Success of a failure... dissecting FUNi's Z dub

[WesMan23]

We all know that when FUNi/Ocean started dubbing Dragon Ball in the late 90s, it certainly wasn't anything to write home about. Yet, it was a massive success in English-speaking countries, but for a good portion of the series, it was done wrong. We're going to go in-depth and find out why.

The first two seasons (ep. 1-53) were initially dubbed by the Ocean Group talent, featuring such voices as Ian James Corlett, Peter Kelamis, Scott McNeil, Brian Drummond, and Pauline Newstone, though FUNimation was still the so-called "brain" behind the operation. Dialogue was changed, as were characters, sometimes needlessly. Take example, Vegeta using the artifical moon to transform into an Oozaru. Two biggies there. One being that Vegeta stating that Goku's father was "an average fighter, but a brilliant scientist." Also, Goku states that Vegeta must have been the one to kill Grandpa Gohan, which as we all know, is a load of bull. There were also multiple edits to remove any thought of civilian death. Tenshinhan's parachute remark for example. Also, so much was cut out, we lost a total of 14 episodes, including one where Gohan befriends a robot. Now, Saban played the main hand in the censoring of the show, in order to fit with a more child-friendly demographic, it seemed. They even changed attack names. Kamehameha is not pronounced "kamaya-maya", and a Masenko is not a Kamehameha, as Gohan thought. There were some highlights, Drummond doing Vegeta's "my wrath" for example, is one positive highlight of the Westwood/Ocean dub, as well as the Pioneer dubs of the first three movies.

Then, Season 3 happened. Dear Kami, it was terrible. The quality, watching it now, is just Yamucha-levels of bad. Season 3 introduced the now-veterans Sean Schemmel, Chris Sabat, Sonny Strait, Mike McFarland, and a few others, as well as Bruce Faulconer's score. The cast was told to imitate the Ocean group, which for one, made the voices awkward, and the acting worse than it should have been. Censorship improved. Blood, references to death, and mild swearing were now left in, on the uncut home releases, at least. TV airings were still pretty cut. The script-writing itself was of course awful. "Mondo cool" anybody? What were they thinking? But I digress. Things didn't improve much through the Freeza arc, everything was pretty one-note. Dubbing was overall, a steaming pile of crap. Goku went from uneducated, naive country bumpkin to Superman wannabe. Freeza was not a polite, yet menacing, extremely intelligent business man, but a chain-smoking grandma prone to bad puns. Vegeta didn't hate Freeza for destroying his race, and his pride, but for taking him away from his daddy as a little boy. Nothing could have justified these changes, other than appealing to a different audience than was inteded. The music was repetitive, uninspired, and save for a couple good tracks, just plain bad. So, why was it so popular, despite being so poorly done? Why was something this badly done, held up, even today, after Kai, to such a high standard? The be-all-end-all version of DBZ?

I blame fandom ignorance. Most of them/us were pretty young when it first came out here. We'd never really seen these spiky haired guys before, just duking it out episode after episode. We'd never seen such a cool dragon come out of 7 mystical orbs, and not only that, it was set to a rockin' soundtrack. It appealed to who we were at the time, what we liked. It, probably along with Pokémon, and perhaps a couple others, spearheaded the animé invasion to North America. For years, DBZ was everywhere. You couldn't go anywhere without seeing merchandise, or fans, or anything like that. It's just that many of us never realized, we were seeing a bastardization of a great product, a shadow, if you will. We didn't know "true" DBZ, as it was in Japan during the late 80s and early 90s. We just wanted to see Goku go SSJ, and whoop up on Freeza. We wanted to find out who that purple-haired Saiya-Jin was, that basically decimated Freeza in 30 seconds. It was awesome. To us. 15 years ago. But it seems, that as the dubbing, and production, of DBZ matured and improved, many of its fans did not. They clung onto the original English dubs like scripture. "Goku shouldn't sound like a girl!" "Faulconer music is so much better!" Half of the comments on a DBZ video on Youtube are arguments about that. And it seems perpetual.

