Who really is the definitive Son Goku?

[Cure Dragon 255]

By that logic the only dub actors to be Son Goku are Laura Torres, Mario Castañeda and Sean Schemmel are Son Goku. Because they did call and or were themselves "Son Goku".

[DragonBallKing]

Masako Nozawa;

English dub doesn't even use his full name, so they can't be the real SON Goku

Well they said it once in Kai although I wish they said it more, like when goku introduces himself to new people.

[Zephyr]

Nozawa was the original voice. Nozawa is the voice Toriyama picked. Nozawa is the voice that Toriyama continued to hear in his head while drawing the manga.

Not sure how this is remotely a question.

[Dbzfan94]

Masako Nozawa;

English dub doesn't even use his full name, so they can't be the real SON Goku

Are you sure about that??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75gUJ_4SyY0

[Robo4900]

Masako Nozawa, without a doubt.

Sean Schemmel joined in 1999, doing an impression of Peter Kelamis, who was filling in for Ian Corlett.
Sean, like most of Funimation's actors in Dragon Ball, didn't actually get good at being Goku until the mid-2000s, when Z was already over, GT had... Happened, and the DB dub was going, aswell as various video games.

Masako Nozawa joined in 1986, when the original series first started, and did a fantastic job from the get-go. Even if we're purely talking about adult Goku, she walked in, did her version how Goku would sound, and made the role her own.

Sean Schemmel, like all of Funimation's actors, started out as a pale imitation of the Ocean voice who preceded him. Granted, his Goku voice definitely evolved from there, and his Goku is rather distinct, but you can definitely hear a lot of Ian Corlett and Peter Kelamis in there, and he's still basically the same type of Goku voice as we've always had in dubs of Dragon Ball.

[Fionordequester]

Nozawa was the original voice. Nozawa is the voice Toriyama picked. Nozawa is the voice that Toriyama continued to hear in his head while drawing the manga.

Well, yeah; Akira Toriyama was Japanese, was probably exposed to Nozawa first, and probably didn't care enough to watch every single country's version of his character. It's not hard to see why he'd be biased towards Nozawa

[MajinMan]

Nozawa was the original voice. Nozawa is the voice Toriyama picked. Nozawa is the voice that Toriyama continued to hear in his head while drawing the manga.

Well, yeah; Akira Toriyama was Japanese, was probably exposed to Nozawa first, and probably didn't care enough to watch every single country's version of his character. It's not hard to see why he'd be biased towards Nozawa

That doesn't make sense. Why would Toriyama care about random dubs and adaptations of his work? Or are you assuming that other dubs came out at the same time as the Japanese version? Of course he prefers Nozawa. It's the original voice of Goku that he himself chose.

[lancerman]

Nozawa was the original voice. Nozawa is the voice Toriyama picked. Nozawa is the voice that Toriyama continued to hear in his head while drawing the manga.

Well, yeah; Akira Toriyama was Japanese, was probably exposed to Nozawa first, and probably didn't care enough to watch every single country's version of his character. It's not hard to see why he'd be biased towards Nozawa

That doesn't make sense. Why would Toriyama care about random dubs and adaptations of his work? Or are you assuming that other dubs came out at the same time as the Japanese version? Of course he prefers Nozawa. It's the original voice of Goku that he himself chose.

The point is that Toriyama's pick for who his definitive Goku is largely comes down to the same reason everyone else does. Same country, same language, same culture. To most people it's going to come down to who they watched first. I watched both series in both languages. I watched Super's entire run Japanese. When I heard the first episodes dubbed version it felt more authentic to me because no matter what that voice cast is the one I and many others associate with the series. If you took a world wide poll of it, Masako might have the most votes and have the plurality of votes. But it's doubtful she would have a majority because of how many countries were exposed to someone else.

[Cetra]

Tommy Morgenstern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqHnwNYWecA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erEJlY8NYS0

[Zephyr]

Nozawa was the original voice. Nozawa is the voice Toriyama picked. Nozawa is the voice that Toriyama continued to hear in his head while drawing the manga.

Well, yeah; Akira Toriyama was Japanese, was probably exposed to Nozawa first, and probably didn't care enough to watch every single country's version of his character. It's not hard to see why he'd be biased towards Nozawa

The reasons why are unimportant. The point is that "Nozawa = Goku" has been true to the guy who literally created the most core source material of the franchise since partway through his creating it. It's a complete non-question. Now, if the question is "which is the best/your most favorite Goku voice?", then it becomes more open-ended.

Also Upa recognized Goku's adult voice despite never interacting with him as an adult, so any voice that deviates too much after he reaches adulthood can't even be cannonz!

[kidhero1000]

Tommy Morgenstern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqHnwNYWecA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erEJlY8NYS0

Yeah, SSJ3 makes it sound as if the dude is trying to take a shit

[Asura]

Is there a reason why both of our posts keep getting deleted over and over? I don't get it.

Don't really feel like posting my opinion on the definitive Son Goku for a third time now, but seriously what the hell? Would be nice if the moderator would at least message us as to why our posts keep getting deleted so we don't make whatever mistake we apparently keep making again instead of just silently deleting them over and over.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Nozawa was the original voice. Nozawa is the voice Toriyama picked. Nozawa is the voice that Toriyama continued to hear in his head while drawing the manga.

