Funimation and OP/EDs

Sun_Wukong · Post by **Sun_Wukong** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 12:06 pm

So I've been wondering, every anime FUNI has done since DBZ has had an english dub version of the OP/ED. Why didnt they do this for the season box sets?

SaiyamanMS · Post by **SaiyamanMS** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 12:16 pm

Well, FMA didn't get any English dubs of it's OP/ED themes... >_>

Of course, I think that had something to do with the Japanese not wanting them to dub the themes or something if I recall... But I'm getting off topic. XD

I'm assuming the reason we didn't get dubbed versions of Cha-la and Zenkai Power though are because Funimation did a half assed job on the sets.

lennex80 · Post by **lennex80** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 1:11 pm

The thing I don't really understand about the box sets, and I like the box sets, but why would they put in the original Japanese audio back into the show with the english dub, and then take the U.S. guitar opening and leave it at the begining. I'd much rather hear Head Cha La then the guitar. Just seems odd to me.

As for why they didn't have a dub off the two songs I'm probably guessing lazynes was a factor, but i bet some type of copywrite thing got in the way there.

Post by **TripleRach** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 2:22 pm

SaiyamanMS wrote:Well, FMA didn't get any English dubs of it's OP/ED themes... >_>

Of course, I think that had something to do with the Japanese not wanting them to dub the themes or something if I recall... But I'm getting off topic. XD

I think they probably had to fork over a lot of money for those songs, too. Not to mention L'Arc en Ciel actually had a big concert at Otakon around the time the dub was being done, so they were obviously very popular in the US at the time. It would have been kind of stupid to dub the themes even if they could.

SaiyamanMS wrote:I'm assuming the reason we didn't get dubbed versions of Cha-la and Zenkai Power though are because Funimation did a half assed job on the sets.

That, or it could have something to do with karaoke versions not existing/being lost. I know that was the case with the DB themes, and they had to create new instrumental arrangements for the songs from scratch. Maybe they didn't feel like going through that kind of effort again... which I guess is still half-assed!

Adamant · Post by **Adamant** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 4:31 pm

TripleRach wrote: That, or it could have something to do with karaoke versions not existing/being lost.

No, they exist. The Norwegian dub uses them.

Anonymous Friend · Post by **Anonymous Friend** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 5:15 pm

As a little side question: How many instrumental openings did FUNi do? I know there's “Rock the Dragon” and the one that's on the season sets, there's the on that played on the current Toonami run as well as a remix of it I heard while watching the Android 13 movie on youtube. Are there anymore? What are the names of all of them.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Fri Oct 05, 2007 6:29 pm

TripleRach wrote:
SaiyamanMS wrote:Well, FMA didn't get any English dubs of it's OP/ED themes... >_>

Of course, I think that had something to do with the Japanese not wanting them to dub the themes or something if I recall... But I'm getting off topic. XD
I think they probably had to fork over a lot of money for those songs, too. Not to mention L'Arc en Ciel actually had a big concert at Otakon around the time the dub was being done, so they were obviously very popular in the US at the time. It would have been kind of stupid to dub the themes even if they could.

Agreed with TripleRach, as well to add, School Rumble doesn't have dub ones too. I think it has to do with FMA and School Rumble had bands do themes for advertising their songs as many anime do nowadays. DB/DBZ and YYH are from the time when the theme songs were done for the shows alone.

Sun_Wukong · Post by **Sun_Wukong** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 3:25 pm

http://youtube.com/watch?v=goLTsJdqte4

Vic Mignogna just did Hikari E for Funimation's OP redub and its actually good.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 3:50 pm

Not sure how true this is, but from what I've heard, One Piece is one of the last shows to use opening themes made for their series rather than some advertisement for some band.

Tsukento · Post by **Tsukento** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 4:26 pm

Sun_Wukong wrote:http://youtube.com/watch?v=goLTsJdqte4

Vic Mignogna just did Hikari E for Funimation's OP redub and its actually good.

Thank you for linking to my upload.

Super Sonic wrote:Not sure how true this is, but from what I've heard, One Piece is one of the last shows to use opening themes made for their series rather than some advertisement for some band.

Somewhat true. Not sure about Crazy Rainbow Star, but virtually every other opening/ending for One Pice has been made for the series in mind.

Super 17 · Post by **Super 17** » Sat Oct 06, 2007 8:39 pm

TripleRach wrote: That, or it could have something to do with karaoke versions not existing/being lost.

They definetely exist, it's one thing USA can't afford them and also a lot of countries. Mexico, Brazil, Valencia ( part of Spain), Hebrew ( forgot what country it is) have chala head chala in original karaokes, and only Mexico, Brazil and Valencia have Zenkai Power in original instrumental.

TheGreatness25 · Post by **TheGreatness25** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:08 am

Well I hate that theme they have in the "Remastered" sets. I like the ones they did after the Frieza Saga and further on simply because it was original. Now, the sets WERE done half-assed. However, the reason why they didn't originally make an English version of Cha-La-Head-Cha-La is because it would be weird having that, then skipping into original music by Bruce Faulconer. To be honest, I like Faulconer's work, so eh, I'm happy.

Thing is, Ultimate Uncut had this unique...semi-weird feel. The opening was so violent and dark...and red! But it was cool, almost like, "this isn't the same DBZ that you've seen for years anymore!" And then you'd switch the Angle and you'd see the colorful Japanese opening and all is right with the world again.

Sun_Wukong · Post by **Sun_Wukong** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 3:22 pm

TheGreatness25 wrote:To be honest, I like Faulconer's work, so eh, I'm happy.

That scares me. The original Japanese score is just so good, to have it replaced with synthesizer Faulconer crap makes me sad. I die inside everytime I hear it.

