Dragon Ball Daima - English Dub: Stephanie Nadolny Returns

[JulieYBM]

I find it a little rich that folks are quick to bash some of the old Funi voices. Last I checked JPN Vegeta wasn't exactly peak anymore either. His screams are no where near the levels they used to be. While I admit Steph sounds super different here it is hubris to imply that og Bulma's voice wasn't good.

She was a good Bulma voice actress. Let's not forget JPN Cell phoning it in for Kai as another example so let's wait for actual dialogue before we judge ya.

You're not going to 'gotcha' very many fans of the original voice cast here. Yeah, all of the voice actors from the original series should be recast because they're too old to keep acting in high-energy roles that are physically demanding on their voices.

And even when Wakamoto was phoning it in for Dragon Ball Kai he was still at least screaming as hard as he could for the screams. He's just old and his voice is different now. That's life.

Anyway, Nadolny and Clinkenbeard are both really bad, just for different reasons. Nadolny never learned how to act and has a terribly irritating voice. Clinkenbeard falls into the same pitfalls US voice acting cis women always fall into when trying to voice young boys—sounding constipated and overly gruff.

Bringing Nadolny back on is just the weirdest appeal to a fandom that barely exists for her. She has barely ever acted in general, never had a career outside of doing young Gohan and Gokuu over fifteen years ago, and also just...hasn't acted in, like, ten years. I don't have a horse in this race, but also I must be bored right now or deflecting, because I just find this entire situation funny (stupid).

[VegettoEX]

I find it a little rich that folks are quick to bash some of the old Funi voices. Last I checked JPN Vegeta wasn't exactly peak anymore either. His screams are no where near the levels they used to be. While I admit Steph sounds super different here it is hubris to imply that og Bulma's voice wasn't good.

She was a good Bulma voice actress. Let's not forget JPN Cell phoning it in for Kai as another example so let's wait for actual dialogue before we judge ya.

The difference here is that we've had, what, four different young Goku voices in "The FUNimation English Dub"? Versus... it's only ever been Horikawa? It's only ever been Wakamoto?

One reading of that is: we've seen (heard?) that it's greener on the other side. We've heard different (and I'd argue better) acting from other performers for that role. I'm certainly not the target audience here, but I'm literally bewildered by folks so attached to Nadolny's performance. It's the same absolute bafflement that I had back in the days when Faulconer Productions fans started coming online and saying they liked that music. No-one liked it in my day, and similar here with Nadolny's performance. Just absolutely universally regarded as "do not want", and yet... here we are with opposite opinions.

Anyway, I'd also turn the "rich" back on ya' there with folks criticizing, say, Yanami's Kaio in the early Super days. Dude was literally dying on screen for us, and you still had folks with the most reprehensible takes on that.

[GTx10]

1. I grew up with Steph as Kid Goku and Kid Gohan. I liked it then and I like it now. I doubt it's nostalgia because I'm literally sitting here watching Dragon Box Z footage with the English dub on. I like the Dub and so for me personally Steph is Kid Goku/Gohan much like how Masako Nozawa is Goku and everyone else she plays to me and many others.

I don't care very much for Colleen's take but had she returned for Daima then okay cool. I'm gonna watch the dub no matter what because I like to watch Dragon Ball (or any anime) in English because that is my language. But I'll also watch Daima in Japanese too because I like Japanese voices too. In fact Zamasu's "Son Goku!!!" Yell in Japanese is burned into my brain because of how good it was.

But JPN Vegeta's voice has aged and if we can say Steph has aged then same holds true for JPN Vegeta's voice. As for JPN King Kai, the man was sick and he did his best, God bless his soul, I have no bad words for him.

2. Many English speakers like myself like the Funi Dub and seeing Steph back is like seeing an old friend after many years. Imagine if Original JPN Mr. Satan could return back to the role (May he rip) it's the same kind of feeling.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Well, I was going to give Stephanie Nadolny another chance, as other actors like Sean Schemmel and Chris Sabat improved, but still not a fan of it. I'm sure she's a lovely person, but I don't think she's a good actor.