Nowadays, we have Kai, with the original soundtrack, and much more accurate dubbing. But many of the dubbies won't even give it a chance. It isn't their "precious Dragon Ball Z that we grew up with, it's too different." Yes, it is different, but change is a good thing at times, and this was a good change. Maybe it wasn't necessary for Japan, but it was a great redeemer for FUNimation in quality. Their Z dub just wasn't of great quality. Sure, they were told to sound like the previous cast. It was one of their first dubs, they were amateurs, and were learning. But why does that mean they couldn't have adapted it faithfully? It probably wouldn't have affected the fandom much. It's still the same characters, the same fights, and the same story. The story of a boy, who grew up in the wild, grew into a man, fought alongside his friends against great evils, whether they were galactic, earthbound, or magic. At its heart, it is still the same. They could have done it well the first time. If they had, we wouldn't have dealt with flame wars over which dub is the best. Unless a dub is a gag dub, it should accurately reflect the spirit and feeling of the original. The only difference should be that characters are speaking another language from the original product. Nothing more, nothing less. Script liberties should be very few and far between.

Don't get me wrong, towards the end of FUNi's dub, it did improve, and there were some parts that I loved. Goku's SSJ3 ascension, Vegetto's smack talk to Buu, and Cell's voice. They were, to me, done well, and I consider them among my favorite parts in the series.

But, it seems for a majority of FUNi dub fans, that's all they will ever accept as DBZ. That's sad. I'm open to each version of something that I enjoy, and to be so close-minded and dismiss the original form as not being good enough, just doesn't jive with me. Yet, despite how badly it was done, it was a goliath, and is FUNi's greatest success, and perhaps the reason they still have the rights over here. Never before have I seen an unfaithful adaptation of such a great product become such a great success, to have such a lasting impact on anime culture in North America, that its effects can be felt over a decade after the end of the series here. I suppose I have to give them kudos on sticking with the product, and showing more passion as time went on, culminating in an accurate dub for Kai.

Fans will be fans, and despite some fans' ignorance or lack of awareness of the spirit of the original, they are free to enjoy whichever version they want, without judgment. They just shouldn't judge us for our love of the original. I grew up on the English dub of DBZ, it's the version I know best. But I can certainly see its flaws now, even if I couldn't when I first watched it. I was so curious, when it first came out, I would download videos of the Japanese version online, and watch it, and I learned about Cell, and Buu, and it was all so cool. I love DBZ now just as much as I did when I was 10 years old, almost a decade and a half ago. I grew up with the series, and it grew up with me. As I got older, it got better, and I can appreciate the franchise for what it truly is, a large scale epic, of a few heroes who would never fathom the lives that they would lead, the people that they would meet, and the world that they would save. I love the fact that we got to experience it in an understandable language, barring quality, and it made me want to learn about the Dragon World, so I do credit old FUNi for introducing me to one of my favorite series of all time. Even doing it all wrong, they did it right.

[penguintruth]

The English version is massively successful and always will be. But successful insofar that it's popular, not that it's quality. A popularity that is derived mostly by nostalgia and convenience.

[Thanos]

Good summary, WesMan23.

A part of me dies a little whenever I see one of those... well, I hate to say "ignorant" comments, but yes. "EVERYONE SOUNDS GAY OR LIKE GIRLS" or, "THE MUSIC IS SO CHEESY". It's almost painful. And to say what most fans originally saw was a bastardization is an understatement. To this day I know people who still think Dragon Ball was made as a prequel to DBZ after the fact, which totally distorts their perspective, either from not being introduced to the series properly (having started from DBZ and understanding why Goku being an alien and having a son is a revelation rather than a passing note introducing the narrative) or throughout all these years, never having seen it at all. To many dub fans, Dragon Ball Z is a self-contained property. Goku and co. are aliens helping humans fight evil aliens, cyborgs, demons, etc. They have no semblance of understanding that in its purist form, it is a slightly more action-orientated version of a gag manga. Aliens weren't yet ubiquitous and the tone is much lighter.

