Funi's Kai dub and accuracy

[Aim]

A lot of great points made in this thread.

Every time I've tried watching the Kai dub I'm often taken out of the experience with Funimation's questionable attempts at humour. Jokes can sometimes be tone-deaf to what's going on within the scene, such as - off the top of my head - when Cell delivers the line "What!? seriously?" in a comedic tone after Goku threatens him with a Kamehameha from above (resulting in the IT Kamehameha). Or this moment from the Boo arc where Vegeta suddenly decides to say "wrooong!" like he's in a TFS abridged dub. It honestly just wrecks immersion for me, and I know that people will undoubtedly consider these things minor and forgivable because Funi or Dragon Ball is their sacred cow but... They really do add up across the series and after constantly hearing such exaggerated claims about Kai's dub being the most accurate and perfect DB dub ever, and you're met with flaws like this? I really have to wonder where these people are coming from.

Dragon Ball deserves a dub that’s treats the series with respect. I can’t believe they added that line in there. There’s no point in just going in and changing random things and messing with the tones. I made a post about this a while back, the characters especially in Super have been changed in nuanced ways that give different feelings compared to their proper versions, which I personally find unacceptable.

[Nosferatu93]

Z boo saga vs kai boo saga? How is that


I never got the english version for god aka kami, hes just called god in german. He is literally god on earth not a guardian lol

[MasenkoHA]

Z boo saga vs kai boo saga? How is that

Kai Boo is probably a bit more accurate but not by much. It was overall less accurate than Kai 1.0 and Z Boo probably got off the best, translation wise, of any of the Z arcs.

I never got the english version for god aka kami, hes just called god in german. He is literally god on earth not a guardian lol

It would offend American Christians if "God" was depicted as a Green wrinkly slug alien thing. Even though Kami is in no way suppose to be the Abrahamic God. The bigger problem was the dub could never decide if Kami was somehow his actual birth name and Guardian of the Earth was his title, or if Kami was his title.

[Nosferatu93]

Kami means god. But yea americans make no sense, i mea they are the only ones who removed the original ost. Thats actually unbelievable: imagine if someone eould have done that with star wars. And Dragonball is pretty much star wars of anime

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Kai's dub (moreso 1.0) is a decent enough product overall, not perfect mind you but compared to the absolute dumpster fire that the old Z dub was it's such an improvement.

I mean, we no longer have garbage acting and god awful cringe lines on the level of these anymore.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7wyidD6mUk

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9uFxdAzcr0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN-nyLfliC0


Some comparisons for a true example of difference between the two dubs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Alk6VvjASdc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmaaNoPlZ5A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsoYKyom1Ww

[TheGreatness25]

Anybody catch that in episode 13, Goku uses "Kay-Oh-Ken" when he uses it on Nappa? Yeah!

[The Accountant]

Anybody catch that in episode 13, Goku uses "Kay-Oh-Ken" when he uses it on Nappa? Yeah!

What about Kayo-Ken? It was taught to him by King Kayo. Everybody knows that.

[TheGreatness25]

Anybody catch that in episode 13, Goku uses "Kay-Oh-Ken" when he uses it on Nappa? Yeah!

What about Kayo-Ken? It was taught to him by King Kayo. Everybody knows that.

Yeah -- King Kayo taught Goku his great techniques since the Kameyameya.

[BeaBumby]

I know Funimation's dub of Kai is praised for being fairly accurate but I was watching episode 57 and this bit bothered me.

Trunks: And the man who created them (the Androids) was none other than the Red Ribbon Army's residence lunatic Dr.Gero.
Goku: *gasp* Dr.Gero but how can that be? I wiped out the Red Ribbon army, I'm sure of it.
Trunks: I know, you crushed the red ribbon army years ago. However, Dr.Gero survived and carried on with his research.
Goku: So what's he after? Is it that whole, I'm going take over the world thing again?