I was really hoping for Colleen Clinkenbeard to get more time to shine as kid Goku, as I feel a lot of fans haven't given her a chance from only hearing her in the movie 1 redub.

I suppose it is nice for voice consistency that Nadolny returned.

The problem is your still not getting consistency, maybe for the TV series but not Dragon Ball as a whole because, as stated Colleen Clinkenbeard plays kid Goku in the movie 1 redub, Ceyli Delgadillo plays him in movies 2-3, Stephanie Nadolny was only present in the Path to Power dub.

Now you may say the movies have their own continuity and don't need consistency, but that begs the question why Funimation ever needed to redub the brilliant Pioneer versions of Dragon Ball Z movies 1-3.

[gokaiblue]

I might have to wait and see how she does in the series proper, but judging from the trailer, I'm not impressed.

[Scsigs]

The leak was true. Very nice. Now if only we could get rid of Monica Rial for the OG voice as well. We can only pray.

Tiffany Vollmer hasn't worked at FUNi since 2009 or 2010. She originally moved to New Orleans to be a filmmaker, artist, designer, & make-up artist. She's since relocated to Dallas working as a department chair at MediaTech Institute. She hasn't worked as a voice actor in around a decade & a half & doesn't seem like she cares to come back, on top of having a normal day job outside of that field.
Also, Monica is completely fine as Bulma. While the voice tone she uses for her may not be to everyone's liking, I think she has more range in her acting & makes her sound more natural than Tiffany ever did, tbh.

Honestly if I hadn't read "OmG Steph is back" in the comments I would of never guessed that was her. I thought it was somebody else. No confirmation yet from her on social media (if she has one) but I guess her and Funi/Crunchyroll have come to terms. Welcome back Steph! Glad to have you back in Dragon Ball.

Now just give us Og English Bulma and then we'll be reliving the days of yesteryear.

Those who "called it" on social media are of course doing their victory laps online.

I...don't see how you could hear anyone else but Nadolny with that trailer, but ok.

Sheesh! Nadolny sounds... rough...

But at least it's not Clinkenbeard!

Not...really. It's only a few random lines & her doing a Kamehameha. I didn't really hear anything sounding "rough." Maybe the Kamehameha, but that sounded more like it was a clip from a different scene we haven't gotten yet rather than the actual scream she recorded for that. That was not the scream I'd expect from Nadolny for that kind of Kamehameha, even with her being 14-15 years out of the game. Wait until the show's actually out to properly judge her performance.

The leak was true. Very nice. Now if only we could get rid of Monica Rial for the OG voice as well. We can only pray.

Yeah...no. Rial's good as Bulma. They're not gonna replace her with Vollmer at this point, especially when she's not a voice actress anymore.

I don't get it. Even if you don't like Clinkenbeard, you'd swear the amount of negativity thrown at that one performance that she was among the worst actors FUNi ever hired.

And damn! We were out of the darkness. Why are they bringing Nadolny, one of the worst parts of DB back? Fingers crossed Vollmer doesn't return. I don't know if Freeza is part of this series but if so, here's hoping we get a suitable replacement and not chain-smoking grandma.

As Gohan, yes, I agree. She's gotten to a point where she's fine as him. I think it mainly has to do with how divisive the voice she uses for them is, though. I don't think the voice is that great. Even for a character like Monkey D. Luffy, her voice for him is divisive even if people like the rest of the voice cast. This includes me & my brother. I can watch the English dub & I'm fine with it, but she's not who I would've cast as Luffy. My brother can't watch the English dub at all because of her, so he watches the sub, even if he doesn't hate the actress herself. He just doesn't like the voice she uses for him. And, it may be the direction, but she plays Luffy like he's an idiot rather than a simpleton & I HATE the way she deepened the voice after the timeskip. It gets worse when they dub material set before the timeskip with that voice tone for some reason. Basically, it's a love/hate relationship for me & I felt she was at her best post-Skypeia & pre-timeskip. That was my personal favorite way she voiced him.

Really? Nadolny's 1 of the worst parts of DB? Out of all of the voice actors, whether they just gave bad performances, or are shitty people IRL, she's 1 of the worst? That's hyperbole. I can agree that she wasn't the best, but the worst? No.