I think what they don't understand, is that had these things been left faithful, they wouldn't think of the original voices or music as cheesy or out of place. Predictably, if Cha-La Head-Cha-La had been used as an opening theme for the American dub with its own English lyrics, fans to this day would be salivating over the palpable nostalgia of it and singing it, just like the English Pokemon theme, rather than turning their nose up to the "CHEESY 80'S SOUND" of it. The Pokemon Theme sounds far cheesier and 80's-like, and people adore it. And to me, the FUNimation score sounds cheesy as all hell. The voices are definitely cheesy in the dub--and it makes sense, because they were struggling amateur voice actors working at local theatres before they got these roles. The Japanese actors were professionals, and it shows. The dub sounds like an exaggerated Saturday morning action cartoon; the original voices actually sound like real people. And this is what's considered cheesy? I don't get it.


Another thing, is how a lot of dub fans seem to instinctively latch onto dub-exclusive things. For some reason people seem to have a particular fondness for the "HOPE OF THE UNIVERSE" speech.

[WesMan23]

Good summary, WesMan23.

A part of me dies a little whenever I see one of those... well, I hate to say "ignorant" comments, but yes. "EVERYONE SOUNDS GAY OR LIKE GIRLS" or, "THE MUSIC IS SO CHEESY". It's almost painful. And to say what most fans originally saw was a bastardization is an understatement. To this day I know people who still think Dragon Ball was made as a prequel to DBZ after the fact, which totally distorts their perspective, either from not being introduced to the series properly (having started from DBZ) or throughout all these years, never having seen it at all. To many dub fans, Dragon Ball Z is a self-contained property. Goku and co. are aliens helping humans fight evil aliens, cyborgs, demons, etc. They have no semblance of understanding that in its purist form, it is a slightly more action-orientated version of a gag manga. Aliens weren't yet ubiquitous and the tone is much lighter.

I think what they don't understand, is that had these things been left faithful, they wouldn't think of the original voices or music as cheesy or out of place. Predictably, if Cha-La Head-Cha-La had been used as an opening theme for the American dub with its own English lyrics, fans to this day would be salivating over the palpable nostalgia of it and singing it, just like the English Pokemon theme, rather than turning their nose up to the "CHEESY 80'S SOUND" of it. The Pokemon Theme sounds far cheesier and 80's-like, and people adore it. And to me, the FUNimation score sounds cheesy as all hell. The voices are definitely cheesy in the dub--and it makes sense, because they were struggling amateur voice actors working at local theatres before they got these roles. The Japanese actors were professionals, and it shows. The dub sounds like an exaggerated Saturday morning action cartoon; the original voices actually sound like real people. And this is what's considered cheesy? I don't get it.


Another thing, is how a lot of dub fans seem to instinctively latch onto dub-exclusive things. For some reason people seem to have a particular fondness for the "HOPE OF THE UNIVERSE" speech.

You make a good point. DB should have been dubbed first (apart from those crappy dubs that never got popular), that way, people would understand the backstory. They would know how Goku became friends with Bulma, their adventures together, befriend Kuririn, Yamucha, Tenshinhan, meeting and training with Roshi, and who Piccolo really was before Z. And yes, the "Hope of the Universe" speech as well, was pretty bad. I ate it up when I was younger, but it's cringeworthy now. There's a reason the Kai version of that scene is my signature. To me, that was perhaps, one of the single greatest changes, that showed there was passion for the source material. The original dub line just wasn't Goku. He would never, ever, ever say anything like that. But alas, it's what we got, and had to deal with for the better part of 10 years. It is what it is, I suppose, and it can't be changed now, as it's ingrained in the memories of the dub fans, but at least it was improved for Kai.

