Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

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mystic trunks
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Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by mystic trunks » Mon Feb 15, 2010 12:15 pm

I'm watching the Z series with the Japanese audio for the first time. It's like they only use 3 tracks repeatedly. Faulconer had different themes for different chracters, but there was also improvisation. The only thing remotely close to improv in the japanese version is that they shorten the song or cut out a section of it. Not to menion it is so dull. It sounds like an old cheesy martial arts film.

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Re: Wow the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by The Time Traveller » Mon Feb 15, 2010 12:16 pm

mystic trunks wrote:It sounds like an old cheesy martial arts film.
If only Dragon Ball Z was old, cheesy and had martial arts...

Also, that's kind of one of the good things about what makes the Japanese soundtrack so great, it sounds like a Kung Fu flick (It has plenty of references to the genre anyway).

You should try watching the early on stuff too, the first half of Dragon Ball had some of the best pieces.

And it's not the same 3 pieces over and over, there are different tempo versions of the same songs yes, and reprises, but there are plenty of different songs in the original soundtrack.

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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by linkdude20002001 » Mon Feb 15, 2010 12:57 pm

First off, there's plenty of variation. As The Time Traveller said, there are tons of different versions of the same song (Gohan's theme, Piccolo's theme, and Cha-la Head-cha-la for example). Here's a list of what songs play in each episode (kenisu is amazingtastic). Rather than compare DBZ's music to it's English dub, try to compare it to other anime in general. You'll probably find that DBZ has far more variation than some other anime. DBZ was lucky that it had the luxury of getting to use all the BGM composed for DB and its movies in addition to getting its own new songs.
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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by vertigovirgo » Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:35 pm

Dude I was so you in my infant years of DBZ fandom. Lemme tell you, the Japanese soundtrack is miles better than the dub (though at times I'll occasionally miss hearing a certain Faulconer track) soundtrack. The silence in certain battle scenes all make it more dramatic, something you completely don't get in the english dub.. And like The Time Traveller stated, you definitely get the feeling that you're watching a kung-fu flick, another thing you don't get in the dub. The dub soundtrack is pretty much video game music. Which of course has its advantages and drawbacks. I completely love watching Dragon Ball series because of the JP soundtrack. I'm actually rewatching the series again in the Japanese soundtrack/voice, and it makes the experience so worthwhile.

Oh, and thanks linkdude20002001 for that link! I'm actually looking for one track that played during Freeza/Goku's battle, so this helps a lot.

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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by MCDaveG » Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:43 pm

mystic trunks, shame on you! :lol:
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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by Amigo Ten » Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:49 pm

Kai's soundtrack has them both beat in my opinion.

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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by caejones » Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:50 pm

I think the mere fact that there are several disks in the drawer by my knee comprising one of several sets to the complete BGM collection disagrees with the statement that there are only like three songs.

Watching the early Saiyan stuff on the FUNi Dragonbox felt like watching an awesome late eighties / Early nineties Disney movie, for a reason I'm not entirely sure of... I think the music had a good deal to do with it.
While looking through random stuff for scenes involving recurring minor characters, I came to the conclusion that the Japanese score for the Cell saga is briliant. Don't get me wrong; the soundtrack at that point with the Faulconer score had its memorable tracks (that worked, sometimes... so long as destruction wasn't playing. -_- ), but somehow...

But now I'm sort of wondering how you'd set up a Saiyan-Namek Soundtrack in a more Faulconer era style, keeping in mind that such would probably require at least a couple new tracks to account for the unique characters and situations.
Although, thinking of the more light-hearted bits in the early episodes involving Gohan, I can only think of the "Goten and Trunks as secret agents" horn-song in the Buu saga coming out of the Faulconer style... o_o
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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by Super Ghost Kamikaze » Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:51 pm

What you're referring to as being "better" is a farce, designed specifically because Funimation was sure you were too dumb and/or too impatient to handle the original soundtrack. On that basis alone, just on the basis that the dub soundtrack's very existence is a direct insult to your intelligence, the dub track should be despised. More than that, this is the correct presentation of an 80s Japanese cartoon steeped heavily in the atmosphere and tropes of the martial arts genre, rather than a mid-90s American action cartoon.

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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by Sebastian (SB) » Mon Feb 15, 2010 1:56 pm

Kai's soundtrack in the series has the problem of repeating the same pieces in a constant loop. Granted, Z has a similar issue, but the time between playing a piece is so fast, there's hardly room to breathe. I like Kai's music...just not the way it's being used in the series.
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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by VegettoEX » Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:03 pm

I'm having a difficult time figuring out why you would bother making a thread like this. It seems to serve one purpose -- to bait flames. You make blanket statements about how "they only use 3 tracks repeatedly", and yet provide no further analysis or examples to back this up. Do you actually have anything to discuss?
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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by MCDaveG » Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:25 pm

I pointed out as a guy who is a music junkie how it really is.... Some people simply don't have an taste for art.
You know, Kikuchi's score is orchestral, which is a standard in anime and it is standard in 80's and nowadays anime, but now the music is more digital. Kikuchi recorded that score mostly in 80's with a lot of disco and funk influence combined with orchestral. That music sounds like from 70's actualy, I think that it was because that Kikuchi have a taste in oldschool.
And even in 90's he improved it because of time, but still remained classic, actually it will sound kinda weird with something completely different and up to date. Kikuchi did a great work whih gave the Dragon Ball atmosphere of something epic, fighting and asian, because this soundtrack is simmilar to old kung fu movies breed with tokusatsu series.
That repetitivness is obvious, because actually, TV shows are based on themes which aren't for characters but only as a background in specific situation.

