How do you define a good dub?

[DanielSSJ]

My criteria isn't as well defined, but I'll give it a go:

• -There shouldn't be any big changes to the script. Little things like rewording phrases and jokes that don't work in English are fine I suppose, but there shouldn't be anything that changes the nature of the story or it's characters (Goku is NOT the "Hope of the Universe", nor was Vegeta "forced" to be evil by Freeza.).
  
  -I'd prefer to leave character names alone for the most part. Transliterating English or even Chinese based names is A-Okay in my book(Bejita to Vegeta, Torankusu to Trunks, Shenron to Shenlong, etc.).
  
  -Other terminology, such as attack names, characters who are referred to by a title, or racial distinctions can be translated or otherwise adapted to English if there is a succinct way of doing so. It doesn't have to be a 1:1 translation (Kaio to King of Worlds, Saiyajin to Saiyan, Jinzoningen to Android). Otherwise, leave it in Japanese.
  
  -The music should be left alone. The score plays a huge role in setting the mood for a scene, and such things should not be tampered with.
  
  -While having a similar voice to the Japanese actor would be preferable, it's more important to find someone who has the acting chops to portray the character. It doesn't matter how accurate the script is if the line delivery is crap, after all.
  
  - Censorship is allowed for TV broadcasting purposes, but the home release should be left uncensored.
  
  -Avoid any "alternate interpretations". You are telling someone else's story. Don't try to turn it into your own story.

Based on this criteria, Funimation's first dub of Dragon Ball Z leaves lot to be desired, as does their dub of Dragon Ball, to a lesser extent. DBZ gets a failing grade, and classic Dragon Ball gets... a D+, I suppose. Kai is a huge improvement, though it loses points on retaining the old name changes (King Kai, Tribeam, Master Roshi), but that stuff is forgivable, in lieu of the important criteria. I'd give it a B+ if I were grading it.

[ThatFanaticJackatoo]

If it has Piccolo screaming "DOOOOOOOOODDDDDDGGEEE" I like it.

Jk
I guess its better if the voice acting suits the characters or the script is accurate and no big changes. Appropriate music and no silly censorship would be neat. Have those, and I'll be fine.

[Forte224]

For me it's, in no particular order:

-Good casting. Chris Ayres casted as Freeza is absolutely how casting should be from my point of view. He doesn't sound just like Nakao, but at the same time he kinda does. He undeniably is voice acting for the same character that Nakao was voice acting for, if that makes sense. It's how all characters should be cast for any dub I think.

-Accurate scripting. I don't like the liberties they've been taking with BoG onward (and if you count when it was actually dubbed, TFC onward). It's still good in that the same feeling is being conveyed, but certain things are changed for unnecessary reasons. Kai 1.0 did it too, but it wasn't as prominent or as often. I don't mind if a joke is thrown in because in Japanese it was a joke but it makes no sense when translated, but otherwise I want the script to be as close to what it said in Japanese as possible.

-No replacement score. An interview Sabat did about a year and a half ago had him saying that he wouldn't mind a replacement score in this day and age because he felt it could be done well. This adds to the problem of Funimation seemingly becoming more lax again as time is going on and I don't really like it. Anyway, the original score is necessary, excluding things like Yamamoto of course.

Those are the big things for me. Maybe kinda cliche but there's a reason they're cliche, it's because they're important

[Dragon Ball Gus]

I agree with everyone here. An accurate script, good voice acting, and absolutely no replacement score are the key points of making a good dub.

However, if there's one thing that I would do, that would be, keeping the Openings and Endings in Japanese.

[Vegard Aune]

-Work off a good translation. This might seem like the most obvious of obvious points, but I understand a lot of problems with FUNi's early work stemmed from them getting borderline incomprehensible scripts from Toei.

-Have some skilled script editors who can adapt said good translation into something that sounds natural and works with the characters speaking.

-Don't change the meaning of lines unless there's a damn good reason to do so. For the record, preserving the humor in what's meant to be a funny moment counts as one such "damn good reason" from where I'm standing. Particularly if we're talking about a pun or something else that would just not make any sense if translated literally. Do change the meaning of those, but still try to tread carefully so as to avoid misrepresenting the characters or contradicting the story.

