Question for those who read the Manga

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90sDBZ
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Question for those who read the Manga

Post by 90sDBZ » Tue Nov 06, 2018 7:57 am

This is something I've been curious about for a while.

If you're a fan of the original Japanese version of the anime and you're reading an English translation of the Manga, what voices do you imagine in your head while reading? Do you imagine Nozawa and co. speaking English? Do you substitute the dub cast because hearing the Japanese actors speak English seems strange?

Also for my fellow dub fans who read the Manga, do you imagine the Funimation Z cast, the Kai cast, the Ocean cast, or perhaps a mixture? Reading the Manga allows you to mix and match and create your dream cast in your mind.

Or maybe you don't imagine any voice and simply read the dialogue. For me once I've experienced one or more portrayals of a character onscreen I feel like I naturally try to imagine one of those portrayals while reading. For example I feel like I have to picture Sean Connery when reading the James Bond novels, Harrison Ford in "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"(the novel Blade Runner is based on), Anthony Hopkins in the Hannibal Lector novels, and Daniel Radlcliffe in the Harry Potter books. Also with comics I have to imagine Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and The Joker.

Also if you're reading the Super Manga instead of watching the anime what do you do when it comes to new characters who you haven't heard a voice for yet?

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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by KBABZ » Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:11 am

I almost always have the dub voices since that's what I'm most familiar with regarding the franchise.

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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by Soppa Saia People » Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:11 am

what i imagine the characters to sound like, which is what i do with most books. its just easier then forcing a voice from another media into my head.
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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by VegettoEX » Tue Nov 06, 2018 9:44 am

If I'm reading the English translation of the manga, it's generally a incomprehensible quasi-"language"-sounding muffled sound of the Japanese cast. If it's a scene I know particularly well and know the actual dialog from, it's a little more focused and their actual delivery.

If I'm slowly plodding my way through Japanese text, it's them sounding things out very slowly at me in the respective voices with a sense of disappointment.
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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by Forte224 » Tue Nov 06, 2018 11:34 am

It's not one set way, I hear a mixture of voices, even on the same character. I enjoy myself the most when I hear no one though, when I'm just making up voices in my head. But, at more iconic moments, I can't help but hear the voice I first heard in that scene. Despite preferring the Japanese version, "translating" their voices to English just doesn't compute in my brain.

Funny enough, despite not being a Drummond fan, when Vegeta speaks I hear Drummond with a more lax delivery. It works out to kind of a Horikawa experience. And with Piccolo Daimao, I hear a deeper delivery from McNeil.

Battle cries through? Japanese all the way.

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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by 8000 Saiyan » Thu Nov 08, 2018 2:33 pm

Oddly enough, I hear Piccolo sounding more like this actor than Scott McNeil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POR5t4hjtPg

Vegeta is Drummond sounding more like a mix of his Zechs Marquise and Hayato Shingu.
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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by ABED » Thu Nov 08, 2018 2:51 pm

It's a mix, and while I much prefer the Japanese cast, I don't speak the language. I hear the dialog in my head in English so hearing the Japanese voices speak in English is a bit of a challenge.
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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by GreatSaiyaJeff » Fri Nov 09, 2018 1:06 am

I usually use the dub cast while reading. Chris Ayers has replaced Lynda Freeza for me now. Although because on how it was originally dubbed, I would have the ocean cast in my mind when reading the Saiyan arc.
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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by Dbzfan94 » Fri Nov 09, 2018 1:10 pm

I hear the Funimation dub cast. Strangely enough when I read the Freeza arc my mind switches from Linda Young to Chris Ayres seemingly at random

I don’t really read the Super manga besides scanning through it, so there I can’t say

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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by Fizzer » Fri Nov 09, 2018 1:47 pm

Like others have said, I hear the Japanese cast, but because the sounds and intonation in Japanese are so different to English, I can't really imagine them speaking the English words (unless I force it and it becomes strongly accented English) so it's more of a vague noise of what their voice sounds like and the delivery.

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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by Kunzait_83 » Fri Nov 09, 2018 1:55 pm

Throw me in the same pile as "hears the Japanese cast using a vaguely linguistic-sounding series of noises that roughly approximate to English words". Its more about their emotional delivery, cadence, and tone of speech than it is the actual words themselves, which my mind is processing almost in separate section of my brain than the part that's hearing the Japanese voices.

Sometimes on some occasions though I can clearly picture in my head someone among the Japanese cast saying a line or two in full, clear English, and the result is fairly amusing and surreal. :lol:
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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by Polyphase Avatron » Fri Nov 09, 2018 1:58 pm

English dub voices mostly.
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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by Fizzer » Fri Nov 09, 2018 2:46 pm

Kunzait_83 wrote:Its more about their emotional delivery, cadence, and tone of speech than it is the actual words themselves, which my mind is processing almost in separate section of my brain than the part that's hearing the Japanese voices.
I suppose our brains are doing something very similar to what they do when we watch subbed episodes - associating linguistic sounds with emotional context while separately drawing the information content from text.

