Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

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Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by MasenkoHA » Tue Oct 02, 2018 9:27 am

So now I finally started getting to watch DBZ the series in Japanese and I gotta say I’m not sure if I can really understand the “I can’t watch this because Goku is voiced by a woman” complaints. It’s basically a very boyish voice which suits Goku as a character that he’s kind of a big kid at heart (also I’m impressed how different Goku and Gohan sound).

If anything Japanese Piccolo is the voice I’m having the hardest time adjusting to. It’s just so.... normal? I think that’s the only one so far where I like A English voice better (Scott Mcneil) Radditz and Nappa’s Japanese voiced are really cool.

It’s also fun comparing the this to the Funi dub. A lot of the dialog so far is basically the same (though the dub is a lot more wordy and had much less silence) but then some dialog is entirely altered. Like they completely omitted Vegeta and Nappa discussing how powerful Saiyan/Earth hybrids are and Nappa wondering if they should procreate a race of hybrids on earth and Vegeta dismissing it because they would be the ones in trouble

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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by BlazingFiddlesticks » Tue Oct 02, 2018 1:05 pm

The amount of time of it takes to acclimate to her voice and the whiplash of hearing it out of an adult Goku to fade it terribly overstated, for sure- I didn't regularly watch in Japanese until I started picking up FUNi releases in 2009 and the "transition" was almost instant simply because everything was so good. How this woman can voice six people and counting with different tones of the same voice that distinct to the ear is astounding. It just so happens to be longer than 3 minute Youtube clips that often throw her screaming into unsuspecting ears, and while Super has helped to a great degree I'm sure, that Nozawa is in her 80s voicing a "composite" Goku does not help. Furukawa Piccolo is kind of the odd man out compared to the rest of the villains sounding so consciously evil, but it serves where the character went and he may have been cast with that mind.
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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by Forte224 » Tue Oct 02, 2018 1:14 pm

It just so happens to be longer than 3 minute Youtube clips that often throw her screaming into unsuspecting ears
I agree with this. It's nearly impossible to adjust to any dub through YouTube clips, which is where a large majority of people consume Dragon Ball these days I think, particularly older Dragon Ball media. I was the same way, I absolutely hated English Kai and the original Japanese voices, but I limited myself to only watching clips on YouTube.

Actually sitting down and watching the show in Japanese quickly felt natural, and then the superior voice work became more and more evident, including Nozawa as Goku. And yes, Nozawa's Goku certainly doesn't sound like any woman I've ever heard, Japanese or otherwise. He sounds like he should, a naive, fun loving guy that never really grew up.

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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by Jaetinh » Tue Oct 02, 2018 6:04 pm

Piccolo's JP voice is badass. Same voice actor as Ace from One Piece, too cool.

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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by Robo4900 » Tue Oct 02, 2018 7:19 pm

Forte224 wrote:
BlazingFiddlesticks wrote:It just so happens to be longer than 3 minute Youtube clips that often throw her screaming into unsuspecting ears
I agree with this. It's nearly impossible to adjust to any dub through YouTube clips, which is where a large majority of people consume Dragon Ball these days I think, particularly older Dragon Ball media. I was the same way, I absolutely hated English Kai and the original Japanese voices, but I limited myself to only watching clips on YouTube.
See also: People hating on all the alternate dubs based on short YouTube clips.

The non-mainstream versions of Dragon Ball that people tend to hate on -- the Ocean dubs, the Japanese version, the Blue Water dubs... The pre-Raditz era in general, for a lot of people -- only really get their reputation from people just not giving them a chance, and just throwing hate around because it's different from what they're used to.
Everyone who's a really big fan of Dragon Ball should try to gain an appreciation of all the versions of Dragon Ball they can; every version is valid for one reason or another, and understanding the value of each version can give you a lot. Who knows, in some cases you might find something, even just a minor part of something, that you prefer to what had previously been your main version...

Long as you keep an open mind, and remember that these versions aren't competing with each-other(Despite the way many frame "Ocean vs Funimation" discussions -- these different versions of Dragon Ball kind of all exist in their own space, in harmony with each-other), you'll probably really enjoy branching out your enjoyment of Dragon Ball into alternate versions.