TheGreatness25 · Post by **TheGreatness25** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:13 pm

Okay that's why it's my opinion. And just so you know, there's tons of people that like it. I googled the box set before it came out and for the 2nd one, everyone was concerned that they'd take out Faulconer's music because they were "Remastering" the audio as well.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 11:30 pm

I liked Faulconer's music, but not the theme. Back then, did anyone else ever wish they could've kept "Rock the Dragon" but with new scenes like how English Sailor Moon S did?

Vekurotto · Post by **Vekurotto** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 12:31 am

Well, Sailor Moon S and SuperS dubbed used the lameass DiC theme as the OP song for the uncuts at least. Thank God formerly Pioneer/formerly Geneon(RIP) decided to not take away the one OP sequence they got for those Sailor Moon seasons.

As for Funimation not dubbing the OP and the ED, here's my theory. I think that they don't think the DBZ dub audience cares. Because if you think about it, when it comes down to Dragonball as a whole, you either watch Funimation's version with the dub music and shun the original, or you watch it in Japanese and shun the dub. That and Funimation's Dragonball related dubs are so different from the original source that, outside of using the same footage and names, that they could be two different shows. I mean if you've heard any anime dub done by Funimation, other than Dragonball/Z/GT, you know that they could do way better(accurate scripts, no stupid or added dialogue, tolerable to great acting, dubbed OPs and EDs, use of the original score). But I guess that Funimation thinks they do a good enough job for their dub audience and apparently the dub audience agrees since they haven't changed and still make bad decisions from a dub standpoint on this series. That's the only reason I can think of.

And about Bruce Faulconer's music. It didn't strike me as good music back in 1999-2002 on CN it was just there so I pretty much just tuned it out. I saw the episode when Cell absorbed #18 on Toonami a few hours ago and well, his music really interferes with everything. I don't have anything against people that like his music but, it pretty much ruined everything. And what's funny is that his music is aging faster and much worse than the original score. It already sounds like it's going to fall into the "late '90s/ early 2000's music that people thought was good" category. But that's just me. Personally since I don't watch the dub anymore I could careless what happens in it.

TheGreatness25 · Post by **TheGreatness25** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 4:15 am

I don't know, I like the Faulconer music. I mean he has a theme for every character, every situation. The Super Saiyan 3 theme is awesome, and there is a slow theme like when Goku got rid of Buu, sounded awesome. Vegeta's theme is cool. The theme when Gohan went Mystic was cool. The Vegeta vs Frieza theme was cool, as was the Ginyu theme. It's just see, I'm not Japanese, I'm not going to pretend I'm Japanese, so naturally, I am not attracted to that type of music. I have nothing against it at all, I'm just...eh. The opening and closing themes seem so childish to me. Rather than a fighting cartoon, it sounds like another little Anime where they roam the forests. They only have like an average of two different tracks playing in each episode, they have battle music, and they have another type of song, and then it's quiet for most of the episode. Plus, I don't speak Japanese, I'm not going to pretend I do, so when I can't understand what they say, it's a bit not of my taste.

Once upon a time, I said that the US version sucks and Japanese is better. I thought everything about the Japanese one was better...but then I got the DVDs and like after comparing them at the same time, switching the audio back and forth...I just came to terms and accepted the US version, and actually I used to watch it in the dubbed audio with original Japanese subtitles...well I stopped the subtitles thing. I don't know, that's just me.

Vekurotto · Post by **Vekurotto** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 4:30 pm

TheGreatness25 wrote:It's just see, I'm not Japanese, I'm not going to pretend I'm Japanese, so naturally, I am not attracted to that type of music.

Who said you had to be Japanese to like Dragonball Z's musical score? Every language version of DBZ around the world, except for English, uses the original BGM for their dub of the show and the music has never been seen as "bad" or "too Japanese" in those countries. In fact, it's a worldwide hit with people around the world who have heard it. The only exception to this are the people that exclusively like Funimation's dub music in their DBZ.

TheGreatness25 wrote:I have nothing against it at all, I'm just...eh. The opening and closing themes seem so childish to me. Rather than a fighting cartoon, it sounds like another little Anime where they roam the forests. They only have like an average of two different tracks playing in each episode, they have battle music, and they have another type of song, and then it's quiet for most of the episode.

If you've ever watched a martial arts movie or anime from before the era where technorock was considered a sub-genre of music, naturally the music's not going to sound like how Funimation's does and won't convey the same types feelings and mood. Funimation's music was made between 1999 and 2003 by a totally different composer who only had the US "in mind", and pretty much only used the newest type of music as the BGM. If you remember, during the time the Funi dub was being made, Techno and Synth music were the "new" things. Now, in 2007 that's not the case, at least not as much as it was back then. That and I don't see why people think 2-5 button synths and guitars are needed for something to classify as a "fighting show" either. If you take away both BGM scores, original and Funi, they're still fighting each other with the same amount of intensity.

TheGreatness25 wrote: Plus, I don't speak Japanese, I'm not going to pretend I do, so when I can't understand what they say, it's a bit not of my taste.

Again as I said before, this has nothing to do with being Japanese. The BGM score, themes, and scripts are, for the most part, still in non-English speaking language versions of DBZ and no attempts as extreme as Funimation's were made to try and make things "adaptable" to their countries people like how Funimation did to try and make DBZ "adaptable" for American audiences.

TheGreatness25 · Post by **TheGreatness25** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:43 pm

I'm just saying that it's not to my taste lol Why are you trying to prove something to me? I'm just stating why I prefer to listen to the dub as opposed to the original. It's my opinion. That I've warmed up to it and would prefer to listen to it rather than the Japanese version with subtitles.

Raki · Post by **Raki** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 8:43 pm

I really don't understand why Funimation changed the music in the first place. The Japanese music better fits the mood of fights anyway.