To compare, the subtitles

Trunks: The one who created them, was a former mad scientist of the Red Ribbon Army, Dr.Gero.
Goku: Red Ribbon Army? You mean the Red Ribbon army that I wiped out?
Trunk: Correct. The Army was crushed by you long ago. However, Dr. Gero survived and continued his research.
Goku: For what reason? Was the usual "world domination" thing his goal?

The dub dialog isn't as inaccurate as it was for Z but it still suggest Goku knows who Dr.Gero is, which is of course wrong. Funimation had long since dubbed the original Dragon Ball so I don't know why it would be off base like that.

I always viewed it as a retcon, like maybe Gero replaced Commander Red or somethin

[MasenkoHA]

I know Funimation's dub of Kai is praised for being fairly accurate but I was watching episode 57 and this bit bothered me.

Trunks: And the man who created them (the Androids) was none other than the Red Ribbon Army's residence lunatic Dr.Gero.
Goku: *gasp* Dr.Gero but how can that be? I wiped out the Red Ribbon army, I'm sure of it.
Trunks: I know, you crushed the red ribbon army years ago. However, Dr.Gero survived and carried on with his research.
Goku: So what's he after? Is it that whole, I'm going take over the world thing again?

To compare, the subtitles

Trunks: The one who created them, was a former mad scientist of the Red Ribbon Army, Dr.Gero.
Goku: Red Ribbon Army? You mean the Red Ribbon army that I wiped out?
Trunk: Correct. The Army was crushed by you long ago. However, Dr. Gero survived and continued his research.
Goku: For what reason? Was the usual "world domination" thing his goal?

The dub dialog isn't as inaccurate as it was for Z but it still suggest Goku knows who Dr.Gero is, which is of course wrong. Funimation had long since dubbed the original Dragon Ball so I don't know why it would be off base like that.

I always viewed it as a retcon, like maybe Gero replaced Commander Red or somethin

It’s not a retcon it’s just flat out an error. Goku doesn’t know who the hell Gero is.FUNimation fucked up a second time

[BeaBumby]

I know Funimation's dub of Kai is praised for being fairly accurate but I was watching episode 57 and this bit bothered me.

Trunks: And the man who created them (the Androids) was none other than the Red Ribbon Army's residence lunatic Dr.Gero.
Goku: *gasp* Dr.Gero but how can that be? I wiped out the Red Ribbon army, I'm sure of it.
Trunks: I know, you crushed the red ribbon army years ago. However, Dr.Gero survived and carried on with his research.
Goku: So what's he after? Is it that whole, I'm going take over the world thing again?

To compare, the subtitles

Trunks: The one who created them, was a former mad scientist of the Red Ribbon Army, Dr.Gero.
Goku: Red Ribbon Army? You mean the Red Ribbon army that I wiped out?
Trunk: Correct. The Army was crushed by you long ago. However, Dr. Gero survived and continued his research.
Goku: For what reason? Was the usual "world domination" thing his goal?

The dub dialog isn't as inaccurate as it was for Z but it still suggest Goku knows who Dr.Gero is, which is of course wrong. Funimation had long since dubbed the original Dragon Ball so I don't know why it would be off base like that.

I always viewed it as a retcon, like maybe Gero replaced Commander Red or somethin

It’s not a retcon it’s just flat out an error. Goku doesn’t know who the hell Gero is.FUNimation fucked up a second time

Yeah I thought it was REAALLYY odd especially since I went to Kai immediately after finishing DB.

Speaking of, I wonder how DB would've went had Goku met Dr. Gero

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I found that quite a weird error, like somewhat similar to the nearly as wrong "Dr. Gero was mastermind of the RRA" rewrite from the old Z dub but somebody on the dub script team was asleep at the switch on that one. It baffles me how they came up with that because Goku never even encountered him as a kid when he was fighting the army, especially seeing as Gero was not actually a member himself but just a scientist they hired (or maybe contracted) to invent things who in turn hightailed it after Goku had finished them off in the original series.

