Does Funimation really treat Dragonball that bad?

[SonEric84]

Changing the music was just stupid and unnecessary.

It worked for Voltron and Ultimate Muscle.

Maybe (I haven't really watched Voltron, and only a little bit of ultimate muscle) but if a t.v. series already has a soundtrack I don't know why you'd go and make your own.

[Kunzait_83]

b

[Vekurotto]

If FUNimation's dub proved anything, it proved that Dragon Ball is so durable and immortal as a franchise that you can bastardize it any number of ways and it will still be viable; you can replace Kikuchi's iconic (and record selling) soundtrack with synthetic garbage, reduce the voice acting performances to sub-porn levels of schlock, and make the plot as incomprehensible and inconsequential as a straight to video Dolph Lundgren flick... and millions of people will STILL love the shit out of it.


The only thing FUNimation’s “creative license” ever accomplished was permanently segregating the fanbase.

Yes, this is the greatest truth about Funimation and Dragonball Z. All they have done is made it, Fans of Funi's Dragonball Z vs. Fans of Japanese/every other language in the world, Dragonball Z. There are way more fans who prefer the Japanese and non-english language versions but the "hardcore" fans of Funi's DBZ that haven't been around since 1999 will continue to say it's better than the pre-established show because, from most Funi dub fans, "everybody sounds like they're 5 year old girls and the music is crappy compared to the EPIC BRUCE FAULCONER whose music plays the entire time and kills the mood 90% of the time and there's no real redeeming value to it. And then there's Sean Schemmel who's better because he makes Goku sound like a superhero rather than a normal person and because he can scream a long ass time when the Japanese one sounds like a girl and when she screams it annoying." Sound familiar?

That and there's no arguing that the fanbase of the Japanese version is higher to the fanbase of the Funi dub. I don't think people outside of where Funi's version is even shown like Funi's dub. Most people I know from other countries, that speak English, would rather listen to Ocean's dub of the Android-Buu sagas.

I mean even in NA and Australia, I assume that since we're talking about Funimation, don't like their dub. So essentially they don't look good from any standpoint, domestically or internationally either when it comes down to Dragonball Z.

Some may disagree with what I said but it's very truthful.

[Toniofalcon]

Funimation isn't " that bad" 4kids is that bad. Funimation actually left the series with some integrity . You all talk about Funimatino like they're 4kids in disguise.

The messed up part is that DBZ seems like it's the only series that they couldn't get right. I think they reached a point where they knew how to bring an Anime to the states but it was too late to decide " Hey! All this music is trash ! imma put in dis japanese shiz now. n joy." or " hey guys! uh....Freeza's voice is kinda lame ". The fans were too used to the old stuff. This can explain why the Japanese music is present in DB but never in DBZ.

[Captain Awesome]

I mean even in NA and Australia, I assume that since we're talking about Funimation, don't like their dub.

You would be surprised.

I live in Australia, and 90% of all the fans I've met here are dubbies. (although I was able to show my sister the light when it came to DB, she still loves Chris Sabat though..)

"There's a Japanese version!?"

Everyone here eats up FUNimation's dub, and their season sets.

What makes me different when I bought my season set..is that I complained about it while doing so

[Vekurotto]

Funimation isn't " that bad" 4kids is that bad. Funimation actually left the series with some integrity . You all talk about Funimatino like they're 4kids in disguise.

True while they aren't as bad as 4kids they seriously seem not to know how to make a good dub of DBZ. Now that wouldn't be a problem for me either if all of Funi's dubs sucked but every Funi dub is decent to good, but DBZ makes all of Funi's other dubs seem like Shakespearian literature. I don't care that their video is 100% uncut either it still has a dub that could be considered its own continuity sometimes.

You would be surprised.

I live in Australia, and 90% of all the fans I've met here are dubbies...

Everyone here eats up FUNimation's dub, and their season sets.

Oh well there are people everywhere who like the Funi dub. But I'm still not denying that the Funi dub fanbase is lower.

