Current state of the Toonami Asia English dub?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Has anyone heard any more about the date this dub will be released, what studio is dubbing it etc.

I tweeted Toonami India who previously stated it would premier this month, but still haven't heard back.

[DBZ_Lee]

According to their Facebook page, it will begin airing in August on weekends.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Which Facebook is this from?

[Nejishiki]

It's a reply on their pinned post.

[Super Sayian Prime]

I'm beginning to doubt this dub exists. The Asian Toonami outlets seem incapable of nailing down a date, which implies production isn't there yet. I've spoken to someone in the Hong Kong VA scene (where Toonami Asia's dubs are recorded) and they told me they haven't heard of the show being recorded there.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

It's a reply on their pinned post.

Thank you .

I'm beginning to doubt this dub exists. The Asian Toonami outlets seem incapable of nailing down a date, which implies production isn't there yet. I've spoken to someone in the Hong Kong VA scene (where Toonami Asia's dubs are recorded) and they told me they haven't heard of the show being recorded there.

I find it hard to believe this dub would be officially announced and Toonami would be marketing it if the whole thing was a hoax, and it would be a slap in the face to their fans if that were the case. As for the voice actors I'd assume they are under NDAs, and can't say anything about the Super dub for that reason.

[SaiyamanMS]

What if it turns out to be the Funimation cast?

Jason Douglas seemed to hint recently that they're working on it, maybe Toonami Asia contracted Okratron to work on it independent of Funimation licensing it? (Which could account for Sabat's claims "It's not what you think.") Not the most likely scenario, but somewhat plausible.

[Super Sayian Prime]

I find it hard to believe this dub would be officially announced and Toonami would be marketing it if the whole thing was a hoax, and it would be a slap in the face to their fans if that were the case. As for the voice actors I'd assume they are under NDAs, and can't say anything about the Super dub for that reason.

Well, the English feeds aren't actively marketing it, which is my point. The most they're doing is responding to Facebook posts with vague timelines.

Getting lawyers involved would probably double the budgets of your usual HK dub.

[floofychan333]

What if it turns out to be the Funimation cast?

Jason Douglas seemed to hint recently that they're working on it, maybe Toonami Asia contracted Okratron to work on it independent of Funimation licensing it? (Which could account for Sabat's claims "It's not what you think.") Not the most likely scenario, but somewhat plausible.

That would be pretty amusing. Good too, because then India/English-speaking Asia and the USA could have the same dub and that could pave the way for Canada not needing to make its own dub. Since we still don't have DBZ Kai, I think we will have to wait 25 years for an Ocean dub of Super which shouldn't even be needed.

[DBZ_Lee]

I reached out to Toonami Asia, and they told me the following:

Please keep an eye out on Toonami Asia’s Facebook page and Twitter feed, as we know that lots of people are waiting to know the launch day and which dub we’ll be using.

We’ll do our best to communicate this as soon as we know.

I then asked if the reason he said which dub, is because there are multiple dubs in production, and they said this:

that’s probably a question for the production company Toei in Japan.

So, still uncertain who is producing this dub, and what the hold up is.
I don't know if they have changed their minds on the dub they're using, and have elected to go with another one that may have recently started production, and are waiting it out.
It could possibly be that Toei are producing it in-house.

[tinlunlau]

Speaking of dubs, I was snooping around and found out that the Taiwanese Mandarin dub of Db Super has been airing for a while. In fact, they are 20 episodes into the series as of this week.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I find it hard to believe this dub would be officially announced and Toonami would be marketing it if the whole thing was a hoax, and it would be a slap in the face to their fans if that were the case. As for the voice actors I'd assume they are under NDAs, and can't say anything about the Super dub for that reason.

Well, the English feeds aren't actively marketing it, which is my point. The most they're doing is responding to Facebook posts with vague timelines.

Getting lawyers involved would probably double the budgets of your usual HK dub.

The vague timelines were actually what I was pointing to when I said Toonami is marketing it, but I get what you mean, they aren't promoting it actively.

But yeah, another weekend and still nothing. At this rate I could see this dub becoming the new Ocean Kai.

[DBZ_Lee]

It is entirely possible that at this point, Toonami has decided to wait out for the Funimation dub.
Because they never said what dub they were using from the start, they could cancel the production on their dub, and wait for Funimation's.

It would probably be cheaper for them to license Funi's, as opposed to paying for full production of their own.
Maybe a company executive found out something we don't know, and Funi are dubbing Super, and had hoped to be ready to go by now, but aren't quite.
I know Sean Schemmel was speculating, but he seemed to be hopeful we would get something by September, and Chris Sabat told him the dub should be happening soon (that was in April).
If this scenario ended up coming to pass, Toonami figured that a month or two later than what they originally had announced wouldn't make a huge difference, and they could use a popular, established dub, while also saving themselves a lot of money.