-Do not cast actors simply on the basis that "They can imitate the sound of the original voice well!" I've heard plenty of cases where a dub cast someone who might sound like the original voice, but deliver a completely lousy performance. Like, this example might not mean much to most people on this forum, but in the Norwegian dub of Pixar's Inside Out, the voice they cast for Sadness sounds fairly close to Phyllis Smith, sure... but it also sounds extremely fake and annoying, making my favorite character in that movie infinitely less likable just because of her voice. So basically, cast actors who fit the character and can convincingly play the part, not just people who have a similar tone of voice to the original.

-No music changes. (Exception: Do translate songs, unless the songs in question were in a different language from the work you're translating to begin with... Like, don't dub the French song from the Japanese movie Porco Rosso for example.)

-No censorship. This kinda goes back to the "don't change the meaning of lines"-thing I guess, but I feel it's important enough to mention on its own. If, for whatever reason, censorship is required in order for you to be able to show the thing on TV at all, then at least make an uncensored version as well.

-If all the stuff above is adhered to then I can also forgive this last bit, but please, try to pronounce names properly. Like, to bring up an example, FUNi's dub of School Rumble is one of the extremely rare cases where I actually prefer the dub to the original (it does play a bit fast and loose with its translation sometimes, but it's mostly just a case of spicing up a joke somewhat while still retaining the original point and quite frankly, a lot of times I find myself preferring the rewritten lines), but it is really inconsistent with its name pronounciations. Like, how is it that they managed to pronounce "Harima" perfectly, yet they completely messed up "Akira"? That sort of thing can take me out of an otherwise well done dub somewhat.

[8000 Saiyan]

Snip

I disagree, the only reason people say Peter Kalemis is the best Goku is solely for his one scream for "Kaioken" where he sounds exactly like Nozowa but his talking voice was horrible. You can't really determine if you can translate that same pitch to Goku's voice for English ears, because Japanese characters tend to generally have a higher register for the voices they deem appealing, but its not a natural pitch we hear in the west. Sean's voice among all Goku's dub VAs is what see as the closest to that, without sounding unnatural. (Unlike Stephanie Sheh's Usagi voice).

You're also blurring the quality of writing, and character traits with delivery, just because the old dub had terrible dialogue in the Namek arc particularly, doesn't correlate with delivery if the lines are skewed for an alienated tone from what the original scene was written for. Most of Goku's dialogue in the dub is written to be assertive and straight-forward (ignoring the more exaggerated inserts like the "Hope of the Universe/Destroy my world" lines, though your rant is based mainly on parallel characterizations that completely differ. Its also hard to say if Goku's bumpkin speaking would translate over very well either, not unless we can accept Goku with a Texan accent. That would only further erase the relevance to Goku's East Asian motifs from his character to the audience. What Sean does is as much as I would expect to hear by interpretation. Though granted, Japanese dubs of American shows tend to capture the cultural transition somewhat better.

I don't see the problem with Stephanie Sheh's Usagi. Wanna know who sounds unnatural? Linda Ballantyne! God was she terrible. What a shame they didn't kept Tracey Moore in the role.

[Gog]

Ah, for what certain elements I would view to be important to making a good dub. It would begin with the dub being faithful to the original version in tone, and themes, does it change anything too significant that jeopardizes the narrative, and changes the meaning of some scenes? If it does this than its not good, and if it doesn't do any of this, and remains faithful to the original story itself than its certainly got a greater chance of being good. But, even then there's certain aspects that are also needed in a good dub, the delivery of the lines, how talented the actors are, and how the script itself is translated. If all of these are done well then I would consider it too be a good dub.

[Anonymous Friend]

I personally prefer a good interpretation over a good translation. I was as close to the same experience as the native viewers. If a character sounds like as a brutish country oaf in which the work is produced, I think I should get that same impression in whatever culture I'm watching it in. If the program is about the difference between the upper class and lower class Brazilians and how they have to interact in a natural disaster, I should get the subtleties.

I think all proper nouns should be be kept intact, or at least something close that's pronouncable and distinguishable. Seeing as all names have meaning, if the name's meaning is something that comes up often, we need to translate it to keep the theme. Attack Names should also be translated.

