Overrated and Underrated voice actors

[TheRed259]

Do you think that there are some overrated and some underrated voice actors in the Dragon Ball family? If yes, who do you think are the overrated and who the underrated ones?

Also this question is not exclusive to the Japanese or the English voice actors so you can mention voice actors from other dubbed versions as well if you want.

[DB1984]

Sean Schemmel is one. His Goku makes me cringe at times. Ian James Corlett was perfect. Shame the pay issues got in the way. Peter Kelamis was fine, but Corlett was the best.

I'd say the Ocean dub actors are quite underrated.

[ZeroIsOurHero]

Most overrated: Chris Sabat. I don’t doubt he’s a swell guy, but I don’t think he has the vocal range to play SO MANY CHARACTERS. In a perfect world, he only would have been hired to play Yamcha.

Most underrated: Pauline Newstone as Freeza. People tend to just lump her in with Linda Young, but I actually really like her performance. It has the same pseudo-royal condescending tone as Chris Ayres, but with a lizard-like rasp that fits right in with the over-the-top performances of the Ocean cast. It’s a shame she didn’t get to do more in the role.

[MasenkoHA]

Underrated

Mayumi Tanaka: I feel like her performance as Kuririn is every bit as good as Masako Nozawa's Goku and she doesn't get half the recognition

Overrated

Mignona: Set aside any opinions on him as a person the reverence for his Broly always astounded me. He's passable at best.

Chris Sabat: As Vegeta specifically. I've liked his Piccolo since GT onward and his Yamcha since OG Dragon Ball but his Vegeta still leaves a lot to be desired and ironically that seems to be the role he's most passionate about. I've seen people talked about Ryo Horikawa phoning it in Kai and as true as that may be he's still acting circles around Sabat's Vegeta

Sonny Strait: His General Blue is really very good but his Krillin always sounded like Goku's redneck friend coming over in his pickup truck to crack open a cold one and talk about all his government conspiracy theories and his Bardock voice is just the standard Funi Smoker's Rasp (TM) voice

Stephanie Nadolny: To be fair, I'm okay with her Goku voice that she pretty much applied to Gohan from Cooler's Revenge onward but I've always hated her Chainsmoker Gohan voice and am always dumbfounded when people think her performance was better than Clinkenbeard's. And especially when its rated higher than Saffron Henderson.
performance

[Cure Dragon 255]

Underrated

[b]Mayumi Tanaka: I feel like her performance as Kuririn is every bit as good as Masako Nozawa's Goku and she doesn't get half the recognition[/b]

Overrated

Mignona: Set aside any opinions on him as a person the reverence for his Broly always astounded me. He's passable at best.

Chris Sabat: As Vegeta specifically. I've liked his Piccolo since GT onward and his Yamcha since OG Dragon Ball but his Vegeta still leaves a lot to be desired and ironically that seems to be the role he's most passionate about. I've seen people talked about Ryo Horikawa phoning it in Kai and as true as that may be he's still acting circles around Sabat's Vegeta

Sonny Strait: His General Blue is really very good but his Krillin always sounded like Goku's redneck friend coming over in his pickup truck to crack open a cold one and talk about all his government conspiracy theories and his Bardock voice is just the standard Funi Smoker's Rasp (TM) voice

Stephanie Nadolny: To be fair, I'm okay with her Goku voice that she pretty much applied to Gohan from Cooler's Revenge onward but I've always hated her Chainsmoker Gohan voice and am always dumbfounded when people think her performance was better than Clinkenbeard's. And especially when its rated higher than Saffron Henderson.

I agree massively with Mayumi and it is sad that it took until One Piece for casual fans in the west to love her. She's a legend in Japan.

And I just despise Stephanie Nadolny's take. Sorry, fans of hers, but she's awful.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I'd say the Ocean dub actors are quite underrated.

I think there's a segment of the fandom that underrates them, mainly Funimation purists who weren't around pre-season 3 and became so attached to the Texas cast anything else to them sounds odd or jarring. On the other hand I think there are a lot of fans who are open minded and genuinely respect the Ocean cast's talent because they took the time to hear their work beyond out of context clips on Youtube. A similar argument could be made in favour of the Japanese cast, although I don't think fans write them off as much as they used to, particularly nowadays because a lot of fans have been exposed to Super through that version when the wait for Funimation's dub became too long.

