Gen Fukunaga steps down as GM of Funimation.

[Tian]

Dragon Ball might've not been bought to the States without him. Someone else would probably have, but i think he should be thanked for being behind that m

As matter of fact, he wasn't the only one responsible of that. There were other two people that made it possible too. The first one is Gen's uncle who worked as producer in Toei and approached the guy to distribute DB in the U.S and the second is Daniel Cocanougher, a co-worker of Gen's whose family was wealthy, he and his family gave the money to put FUNimation in operation (sorry, I didn't mean to rhyme ) so they could distribute DB in U.S after Harmony Gold's failed attempt.

[Robo4900]

Dragon Ball might've not been bought to the States without him. Someone else would probably have, but i think he should be thanked for being behind that m

As matter of fact, he wasn't the only one responsible of that. There were other two people that made it possible too. The first one is Gen's uncle who worked as producer in Toei and approached the guy to distribute DB in the U.S and the second is Daniel Cocanougher, a co-worker of Gen's whose family was wealthy, he and his family gave the money to put FUNimation in operation (sorry, I didn't mean to rhyme ) so they could distribute DB in U.S after Harmony Gold's failed attempt.

Indeed, and honestly, Gen really isn't anyone to thank for Dragon Ball's presence in the English world; he just happened to be an opportunist in the right place at the right time. If he hadn't been around, one of various other companies doing anime at the time would have picked it up; Dragon Ball is huge in Japan, it's got all these marketable transformations and characters... Not only would it have definitely been picked up by someone, but they'd have probably done better than the botched job Funi did that involved them screwing up their initial deal, which lead to them not just stopping at 13 out of the initial 26 ordered episodes for the first season order, but skipping over 140 episodes of content, and they weren't able to release those first 13 on DVD themselves for years, and even when they got some success with Z, they had such a lack of respect for the fans and the creative guys, they junked their entire cast and their music guy, for some cheapo impressionists working out of Texas.

The Funimation of now is definitely a very different company than they were in the '90s and '00s, there's a real passion behind the dubbing crew of Dragon Ball now, and a real respect for the fans -- the reviews on that site linked earlier aside, people like Chris Sabat, Sean Schemmel, the entire team of scripting guys, everyone else in the cast, these guys all have a real passion for what they do, and have a real respect for the fans and for the work -- but back when Funi initially brought Dragon Ball over to the west, it was done with the utmost of apathy for the source material and its fans. Even if Gen wasn't directly responsible for this, anyone whose decisions lead Barry Watson to be in charge, and for the franchise and brand to be as badly-managed as it was in the '90s and '00s can't have been doing the best job.

So, much as I'm always one to advocate for the idea of "Just because someone was bad then, doesn't mean they're bad now" -- look at the Funi cast, even most of them aren't very proud of the early work -- and I think it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking the grass is always greener, if we're approaching this purely from the angle of "We should be grateful for what he did in the '90s and '00s, bringing Dragon Ball to the west", I have to hard-disagree. Even if we'd been unfortunately saddled with 4Kids for Dragon Ball's dubbing, at least they'd've brought in one experienced dubbing cast from the beginning, kept them all the way through, and not skipped 150 episodes because of botched TV deals. Funimation's early history when they just got started and did their work on Dragon Ball's original 1986-1997 run was a mess from top to bottom, and the franchise's western presentation greatly suffered by being the medium through which Funi figured their crap out in the first several years of their existence.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure Gen did his best, and improved over the years, but acting like he's the reason Dragon Ball did well in the west... Well... Arguably, if Funimation hadn't been around, or if they hadn't done Dragon Ball -- at least not until much later, when they got better at doing anime -- the western presentation of Dragon Ball may have been significantly better than it ended up being.

[sangofe]

Dragon Ball might've not been bought to the States without him. Someone else would probably have, but i think he should be thanked for being behind that m

As matter of fact, he wasn't the only one responsible of that. There were other two people that made it possible too. The first one is Gen's uncle who worked as producer in Toei and approached the guy to distribute DB in the U.S and the second is Daniel Cocanougher, a co-worker of Gen's whose family was wealthy, he and his family gave the money to put FUNimation in operation (sorry, I didn't mean to rhyme ) so they could distribute DB in U.S after Harmony Gold's failed attempt.

Indeed, and honestly, Gen really isn't anyone to thank for Dragon Ball's presence in the English world; he just happened to be an opportunist in the right place at the right time. Well... Arguably, if Funimation hadn't been around, or if they hadn't done Dragon Ball -- at least not until much later, when they got better at doing anime -- the western presentation of Dragon Ball may have been significantly better than it ended up being.

