English dubs made in the USA (No FUNimation, Ocean,AB Groupe or Harmony Gold)

[NitroEX]

I'm betting Johnny Yong Bosch is gonna be Goku.

Oh God, please no...

Not a big fan of him, I presume?

He's a good actor and all but I'm just tired of hearing him play main characters in anime dubs at this point. I could totally see him getting the role just on name recognition alone though, I really hope they haven't gone and done that.

This is off topic but, I'm still a little baffled that of all the American Power Ranger actors with great & memorable voices, he was the one who manages to launch a successful voice acting career. I guess the others were only interested in on camera roles.

[Lord Beerus]

Glad to see this dub is actually happening, and it's not another Ocean Kai dub situation.

The voices I'm really curious to hear are Goku, Vegeta, and Freeza. Will they have Funimation sound-alikes or will they go for something different? For Freeza especially, if they do copy Funimation will they be copying Ayres or Linda Young (or hell, Pauline Newstone, although I doubt they'll go that route)?

Who they have to play Goku and Vegeta will make or break the entire dub, in my opinion. While the intrigue of who the other English voice actors will be in regards to playing the central characters is certainly quite spectacular, it also bring upon me a great deal of worry. The Bang Zoom dub has great chance to prove they can just as good as a job, or even better, than what FUNimation have been doing for Dragon Ball in recent years in the dubbing. And miscast of who voices Goku and Vegeta, who are undoubtedly two are the poster children of the franchise in the West, could kill any momentum this dub will get. So God help Bang Zoom is they manage to fuck up their voices.

[8000 Saiyan]

Oh God, please no...

Not a big fan of him, I presume?

He's a good actor and all but I'm just tired of hearing him play main characters in anime dubs at this point. I could totally see him getting the role just on name recognition alone though, I really hope they haven't gone and done that.

This is off topic but, I'm still a little baffled that of all the American Power Ranger actors with great & memorable voices, he was the one who manages to launch a successful voice acting career. I guess the others were only interested in on camera roles.

Who would you pick for Goku then?

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Kevin Seymour's Freeza was probably the best English voice of Freeza that we had until 2010. It's a shame that Kevin Seymour died not too a while ago . It would be nice if some of the Animaze's Final Bout dub voice actors did return for the Toonami Asia dub of Super. I know some of them still voice act today.

I really look forward to seeing how Bang Zoom handle some of the more iconic characters, particularly Freeza given how incredible Ayres has been in the role as well as Goku and Vegeta for how Schemmel and Sabat have honed their performances. From the teaser we've seen I have a feeling that like Mr Satan and Buu they might try to copy the Funimation cast as skilfully as possible, which I will be ok with.

I can just imagine the dub wars that will ensue in the next year or so .

I know I screwed this up, but I was just trying to say that exposure matters a lot, more than actual production quality, in terms of success, & the LA dub is also being exposed properly to Asian audience. There wont really be debate like the Oxean dub whixh was widely exposed to West.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I can just imagine the dub wars that will ensue in the next year or so .

Heh, let's be honest, that war is never gonna end. While I could do without the unnecessary rudeness that some post about the dub wars online, in a way it's one of the things that makes Dragon Ball so fun to talk about...it seems there will always be two English dubs going on.

Then again, as a page on "Behind the Voice Actors" said at the top, "Never ask a Dragon Ball fan which dub they prefer."

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Glad to see this dub is actually happening, and it's not another Ocean Kai dub situation.

The voices I'm really curious to hear are Goku, Vegeta, and Freeza. Will they have Funimation sound-alikes or will they go for something different? For Freeza especially, if they do copy Funimation will they be copying Ayres or Linda Young (or hell, Pauline Newstone, although I doubt they'll go that route)?

Who they have to play Goku and Vegeta will make or break the entire dub, in my opinion. While the intrigue of who the other English voice actors will be in regards to playing the central characters is certainly quite spectacular, it also bring upon me a great deal of worry. The Bang Zoom dub has great chance to prove they can just as good as a job, or even better, than what FUNimation have been doing for Dragon Ball in recent years in the dubbing. And miscast of who voices Goku and Vegeta, who are undoubtedly two are the poster children of the franchise in the West, could kill any momentum this dub will get. So God help Bang Zoom is they manage to fuck up their voices.

The reporter at the end sounds like Ray Chase (Noctis of FFXV), at first I assumed KaiserNeko (not in LA), then Max (too deep for him), & Nightmare Wheel & BioZero216 mentioned Ray Chase.

I've also gotta retract my statement on Mike as Goku. What NCZ was saying is that Buu sounds like Mike. His voice is bigger than Bryce Papenbrook or (as Azure on Twitter assumed it was) Spike Spencer, & Buu here sounds different than Spike or Bryce's higher pitches. It's somewhat deeper, & while Azure knows his voice actors...no one aside from Kirbopher or possib Nightmare Wheel, knows them better than the Behind the Voice Actors Kingpin Himself.

