"Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters" FUNimation English Dub Official Announcement and Discussion Thread

[Lookerman]

Ignoring the TFS side of things, I feel bad for Nick, Curtis and Lawrence as actors. Nick is certainly an actor as proven by his past work for Funi and this is basically him losing a role and being replaced last minute. Some more recent voice actors in Funimations pool have come from not only internet parodies like TFS, but song covers and fandubs. I just find it so sad that the voice work that made someone like Nick get a job in VAing, is the exact thing that as led to him being replaced in an official product.

That aside, to the haters of this scene, I must ask. Would it be more enjoyable if it wasn't the TFS crew doing the Voices or if you didn't know it was them doing the voices with the script being the exact same? Cause none of these are TFS jokes, they're jokes about the old dub and the old state of the DBZ product in English in a "Look how far we're come guys!" kind of way. You don't need to know who TFS are to understand the humor here.

I love this post, but I feel that even without this little parody skit, if they are as truly talented as you and others say, this is but a minor setback. Its best for them to do actual serious work and be recognized for that instead of just a 2 minute funny skit. I'm not saying this to malign TFS. I'm just saying this isnt the end of the world. They will probably get cast on other anime in a more serious capacity.

Actually, Kaiser's credited in a supporting role in one of the Danganronpa 3 anime: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclo ... p?id=18272. So it's a start.

[Cure Dragon 255]

KEWLIO! Its only a matter of time for the rest! I think that MasakoX lives in the UK and they dont do dubs anymore though...

[Scsigs]

Ignoring the TFS side of things, I feel bad for Nick, Curtis and Lawrence as actors. Nick is certainly an actor as proven by his past work for Funi and this is basically him losing a role and being replaced last minute. Some more recent voice actors in Funimation's pool have come from not only internet parodies like TFS, but song covers and fandubs. I just find it so sad that the voice work that made someone like Nick get a job in VAing, is the exact thing that as led to him being replaced in an official product.

Yeah, it's definitely just a heartbreaking setback. Personally, I feel that one of the reasons they're being silent is because they're sad about it, but they have the actual excuse of NDAs. Plus, they probably don't wanna badmouth Toei too hard. I feel if these guys just used different voices, or just wrote it & directed it, then they'd have gotten away with it. I mean, they've gotten away with referencing the fandom before with quick TFS lines & the Wilhelm scream, so it's obvious Toei doesn't mind as long as it's FUNi's actors saying the lines & they're not too extensive, if they did approve scripts during the dubbing of the first 3 arcs, which I don't think any studio does, to be perfectly honest. I mean, if studios cared about the dubbing being as close as possible, why are Pokemon & Yugioh still getting terrible dubs with no signs of uncut dubs being produced? Many studios just care about marketability, the only exception being Studio Ghibli &, only in one or two instances, Toei.
For Ghibli, you understand, because many, if not all, of Miyazaki's films are passion projects he wanted to put into animated film form. When you have one of the best animation studios in the world mailing a katana to Miramax when they were dubbing one of their films with a letter that says, "no cuts," you know that not only do they have a great sense of humor, but they also care about the quality of their work & have 100% faith in it.
For Toei, it's mainly Sailor Moon, since they didn't relicense that property to anyone for over a decade because of how poorly it was handled in the 90s, at least here in American. Now, Viz is doing a great job redubbing & distributing the franchise to the point I once saw a Ford commercial with Usagi narrating it. That's, literally, the first instance of anything like that that I've seen. The other being arguable, but it's only after the marketing lead to them giving the series to 4Kids just to get a foothold in America, only for it to blow up in their faces because, of course, it was 4Kids, but One Piece. Though the most they go for both of those franchises is castings of the main characters & probably no visual edits unless absolutely necessary.

That aside, to the haters of this scene, I must ask. Would it be more enjoyable if it wasn't the TFS crew doing the Voices or if you didn't know it was them doing the voices with the script being the exact same? Cause none of these are TFS jokes, they're jokes about the old dub and the old state of the DBZ product in English in a "Look how far we're come guys!" kind of way. You don't need to know who TFS are to understand the humor here.