For specific names that are underrated Mayumi Tanaka definitely deserves a mention, I'd also throw in Kirby Morrow as Goku, some of the Blue Water cast, notably Zoe Sluzar and Colleen Clinkenbeard. Overrated I'll go with Kyle Herbert (Gohan is fine, although a bit dull, Brad Swaile blows him out of the water), Chris Sabat's King Piccolo and Yamcha and Josh Martin (like adult Gohan the Ocean dub castings for Boo, which are Scott McNeil for Fat and Brian Dobson for Evil, Super and Kid are the definitive voices for me).

[PurestEvil]

Underrated

Mayumi Tanaka: I feel like her performance as Kuririn is every bit as good as Masako Nozawa's Goku and she doesn't get half the recognition

I absolutely agree. Hot take: Mayumi-san can pull off a “boyish” voice as good—if not better—than Masako Nozawa.

I will go with English VAs for my choices since I don’t have other takes on the Japanese VAs

Underrated: Clinkenbeard as Gohan. Some say she sounds too girly, but even if so it’s a helluva more pleasant voice than Nadolny’s.

Overrated: Sabat as Vegeta. He may have improved a lot over time, but I still believe Drummond was better.

[Majin Buu]

On the Japanese end: Kozo Shioya as Majin Buu for underrated.

Much is rightly made of how great Ryusei Nakao and Norio Wakamoto are as Freeza and Cell, but since Freeza's and Cell's characterization doesn't change with their transformations, the only thing that changes about their voices between forms is the way they talk.

Buu on the other hand has 3 primary forms that all have different characterization and have to be voiced distinctly to match, and Super Buu alone has 3 absorptions that all sound radically different and have different characterization from his base form (though all 3 absorptions share the same voice). Between these forms, Shioya has to not only change up how all of them talk, but has to change up how all of them sound too. The fact that he was able to make all of these forms sound and speak distinctly from one another while maintaining enough vocal continuity for them to be recognizable as the same core entity is quite the impressive feat.

On the English end: Ian Corlette as Goku for underrated and Sean Schemmel as Goku for overrated. Corlette was closer to what an English Goku should sound like with his boyish tone while Schemmel makes him sound too much like a normal adult male. Also Chris Sabat as overrated. His Vegeta and Piccolo both sound like they're talking through grunts in Z, though I know he got better with Vegeta at least in Kai (never heard his Kai Piccolo). I wholly agree with the poster who said he isn't talented enough to be voicing as many characters as he does.

[Cure Dragon 255]

On the Japanese end: Kozo Shioya as Majin Buu for underrated.

Much is rightly made of how great Ryusei Nakao and Norio Wakamoto are as Freeza and Cell, but since Freeza's and Cell's characterization doesn't change with their transformations, the only thing that changes about their voices between forms is the way they talk.

Buu on the other hand has 3 primary forms that all have different characterization and have to be voiced distinctly to match, and Super Buu alone has 3 absorptions that all sound radically different from his base form (though all 3 absorptions share the same voice). Between these forms, Shioya has to not only change up how all of them talk, but has to change up how all of them sound too. The fact that he was able to make all of these forms sound and speak distinctly from one another while maintaining enough vocal continuity for them to be recognizable as the same core entity is quite the impressive feat.

On the English end: Ian Corlette as Goku for underrated and Sean Schemmel as Goku for overrated. Corlette was closer to what an English Goku should sound like with his boyish tone while Schemmel makes him sound too much like a normal adult male. Also Chris Sabat as overrated. His Vegeta and Piccolo both sound like they're talking through grunts in Z, though I know he got better with Vegeta at least in Kai (never heard his Kai Piccolo). I wholly agree with the poster who said he isn't talented enough to be voicing as many characters as he does.

I never saw it that way but this is true! Kozo Shioya was also the famous robot from that filler episode of the Saiyan Saga. He and Masako Nozawa carried an entire episode of just the two of them speaking on their own. That's amazing.

[Soppa Saia People]

I've absolutely adored Hirotaka Suzuoki as Tenshinhan since I was young, and it's a performance I don't super see talked about it ? But he basically makes the character for me, in the same way Kohei Miyauchi did Muten Roshi. He's so good thruout the 22nd Budokai, and he kills the Chiaotzu and Kikoho scenes in the Saiyan arc.

I've never really liked Toru Furuya in anything, including his Yamcha.

[MasenkoHA]

I've never really liked Toru Furuya in anything, including his Yamcha.

I don't mind Furuya, but everytime Yamucha speaks I keep anticipating from him to throw a rose and give Bulma some flowery faux profound nonsense words of encouragement..

[Cure Dragon 255]

I've never really liked Toru Furuya in anything, including his Yamcha.

I don't mind Furuya, but everytime Yamucha speaks I keep anticipating from him to throw a rose and give Bulma some flowery faux profound nonsense words of encouragement..

