Dubs of the original three series that put in the best effort.

[Bansho64]

I've been looking at many different dubs of the franchise recently. Many of them are ok. Some are bad. A few are actually good. Very few are great.

To get straight to the point, I've been thinking about something that I find a lot of these dubs lack. Effort. Heart. Whatever you wanna call it. I've been looking for these things because, yes, an accurate script is something I want in a good dub. But what is accuracy, if there is no heart put into it.

So my question is, what dubs do you personally feel had some good effort and heart put into them? Like, they actually tried hard and didn't just treat the series like any other cartoon.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I can't speak for every single dub ever made, but lack of effort is usually not a problem. Even the bad dubs are directed, mixed, written, and acted by people who legitimately gave it their best...but their best just wasn't good enough for the final result to be enjoyable.

[Bansho64]

I can't speak for every single dub ever made, but lack of effort is usually not a problem. Even the bad dubs are directed, mixed, written, and acted by people who legitimately gave it their best...but their best just wasn't good enough for the final result to be enjoyable.

I don't know, there are some dubs out there like that really seemed like they tried hard to make a good product.
For example, the German dub. They got their materials from the French dub, which is pretty bad to say the least. To fix whatever they could, they made their own versions of the original music and tried to change the script for the better and fix a lot of things. The German dub is still widly inaccruate but they did try to fix what was given to them.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

So my question is, what dubs do you personally feel had some good effort and heart put into them? Like, they actually tried hard and didn't just treat the series like any other cartoon.

Those two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.


To be honest, the Ocean Group and In-House Funimation Cast both felt like they enjoyed what they had some passion put in. It wasn't that way all the time, and they never did have all that great of script writers, but they have some charm to them.

The German Dub, from what I've heard, is probably just a notch above Funimation's in-house Dub, but I've never heard it or seen translations, so don't take my word.

The Latin American Dub, as far as I'm aware, while not perfect, is probably the best non-Japanese Dub that's ever been produced. Passionate, uncut, and largely accurate.

I don't know if the French Kai Dub technically fits the criteria here, but I love the way it sounds too.

[gregoryluis09]

The only ones i can remember are Brazilian Portuguese (great script, great acting and is uncut), Latin American Spanish(great script with minor changes like Chi-Chi being called "Milk", great acting and is uncut) and German (they did their best to correct the shitty French scripts and the acting was great too).

[Bansho64]

Those two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

I know that. Sorry if it seemed like I didn't.

To be honest, the Ocean Group and In-House Funimation Cast both felt like they enjoyed what they had some passion put in. It wasn't that way all the time, and they never did have all that great of script writers, but they have some charm to them.

Eh, I don't really see the passion in the in-house section of Funimation's dub but I love the Ocean group with a passion

The German Dub, from what I've heard, is probably just a notch above Funimation's in-house Dub, but I've never heard it or seen translations, so don't take my word

It's fairly inaccurate but they fixed a lot of the mistakes that were in the French dub with manga translations and they have some beautiful versions of the original Japanese openings and endings. I'd put it a step above the Funi dub just because of the music and because they have some spectacular acting in there, unlike the Funi dub. Here are two clips of the dub. Also, here's a clip of their version of Cha La Head Cha La

The Latin American Dub, as far as I'm aware, while not perfect, is probably the best non-Japanese Dub that's ever been produced. Passionate, uncut, and largely accurate.

I wholeheartedly agree with you here!

I don't know if the French Kai Dub technically fits the criteria here, but I love the way it sounds too.

I was mainly referring to dubs of the original three series, specials, and movies, but Kai is perfectly fine as well! French Kai FTW

[Danfun64]

Unfortunately, most of the various dubs the original three series had weren't that good, partially because of AB Groupe giving out scripts with dub errors, a strong fear of naming secondary characters (and sometimes main characters), and having video footage that cut out whole scenes, regardless of whether the narrative made sense or not. The United States, Brazil, and the Latino nations of the Americas should be considered lucky because they were able to avoid the AB Groupe's hand in the series. (Of course, had Harmony Gold's dub been a success, we would have traded AB Groupe's horrible edits with name changes that have no connection to the original names for the vast majority of characters.)

The Latin American Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese dubs are considered some of the best dubs the three original series ever got. Highly accurate, almost (if not entirely) uncut, and good voice acting.

The original Funimation dubs , despite having some nasty dub errors and cringe worthy lines, were available uncut on dvd, have fairly light edits (and even in the case of the Saban dub, included several scenes which were cut in AB Groupe's dub), had almost no big name changes (the main ones that I could think of being the Crane Hermit being called Shen, the actual "Shen" being called Hero, and of course Mr. Satan being renamed Hercule Poirot in the edited dubs and the video games), and had consistent terminology. In addition, the Pioneer dub of the first 3 DBZ Movies were uncut and extremely accurate, being the most consistently accurate production Funimation was involved with until Kai.

