"Son Gokuu" in DBZ Kai

[Piccolo Daimao]

Forgive me if there's already a thread like this. But I was just thinking about FUNimation's Dragon Ball Z Kai and Sean Schemmel's line during Super Saiyan Gokuu's speech, in which he mentions Gokuu's full name "Son Gokuu". But that'd always struck me as out-of-place and merely pandering to fans of the original. Also, won't this cause confusion in some dub fans, or even the new generation of DB fans?

I know it's not that a big deal, but wouldn't it have been better to consistently use "Son" throughout the dub, or just not use it at all? The latter seemed to have been the plan, until Schemmel expressed a desire to mention "Son" at least once.

[KingofWisdom]

Yeah, it was very odd to me. Every other instance of his full name is removed except in that one part. It actually bothered me rather than impressed me due to the lack of consistency. But I guess the fact that it was thrown in there is a good sign. Maybe if there's ever another re-release of DBZ that gets redubbed by FUNi, the series can finally get the dub it deserves (Kai's dub is good, and a step in the right direction. But it could be better).

[dbboxkaifan]

Yeah, I wish FUNimation would've used Son Goku, Son or Goku as in the original, just calling him Goku 99.9% of the time got too repetitive.

But hey, at least the I Am Speech had "I am the Super Saiyan, Son Goku!!".

The English Kai Dub was pretty damn awesome, despite that.

[monkeydlogan]

To me it doesn't bother me, thought that scene was awesome.
I know for the japanese culture they do that whole last name, first thing.
But over here we don't go around saying our full name unless it's that kind of moment.
If you catch what I'm saying.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Seriously? I can't believe that there are people who were bothered by that line! That was my favorite line in the whole Kai dub. On top of being well-acted, it was one of the clearest gestures of respect towards the original source material. Quite frankly, I consider the English version of the "I Am" scene to be symbolic of everything the Z dub did terribly wrong, and everything the Kai dub did beautifully right.

As far as how they could've done the dub differently...they probably should have just done what the original Japanese version did--use "Son" in some places, and not in others. I know people have often complained about the lack of "Son" in Goku's name in the English dub (myself included), but I offer up the German dub as an example of the opposite problem. The German dub always, always, always referred to all of the members of Goku's family with "Son" in it. So it was always, "Son-Goku," "Son-Gohan," and "Son-Goten," which doesn't sound natural at all. It would be like addressing someone with their first and last name all the time even in casual conversation.

[KingofWisdom]

It's a good gesture, it just reminded me of all the instances where he's referred to by his full name in the Japanese version, but the dub script didn't carry that over. Don't mind me, I guess I'm just too picky.

[TheBlackPaladin]

It's a good gesture, it just reminded me of all the instances where he's referred to by his full name in the Japanese version, but the dub script didn't carry that over. Don't mind me, I guess I'm just too picky.

No need to apologize, I know people value consistency. With that in mind, though, it might interest you to know that original English script for that scene in the Kai dub did *not* have "Son" in it. "Son" was used at the suggestion of Sean Schemmel, who said that he did record a few takes without "Son" in it, but asked to do one take with "Son" in it...and that's the take they ended up using.

[KingofWisdom]

Wow, that's interesting. Makes me respect Schemmel a bit more now.

[The Time Traveller]

I recall some fans mistaking the "Son" for "San" meaning "Mister", they seriously thought he was saying Mr. Goku, as in "They call me MISTER Goku!"

It's like when Boo says "Super Saiya-jin?" in the Z dub, just sort of showing that they know fans of the Japanese version are gonna watch it.

[dbboxkaifan]

It's like when Boo says "Super Saiya-jin?" in the Z dub, just sort of showing that they know fans of the Japanese version are gonna watch it.

I was shocked and impressed to hear Majin Boo in English say "Super Saiyajin..?" because I thought they'd never use it at all, but it shows some love on the dub for the fans of the original version.

Plus, on Kai Goku's "Son Goku".

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

Almost certain Sean requested it be done that way.

Otherwise Son would just fall under the "Don't change it so we don't alienate dub-only fans".

[matt0044]

Almost certain Sean requested it be done that way.

Otherwise Son would just fall under the "Don't change it so we don't alienate dub-only fans".

Even though translating the dialogue accurately has already got dub fans alienated. Why stop there when you could call Tien Tenshinhan, etc, etc?

[KingofWisdom]

It seemed like they tried to impress fans of the Japanese version without completely alienating fans of the heavily changed crap from the past (even though many of them hated the cast changes, proper script, lack of Team Faulconer's score, etc.)

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

Almost certain Sean requested it be done that way.

Otherwise Son would just fall under the "Don't change it so we don't alienate dub-only fans".

Even though translating the dialogue accurately has already got dub fans alienated. Why stop there when you could call Tenshinhan Tenshinhan, etc, etc?

Nothing Funi can or ever could do about that; those fans are unintentionally uncaterable by virtue of centralizing dated material in their fandom. We got similar reactions to Son Goku and Friends Return, I've seen a person or two of the Youtube variety refer to it as some sort of joke (The disgraceful kind) non-movie. Episode of Bardock seems to be fairing better Youtube-side, from what little I've seen.

If using "Son" could be used for dramatic effect (Which it most certainly was), then I would definitely see Chris Sabat breaking precedent for it.

It seemed like they tried to impress fans of the Japanese version without completely alienating fans of the heavily changed crap from the past (even though many of them hated the cast changes, proper script, lack of Team Faulconer's score, etc.)

From those I've seen, on both the internet and real life, more importantly real life, as it creates a new camp of thought, I'm going to be pretentious and attempt to say that pure dub fandom seems to be split into:

A) Hate the old dub now that I'm an adult, go Kai.

B) Still have my fun with the old dub, but Kai is where I go to now.

C) I understand what Kai's doing and can't fault it for it, but it's unfamiliar (and possibly pointless), so I'll stick to the original.

D) Linda Young > Chris Ayres (But again, God bless her for doing that voice for 10 years.)

[ohaimynameiserik]

It's his full name. Even dub fans know it, so I don't see the harm.

[CaBrPi]

It's his full name. Even dub fans know it, so I don't see the harm.

I didn't for the longest time.

In fact, I remember having an issue of Shonen Jump with the chapter where 17 and 18 finish beating up on everyone and 18 pecks Kuririn on the cheek, and getting really confused, because Goku's the dad, not the Son.

But yes, there's really no harm done. Kai's not for the old dub fans.

[dbboxkaifan]

It's his full name. Even dub fans know it, so I don't see the harm.

Non-English dub fans do know Son Goku's full name, but the English? Well, if they've played the DBZ games with the English dub, like Burst Limit where Schemmel does the I Am Speech and then "I am Son Goku, A Super Saiyaaaan!!".

Most dubfans I've seen from YouTube only know Mr. Satan as the H-word.

[medvedenko2009]

I found the Son Gokuu scene hilarious because Sean Schemmel uses his King Kai voice, or is it just me?

[dbboxkaifan]

I found the Son Gokuu scene hilarious because Sean Schemmel uses his King Kai voice, or is it just me?

Schemmel voiced Son Goku, Kaio-sama and Nail as far as I'm aware, but his Kaio-sama sounds so bleh!

For this matter the Ocean Dub Kaio-sama is better.

I would've preferred if FUNimation had recast Schemmel and Sabat for other VAs.

[SylentEcho]

All of my friends prefer the Japanese version. Kai's dub is decent, but I just can't watch it at length.

Kaio-sama sounds so bleh!

That is one of the most worst voices ever. It just doesn't suit the character at all!