[Ajay]

I think it is, as you say, mostly nostalgia and no real desire to go and see what the show actually is. I mean, why should they? To them, they loved what they saw, so why make an effort to look at another version? It's an unfortunate truth, I think and I was certainly guilty of it for a while. Having grown up on the so called Ocean dub throughout the entire series in the UK, it was difficult for me to even consider looking at Kai just because of how different the voices were. To me, those were my characters and I didn't care about anything involving accuracy or original music. I wanted to relive the show as I had seen it growing up.

...and then I sat down to actually rewatch it in its entirety and I enjoyed it for maybe 15 episodes before thinking, 'wow, something is very wrong here.'

I then switched to Kai and it took me a few episodes to get used to it and in the end I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't really see myself going back to that Ocean dub. The same thing happened again when I switched to Japanese - initially I felt a little uncomfortable and after a while I got more accustomed to it. Nowadays, I can hardly watch the English dub because everything seems too exaggerated and over the top.

And I think that's where the problem really lies - many fans have these instant knee-jerk reactions to something different than what they're used to without giving it a real chance. The fact that so many of these comments appear on YouTube clips - especially comparison ones - is definitely not a coincidence. You can't judge the overall tone and quality of an entire dub through a clip, nor does it give you time to get adjusted to each voice.

Whilst I'm sure there are many people out there who will totally stick with the initial Z dub, fully aware of the issues with it, I also think there's plenty of rational fans looking to get the best and most accurate experience out of the show who just haven't given it enough time to sit right with them.

[TheBlackPaladin]

As much as we don't care for the DBZ dub,* and have critisized FUNimation for "not knowing what they were doing," I think sometimes we don't give them enough credit. They made an unfaithful dub, no question about it, but the job they were told to accomplish was not to make a super-faithful dub. It was to make a product that would generate money, both for Toei and for FUNimation. Can anybody honestly say that they failed there? If anything, they were enormously successful. So when it comes to making money, I think it would be more accurate to say that they knew exactly what they were doing.

At this point, the argument that is traditionally thrown back out is the, "it would have become a success on its own merits" argument. That's not necessarily true, though. What about "Saint Seiya"? It is generally believed that the less-than-stellar dub* of that show is responsible for its lack of success. Not too long ago, I saw the first episode of the new "Saint Seiya" series, "Saint Seiya Omega"....dubbed in French. With a revised but professional-looking French title screen seamlessly inserted into the opening. That's when it really hit me how much we are missing out on. It hit me then that I will never see a professional-looking English title screen, seamlessly inserted into the opening, with a triumphant, English-dubbed version of "Pegasus Fantasy." Granted, I may not be as big a fan of "Omega" as I am "The Lost Canvas," but there's no doubt in my mind that if "Saint Seiya" had been successful over here, we could have gotten the songs dubbed, we could have gotten the movies dubbed, we could have gotten the OVAs dubbed, we could have gotten "The Lost Canvas" dubbed, and we could have gotten "Omega" dubbed....and yet we didn't, largely because the dub that was produced for it--in my opinion--minimized the elements of the show that made it fun.

I think what the OP was trying to point to, though, is that the dub for DBZ was enormously successful in spite of how unfaithful it was. Which can't be said for other shows. "Saint Seiya" didn't succeed on its own merits. Nor, for that matter, did "One Piece." So it's bewildering that DBZ was still successful, but it was. The only possible explanation, as much as we ma not like to admit it, is that FUNimation actually did succeed in creating (or rather, packaging) a widely likeable product. They did something right.


*Of course, I won't say which performances I thought were bad, and am only speaking about production issues such as music replacement, editing, unfaithful script adaptations and the like.

[penguintruth]

the job they were told to accomplish was not to make a super-faithful dub. It was to make a product that would generate money, both for Toei and for FUNimation.

No, their job isn't to create anything. It's all that creating that pissed me off. The show had already been created. It was pre-made. They bought it completed. It's a complete show. It was a massive hit even before they touched it. They went and unmade it.

They actually spent more time, effort, and money making it into something else than they would have needed to do it the right way.