He still was the main man behind FUNimation getting it and distributing it, no matter how you look at it. And for that I think he should be thanked. It's better to be thankful to ungrateful And we never know what would've happened if that hadn't happened. Maybe the Dragon Ball situation would've been better? We don't know. Honestly, the US got more options and better releases than the French market for example that had AB doing things horribly for a long period. They seem to have changed these days though, with incredible Dragon Ball Super releases. And that I'm very grateful for.

[Tian]

The Funimation of now is definitely a very different company than they were in the '90s and '00s, there's a real passion behind the dubbing crew of Dragon Ball now, and a real respect for the fans -- the reviews on that site linked earlier aside, people like Chris Sabat, Sean Schemmel, the entire team of scripting guys, everyone else in the cast, these guys all have a real passion for what they do, and have a real respect for the fans and for the work -- but back when Funi initially brought Dragon Ball over to the west, it was done with the utmost of apathy for the source material and its fans. Even if Gen wasn't directly responsible for this, anyone whose decisions lead Barry Watson to be in charge, and for the franchise and brand to be as badly-managed as it was in the '90s and '00s can't have been doing the best job.

While I agree in most of you have posted, I don't feel like Schemmel and respect for fans can mix. I have reasons to believe it like him literally telling fans to fuck off when the Kelamis situation happened or saying that those who don't like or watch the FUNi dub aren't real fans when he was talking about the Ocean dub of Kai. This guy is a jerk to me because he thinks is the Ultimate English Goku. You may be the official voice of something since 1999 but you can't block someone on Twitter who you don't even know personally just because he voiced that something in English too.

And yeah, they seem to respect their work a lot because both Chris Sabat and Chris Rager attacked the Bang Zoom dub as if the BZ guys were replacing them, when they actually were producing an alternate dub for another market.

[eledoremassis02]

The Funimation of now is definitely a very different company than they were in the '90s and '00s, there's a real passion behind the dubbing crew of Dragon Ball now, and a real respect for the fans -- the reviews on that site linked earlier aside, people like Chris Sabat, Sean Schemmel, the entire team of scripting guys, everyone else in the cast, these guys all have a real passion for what they do, and have a real respect for the fans and for the work -- but back when Funi initially brought Dragon Ball over to the west, it was done with the utmost of apathy for the source material and its fans. Even if Gen wasn't directly responsible for this, anyone whose decisions lead Barry Watson to be in charge, and for the franchise and brand to be as badly-managed as it was in the '90s and '00s can't have been doing the best job.

While I agree in most of you have posted, I don't feel like Schemmel and respect for fans can mix. I have reasons to believe it like him literally telling fans to fuck off when the Kelamis situation happened or saying that those who don't like or watch the FUNi dub aren't real fans when he was talking about the Ocean dub of Kai. This guy is a jerk to me because he thinks is the Ultimate English Goku. You may be the official voice of something since 1999 but you can't block someone on Twitter who you don't even know personally just because he voiced that something in English too.

And yeah, they seem to respect their work a lot because both Chris Sabat and Chris Rager attacked the Bang Zoom dub as if the BZ guys were replacing them, when they actually were producing an alternate dub for another market.

Which is all funny seeing at one point, they were replacements themselves. It's a shame to see Sabat being so unprofessional :/

[Tian]

Believe me, ALMOST NO ONE here has any love for the man.

Now I have lost all the respect for him and his company, because I just found this while I was searching for reviews about working on FUNimation:
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Emplo ... 084853.htm

Man, I had no idea FUNi treated their employees like shit and think of the fans as stupid people.

Them ignoring the fans' vote on Dragon Ball Z's aspect ratio for their Blu-rays didn't tip you off?

No because I didn't know they did a voting for the aspect ratio.

Sorry for the late reply

[Metalwario64]

Now I have lost all the respect for him and his company, because I just found this while I was searching for reviews about working on FUNimation:
https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Emplo ... 084853.htm

Man, I had no idea FUNi treated their employees like shit and think of the fans as stupid people.

Them ignoring the fans' vote on Dragon Ball Z's aspect ratio for their Blu-rays didn't tip you off?

No because I didn't know they did a voting for the aspect ratio.

Sorry for the late reply

No problem.

It's just been clear that at least they don't really care about what the fans think for a while. Didn't mean to come across as snarky. At least I was unaware that working conditions were so terrible though.

[JohnnyCashKami]

Dragon Ball might've not been bought to the States without him. Someone else would probably have, but i think he should be thanked for being behind that m

You think I should be grateful FUNimation got their hands on it? No. Some anime distributor eventually would and who knows, maybe they (whoever that'd be) would have done a much better job than FUNimation releasing their shitty ass "remasters" of the series and movies.

[sangofe]

Dragon Ball might've not been bought to the States without him. Someone else would probably have, but i think he should be thanked for being behind that m

You think I should be grateful FUNimation got their hands on it? No. Some anime distributor eventually would and who knows, maybe they (whoever that'd be) would have done a much better job than FUNimation releasing their shitty ass "remasters" of the series and movies.

