I used to prefer the English dub, and it's the first version I played of both games, since a Japanese dub with English subs didn't exist yet (even undub mods). But after learning what was changed in the localization, and how some characters say things the wrong way, things are mistranslated, and how.some characters are completely different than how they were originally intended, I 100% prefer the Japanese dub, and will never play it in English ever again.
The English dub is very nostalgic, especially the first part of Shenmue I and II, since I played those parts of the game as a kid just to collect the Sega toys since I've always been a fan of their games like Sonic, Virtua Fighter and NiGHTS. The rest is not really nostalgic, since I played the rest of the games as a teen.
The Shenmue III English dub is 1000x worse though, since the characters sound nothing like how they're supposed to.
Love how the Japanese voices sound more natural, and Yuan and Shozo Mizuki (the harbor bum) aren't completely butchered. Yuan was a awesome villain in the orignal Japanese where he's a man in drag, and a lot more intimidating, sadistic, stylish and freaky than the horrendous ugly ass and annoying female version. Also I don't get all the love for the PAL Dreamcast version of 2. Sure it has Japanese voices and most of the translations are more accurate, but the original voice track is completely BUTCHERED since Yuan's voice was replaced with a woman's voice that was so monotone, stupid, out of place and boring af.