Time for a New Narrator for "Super"?

[DoomieDoomie911]

I think it should be his decision, really. He's 83 years old, and if this is what makes him happy, then I'm all for it. I think he should be able to enjoy the rest of his life.

[SaiyanZ]

I don't think its time for a new narrator but probably a new Kaio. Though I dunno who they would cast as Kaio.

[Ajay]

I don't think its time for a new narrator but probably a new Kaio. Though I dunno who they would cast as Kaio.

This is pretty much where I'm at. The narrator's part is short, and judging by Ep. 3's intro, he can just about muster enough energy to deliver a decent reading from time to time. Yanami is the voice of Dragon Ball, so of course I do want him there in some capacity, but he's killing Kaio's scenes. At this point, I'd find it far less distracting to have a new voice actor than to listen to his performance. I wish that wasn't the case, and I feel very sorry for him, but I don't want to be pulled out of the episode every time Kaio is on screen.

I have to wonder whether they'll actually recast the character, or just write Kaio out of future scenes. We know he has no presence in Revival of 'F', so following the end of this Battle of Gods arc, I wonder if we'll see him again. To me, it feels like Whis is set to take his place. They share a similar eccentricity and humour, and they work wonderfully as a mentor character, too. Most importantly, he's got some real mystery about him, so there's definitely plenty to explore there. Judging by this new female counterpart, I imagine that's precisely where we're going.

To end on a bit of a downer: In the event that Yanami is incapable of performing any longer, I have to wonder what they will do regarding the narration. Will they simply find someone who sounds like him? Perhaps they'll have another character narrate. I don't see them doing away with the narration, however, so there'll have to do something. I wouldn't be opposed to Koichi Yamadera taking over, with someone else handling Kaio. I guess we'll see at some point... sadly.

[Zephyr]

I have to wonder whether they'll actually recast the character, or just write Kaio out of future scenes. We know he has no presence in Revival of 'F', so following the end of this Battle of Gods arc, I wonder if we'll see him again.

I wonder if they made it a point to write Kaio out of future stories due to his health, and simply brought him back here for the beginning of Super as a sort of send off for him.

[Blade]

I think Episode 3 was particularly bad, especially when the animation depicted Kaio as flailing in annoyance and being particularly emotive and animated and then you've got this contrapuntal vocal performance with no energy what-so-ever.

One thing to keep in mind is that if, as postulated, the reason for his non-appearance in RoF was due to ill-health, we may now only be seeing him at a particularly low ebb of vitality. I have elderly relatives of a similar age, and I know that even in conditions of failing health, there are good days and there are bad days. This isn't necessarily the end of the road for him, he may just be taking a little bit of time to recover.

In the long term, though, he will need to be replaced - that's inevitable, he's a mere man, and like every human being, celebrity voice actor or not, he is subject to the confines of his own mortality.

[MCDaveG]

Yeah, even my girlfriend that is fluent in Japanese and was passing by, noted that the narrator sounds somehow weird and his Japanese sounds really weird the way he pronounces...
I don't mind him as narrator, I really love his voice since the first episode of DB and can't imagine the series without him.

But the last episode with Kaio shouting and being visually more emotional, which he acted casually and it sounded like even normal speaking doesn't do him well.
It was really painful to watch. After seeing the series before with his great acting, this is disgraceful.
I understand his passion and such, but I will make harsh parable: ''When you have team of Olympic runners, you won't let a guy who lost his legs and was excellent runner, run with them. Because you can imagine the outcome.''

And I think this is the case, because they should've told him politely, instead of making this new series partly a story of one great man we loved, dying each week on TV.
I really can't watch the scenes with Kaio.

[SaiyanZ]

I don't think its time for a new narrator but probably a new Kaio. Though I dunno who they would cast as Kaio.

This is pretty much where I'm at. The narrator's part is short, and judging by Ep. 3's intro, he can just about muster enough energy to deliver a decent reading from time to time. Yanami is the voice of Dragon Ball, so of course I do want him there in some capacity, but he's killing Kaio's scenes. At this point, I'd find it far less distracting to have a new voice actor than to listen to his performance. I wish that wasn't the case, and I feel very sorry for him, but I don't want to be pulled out of the episode every time Kaio is on screen.

I have to wonder whether they'll actually recast the character, or just write Kaio out of future scenes. We know he has no presence in Revival of 'F', so following the end of this Battle of Gods arc, I wonder if we'll see him again. To me, it feels like Whis is set to take his place. They share a similar eccentricity and humour, and they work wonderfully as a mentor character, too. Most importantly, he's got some real mystery about him, so there's definitely plenty to explore there. Judging by this new female counterpart, I imagine that's precisely where we're going.

To end on a bit of a downer: In the event that Yanami is incapable of performing any longer, I have to wonder what they will do regarding the narration. Will they simply find someone who sounds like him? Perhaps they'll have another character narrate. I don't see them doing away with the narration, however, so there'll have to do something. I wouldn't be opposed to Koichi Yamadera taking over, with someone else handling Kaio. I guess we'll see at some point... sadly.

