Opinions on the original Funi Dragon Ball dub

[WittyUsername]

A bit unrelated, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that anime dubs and dubs in general might as well not exist. Parasite demonstrated that English speaking audiences are perfectly capable of watching something with subtitles, and dubs pretty much always have to bear the stigma of not living up to the original, so why bother?

[Dbzk1999]

A bit unrelated, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that anime dubs and dubs in general might as well not exist. Parasite demonstrated that English speaking audiences are perfectly capable of watching something with subtitles, and dubs pretty much always have to bear the stigma of not living up to the original, so why bother?

I mean, first and foremost, there’s y’know, people that literally can’t read the subtitles (due to for example, being blind)

[MyVisionity]

Matt Smith's voice is much easier to take, and he makes Tien sound like how a normal person would in those situations. .

Nothing about Matt Smith’s performance sounds natural. The SoCal Surfer Bro voice was bizarre af

Often times people like to shoot off at the mouth and talk shit during heated conflicts, almost like putting up a "poser bro" front. The attitude that Smith's Tien gives off feels normal to me. It has a personality to it that audiences can recognize and relate to, especially children.

A bit unrelated, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that anime dubs and dubs in general might as well not exist. Parasite demonstrated that English speaking audiences are perfectly capable of watching something with subtitles, and dubs pretty much always have to bear the stigma of not living up to the original, so why bother?

Yes, this is something I've considered much as well. I agree that it may be that English dubs, or international dubs in general, essentially should not exist, and that may be the direction that should be taken moving forward.

I agree however that some exceptions may be needed, such as in the case of the blind or disabled.

[WittyUsername]

A bit unrelated, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that anime dubs and dubs in general might as well not exist. Parasite demonstrated that English speaking audiences are perfectly capable of watching something with subtitles, and dubs pretty much always have to bear the stigma of not living up to the original, so why bother?

I mean, first and foremost, there’s y’know, people that literally can’t read the subtitles (due to for example, being blind)

Aren’t there audio descriptions for subtitles?

[DBZAOTA482]

A bit unrelated, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that anime dubs and dubs in general might as well not exist. Parasite demonstrated that English speaking audiences are perfectly capable of watching something with subtitles, and dubs pretty much always have to bear the stigma of not living up to the original, so why bother?

Maybe some people just don't wanna read while watching something? You can turn your head for a second and miss something.

[Cure Dragon 255]

A bit unrelated, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that anime dubs and dubs in general might as well not exist. Parasite demonstrated that English speaking audiences are perfectly capable of watching something with subtitles, and dubs pretty much always have to bear the stigma of not living up to the original, so why bother?

For people that cant see or read? They exist and they deserve to enjoy media as much as you and I do. And no they arent stupid for not being able to read. BTW Parasite was dubbed too.

[PurestEvil]

A bit unrelated, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that anime dubs and dubs in general might as well not exist. Parasite demonstrated that English speaking audiences are perfectly capable of watching something with subtitles, and dubs pretty much always have to bear the stigma of not living up to the original, so why bother?

For people that cant see or read? They exist and they deserve to enjoy media as much as you and I do. And no they arent stupid for not being able to read. BTW Parasite was dubbed too.

To be fair, they would be better off with reading an audio-book of the original manga (if it exists).

[Cure Dragon 255]

If they want but you dont get to decide for them. If they want to experience the anime via sound its ok too.

[PurestEvil]

If they want but you dont get to decide for them. If they want to experience the anime via sound its ok too.

Where in my comment did I make such a judgmental statement?

[Cure Dragon 255]

If they want but you dont get to decide for them. If they want to experience the anime via sound its ok too.

Where in my comment did I make such a judgmental statement?

Oh! Sorry! It's just that the dub hate from Witty put me on edge. Sorry. You are cool.

[ABED]

Matt Smith's voice is much easier to take, and he makes Tien sound like how a normal person would in those situations. .

Nothing about Matt Smith’s performance sounds natural. The SoCal Surfer Bro voice was bizarre af

Often times people like to shoot off at the mouth and talk shit during heated conflicts, almost like putting up a "poser bro" front. The attitude that Smith's Tien gives off feels normal to me. It has a personality to it that audiences can recognize and relate to, especially children.

A bit unrelated, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that anime dubs and dubs in general might as well not exist. Parasite demonstrated that English speaking audiences are perfectly capable of watching something with subtitles, and dubs pretty much always have to bear the stigma of not living up to the original, so why bother?

Yes, this is something I've considered much as well. I agree that it may be that English dubs, or international dubs in general, essentially should not exist, and that may be the direction that should be taken moving forward.

I agree however that some exceptions may be needed, such as in the case of the blind or disabled.

The "poser bro" front isn't Tenshinhan and that choice from Smith was ALL THE TIME.

Parasite is the exception to the rule. Generally speaking by not dubbing, it's gonna limit the audience watching the show.

[NitroEX]

Burgmeier just doesn't fit the role of Tien. He's not a bad actor, but the sound of his voice combined with his delivery just doesn't work.

I actually prefer Matt Smith in the role. He's not really any better of a fit than Burgmeier, but he's way more entertaining and likeable to me.

I feel the exact opposite.

Burgmeier fits Tien fine: Serious, stoic, and tough. But the performance is awful. The voice feels very put upon and the delivery tries way too hard.

