Ocean Studios' "Dragon Ball Kai" Dub Turns 16; Still Unreleased

[90sDBZ]

This might be slightly off topic but I figured it was worth noting. I discovered through my twitter feed that Ocean previously dubbed an anime pilot for TV back in 1995, this is part of the intro for it. Fun fact: the instrumental being sung over in that clip was a track that was later used by the Westwood dub of DBZ, if you don't believe me go and check the opening narration of episode 159 (Puzzle of General Tao) or 157 (A New Guardian) and you'll hear the same song.

I remember that track in DBZ. I didn't really like the Westwood score overall but I always liked that particular track, and it didn't get overplayed either. I remember it playing during Gohan's birthday celebrations and thinking it actually fit really well. I think it also played at the end of a few episodes like when Goku blasts Cell's head off, and the one where Gohan first begins fighting Cell.

[Super Sayian Prime]

Anyway the series was called Magic Knight Rayearth. According to these sources Ocean also dubbed at least 12 episodes of the show but ultimately the TV deal for it fell through. The show was later dubbed (I presume) in full by another studio but the Ocean version has never been released publicly.

So it seems it isn't a new thing for Ocean dubbed anime to go unseen, much like their dub of Kai. Since no further measures were taken to get their dub of MKR seen on television at the time I suspect Kai may also have suffered the same fate of a TV deal gone wrong. MKR does appear to be getting some form of release by DIscotek Media who, as of now have released a lot of Ocean's anime library, but since Funimation have a tight grip on all things DBZ and Kai I've come to the conclusion that it'll probably never be released.

That doesn't say Ocean dubbed 13 episodes of Magic Knight Rayearth. If Summit Media Group licensed it themselves and the show was actually dubbed (before the later Media Blasters/Bang Zoom production), it's not impossible for it to have been done in New York. Summit was a 4Kids sister company and when the latter picked up One Piece, they didn't keep the cast from Toei's Blue Water pilot.

[El Diabeetus]

Lots of voice actors have done some pretty unprofessional things on forums, blogs, and podcasts.

For what it's worth, I didn't say the person was Tockar, themselves. Super Saiyan Prime detailed the situation just fine.

That all being said, I could write a pretty hysterical book about the phone conversations I've had over the years, though (and probably will).

I would enjoy a podcast about these (for whichever stories wouldn't get you in to legal trouble).

[ParkerAL]

Wouldn't it have made more sense for Ocean to line up a TV deal before they dubbed a 98-episode show? I find it hard to understand why anyone would put so much effort into a production without guaranteeing it could at least reach an audience.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Wouldn't it have made more sense for Ocean to line up a TV deal before they dubbed a 98-episode show? I find it hard to understand why anyone would put so much effort into a production without guaranteeing it could at least reach an audience.

I agree completely. I think they were just banking on the whole, "It's Dragon Ball, of course a TV network will be interested!"-mentality.

The status of the Ocean dub is a sad reminder of a number of things, and one of them is how far the anime industry has fallen from what it once was.

[eledoremassis02]

Wouldn't it have made more sense for Ocean to line up a TV deal before they dubbed a 98-episode show? I find it hard to understand why anyone would put so much effort into a production without guaranteeing it could at least reach an audience.

I agree completely. I think they were just banking on the whole, "It's Dragon Ball, of course a TV network will be interested!"-mentality.

The status of the Ocean dub is a sad reminder of a number of things, and one of them is how far the anime industry has fallen from what it once was.

To their defense Kix might had state interest before being sidelined by TOEI (if any of this is true). It's a shame as I think it deserves some sort of a release. If Rock the Dragon set did as well as people said then there is a market for this, even out of curiosity.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

There is absolutely a market for Ocean Dragon Ball. A lot of the actors from the Saban era Z dub have a huge following, Scott McNeil and Brian Drummond in particular are some of the best talent the series has ever had in English. If this dub retains the script faithfulness of Funimation's Kai it will be superb.

[ParkerAL]

The status of the Ocean dub is a sad reminder of a number of things, and one of them is how far the anime industry has fallen from what it once was.

The anime industry has arguably never been healthier. Streaming sites are booming and more shows are being made in Japan than ever before. None of that will help Ocean Kai, though. It needed a TV deal, and Canadian networks wouldn't bite.

[NitroEX]

Wouldn't it have made more sense for Ocean to line up a TV deal before they dubbed a 98-episode show? I find it hard to understand why anyone would put so much effort into a production without guaranteeing it could at least reach an audience.

I agree completely. I think they were just banking on the whole, "It's Dragon Ball, of course a TV network will be interested!"-mentality.

I'm not so sure... I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one and not just assume ignorance or stupidity. If they were willing to hire acclaimed voice actors, produce a replacement soundtrack and dub all the episodes then it seems likely to me that a promise of some sort was made beforehand to warrant the investment.