[Rocketman]

Kinda ironic/sucks that the most popular threads on the board lately have been ones where we're all complaining about the show we're fans of. (I guess it's not really the show itself...but still.)

You obviously haven't seen the Daizex Theme Song.

[Super Sonic]

Funimation isn't " that bad" 4kids is that bad. Funimation actually left the series with some integrity . You all talk about Funimatino like they're 4kids in disguise.

True while they aren't as bad as 4kids they seriously seem not to know how to make a good dub of DBZ. Now that wouldn't be a problem for me either if all of Funi's dubs sucked but every Funi dub is decent to good, but DBZ makes all of Funi's other dubs seem like Shakespearian literature. I don't care that their video is 100% uncut either it still has a dub that could be considered its own continuity sometimes.

You would be surprised.

I live in Australia, and 90% of all the fans I've met here are dubbies...

Everyone here eats up FUNimation's dub, and their season sets.

Oh well there are people everywhere who like the Funi dub. But I'm still not denying that the Funi dub fanbase is lower.

Does anyone else find it ironic that before Blue Gender and Yu-Gi-Oh premiered, a lot of people considered Funimation one of the worst companies, and 4Kids one of the best?

[Kaboom]

Kinda ironic/sucks that the most popular threads on the board lately have been ones where we're all complaining about the show we're fans of. (I guess it's not really the show itself...but still.)

You obviously haven't seen the Daizex Theme Song.

DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT.

[SonEric84]

Kinda ironic/sucks that the most popular threads on the board lately have been ones where we're all complaining about the show we're fans of. (I guess it's not really the show itself...but still.)

You obviously haven't seen the Daizex Theme Song.

What did I miss?

[Rocketman]

What did I miss?

This!

We can bitch if we want to, we can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't bitch and if they don't bitch
Well they're no friends of mine

Say, we can watch what we want to, a dub that they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind

And we can bitch

We can bitch when we want to, the night is young and so am I
But we gotta type real neat or else we get beat
EX surprises with the angry cry

Say, we can bitch if we want to, if we don't nobody will
You can act real rude, get totally removed
And I can act like an imbecile

It's safe to bitch

We can bitch, we can bitch
FUNi's out of control
We can bitch, we can bitch
Eyecatchers gone, oh noes!
We can bitch, we can bitch
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *faint*
We can bitch, we can bitch
オッス オラごくー!

We can bitch if we want to, we've got all your life and mine
As long as we don' abuse it we're never gonna lose it
And everything will work out right

Say, we can bitch if we want to, we can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't bitch and if they don't bitch
well they're no friend of mine

[SonEric84]

What did I miss?

This!

We can bitch if we want to, we can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't bitch and if they don't bitch
Well they're no friends of mine

Say, we can watch what we want to, a dub that they will never find
And we can act like we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind

And we can bitch

We can bitch when we want to, the night is young and so am I
But we gotta type real neat or else we get beat
EX surprises with the angry cry

Say, we can bitch if we want to, if we don't nobody will
You can act real rude, get totally removed
And I can act like an imbecile

It's safe to bitch

We can bitch, we can bitch
FUNi's out of control
We can bitch, we can bitch
Eyecatchers gone, oh noes!
We can bitch, we can bitch
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *faint*
We can bitch, we can bitch
オッス オラごくー!

We can bitch if we want to, we've got all your life and mine
As long as we don' abuse it we're never gonna lose it
And everything will work out right

Say, we can bitch if we want to, we can leave your friends behind
'Cause your friends don't bitch and if they don't bitch
well they're no friend of mine

hahaha No wait I remember that! Stupid question, what does the Japanese say?

[Adamant]

Stupid question, what does the Japanese say?

"Ossu, ora Gokuu". Closest thing to a catchphrase the series has.

[Professor Daravon]

They could have had every character voiced by Mickey Rooney, replace the dialogue with scripts from old Facts of Life episodes, and used the soundtrack to Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and they would’ve still made a mint.