And like you wrote yourself, you don't know that. If you are asking for my opinion, I think in general people should learn to harness gratefulness in their lives and that it would make the lives of many people much better. It has for me after I started writing down 10 new things every day i am grateful for during that day. To spontaneous feel grateful for small things is a wonderful feeling.

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

He still was the main man behind FUNimation getting it and distributing it, no matter how you look at it. And for that I think he should be thanked.

I don't thank those who set up their loyal fanbase under false pretenses just to pull out midway for the sake of appeasing a new fanbase under new pretenses and call it the "best thing ever!" without proper compromise to the previous. In other words, I don't thank business people who abide by "the ends justifying the means". You don't treat your customers like sacrificial lambs to better an industry without giving them a bone to chew on that can help ease their distrust and future patronage. Make the arbitrary excuse that it is "business" all you want, it's no reconciliation.

I think in general people should learn to harness gratefulness in their lives and that it would make the lives of many people much better. It has for me after I started writing down 10 new things every day i am grateful for during that day. To spontaneous feel grateful for small things is a wonderful feeling.

If you consider being a sacrificial lamb an act of gratitude.

[Robo4900]

I think in general people should learn to harness gratefulness in their lives and that it would make the lives of many people much better. It has for me after I started writing down 10 new things every day i am grateful for during that day. To spontaneous feel grateful for small things is a wonderful feeling.

If you consider being a sacrificial lamb an act of gratitude.

Gratitude is a good thing, and taking the time to be grateful and positive in a day is, I think, something that can make you a happier person.

But, yeah, some things just aren't deserving of gratitude. If I'm going to be grateful to guys working on Dragon Ball, I'll be grateful for Chris Sabat, Karl Willems, Brian Drummond, Monica Rial, Saffron Henderson, Kyle Hebert, Doc Morgan, Doc Harris, Laara Sadiq, Chris Ayres, Scott McNeil, Dale Wilson, the Dobson brothers, Pauline Newstone, Kyle Hebert, Dave Pettitt, Dean Galloway, and yes even Linda Young, Dale Kelly, Zoe Slusar, Jonathan Love, Leda Davies, Roger Rhodes, etc. These guys and gals gave -- and in the case of most of them, still give -- their best effort in delivering us the best possible version of Dragon Ball for everything they have the ability to affect, and by all rights are very nice people well deserving of our gratitude. Sabat is one of my personal heroes, because he not only gave us a second definitive English Vegeta -- not an easy feat providing a second definitive take on a character, particularly for someone like me who primarily grew up on Drummond's version -- but he's one of the driving forces behind Funimation stepping up their Dragon Ball dubbing game over time. I'm not free of criticisms with Funi's dubbing approach on Dragon Ball, but I am truly grateful for these people, and tons of people I left out (mostly because I'm terrible with names), putting in their work and passion.

But anyone involved in the complete junking of an entire cast, the general cheapness and disrespect of the early productions, etc... I find it hard to really see them as anything more than a businessman doing their job and successfuly making some money; not really worth any gratitude, probably not deserving particular negative feelings, but not really deserving of any positive feelings, they simply acquired a license and dropped it in the lap of the other guys along with some money for a budget, and had them make it work. I'd have preferred someone like Pioneer to pick up Dragon Ball, get an Ocean cast dubbing the entire original 508-episode run (plus the TV specials), and dub it like Pioneer did for the movies in '97/'98 all the way through... But business is business, so I appreciate what the talent we got gave us under whatever parameters the business guys set for them.

[Bardo117]

Meh, not like he ever did anything good for the franchise that I remember.

[8000 Saiyan]

Honestly, I have to agree with some of the people here. He deserves credit, but any other company could have done what his did for Dragon Ball, if not better. One benefit from other companies is that they would have gotten experienced VA's to do the dubbing. When you get inexperienced VA's to do the voice acting for a show like Dragon Ball, you begin to question if it was a good idea to give the franchise to a company who couldn't afford experienced voice actors anymore.

[Danfun64]

Honestly, I have to agree with some of the people here. He deserves credit, but any other company could have done what his did for Dragon Ball, if not better. One benefit from other companies is that they would have gotten experienced VA's to do the dubbing. When you get inexperienced VA's to do the voice acting for a show like Dragon Ball, you begin to question if it was a good idea to give the franchise to a company who couldn't afford experienced voice actors anymore.

Don't quote me on any of what I'm about to say, as most of it's all hearsay (I think there are sources for much of this info, but I don't remember where to find them).

AFAIK, the biggest reason Funi dumped the Ocean cast was that Barry Watson insisted on directing them, necessitating several plane trips in the process. Apparently, the wages paid for the in house cast circa Season 3 were very close (if not the same) to the ones paid for the Ocean cast, so the main savings came from doing everything locally. Also, wasn't the Westwood dub pitched to CN UK as a cheaper alternative to Funi's in house dub (which, despite being on a low budget, apparently paid the actors more)?