Well, yeah; Akira Toriyama was Japanese, was probably exposed to Nozawa first, and probably didn't care enough to watch every single country's version of his character. It's not hard to see why he'd be biased towards Nozawa

The reasons why are unimportant. The point is that "Nozawa = Goku" has been true to the guy who literally created the most core source material of the franchise since partway through his creating it. It's a complete non-question. Now, if the question is "which is the best/your most favorite Goku voice?", then it becomes more open-ended.

Also Upa recognized Goku's adult voice despite never interacting with him as an adult, so any voice that deviates too much after he reaches adulthood can't even be cannonz!

This. I don't want to say I find this question offensive, but to be honest I was kinda appalled someone asked this. Again, obviously this isn't a dub/sub preferential thing (not to mention our dub had almost nothing to do with the actual show), this is just something to take at face value IMO.

I think it might be debatable if we were talking something like Kingdom Hearts, where the dub had plenty creator involvement & aside from a few characters sounds exactly the same. With Metal Gear it's interesting because Kojima later invested himself in the English version, but many of the earlier dubs had castings that vary wildly from his own. It's at least debatable, though, as to "who is true new Snake, Otsuka or Sutherland?" With Dragon Ball, I personally feel this is a non-question.

[8000 Saiyan]

Well, yeah; Akira Toriyama was Japanese, was probably exposed to Nozawa first, and probably didn't care enough to watch every single country's version of his character. It's not hard to see why he'd be biased towards Nozawa

The reasons why are unimportant. The point is that "Nozawa = Goku" has been true to the guy who literally created the most core source material of the franchise since partway through his creating it. It's a complete non-question. Now, if the question is "which is the best/your most favorite Goku voice?", then it becomes more open-ended.

Also Upa recognized Goku's adult voice despite never interacting with him as an adult, so any voice that deviates too much after he reaches adulthood can't even be cannonz!

This. I don't want to say I find this question offensive, but to be honest I was kinda appalled someone asked this. Again, obviously this isn't a dub/sub preferential thing (not to mention our dub had almost nothing to do with the actual show), this is just something to take at face value IMO.

I think it might be debatable if we were talking something like Kingdom Hearts, where the dub had plenty creator involvement & aside from a few characters sounds exactly the same. With Metal Gear it's interesting because Kojima later invested himself in the English version, but many of the earlier dubs had castings that vary wildly from his own. It's at least debatable, though, as to "who is true new Snake, Otsuka or Sutherland?" With Dragon Ball, I personally feel this is a non-question.

Whether you like it or not, people view Hayter as the definitive Snake even if he doesn't sound like Otsuka. Personally, I find this definitive thing ridiculous and rather arrogant. I much prefer using the term favorite rather than definitive.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Whether you like it or not, people view Hayter as the definitive Snake even if he doesn't sound like Otsuka. Personally, I find this definitive thing ridiculous and rather arrogant. I much prefer using the term favorite rather than definitive.

I know, I was simply speaking from a "what is the author's vision/choice in the work of art" perspective. As earlier stated, favorites aren't really the same thing. If OP wanted to specify "which do you prefer?" that's another thing. Again, it's no disrespect to David Hayter, Sean Schemmel, or whoever, they are human beings & tbh are kinda mistreated as dub VAs in general.

[8000 Saiyan]

Whether you like it or not, people view Hayter as the definitive Snake even if he doesn't sound like Otsuka. Personally, I find this definitive thing ridiculous and rather arrogant. I much prefer using the term favorite rather than definitive.

I know, I was simply speaking from a "what is the author's vision/choice in the work of art" perspective. As earlier stated, favorites aren't really the same thing. If OP wanted to specify "which do you prefer?" that's another thing. Again, it's no disrespect to David Hayter, Sean Schemmel, or whoever, they are human beings & tbh are kinda mistreated as dub VAs in general.

Hayter is mistreated as a dub voice actor? Since when? I didn't know he was mistreated. Same thing with Schemmel. Are they mistreated because they're not Otsuka and Nozawa?

[MR.Mark]

As a middle ground kinda fan the easiest way to break it down, there's two "definitive" Son Gokus:

1) The speech bubbles written by Akira Toriyama in his manga

2) Every well acted (and translated) interpretation in various languages

[8000 Saiyan]

As a middle ground kinda fan the easiest way to break it down, there's two "definitive" Son Gokus:

1) The speech bubbles written by Akira Toriyama in his manga

2) Every well acted (and translated) interpretation in various languages

That's a good one.

[MR.Mark]

It is true though, every other version has been an adaption of that material.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

Hayter is mistreated as a dub voice actor? Since when? I didn't know he was mistreated. Same thing with Schemmel. Are they mistreated because they're not Otsuka and Nozawa?

That's such a non-sequitur lol.

I think when MGS & DBZ make dozens of millions on dub-primary/only releases, & the dub VAs dont see a cent besides a small (less so in Hayter's case) session fee, that's pretty bad. Hayter & especially Schemmel have spoken about it too.

I'm not certain, but I do believe Japanese VAs make royalties off dub releases. IIRC the JP game industry overall, dubs or not, has a leg up over SAG in terms of paying royalties for game VA's.