Why would they bring Linda Young back as Freeza? They gave him a new VA permanently with Chris Ayres & after he died, Daman Mills has been voicing him.

I find it a little rich that folks are quick to bash some of the old Funi voices. Last I checked JPN Vegeta wasn't exactly peak anymore either. His screams are no where near the levels they used to be. While I admit Steph sounds super different here it is hubris to imply that og Bulma's voice wasn't good.

She was a good Bulma voice actress. Let's not forget JPN Cell phoning it in for Kai as another example so let's wait for actual dialogue before we judge ya.

Vollmer wasn't bad, but Monica Rial's better, tbh. That's just a fact. Maybe not in the voice tone, but with her acting. She sounds more natural as her & is capable of displaying a better range than Vollmer ever did, tbh.

One reading of that is: we've seen (heard?) that it's greener on the other side. We've heard different (and I'd argue better) acting from other performers for that role. I'm certainly not the target audience here, but I'm literally bewildered by folks so attached to Nadolny's performance. It's the same absolute bafflement that I had back in the days when Faulconer Productions fans started coming online and saying they liked that music. No-one liked it in my day, and similar here with Nadolny's performance. Just absolutely universally regarded as "do not want", and yet... here we are with opposite opinions.

Eventually, you're gonna get that with any fandom. Another example being how GT was universally hated 20 years ago when it came on US TV dubbed, now you have more defenders of it than not on social media. Hell, even here there are (see the threads for TFS & MistareFusion's DBD for more context), with those who just can't agree on its quality.

I also grew up with the DB English dubs & never personally had a problem with Nadolny's voice for Goku & Gohan. I've likened her to Tara Strong when she voices Ben 10 & while I do agree Nadolny doesn't have Tara's range or acting ability, I still liked her as them. Now, I agree Colleen Clinkenbeard's better for Gohan while I still prefer Nadolny as Goku. Although, as KaiserNeko has recently said on Twitter, neither are my #1 picks for Goku.

[DB_Fan1991]

For me, I am glad Stephanie is back as Goku as she nailed the role in DB for me. Colleen is fine as Gohan, but awful as Goku. I am hyped for the dub.

[GTx10]

Well I was just watching Og DB yesterday (the fall of Muscle Tower as a matter of fact) and well just listen. Listen to Steph's Kid Goku voice from any of the Blue Bricks then listen to her few lines in the Daima trailer. That did not sound like Steph to me at all. It sounded like a different voice actress all together.

Everyone says it is that her voice has aged. Well ok then. Clearly a trailer isn't enough to judge so I won't. But yeah If comments did not say that was Steph then I would think it was someone else.

[TechExpert2021]

So I watched the new trailer with the Crunchyroll English dub voices. I think the English dub voice of Mini Goku sounds like Nadolny's Goku and she sounds okay to me, but I can’t tell if it’s actually Nadolny. The rest of the voices sound fine by me.

While the trailer featured new English dub voices for Pansi, Glorio, Goma, Degesu, and Arins, the English dub actors of the voices aren’t revealed in the trailer. The trailer also didn’t showcase any of the English dub voices of the existing characters outside Goku.

But I seriously hope that Crunchyroll will not bring back Tiffany Vollmer to do that awful valley girl interpretation for Bulma in DB Daima.

Edit: I saw so many comments on the trailer on YouTube praising Nadolny's return and her take on Goku and I couldn’t find a single comment that dislike Nadolny and her take on Goku.

[IAmTheMilkMan]

Bringing Nadolny back on is just the weirdest appeal to a fandom that barely exists for her.

Uh, don't look on reddit.

I knew I'd find some voices of reason here, but I'm flabbergasted that so many people seem to overwhelmingly prefer Nadolny's god-awful take on Goku when it's going to singlehandedly be the reason I watch new Dragon Ball content subbed for the first time in decades. You can't convince me that it isn't almost entirely rooted in nostalgia because I don't know how else to explain such a poor performance (almost objectively so) being praised by so many people. I've never liked it, and she doesn't sound any better in this trailer. While I'm not 100% sold on Clinkenbeard's Goku either, she's way better than Nadolny for-fucking-sure.

