How did they get most of the original Japanese VA to reprise their roles in Kai/Super?

[precita]

With the exception of some of the voice actors who passed away or got too old, the majority of the original Dragonball voice actors from 25+ years ago came back to reprise their characters in Kai and Super. Given Dragonball in Japan is double as old as the FUNI dub is, the Japanese voice cast has aged tremendously over the years. Goku's VA being 79 years old says enough in itself.

But how did they get them all back? After a 20+ year span in real life? After most of them had done different jobs, retired, gotten too old, etc? I'm impressed that we have nearly the same voice cast in Super as all the original cast from 20+ years ago. Even going as far to track them down out of obscurity to bring them back. How did they do it?

[nickzambuto]

Well it's not as if it's been 25 years since they worked on Dragon Ball, what with the constant video games. It probably wasn't that hard, Dragon Ball was always a presence on their careers. And presumably, the actors all like each other and like their characters, so why wouldn't they agree to reprise?

[TheBlackPaladin]

Besides what has already been mentioned, I'm sure it was just a matter of Toei making a quick call to their agents and saying, "Hey, we're working on a new Dragon Ball project," then some rate negotiations probably happened, and then they came back.

[precita]

But what if some of them didn't want to come back? Did they make sure the salary was high enough to warrant them being put back to work? Some of the voice actors weren't doing much work anymore, so I'm curious how they brought them out of the woodwork and from obscurity into a weekly series again.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Without being behind the scenes of the negotiations, we'll never know for sure. They may have paid the voice actors quite handsomely, but they may not have.

I learned a while back that the way Japanese voice actors get paid is through a ranking system that takes into account both experience and popularity, explained here. If a seiyuu gets enough experience and enough popularity, however, they escape the ranking system entirely and become a "No Rank"-seiyuu, meaning that they (and, I would think, their agents) are allowed to negotiate a rate above the rate guaranteed by the highest rank ("A Rank"). So, if you're a "No Rank"-seiyuu, it means you're a pretty big deal in the Japanese voice acting industry.

With Dragon Ball, it's a safe assumption that there are quite a few "No Rank"-seiyuus involved, given the immense popularity and experience of those involved (and you'll notice that in the link I provided, Masako Nozawa is pictured next to "No Rank"). Even if the seiyuus weren't "No Rank" during the original run of the shows, I'm sure it's reasonable to assume that a few of them became "No Rank" seiyuus by the time Kai rolled around. So, they may have been getting paid quite well......

....But on the other hand.....

The presence of all these "No Rank"-seiyuus has made Dragon Ball productions a little on the expensive side to produce, and we have reason to believe that even with Kai, Toei was running into budget problems. VegettoEX attended a panel with Yuji Mitsuya (the Japanese voice for Kaioshin) in 2010, and there was one exchange that was rather notable with regard to this discussion:

I managed to get in the last question he had time for. It was still quite a ways off, but did he know if he would be returning to voice Kaiôshin in DragonBall Kai…? The answer that we received confirmed quite a bit about the show’s production.

Mitsuya knew exactly what we were talking about, and admitted that he was not yet sure, himself. Being a director more than a voice actor, he is friends with the director of DragonBall Kai and has already expressed his desire to return to the role. What he told us next spoke volumes in very few words — he was unsure if they would be able to afford him, and if the series would even make it that far. He even slyly mumbled that he would be willing to take the job at a reduced rate!

With the entirety of Ginyu-Tokusentai being replaced with new voice actors (including Kenji Utsumi as Recoom, despite him returning to the show to voice Shenlong), along with plenty of other voice actors that have become much bigger in the industry since their roles in DragonBall, it has really made us wonder just how expensive DragonBall Kai actually is to produce, despite us always describing it as “cheap” and “a money-grab” and “half-assed” in almost every way. Hujio and I later discussed how it seems that these days we get confirmations of actors returning either very close to their first appearance in the series… or not at all. Many times it will not even come from the official site for the series, and instead from the actors themselves or their fan communities (such as the case with #17).