* Its a shame considering that Mike would be one of the best choices in the LA dub pool for Goku, although I'd dig him as Kuririn as well. Speaking of the "LA dub pool" on the topic of Bang Zoom casting...While the studio does cast through its connections to actors/directors..it's Toei or Toonami Asia who decide the budget, & 95-99% of dubs have painfully non-existent budgets.

It is not impossible for better dubs to be made - it requires more cooperation with JP & certainly that'd support a wide audience with simuldubs & whatnot. The people who make the show actually have to care about people beyond their TV network boundaries. This is difficult because Western TV networks are shy of having to share the profits of their own airtime, when they could just make an anime-alike show instead. Its why anime w/cartoon VAs - like Afro Samurai, Animatrix, & IGPX - are exceedingly rare - the show is made for JP-only.

On the "feel" of the dub & its casting...I want to say that Mr. Satan is a positive sign of more emulating the original performances than the dub. Its fine with something like GitS dubs' replacement-matching because those actually care to be respectful, but from a new start, I personally wouldnt want any of the previous dub voices that we've already had. Ideally we'd be able to do as the Japanese did w/keeping the child voices for certain characters (except someone like Bardock), & I've listed possible casting choices in earlier posts.

btw I just want to say that while I wish every language could get its own versions rather than just force a dub over the Japanese scripted animation, I dont think dubs are worthless casual crap, & I dont "dislike the DB dub because it stopped ppl from enjoying the JP version which is the only real way to watch the show. I dislike it because it ruins any possibility of a good dub with proper castings. Which is why I'm so excited about the prospect of a dub with fresh castings

[8000 Saiyan]

Glad to see this dub is actually happening, and it's not another Ocean Kai dub situation.

The voices I'm really curious to hear are Goku, Vegeta, and Freeza. Will they have Funimation sound-alikes or will they go for something different? For Freeza especially, if they do copy Funimation will they be copying Ayres or Linda Young (or hell, Pauline Newstone, although I doubt they'll go that route)?

Who they have to play Goku and Vegeta will make or break the entire dub, in my opinion. While the intrigue of who the other English voice actors will be in regards to playing the central characters is certainly quite spectacular, it also bring upon me a great deal of worry. The Bang Zoom dub has great chance to prove they can just as good as a job, or even better, than what FUNimation have been doing for Dragon Ball in recent years in the dubbing. And miscast of who voices Goku and Vegeta, who are undoubtedly two are the poster children of the franchise in the West, could kill any momentum this dub will get. So God help Bang Zoom is they manage to fuck up their voices.

The reporter at the end sounds like Ray Chase (Noctis of FFXV), at first I assumed KaiserNeko (not in LA), then Max (too deep for him), & Nightmare Wheel & BioZero216 mentioned Ray Chase.

I've also gotta retract my statement on Mike as Goku. What NCZ was saying is that Buu sounds like Mike. His voice is bigger than Bryce Papenbrook or (as Azure on Twitter assumed it was) Spike Spencer, & Buu here sounds different than Spike or Bryce's higher pitches. It's somewhat deeper, & while Azure knows his voice actors...no one aside from Kirbopher or possib Nightmare Wheel, knows them better than the Behind the Voice Actors Kingpin Himself.

* Its a shame considering that Mike would be one of the best choices in the LA dub pool for Goku, although I'd dig him as Kuririn as well. Speaking of the "LA dub pool" on the topic of Bang Zoom casting...While the studio does cast through its connections to actors/directors..it's Toei or Toonami Asia who decide the budget, & 95-99% of dubs have painfully non-existent budgets.

It is not impossible for better dubs to be made - it requires more cooperation with JP & certainly that'd support a wide audience with simuldubs & whatnot. The people who make the show actually have to care about people beyond their TV network boundaries. This is difficult because Western TV networks are shy of having to share the profits of their own airtime, when they could just make an anime-alike show instead. Its why anime w/cartoon VAs - like Afro Samurai, Animatrix, & IGPX - are exceedingly rare - the show is made for JP-only.

On the "feel" of the dub & its casting...I want to say that Mr. Satan is a positive sign of more emulating the original performances than the dub. Its fine with something like GitS dubs' replacement-matching because those actually care to be respectful, but from a new start, I personally wouldnt want any of the previous dub voices that we've already had. Ideally we'd be able to do as the Japanese did w/keeping the child voices for certain characters (except someone like Bardock), & I've listed possible casting choices in earlier posts.

btw I just want to say that while I wish every language could get its own versions rather than just force a dub over the Japanese scripted animation, I dont think dubs are worthless casual crap, & I dont "dislike the DB dub because it stopped ppl from enjoying the JP version which is the only real way to watch the show. I dislike it because it ruins any possibility of a good dub with proper castings. Which is why I'm so excited about the prospect of a dub with fresh castings

And you think that an anime dub needs the involvement of the creator of the anime to be good? It's like saying the casting of a superhero cartoon needs to involve the creator of the comic.

Let me ask you another thing. Do you seriously think anime fans would take English anime dubs more seriously if they had cartoon voice actors?