Faulconer's score is something like ''elevator music'' 1000 forgetable themes (I actualy remember only Cell's theme), don't know why. It's pretty cheap, made in hurry in studio on synthetizers and PC probably with sampled guitars.... Yeah cool, but Dragon Ball is not cyberpunk or sci-fi. Also that music is that random that it not even match ups with scenes. Yeah, every thing have it's own theme and what is it good for??? That average person with some taste is annoyed with it after watching one episode?
They didn't made background music, they wanted to express the claimed toughness of the show and make it one with the series itself and that was mistake. Almost everytime, there are hard beats, ear killing synths and sampled guitar, rock mixed with techno elements and sometimes it's like 5 tracks mixed in one.
It's all loud and as I said many times before, the sound editor for the series was probably some crazy freak on drugs. There is no silence between tracks but music mixed over itself and paste together, it's one crazy goulash.

But it made it's purpose, kids in USA like it, you can say this all is only my opinion.
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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by Blue » Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:05 pm

I know it doesn't even feel like I'm at a bad rave party when I put on the Japanese version.
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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by kenisu3000 » Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:17 pm

Why all of the hate for the Japanese score lately?
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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by The Time Traveller » Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:46 pm

kenisu3000 wrote:Why all of the hate for the Japanese score lately?
People seem to be defending it here at least...

Don't mind mystic trunks, he's been making a lot of unjustified hate threads. "Majin Boo sucks, Boo saga sucks, not as X-Treeeeeeme as the rest of the series, which is hardcore and uncut for mature viewers such as myself, goshdarned mother fuckers."

Dubbies still have this image of what Dragon Ball isn't in their heads and it's just as obnoxious as ever...

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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by VegettoEX » Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:17 pm

You know... my fellow defenders and fans of the original Japanese version aren't being particularly kind in this thread, and certainly aren't showcasing any kind of camaraderie or sportsmanship. If you want to toss out your own blanket statements about FUNimation's dub and its fans, please do so elsewhere. If you actually have examples and theories to bring to the table, I welcome you to toss them into the mix.

"GROBBLE GROBBLE (insert regional localization here) SUCKS" not welcome.
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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by MCDaveG » Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:12 pm

VegettoEX wrote:You know... my fellow defenders and fans of the original Japanese version aren't being particularly kind in this thread, and certainly aren't showcasing any kind of camaraderie or sportsmanship. If you want to toss out your own blanket statements about FUNimation's dub and its fans, please do so elsewhere. If you actually have examples and theories to bring to the table, I welcome you to toss them into the mix.

"GROBBLE GROBBLE (insert regional localization here) SUCKS" not welcome.
If you mean me mentioning US, I don't have anything against, only in matter of edits to anime..... Watching US movies and series, listening US music, there is one and only thing I don't like on this planet, but I can't mention it. There is a lot more things I can't stand about my country of origin and I'm no way a hypocrite.
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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by Amigo Ten » Mon Feb 15, 2010 7:00 pm

I find both soundtracks pretty dull for various reasons. The old martial arts film-esque feel is nice, it's just over hundreds of episodes it wears very thin. And the Funi soundtrack just never shuts up, which is what most annoys me about it. Still, it's as bad as scoring the films with bands like Disturbed and Deftones. Hated that.

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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by mystic trunks » Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:13 am

MCDaveG wrote: Faulconer's score is something like ''elevator music'' 1000 forgetable themes (I actualy remember only Cell's theme), don't know why. It's pretty cheap, made in hurry in studio on synthetizers and PC probably with sampled guitars.... Yeah cool, but Dragon Ball is not cyberpunk or sci-fi. Also that music is that random that it not even match ups with scenes. Yeah, every thing have it's own theme and what is it good for??? That average person with some taste is annoyed with it after watching one episode?
They didn't made background music, they wanted to express the claimed toughness of the show and make it one with the series itself and that was mistake. Almost everytime, there are hard beats, ear killing synths and sampled guitar, rock mixed with techno elements and sometimes it's like 5 tracks mixed in one.
It's all loud and as I said many times before, the sound editor for the series was probably some crazy freak on drugs. There is no silence between tracks but music mixed over itself and paste together, it's one crazy goulash.

But it made it's purpose, kids in USA like it, you can say this all is only my opinion.
In one sentence you say Faulconer's tracks are like elevator music, then you say it is nothing but ear killing synths and guitar. Which is it?
You think DBZ is not Sci-fi ?!
The one thing I like about the Japanese soundtrack is that is does SHUT OFF periodically.
At first the JPN soundtrack is very charming, but after 30 or so episodes it becomes very dull.
@ The Time Traveller: I made one thread titled "Why Majin Buu is the worst villain." That is hardly a hate thread. I suggest you chill out and stop taking this so seriously. And I'm curious what makes my opinions unjustified...

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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by Bussani » Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:43 am

mystic trunks wrote:You think DBZ is not Sic-fi ?!
Well, it isn't, really...

Science-fantasy, maybe, but definitely mystical-martial-arts first and foremost.
And i'm curious what makes my opinions unjustifed...
I'm curious what you expect to get out of these threads. You're entitled to your opinion, of course, but this is a forum, not a blog. What are you expecting? People to agree with you? People to disagree with you? It's quite obvious you're just saying: "This is me opinion. I know people here disagree with it. Come and try to prove me wrong.

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Re: Wow, the Japanese soundtrack is horrible!

Post by mystic trunks » Tue Feb 16, 2010 3:48 am

No, I don't expect people to agree with me(about everything). I expect people to post about their opinions and respect mine. Y'know? Like a...discussion. I like to post topics that will get people to discuss. I don't think there is anything wrong with debate either, as long as people are respectful and don't take it too seriously.

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