Matt Smith doing a vapid surfer boy voice for Tien was even more baffling than when Sabat did it for Yamcha in season 3 and 4. At least I guess I sort of understand the logic with Yamcha even if it is stupid and in direct contrast to how Ted Cole voiced him. It’s a take that doesn’t fit Tien at all and it’s just a horrendous performance by far the worst voice of the first two seasons.

I've never felt Burgmeier was a fitting voice for Tien and I find his praise to be overblown. For the record, I don't think Matt Smith was a great fit either, but he was a product of the mid 90s when casting options were mostly limited to just Caucasians. I don't think Smith was the worst voice however, he did get the intense aspect of the character, but he just came off a little silly due to his tone of voice being more kid-friendly or perhaps too youthful. His odd cadence at least gave his character the impression that he was from elsewhere which helped him feel a little distinct, but not to a satisfactory degree.

In reality, they've never got Tien's voice right in English. My problem with Burgmeier is that he sounds incredibly generic which doesn't do the character justice or give him a unique flavour, which is contrary to his distinct appearance from the rest of the 'hero' lineup. Keeping performance aside for a minute, often when speaking he sounds reminiscent of a stoic cowboy, which is a pretty big culture/style clash when paired with his very Chinese/oriental character design, but most of the time he just sounds unremarkable and very boring. The only thing I can speak positively about is that he does an admirable job performance-wise with his yells, but that's largely because he's been able to do it for so long, but even with that advantage, his voice is just ill-fitting and in my opinion, makes the character feel boring which shouldn't be the case.

Had they actually got someone who sounds unique from the rest of the cast, or better yet, an Asian American actor who actually gave off more of a stereotypical Asian warrior vibe (Tom Choi's Liu Kang being my go-to example) then it would have been a more fitting casting, and from there the right performance would have come naturally.

[MasenkoHA]

As far as dubs go most people still prefer them. I usually do because of a low attention span and tendency to multi task. Especially if it’s something low brow where artistic integrity isn’t a concerned. Hell I watched a really bad Spanish Netflix teen soap drama where the English dubbing added to the hilarious awfulness that was already there. I prefer Dragon Ball subbed but I have obviously watched it dubbed as well.

[Vorige Waffe]

A bit unrelated, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that anime dubs and dubs in general might as well not exist. Parasite demonstrated that English speaking audiences are perfectly capable of watching something with subtitles, and dubs pretty much always have to bear the stigma of not living up to the original, so why bother?

The thing is dubs almost always lead to better sales numbers and greater revenue. It's just a fact of the business, people want to hear their entertainment in the language they're familiar with instead of reading it. Plus, as mentioned earlier, it's also a benefit for the hard of hearing. Better to try and round up a cast of actors who can attempt to sound believable and deliver an impassioned performance rather than rely on a sterile audio guide.

[WittyUsername]

A bit unrelated, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that anime dubs and dubs in general might as well not exist. Parasite demonstrated that English speaking audiences are perfectly capable of watching something with subtitles, and dubs pretty much always have to bear the stigma of not living up to the original, so why bother?

For people that cant see or read? They exist and they deserve to enjoy media as much as you and I do. And no they arent stupid for not being able to read. BTW Parasite was dubbed too.

Again, aren’t audio descriptions for subtitles a thing? Also, Parasite was dubbed in English?

[jjgp1112]

As far as dubs go most people still prefer them. I usually do because of a low attention span and tendency to multi task. Especially if it’s something low brow where artistic integrity isn’t a concerned. Hell I watched a really bad Spanish Netflix teen soap drama where the English dubbing added to the hilarious awfulness that was already there. I prefer Dragon Ball subbed but I have obviously watched it dubbed as well.

I'm the same way - I'm easily distracted and so I find a dub far easier to keep track of than something where I have to be focused on the screen at all times to actually understand anything. The only time I watched subbed DB these days is if I'm watching Frieza and Android saga episodes on the Dragon Box.

[MasenkoHA]

A bit unrelated, but I’m starting to come to the conclusion that anime dubs and dubs in general might as well not exist. Parasite demonstrated that English speaking audiences are perfectly capable of watching something with subtitles, and dubs pretty much always have to bear the stigma of not living up to the original, so why bother?

For people that cant see or read? They exist and they deserve to enjoy media as much as you and I do. And no they arent stupid for not being able to read. BTW Parasite was dubbed too.

Again, aren’t audio descriptions for subtitles a thing? Also, Parasite was dubbed in English?

It was not ever dubbed into English. A man in Australia did dub the movie with some friends for his sister

https://m.imdb.com/news/ni62943042

But that’s not really the same thing since it wasn’t officially provided by any distributor

[Cure Dragon 255]

I love how English centric Witty Username's worldview is. It wasnt dubbed in English so its not needed. I loved that man from Australia did that for his sister. He at least has a heart unlike Witty Username.

[WittyUsername]

I love how English centric Witty Username's worldview is. It wasnt dubbed in English so its not needed. I loved that man from Australia did that for his sister. He at least has a heart unlike Witty Username.

English centric? All I said was that I think dubs might be unnecessary at this point. Was that a bad thing to say?

[Cure Dragon 255]

YES.

There are people who love dubs and its selfish to say they shouldnt exist because you dont find any need for them.