Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

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Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by The Golden God » Tue Nov 22, 2022 12:57 pm

I was watching the original Japanese sub with my mom on Crunchyroll and we were at the Majin Vegeta part and I remembered all the Youtube remixes using soundclips of Majin Vegeta’s english voice during this part for hype tracks. So I was thinking maybe I’m watching the wrong version maybe the dub is better. So I watched the Majin Vegeta episodes in the dub (also available in Crunchyroll) afterwards to compare.

What I noticed, and yes this is just my opinion, but Vegeta’s voice actor just knocked it out of the park wirh raw emotion, he really became the character much like Heath Ledgers Joker in The Dark Knight. However I was disappointed in the other voices. While Vegeta’s voice acting was equal to or even better than his Japanese voice I felt the other characters were not natural sounding to me compared to the sub. I am probably biased because I usually watch the sub and am used to those voices, but then why did Vegeta’s voice just sound so epic and real? Yes this is like his character’s moment in the spotlight and Vegeta is just an epic dude in the first place, but something was missing from the other voices that just didn’t match up to the original Japanese while Vegeta’s lines were even cooler.

It just made me think of the potential of anime dubs to surpass the original and yet I think the vast majority of the time they just don’t get it right. The dub was pretty consistently good in the new Broly movie I will say. There are dubs that DO manage to knock it out of the park, both FMA animes are better in dub IMO, Cowboy Bebop, although not my favorite, is best experienced in dub according to popular opinion. But shows like Naruto I just feel are just inferior in the dub. I think the DBZ dub is good, and Funimation’s recent work with Dragon Ball shows a lot of improvement from the actors, but man the classic Vegeta dub just never misses.

Was wondering if my opinion is the mainstream or not.

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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by VegettoEX » Tue Nov 22, 2022 2:23 pm

I really don't think anything truly "fits" as wholly appropriate until they hit characters that had no impersonation baggage from the previous Vancouver cast (so basically we're talking androids onward, and yes, I'm even including [well, I guess excluding] modern takes on the voices in here), and especially not until they widened their talent pool in the more modern age (roughly the last ten years).

Dameon Clarke's Cell is an easy answer for that first category, and Ian Sinclair's Whis is above and beyond the most perfect answer for that second category.

There's unfortunately still so much cruft going on that's solidified itself as "standard". I think that's what made the Bang Zoom Super dub such an interesting prospect and working experiment!
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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by jjgp1112 » Tue Nov 22, 2022 6:04 pm

Dabura's pretty awesome, as are modern Piccolo and Vegeta
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Master Roshi: Bulma, I think Frieza failed because he wore too many clothes!
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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by MasenkoHA » Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:33 pm

Chris Sabat's Piccolo circa Kai and onwards is probably my favorite Funimation voice of the legacy cast. He started making great strides around GT/the ultimate uncut edition redub but really nailed it by Kai. Which is saying something because his Piccolo might have been the worst voice of the 1999 season. Which is saying a lot!

I do have to echo the sentiment the better voices seem to be the ones that joined for Kai and Super i.e Chris Ayres Frieza, Jason Douglas Beerus, Ian Sinclair's Whis, James Marsters Zamasu. Super had a lot of new talent for the new characters and to be honest a lot of times the difference between those actors and the ones who have been with Funimation since 1999-2001 felt night and day.

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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by ABED » Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:44 pm

The Dragon Ball narrator. I could listen to his voice all day.
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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by 90sDBZ » Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:48 pm

I have to go with Sean's Goku. Early on he lacked experience and was forced to impersonate his 2 predecessors. His delivery was off but his actual voice was a good fit.

As he spent more and more years voicing the character he improved tremendously, both in terms of acting and screaming. In the Buu saga of Z he was already solid, and he got even better through the various videogames and movies. His SS3 scream in Fusion Reborn was legendary.

A lot of fans point to Kai as his major turning point, and I can certainly see why, although I'd argue he was already at that level in the Burst Limit game.

He sounds incredible in these cutscenes;
https://youtu.be/VPIikqNJyMA

He continues to be great in Super, although I slightly prefer his Kai performance, simply because Goku himself was more serious and less of a caricature back then.

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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by jjgp1112 » Tue Nov 22, 2022 10:43 pm

MasenkoHA wrote: Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:33 pm Chris Sabat's Piccolo circa Kai and onwards is probably my favorite Funimation voice of the legacy cast. He started making great strides around GT/the ultimate uncut edition redub but really nailed it by Kai. Which is saying something because his Piccolo might have been the worst voice of the 1999 season. Which is saying a lot!

I do have to echo the sentiment the better voices seem to be the ones that joined for Kai and Super i.e Chris Ayres Frieza, Jason Douglas Beerus, Ian Sinclair's Whis, James Marsters Zamasu. Super had a lot of new talent for the new characters and to be honest a lot of times the difference between those actors and the ones who have been with Funimation since 1999-2001 felt night and day.
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Master Roshi: Bulma, I think Frieza failed because he wore too many clothes!
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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by 8000 Saiyan » Wed Nov 23, 2022 7:15 am

Chris Ayres as Frieza and Brice Armstrong as the narrator.