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Who they have to play Goku and Vegeta will make or break the entire dub, in my opinion. While the intrigue of who the other English voice actors will be in regards to playing the central characters is certainly quite spectacular, it also bring upon me a great deal of worry. The Bang Zoom dub has great chance to prove they can just as good as a job, or even better, than what FUNimation have been doing for Dragon Ball in recent years in the dubbing. And miscast of who voices Goku and Vegeta, who are undoubtedly two are the poster children of the franchise in the West, could kill any momentum this dub will get. So God help Bang Zoom is they manage to fuck up their voices.

And you think that an anime dub needs the involvement of the creator of the anime to be good? It's like saying the casting of a superhero cartoon needs to involve the creator of that comic.

Let me ask you another thing. Do you seriously think anime fans would take English anime dubs more seriously if they had cartoon voice actors?

First point: I'd like the people chosen to cast the actors involved with the show, to be consistent, as much as possible. Obviously, interpreters & professional casting directors need to be involved with various languages, but the utmost sign of respect would certainly include the people in charge of the story, to involve themselves. Certainly, a third-party interpretation can be good as well, but the point is that generally speaking, the reason that directors do not involve themselves with dubs is that they are generally low-budget, & the show is generally best respresented when - if possible - the people in charge, cast it.

As it is, most localizations are simply "aspects of the show's success" outsourced by a person whose job is much smaller than the actual director or producer. Because the people who actually create the thing, aren't really that interested in how well it is done, & mostly the localization is done for money. Even the works of Satoshi Kon, who acutely disliked the idea of his works being dubbed...were dubbed. It was simply a business thing, rather than an artistic one. Certainly the actors cared about the project, but the people in charge of funding simply wanted "a dub on the disc" & werent particularly interested in the show being in English.

On that note, I'd probably watch more Japanese-produced content in Japanese, if there were more shows of that nature produced for English-speakers in general. I play Metro in Russian, Witcher (the first one) in Polish, because frankly, content of that language does not make nearly as much of my entertainment as Japanese entertainment. 99% of our cartoons are kids' stuff or sitcoms.

We've had this argument. I'll answer the second question in a PM, as we've had it before, & I finally got down to whipping up an answer.

[Nightmare Wheel]

Since it came up, the voice of Freeza in Final Bout was Kevin Seymour. He used basically the same voice for Issei from Giant Robo and there's even a resemblance to Tongpu, that monster clown from Cowboy Bebop. While I'm at it, Tom Wyner was never Cell. His voice in Final Bout was Jonathan David Cook, who has a much heavier tone than Tom Wyner.

While his videos can be fun and informative, I would recommend against taking Kirbopher's videos as any kind of hard truth. There are plenty of popular misconceptions, such as Eddie Frierson as Freeza, or the occasional outright mistake that slip through the cracks of his videos.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Since it came up, the voice of Freeza in Final Bout was Kevin Seymour. He used basically the same voice for Issei from Giant Robo and there's even a resemblance to Tongpu, that monster clown from Cowboy Bebop. While I'm at it, Tom Wyner was never Cell. His voice in Final Bout was Jonathan David Cook, who has a much heavier tone than Tom Wyner.

While his videos can be fun and informative, I would recommend against taking Kirbopher's videos as any kind of hard truth. There are plenty of popular misconceptions, such as Eddie Frierson as Freeza, or the occasional outright mistake that slip through the cracks of his videos.

Thank you, Nightmare. I actually don't watch many anime versus my time on BTVA (& in fact I end up largely watching subs), & Bebop especially has escaped me. Havent seen Giant Robo either. & while I was on the fence on Frierson or Seymour, I had no idea who this Jonathan Cook guy even is. Considering his voice, I think I may add him maybe to that list on the other thread, for like Shenlong or Dabra, who have quite a deep voice in Japanese, & recently it's the same guy even.

As for Kirb...he's great for the most part, & frankly it's the only way I can get certain people to learn about VO.

[Lord Beerus]

Who they have to play Goku and Vegeta will make or break the entire dub, in my opinion. While the intrigue of who the other English voice actors will be in regards to playing the central characters is certainly quite spectacular, it also bring upon me a great deal of worry. The Bang Zoom dub has great chance to prove they can just as good as a job, or even better, than what FUNimation have been doing for Dragon Ball in recent years in the dubbing. And miscast of who voices Goku and Vegeta, who are undoubtedly the poster children of the franchise in the West, could kill any momentum this dub will get. So God help Bang Zoom is they manage to fuck up their voices.

I hate being right.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Who they have to play Goku and Vegeta will make or break the entire dub, in my opinion. While the intrigue of who the other English voice actors will be in regards to playing the central characters is certainly quite spectacular, it also bring upon me a great deal of worry. The Bang Zoom dub has great chance to prove they can just as good as a job, or even better, than what FUNimation have been doing for Dragon Ball in recent years in the dubbing. And miscast of who voices Goku and Vegeta, who are undoubtedly the poster children of the franchise in the West, could kill any momentum this dub will get. So God help Bang Zoom is they manage to fuck up their voices.

I hate being right.

My general hunch is that they seem to be based on the FUNi voices. Goten sounds quite good, not sure who it is, but obviously female. Vaguely reminiscent of Mona Marshall (perfect!) but likely not her.