Dub-Bashing

[Leotaku]

Ahoy,
Hanging around these boards, it's awfully clear that most people plain don't seem to like the dub stuff of DragonBall, such as the voice actors (I always see people excited to use the Japanese voices in the videogames when they can) or Faulconer's music (again, people seem more excited if they can listen to the original Japanese anime music).

I'm just wondering, why is this? Do you guys and girls just genuinely think that the dub voice actors and music are generally bad, as their own stand-alone series? Like if there were no original Japanese version of DragonBall, and this is all that exists. Do you think it's just bad by general cartoon standards?

Or is it just that you've already watched the original Japanese version, and you loved it, thinking that THAT is the way DragonBall should be? It just had such an impact on you, these original voice actors, and the original mood the music was supposed to set for the scene, etc; And you don't accept the dub efforts as any sort of substitute for the original?

Maybe it changes the mood too much for you, like the hard rock music the dub usually has? Or you've grown to love a voice actor's interpretation of a character, you can't stand a dub voice having a totally different sound?

Because I am probably one of the only people here that has only seen DragonBall in dub form, I am just curious about this. I was never one to favour either versions' aspects over the other (such as the voices or music), but I like both sets anyway, in general. So I wanted to know the reason why some of you DO favour one over the other.

[VegettoEX]

Despite being introduced to the actual TV series via an English dub form, to me, the series is simply the Japanese version. That's what I know, that's what I love, and that's what I prefer.

I don't think anyone really needs to justify it beyond that simply definition of "this is what I like".

There are tons of "why" answers you can get into, but it's all about personal preferences, your level of exposure to which version, your timespan of exposures, etc. What you "like" is based on a whole lot of different variables, half of which you might not even consciously be aware of to begin with.

That said, I think the English score is beyond terrible, and the voice actors' performances are only slightly above-average ^^;;. But I don't watch it, so whatever.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

Actually I do like the English dub and here is why. I used to watch the Italian dub then the Spanish dub then got into the Japanese version with no subtitles. I would see all 3 of these within the course of maybe 5 - 6 years, the same episodes over and over, by then I've seen a lot of Dragonball and knew everything that was about to happen. Then I saw the English dub and well, it was like when a song gets a re-mix. It was different it had totally new music it had a different theme song, it was like a brand new version of Dragonball. Then I went online and saw everyone hated it and wanted it to be the Japanese version. I mean I can understand that but you got to understand. The Japanese version is the Japanese version there is only one. Thats the original and so it's the best because that is where every other dub in the world gets the translation from. The English dub is only an English dub. Now with the technology of DVD's everyone can be happy so I don't see the point of fighting anymore.

[VegettoEX]

Now with the technology of DVD's everyone can be happy so I don't see the point of fighting anymore.

If you *really* want to get into an interesting discussion, let's get into the whole fact that now-a-days it's the *dub fans* that are so bitchy and hostile towards fans of the original Japanese version, contrasted with seven/eight years ago and its vice-versa situation.

[Victator Supreme]

Honestly the only thing I dislike about the dub is Faulconer's music. Everything else I enjoy. Though compared to the GT soundtrack it is heavenly.

I actually think Ron Wassermen produced the best dub soundtrack.

[Eclipse]

it's the *dub fans* that are so bitchy and hostile towards fans of the original Japanese version, contrasted with seven/eight ago and its vice-versa situation.

Did you mean to say years?

[Super Sonic]

Honestly the only thing I dislike about the dub is Faulconer's music. Everything else I enjoy. Though compared to the GT soundtrack it is heavenly.

I actually think Ron Wassermen produced the best dub soundtrack.

Are you sure you're not on the wrong forum? He didn't do any dub DBZ soundtracks.

[Chaos Saiyajin]

I was introduced to DBZ by the dub, but I prefer the JP version, though I don't mind the dub at all.

What pisses me off is altering the original premise of the show: i.e. changing character's names, storylines...Something that the One Piece dub is great about...

But back on topic! I like the dub, though I'd have to say the JP version is the best.

[masenko]

It's like watching the new Star Wars dvds with changes. We fell in love with the original and now it's just being tinkered with. A lot of people fell in love with the dub first but DBZ is a japanese show. That's my two cents.

