Possibility of anime reboot with new seiyu...

[Psajdak]

Japan has a lot of franchises which were around for decades, many of which were refreshed with remakes, and reboots, and same goes for certain anime titles...
Current revived Dragon Ball kind of continues to the old school pre 2000s Dragon Ball, keeping most of their voice actor to this very day.

Still, no matter how insanely iconic, most of them ARE kind of at least in their 50s...

I wonder if at one point Toei will just decide to start over, reanimating original manga, maybe with updated setting, and technology (smartphones, OLED monitors), and current sensibilities, with younger voice actors.
Would it work in world of today, or future?

Or would it have been just better to simply continue on with the story...?

As for Toei doing reboots, apparently Toei did the good job with GeGeGe no Kitaro, despite how old source material is.

[Toxin45]

Well I am not sure how that would work

[kemuri07]

that sounds awful. Like really, really awful.

The problem with DB is that the world building is kinda intrinsic to the franchise. You end up significantly changing Dragon Ball--then it's not Dragon Ball anymore.

It'd be like "modernizing" Lord of The Rings or Star Wars. It just doesn't work.

[Psajdak]

that sounds awful. Like really, really awful.

The problem with DB is that the world building is kinda intrinsic to the franchise. You end up significantly changing Dragon Ball--then it's not Dragon Ball anymore.

It'd be like "modernizing" Lord of The Rings or Star Wars. It just doesn't work.

By modernizing I meant bringing it to the standards of today's animation, and technology of our IRL world.

Basically, while their technology was always more advanced in old school DB, and DBZ, it still reflected technology of the real world of 80s, and 90s - characters, used rotary phones, or CRT TVs, and monitors, PCs, and displays were mostly retro, and monochromatic, but when they released Dragon Ball: Ossu! Kaettekita Son Gokuu to Nakama-tachi!! in 2008, all of that started changing to reflect the technology of our current world, where they started showing laptops, LCDs, smartphones, driving vehicles became more streamlined, etc...

Buildings themselves are more or less like they always were, though.

As for world building and it not being Dragon Ball anymore, I'm not sure what you mean exactly - it would just be another anime which adapts original manga, but from the point of view of the current world, story and character would stayed the same, animation, and things we have nowadays IRL would have been present, such as Muten-Roshi watching girls not on CRT, but on flat OLED, or something.

And characters would have been voiced by new seiyu cast.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Other than the seiyuu and the updated animation its pointless to update Dragon Ball for a "A New Generation" when the original "dated" shows bring millions of viewers.

[Psajdak]

- bump -

I would like to hear more opinions on this thread of mine, if possible.

Do you think Dragon Ball anime could work being started again, but with completely new voice actors, and a setting that, while still Dragon Ball manga adaptation, reflects more current era, than 80s, and 90s?

Or are old seiyu way too iconic to be replaced, unless they, well, die?

[Dbzfan94]

I find it hard to believe many people getting behind a replacement voice for Goku after Nozawa calls it quits.

[MasenkoHA]

I feel like if you were going to replace the entire Japanese cast Kai would have been the time to do it.

I think most of the veteran cast members still do an admirable job even with the "Oh they must be bored and tired of repeating lines they said 20 years ago" in Kai or "Wow they're how old and still doing this?" ala Super.

[Psajdak]

Doraemon, Kenshiro, Lupin, Bulma, Kogoro Mori, Akira Fudo, and many other iconic characters had their seiyu replaced at some point, and people were fine with it.

Nozawa herself may not have been yet replaced, but I saw a lot of people saying that they prefer Schemmel's voice over hers as Goku.

[Matches Malone]

They tried a "director's cut" with Kai and it tanked due to the majority of fans being happy with Z. I prefer Kai myself as Z was too long to watch, but DB just needs an HD release and it'll be set. A new dub would be welcomed as well for the English side of things.

Toei are so overloaded that a remake would end up worse than what we already have, so that'll just be a waste of time and money. You can look past some production issues with a new story, but with something old, fans will just watch the original instead.

DB and Z are still very popular, so a remake or reboot aren't needed. If new content is to be made, then it might as well be all new.

Do you think Dragon Ball anime could work being started again with a setting that reflects more current era, than 80s, and 90s?

If DB needed to be updated to reflect today's era, it wouldn't be popular today. DB is liked worldwide for what it is, a timeless story that was made from the mid 80s to the mid 90s. If it's not broken, don't fix it.

[MasenkoHA]

but I saw a lot of people saying that they prefer Schemmel's voice over hers as Goku.

And their opinions really don’t matter so.....

[Psajdak]

Well, my point was just that no matter how much iconic, no one is irreplaceable, and I just don't see the entire franchise ending just because Goku isn't voiced by Nozawa anymore.

[DragonBallFoodie]

Probably in the future, Dragon Ball will be retold with a new cast.

That's all I can predict.