So yeah, it was basically Funi beginning with experienced actors, and, when the time was right, dumping them to save money while still being sure that their product would still be sold and broadcast on TV.

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

Gratitude is a good thing, and taking the time to be grateful and positive in a day is, I think, something that can make you a happier person.

I am grateful for other things in life, just not towards Gen Fukunaga. I consider him a crook. There! I said it!

But, yeah, some things just aren't deserving of gratitude. If I'm going to be grateful to guys working on Dragon Ball, I'll be grateful for Chris Sabat, Karl Willems, Brian Drummond, Monica Rial, Saffron Henderson, Kyle Hebert, Doc Morgan, Doc Harris, Laara Sadiq, Chris Ayres, Scott McNeil, Dale Wilson, the Dobson brothers, Pauline Newstone, Kyle Hebert, Dave Pettitt, Dean Galloway, and yes even Linda Young, Dale Kelly, Zoe Slusar, Jonathan Love, Leda Davies, Roger Rhodes, etc. These guys and gals gave -- and in the case of most of them, still give -- their best effort in delivering us the best possible version of Dragon Ball for everything they have the ability to affect, and by all rights are very nice people well deserving of our gratitude. Sabat is one of my personal heroes, because he not only gave us a second definitive English Vegeta -- not an easy feat providing a second definitive take on a character, particularly for someone like me who primarily grew up on Drummond's version -- but he's one of the driving forces behind Funimation stepping up their Dragon Ball dubbing game over time. I'm not free of criticisms with Funi's dubbing approach on Dragon Ball, but I am truly grateful for these people, and tons of people I left out (mostly because I'm terrible with names), putting in their work and passion.

Don't get me wrong. I am grateful to the Ocean and some of the in-house FUNi cast for the dubbing of Dragon Ball. They did give it their all. However, I won't call Sabat's Vegeta "definitive". It still sounds like a bad Brian Drummond impersonation to me. At least his Piccolo is damn good.

But anyone involved in the complete junking of an entire cast, the general cheapness and disrespect of the early productions, etc... I find it hard to really see them as anything more than a businessman doing their job and successfuly making some money; not really worth any gratitude, probably not deserving particular negative feelings, but not really deserving of any positive feelings, they simply acquired a license and dropped it in the lap of the other guys along with some money for a budget, and had them make it work. I'd have preferred someone like Pioneer to pick up Dragon Ball, get an Ocean cast dubbing the entire original 508-episode run (plus the TV specials), and dub it like Pioneer did for the movies in '97/'98 all the way through... But business is business, so I appreciate what the talent we got gave us under whatever parameters the business guys set for them.

A good businessman knows when to turn a profit and uphold consumer trust with a well-established product or service well into the foreseeable future. If profit alone is all that mattered, we would still be worshipping EA like gods.

[JohnnyCashKami]

Fukunaga was wise to leave. FUNimation in 2019 looks as though it'll never be the same again and we'll see how this all turns out in the court.

FUNimation's "investigation" was probably just accepting claims as facts and that was it for Vic Mignogna.

"I heard.." and "I read.." do not constitute as:



Have evidence. If he's guilty then let justice be done.

[ShadowBardock89]

Fukunaga was wise to leave.

Fukunaga has not left the company, he just stepped down into a lower position.

[ABED]

I am grateful for other things in life, just not towards Gen Fukunaga. I consider him a crook. There! I said it!

How is he a crook? At worst, he got ahead due to nepotism.

[MasenkoHA]

Dragon Ball might've not been bought to the States without him. Someone else would probably have, but i think he should be thanked for being behind that m

If Gen Fukunaga hadn’t used neopotism some other company would have licensed it.

Shoot a wacky martial arts comedy series that a lot of their regular talent pool worked on before? I could easily see Saban Entertaintment grabbing it for themselves and putting a heavily censored version on Fox Kids to try to make it the next Power Rangers


Or better case scenario we could have gotten Pioneer handling the dub from the start.

[MasenkoHA]

. However, I won't call Sabat's Vegeta "definitive". It still sounds like a bad Brian Drummond impersonation to me. At least his Piccolo is damn good.
.

Sabat’s Vegeta in Kai and Super is great. His refined Vegeta in Z (2003ish-2007) is mediocre. His Brian Drummond impression is horrid.

I’d say almost the same with his Piccolo who he, more or less, nailed by Dragon Ball (His Piccolo Daimou , however, was god awful). Kai is where his Piccolo truly shines.


I still prefer Scott Mcneil for Piccolo and I think Brian Drummond does an excellent job doing what he was hired to do (A Saturday Morning Cartoon villain) and I think he could do a proper Vegeta if directed correctly.