Branching off of that, we could not help but speculate further. Was the licensing of Kai to FUNimation for American distribution a way to raise quick capital to fund the further production of the series? When it was first announced, it was clear that the series would go through at least the Freeza arc, since the villain was clearly shown on all production materials. The fact that it would be moving onward into the next story arc with Cell was a very casual “announcement."

If I had to speculate based on this, my guess is that offers were made to several of the seiyuus that didn't return, but that it wasn't enough for them. It's quite possible that Toei saved their voice actor budget for roles in descending order of importance, with Masako Nozawa getting top priority. If there were several "No Rank"-seiyuus involved--which there probably were--that may have eaten into the budget to afford some of the other members of the original cast. Ultimately, though, we'll never know.

[TheGreatness25]

Why? Did the VAs turn down multi-million dollar deals to reprise their roles in DB? It's a job and when it's offered, you take it. Obviously they didn't have anything too important they had to give up to come back.

Those that didn't come back didn't necessarily want more money or whatever; they might have legitimately had scheduling conflicts. See Tim Daly for Justice League.

[Cure Dragon 255]

They dont get paid millions. They do get paid a lot but not that.

Also THANK YOU TheBlackPaladin for bringing up that interview. Its a favorite of mine!

[TheGreatness25]

They dont get paid millions. They do get paid a lot but not that.

Also THANK YOU TheBlackPaladin for bringing up that interview. Its a favorite of mine!

I think you misread. I said it's not like they turned down millions in favor of reprising their roles. That was my polite way of saying "They didn't have shit else to do."

[Cure Dragon 255]

You do know that the voice actors do have other roles? They dont sit in their asses waiting for Dragon Ball. They are no Rank because they are industry veterans with lots of talent and experience.

[TheGreatness25]

Well obviously they didn't have anything that conflicted with them making Dragon Ball Kai/Super. While they do have other roles, they can work on different roles at one time. So obviously they didn't have anything holding them back from doing this. It's a job and when there's work available, they take it. Dragon Ball Kai/Super was available so they took it. What's the big mystery?

[huzaifa_ahmed]

I'm not totally sure what the production cost of anime VO generally. As VegettoEX rightfully points out in that article, it is kind of shameful that any sort of understanding certain fans (namely, me) have of Japanese VO is basically due to their relations/counterparts with dub VAs. My justification being that, not speaking English, their performances are more-or-less a novelty for me, rather than "the way" to watch a serious animated thing.

Point being is that my point of reference for budgets is through dub budgets, which range from 6000 (Sentai, lower FUNi) to 10,000 (Animaze/Bandai), per episode. Obviously, it's post-production for a smaller audience, so it's going to be far lower-budget than the native versions. I'm guessing that the VO budget/cost is around 50-75k, certainly below $100k. But I'm not sure.

EDIT: Moreover, in comparison to the FUNi dub's lack of reprisals, this whole thing was a Japanese production with far fewer issues of miscasts (arguably, according to some ), & there really wasnt much to be replaced. & (largely) the money was all there, & it's not like there was any animating to be done, mainly just VO recordings, so the budget wasnt too bad.

[Cure Dragon 255]

For someone who claims no importance is given to the Original Seiyuu of any given Japanese production, you seem oddly fond of bringing up American voice actors. This conversation was solely about Seiyuu until you came.

[DBZAOTA482]

For a franchise as huge as Dragon Ball, why wouldn't the seiyuus reprise their roles?

[TheBlackPaladin]

For a franchise as huge as Dragon Ball, why wouldn't the seiyuus reprise their roles?

I can think of three possible reasons.

1) Because they weren't offered enough money. Actors have been known to turn down roles for this reason, even roles they were iconic for. Even in Dragon Ball, for that matter...there are tons and tons of stories about Kai dubs where various voice actors didn't come back and money was revealed to be the issue. That's all we know for a fact, but I would speculate that there are probably a fair amount of "No Rank"-seiyuus involved, which would make the voice acting fees for Dragon Ball shows unusually large for a show like that.

2) They auditioned again, and were turned down. Some people audition again, and the director decides they just aren't able to deliver what they used to be able to.