[Eclipse]

Honestly the only thing I dislike about the dub is Faulconer's music. Everything else I enjoy. Though compared to the GT soundtrack it is heavenly.

I actually think Ron Wassermen produced the best dub soundtrack.

Are you sure you're not on the wrong forum? He didn't do any dub DBZ soundtracks.

Google search reveals his site link, which states...

Dragon Ball Z - Score for the first two years of the series. Still airs worldwide.

But this is confusing. Didn't Shuki Levy do the dub? Or maybe our information was wrong...

Anyhow, here's my personal opinion.

I basically got into DBZ via the dub. I didn't learn about the Japanese edition until I started browsing 'round the Internet. I honestly have no problem with any of the dub at all, save for GT. The Japanese edition did suprise me at first with the different voices and what not, and then I simply got used to it. To me, it doesn't really matter which is better, Japanese, or any kind of dub. They all keep the same principle, by introducing us all to the Dragon World

[TheMajinRedComet]

I use to hate the dub, with a passion, thinking that Funi had destroyed a great show for the sake of popularity. But as the years went on I began to really like the dub. I still like the Japanese actors just as much. The Japanese actors scream very well its almost harmonic. The dub just can’t pull that off. They also have a problem with anger when the Japanese characters got mad you knew it! With Funi the only one that pulled off the anger very well was Cris Sabet as Majin Vegeta and on Namek in the redub. I have grown tolerant of Sheamel(sp?) but Ill never really like him, compared to his Japanese counterpart.

Now with music. I have nothing against the English music outside of GT’s rap crap, which is indescribably bad. The English music could have been a lot worse and wasn’t as dramatic as it should have been in some instances. The Japanese music was well… average (please don’t kill me) it wasn’t Yoko Kanno, but the insert songs and openings/endings were amazing. As a whole the Japanese character themes, insert songs and openings/endings were the only things that stood out, the BGMs were meh in opinion

Well that’s my 2 cents... I now but the dub and Japanese on equal ground...

[Super Sonic]

Honestly the only thing I dislike about the dub is Faulconer's music. Everything else I enjoy. Though compared to the GT soundtrack it is heavenly.

I actually think Ron Wassermen produced the best dub soundtrack.

Are you sure you're not on the wrong forum? He didn't do any dub DBZ soundtracks.

Google search reveals his site link, which states...

Dragon Ball Z - Score for the first two years of the series. Still airs worldwide.

But this is confusing. Didn't Shuki Levy do the dub? Or maybe our information was wrong...

:

SHuki Levy did do it. Maybe Wasserman helped out in between his ranger scores.

[SpaceKappa]

I'm one of the few people who was actually introduced to the Japanese version first, way back in 1994. My buddy's older brother had a friend who had hookups in Japan, and one day they were watching some episodes from the Cell Games. We all fell in love immediately.

I got excited when I heard they were dubbing it, but it left me with a bad taste in my mouth. There was just too much CHANGED. The music I loved, the voices I loved, even crucial plot points were all altered in some way.

To me, there is no other version than the Japanese version. Masako Nozawa IS Son Gokuu to me. When they were casting, it was like a character's personality did not matter, their voice was determined by their looks. Piccolo is green, so he gets a super deep voice. Vegeta was a bad guy, so he gets a voice that almost surprises you he's not twisting a handlebar mustache. Then came FUNimation's actors, who did even worse. Chris Sabat's voice makes me cringe.

Let's not forget "KRILLIN'S IN DA HOUUUUUUUUSE!"

When simply watching the opening "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" can literally make my heart swell up, I know that I love this show. I've loved it for 12 years now. The Japanese version is IT. I have my subbed DVDs and I will love them forever. It goes beyond a TV show for me. It's a part of my life, a piece of who I am.

[The S]

I really don't have a preference. There are things I like about the dub more than the original, and vice versa.

[tarsonis]

Some arguments people make about Japanese versus English voices are invalid. First of all, these are two different languages and cultures. People act like they want dub voices to sound like their Japanese counterparts. This is impossible. When you dub a show into another language, the voices need to correspond to the way people of that language speak. Goku's Japanese voice sounds fine when he's speaking Japanese, and for the most part, his various English voices sound fine when he speaks English. You can't compare them, the two sets of voice actors should be judged on their own merits.