The non-Japanese Asian dubs were AFAIK mostly accurate and mostly uncut.

In Europe, the AB Groupe ruled with an iron fist (LOL)...however Italy was spared from it's influence, having a dub that is (at least mostly) uncut and a comprehensible script. Unfortunately it had a few name changes and simplified the script, sometimes having the narrator... narrate the obvious.

Even though they were sourced from the French dub, and thus inherited its horrible edits if nothing else, the German, Danish, and Blue Water dubs all had scripts that were more comprehensible than the original French scripts, and in at least the case of the first two, vastly more accurate due to using manga translations. (That being said, the German dub of GT was extremely terribly edited to the point that several essential episodes weren't dubbed and had to be subbed for dvd)

The various dubs of Spain mostly stuck with the infamous French dub, however starting with the Android saga switched to using the original Japanese footage because they actually went ahead of the AB Groupe (though the European Spanish dub went on hiatus for years, and when it continued, used the French footage again). Even with the flaws of the script used, the Catalan dub is notable for dubbing most of the insert songs, and the Valencian corrected some of the changed names.

Lastly, the European Portuguese dub used the French dub the whole time, but "made up for it" (YMMV) by making it a gag dub.

edit: I'm sure there are halfway decent dubs that I am forgetting... but oh well.

edit 2: Notable dubs I haven't mentioned are AB Group's Westwood Ocean dub, which mostly uses the Funi script, and the Hindi dub, which uses censored Funi materials, starting with the Saban dub, but when reaching "Season 3" using Kikuchi score with the silence replaced with various Kikuchi tunes.

[Cure Dragon 255]

WOAH WOAH WOAH wait!

Two users who have 64 at the end of their name which are pretty similar? I'm confused! I know I love one of you who is a major fan of the Latin American dub but I cant tell you apart LOL. Sorry if its offtopic but I want to know.

And the Latin American one had a lot of effort in it, I dunno if its the one with the MOST effort, but still.

[Danfun64]

I have no relation to Bansho64. I've had this username (or a variation of it) since long before I actually got into DB.

Unfortunately, everything that isn't an English dub referenced in that last post of mine is hearsay.

[Bansho64]

WOAH WOAH WOAH wait!

Two users who have 64 at the end of their name which are pretty similar? I'm confused! I know I love one of you who is a major fan of the Latin American dub but I cant tell you apart LOL. Sorry if its offtopic but I want to know.

Yup that's me! To make it less confusing, just try to remember the Bansho in my name.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Those two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

I know that. Sorry if it seemed like I didn't.

To be honest, the Ocean Group and In-House Funimation Cast both felt like they enjoyed what they had some passion put in. It wasn't that way all the time, and they never did have all that great of script writers, but they have some charm to them.

Eh, I don't really see the passion in the in-house section of Funimation's dub but I love the Ocean group with a passion

The nice thing about the Saban Ocean dub is, y'know, real actors, & in fact Canada's BEST VA's. They could easily have done an awesome Viz or Geneon dub, as those companies would keep accurate translations & Japanese audio references. Although I do wonder if Goku & Kuririn would be cast with male actors...even some creator-involved dubs such as Kid Icarus Uprising, dub female voices (for male characters) with male actors. & on the same coin, many male-voiced characters are dubbed in Japan by female VA's.

[Trickster]

It's not because I am Brazilian, but our dub is one of, if not THE, best ever made. Some of the best voice actors in our country were cast to be part of the series. That's, I think, one of the reason that DB is so popular in Brazil. Take a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kySqccbHMIk

https://youtu.be/skKG1ervnTE?list=PLNae ... DmY&t=1754

I've already watched DB in english and japanese. I kind of like it too.

[Kakacarrottop]

The nice thing about the Saban Ocean dub is, y'know, real actors, & in fact Canada's BEST VA's..

At the time, a lot of them were just starting out in the voice acting industry, like Brian Drummond and Peter Kelamis for example. It's no secret that FUNimation didn't have a lot of money back in the 90s, so i wouldn't be surprised if they only hired Ocean as a cheaper alternative to other voice acting studios.

[TheBlackPaladin]

The nice thing about the Saban Ocean dub is, y'know, real actors, & in fact Canada's BEST VA's..

At the time, a lot of them were just starting out in the voice acting industry, like Brian Drummond and Peter Kelamis for example. It's no secret that FUNimation didn't have a lot of money back in the 90s, so i wouldn't be surprised if they only hired Ocean as a cheaper alternative to other voice acting studios.

Well...few things.