Exactly! That's one of the main reasons I love it. Using the guys from TFS is just icing on the cake. Without them, the icing is gone from the metaphorical cake, just leaving a dry pastry. It's them acknowledging the sins of the past & letting people know, "Yeah, it's ok to hate the original dub, please laugh with us at a quick collection of the old lines that were most cringeworthy delivered by the best of the best internet comedians." If it wasn't them doing the voices, something would definitely be lost, but it'd still be funny. Maybe it'd be funnier to some because it's not Team Four Star's VAs. At least it'd be there still because people wouldn't have hyped it to oblivion & Toei wouldn't have, in the words of Negan, shut that shit down hard. I don't know, but it'd certainly be better than just recycling the Z dub's clips in a rushed replacement.

[Bansho64]

It's them acknowledging the sins of the past & letting people know, "Yeah, it's ok to hate the original dub, please laugh with us at a quick collection of the old lines that were most cringeworthy delivered by the best of the best internet comedians."

I think you're looking way too far into it. I mainly think FUNi just pulled them for a quick, funny, and simple scene. It ain't gotta be as deep as them telling people it's aight to "hate" the original dub or whatever. It ain't gotta be THAT deep.

Also, what's your thing with wanting the FUNi guys to hate the old dub and encourage others to? This is the second time in a row you've used the word "hate" to describe how they feel about it after your previous false claim that they do.

[matt0044]

I love this post, but I feel that even without this little parody skit, if they are as truly talented as you and others say, this is but a minor setback. Its best for them to do actual serious work and be recognized for that instead of just a 2 minute funny skit. I'm not saying this to malign TFS. I'm just saying this isnt the end of the world. They will probably get cast on other anime in a more serious capacity.

That's very true. It's just a shame they got the shaft in any case.

[Scsigs]

It's them acknowledging the sins of the past & letting people know, "Yeah, it's ok to hate the original dub, please laugh with us at a quick collection of the old lines that were most cringeworthy delivered by the best of the best internet comedians."

I think you're looking way too far into it. I mainly think FUNi just pulled them for a quick, funny, and simple scene. It ain't gotta be as deep as them telling people it's aight to "hate" the original dub or whatever. It ain't gotta be THAT deep.

Also, what's your thing with wanting the FUNi guys to hate the old dub and encourage others to? This is the second time in a row you've used the word "hate" to describe how they feel about it after your previous false claim that they do.

You think I'm looking to far into it? You're kind of reading too far into MY statements, but I can see why.
I'm not saying that FUNi hates the original dub, it's not really worth hating if you worked on it, or got into the franchise through it & love the better dubs, but the majority of it is cringeworthy. Really, really cringeworthy. Many of the changed, or unneeded & added, dialogue, line reads, some castings, & some other things are still points of contention amongst sub fans, or Kai fans, against Z dub fans who're clearly blinded by nostalgia rather than analyzing the dub by modern standards & seeing it doesn't hold up at all, or at least not if you're over the age of 12.
Many people hate the original dub because the liberties taken in the scripting just made the series something it wasn't meant to be in many places by changing a lot of things. I've always kept in mind that actors in a dub can be one of the best parts of it, no matter how different they are from the sub's actors, as long as they get good scripts & direction. FUNi's oldest actors that are still working for them have only gotten bette with time. Best example, Sean Schemmel. The critique I'm always seeing about him is that he's not Masako Nozawa in English form. Not to get too far into Sub VS Dub territory, but he doesn't have to be, he just needs to be able to portray Goku accurately & well. That's the point of castings in media, you need actors that can give characters the appropriate amount of weight that they need. Personally, I've always loved his Goku voice & he's only gotten better with time. One of the most consistent praises I see of him is that he's clearly better now than when the Z dub was recorded. He should be, as everyone else is, as he's only gotten more experience in voice acting since then. He went from playing Goku as a superhero to dubbing Goku as he actually is, a simpleton who loves to fight, but has nice guy tendencies, like turning into a hero. Though most of Goku's heroic tendencies come from the fact that he hasn't had much development since the second to last arc of Dragon Ball. Z had some for him, but the main characters of Z were Gohan, Piccolo, & Vegeta because only they got arcs & grew or changed as people. Goku just saved the day because he's the strongest. Sean gets the character nowadays, which'll make his thoughts on Super interesting to hear.