I would actually really like to see this done now. Gohan can be Blair, Goku can be Jo, Vegeta can be Tootie, and Piccolo will be Mrs. Garrett. I hope a FUNimation rep is reading this thread.

[Tsukento]

Does anyone else find it ironic that before Blue Gender and Yu-Gi-Oh premiered, a lot of people considered Funimation one of the worst companies, and 4Kids one of the best?

Actually, I was rather surprised with how good the YuYu Hakusho dub was. It was then when FUNi started to redeem themselves.

[Onikage725]

Oh. Well I knew the theme songs weren't and the last ep of Cybertron had the dub theme at the end of the ep as the ships are flying off.

I don't know if it's due to the old series or what, but they are one of the few where name changes from the original Japanese aren't cared about.

I'd complain if I gave a damn about those shows, if that means anything. You do make a point- it isn't always considered a horrid thing. Here's my thing. I like it to have some semblance of a reason. For example, SFII: The Animated Movie. Apparently (as evidenced from the bland audio on the dual language DVD release) they can't score the rights to all the professional songs in the original version. But they didn't half-ass it either, they hired actual bands to produce good songs for the english version (maybe I'm biased cuz I adore KMFDM, but still). Let me put it this way, as far as Dragon Ball Z is concerned. If Ronin Warriors could do it, I think it kills FUNi's line about how they couldn't. For whatever marketing or budget reason they didn't want to. I understand the reasons for some of their decisions, and I'm forgiving of a number of them... but the constant outright lies need to end. Remember how they tried to tell us that it was basically impossible for them to translate the Japanese script? Yet somehow were capable of putting out a decent translation on dual-language DVDs?

EDIT: You've got me on Voltron. Fuck the GoLion theme. Fuck it in its stupid asshole. I have Super Robot Wars W and I had to change their battle music because I just can't take that piece of crap. Moving along...

BTW, everything that Corey and Kunzait said = HELL YES. Seriously, you guys beat me to the punch. Except one thing Kunzait- the timeslot you mention is the Saban days (back on Kids WB aka Skid BW and UPN Kids- they were "oopin"). I know FUNi was around but with the man in charge of Power Rangers at the helm and Shuki Levy in the mix... that incarnation of the dub turned out remarkably well for itself all things considered. It could have been a lot worse with that crew. One thing I appreciate about FUNi is aiming for the afternoon time slot on Toonami and minimizing edits.

That aside...everything else...ditto. Hitting on one point in further detail- maintaining their Saban fan base does not explain their handling of flashbacks going forward. Flashbacks fell into two categories- those that were chock full of what were essentially fan theories and attempted over analysis (ex- Vegeta's transformation and its shift from him being angry with himself to him "not caring if he lived or died") and completely nonsensical (ex ANYTHING having to do with Dragon Ball- General Tao anyone? How about Dr. Gero = Commander of the Red Ribbon Army?). Explain the logistics behind that, or how it preserved the old fanbase. Would Saban fans have been turned off by Dr. Gero just being a scientist? I may be all about the original version, but in those days before DVD releases (I had VHS season 3 releases prior even to the Toonami airing) the dub was my primary source of DBZ... and even then I could smell the bullshit a mile away.

And this part is pure fanboy ranting, but I don't care. If we weren't fanboys, we wouldn't be posting on Daizex. There are a number of dialogue changes made to suit their version that subtly changes the intention of character interactions and overall feel of the series. Ill give you two- first off, Piccolo's encounter with Raditz. What was with the dialogue shift from him threatening to kill Raditz for disturbing him to him not wanting a fight? Or the general softening of his dialogue overall? This stems partly from Dragon Ball's virtual non-airing, but Piccolo did not come off as a villain forced into a mutually-beneficial alliance. Piccolo, in the dub, was an anti-hero from the word go. He had an attitude, but otherwise was a fairly dependable, stand-up guy. I don't remember the dub scene exactly, but when I first saw Piccolo throw Gohan at the mountain I remember the context being something like "this will prove that you have these powers." In the original, its more like "power up or DIE."

