Hot take: Watching subbed instead of dubbed actually made me pay more attention

I used to always watch dubbed anime because I thought I could multitask, but I realized I was missing a lot of facial expressions and small background details. Switching to subs forced me to actually sit still and watch the screen, and now I catch stuff I never noticed before. Has anyone else found that switching formats changed how you watch shows?

2 comments

2 Comments

lisa83922d ago

Started reading subtitled shows and now I can't go back because I notice so much more detail.

wyatt_ross2722d ago

The 1999 movie "The Iron Giant" has a scene where the giant is hiding in the lake and the subtitles just say "[silence]" which is hilarious because there's actually no sound in that moment but reading it makes you laugh. But here's the thing - dubs actually can carry some of that detail too if the translator is good. I watch both and I think people give dubs a hard time for no reason sometimes. Like with "Spirited Away" the English dub is really well done and you still get the emotion without having to stare at the bottom of the screen. Not saying subs are bad, just that both have their place depending on the mood.