I'm not wanting the guys at FUNi to hate the dub. As I've said, I don't think they do, but I'm pretty sure most of them look back on it as an old shame because that's how I'd look at it if I were a part of the cast of the original dub. I said that they're saying, "if you hate the old dub, we understand, now please laugh with us at our old shame," I never said that they hated it themselves. FUNi still makes money off of it because of nostalgia brats who buy any kind of Z merch no matter the quality & I don't think a lot of the cast had a really bad experience recording it, it's just that they acknowledge its flaws & say that Kai's a much better product on a dub level. Sabat even said himself, "Yeah, we've been waiting for an opportunity to throw out the old dub," when answering a fan's question at a con several years ago.
Don't go putting words in my text.

[Bansho64]

I'm just gonna quote the parts I got problems with. I don't wanna block up a whole page with a long quote.

I never said that they hated it themselves.

Well, first off,

2. It's FUNi poking fun at themselves. The original dub had a few moments of decent scripting, but most of it was bad & even the actors hate that dub.

Yes you did.

FUNi still makes money off of it because of nostalgia brats who buy any kind of Z merch no matter the quality

No, FUNi still makes money off of it because of fans of all ages that enjoy it. No need to put unneeded labels on customers who buy and enjoy their products that you don't like

Don't go putting words in my text

No-one's putting words in your mouth bro. I'm just pointing out my problems with what you said. It's not my fault if you can't keep track of what you're saying.

[Scsigs]

2. It's FUNi poking fun at themselves. The original dub had a few moments of decent scripting, but most of it was bad & even the actors hate that dub.

Yes you did.

Ah, forgot I put that. More to the point, I thought that you were saying that I said the company hates it. Actors can hate a product while a company loves it because it makes them money still.

[G1Ravage]

It's disappointing that their scene never made it to the airwaves in full. It was funny as hell, and a great meta reference to how far the dub has come. But part of me finds it hard to believe that the folks at Toei are so well-versed in American Internet culture that they'd object to this scene being presented as-is. When have they ever cared so much about our English dub? It's a small scene that's meant to be a funny parody.

[NintendoBlaze53]

Actually, Kaiser's credited in a supporting role in one of the Danganronpa 3 anime: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclo ... p?id=18272. So it's a start.

To try and avoid going too far off topic, I freaking love Danganronpa and was happy to see Scott fill in for one of my favorite characters. The worst part about him playing Gundham is he's replacing the games actor, it still isn't a role he can call solely his own. He has said how much he loved playing Gundham so good on him.

Since I didn't make it fully clear, I mean it's a shame for the TFS crew both as actors and especially as actors who are major fans of the Dragon Ball Franchise, voice acting in your a franchise that is dear to your heart must be an amazing feeling as seen with VA's like Bryce Papenbrook getting the role of Eren after being a huge fan of Attack On Titan. I only hope Nick and Scott try and audition for some roles in Super/Sabat thinks of them when casting, maybe as GoD's since I could see their voices working for a couple of them.

[Ashura]

Yeah this is very similar to the Douglas situation except Sabat can't try and cover this one up hence why he is quite too.

I'm not up to date on any of this stuff- what's 'The Douglas situation'?

[SaiyamanMS]

I'm not up to date on any of this stuff- what's 'The Douglas situation'?

A little while before the Super dub was announced, Jason Douglas posted a photo that was seemingly taken while recording Beerus's lines for episode 1. Sabat immediately backpedaled saying "It's not what you think" and the photo disappeared from Douglas's feed.

[dragonballgeek]

It's them acknowledging the sins of the past & letting people know, "Yeah, it's ok to hate the original dub, please laugh with us at a quick collection of the old lines that were most cringeworthy delivered by the best of the best internet comedians."

I think you're looking way too far into it. I mainly think FUNi just pulled them for a quick, funny, and simple scene. It ain't gotta be as deep as them telling people it's aight to "hate" the original dub or whatever. It ain't gotta be THAT deep.

Also, what's your thing with wanting the FUNi guys to hate the old dub and encourage others to? This is the second time in a row you've used the word "hate" to describe how they feel about it after your previous false claim that they do.