The second example- just prior to Freeza and Cold's landing, the exchange with Tenshinhan, Yamcha and Vegeta. In the original, Vegeta tells the other two to shut it and focus on supressing their ki, as Freeza and co. have scouters. Then he adds that "the Namekian" is already doing it and even compliments him for this. And the whole time he has this smug demeanor. In the dub, he starts screaming at the top of his longs about being found due to "incessant jabbering" (no mention of power or scouters) and adds that the "scary talk is upsetting the Namek" (cut to Piccolo looking 100% calm). These kinds of dialogue shifts serve little purpose yet manage to completely change the point of a scene.

Now, maybe you're thinking "isn't that first example Sabans fault?" Yes and no. This brings me to the so-called "redub." Why is 75% of the script the Saban script? That scene with Piccolo for example. They'd aired DB. We all knew Piccolo was a bastard. The uncut dub is airing on Adult Swim, and the DVD releases are a guaranteed sell. The whole thing is being hyped up for being hardcore and un-edited. Yet they still feel the need to show the softer side of Piccolo? They still feel the need to remove lines about mythology, gods, demons? The line about how Piccolo is starting to change due to Raditz's soul not going to limbo (as is the case when a demon kills someone) but the actual afterlife is still edited to be some generic rambling about how Piccolo must be different since he teamed up with Goku and all. It doesn't make any sense, when you glance over at the Yu-Gi-Oh! redub they started that was more accurate and had the original music. Or when you look at Yu Yu Hakusho and how they kept the mythology intact. Was there an arguable reason for these edits and stupid dialogue changes the first time around? Maybe. But why bother with a big 'ol redub marketed at older audiences and airing in a time slot similar to that of another property you own with a similar fan base that enjoys next to no editing, and still have crummy (but kid-friendly!) script changes like this? And then turn around to have Vegeta saying "hell" and "damn" and "bastard" all the time to entice your older fans?

FUNimation is awsome with their other products. I actually wish they would absorb 4Kids and fix everything that company has done.

But for some reason, with Dragon Ball... there's always a catch. The season box sets- I buy them. 30 bucks for 30-40 episodes is a premium, especially compared to the old price point. But...ok I wont go into a rant about the widescreen, cuz we all already know. This was not the "way it was meant to be seen."

[Onikage725]

Does anyone else find it ironic that before Blue Gender and Yu-Gi-Oh premiered, a lot of people considered Funimation one of the worst companies, and 4Kids one of the best?

Sorry for the double post. Just wanted to answer this separetely.

Hells yes. I think about it a lot. Back when 4Kids was "Pokemon!" (which for some reason we didn't care too much about the edits cuz they were just seizure-inducing light shows and James' fake tits) and FUNi was "those bastards ruining DBZ."

And now its like...please FUNimation! Save us from the horror of 4Kids!

[Kunzait_83]

b

[Onikage725]

And in that regard it's a terrible shame that it has to forever remain "the odd man out"; the only shittastic, 4Kids-esque dub on the companies' record.

The thing that pisses me off is that DB is so well respected worldwide, yet in America it is seen by non-fans as this fad thing. It also inspires this utter hypocrisy. People who would write a college thesis on the injustice that was "Card Captors" would then turn around and insult Dragon Ball fans based solely on their opinion on what they saw on Cartoon Network.

While not quite as glaringly rewritten as the other two series, original DB still sports scripts that are completely shanked in such a way as to “keep within continuity of the Z dub”, a notion that makes absolutely no sense when taking into consideration the audience FUNi claimed to be aiming for with the show.

*CoughMadCowFightingTechniqueCough* In keeping with the 4Kids thing before, it is funny that 4Kids has in fact topped that interpretation of Drunken Fist. It was on Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, where booze is hot sauce and frequently had, by itself, for dinner.

[shenron002]

The greatest bastardization of a Japanese show was, "The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers" aka "Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger" if anyone seen the original Japanese show, you'll know what I mean. Oh yeah and it was done by "Saban" but orignally produced by "Toei", no wonder "Dragon Ball Z" was mistreated.