Both subbed and dubbed. I watched the Dub first with my family since they can't really watch stuff subbed like I can, and watching something subbed is easier for me if I've seen it before. I then watched the Sub. I'll get to comparing them later, first a more general review.
It's good, I liked it and highly recommend it.
As many know, Godzilla was originally just an English pronunciation of Gojira, to the Japanese it never was a theophoric name. Though they've been aware of the implications of the English pronunciation long enough to use it to mock the 98 Godzilla in
Final Wars in 2004. This movie chose to flat out make that a a theme putting it right in the title, Shin is another way to say Kami, the Japanese Kanji commonly translated god/God.
This movie was directed by someone most known for directing Anime, most famously Neon Genesis Evangelion, some of the music was ripped right from Evangelion. The Godzilla franchise was arguably an influence on the first episode of Evangelion to begin with, so it all kind of fits together. And I think that's part of why they went with letting FUNimation localize it (the Dub has some VAs in common with the Rebuild of Evangelion films).
Also two of the female characters in this film seemed like Anime Girls, which is why I think they're much better written then we usually get from female characters in Godzilla films. Both Ogashiro and Ms. Patterson were pretty cool characters.
I don't really want to say much about the Fukushima commentary since Pause and Select did a great video on it, and Digibro and Tommy Oliver discussed it. I hope the guy who does Dark Corners will consider doing a video on it as a follow up to his video about Gojira being a truly unique film.
And as a Pokemaniac I love how the Atomic Breath is basically Hyper Beam now.
I'm disappointed to learn that there won't be a direct sequel to this, the next Japanese LA Godzilla will be a another MCU style Shared Universe experiment. I would have liked to see a sequel exploring the Humanoid Godzilla offspring and perhaps also continuing the Shin theme more by having actual cults worshiping Godzilla.
As a major enthusiast of Anime Dubs, I'm also well aware LA dubbing is different. With campy movies like most Godzilla films or Italian Sword and Sandal films that obviously dubbed awkwardness can add to their charm, but this is a serious Gojira film like the original and the 84 film. You should watch this movie in Japanese if you're at all able, but I know some people can't handle watching stuff Subbed at all and I understand that.
That said, this Dub was good, Erwin Schmit as Hideki Akasaka worked very well. Maybe it's just cause I've developed a unique fondness for the VAs FUNimation usually uses. But they know this is a serious film they're dubbing, they did take it seriously.
And the character of Kayoko Ann Patterson kind of does inherently work better in the Dub. Her backstory says she should know English better then she does Japanese, her father's a US Senator, she says she's not good with Honorifics and she intends to be President some day. But her Japanese actress can't sell that, when she's speaking English she obviously sounds like she has no idea what she's saying. It's a shame this one issue hinders her performance because she seems like a perfectly fine actress otherwise. Her Dub actress is really obviously Kirisu of Steins;Gate and frankly that choice worked perfectly, I just learned she's also Mikasa Ackerman of
Attack on Titan, I didn't even know they were the same, I'm impressed.
As far as the translation goes, the exact wording is different but the Subtitles and Dub are always saying basically the same thing. If I wanted to get nit picky with it both have examples where I'd say the other seems more natural. I of course am not qualified to judge the accuracy of either.
So whichever way you prefer to watch your Godzilla films, this one will be enjoyable.