I just think that a dub of anything, a movie, song, television show, video game, or whatever, should first convey the experience that the original audience was able to receive.

[The Media Table]

Easy.When the dub is better than the japanese version you know it is good.No in fact great.

[VegettoEX]

Easy.When the dub is better than the japanese version you know it is good.No in fact great.

This isn't really an answer, though. Everyone else is attempting to qualify and quantify what exactly that "better" is. Can you go more in depth?

[Robo4900]

I personally prefer a good interpretation over a good translation.

Indeed, I quite agree with this. In fact, this principle is why I think the BLT dub was so good; translation wasn't great, but the voices all fitted, and the spirit of the show was 100% Dragon Ball.

[8000 Saiyan]

I personally prefer a good interpretation over a good translation.

Indeed, I quite agree with this. In fact, this principle is why I think the BLT dub was so good; translation wasn't great, but the voices all fitted, and the spirit of the show was 100% Dragon Ball.

I agree that the BLT dub was pretty good. Andrea Libman's Chi-Chi is so adorable.

[Robo4900]

I think all the BLT casting was great. Can't think of a single voice in that dub I didn't like.

Something I really liked too was the music. Not necessarily the music itself, which was pretty good, in fact it's probably the only replacement score to ever truly feel like Dragon Ball, and I still have a lot of nostalgia for it, but its placement and use in the series is what sets it apart; they would often have silent moments, or quiet down the music when necessary. It was actually used properly, not like the constantly blaring Wasserman or Faulconer scores, both of which I again have a lot of love for for the music itself, but the placement often fell down.

Honestly, I never even minded the censorship in the BLT dub. It's there, and it would be ideal for it not to be there, but it's far from intrusive.

[8000 Saiyan]

I think all the BLT casting was great. Can't think of a single voice in that dub I didn't like.

Something I really liked too was the music. Not necessarily the music itself, which was pretty good, in fact it's probably the only replacement score to ever truly feel like Dragon Ball, and I still have a lot of nostalgia for it, but its placement and use in the series is what sets it apart; they would often have silent moments, or quiet down the music when necessary. It was actually used properly, not like the constantly blaring Wasserman or Faulconer scores, both of which I again have a lot of love for for the music itself, but the placement often fell down.

Honestly, I never even minded the censorship in the BLT dub. It's there, and it would be ideal for it not to be there, but it's far from intrusive.

Yeah, the music was pretty good.

[Sailor Haumea]

1. The dialogue must be translated as faithfully as possible, within reason. Name changes are allowed if they're solely making it more understandable, and not taking away from the spirit of the original name. You don't want to get too literal and say "Jinzoningen Juuhachigou" (which is incomprehensible to most people), but at the same time, you don't want to lose the meaning of the original name. "Krillin" fits this criteria, as it's an Anglicized "Ku(r/l)ilin". "Frieza" doesn't as it's needless. "Freeza" already is understandable. You have to have a good balance there.

2. The voice acting has to actually fit a character. We haven't gotten a voice actor for Goku who is good across the board. Peter Kelamis is great as Goku when fighting/serious, but not when the character is laid-back and having fun. On the other hand, Sean Schemmel is great at portraying Goku when not too serious, but isn't very good at voicing a focused, heat of the battle Goku.

3. The original music must be preserved, unless there's genuinely a problem like copyright issues (Yamamoto music comes to mind).

4. Censorship isn't allowed in the uncut dub. An exception can be made for an edited version that airs on children's television, but only as much as necessary. Nothing utterly ridiculous such as changing the skin color of Mr. Popo.

So, uhh...the only dubs that come anywhere close to passing are Funi's dubs starting with Kai and the Pioneer dub. The Blue Water and Harmony Gold dubs are dragged down by bad voice acting and random name changes, respectively, but are otherwise good contenders as well.

[Danfun64]

In hindsight, the biggest thing that drags the Harmony Gold dub isn't the name changes, but how the entirety of the second DB movie is skipped, not to mention everything between the death of the Pilaf Gang and Emperor Crane showing the Dragon Radar to Chaozu (including showing Goku and Krillin's training and a proper demonstration of General Blue's abilities). Also due to censorship cuts Bulma appears out of nowhere when the gang regroups at the tournament. As much as I don't like the name changes, they would have been more tolerable if the Harmony Gold dub covered the whole DB trilogy instead of making DB Movie 3 lose a lot of sense...