[TheBlackPaladin]

the job they were told to accomplish was not to make a super-faithful dub. It was to make a product that would generate money, both for Toei and for FUNimation.

No, their job isn't to create anything. It's all that creating that pissed me off. The show had already been created. It was pre-made. They bought it completed. It's a complete show. They went and unmade it.

They actually spent more time, effort, and money making it into something else than they would have needed to do it the right way.

Well.....I'm afraid I must respectfully disagree that making a faithful dub was their "job." It's what we wanted them to do, absolutely, and it's what I wish they had done, but it wasn't their job. If it was their job to create a faithful dub, then Toei wouldn't have allowed them to air what they aired. Toei was OK with it. Their job was to package a product so that it could make money, and in spite of how unfaithful it was, they accomplished that job. Since they could control royalties with a different score, it could also be argued that they saved money by making a new score.

You are right that it would have saved them time and money to faithfully adapt the script, though.

[Thanos]

As much as we don't care for the DBZ dub,* and have critisized FUNimation for "not knowing what they were doing," I think sometimes we don't give them enough credit. They made an unfaithful dub, no question about it, but the job they were told to accomplish was not to make a super-faithful dub. It was to make a product that would generate money, both for Toei and for FUNimation. Can anybody honestly say that they failed there? If anything, they were enormously successful. So when it comes to making money, I think it would be more accurate to say that they knew exactly what they were doing.]

I'd say it's more a testament to the property itself. All they did was use their own voices and translate the script and change the music. They were successful off the accomplishments of Dragon Ball, not their own. I think its enormous success despite all of the flaws introduced by FUNimation show the power of the series, rather than FUNimation's luck or any hidden merit to their choices.

No matter who did the soundtrack, or who did the voies, fans would've just as easily accepted it without knowing any other way. I'm not saying this because I have anything against FUNimation or the dub (I disagree with their methods and isn't my preferred version... but I do respect what they have done), but I'm inclined to think that FUNimation was just lucky. Whatever company happened to pick up the series would've ended up reaching FUNimation's level of success... maybe even moreso, given an accurate script and more professional actors. There's really no way of knowing, but that's my opinion. Just think about all of the poor decisions that were made, and the success that the show achieved despite them.

The series started to gain momentum during the Ocean Studios era, and a blacklash happened after the switch in voices and music--yet, it endured... people learned to accept it. Why? Because these were the same stories, characters, etc. Despite the fact that a low budget production company with newbie voice actors and poor script, the narrative, characters, stories and events and everything visual still remained.

[Gotham22]

Not everyone wants to hear very high pitch voices in japanese and have trouble reading English subtitles.

[penguintruth]

very high pitch voices

Yeah, you're right. I can't stand how Piccolo, Vegeta, Tenshinhan, Yamucha, Trunks, Kaio, Kami, Freeza, Cell, Zarbon, Dodoria, Ginyu, Recoome, Gyuumao, Kamesennin, Nappa, Raditz, Saichoro, Dabura, Mr. Satan, Artificial Human 16, Artificial Human 17, Broly, Bojack, Coola, Tao Pai Pai, Dr. Gero/Artificial Human 20, King Cold, Dr. Brief, King Choppa, Bora, Shenron, and Porunga have such high, squeaky voices.

[Ringworm128]

While I generally prefer a dub to be accurate I don't really care if it is or not. As long as what what I'm watching is enjoyable I'm ok, I'm more worried about the subtitles being accurate as well as the original version being an option. And with the exception of "Seasons 3-4" the problems with the dub are highly exaggerated

[Fionordequester]

I think what they don't understand, is that had these things been left faithful, they wouldn't think of the original voices or music as cheesy or out of place. Predictably, if Cha-La Head-Cha-La had been used as an opening theme for the American dub with its own English lyrics, fans to this day would be salivating over the palpable nostalgia of it and singing it, just like the English Pokemon theme, rather than turning their nose up to the "CHEESY 80'S SOUND" of it.