[DB_Fan1991]

I think Barbara Goodson is the best one overall, shame she only did 5 episodes and 2 movies. Don’t get me wrong I will be watching the Japanese version every week too as I love Nozawa too, but Stephanie clicks all the boxes for me at least when it comes to English voices.

[Zephyr]

1. I grew up with Steph as Kid Goku and Kid Gohan. I liked it then and I like it now. I doubt it's nostalgia because I'm literally sitting here watching Dragon Box Z footage with the English dub on. I like the Dub and so for me personally Steph is Kid Goku/Gohan much like how Masako Nozawa is Goku and everyone else she plays to me and many others.

I don't care very much for Colleen's take but had she returned for Daima then okay cool. I'm gonna watch the dub no matter what because I like to watch Dragon Ball (or any anime) in English because that is my language. But I'll also watch Daima in Japanese too because I like Japanese voices too. In fact Zamasu's "Son Goku!!!" Yell in Japanese is burned into my brain because of how good it was.

But JPN Vegeta's voice has aged and if we can say Steph has aged then same holds true for JPN Vegeta's voice. As for JPN King Kai, the man was sick and he did his best, God bless his soul, I have no bad words for him.

2. Many English speakers like myself like the Funi Dub and seeing Steph back is like seeing an old friend after many years. Imagine if Original JPN Mr. Satan could return back to the role (May he rip) it's the same kind of feeling.

All I can say is that as someone who also grew up with Nadolny as Kid Goku and Gohan, and has a load of nostalgia for the dubs that aired on Toonami in the US, I did not really begin to enjoy Kid Goku as a character until I stopped hearing Nadolny's voice coming out of his mouth. I didn't even realize this until I watched GT subbed for the first time and found I actually didn't hate Goku turning back into a kid the way I did when I watched it dubbed.

And yeah, a lot of people in the JP cast are past their prime too, but I found Nadolny bad even in her prime.

Nothing to find rich.

[ABED]

I don't get it. Even if you don't like Clinkenbeard, you'd swear the amount of negativity thrown at that one performance that she was among the worst actors FUNi ever hired.

And damn! We were out of the darkness. Why are they bringing Nadolny, one of the worst parts of DB back? Fingers crossed Vollmer doesn't return. I don't know if Freeza is part of this series but if so, here's hoping we get a suitable replacement and not chain-smoking grandma.

As Gohan, yes, I agree. She's gotten to a point where she's fine as him. I think it mainly has to do with how divisive the voice she uses for them is, though. I don't think the voice is that great. Even for a character like Monkey D. Luffy, her voice for him is divisive even if people like the rest of the voice cast. This includes me & my brother. I can watch the English dub & I'm fine with it, but she's not who I would've cast as Luffy. My brother can't watch the English dub at all because of her, so he watches the sub, even if he doesn't hate the actress herself. He just doesn't like the voice she uses for him. And, it may be the direction, but she plays Luffy like he's an idiot rather than a simpleton & I HATE the way she deepened the voice after the timeskip. It gets worse when they dub material set before the timeskip with that voice tone for some reason. Basically, it's a love/hate relationship for me & I felt she was at her best post-Skypeia & pre-timeskip. That was my personal favorite way she voiced him.

Really? Nadolny's 1 of the worst parts of DB? Out of all of the voice actors, whether they just gave bad performances, or are shitty people IRL, she's 1 of the worst? That's hyperbole. I can agree that she wasn't the best, but the worst? No.

Why would they bring Linda Young back as Freeza? They gave him a new VA permanently with Chris Ayres & after he died, Daman Mills has been voicing him.

I find Nadolny's Gohan less insufferable since she doesn't try to sound like a kid who grew up in the wild with that weird cadence in her voice.

And no, it wasn't hyperbole to say she was one of the worst. She's awful and dealing with her as the main character compounded the problem. Her voice, her performance, and Woody Woodpecker laugh are grating.

I don't play video games so I was unaware of who replaced Ayres. Happy to hear Young hasn't returned.

