Ocean Studios' "Dragon Ball Kai" Dub Turns 14; Still Unreleased

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Well that is really disappointing news. But it's been so long it's expected now. Oh well.

[thaman91]

So I remember a while back that someone had claimed that the first few episodes of this dub had aired somewhere in Asia. What ever became of that claim? Has anyone been able to find any shred of evidence that these first few episodes ever aired?

[thomas1up]

So I remember a while back that someone had claimed that the first few episodes of this dub had aired somewhere in Asia. What ever became of that claim? Has anyone been able to find any shred of evidence that these first few episodes ever aired?

Probably a lie, as far as I know Toonami Asia does air DBZ (not kai) but it is the remastered Funi dub.

[Valerius Dover]

So I remember a while back that someone had claimed that the first few episodes of this dub had aired somewhere in Asia. What ever became of that claim? Has anyone been able to find any shred of evidence that these first few episodes ever aired?

Probably a lie, as far as I know Toonami Asia does air DBZ (not kai) but it is the remastered Funi dub.

They air the Funi dub from the bricks there? Whoa, didn't know that little tidbit. Just out of curiosity, which score do they use?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

So I remember a while back that someone had claimed that the first few episodes of this dub had aired somewhere in Asia. What ever became of that claim? Has anyone been able to find any shred of evidence that these first few episodes ever aired?

Quantum-Kakarrotto did say someone at Megacon told him the first three episodes aired in Korea and were available to download online, but I honestly can't bring myself to believe this claim, especially now (I don't blame QK, he was after all telling us he had doubts, and wouldn't believe it unless he was shown proof). It all seemed very fishy (the guy had to send him huge download files, no broadcaster was specified, etc) and the ever reliable Kei17 told us about Korean content laws that would make such a situation extremely unlikely.

[thomas1up]

So I remember a while back that someone had claimed that the first few episodes of this dub had aired somewhere in Asia. What ever became of that claim? Has anyone been able to find any shred of evidence that these first few episodes ever aired?

Probably a lie, as far as I know Toonami Asia does air DBZ (not kai) but it is the remastered Funi dub.

They air the Funi dub from the bricks there? Whoa, didn't know that little tidbit. Just out of curiosity, which score do they use?

I admittedly haven't really heard the American score for anything before Faulconer but I am assuming this score is the American score included on the bricks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=998PLeUuTx4

[TheBlackPaladin]

I'm still really shocked over this. The first thing that keeps coming up in my mind is the financial aspect. Somebody paid for all those people involved with that 98-episode dub (actors, writers, engineers, editors, musicians), and their work won't even be seen or heard. From a financial perspective, this dub may hold the world record for the most colossal waste of money in the history of dubbing. With all do respect to the producers, whose idea was it to pay for all that before a TV deal had even been secured for this TV-only dub?

I would hope it'll still get a release someday even if it's just to justify the money that was spent.

[8000 Saiyan]

I'm still really shocked over this. The first thing that keeps coming up in my mind is the financial aspect. Somebody paid for all those people involved with that 98-episode dub (actors, writers, engineers, editors, musicians), and their work won't even be seen or heard. From a financial perspective, this dub may hold the world record for the most colossal waste of money in the history of dubbing. With all do respect to the producers, whose idea was it to pay for all that before a TV deal had even been secured for this TV-only dub?

I would hope it'll still get a release someday even if it's just to justify the money that was spent.

I agree. What a waste of money. Perhaps we'll see this dub if we demand the producers to stream the dub on the internet or pay for digital releases. And since this dub has a replacement score (which will turn some fans off), someone will have to try and sync the audio and video with either the Yamamoto or Kikuchi music. The voice actors will be disappointed when they find out that this dub isn't airing on Canadian TV.

[Valerius Dover]

Probably a lie, as far as I know Toonami Asia does air DBZ (not kai) but it is the remastered Funi dub.

They air the Funi dub from the bricks there? Whoa, didn't know that little tidbit. Just out of curiosity, which score do they use?

I admittedly haven't really heard the American score for anything before Faulconer but I am assuming this score is the American score included on the bricks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=998PLeUuTx4

Yep, that's Johnson's music. Wow, surprised they actually use the US score. And it seems they're in the Android portion now. I'm guessing the Faulconer legal battle doesn't apply there? Oh, well, don't wanna drive this too off-topic, but this is an interesting thing to know.

[jelleline89]

What a damn shame.

Had this been revealed just a little earlier, I could have asked Sabat or Schemmel about this at Edmonton Expo. But alas.

It's weird, I'm not surprised but it's still shocking to now know we will never get it. A smart company would take the opportunity to stream these somewhere. Netflix, Crunchyroll, Hulu, etc.

My honest guess is Canadian television, at the time Ocean Kai was pitched to them, was not ready to bring anime back front and center. Yes, we still have Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! Even Yo-Kai Watch. But granted, these are titles with a whole bunch of merchandising to back them up. I am always seeing commercials for them on YTV and Teletoon. DBZ as a whole doesn't have this much promotion in comparison. Perhaps this was a reason it never got picked up.

If only we knew all the things that happened behind the scenes here. But after 6 years, we now know the fate of Ocean Kai. R.I.P.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I don't want to bring down the mood any lower than it has already been brought down, but it's also pretty telling of the anime industry in general, and how far it has fallen from what it once was. One of the most successful anime titles of all time, and one of the few that actually has a "mainstream" audience...couldn't get a TV deal.

[SX10]

You know what? I pm'd Quantum-Kakarrotto and he had told me that he still had not received anything from this source.

