Post
by TheGreatness25 » Tue Jun 06, 2017 12:02 pm
I have two reasons for why I wanted to watch the Japanese version: 1) As a kid, I wanted to watch them because I was so fascinated with every aspect of the series, that I wanted to watch everything I could from it (that's why I got the Spanish version as well even though I don't really speak Spanish), and 2) To experience the series with its intended dialog and music.
Out of respect and the fact that the dub and original are so different, I can watch the dub and I can watch the Japanese version and to me, it's like two different series. I will always respect the Japanese version and it gives me the warm, fuzzy feeling (just like the dub does, to be quite honest). I'm not fooling myself or lying to myself, claiming that the dub is good -- no, it's really awful. But damn it, it's my awful dub that I have a lot of nostalgia for. So you'd never catch me ever even coming close to saying that the dub is a "good enough" way to experience DB, DBZ, DBGT, and the movies. I watch the Japanese version happily.
However, without nostalgia and that "warm and fuzzy" feeling, it's a different ballgame. I started watching my Kai Blu-rays in Japanese, but somewhere at the Namek arc, I went, "Well... why am I doing this?" I didn't have a nostalgia for Kai per se. It didn't feel timeless and epic like DB/Z/etc. did. So that took away my almost need to watch it in Japanese. Then, I thought about it and the scripts are fairly accurate, so there's none of that "It's like two different shows" feeling anymore. So basically, since then, I have not watched Kai in Japanese because there's no reason for me to anymore. There's no reason for me to read the subtitles, but I can actually divert my full attention to what's happening on the screen. And if I want, I can pull away and do something else while it's in the background and still be up-to-speed on what's going on.
I'm not huge into anime; I like a very small percentage of it. I'm not such a huge fan that I care about seeing it in its originality -- I'm fine with a dub. I had my reasons for watching DB/Z/etc. in Japanese, but those reasons are gone now (with the new material, I mean). And while I will always respect the Japanese version, now that Funimation is doing an accurate script and not changing the music, I am just fine watching a dub-only version. So when I start collecting the Final Chapters of Kai or Super, I sincerely doubt that I'll ever really switch it to Japanese. I respect all of the Japanese actors and I know that they put in a lot of hard work, but it's not my native tongue and I'm not that much of a fan to really care about the pure, raw original content. I'm happy just being able to follow along with the story.
Realistically, it's no different than other forms of media. When I read Three Musketeers, I don't need to read the French version. When I play Metal Gear Solid, I don't need to play the Japanese version. When I listen to a Spanish song that's been translated in English, I don't need to listen to the Spanish version (although they usually sound much better). No, I'm good with following along in my native tongue. So that's what all of the new-era DB stuff is to me.
By the way, it's interesting to wonder about if Funimation never totally pooped the bed with its original dub of DBZ, would there be so many people that would care about seeing it in Japanese? That's an interesting thing to ponder about. I know that there would be a ton of people who would still go out and buy those fansub VHS tapes, but I feel like the majority of us never did -- just look at this thread and you'll see that most people's experience of the Japanese version came from Funimation's releases.