Does English Dragon Ball need higher profile actors?

[WittyUsername]

This is never going to happen, since the vast majority of anime dubs are non-union, but do the English versions of the franchise require more union “Hollywood” actors like James Marsters, in order to be of acceptable quality? Again, this will obviously never happen, but I do sometimes find myself wishing that Willem Dafoe would somehow voice a character like Beerus.

[Matches Malone]

I don't think you need anyone "high profile" to get quality. On the topic of Beerus' voice, I think Jason Douglas is perfect for him, just as Chris Ayres is perfect for Freeza.

When it comes to Vegeta however, I think it's about time Sabat stepped down for someone like this guy, as he clearly captures what makes Vegeta who he is, only second to Horikawa in my honest opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oISqn135sE

[SupremeKai25]

Maybe, why not? James Marsters was 10/10 as Zamasu, so if he's the norm then sure, bring on more high profile actors.

[Robo4900]

I mean, the modern dubs from Funi are already perfectly acceptable.

Naturally, if they could get higher-profile actors, they'd be able to take advantage of the really high standard of performance of these kinds of actors, and that would be great, but Funimation are doing pretty well with what they've got these days; their cast has grown A LOT since the days of a bunch of inexperienced nobodies being hired in 1999.

[LoganForkHands73]

I don't think you need anyone "high profile" to get quality. On the topic of Beerus' voice, I think Jason Douglas is perfect for him, just as Chris Ayres is perfect for Freeza.

When it comes to Vegeta however, I think it's about time Sabat stepped down for someone like this guy, as he clearly captures what makes Vegeta who he is, only second to Horikawa in my honest opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oISqn135sE

[kemuri07]

Nah. If the Ghibli english dubs prove anything, it's that successful actors talents do not always translate into voice acting. It is a different beast altogether. With the exception of Spirited Away, most of the Ghibli Dubs are mediocre.

[MasenkoHA]

I don’t think Funimation can afford “higher profile actors”

Even James Masters isn’t exactly a A lister and I think he did Dragon Ball Evolution and Super because his son’s a big fan.


Regardless of how one feels about the Funi cast most of them have been doing their role(s) since 1999 and short of Funimation losing the license and a new licensee dubbing somewhere other than Texas, they’re not going anywhere.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

We also got Peter Mayhew in the GT Special, so there is always the chance of a cameo here and there from actors of that level of fame. I wouldn't necessarily say they would be needed for main roles as Funimation's cast are fantastic as is, if it happens, great, if it doesn't, no big deal either.

[Robo4900]

Regardless of how one feels about the Funi cast most of them have been doing their role(s) since 1999 and short of Funimation losing the license and a new licensee dubbing somewhere other than Texas, they’re not going anywhere.

If Toei did a round of recasts in Japan for a reboot series or something, it's possible they would insist on the English side also doing new castings.

But, yeah, other than something exceptional like that, the Funi cast are here to stay. (And despite their faults when they were just starting out, they're doing great work nowadays)

Even James Masters isn’t exactly a A lister and I think he did Dragon Ball Evolution and Super because his son’s a big fan.

IIRC he himself became a fan of the show, which is a big reason he did Super.

[WittyUsername]

James Marsters has said for years that he’s a fan of the franchise (or at least DBZ). I believe it was also stated back in the day that he was the one who convinced the executives at Fox to let Piccolo be green, though I’m not sure if that rumor is true or not. I just remember hearing that Fox apparently wanted Piccolo to be “handsome”, and that the initial teaser for the film showed him without green skin.

Anyway, yeah, FUNimation probably wouldn’t have been able to get him if he didn’t already have a certain degree of fondness for the franchise, and if he didn’t feel that he had something to prove after DBE.

[Thanos]

I mean, the modern dubs from Funi are already perfectly acceptable.

Several of the mainstay actors have elevated themselves, through sheer brute force of time and practice, to competent voice acting abilities. You could pretty much take any rando off the street, throw them in a recording booth, and 15 years later come back to someone with some degree of competence--in fact, I'd argue that's exactly what FUNimation did. However, a lot of them still feel horribly miscast in the vain of Linda Young's Freeza. Probably the worst offender is Kaio. It's just unbearable. Or Mr. Buu's third-person baby talk is top-shelf cringe. Trunks still sounds like an overacted generic anime hero from the 90's, Vegeta sounds like... not an actual human being (with the exception of early Kai before they did a 180 and decided to appeal to the nostalgia crowd). Bulma hasn't had a good English voice since the 80's. I could go on really, but FUNimation would've done well to do a fresh recast when they picked up Kai. I think that's the main issue, not the renoun or status of the actors themselves, but the casting choices. Most of the casting choices made over the last decade or so have been solid (Freeza, Beerus/Whis, etc.), and that's down to FUNimation no longer being a team of five people with a VHS and toaster for a studio. The voices that have been the same since the 90's are holdovers from that cursed era.

I mean, I guess it's... fine as-is, but in terms of quality and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the original work, they have their work ahead of them.

[WittyUsername]

I have not noticed any change in Chris Sabat’s Vegeta voice between the early episode of DBZK and now. The voice has pretty much stayed the same since 2010.

[JulieYBM]

My man Chris could be literally just using his regular voice and already all 93 of his characters would sound more bearable.

But yeah, remember, there's a reason why FUNimation stays in a non-union state: more money for the executives.