You think I'm looking to far into it? You're kind of reading too far into MY statements, but I can see why.
I'm not saying that FUNi hates the original dub, it's not really worth hating if you worked on it, or got into the franchise through it & love the better dubs, but the majority of it is cringeworthy. Really, really cringeworthy. Many of the changed, or unneeded & added, dialogue, line reads, some castings, & some other things are still points of contention amongst sub fans, or Kai fans, against Z dub fans who're clearly blinded by nostalgia rather than analyzing the dub by modern standards & seeing it doesn't hold up at all, or at least not if you're over the age of 12.
Many people hate the original dub because the liberties taken in the scripting just made the series something it wasn't meant to be in many places by changing a lot of things. I've always kept in mind that actors in a dub can be one of the best parts of it, no matter how different they are from the sub's actors, as long as they get good scripts & direction. FUNi's oldest actors that are still working for them have only gotten bette with time. Best example, Sean Schemmel. The critique I'm always seeing about him is that he's not Masako Nozawa in English form. Not to get too far into Sub VS Dub territory, but he doesn't have to be, he just needs to be able to portray Goku accurately & well. That's the point of castings in media, you need actors that can give characters the appropriate amount of weight that they need. Personally, I've always loved his Goku voice & he's only gotten better with time. One of the most consistent praises I see of him is that he's clearly better now than when the Z dub was recorded. He should be, as everyone else is, as he's only gotten more experience in voice acting since then. He went from playing Goku as a superhero to dubbing Goku as he actually is, a simpleton who loves to fight, but has nice guy tendencies, like turning into a hero. Though most of Goku's heroic tendencies come from the fact that he hasn't had much development since the second to last arc of Dragon Ball. Z had some for him, but the main characters of Z were Gohan, Piccolo, & Vegeta because only they got arcs & grew or changed as people. Goku just saved the day because he's the strongest. Sean gets the character nowadays, which'll make his thoughts on Super interesting to hear.

I'm not wanting the guys at FUNi to hate the dub. As I've said, I don't think they do, but I'm pretty sure most of them look back on it as an old shame because that's how I'd look at it if I were a part of the cast of the original dub. I said that they're saying, "if you hate the old dub, we understand, now please laugh with us at our old shame," I never said that they hated it themselves. FUNi still makes money off of it because of nostalgia brats who buy any kind of Z merch no matter the quality & I don't think a lot of the cast had a really bad experience recording it, it's just that they acknowledge its flaws & say that Kai's a much better product on a dub level. Sabat even said himself, "Yeah, we've been waiting for an opportunity to throw out the old dub," when answering a fan's question at a con several years ago.
Don't go putting words in my text.

I really can't stand condescending people like you.

I love the original English dub. Those "cringe worthy moments" are what made the show so enjoyable, especially when I was kid. It was cool. Before you run your mouth NO I'm not blinded by nostalgia. I actually prefer watching anime with English subs (with the exception of Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho.)

The difference between you and me is that I don't look down on people for preferring it. You need to sit down and just accept the fact that this corny English dub you're talking smack about is a big reason why anime is so huge in America. It opened the doors.

I personally can't stand the music in kai. I preferred the more Americanized version. I'm obviously talking about the funi dub. And you know what? That's okay. Everybody is different and everyone has a preference. Just because it's not the same as yours doesn't make your opinion better. So stop putting yourself on a pedestal because you're a "purist".

[Jinzoningen MULE]

I really can't stand condescending people like you.

I love the original English dub. Those "cringe worthy moments" are what made the show so enjoyable, especially when I was kid. It was cool. Before you run your mouth NO I'm not blinded by nostalgia. I actually prefer watching anime with English subs (with the exception of Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho.)

The difference between you and me is that I don't look down on people for preferring it. You need to sit down and just accept the fact that this corny English dub you're talking smack about is a big reason why anime is so huge in America. It opened the doors.

I personally can't stand the music in kai. I preferred the more Americanized version. I'm obviously talking about the funi dub. And you know what? That's okay. Everybody is different and everyone has a preference. Just because it's not the same as yours doesn't make your opinion better. So stop putting yourself on a pedestal because you're a "purist".

Did you quote the wrong post? Nothing he said was condescending in the slightest, and he didn't even say that anything was wrong with enjoying the original. I think you're a little paranoid there, bud.

[dragonballgeek]

I really can't stand condescending people like you.

I love the original English dub. Those "cringe worthy moments" are what made the show so enjoyable, especially when I was kid. It was cool. Before you run your mouth NO I'm not blinded by nostalgia. I actually prefer watching anime with English subs (with the exception of Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho.)

The difference between you and me is that I don't look down on people for preferring it. You need to sit down and just accept the fact that this corny English dub you're talking smack about is a big reason why anime is so huge in America. It opened the doors.