Eh...I would actually disagree with that. I mean, lots of people from the past grew up with the 1st Star Trek series, Adam West Batman, the Rocky movies, and Rambo movies, yet I don't see many people who won't acknowledge that most of those were cheesy (the exceptions here being Rocky 1 and 2 as well as First Blood).

Also, a lot of people say that DBZ's success in other countries despite having the same score is proof that it didn't need replacing...but one thing I wonder is "is it possible most of the countries weren't as technologically advanced when they dubbed it?". I mean, we dubbed the show a LONG time after it was originally made, and since it seems as though Mexico had dubbed the series before we did, I often wonder if perhaps many of the countries dubbed it in an age where the old style of music you'd hear in this show still hadn't faded out of popularity yet. Would someone like to shed some light on this?

The Pokemon Theme sounds far cheesier and 80's-like, and people adore it. And to me, the FUNimation score sounds cheesy as all hell.

I think that's a case of differences in taste. I actually enjoyed the Pokemon intro for the emotional intensity and passion in it (that singer and his assistants were really good). And while some parts of the Faulconer score ARE cheesy...it's not the vast majority of it.

The Japanese actors were professionals, and it shows. The dub sounds like an exaggerated Saturday morning action cartoon; the original voices actually sound like real people. And this is what's considered cheesy? I don't get it.

Well, you have to admit, Krillin, Goku, and Goku's whole family being voiced by a single woman is fairly cheesy as well, isn't it? As well as the hick accent? And the way the characters screams wouldn't always last for as long as their mouth was open? And also "KKEEEKKEEEKKKKKKKEEEKKKEEEE" (not that I'm saying that was any worse than constant grunting in the dub). And let's not forget the ending song prominently featuring "POPCORN SHOWERS!!" at the end. Oh yes, and the way the little musical cue on every episode title card was always happy, NO MATTER WHAT the circumstances...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgZrN8TuWvE

I mean look, I'm not trying to slam the original here, I'm just saying that to say there wasn't cheese in that version as well isn't exactly fair.

Yeah, you're right. I can't stand how Piccolo, Vegeta, Tenshinhan, Yamucha, Trunks, Kaio, Kami, Freeza, Cell, Zarbon, Dodoria, Ginyu, Recoome, Gyuumao, Kamesennin, Nappa, Raditz, Saichoro, Dabura, Mr. Satan, Artificial Human 16, Artificial Human 17, Broly, Bojack, Coola, Tao Pai Pai, Dr. Gero/Artificial Human 20, King Cold, Dr. Brief, King Choppa, Bora, Shenron, and Porunga have such high, squeaky voices.

To be fair though, a lot of the characters that DO have squeeky voices, such as Goku and Krillin, get a heck of a lot of screen time, so if someone can't get used to that (I actually was able to, but it took a while), I can see how that would turn people off.

[ABED]

Goku and Kuririn's voices might be high, but they don't squeak.

While I generally prefer a dub to be accurate I don't really care if it is or not. As long as what what I'm watching is enjoyable I'm ok, I'm more worried about the subtitles being accurate as well as the original version being an option. And with the exception of "Seasons 3-4" the problems with the dub are highly exaggerated

Season 3 and 4 are make up 120 episodes, that's a pretty big exception.

I watched the dub regardless of its quality, it was DBZ. Even if we still got a green talent pool, the end product would've been infinitely better if the scripts were accurate, the director knew the property, the actors didn't have to do (poor) imitations, Freeza wasn't a granny, and Kikuchi's score was kept. I could've dealt with an inexperienced Schemmel and Sabat far easier.

As well as the hick accent?

How is Goku's hick accent cheesy? Goku is in fact a hick.
I prefer the happy music to Faulconer's "this is an action show" one note cue from every episode.