[Matches Malone]

Well, my point was just that no matter how much iconic, no one is irreplaceable, and I just don't see the entire franchise ending just because Goku isn't voiced by Nozawa anymore.

Of course not. I'll go as far as to say that her replacement has already been selected.

[GhostEmperorX]

And by the same token there's also numerous franchises that never get even a single reboot once. Case in point being the entire catalog of the likes of Sunrise, and they have a lot of popular entries.
But Toei just elects to continue the old series with sequels regardless of what else may happen.
If DB were to end without a remake, then that would be perfectly fine. Besides, who can do it better than Toriyama anyway?
Plus, what would the prospects of a reboot even be?

The age of the actors and all is a problem across the whole country of Japan anyway, too many of them are old and it's a larger consequence of their larger situation.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Well, my point was just that no matter how much iconic, no one is irreplaceable, and I just don't see the entire franchise ending just because Goku isn't voiced by Nozawa anymore.

Of course not. I'll go as far as to say that her replacement has already been selected.

Regardless, even then it's still going to be a little difficult for me to get used to someone else (whoever her eventual successor is) voicing Goku, Gohan and Goten once Nozawa either retires from acting at some point or passes away because she's been pretty much the sole embodiment of those characters in the Japanese version for so many years but particularly Goku most of all. Seriously, i just can't picture anyone but her voicing them even though there will eventually come a time in the future where she isn't able to anymore for whatever reason. It's just one of those things, when someone iconic in this profession has been playing a particular character or characters for so long it's just really difficult for fans to accept anyone else in those same roles at first. I mean take some of the popular voice actors from Western animated classics like Looney Tunes for instance, while Mel Blanc was undoubtedly almost single handedly THE voice of that franchise barring a few exceptions it still continued onward even after his passing in 1989 with most of the characters he did (most popularly of all Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck) being recast to other VA's many of which have also went since then.

[MyVisionity]

I mean take some of the popular voice actors from Western animated classics like Looney Tunes for instance, while Mel Blanc was undoubtedly almost single handedly THE voice of that franchise barring a few exceptions it still continued onward even after his passing in 1989 with most of the characters he did (most popularly of all Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck) being recast to other VA's many of which have also went since then.

I think it's worth noting that the Looney Tunes were effectively over and done in the 1960s, even if those characters have continued on in one form or another since then. It's easier to accept new castings under such circumstances where future productions are so far removed from the original work that it essentially becomes something separate entirely.

In the case of Dragon Ball, this relates in two different directions. On the one hand, DB ended back in the mid-90s, so any modern revivals can be perceived as being distant enough and different enough from the original that any kind of recasting seems largely insignificant. On the other hand, with Super and beyond being written as continuations to the original series, the traditions and nature of Japanese productions in general, as well as the ongoing inclusion of the original cast members, it can also seem like an unthinkable and difficult possibility to recast.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I mean take some of the popular voice actors from Western animated classics like Looney Tunes for instance, while Mel Blanc was undoubtedly almost single handedly THE voice of that franchise barring a few exceptions it still continued onward even after his passing in 1989 with most of the characters he did (most popularly of all Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck) being recast to other VA's many of which have also went since then.

I think it's worth noting that the Looney Tunes were effectively over and done in the 1960s, even if those characters have continued on in one form or another since then. It's easier to accept new castings under such circumstances where future productions are so far removed from the original work that it essentially becomes something separate entirely.

In the case of Dragon Ball, this relates in two different directions. On the one hand, DB ended back in the mid-90s, so any modern revivals can be perceived as being distant enough and different enough from the original that any kind of recasting seems largely insignificant. On the other hand, with Super and beyond being written as continuations to the original series, the traditions and nature of Japanese productions in general, as well as the ongoing inclusion of the original cast members, it can also seem like an unthinkable and difficult possibility to recast.

That is definitely true, and the same can be said for other animated properties i.e. the many revivals Hanna-Barbera's most popular properties including Scooby-Doo in that each subsequent iteration that came after the original series has incrementally tweaked and reinvented the formula over time within the same franchise both in small and larger ways beyond just the animation style or setting. Up to and including when the originating actors/actresses of the characters (Don Messick, Casey Kasem.etc) have passed on or retired in that span of time. Dragon Ball as an anime franchise is no different in that respect, because beyond the 11 year airing from DB to GT the more recent animated entries including Super as you mention above have diverged enough from the original run which ties into the re castings of characters.

[Matches Malone]

Besides, who can do it better than Toriyama anyway?
Plus, what would the prospects of a reboot even be?

The topic isn't about rebooting Toriyama's manga, but remaking the anime. Think of HunterXHunter's 2011 anime reboot compared to its 1999 version.

[SuperSaiyanPan]

but I saw a lot of people saying that they prefer Schemmel's voice over hers as Goku.

And their opinions really don’t matter so.....

How very elitist of you...