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

I don't see the problem with Stephanie Sheh's Usagi. Wanna know who sounds unnatural? Linda Ballantyne! God was she terrible. What a shame they didn't kept Tracey Moore in the role.

Yeah. There were a lot of problems with Linda Ballantyne's Usagi voice, because of the wrong direction they took. They weren't getting a voice for Usagi, they were looking for someone who could imitate Terri Hawkes mannerisms as "Serena". Why I don't like Stephanie Sheh, is that I didn't feel her really sounding right for me. She didn't sound as believable as Tracy did. It was just one of those moments where it was the actor who didn't naturally have that sound trying to sound 'cute' coming out really forced. Its like comparing Pan's Funimation voice (Bad), to her Ocean Dub/Blue Water voices (Good).

[8000 Saiyan]

I don't see the problem with Stephanie Sheh's Usagi. Wanna know who sounds unnatural? Linda Ballantyne! God was she terrible. What a shame they didn't kept Tracey Moore in the role.

Yeah. There were a lot of problems with Linda Ballantyne's Usagi voice, because of the wrong direction they took. They weren't getting a voice for Usagi, they were looking for someone who could imitate Terri Hawkes mannerisms as "Serena". Why I don't like Stephanie Sheh, is that I didn't feel her really sounding right for me. She didn't sound as believable as Tracy did. It was just one of those moments where it was the actor who didn't naturally have that sound trying to sound 'cute' coming out really forced. Its like comparing Pan's Funimation voice (Bad), to her Ocean Dub/Blue Water voices (Good).

Even though Linda's work was terrible on the show, she does the voice much better at the conventions.

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

I don't see the problem with Stephanie Sheh's Usagi. Wanna know who sounds unnatural? Linda Ballantyne! God was she terrible. What a shame they didn't kept Tracey Moore in the role.

Yeah. There were a lot of problems with Linda Ballantyne's Usagi voice, because of the wrong direction they took. They weren't getting a voice for Usagi, they were looking for someone who could imitate Terri Hawkes mannerisms as "Serena". Why I don't like Stephanie Sheh, is that I didn't feel her really sounding right for me. She didn't sound as believable as Tracy did. It was just one of those moments where it was the actor who didn't naturally have that sound trying to sound 'cute' coming out really forced. Its like comparing Pan's Funimation voice (Bad), to her Ocean Dub/Blue Water voices (Good).

Even though Linda's work was terrible on the show, she does the voice much better at the conventions.

Yeah, they all do. It could be because they've had more practice, but I do think they had some legitimately good voices in the show even if the dub itself had terrible direction. I mean the Sailor Guardians at the least did have a good, unique and varied voice cast that made the girls stand out, which is what I ideally look for.

[8000 Saiyan]

Yeah. There were a lot of problems with Linda Ballantyne's Usagi voice, because of the wrong direction they took. They weren't getting a voice for Usagi, they were looking for someone who could imitate Terri Hawkes mannerisms as "Serena". Why I don't like Stephanie Sheh, is that I didn't feel her really sounding right for me. She didn't sound as believable as Tracy did. It was just one of those moments where it was the actor who didn't naturally have that sound trying to sound 'cute' coming out really forced. Its like comparing Pan's Funimation voice (Bad), to her Ocean Dub/Blue Water voices (Good).

Even though Linda's work was terrible on the show, she does the voice much better at the conventions.

Yeah, they all do. It could be because they've had more practice, but I do think they had some legitimately good voices in the show even if the dub itself had terrible direction. I mean the Sailor Guardians at the least did have a good, unique and varied voice cast that made the girls stand out, which is what I ideally look for.

Kind of a shame they had terrible direction. The Toronto talent pool is quite underrated. Liked their work on X-Men TAS, Medabots, Silver Surfer, The Raccoons and the Street Fighter games. Hell, although the 90's Avengers cartoon was absolutely terrible, there were some good voices there.