You're right that, generally speaking, dubbing--whether it's union or non-union--doesn't pay that much. Having said that, going to Ocean was actually one of the more expensive dubbing options at the time. DBZ was an ACTRA (the Canadian actor's union) dub when Ocean was in charge of the voice acting, and the rates for an ACTRA dub are actually higher than the rates for a U.S. union dub. FUNimation didn't go to Ocean to save money, they went to Ocean because they had Saban's money and could afford them. In the interest of taking all factors into account, it would be fair to note that the Canadian dollar wasn't as strong at the time, but nevertheless, by dubbing standards, it was not cheap. When FUNimation lost Saban, they also lost Saban's money, and decided to do a non-union dub in Dallas (which was unheard of at the time).

Non-union dubs don't have official rates and vary from studio to studio and place to place, and I've heard that FUNimation has since raised their rates, but Chris Sabat once said in an interview that, for the first thing FUNimation dubbed in-house (one of the Dragon Ball movies, I forget which one), he received a grand total of $20 for playing Yamcha.

Also, in the case of Brian Drummond...it's kinda true that he was just starting out, but it wasn't his first role. He had already voiced some characters for G.I. Joe Extreme, and I think maybe one or two other things. It's true that DBZ was his first dubbing role, so he was newish, but he wasn't brand new.

[Cetra]

The German dub is still widly inaccruate but they did try to fix what was given to them.

Only the filler parts. The rest is based on the German manga which had Junko Iwamoto-Seebeck and her husband. And Junko Iwamoto is a Japanese native speaker. Except some saummarized parts or some parts that were purposely changed to be funnier in the manga the translation is very good. So is the anime version then.

[Bansho64]

Only the filler parts. The rest is based on the German manga which had Junko Iwamoto-Seebeck and her husband. And Junko Iwamoto is a Japanese native speaker. Except some saummarized parts or some parts that were purposely changed to be funnier in the manga the translation is very good. So is the anime version then.

Really?! That's great! My bad bro. I was going off of what I had heard.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Only the filler parts. The rest is based on the German manga which had Junko Iwamoto-Seebeck and her husband. And Junko Iwamoto is a Japanese native speaker. Except some saummarized parts or some parts that were purposely changed to be funnier in the manga the translation is very good. So is the anime version then.

Really?! That's great! My bad bro. I was going off of what I had heard.

Well, I've heard what you've heard too, Bansho64, and from somebody who is German. Sometimes it's hard to factually qualify how "good" or "bad" a dub is. There's some subjectivity involved. Even with FUNimation's Kai dub, there's some debate over how good it is. The general consensus--on Kanzenshuu, anyway--is that it's a massive improvement, but whether it was enough of an improvement will vary from person to person. For me, it totally was (and then some!), but others, for understandable reasons, don't think it was.

[Kakacarrottop]

FUNimation didn't go to Ocean to save money, they went to Ocean because they had Saban's money and could afford them. In the interest of taking all factors into account, it would be fair to note that the Canadian dollar wasn't as strong at the time, but nevertheless, by dubbing standards, it was not cheap. When FUNimation lost Saban, they also lost Saban's money, and decided to do a non-union dub in Dallas (which was unheard of at the time).

But Funimation also used Ocean in the 1995 Dragon Ball dub, which Saban had nothing to do with. Where is the source claiming Saban financially assisted Funimation? From what i've gathered, all they did was distribution and music, as was the case with many other mid-90s shows like Spider-Man The Animated Series.

I don't think Funimation were forced to get rid of Ocean, they likely just wanted to maximize their profits by cutting travel expenses and using cheap actors.

[sangofe]

It's not because I am Brazilian, but our dub is one of, if not THE, best ever made. Some of the best voice actors in our country were cast to be part of the series. That's, I think, one of the reason that DB is so popular in Brazil. Take a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kySqccbHMIk

https://youtu.be/skKG1ervnTE?list=PLNae ... DmY&t=1754

I've already watched DB in english and japanese. I kind of like it too.

I don't know about the script quality, but one of the Korean dubs have really good character voices. The Danish dub is not too bad either.

[Bansho64]

Well, I've heard what you've heard too, Bansho64, and from somebody who is German. Sometimes it's hard to factually qualify how "good" or "bad" a dub is. There's some subjectivity involved. Even with FUNimation's Kai dub, there's some debate over how good it is. The general consensus--on Kanzenshuu, anyway--is that it's a massive improvement, but whether it was enough of an improvement will vary from person to person. For me, it totally was (and then some!), but others, for understandable reasons, don't think it was.

Yeah, I've heard a mixture of opinions coming from German fans. Some say it's garbage, some say it's ok, some say it's great. Same with the fans of the in-house section of the Funimation dub.

Like you say, there is some subjectivity involved when judging a dub. Everyone has their own opinion about them. I'm a bit mixed on the German one though.