I like Doc Morgan and all, but I wish Kai had kept Armstrong. Hell, Armstrong should have been King Kai instead of Sean Schemmel.
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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by ABED » Wed Nov 23, 2022 7:52 am

8000 Saiyan wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 7:15 am Chris Ayres as Frieza and Brice Armstrong as the narrator.

I like Doc Morgan and all, but I wish Kai had kept Armstrong. Hell, Armstrong should have been King Kai instead of Sean Schemmel.
This a million times over. I love Ayres performance as Freeza and Brice Armstrong is everything the DB narrator should be. Too bad they didn't use him as the narrator for every series. And I've long believed he should've been Kaio.
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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by OmegaRockman » Wed Nov 23, 2022 9:29 am

I think most of the cast is really good these days, but Chris Ayres's Freeza is genuinely one of my favorite performances in anime dubs. Ditto for Ian Sinclair's Whis. Chris Rager's Mr. Satan is also utterly fantastic. Monica Rial and Colleen Clinkenbeard are the best English Bulma and Kid Goku/Gohan respectively.

Everyone else is really good aside from Schemmel's Kaio and Sabat's Recoome (and I'm at least used to Schemmel's Kaio to the point it doesn't bother me), but I think the ones I listed are the cream of the crop for me.
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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by Wrigglything » Thu Nov 24, 2022 9:04 am

I definetely think that James Masters' performance as Zamasu is a particular highlight, through the pompous and pretentious tone he gives him making him more fiendish yet simultaneously captivating. Especially once the cracks form near the end of the saga.

I also liked Chris Sabat's performance as Yamcha, even with the surfer bro-y voice. To me it captures Yamcha's goofy and arrogant yet sincere and well intentioned (eh, post OG arc mostly) attitude really well.

Richard Horvitz as Chilled was also really blessed casting, as I like him basically being a combination of Zim and Freeza. Although that last part is a game only thing, so maybe it's a Bandai Namco thing, not necessarily to the extent for Funimation/Crunchyroll.

I will just say now that practically all legal streaming sites in my area will likely be using the Japanese audio whenever they stream Dragon Ball (or any anime for that matter when not streamed or licensed through a Western source), so I can't say I have too much exposure towards the cast these days barring the games and whatnot. Still, I really do think they have come far and it's admirable that they are able to make room to improve themselves, despite the growing pains.

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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by BWri » Thu Nov 24, 2022 4:16 pm

I always liked the surliness of Android 18's English dub voice. The voice performance is what made her one of my favorite characters.

Adult Gohan, Dabura, and Android 17 were also really good performances. Chuck Huber's Supreme Kai was great too.

I didn't like Schemmel's Goku for a long time but the last few years I've been really enjoying his performances. Sabat's Piccolo and Vegeta are iconic but I don't consider them in the "best" category for some reason.
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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by Soppa Saia People » Thu Nov 24, 2022 5:01 pm

^Yeah, I've always really liked the casting for the cyborg twins. Clinkenbeard sounded OK in Kai, but Meredith is pretty great in the role. And Huber has always been one of the best Funi actors.
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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by SupremeKai25 » Thu Nov 24, 2022 5:15 pm

Easily Dub Zamasu. I can't think of any scene in which he sounded unintentionally monotonous or unconvincing and in every scene he perfectly conveyed the idea of a vainglorious, pompous, snobbish, and arrogant God with anger issues.

His scream gave me chills when I first heard it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc7Bw-5LxI4&t=58s

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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by XenoSaiyan » Sat Nov 26, 2022 3:52 am

Sean as Goku in Kai is arguably the best English dub performance in the series.

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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by PurestEvil » Sat Nov 26, 2022 6:03 pm

Sabat as Piccolo, Ayres as Freeza, Strait as Krillin, Armstrong as the narrator
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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by sunsetshimmer » Tue Nov 29, 2022 8:58 pm

I always liked Android 17's voice in dub. I also enjoyed Gohan since Buu saga, Videl, Hercule, Future Trunks, Piccolo, Cooler (i hate how he sounds exactly like Frieza in japanese version), Bardock, Perfect Cell...there were a lot of cool voices, hard to pick the best ones.
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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by MetaMoss » Wed Nov 30, 2022 6:53 am

ABED wrote: Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:44 pm The Dragon Ball narrator. I could listen to his voice all day.
Ah, Brice Armstrong. If I had too much money and he was still with us, I would be tempted to hire him to narrate my own life.
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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by AlexSketchy04 » Thu Dec 01, 2022 1:24 pm

Chris Ayres Frieza would be mine

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Re: Which character has the best voice in the Funimation dub?

Post by batistabus » Fri Dec 02, 2022 12:29 am

Definitely Ayers. I think Sabat is a great guy, a true fan, and a fantastic actor. Also, Rager is really good as Satan.

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