According to this logic we should also expect Vegeta to be a whiny and effeminate boy with Big Brother complex lol.

But I see what you mean. Also Sadly thanks to Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon Furuya is a jobber in the west.

[GhostEmperorX]

Also Sadly thanks to Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon Furuya is a jobber in the west.

Meanwhile, in Steel Jeeg, UC Gundam, and Saint Seiya...

I've absolutely adored Hirotaka Suzuoki as Tenshinhan since I was young

He's one of the greats for sure, and I haven't even heard him in the original DB anime yet.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I've never really liked Toru Furuya in anything, including his Yamcha.

I don't mind Furuya, but everytime Yamucha speaks I keep anticipating from him to throw a rose and give Bulma some flowery faux profound nonsense words of encouragement..

Yes, every time i hear his voice i immediately think of Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask. Aside from Yamcha that's the other role i know him for.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Also Sadly thanks to Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon Furuya is a jobber in the west.

Meanwhile, in Steel Jeeg, UC Gundam, and Saint Seiya...

I've absolutely adored Hirotaka Suzuoki as Tenshinhan since I was young

He's one of the greats for sure, and I haven't even heard him in the original DB anime yet.

Jeeg is not massively popular in the west. Only in Italy and Argentina, but yeah I agree with the rest. Even if Saint Seiya is more known in the west due to its various dubs. NOT Knight of the Zodiac tho!

[Thanos]

Toshio Furukawa is incredible, Piccolo or otherwise. It's always a joy to hear his voice turn up. There's something both endearing and bad ass about his performance that's hard to articulate, which works so well with Piccolo who obviously embodies the bad ass nature from the start, but increasingly the sympathetic aspect as well as the series progresses.

[jjgp1112]

The reason Sabat played so many characters was utilitarian - as a salaried employee (his actual job was ADR engineer), he was essentially doing all those voices for free (same reason Justin Cook and Mike McFarland also tend to play a zillion side characters). Since Yamcha, Vegeta, and Piccolo were his most known DBZ voices it's no surprise he kept them in Kai, but he gave up a lot of his other roles...tellingly, he still plays a lot of the roles he gave up a la Jeice, Burter, and Zarbon in the video games since his studio Okatron still handles the production for those and they're pretty rushed.

[Soppa Saia People]

I don't mind Furuya, but everytime Yamucha speaks I keep anticipating from him to throw a rose and give Bulma some flowery faux profound nonsense words of encouragement..

Lol, yeah, not to rant about Sailor Moon but I do think my distaste for him as Mamoru plays apart in it. Maybe I'm just deaf, but I swear his Yamcha, Mamoru, Kid from Kimagure Orange Road (idk his name...), from what I've heard of Amuro Ray, all sound like, extremely similar ? Like I'm pretty adapt at spotting voice actors, but generally it's just based off of a certain cadence that you need to be accustomed too, but Furuya just sounds basically the same.

Also yeah, I'm not big on the English side of things, but I do wish Sabat gave up 1 of Piccolo or Vegeta, preferably Vegeta. I know his Vegeta is so ingrained too a lot of fans, that it wouldn't really ever happen, but I've never liked his performance for the character, it's always been off putting to me.

Edit : Oh wow it's been exactly 8 years since I joined.

[Cure Dragon 255]

"Feeling bitter that I couldnt celebrat 10 years of being in Kanzenshuu due to being Temp Banned..."

[8000 Saiyan]

I'd say the Ocean dub actors are quite underrated.

I think there's a segment of the fandom that underrates them, mainly Funimation purists who weren't around pre-season 3 and became so attached to the Texas cast anything else to them sounds odd or jarring. On the other hand I think there are a lot of fans who are open minded and genuinely respect the Ocean cast's talent because they took the time to hear their work beyond out of context clips on Youtube. A similar argument could be made in favour of the Japanese cast, although I don't think fans write them off as much as they used to, particularly nowadays because a lot of fans have been exposed to Super through that version when the wait for Funimation's dub became too long.

For specific names that are underrated Mayumi Tanaka definitely deserves a mention, I'd also throw in Kirby Morrow as Goku, some of the Blue Water cast, notably Zoe Sluzar and Colleen Clinkenbeard. Overrated I'll go with Kyle Herbert (Gohan is fine, although a bit dull, Brad Swaile blows him out of the water), Chris Sabat's King Piccolo and Yamcha and Josh Martin (like adult Gohan the Ocean dub castings for Boo, which are Scott McNeil for Fat and Brian Dobson for Evil, Super and Kid are the definitive voices for me).

I myself always hear Frank Welker as all forms of Majin Buu whenever I read the manga.