almost entirely different voices in the next. There even seemed to be a bit of the old Funimation "add dialogue where there originally wasn’t any", which irritated me. read more

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Audio: English: Rocking The Dragon (Dragon Ball Z Dubs) (It’s An Article, Fucking Read It!)


With the Audio:English series, PenguinTruth takes a critical look at the English
dubs which grace some of anime’s most defining series in North America.

Dragon Ball Z. I’d like to think that most of us anime fans have seen at least some of it. It certainly is fantastically popular, all over the world. Even in my budding anime fandom, DBZ may not have been my favorite per se, but it was probably the mark by which all other animated programs at the time were measured. "Is this better or worse than DBZ?" I would ask myself. And even today I consider its influence on my fandom and life in general as being somewhat significant, for better or worse. read more

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Audio: English: The Greatest Anime Dubs

If you’re an anime fan, chances are you have an opinion on English dubs. When I started out as a fan, I was only watching anime on American television, so everything was dubbed. When I began collecting anime, on VHS tapes, it was rare to come across one with Japanese audio and English subtitles, and you almost prized those for their rarity. Still, English dubs were mostly the only way to go, and you were glad to have them in those days, because after all, you didn’t want things like words on the bottom of the screen to get in the way of your favorite Japanese cartoon.

Penguin Truthby Penguin Truth••0