The Mystery of Ceyli Delgadillo: One of Kid Goku's Funimation VAs

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mecha3000
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The Mystery of Ceyli Delgadillo: One of Kid Goku's Funimation VAs

Post by mecha3000 » Wed Sep 21, 2022 6:33 pm

So, after watching clips from Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess and Mystical Adventure, I've been reminded about Ceyli Delgadillo, one of the old Funimation Kid Goku VA's. And honestly, the voice she chose (while some can see as bland), is kind of endearing to me in an old '90s anime dub sort of way. Definitely not perfect, but I think it fits Kid Goku's naive spirit and if she continued, Ceyli could've improved like everyone else at Funimation did with Kai and beyond. If anything, I actually like having her as the voice for Movies 2 and 3 (same with Saffron Henderson and Colleen Clinkenbeard for the Movie 1 dub) because it gives them more rewatch value to see who could've voiced Kid Goku if not for Stephanie Nadolny. And like western media such as Scooby Doo, voice actors change every now and then, so it doesn't bother me much. Especially since those old movies are just retellings of the series anyway.

This brings me to my next point. It's kind of sad that there's no interviews or anything from her online. Honestly, I wish she would attend one of the next KamehaCons or something (maybe an interview with Geekdom101?). I say this because Funimation REDUBBED her Dende for the remastered sets and now her voice has been kind of lost in the English dub fandom. it's especially unfortunate since I doubt Funimation would've swapped her out if they knew Kai was coming. I'm a dub purist (just like many of the sub purists on this forum) and as bad as the old dubs were, it's still history so it's sad to see it lost in a redub. Same could be said for Saffron Henderson to a degree (even though she voiced for edited/Canadian dubs), but at least I could find some videos of her (which are rare) and she's more of a prolific voice actor than Ceyli. Still, it makes sense considering Ceyli and Saffron didn't voice Goku as long as Nadolny and Colleen have done.

That being said, as a kid in the 2000s who grew up with Nadolny, it was jarring to suddenly pop in Sleeping Princess and hear a completely different Kid Goku voice. But as an adult, I just find it fascinating. Apparently, Ceyli even auditioned for Kid Goku but lost to Nadolny because of an ONLINE VOTING THING? I didn't know all of this because I was a baby back then. In any case, I'm glad Ceyli's voice remains for Movies 2 and 3, at least. But hey, maybe I'm overthinking this whole redub/replace thing and it's not that big a deal. For all I know, Ceyli doesn't even give it any thought.

EDIT: SHE'S ALSO THE VOICE FOR THE LITTLE BOY YUSUKE SAVES IN YU YU HAKUSHO!!!

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Re: The Mystery of Ceyli Delgadillo: One of Kid Goku's Funimation VAs

Post by MasenkoHA » Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:04 pm

mecha3000 wrote: Wed Sep 21, 2022 6:33 pm , I actually like having her as the voice for Movies 2 and 3 (same with Saffron Henderson and Colleen Clinkenbeard for the Movie 1 dub) because it gives them more rewatch value to see who could've voiced Kid Goku if not for Stephanie Nadolny. And like western media such as Scooby Doo, voice actors change every now and then, so it doesn't bother me much. Especially since those old movies are just retellings of the series anyway.
The inconsistent voices don't bother me but the Sleeping Princess dub is unforgivabley bad. Like worse than the original Captain Ginyu saga of Z
I say this because it's also sad how Funimation REDUBBED her Dende for the remastered sets and now her voice has been kind of lost in the English dub fandom
Her voice isn't really lost since her Goku is still present for the dubs of Sleeping Princess and Mystical Adventure.
. it's especially unfortunate since I doubt Funimation would've swapped her out if they knew Kai was coming.
Yes they would have. She left Texas to move to California around 2001 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceyli_Delgadillo.

She wasn't available to them to do the Ultimate Uncut episodes so they cast Laura Bailey as Dende for those episodes and then had Bailey redub her work for consistency like they did everything else.

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Re: The Mystery of Ceyli Delgadillo: One of Kid Goku's Funimation VAs

Post by SuperSaiyaManZ94 » Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:13 pm

The inconsistent voices don't bother me but the Sleeping Princess dub is unforgivabley bad.
I legit can't believe they still find that thing as acceptable to release in the present day. It's a poor and horribly outdated relic from FUNi's earliest in house days and stands along with the 1999 dub Freeza/Season 3 episodes as awful time capsules of how they started out after the split from Saban and Ocean Studios, and even though the people responsible for the dub are not there anymore how they in good conscience could think it as worthy to sell to people nowadays baffles me. Seriously, it's that bad.

That, and the sound is just utterly muffled to hell crap. Apparently they didn't even have good audio recording equipment at the time.
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Re: The Mystery of Ceyli Delgadillo: One of Kid Goku's Funimation VAs

Post by ABED » Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:27 pm

Her voice was way too soft (it lacked energy) for Goku. I wonder if that would've bothered me more over the long haul than Nadolny's Goku.

When they were going back to redub DB, they ran an online poll for a few of the characters, asking the audience who they'd like to hear in the roles. I can't remember if Delgadillo was on the list of actors for Goku. Hell, I wonder how much credence (for lack of a better word) FUNi gave to the results.
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Re: The Mystery of Ceyli Delgadillo: One of Kid Goku's Funimation VAs

Post by mecha3000 » Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:31 pm

MasenkoHA wrote: Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:04 pm Her voice isn't really lost since her Goku is still present for the dubs of Sleeping Princess and Mystical Adventure.