[TheBlackPaladin]

As much as we don't care for the DBZ dub,* and have critisized FUNimation for "not knowing what they were doing," I think sometimes we don't give them enough credit. They made an unfaithful dub, no question about it, but the job they were told to accomplish was not to make a super-faithful dub. It was to make a product that would generate money, both for Toei and for FUNimation. Can anybody honestly say that they failed there? If anything, they were enormously successful. So when it comes to making money, I think it would be more accurate to say that they knew exactly what they were doing.]

I'd say it's more a testament to the property itself. All they did was use their own voices and translate the script and change the music. They were successful off the accomplishments of Dragon Ball, not their own. I think its enormous success despite all of the flaws introduced by FUNimation show the power of the series, rather than FUNimation's luck or any hidden merit to their choices.

That's possible, certainly. The reason I brought up "Saint Seiya" and "One Piece," though, was to showcase examples of shows that did not succeed on their own merits and were, in fact, sunk by unsatisfactory dubs (in my opinion). Essentially, I don't know that I'm 100% convinced by the "it would have succeeded on its own merits" argument, and those are two examples of why.

[ABED]

Times have changed and I think people are more accepting of more accurate dubs. I don't know for a fact if DBZ would've been successful regardless, but I have a hard time believing that it's because of "mondo cool" and other lines that talked down to the audience that DBZ was a success, especially given its success around the globe.

[Fionordequester]

How is Goku's hick accent cheesy? Goku is in fact a hick.

And Fester, from the old western Gunsmoke (which I often watched with my Dad in the past), had a ridiculous cowboy accent, but also was in fact a cowboy. Didn't make him sound any less cheesy (not to say you couldn't take him seriously. Just, he had a silly voice, that's all).

I prefer the happy music to Faulconer's "this is an action show" one note cue from every episode.

Well cool. And I actually legitimately and unironically enjoyed the performance of the voice actor for the green robot in this scene here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlpXQ2WQtrQ

Doesn't mean I can't see how said robot's voice and battle cries could be called cheesy. I just thought it had a certain power to it that managed to overcome the cheesiness in spite of all the constant and unnecessary grunting towards the end (and the fact that he would literally HISS like a cat at certain points).

[ABED]

How many people knew the Japanese Goku spoke with a hick accent until someone pointed it out? Yeah he's a hick but it's not so overpowering in Nozawa's performance.

My point was that the one note action music is just as cheesy, but in a different way. It's kinda like having an explosion in the background as a character or characters walk away from it without looking back.

[Fionordequester]

My point was that the one note action music is just as cheesy, but in a different way. It's kinda like having an explosion in the background as a character or characters walk away from it without looking back.

Indeed, that is true. Honestly, that's the problem with having only one opening jingle for every episode of your show, no matter what the music. My point though is that the Japanese version had it's fair share of cheesy stuff as well. After all, I seem to recall an episode where, according to Steve Simmon's subtitles, Cell literally calls Trunk's a "young punk with his *** still blue", which isn't exactly the kind of turn of phrase you'd expect to hear in what is otherwise such a serious situation !

Unless of course, there's supposed to be some sort of really crass conotation that was lost in translation.

[ABED]

My point was that the one note action music is just as cheesy, but in a different way. It's kinda like having an explosion in the background as a character or characters walk away from it without looking back.

Indeed, that is true. Honestly, that's the problem with having only one opening jingle for every episode of your show, no matter what the music. My point though is that the Japanese version had it's fair share of cheesy stuff as well. After all, I seem to recall an episode where, according to Steve Simmon's subtitles, Cell literally calls Trunk's a "young punk with his *** still blue", which isn't exactly the kind of turn of phrase you'd expect to hear in what is otherwise such a serious situation !

Unless of course, there's supposed to be some sort of really crass conotation that was lost in translation.

That Cell line just means "you're inexperienced". He was talking down to him, so it's not unfathomable. I could just as easily see Cell saying "his balls still haven't dropped". It's just another way of saying he's young and inexperienced.

The Japanese has some cheesy stuff (arguable) but it's nowhere near as bad or frequent as the dub.