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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Fri Nov 09, 2018 5:10 pm

This is such a fun exercise when you have watched the series over and over again and are used to different casts.

I tend to hear a mixture of the English and Japanese cast depending on my mood or level of curiosity.

For example with Goku I hear Schemmel during his goofy moments and during serious moments its an approximation of what Nozawa would sound like speaking English as I still feel she handles the cocky and assertive side of the character better. Similarly with Freeza it's a mix of Nakao and Ayres, but typically the former for the laughs and the latter for the big speeches. And it could be because I was exposed to the Japanese version of Super first, but its almost always Nozawa for Goku Black, and of course she NAILS that character. With Vegeta I imagine a smoother Drummond akin to an English Horikawa, in part to imagine what he will sound like in Ocean Kai, or at least I hope he will sound like.

Other characters like Kaio-sama and Buu I hear the Japanese voices speaking English. Conversely I hear the Funi and Ocean voices for Mr Satan. Piccolo is McNeil, period. The female characters flip flop from Japanese speaking English to Funi to Ocean to Bang Zoom as all voices are perfectly fine.
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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by 90sDBZ » Fri Nov 09, 2018 6:01 pm

I'm actually surprised by how many people say they switch the voices around on the fly. I expected people to mix and match a bit with the different casts, but to go back and forth on voices with the same characters is surprising considering how important people say consistency is in the anime. I guess I can sort of relate to it though.

For example when I look at pictures of younger Vegeta I naturally imagine Drummond's voice, but I imagine Sabat when I see older Vegeta. If I were reading the Manga from start to finish I'd probably make myself imagine Sabat all the way for consistency though.

I guess the next question would be what score do you guys imagine, if any? Hell maybe you actually play music while reading. :lol:

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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by 8000 Saiyan » Fri Nov 09, 2018 6:12 pm

Even though I like Chuck Huber's performance for what it is, I hear Greg Ayres as Pilaf and honestly, his voice coming out of Pilaf works a lot better than Huber IMO.

Other voices I hear:

Babidi sounds like Gilbert Gottfried, Cell is Corey Burton and Kibito sounds like David Ogden Stiers.

Majin Buu is Frank Welker doing a more childish version of his Fred Jones while King Kai is Mako and King Cold is voiced by Tony Jay. Pat Morita does Roshi.

I always hear Kikuchi's score.
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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Fri Nov 09, 2018 6:26 pm

Well as I say its a mix for the most part. With Goku, as I mentioned when it comes to delivery its Schemmel for manchild and Nozawa for battle sequences. The actual voice is sort of a middle ground between the two. So it's sort of like an ideal consistency for me.

Music is almost always Kikuchi.
Last edited by Dragon Ball Ireland on Fri Nov 09, 2018 6:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by Ssjcell » Fri Nov 09, 2018 6:27 pm

It's a mix of my voice and the English dub actors

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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by Super Sonic » Fri Nov 09, 2018 7:27 pm

8000 Saiyan wrote:Even though I like Chuck Huber's performance for what it is, I hear Greg Ayres as Pilaf and honestly, his voice coming out of Pilaf works a lot better than Huber IMO.

Other voices I hear:

Babidi sounds like Gilbert Gottfried, Cell is Corey Burton and Kibito sounds like David Ogden Stiers.
Which voice of his would you say you hear? Tomax, Shockwave, Dale, Hook? Just curious what voice you hear.

English ones for me, though usually Funimation cast, years and years ago, heard the voices for the first two seasons during the Saiyan Saga and Frieza saga. Like OP guy said, with American comics it changes as well. For example, majority Golden-Silver Age Batman, I hear Adam West or the guy from "Super Friends" but Bronze Age-onward I hear Kevin Conroy. Mark Hamill is Joker regardless.

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Re: Question for those who read the Manga

Post by 8000 Saiyan » Fri Nov 09, 2018 7:33 pm

Super Sonic wrote:
8000 Saiyan wrote:Even though I like Chuck Huber's performance for what it is, I hear Greg Ayres as Pilaf and honestly, his voice coming out of Pilaf works a lot better than Huber IMO.

Other voices I hear:

Babidi sounds like Gilbert Gottfried, Cell is Corey Burton and Kibito sounds like David Ogden Stiers.
Which voice of his would you say you hear? Tomax, Shockwave, Dale, Hook? Just curious what voice you hear.

English ones for me, though usually Funimation cast, years and years ago, heard the voices for the first two seasons during the Saiyan Saga and Frieza saga. Like OP guy said, with American comics it changes as well. For example, majority Golden-Silver Age Batman, I hear Adam West or the guy from "Super Friends" but Bronze Age-onward I hear Kevin Conroy. Mark Hamill is Joker regardless.
Maybe his Hugo Strange voice without the accent.
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