I personally can't stand the music in kai. I preferred the more Americanized version. I'm obviously talking about the funi dub. And you know what? That's okay. Everybody is different and everyone has a preference. Just because it's not the same as yours doesn't make your opinion better. So stop putting yourself on a pedestal because you're a "purist".

Did you quote the wrong post? Nothing he said was condescending in the slightest, and he didn't even say that anything was wrong with enjoying the original. I think you're a little paranoid there, bud.

Now that I look at it again, I think I did..

It's not really lining up with what I was reading. Whoops

[Cure Dragon 255]

And I hate to break it to you but "I loved it as a kid" is the very definition of nostalgia. If you watched it as an adult for the first time and came out liking Faulconer better fine, but dont misunderstand what a word means.

Not that being driven by nostalgia is necesarily wrong. I'm extremely driven by nostalgia and I prefer the Japanese version of the DB score. I hate Kai because in my country most of our beloved cast was replaced.

In fact, I want to make a new thread. It will be called "Can fans of the Original Japanese version be considered as "Blinded by Nostalgia?" "

Wait, never mind,you never said anything about not being driven by nostalgia, so I messed up and this whole post is rude and pointless. Oops, sorry.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

I hate Kai because in my country most of our beloved cast was replaced.

Latin American dub?

[Cure Dragon 255]

Eeyup, sure sugar thing.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

Eeyup, sure sugar thing.

Yeah, I've heard clips, and it's not very good. If only all the Kai dubs could have been as much of an improvement as the English and French versions.

[Scsigs]

I really can't stand condescending people like you.

I love the original English dub. Those "cringe worthy moments" are what made the show so enjoyable, especially when I was kid. It was cool. Before you run your mouth NO I'm not blinded by nostalgia. I actually prefer watching anime with English subs (with the exception of Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho.)
The difference between you and me is that I don't look down on people for preferring it. You need to sit down and just accept the fact that this corny English dub you're talking smack about is a big reason why anime is so huge in America. It opened the doors.
I personally can't stand the music in kai. I preferred the more Americanized version. I'm obviously talking about the funi dub. And you know what? That's okay. Everybody is different and everyone has a preference. Just because it's not the same as yours doesn't make your opinion better. So stop putting yourself on a pedestal because you're a "purist".

Thank you, Jinzoningen MULE, I'll take it from here.
And also, thanks for the apology, Geek, but I already started typing this, so I'm going to finish it. Please don't take this as offense to you, I'm just explaining & defending myself here.

Here's the thing, Geek...
It's absolutely FINE, if you like it. I can tell you love it in a "so bad, it's good" kind of way. If not, your words definitely lead me to think so. There's certainly a lot of laugh-worthy lines in there on that level. I'm just saying I cringe so hard at those lines & directions the cast gave. I certainly can enjoy a "so bad, it's good" piece of media. Go to Netflix & watch Cyberbully if it's still there, you will laugh your ass off at the terribleness of that movie. We all have our guilty pleasures & that's fine. We all had to come from somewhere to be fans. However, I cringe because of those reasons, where you laugh. The dub does not hold up in any way under scrutiny to current dubbing standards because of those reasons. I can understand guilty pleasures, nostalgia, whatever, but I can't watch that dub without cringing hard most of the time. Yeah, it's part of the reason anime exploded, it's always going to be, I just wish they did a better job is all.
The post was me explaining myself when someone accused me of saying something I didn't intend through someone not understanding what I was trying to say, that's all. You've reread it, so you now see it.

By the way, I love Kai, not for the better dub, which is excellent by the way, but the fact that its filler is significantly cut down from Z & it's an actual HD version of the show & not those shitty "remasters" FUNi put on those season sets, yuck.
Also, I'm NOT a purist, like, at fucking all. I LOVE English dubs when they're done right. I almost never watch an anime in sub unless I have to. I prefer my dubs to be accurate, yes, but I'm not going to say you NEED to watch the sub. I'll let everyone enjoy what they enjoy. That's part of my problem with some of the other people here, is that some of them have to nitpick every single thing the dub does into oblivion, when, at most, all anyone has to worry about nowadays is castings & maybe some stray scriptings here & there, but nothing major. I've dealt with purists in fandoms & I'm NOT going to be that level of fan EVER.