I was thinking Fumihiko Tachiki or Hochu Otsuka could be a Kaio replacement and a potential future narrator. Or Unsho Ishizuka if he can do either in addition to Mr. Satan.

[SaiyamanMS]

I'm going to echo what others have said here and say that Yanami is still capable of playing the narrator, but that Kaio is in dire need of a recast. The narrator is a nice calm role which isn't too rough on him, but Kaio is a highly animated character prone to Kermit the Frog style freak outs that he simply can't pull off anymore. I agree with SaiyanZ that Houchu Ohtsuka or Unshou Ishizuka could be a decent Kaio based on their performances as Jiraiya and Professor Ookido (Oak), I haven't heard Fumihiko Tachiki in any goofy roles before, but if he can pull it off he certainly has the right kind of voice to replace Yanami.

[MagicBox]

It's been mentioned a few times, but we're not even sure whether or not Kaio will be a major player in this show beyond this "Battle Of Gods" adaption. This could be the character's last hurrah for who knows how long. The scriptwriters may even decide to avoid using him for Yanami's sake. They might do what they did with Tenshinhan after Suzuoki passed away in 2006. Temporarily retire the character (in certain productions) out of respect and then bring him back with a new actor when they absolutely need him.

If any of that has even the slightest chance of coming true, then I think we should just let the man have his fun. My enjoyment of hearing Yanami participate outweighs my concern that the character sounds a little drained. Without getting too pessimistic, this could be the last time we hear this actor in this role. I'd rather cherish it than anything else.

[SaiyanZ]

Fumihiko Tachiki would be my pick just to hear a different voice, I believe he did the narration for some Dragon Ball video game commercials. Here's his Hasegawa from Gintama, hilarious stuff if you ask me and that sort of voice would be PERFECT for Kaio imo, he'd just have to make it sound a little more elderly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFTPf5LFnwo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr9_vbB0cQc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzNbP97ZYgo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HReW2RjYRg (Hasegawa appears at 54 sec)

[funrush]

I think it's time for a new Kaio, since Kaio is a very expressive yell-y character and Yanami can't really do any of that anymore. The narrator however, just requires calm reading, which he's still perfectly capable of.

[DarkPrince_92]

I think it's time for a new Kaio, since Kaio is a very expressive yell-y character and Yanami can't really do any of that anymore. The narrator however, just requires calm reading, which he's still perfectly capable of.

Pretty much what I feel. He can narrate, but Kaio needs life, and he's not bringing it.

[fps_anth]

Personally, I'd like him to stay as the narrator, but replaced as Kaio. He can still do the calm voice, which is basically the narrator. But it's hard to listen to Kaio chasing Goku all over his planet, yelling at him for one reason or another... and Yanami just not be able to pull that performance off

[Gozar]

I feel like Joji Yanami's performance in Super has been very reminiscent of Goro Naya's last couple of years as Zenigata in Lupin III. I remember when a number of the Lupin cast members were replaced before the 2011 TV Special, I felt like these legendary seiyuu were being forced out of their roles (Which was pure speculation on my part). This thought made me very upset.

With that said, although Yanami certainly doesn't sound very good, my belief is that at his age and with all of the years he's put into his work, he's earned the respect to go out on his own terms. Meaning if he wants to play these roles until his unfortunate passing, he should be allowed to. "Haters be damned" for lack of a better phrase.

[shinmaru]

Narrating is good, but voice acting for Kaio is too much for Joji Yanami.
He doesn't have the strength to scream anymore he sounds too flat.
But maybe we won't see much of Kaio in future episodes because Goku is getting too strong to train on Kaio's small planet.

[UltimateHammerBro]

I thought he sounded a bit better in episode 5. He still was flat in some lines, but the overall performance was better IMO.
It also helps that he didn't have so many moments of screaming.

[shinmaru]

I thought he sounded a bit better in episode 5. He still was flat in some lines, but the overall performance was better IMO.
It also helps that he didn't have so many moments of screaming.

He has preformed much better than before. I think he needs a little more time to get to his old self

[Undercooked Sausage]

One of the most troubling things about Joji Yanami's poor delivery is that I'm seeing dub fans watching Dragonball subbed for the first time and thinking that Kaio's japanese voice is awful when Schemmel's Kai is just the worst and an awful ocean era holdover.

I feel so bad for Yanami-San. Hopefully after they cover the BoG stuff they retire the character for awhile. It is painful to hear him now.

[DragonBalllKaiHD]

About time the role for Kaio and Narrator is given to someone else. It was long overdue. He just isn't cut out to be these characters anymore.

I wish him well for his speedy recovery.

[garfield15]

Can't say I didn't see this coming honestly. I wish him well.

This is probably huge for the Japanese fanbase.