Is it just me or do the rest of you agree?

[rocklobster]

Is it just me or do Japanese voices for children (especially girls) sound cuter than dubbed ones? I've noticed this in many anime that have children in them, like Haibane Renmei and Grave of the Fireflies. I'm just wondering.
Forgive me if this sounds sexist.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

It's cause American children sound funky.

[Wind]

I like the japanse especially when kids speak cause it's so easily flowing

[sharien chan]

Japanese in general sounds cuter than American. I don't know why.

[RobinSena]

<sub snob>Japanese always sounds better than the dubs. </sub snob>

'Tis the truth. XD

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Yes, because for the American dubs they seem to desire women who put on young child voices and almost always sound ridiculous.
You know it's true.

[AsianBlossom]

Yup...too many adults doing kids voices. So far it seems mostly successful with Japanese dubs. I applaud Disney for getting kids to play kids in their Ghibli dubs, because it takes one talented adult to actually sound like a kid. How many of those have you heard lately?

[DarkSun]

I'm fairly sure it has a lot to do with Japan's cultural views towards what makes a person attractive. Let's just say they value youth.

[AsianBlossom]

*nods* That's a good point.

[Fish and Chips]

You people all know that the practically all young characters are voiced by adult women, right? Right?

[TallHobbit86]

<sub snob>Japanese always sounds better than the dubs. </sub snob>

'Tis the truth. XD

Yeah, the subs often do have much better voice-acting quality than the dubs. XD

[SailorDove]

I think the key lies in the casting. And yes, most women do children's voices.

[creed4]

kind of indifferent

[KhakiBlueSocks]

Yup...too many adults doing kids voices. So far it seems mostly successful with Japanese dubs. I applaud Disney for getting kids to play kids in their Ghibli dubs, because it takes one talented adult to actually sound like a kid. How many of those have you heard lately?

Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson in "The Simpsons"

Jessica Calvello and Megan Hollingshead as Tsukino and Kano Miyazawa in His and Her Circumstances

Sherry Lynn as Sasami on the Tenchi Muyo series.

Mona Marshall as Izzy in Digimon: Digital Monsters

Laura Jill Miller as Kari in Digimon: Digital Monsters

Barbara Goodson as Naota in FLCL

Vic Mignogna [I swear, I have more trouble spelling that last name...I had to look it up!] as Edward Elric (Including flashbacks) in Fullmetal Alchemist.

Spike Spencer as Shinji Ikari in Neon Genesis Evangelion

Veronica Taylor as the original Ash Ketchum in Pokemon

And that's why DVD's come with English/Japanese audio selectors, boys and girls. It's just a matter of personal preference. Personally, the Japanese V/A's for some anime sounds TOO sweet and cute to me. I voted "No".

Oh, and with regard to Disney hiring kids to play kids roles, I would like to remind everyone that kids are different to work with than adults. You can only work with them for a few hours a day and at certain times of the day if they're in school. I can hardly see a production company like Bang Zoom or ADV taking the time to work a kid around their production schedule when an adult is much more easier and can probably do the job on the same level.

[beau99]

KhakiBlueSocks' post is FTW.

Japanese voices are too girly sounding for my tastes.

[Momo-P]

KhakiBlueSocks' post is FTW.

Japanese voices are too girly sounding for my tastes.

I gotta agree on this. I absolutely love cute things, and most Japanese voices are way cuter than the English version, but sometimes?

Ugh...Sakura Kinomoto from CCS. Adorable character all around, but sometimes when she gets really excited? It's almost a little painful. It's like "how the HECK does somebody make their voice that high?!" Not to mention, I've heard real Japanese children before...not one of them sounds anything like that. Truth be told, Japanese children are just like American ones. They sound better than adults doing voices, but both America and Japan would rather get older women to do really high pitched stuff.

[Nia-chan]

I agree with Khaki and beau99 about the voices. One of the reasons I preferred dubs was because I didn't like the high-pitches and overly "girly" Japanese voices of characters in who were supposed to be "cute". I also like dubs because I actually like the voices better and I think the dialogue is funnier :p

[guitargeekette]

Of course it's cuter, they're Japanese. Period.

[ChristianKitsune]

I don't like Japanese voices mostly...^^; too high pitched.

And then I also don't like it when they get american voice actors to try to go just as high pitched...

I'm sorry, but all the normal teenage girls I know DON'T TALK like they are on HELIUM! D:<

If they gotta speak English at least make it normal sounding...gosh.

[the_wolfs_howl]

Yes, Japanese voices tend to sound cuter, but that can be either a good thing or a bad thing. Sometimes, as has been noted, they just don't sound realistic. In that respect, I'm glad when they can get real kids to do the voices (like in the Disney dubs of Miyazaki movies), because then they're not trying to go all high-pitched.

That being said, I much prefer the Japanese voices for little girls like Nina in FMA; they just sound really weird in the dub. And Vic Mignogna...as good of an actor as he is, there are just some times when his voice sounds too much like an adult for Ed. Especially in the flashbacks.