Japanese vs. Dubbed Versions of Heisei Movies

[GodzillaXGomoraFight]

Hello all, lately the question of the differences between the Japanese and dubbed versions of Heisei movies have been bugging me.

I realized that while I have watched Godzilla for years and particularly the Heisei Series since I was a child, I have only seen English-dubbed versions of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla, and Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. My only copies of the films are the two double-feature DVDs Tristar released that contain only dubbed versions of the films. I saw that Hulu had these films as well, but alas, they only had the dubbed versions that I have grown up with. On top of that, I am unsure if the rerelease of these films on DVD have the Japanese version either.

Do the original Japanese versions of these films bring anything different or "better" than the dubs? I know that many people in the community do not like Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla for instance, so I was curious as to whether or not the Japanese version of this film is superior to the one I am accustomed to.

Of the Japanese versions I have seen, I do prefer the Japanese versions of Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Biollante over their English counterparts. I am impartial to the English and Japanese versions of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. I find the scenes of Baby Godzilla a bit annoying regardless of the version.

What do you all think? I would also be interested in knowing if anyone knows where one can locate Japanese versions of the movies I listed above (is it accessible through Region 2 DVDs only?).

[Maritonic]

Hello all, lately the question of the differences between the Japanese and dubbed versions of Heisei movies have been bugging me.

I realized that while I have watched Godzilla for years and particularly the Heisei Series since I was a child, I have only seen English-dubbed versions of Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, Godzilla vs. Mothra, Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla, and Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. My only copies of the films are the two double-feature DVDs Tristar released that contain only dubbed versions of the films. I saw that Hulu had these films as well, but alas, they only had the dubbed versions that I have grown up with. On top of that, I am unsure if the rerelease of these films on DVD have the Japanese version either.

Do the original Japanese versions of these films bring anything different or "better" than the dubs? I know that many people in the community do not like Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla for instance, so I was curious as to whether or not the Japanese version of this film is superior to the one I am accustomed to.

Of the Japanese versions I have seen, I do prefer the Japanese versions of Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Biollante over their English counterparts. I am impartial to the English and Japanese versions of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II. I find the scenes of Baby Godzilla a bit annoying regardless of the version.

What do you all think? I would also be interested in knowing if anyone knows where one can locate Japanese versions of the movies I listed above (is it accessible through Region 2 DVDs only?).

I'm unsure about actual plot/editing/structural differences, however the recent blu-ray releases of these films have the Japanese w/ English subtitles options. I find them MUCH easier to watch than the dubs, even though I too grew up with those Tristar two pack DVDs you mentioned.

[Ivo-goji]

I mean the dubs are pretty bad. More so than a lot of dubs from the Showa series, even if they usually edit less stuff out.

One can only endure so many Godzillers.

[GalacticPetey]

Does Hulu really only have the dubs? I don't have Hulu and a friend of mine was asking about Godzilla stuff on there.

[GodzillaXGomoraFight]

Does Hulu really only have the dubs? I don't have Hulu and a friend of mine was asking about Godzilla stuff on there.

Yea I checked Godzilla vs. Spacegodzilla and there was no option for a Japanese track. On top of that, I just saw that the movies are expiring on Hulu on February 1. I assume that means that they are being taken down then.

If my memory serves me right, I believe that Hulu's current Godzilla flicks could be found on Crackle for years, but unfortunately they were taken down from Crackle.

[Terasawa]

TriStar only cut the end credits from these movies so only the performances and sound mixes are different in the English dubbed versions. Judging from the various official and unofficial subtitled versions I've seen, the English scripts are faithful to the original Japanese but certainly simplified. More often than not, any English performance in the Japanese versions are inferior to the dubbed versions. The English dubbers may not have the best voices in the world but they are more capable of giving a convincing performance than the "hired because they speak English" performers Toho hired to appear in the films.

The Japanese versions are worth checking out of course but I don't think anyone is gonna pull a 180 on any of these movies because you're hearing different voices.

Also, what do you mean by the "Japanese versions"? The original Japanese audio tracks are available on Blu-Ray from Sony, as has been mentioned, but depending on the film, visually the movies are Toho's export version or derived from TriStar's English versions. The only official Blu-Ray release of the Japanese versions (Japanese credits, etc.) is in Japan.

[UltramanGoji]

In my opinion, I can certainly enjoy these films more watching them in Japanese than with their crappy dubs.

I think the only exception to this rule is the Lagos Island scenes in GVKG. The original undubbed American military voices are terrible and the dub actually makes them sound much more tolerable (an idea for a fan edit, maybe?) and natural, funny enough.

On top of that, I am unsure if the rerelease of these films on DVD have the Japanese version either.

Any American/Region 1 DVD releases of the Sony-owned Heisei films (GVKG, GVM, GVSG, GVD) are English-only.

What do you all think? I would also be interested in knowing if anyone knows where one can locate Japanese versions of the movies I listed above (is it accessible through Region 2 DVDs only?).

The recent Sony "Toho Godzilla Collection" Blu-Rays come with the Japanese language option. If you don't own a Blu-Ray player, you'll have to resort to bootlegs or unofficial streaming sites. But honestly, just get a Blu-Ray player. So much stuff you're missing out on if you're still DVD-only. And BR players can play DVDs too, so it's not as if you're throwing out one format for another.

Also, what do you mean by the "Japanese versions"? The original Japanese audio tracks are available on Blu-Ray from Sony, as has been mentioned, but depending on the film, visually the movies are Toho's export version or derived from TriStar's English versions. The only official Blu-Ray release of the Japanese versions (Japanese credits, etc.) is in Japan.

