Subs vs. Dubs?

Because I got into Anime by watching an American show (Avatar: TLA) on Netflix, the next Animes I watched were Netflix recommendations. Now, most Anime on Netflix is dubbed, with a few exceptions. I started with Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl), which just so happened to be dubbed. Netflix only had the first season, though, so when I went online to watch the following shows, I had to watch the third season subbed. Because I'd gotten used to watching it dubbed, this annoyed me; the voices were different, the translation was different, and I couldn't multi-task, as I had to sit there the whole time and read the subtitles. It wasn't until much later that I learned to like subs better, when I got into Naruto Shippuden, and dubs were no longer available.

[Note: By the way, I always hated Naruto's American voice - I thought she was way to gravelly. I like Junko Takeuchi much better. But I liked Might Gai's and Rock Lee's voices better dubbed; they were so funny.]

As it is now, I can't stand dubs. I feel like sometimes something is lost in translation with dubs. But the thing that bothers me most is the pronunciation. You'd think there would be a language coach teaching these people how to pronounce Japanese words correctly, but I guess not, as they're allowed to butcher words to their hearts' content, apparently. The only dubs I don't really mind are the ones with few Japanese words in them to begin with, like Canaan or Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler), or ones that actually take the time to teach their actors to pronounce things the right way, like FLCL.

[Note: I actually love J. Michael Tatum's Sebastian in Kuroshistuji, but he's the only American voice I thought did any good in that dub, mostly because he can actually do a British accent.]

Recently, after watching Kuroshitsuji dubbed on Netflix, I thought, "Well, maybe dubs aren't quite as bad as I thought..." and tried to watch D Gray-man... which I thought was a little ridiculous and couldn't make it past the third episode. But besides the fantastical story, what bothered me most was how everyone in the dub kept saying "uh-KOO-muh" instead of "AH-ku-ma." Annoyance shot through me like a jolt of lightning every time they said it, and I just couldn't take it!! COME ON, American voice actors, you could at least try a little bit, right?!

I recently finished InuYasha, including the movies, and decided, "What the hell, maybe I'll watch the dub now," but aside from just preferring especially Inuyasha's Japanese voice to the American one, the mispronunciation drove me insane! "kuh-GOH-may" instead of "KAH-go-meh", "nuh-RAH-koo" instead of "NAH-ra-ku"... ugh. It's like when people say "nuh-ROO-toh" for "NAH-ru-to", annoyance lightning.

Japanese is not a very complicated language, and it irks me beyond words when Americans butcher it. If you're going to voice a Japanese show, the least you could do is ask someone if you're saying the Japanese words right... right? I think so. It just seems so... American to me, to mispronounce foreign words so ignorantly.

[Note: Also the way some of the characters in Feudal Japan spoke, like Kaede - "Who be ye?" - was just annoying. Like in the Spice and Wolf dub, where they try to make the English sound dated because of the time period. I find that obnoxious. It's a cartoon, nothing will be lost by speaking modern English, imo.]