Dragonball is a popular anime franchise but the creative decisions surrounding this dub don't seem to be those of someone confident in the brand alone, in fact I'd go as far as to say that they could've been compensating for the fact that it's an anime. We know that Canada's broadcasting industry isn't exactly favourable towards anime anymore so this could have been a case of the producers saying "well... yeah, it is an anime but... look at all the cool stuff that comes with it!" (actors, music etc). If they had been confident in the brand alone then what was the logic behind them acquiring more expensive actors? They could've just gone with the GT/DB dub approach and only cast Blue Water actors to save money. That is a proven strategy after all so it was probably on the table at some point but they instead opted for more. Perhaps it was an effort to better appeal to the network(s) or maybe it was just a natural response to audience feedback from the previous dubs, who knows.

At the very least it's evident that they had enough self awareness to make smart casting decisions. We all know how easily they could've fucked that up but according to what we know so far they not only chose to bring back fan favourites like Drummond and McNeil but characters like Freeza have also been cast more faithfully to the original Japanese (and with an equally good actor no less). You could also interpret their casting of Richard Ian Cox as a more faithful Goku but on the other hand it could've also been a preemptive move on their part to better appeal to broadcasters and audience members. Whether it's coincidental or not, I'm sure being the lead in another successful TV anime (Inuyasha) comes with it's perks when winning over the trust of broadcasters.

Anyway, my point is that they've shown intelligence and attention to detail in other areas so far so it doesn't seem likely for them to botch the most important part of the process and risk their hard work never being seen on television. To me this whole situation stinks of a TV deal gone wrong or a broken promise of some kind, I don't think it's likely for them to risk losing all that money on something that wasn't at least a guarantee. I also suspect the Canadian broadcasters aren't innocent in all this, especially considering their negligent attitude towards anime in the past. From what I've read online it seems like YTV had just as much of a hand to play in Bionix downfall as the shows themselves. Outside of toy focused anime they seems very averse to the stuff especially violent shonen based shows so It's not out of the question to think that Kai got screwed over by a network harbouring some anti-anime bias. Perhaps someone did actually buy the rights only to sit on them and never air the show, crazier things have happened in the world of TV.

[sangofe]

The status of the Ocean dub is a sad reminder of a number of things, and one of them is how far the anime industry has fallen from what it once was.

The anime industry has arguably never been healthier. Streaming sites are booming and more shows are being made in Japan than ever before. None of that will help Ocean Kai, though. It needed a TV deal, and Canadian networks wouldn't bite.

If you're right that it's never been healthier, then why is there so many low quality productions?

[B]

If you're right that it's never been healthier, then why is there so many low quality productions?

Define "low quality". "Healthy" just means there's a lot of work. More shows being made equals more people with jobs working on the shows. Your question seems rooted in personal opinion.

[sangofe]

If you're right that it's never been healthier, then why is there so many low quality productions?

Define "low quality". "Healthy" just means there's a lot of work. More shows being made equals more people with jobs working on the shows. Your question seems rooted in personal opinion.

Well, low quality as in poor animation. You had a much higher percentage of anime with decent animation vs today where there's a lot of shows with bad animation.

[ParkerAL]

No we didn't. Every anime generation has had equal proportions of quality and crap. Only the crap usually gets forgotten as time goes on, leading to the illusion that everything was better back in the good old days.

[eledoremassis02]

I think the problem is every one want everything as soon as it comes out. Back then we had to wait and most of the time we just got the good stuff (or atleast stuff that was different from what we had) It's a general market now and not a niche market like it used to be. There is niche anime fans but the market is so broad now.

[Iberian_Saiyan]

Have they released a sample of what's to come?

[Ringworm128]

We're closing in on 6 years; that's the later half of a decade, even I'm starting to lose faith in this.

[eledoremassis02]

I'll be here like


Maybe one day something will get "leaked" while it would want me wanting more it would be nice to see something. Shame they can't get it on Netflix or something. If they can't get it on TV can a home media release be possible?

[NitroEX]

I mentioned this in another thread but... if Funimation can launch a kickstarter to redub Vision of Escaflowne because of supposed "fan demand" and 9 minutes of extra footage then I'm pretty sure it would be within their power to make one for an Ocean dub of Kai and finally get this thing out the door. Of course it's probably not gonna happen and I'd bet the dub wouldn't be cheap to acquire (from whoever produced it) but the option is available to them. I'd certainly be willing to chip in to see Ocean Kai released if they did crowdfund it.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I'd certainly support a Kickstarter if it happened, but as you said it's Funimation's prerogative over whether it would happen. One can dream though.

[IAmTheMilkMan]

I mentioned this in another thread but... if Funimation can launch a kickstarter to redub Vision of Escaflowne because of supposed "fan demand" and 9 minutes of extra footage then I'm pretty sure it would be within their power to make one for an Ocean dub of Kai and finally get this thing out the door.

Wow. They should really do the same thing for a redub of Dragon Ball (the first series) and the Trunks and Bardock specials. I imagine they would have no trouble acquiring the funds for such an endeavor. I most certainly would help out (nothing needs a redub quite like that Bardock special).