[Robo4900]

James Marsters has said for years that he’s a fan of the franchise (or at least DBZ).

Yeah. I think he wasn't a fan before Evolution, but when he signed on, he binge-watched a ton of it with his son?...

Apparently he mostly watched Z before Evolution, but watched OG DB as well afterwards. I think his role in Super is probably largely down to the fact he liked the show a lot.

[...]

To be honest, at this point, I do have trouble tolerating a lot of Funi's castings... But 99% of that is just down to the fact their performance is still largely modelled after the Ocean castings who I'm more familiar with, so I can't really judge it. But the ones that don't sound like the Ocean VAs, IMO they do great nowadays.
Particularly, IMO, Chris Sabat as Vegeta is really good. In Kai, he stepped up his game in a big way.

[WittyUsername]

Outside of maybe Sean Schemmel’s Kaioh/King Kai (and even that has changed over the years), I don’t hear any lingering attempts to imitate the Ocean voice actors at this point.

[TheBlackPaladin]

They definitely don't "need" higher-profile actors, no. They need actors who are good at their job--and thankfully, they have that.

I'll also let you guys in on a...not a secret per say, but something that's not talked about super-often. Quite often, when a descision is made to hire a celebrity for animation voice acting work--both pre-lay and dubbing--what actually happens is that they'll hire a working-class voice actor who works a lot in that field to come in and record a track first, known as the "scratch track." Then, when the production company decides what celebrity actor they want, they have the celebrity actor come in and just mimic the scratch track.

The reason for that is because many actors who primarily specialize in on-camera acting...just aren't good at voice acting. Many of them can't even dub their own on-camera performances, and the production companies will hire a non-celebrity sound-alike to dub over the celebrity's dialogue for takes that need to be dubbed over for whatever reason (performance isn't good, too much noise in the background on set that day for that take to be usable, etc.). There are absolutely exceptions, don't get me wrong. What I said is certainly not meant to be a universal statement. I'm taking a class on ADR/dub script-writing at the moment, and I learned there that apparently Sean Connery prefers to do his own ADR and is crazy-good at dubbing, usually only needing 1-2 takes to dub his lines. He's a special exception to the norm, though.

My point is that talent and a great performance will always, always, always mean more to me than how high-profile the actor is.

[MasenkoHA]

. Probably the worst offender is Kaio. It's just unbearable

It actually got way worse circa Kai than it did in 1999 imo. I’m at a total loss on why it wasn’t recast. Not like Schemmel needs the work

. Bulma hasn't had a good English voice since the 80's.

Wendee Lee did reprise Bulma in the Bang Zoom dub at least.


I quite liked Linda Lindgberg.

Monica Rial isn’t bad just a tad “generic anime lady voice” imo. Better than Vollmer

I could go on really, but FUNimation would've done well to do a fresh recast when they picked up Kai. I think that's the main issue, not the renoun or status of the actors themselves, but the casting choices. Most of the casting choices made over the last decade or so have been solid (Freeza, Beerus/Whis, etc.), and that's down to FUNimation no longer being a team of five people with a VHS and toaster for a studio. The voices that have been the same since the 90's are holdovers from that cursed era.

I mean, I guess it's... fine as-is, but in terms of quality and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the original work, they have their work ahead of them.

They should have at least had done open auditions

And there’s really no reason for Sabat to still being voicing Yumcha, Piccolo, Vegeta, and Shenron

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

. Probably the worst offender is Kaio. It's just unbearable

It actually got way worse circa Kai than it did in 1999 imo. I’m at a total loss on why it wasn’t recast. Not like Schemmel needs the work

. Bulma hasn't had a good English voice since the 80's.

Wendee Lee did reprise Bulma in the Bang Zoom dub at least.


I quite liked Linda Lindgberg.

Monica Rial isn’t bad just a tad “generic anime lady voice” imo. Better than Vollmer

I could go on really, but FUNimation would've done well to do a fresh recast when they picked up Kai. I think that's the main issue, not the renoun or status of the actors themselves, but the casting choices. Most of the casting choices made over the last decade or so have been solid (Freeza, Beerus/Whis, etc.), and that's down to FUNimation no longer being a team of five people with a VHS and toaster for a studio. The voices that have been the same since the 90's are holdovers from that cursed era

I mean, I guess it's... fine as-is, but in terms of quality and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the original work, they have their work ahead of them.

They should have at least had done open auditions

And there’s really no reason for Sabat to still being voicing Yumcha, Piccolo, Vegeta, and Shenron

They really should've recast Kaio when preparing for Kai's dub, because as much as Schemmel has improved in playing Goku from Kai onwards (though even then not quite nailing all scenes at times) his Kaio on the other hand is still as forced and unnatural a performance presently as back in 1999.

[WittyUsername]

I feel pretty confident in saying that Sean Schemmel’s Kaio/King Kai sounded worse back in 1999. I’m still not crazy about the voice nowadays, but back then, he sounded like someone who was doing a generic imitation of a fat person.

[MasenkoHA]

I feel pretty confident in saying that Sean Schemmel’s Kaio/King Kai sounded worse back in 1999. I’m still not crazy about the voice nowadays, but back then, he sounded like someone who was doing a generic imitation of a fat person.

Yep it started out as a pseudo Don Brown impression that evolved into that unlistenable thing it is now.

Kind of like Nadolny starting with a half decent Henderson impression that became the chain smoker voice that eventually went into that nasally take.