The only issue would be, that Funimation wouldn't want Toonami Asia airing their dub before they do.
So they would likely air them alongside one another.
Toonami Asia stated the show would air this month, now they are saying they don't know when it will air.
Something has changed somewhere along the line, it will be odd seeing two dubs.
A lot of fans on their social media pages are asking for Funimation's dub.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I would love for this dub to have the Funimation cast, especially with their dubbing since Kai I could rest assured it will be nothing short of fantastic.

It does seem like wishful thinking though as it would be weird for the Funi dub to be initially broadcast somewhere other than the States, but I guess stranger things have happened with this franchise.

Something definitely went on behind the scenes we're not aware of. Maybe that was Toonami Asia outsourcing the voice work to Okratron, or maybe Funimation did successfully negotiate with TOEI to not have to wait until 2018 when Kai finishes its run in the States to release Super.

Toonami may have also decided not only would it be cheaper, but it would mean they could keep some consistency if what we've heard about them airing the Funimation dub of Z is indeed true.

I do hope it turns out to be Funimation because apart from Ocean (who likely won't dub Super for a long time depending on whether or not we will ever see their Kai dub) any other English dubs would be just a curiosity to me, I like watching Super in its original language, but personally I'd like to have an English version with a cast I love very soon.

[DBZ_Lee]

It is totally wishful thinking to hope Funimation's dub is what they will air, but if it was, then they wouldn't announce it until after Funimation has, as there is no way they would be ok with Toonami Asia announcing their production.

I'm beginning to doubt this dub exists. The Asian Toonami outlets seem incapable of nailing down a date, which implies production isn't there yet. I've spoken to someone in the Hong Kong VA scene (where Toonami Asia's dubs are recorded) and they told me they haven't heard of the show being recorded there.

That is weird, maybe it has been cancelled, or it is being outsourced.

[Super Sayian Prime]

Right, I wouldn't rule out the chance that the powers that be have decided to wait out until Funimation's dub is available. However, like you've both said, AFAIK there's been no Funimation production that has premiered outside of the US before. That would definitely be at odds with Toonami Asia's supposed premiere exclusivity.

If they are waiting on the US dub, that definitely sucks because it means the rest of the world has to wait for the US once again. The disaster that has been the international distribution of The Final Chapters has shown how unfair that can be. Plenty of countries are (presumably) waiting on a US-only TV broadcast before they can finally start releasing something that should've been out years ago because they're dependent on Funimation's material (either scripts to translate into a local language, or the entire production itself in other English markets). Amusingly, this would've been the perfect time for an Ocean dub of TFC and Super to surface. Just sell that to international markets while Funimation dicks around waiting for a US TV channel to give them a call.

There is the possibility that this dub is being recorded in Texas without Funimation's involvement, but I don't know. Toei and Funimation have been partners for 20 years on Dragon Ball and have seen immense success through that relationship. It's hard for me to believe that Funimation would just get cut out of the picture like that. A separate dub produced for international markets at least gives Funimation a reason to be involved.

[DBZ_Lee]

It is very frustrating having to wait for Funimation to put their dub out.
The situation with Kai has been somewhat unfortunate, though I don't think all of the blame lies with them entirely.
It was most likely a TV deal that has held that back. With the CW cancelling the Vortexx block back in 2014, they had to find another network.
It is painfully annoying to see other countries start dubbing, and Funimation hasn't yet.

I do believe that the execs have either come into some news not made public yet about a Funimation production on the horizon, and elected to wait it out, or the Asian produced dub is in production, but isn't quite ready to go yet.
As you rightly said, there would be no way that Funimation would allow their dub to premiere outside of the US, meaning Toonami's "English language world Premiere" wouldn't happen.

[wjbraden]

Patience is a virtue guys. I'm sure this dub is on the way and that there were some production delays.

As for Kai part 2 and Super in the US, I'm sure that they will be coming sooner or later as well. I know we have all been spoiled by the rapid releases in the digital age, but apparently Toei wants to do an international roll out in a "traditional" way, by getting the show on TV in a number of territories. I'm sure they are aware of us fanatics, but they want to reach new and more casual viewers as well, who will only be able to discover it on TV. It worked extremely well for Z and Kai part 1 in the past, and they want to do it again. So just relax, it will be here!

[DBZ_Lee]

It would seem the dub hasn't started yet.

I contacted the Turner Network again, to see if there were any updates, this is what they said:


Me:

One final question. Do you know where your dub is being produced? as in, is it the same dub you planned to use from the start?.
Is it produced in Asia?.

Turner:

I really cant share that information as it’s still under discussion…

I have no idea what is going on. It would seem as though they announced it back in November, and plans have changed.
The social media guys were saying it starts this month a few weeks back. It seems as though they were kept in the dark by the execs.
This dub has been interesting from the start, I am keen to see how it all plays out.

[Super Sayian Prime]

Two months later and still literally nothing ...