... Then someday, read the manga, and put all your favourite voices on the characters in your head. :D
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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by KBABZ » Tue Oct 02, 2018 8:22 pm

It's no coincidence that the people unwilling to watch the show in Japanese are almost always the same people who refuse to watch the show from the start when that voice was first used.

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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by Forte224 » Tue Oct 02, 2018 10:24 pm

Robo4900 wrote:
Forte224 wrote:
BlazingFiddlesticks wrote:It just so happens to be longer than 3 minute Youtube clips that often throw her screaming into unsuspecting ears
I agree with this. It's nearly impossible to adjust to any dub through YouTube clips, which is where a large majority of people consume Dragon Ball these days I think, particularly older Dragon Ball media. I was the same way, I absolutely hated English Kai and the original Japanese voices, but I limited myself to only watching clips on YouTube.
... Then someday, read the manga, and put all your favourite voices on the characters in your head. :D
Yeah reading the manga these days is the funniest thing to me. I'm well educated on several different versions and dubs and love aspects of each, despite being a primarily Japanese fan. But when I read the manga I don't hear any of those voices. I just hear the ones my own head comes up with. Which is pretty cool honestly.

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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by Blondiebear_17 » Wed Oct 03, 2018 1:56 am

I didn't really watch any of the Japanese till Super I had a preconceived opinion of it because of small samples on Youtube. I think Masako Nozawa as Goku is an acquired taste. I love her as Goku now after having spent like 130 episodes with her as Goku but it's really hard to get used to at first. It's just a lot more common in Japan to hear women voice male characters wheras thats just not the case in North America. I mean of course little boys are always voice by women but it's very few and far between that you will hear about a lady voicing an older male character in anime I can only think of Maile Flanagan as Naruto and Sarah Strange as Ranma and they both do it really well in my opinion. I feel like I see the dub and sub Goku as really different characters one is this friendly oafish characters and one is like an innocent man child. I just like the childlike quality Masako Nozawa gives Goku it really makes me happy. I think Masako Nozawa's Goku is a little more special because it sounds really unique I get hyped whenever she is yelling it's kinda shrill but it's satisfying.

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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by 8000 Saiyan » Wed Oct 03, 2018 4:04 am

MasenkoHA wrote:So now I finally started getting to watch DBZ the series in Japanese and I gotta say I’m not sure if I can really understand the “I can’t watch this because Goku is voiced by a woman” complaints. It’s basically a very boyish voice which suits Goku as a character that he’s kind of a big kid at heart (also I’m impressed how different Goku and Gohan sound).

If anything Japanese Piccolo is the voice I’m having the hardest time adjusting to. It’s just so.... normal? I think that’s the only one so far where I like A English voice better (Scott Mcneil) Radditz and Nappa’s Japanese voiced are really cool.

It’s also fun comparing the this to the Funi dub. A lot of the dialog so far is basically the same (though the dub is a lot more wordy and had much less silence) but then some dialog is entirely altered. Like they completely omitted Vegeta and Nappa discussing how powerful Saiyan/Earth hybrids are and Nappa wondering if they should procreate a race of hybrids on earth and Vegeta dismissing it because they would be the ones in trouble
Well, people look at Goku's design and think he shouldn't sound high-pitched, forgetting that even Mike Tyson has a high voice. And besides, considering that Goku is childish in nature, it fits him very well. Goku IS NOT Kenshiro or Jotaro Kujo.

I do understand why they would be put off at the first time they'd hear it, though. Oddly enough, that wasn't the case for me when I first heard Nozawa as Adult Goku. I just accepted it because Goku is a very childish character, coupled with the fact that Dragon Ball is NOT a realistic show in any way. My first reaction to Nozawa's Adult Goku is the complete opposite of my reaction to Kotono Mitsuishi's Sailor Moon.
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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by MasenkoHA » Wed Oct 03, 2018 7:35 am

^I think Kotono Mitsuishi’s voice it is really cute. Only Tracey Moore (the first English voice actress for like the first 11 ish episodes of the Dic dub) comes close to matching the youthful energy.