Yes they would have. She left Texas to move to California around 2001 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceyli_Delgadillo.

She wasn't available to them to do the Ultimate Uncut episodes so they cast Laura Bailey as Dende for those episodes and then had Bailey redub her work for consistency like they did everything else.
True, and I guess I'll appreciate that her voice can still be heard on those movies. As for the Laura Bailey situation, I didn't know about that so based on what you explained, I guess they had no choice but to replace her. Honestly though, I still would've preferred they kept her voice and just had Bailey redub everything around it, but I'm weird like that. Like I said, I'm a dub purist. And unlike the Ocean dub being edited, Ceyli voiced Dende even in the uncut releases, so it's not like that would've been an issue. Again, I'm just weird like that. And it's not like you ever hear about them going back to redub other anime like Pokemon with new voice actors. That's just something that Funimation did and it bothers me. Keep your old work the way it was and move on. Don't be George Lucas and change it.

But at the end of the day, what Funimation did ultimately makes the most sense given the context.

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Re: The Mystery of Ceyli Delgadillo: One of Kid Goku's Funimation VAs

Post by SuperSaiyaManZ94 » Wed Sep 21, 2022 8:03 pm

Honestly, the soft almost whispery way Delgadillo delivered lines as kid Goku it didn't feel like it captured his character. Say what you will about Nadolny but to me it just seems like she just fit the character better in that way. Though actually sounded decent as Dende.
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Re: The Mystery of Ceyli Delgadillo: One of Kid Goku's Funimation VAs

Post by mecha3000 » Wed Sep 21, 2022 8:40 pm

SuperSaiyaManZ94 wrote: Wed Sep 21, 2022 8:03 pm Honestly, the soft almost whispery way Delgadillo delivered lines as kid Goku it didn't feel like it captured his character. Say what you will about Nadolny but to me it just seems like she just fit the character better in that way. Though actually sounded decent as Dende.
And your last sentence kind of sums up my point. Her best work on Dragon Ball (at least to you and probably a lot of other fans) has been replaced retroactively. And I understand it's because of dubbing inconsistencies with Laura Bailey, but like I said earlier, why not just dub around her performance and keep Ceyli's intact? I'd honestly be kind of sad if I worked on a show (no matter how briefly) and got redubbed for a part I already recorded.

Again though, I'll just be happy we can still hear her Goku voice in Movies 2 and 3, even though I'm almost positive no one watches those. If they kept her Dende, her voice would still be heard on the MOUNTAINS UPON MOUNTAINS of re-releases Funimation has done for Dragon Ball Z. I mean, have you seen all the reactions Youtubers do watching the ORIGINAL SO-BAD FAULCONER ERA DUB version??? I know I'm kind of coming off as a crybaby, but it's just annoying, especially considering Laura Bailey has gone on to have a great career outside of Funimation anyway. But hey, I understand all of this comes down to business reasons and they needed Bailey for the redub because Ceyli moved from Texas.

And who knows, maybe Ceyli will come out to KamehaCon one day or be interviewed on Geekdom101 and talk about her experience as Kid Goku. In the meantime, I think I'll pop in Movies 2 and 3 just to check out her voice. I know some people hate that the dub cast various actors for Kid Goku, but I like it from a "It's cool to see all these different voices for one character" way. I mean, how many Spider-Mans have we heard across multiple media? Only difference is that each Spider-Man voices a new version, not a redubbed version. But like Kyle Hebert discussed on Geekdom, it's kind of cool having multiple dubs because it almost feels like watching multiverse dub versions of the series.

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Re: The Mystery of Ceyli Delgadillo: One of Kid Goku's Funimation VAs

Post by MasenkoHA » Wed Sep 21, 2022 10:31 pm

ABED wrote: Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:27 pm . I can't remember if Delgadillo was on the list of actors for Goku. Hell, I wonder how much credence (for lack of a better word) FUNi gave to the results.
She was. Given stuff like Nadolny saying she was handed the role of Goku and Delgadillo leaving Texas around the time Dragon Ball started getting dubbed I kind of assumed the whole poll was bunk and just Funimation playing PR

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Re: The Mystery of Ceyli Delgadillo: One of Kid Goku's Funimation VAs

Post by TheGreatness25 » Thu Sep 22, 2022 1:57 pm

I saw this dub way early on. I believe I saw it before Funimation's in-house team took over the dub for the "Captain Ginyu Saga."

So, the entire dub cast for this movie was jarring to me because between the Ocean dub of DBZ and BLT dub of the first 13 episodes and first movie for Dragon Ball, everybody sounded "weird" in that movie to me. Bulma's voice actress also was later replaced, right?

I didn't like Delgadillo's performance at all. But, I will also say that I didn't like Nadolny's Gohan, but she improved and ended up being a pretty good kid Goku.

I would wish for a happy legacy for all of the voice and, so it would be great if Delgadillo was acknowledged more, etc. But, I'm sure she's doing just fine.

I think it's odd seeing as they had Saffron Henderson play both kid Gohan and kid Goku, but elected to have different voice actresses for the two roles when they had Delgadillo on-staff. Though, for consistency's sake, it worked out (even if they did choose to boot Nadolny years later for Kai).

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