[nato25]

Opinions are everyone's own of course but it's always hard for me to hear people prefer Clinkenbeards take. Nadolnys Goku laugh is iconic and I'm thrilled she's back for the dub. Like seeing all the difference in thoughts though.

That being said with a month delay, I'll be watching sub first then dub.

[theoriginalbilis]

I'll just be watching the subbed stream since it comes out first. I grew up watching the FUNimation dub back in the Cartoon Network/Toonami days but legitimately have no nostalgia for it. But I wish the fans of that flavor of Dragon Ball a good time watching Daima's dub!

Ever since I learned about the unnecessary changes done for their early dubs of the franchise (Thanks, Daizenshuu EX and DBZ Uncensored!), I've migrated to the sub bit-by-bit as more bilingual media (DVDs, games) became available.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I don't play video games so I was unaware of who replaced Ayres. Happy to hear Young hasn't returned.

Damon Mills has played Freeza in the anime, he did a few lines in the Resurrection F arc and some of the Tournament of Power dub, whenever Chris Ayres was unable to record. The rest of Super and the movie Broly was all Ayres though.

I don't think Linda Young is ever returning as Freeza though, it would be hypocritical for Chris Sabat to say she couldn't keep up with the script only to then bring her back. As I recall there was a time it was thought Young could return for the Resurrection F movie because Funimation saw Z and Kai as different products and like how Colleen Clinkenbeard replaced #18 for Kai but Meredith McCoy was brought back for a Dragon Ball Z movie (Battle of Gods) and has been #18 in everything since so that theory was disproven. Was glad Chris Ayres returned and literally gave us as much Freeza as he could until his dying breath though.

[Scsigs]

I find Nadolny's Gohan less insufferable since she doesn't try to sound like a kid who grew up in the wild with that weird cadence in her voice.

And no, it wasn't hyperbole to say she was one of the worst. She's awful and dealing with her as the main character compounded the problem. Her voice, her performance, and Woody Woodpecker laugh are grating.

I don't play video games so I was unaware of who replaced Ayres. Happy to hear Young hasn't returned.

YMMV & opinions are subjective, but I don't find Nadolny insufferable. Could her voice for them be better? Sure, but I'm used to voices like that for pre-teen & teenage boys from women in cartoons. TBH, neither Nadolny or Clinkenbeard are my perfect voice for either character, but I prefer Clinkenbeard for Gohan & Nadolny for Goku. I think it helps separate the 2 as characters (a problem I have with Nozawa voicing almost every single male family member of Goku's family, btw, as the voice tones always remains the same even if she tries to vary it up a bit & the scripts for the characters try to write their dialogue differently, of which only Japanese speakers will really readily notice most of the time).

Again, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I don't find her grating. I see why someone would, but I don't.

Yeah. Linda Young's voiced Baba in newer stuff, but hasn't been brought back to voice Freeza. That's a change that's stuck & isn't changing any time soon & thank fuck it isn't.

Damon Mills has played Freeza in the anime, he did a few lines in the Resurrection F arc and some of the Tournament of Power dub, whenever Chris Ayres was unable to record. The rest of Super and the movie Broly was all Ayres though.

I don't think Linda Young is ever returning as Freeza though, it would be hypocritical for Chris Sabat to say she couldn't keep up with the script only to then bring her back. As I recall there was a time it was thought Young could return for the Resurrection F movie because Funimation saw Z and Kai as different products and like how Colleen Clinkenbeard replaced #18 for Kai but Meredith McCoy was brought back for a Dragon Ball Z movie (Battle of Gods) and has been #18 in everything since so that theory was disproven. Was glad Chris Ayres returned and literally gave us as much Freeza as he could until his dying breath though.

Correction, Daman did the last episode or 2 of the Res F arc because Chris Ayres couldn't finish the sessions before he had to go to the hospital & did an initial recording for all of the broadcast versions of the Tournament of Power arc, then Chris Ayres rerecorded all of Freeza's dialogue for TOP for the home releases. He was then brought back for Broly as well.
Funnily enough, after Chris Ayres died, Daman had to fill in for Xenoverse 2's later DLCs despite that game keeping voices consistent even if they changed between that game's dub & Super, like Hit's voice.