But then I asked if he had attended Metrocon (was it Metrocon? There was definitely a con in florida). Now he told me had and I further enquired. He said he had asked some hypothetical questions to (I'm assuming) Richars Ian Cox, and received some 'hypothetical answer'.

Intriguing righr? Well that was all I got. Nothing more. Asked for details, but zilch. Don't see gim posting round here anymore.

Now there's this!

Can't shake the feeling we haven't heard the last of this though...

[Super Sayian Prime]

I don't want to bring down the mood any lower than it has already been brought down, but it's also pretty telling of the anime industry in general, and how far it has fallen from what it once was. One of the most successful anime titles of all time, and one of the few that actually has a "mainstream" audience...couldn't get a TV deal.

It's more a statement on the Canadian television industry than anything else. Canada is one of the only English-speaking markets to have not seen Kai air on a local broadcaster.

What a shame this isn't going to be released. I was hoping to see some of the best Canadian voice actors redeem themselves after a rushed dub. I feel bad for them since McNeil and Tockar seemed to be proud of their work. At least Ocean is going to dub Gintama, and I hope they do their best on that dub. Thank you for this news, Kirbopher. Since this dub won't be released, the voice actors can reveal the characters they played.

The Funimation-Crunchyroll deal has me uneasy on that dub ever surfacing. We're getting to the point where I'm starting to wonder about World Trigger, too.

[Attitudefan]

Maybe this is really a topic for another thread, but I've been thinking about this since this news broke.

I wonder who commissioned Ocean to produce this dub. I have this feeling that it was someone at Funimation.

I'm am leaning towards this as well. This is why I think the likes of Schemmel had a chance to even hear what this sounded like and we had that partnership between Ocean and FUNi for the TV edits of Kai.

If this is true, the biggest thing on my mind now is if FUNi's dominance in the anime market overseas—in the west—is actually a good thing or actually has hurt the anime industry in the long run.

Like:

it's also pretty telling of the anime industry in general, and how far it has fallen from what it once was.

Yes. I don't know if it is because of the internet, FUNi's near monopoly on anime in the West, Japan's strict laws in licensing overseas material, or the current moe/harem themed narratives that dominate the industry, low working wages for careers in the industry, or a combination of all these things that has lead to this downfall.

But as we know, the UK seemed to have had a choice but was pressured by Toei (maybe FUNi as well—behind closed doors—supporting Toei's decision) to force the American dub over the Canadian one to be aired. It does make me wonder how much power FUNi has over other dubbing companies where very few companies other than FUNi now can even get their dubs released or licensed. Particularly with Dragon Ball, FUNi has a monopoly over distribution rights and merchandising. Since 2000, the trend has been a downward spiral of the popularity of Dragon Ball and its profitability. Now, I'm not saying these things are mutual but Pokemon, which is also a long running series, has stayed majorly profitable and Dragon Ball has not.

[simtek34]

Goodbye Ocean Dragon Ball Z Kai. May a flight of arm-regenerating 3 eyed cowboys sing "Rock the Dragon" to thy other dimentsion.

[TVfan721]

It's been pretty obvious for several years that this dub was never coming out.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Maybe this is really a topic for another thread, but I've been thinking about this since this news broke.

I wonder who commissioned Ocean to produce this dub. I have this feeling that it was someone at Funimation.

I'm am leaning towards this as well. This is why I think the likes of Schemmel had a chance to even hear what this sounded like and we had that partnership between Ocean and FUNi for the TV edits of Kai.

I'm not sure why FUNimation would pay for a dub that that they're not really that involved with, though. The alternative pronunciations we've heard about ("Naw-mek" instead of "Nam-ik") suggest that FUNimation wasn't the head honcho with the Ocean dub.

Having said that, I think you're right that, if Schemmel got a chance to hear it, it was likely because of their partnership with Ocean for the Nicktoons edits ("Ocean Studios" was indeed credited for the edits in the credits of the Nicktoons-edited FUNimation dub). FUNimation may not have paid for the whole dub, but my theory has been that perhaps they did pay specifically for the edits. I've theorized that they did this in exchange for being allowed to use that same edited footage for the Nicktoons airing. It would have been a mutually beneficial thing: the Ocean dub was going to be a TV-only dub, so in allowing for FUNimation to pay for the edits, Ocean would actually be receiving money for edits that they needed to do anyway, and FUNimation could then have edited footage ready to go for Nicktoons. It's possible that that would include edited audio, as well...and anybody at FUNimation might have been able to hear it once Ocean sent the edited footage back to FUNimation, which would explain how Schemmel heard it.

Goodbye Ocean Dragon Ball Z Kai. May a flight of arm-regenerating 3 eyed cowboys sing "Rock the Dragon" to thy other dimension.

If this thread is ever locked, this post needs to be the official send-out quote.

[Arian]

As bleak as things look, I haven't lost hope. In 2011, 4Kids was supposed to lose the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! entirely, but they ended up dubbing and releasing Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal.

Who knows? Minds can change, a certain network in Canada (Teletoon) may be in need of a Dragon Ball fix, next thing you know, BAM! Ocean dub Kai.

[TheBlackPaladin]

The other thought that occurred to me--acknowledging ahead of time, of course, that now I'm just talking wishful thinking, not events that I actually think are likely to happen--is that perhaps we may get an Ocean dub of Super. Perhaps Ocean abandoned Kai because it took too long to get a TV deal, and Kai is no longer a "new" or "special" thing like it was a few years ago. Hopefully they can dub Super and secure a deal much more quickly this time around.

This time around, though, they better be completely certain to actually get a TV deal first before going ahead and dubbing the whole show only to find out that no TV network is interested.

[Godgoku95]

meh i don't care