FUNimation’s blog has been updated with the voice recast information from Katsucon, as well as confirmations on characters who are retaining their voice actors in Dragon Ball Kai from the current cast. While some of this information has been indirectly leaked over the last couple weeks, this is the first official statement from FUNimation on main roles being kept:
Reprising their roles from Dragon Ball Z:
Goku – Sean Schemmel
Vegeta and Piccolo – Christopher R. Sabat
Raditz – Justin Cook
Master Roshi – Mike McFarland
Tien – John Burgmeier
Ox King – Kyle Hebert
Chi-Chi – Cynthia Cranz
Nappa – Phil ParsonsAlso returning are Linda Chambers Young as Frieza and Sonny Strait as Krillin and Bardock.
There are still a couple characters that have not been mentioned, minor and otherwise. We have seen many calls for recastings of both Yamcha (previously Chris Sabat) and Kaiō (previously Sean Schemmel), neither of which have announced by FUNimation as-of-yet in terms of Kai voicing.
Key figures within FUNimation have stated that this new dub of Kai will be taken in a different direction from their up-until-now standard treatment of the series, such as using an accurate script. There is not much for us to say just yet until the actual product is released, but it is interesting to note how Tenshinhan is still being referred to as “Tien” (and to a lesser extent, the spelling of Freeza’s name) — this may be an indication that some precedents set over the last 15 years may be too difficult to move past. We will certainly find out for sure in May!
With an uncut, bilingual home release (so far) planned as the first product fans in North America will officially receive, no matter your preference is for a language, it appears we will all get what we want.
As a minor aside, it is fascinating to be simultaneous talking about voice recastings for both the Japanese and English side of the franchise. It feels like conversations from ten years ago (the shift from Ocean Studios to an in-house FUNimation cast) have resurfaced in a tiny way!