Well, it's back & forth what the DB dub team do for them. For the flashback at the beginning of the extended cut of Battle of Gods, they reused Nadolny's recordings from OG DB & Z as Goku & Linda Young as Freeza, as well as had Kyle Hebert be the narrator rather than having Clinkenbeard rerecord the lines, use Chris Ayres' recordings for Freeza, & have Doc Morgan be the narrator. This despite Colleen Clinkenbeard being in the movie as Mai at least. Yet Kai & Super used her as kid Goku's VA...
Also, according to TV Tropes, apparently they tried tapping Vollmer to play Bulma, which she declined because she was still living in New Orleans. Which was for the best, tbh.

Also, apparently Meredith McCoy was living in Israel at the time from what I've read, which is why she wasn't in Kai & the video games at the time. She'd moved back before BOG was dubbed, so she was able to come back.

[Jord]

To be fair, I have doubts about how Nozawa will perform as well. Her most recent performance as a younger Goku was the DLC for Kakarot (haven't heard enough of her young Goku in Sparking) and that sounded incredibly strained.
I would not be surprised if the fact that a young Goku voice got harder to perform in the past few years would be a reason for less Goten appearances in Super.

I'm very thankful for all of her work as Goku but I would not mind a recast so she can gracefully bow out. That being said, I believe that quitting a role due to strain or age is quite rare in Dragon Ball.

Just look at Yanami in the beginning of Super. His voices for Kaio/Babidi/Narrator truly elevated the shows in the past but to me it was hard to enjoy the performance of an actor that was clearly feeling unwell. My focus shifted from listening to the character to a concern for the performer. It feels odd to say that since he was clearly passionate to reprise his role and that is commendable.

[ABED]

I find Nadolny's Gohan less insufferable since she doesn't try to sound like a kid who grew up in the wild with that weird cadence in her voice.

And no, it wasn't hyperbole to say she was one of the worst. She's awful and dealing with her as the main character compounded the problem. Her voice, her performance, and Woody Woodpecker laugh are grating.

I don't play video games so I was unaware of who replaced Ayres. Happy to hear Young hasn't returned.

YMMV & opinions are subjective, but I don't find Nadolny insufferable. Could her voice for them be better? Sure, but I'm used to voices like that for pre-teen & teenage boys from women in cartoons. TBH, neither Nadolny or Clinkenbeard are my perfect voice for either character, but I prefer Clinkenbeard for Gohan & Nadolny for Goku. I think it helps separate the 2 as characters (a problem I have with Nozawa voicing almost every single male family member of Goku's family, btw, as the voice tones always remains the same even if she tries to vary it up a bit & the scripts for the characters try to write their dialogue differently, of which only Japanese speakers will really readily notice most of the time).

Again, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I don't find her grating. I see why someone would, but I don't.

Yeah. Linda Young's voiced Baba in newer stuff, but hasn't been brought back to voice Freeza. That's a change that's stuck & isn't changing any time soon & thank fuck it isn't.

You can easily discern Nozawa's Gohan and Goku at any age even if you aren't fluent in Japanese. There's a very different energy between the two. I love that she voices both.

And if they had to keep Colleen and Stephanie and each voiced one character between Goku and Gohan, I would cast Colleen as Goku and Nadolny as Gohan without hesitation.

Of the English speaking Goku and Gohan voices, Saffron Henderson is my favorite by far.

[90sDBZ]

As someone who always enjoyed both her Goku and Gohan, I'm really happy to see Stephanie Nadolny back.

This is also a great way to generate interest from the older dub fans. My impression is that people are on the fence with Daima. At least the English side of the fandom seem to be cautiously optimistic about it. Many people would've preferred Super to come back, and want a more action focused show. I do wonder if Daima will alienate certain people like early GT did.

For those dub fans who might have been indifferent to Daima, this is definitely a great way to get them invested.

It's amazing how many things have happened with this franchise that once seemed impossible. Really excited to hear more of Nadolny.

Also we haven't seen Gohan yet in any of the trailers. Maybe she'll end up voicing him too.