3) Too vocally stressful. Easily the least likely of the three, and the reason I put it last. However, I'd have to imagine all that screaming is probably quite hard on some of the older voice actors...it's tough enough for the young ones.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Yuko Minaguchi refused to be Videl again on Kai because she was too sad from Daisuke Gori's death and to a lesser extent Isamu Tanonaka's death.

That and that she went to the USA or the UK to study english.

[Marty Kirra]

Like mentioned earlier in this thread, with the frequency of the games coming out, the original cast has pretty much been working on Dragon Ball non-stop for the past several years. Also, on the other hand, and bearing in mind that I don't know if this is true, but it really seems like Japanese studios in general have an easier time getting actors to come back for projects or record lines. Even if it's a bit part, usually they're able to make it happen. I'm not sure if this is just mostly a seiyuu mentality or the studios are willing to pay actors more to return no matter the circumstances, but it's pretty nice.

I had no idea about the ranking system, that's pretty crazy!

[8000 Saiyan]

Because the Japanese VA's have been associated with these characters for 30 years. I can imagine how Japanese fans would react if Nozawa didn't reprise for Kai.

[precita]

Because the Japanese VA's have been associated with these characters for 30 years. I can imagine how Japanese fans would react if Nozawa didn't reprise for Kai.

Well she's 79 now, she may have to step down due to health issues within the next few years. If Super is still running by then I don't know what they're going to do.

For the videogames they could always just re-use old sound clips, but I can't see them recasting Goku (not to mention Gohan, and Goten) after 30 years. All of Dragonball should crash and burn if Nozawa retired or gets sick.

[UltimateHammerBro]

Because the Japanese VA's have been associated with these characters for 30 years. I can imagine how Japanese fans would react if Nozawa didn't reprise for Kai.

Well she's 79 now, she may have to step down due to health issues within the next few years. If Super is still running by then I don't know what they're going to do.

I assume they'd try to find a replacement actress who could do a decent impersonation of Nozawa, then let her gradually take the characters into her own territory.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Well she's 79 now, she may have to step down due to health issues within the next few years. If Super is still running by then I don't know what they're going to do.

I assume they'd try to find a replacement actress who could do a decent impersonation of Nozawa, then let her gradually take the characters into her own territory.

I think that's what they'll do too. As much as I have come to love Nozawa's performance (quite a change from my earlier years on Kanzenshuu), it's not as though iconic roles haven't been recast before. Just look at James Bond.

PS/Edit: WOW, I found some pretty great info on the Japanese voice acting business that may further explain the re-casts. Akio Otsuka wrote a book about this surprisingly complex business, and somebody wrote a blog post--in English--containing a lot of highlights from the book. They described the ranking system a bit differently (they use numbers instead of letters), but that was the only discrepancy I could find.

It really is a fascinating read, but one of the recurring themes that stuck out to me was that even seiyuus who aren't "No Rank" can still end up being relatively expensive because they don't just get a per-episode fee. Apparently seiyuus do indeed make residuals after all. However, unlike residuals over in the U.S., which are calculated as a percentage of the money the show earns, residuals in Japan are calculated based on a formula that takes the seiyuu's current rank (not their rank at the time of recording) into account. In other words, if a seiyuu moves up in rank, their residual payments get more expensive as well. As a result...

1) Producers stop airing older anime because it becomes cost-prohibitive to pay the residuals.

2) A trend has caught on in which the producers have begun to prefer inexperienced "Junior Rank"-seiyuus (the rank with the lowest possible pay) who are entertaining in some other way, like being good looking. When I say "prefer," I mean like they're getting the lead roles more and more often.

3)Producers aren't necessarily looking for the best possible actor for each part.

4) Going up a rank can actually hurt a seiyuu's career, because they eventually become too expensive. If they bring in enough viewers to be worth it, then fine, but if a "Junior Rank"-seiyuu can't really act and was hired more for publicity than anything else (which is becoming more common), then as soon as they start ascending to higher ranks...all of a sudden, their careers take a nose dive, because the producers essentially say, "You can't act and you're too expensive. You've served your use. See 'ya."

This explains a lot, even with Dragon Ball Kai. It explains why the Ginyu Force/Ginyu Tokusentai were recast, it explains why some of the more veteran voice actors only came back for some roles, and it explains why there were some instances of "stunt casting."