I think all the voices that Ocean Studios gave to the characters were great, (except for Freeza), and this has nothing to do with the fact that I got into DBZ through those old episodes. It's because, when taking in the fact that the characters are going to be speaking in English, the voices simply fit. If Roshi's an old man, and you give him an old man voice, then the voice fits. It's plainly simple. Now, I can make the argument that Ocean's voices were better than Funimations for some sets of episodes, but this is case of one set of English voices versus another, not against an entirely different language.

It seems like years ago there was constant dub bashing across various DBZ sites, and I found it all extremely silly. If you dub an anime into another language, does the original version suddenly disappear? No, it's still there. You can still watch it. Dubbing something does *not* affect the original, which is something a lot of people seemed to fail to understand. Knocking the dub for its fallacies is just stupid. People on some sites acted as if someone held a gun to their head, stole their fansubs away, and forced them to watch the dub all day.

So what can you compare? Music, dialogue, intros, all of which I would inarguably say were better in the Japanese version. There are some quotes I like in the English version though (such as some of Vegeta's lines). And the music..well I prefer the original music because I don't like the idea of changing music. I think it upsets the director's original vision. Not to mention, the Japanese music and intros add more feeling and mood, and is more characteristic of what DB is at heart.

[Chaos Saiyajin]

Let's not forget "KRILLIN'S IN DA HOUUUUUUUUSE!"

Or my personal favorite:

"You just wait till it grows back!"

[Super Sonic]

Let's not forget "KRILLIN'S IN DA HOUUUUUUUUSE!"

Or my personal favorite:

"You just wait till it grows back!"

Good thing the redub took that line out.

[laserkid]

Personally speaking, I by and large preffer 99.8% of my anime dubbed. It's just the way I do things, I preffer to hear stuff in my native language. I even watch Dragon Ball primarily dubbed. DBZ is one of the few exceptions however. I don't mind the voice cast, in fact I even like the FUNi and ocean casts about evenly (hate and love intermixed between them). For me it was the score that made a diffrence. I cannot really place why, as I heard it much later then the english score, but the Japanese score hit a deeper chord within me. It is rather likely if the dub had used the original music score that I may not have bothered with the sub at all.

That said I certainly do not begrudge dub watchers, particularly because I watch most anime dubbed myself.

[Adnan]

Well when I was first introduced to DBZ, the dub was all I knew and until I finally saw it in Japanese I actually thought the dub was really good . But since I had no basis for comparison, can't blame myself for that.

Not long after watching a few DBZ episodes and movies in Japanese I started to prefer the Japanese version. I have to admit my first encounter with JP Goku's voice took me by surprise but only for the first 5 minutes or so, then his voice just fit. As for the soundtrack, it just blew me away. To actually have real instruments playing, it was just at a whole different level than the electronica from the dub. Another I liked was how much louder the sound effects were in the original, probably because the dubbing process reduces the volume of these sounds.

However, Mike bring up an interesting point. I myself have noticed too that there seems to be more and more hostility towards those who prefer the JP version over the dub. Often this hostility ends with insults being hurled at either the jp version fan or the jp version of the show itself (such as calling jp Goku a sissy or saying the music is "Godzilla-like").

I wonder what the motives and reasons for this hostility might be? When it was the other way around, the reasons were obvious: those that didn't watch the original jp version were "not really fans" or "were ignorant" etc.. But what could be the motives for the reverse? Could it just be a backlash from all the hostility aimed at them before? Could it be some twisted (and sad) form of patriotism? I wonder...

[Bejiita]

I was introduced to the dub first, the Ocean dub. I found it good, the first episode I sat through was the one where Goten turns into a SSJ and I thought it was wicked. I did know it was an anime but I didn;t know of the variation the dub had from the original.

When I finally watched every episode of the dub I was finished with DBZ, it was only recently I was introduced tothe Japanese versiona nd watching the series in it's original form was truly a great experience, the way scenes are handled are a lot better, music and voice in the Japanese is pleasure to the ears whilst the dub is preffereably unaccaptable in my opinion, many scenes are ruined.

I have a certian liking for the dub though which makes me think back to the old days, still, I don't waste time watching any dub material nowadays, at all.

Although the Majin Buu saga had episodes I don't mind watching in English...