Anime is a wonderful source of entertainment and there are certain stories that are told through the medium that feel like they’d be impossible to do anywhere else. Anime’s popularity outside of Japan has only become larger over the years, which has led to a huge increase in the amount of anime series that receive dubs.
It used to be that only the most popular anime series would get dubbed, but now there are some extremely niche titles that will receive the treatment. This increase in dubbed content has also led to some incredibly controversial anime series getting dubs, which have come as major surprises.
10 Higurashi: When They Cry Is A Gory Murder Mystery With Cute Characters
Higurashi: When They Cry is a unique anime franchise that dresses itself up to be a cute slice of life or romance anime. This is pushed hard with the delicate and bright character designs, but all of this is subterfuge to an extremely dark story about rampant murder and a mysterious time loop and alternate realities. Higurashi hits such a specific niche, which makes its dub a real shock. Not all of the Higurashi series have been dubbed, and the first one seems to miss the point of what it’s going for, but the most recent dub is exceptional.
9 Ping-Pong Club Is A Crude Comedy
Ping-Pong Club is an extremely raunchy and juvenile comedy anime from the 1990s that comes across as anime’s answer to South Park in many areas. The heightened gag series features middle school students that engage in wild antics that are usually prompted by their raging hormones. Ping-Pong Club features tons of nudity and lewd situations, but it’s also genuinely hilarious. It’s actually quite surprising that a smaller show like this was dubbed way back in 2001 before anime had become as mainstream as it is now. It remains a strange product of its time.
8 Hetalia: Axis Powers Rewrites History In Extreme Ways
Hetalia: Axis Powers is a comedic anime that provides exaggerated and satirical reinterpretations of major events from world history, with a large focus on World War II. Hetalia turns each country into a human avatar and while there are some brilliant ideas on display, the controversial angle made waves in South Korea where it was taken off the air and was met with death threats.
It feels like an especially odd series to dub, but the dubbed version pushes the comedy even further with the addition of accents to performances and it doesn’t shy away from the comedy or controversy.
7 Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt Features Fallen Angels & Magic
Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt is one of the weirdest anime of all time. It’s a series about two fallen angels, Panty and Stocking, who align with a reverend who teaches them how to turn their lingerie into weapons that can be used to defeat ghosts. This procures Heaven Coins, which these fallen angels can use to buy themselves back into heaven. The anime’s premise wallows in controversy, and the lighting-paced and extremely weird brand of comedy makes it seem like a program that would never get dubbed, but Funimation jumped on the anime’s strangeness.
6 Goblin Slayer Begins With Its Hero In A Dark Place
Goblin Slayer casts a dark shadow over the fantasy genre with a world that's just as full of goblins and monsters as it is adventurers. Goblin Slayer stirred up a lot of controversy with how its very first episode depicts some very graphic acts against the series main character, courtesy of some goblins.
It's a brutal way to start the series, but necessary to the journey. Goblin Slayer is much more than this controversy, but it'd have been easy to view the first episode, assume the worst, and not dub it. Goblin Slayer is instead given a fair chance.
5 Hatred For A Darling In The Franxx Characters Caused An Outrage
Darling in the Franxx is a dystopian mech series where children are conditioned to only pilot these destructive machines for the future of mankind. Darling in the Franxx features some suggestive imagery with the mechanics behind how to operate these machines. However, the staff of the series received death threats over the decisions they made with a certain character. One individual goes on a destructive mission and the audience lost it. This is a different kind of controversy, but fans still reacted negatively to the events when the dubbed version reached this point in the story.
4 Excel Saga Intentionally Pushes The Envelope Too Far
Excel Saga is an extremely funny gag anime. However, it’s a series that’s so steeped in references to other anime series and Japanese culture that it wouldn’t have been a shock to see it get passed over for a dub. Instead, Excel Saga’s dub beautifully captures the anime’s manic energy. The whole show is exaggerated, but the final episode was intentionally created to be over the top and unable to air on television. It pushes nudity and mature situations to new levels, which was less of a problem for the dub since Excel Saga wasn’t airing on TV.
3 The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya Trolls Its Audience
The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya is an unusual series that looks at the events of a number of teenagers at high school, only characters have strangely changed and individuals begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems. Haruhi is tame when it comes to explicit content, and instead, the anime's controversy stems from a highly ambitious stylistic choice in the anime's second season. The anime's "Endless Eight" arc presents eight episodes that are basically identical. This infuriated some of the viewers in Japan and the dub even briefly considered going the gag dub route for these episodes.
2 Kite And Kite Liberator Depict The Horrors Of Survival
Kite is a two-episode OVA series that's also been cut together as a movie, and it tells the extremely tragic story of Sawa, a young orphan who's forced to turn to violence and sex to survive. Kite doesn't hold back and its depictions of brutality and sexuality are both extremely intense, especially considering Sawa's age. Kite's follow-up, Kite Liberator, isn't as satisfying, but still trades in the same mature material. Kite’s controversial reputation doesn’t hold it back from getting a dub, which doesn’t tone down the harsh material.
1 The Plot Of Interspecies Reviewers Is Built To Be Extreme
Interspecies Reviewers is likely one of the most controversial dubbed anime to come out in years. The series strives to be inappropriate and it's a comedy that centers around adventurers' eclectic relationships with the different creatures throughout the land. Funimation streamed three episodes of the anime subtitled and broadcast the first of their dubbed episodes, with plans for more. However, Funimation dropped the title entirely after the subject matter grew more intense after that point. The fact that there's just one dubbed episode makes Interspecies Reviewers even more of an oddity.