Blondiebear_17 wrote:I didn't really watch any of the Japanese till Super I had a preconceived opinion of it because of small samples on Youtube. I think Masako Nozawa as Goku is an acquired taste. I love her as Goku now after having spent like 130 episodes with her as Goku but it's really hard to get used to at first.
I disagree strongly. Her voice as Adult Goku was quite easy to adjust to. It doesn’t sound like “Wow Goku has a woman’s voice” it sounds like a childish boy voice. Fitting of Goku.

I honestly had a harder time adjusting to Kelamis surfer
bro Goku.

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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by Majin Buu » Wed Oct 03, 2018 9:34 am

This is something I honestly never needed to adjust to.

I'm going to paraphrase something Mike has said on the podcast about this since it applies to me: It never occurred to me for a second that this is not how Goku should sound like. For me it was simply "this is what Goku sounds like in Japanese, ok".

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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by KorgDTR2000 » Fri Oct 05, 2018 10:15 pm

I think context is the key.

To the Japanese audience, Goku was basically Bart SImpson. As in, he was introduced as a child. And in Japan as in America young boys are usually voiced by women. So for years that child's voice was associated with the character. Then the character grew up and they kept the same actress. Why? I reckon it's the same reason Nancy Cartwright voices Bart whenever Bart is portrayed as an adult. It's the character's voice, and the voice creates so much of that character.

To the American audience Goku was introduced as an adult. Dragon Ball was essentially a prequel explaining how the series got to Z. So when someone who has only experienced DB the American way, the Japanese way is odd due to that different context.

To demonstrate the point, Goku's first scene as an adult plays very differently in the two languages. In English the voice being different tells us it's Goku. In English Schemmel's sudden appearance indicates that Dragon Ball is almost over and Z is about to begin, it's one of the last pieces of the "how we got there" puzzle. In Japanese the voice being the same tells us it's Goku, and is used to sell the plot twist that Goku has actually grown up. So they're opposite but the same.

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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by Cure Dragon 255 » Sat Oct 06, 2018 7:52 pm

Dont forget that most countries did start with Dragon Ball and they did change the voice. So for these people it was "OH SHIT GOKU GREW UP. AWESOME".
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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by Tian » Sun Oct 07, 2018 4:43 am

It took me a long while to get used to Masako's Goku. 9 years to be exact...

The first time I heard her was in Final Bout and my foreign ears didn't find the voice childish but the opposite of that, older like a granny.

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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by MasenkoHA » Sun Oct 07, 2018 2:36 pm

Tian wrote:
The first time I heard her was in Final Bout and my foreign ears didn't find the voice childish but the opposite of that, older like a granny.
I....what?

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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by Tian » Sun Oct 07, 2018 2:47 pm

MasenkoHA wrote:
Tian wrote:
The first time I heard her was in Final Bout and my foreign ears didn't find the voice childish but the opposite of that, older like a granny.
I....what?
Oops, sorry for not expressing clearly. What I meant, it's that Goku sounded like an old woman to me when I first played that game. With the foreign ears thing, I meant that since I'm from another country and I don't speak the native language of the series, hearing a grown up man with an old woman voice was really weird (You know, a cultural barrier).

When Super came out, I finally understood why Masako was voicing Goku and I got used to her voice : In the Japanese version, Goku is a man-child who also happens to be one of the strongest warriors in the universe. In my country's dub and the English dub, it's the other way around, Goku is one of the strongest warriors in the universe who also happens to be a man-child.

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Re: Another omg Goku is voiced by a woman in Japanese discussion

Post by SmugStick » Sun Oct 07, 2018 7:07 pm

I watched dragon ball in Spanish for most of my life before switching to Japanese when I was 14. Best decision. Goku instantly felt more natural and alive than ever. Now I don’t think anyone could match Nozawa as Goku, though I still love some other dubs. If anything, I don’t think Sean fits him as it feels too rough. Goku is more fitting as the happy-filled Nozawa voice.
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