You have to understand that people who are not really into the nitty gritty details behind these films usually mean "Japanese language option" whenever they say "Japanese version". They're not saying "the original uncut Japanese theatrical release" but saying "Japanese version" as a catch-all term for "whatever Japanese language option I can get my hands on". The average fan is not gonna know what an "export version" is or anything similar to that.

[Terasawa]

You have to understand that people who are not really into the nitty gritty details behind these films usually mean "Japanese language option" whenever they say "Japanese version". They're not saying "the original uncut Japanese theatrical release" but saying "Japanese version" as a catch-all term for "whatever Japanese language option I can get my hands on". The average fan is not gonna know what an "export version" is or anything similar to that.

That's why I took the time to explain it.

[GodzillaXGomoraFight]

By Japanese version, I meant the uncut Japanese theatrical release of the films. I was not entirely sure as to how much editing the dubbed versions have like how in Return of Godzilla for instance, new scenes were made. I will definitely take a look at the Blu-Ray collection of these films. My XBOX One plays Blu-Ray so I am all set on that end!

[Kenpachiro Hirata]

As a Russian, I can only say that it was a blast seein' Heisei movies on a big screen.

[splitz]

As A Brazilian The Heisei Brazilian Dub Is good But Have Some Pronunciations Errors Like The Super X That Dont Spell "x" In english
And Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah Is Called Godzilla Against the Evil Monster In Portuguese: Godzilla Contra o Monstro do Mal But When The Movie Come to brazilian TV Got Called Godzilla Against King Guidora In Portuguese: Godzilla Contra King Guidora And Godzilla VS Biollante Got Called: Godzilla Versus Biollante And Godzilla VS Mothra Got Called Godzilla Versus Mothra But Got called Godzilla - The Battle of the Century (Godzilla - A Batalha do Século) in Home Video Release

[LegendZilla]

Let’s face it, the English dubs of these movies, as well as those for the Millennium films don’t hold up exactly well.

Let’s hope one day Sony can re-dub all the films they have under their license through Funimation.

[mikelcho]

Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla has a song sung in Japanese in the ending credits that was cut from the American VHS and DVD releases of the film (I can't say anything about the Blu-ray releases, though), and Godzilla vs. Destoroyah has a great ending credits instrumental piece by Akira Ifukube (complete with scenes from some of the previous Godzilla films contained in it) that was also cut from the same releases of that film.

That's not even considering the fact they cut the Toho opening logo out of every one of both the VHS and the DVD two-in-one releases of every one of the Toho Godzilla films from between 1991 and 2004 (with the possible exception of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, which was not a DVD two-in-one release in the films made between 1991 and 1995), as well as the first two of the three films in the Rebirth of Mothra trilogy (the exception was Rebirth of Mothra III, which should've been released on DVD long ago).

[Legion1979]

Let’s hope one day Sony can re-dub all the films they have under their license through Funimation.

You'll be hoping for a long time. Sony has had some of these films for an extremely long time and also seems just fine with the dubs they've been using. On top of that, they're slowly letting their rights to these films expire.

So redubbed versions are never happening from Sony.

[GoKelley85]

For Showa, we can have a discussion on a case by case basis of which version I liked more.

But for Heisei, it is straight Japanese across the board. I have a high tolerance for bad dubbing. Years of watching tokusatsu and anime brought to the US will do that. But even with that, the Heisei dubs are another level of bad. All the voices are bland and monotonous, and actually blend together. I was shocked to find out they had multiple voice actors because it always sounded like they had one actor for all the men characters and one actress for all the women characters.

Omni Productions, the dubbing company responsible for the Heisei era Godzilla international dubs, also did the international dubs for the Japanese Post 86 Transformers shows and they are among the worst dubs I've ever heard. So at least they got better by the time they got to Godzilla, but its still bad.

[Legion1979]

My teenage years were spent watching the Heisei films as they were being released in Japanese in raw Japanese. I'm most familiar with them in that language. That sound completely alien to me dubbed.

It's crazy to me that there is a generation of fans who only really know these movies dubbed.

[LSD Jellyfish]

My teenage years were spent watching the Heisei films as they were being released in Japanese in raw Japanese. I'm most familiar with them in that language. That sound completely alien to me dubbed.

It's crazy to me that there is a generation of fans who only really know these movies dubbed.

No wonder you dislike the Heisei series so much, that sounds miserable

Spoiler:

But also a badge of honor(?)

[Legion1979]

....I'd say I'd probably like these movies LESS if I grew up with them dubbed. Most of them have truly awful dub tracks.

[GodzillaXGomoraFight]

Since making this thread, I bought the double feature Bku Ray's from Amazon for all of the 90s films. Similar to everyone else's experiences, the original Japanese track is miles ahead the dubbing and made the movies much more enjoyable for me.

After years of listening to the dubs across all series, I have low tolerance for them nowadays. The Japanese versions have become my definitive versions.

[tbeasley]

I grew up with the dubs on VHS (except Mothra and SpaceGodzilla, which I didn't see till DVD), so there is kind of a nostalgic attachment to them. But at the same time the 90s dubs are pretty lousy and I'm happy the subtitled (or dub-titled, whatever) versions are finally available.

I think the only dub/version I would consider revisiting (aside from the missing in action G85) would be Biollante thanks to the very awkward English speaking being covered.