[WittyUsername]

I found that quite a weird error, like somewhat similar to the nearly as wrong "Dr. Gero was mastermind of the RRA" rewrite from the old Z dub but somebody on the dub script team was asleep at the switch on that one. It baffles me how they came up with that because Goku never even encountered him as a kid when he was fighting the army, especially seeing as Gero was not actually a member himself but just a scientist they hired (or maybe contracted) to invent things who in turn hightailed it after Goku had finished them off in the original series.

Didn’t Toriyama later claim that Dr. Gero was a founding member of the RRA?

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I found that quite a weird error, like somewhat similar to the nearly as wrong "Dr. Gero was mastermind of the RRA" rewrite from the old Z dub but somebody on the dub script team was asleep at the switch on that one. It baffles me how they came up with that because Goku never even encountered him as a kid when he was fighting the army, especially seeing as Gero was not actually a member himself but just a scientist they hired (or maybe contracted) to invent things who in turn hightailed it after Goku had finished them off in the original series.

Didn’t Toriyama later claim that Dr. Gero was a founding member of the RRA?

He did? I'm confused because i thought that bit was a FUNi-ism, because i haven't seen any comments from him stating that Gero was in fact actually a member of the Red Ribbon Army. If he did i don't know whether that really makes it canon when both the manga and anime have no such references anywhere (Z dub aside) that would suggest so.

[WittyUsername]

I found that quite a weird error, like somewhat similar to the nearly as wrong "Dr. Gero was mastermind of the RRA" rewrite from the old Z dub but somebody on the dub script team was asleep at the switch on that one. It baffles me how they came up with that because Goku never even encountered him as a kid when he was fighting the army, especially seeing as Gero was not actually a member himself but just a scientist they hired (or maybe contracted) to invent things who in turn hightailed it after Goku had finished them off in the original series.

Didn’t Toriyama later claim that Dr. Gero was a founding member of the RRA?

He did? I'm confused because i thought that bit was a FUNi-ism, because i haven't seen any comments from him stating that Gero was in fact actually a member of the Red Ribbon Army. If he did i don't know whether that really makes it canon when both the manga and anime have no such references anywhere (Z dub aside) that would suggest so.

The manga never mentions anything about it. As far as I can tell, it was another one of those retroactive additions to the lore that Toriyama made in the past decade. Dr. Gero’s son, who #16 was modeled after, was apparently a member of the RRA. In other words, FUNimation’s writing ended up becoming unintentionally true in hindsight.

[MasenkoHA]

Didn’t Toriyama later claim that Dr. Gero was a founding member of the RRA?

He did? I'm confused because i thought that bit was a FUNi-ism, because i haven't seen any comments from him stating that Gero was in fact actually a member of the Red Ribbon Army. If he did i don't know whether that really makes it canon when both the manga and anime have no such references anywhere (Z dub aside) that would suggest so.

The manga never mentions anything about it. As far as I can tell, it was another one of those retroactive additions to the lore that Toriyama made in the past decade. Dr. Gero’s son, who #16 was modeled after, was apparently a member of the RRA. In other words, FUNimation’s writing ended up becoming unintentionally true in hindsight.

I believe he did. So yes it made Funimation’s additional comments about Gero being the brains behind the Red Ribbon retroactively accurate. Doesn’t make it accurate that Goku acts like he knows who Gero is or the implication in the Z only flashback that Commander Red and Gero are the same person.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Nicktoons and The CW are what made DBZKai worth it.Say what you will but getting an actually decent dub on TV made Kai win lots of points with me.

[mecha3000]

Nicktoons and The CW are what made DBZKai worth it.Say what you will but getting an actually decent dub on TV made Kai win lots of points with me.

Agreed. I was 13 when Kai started airing on Nicktoons and was blown away by how different it was from Z. It was handled with the same care Funimation gave to One Piece, even down to the episode previews.

On the dub accuracy topic, one line that really bothers me in Kai comes from TFC where Piccolo actually refers to the team as the "Z-Fighters" to Videl when talking about Mr. Satan. Even Z didn't mess up the scene like that. For the first time, I understood how most of this forum felt about the old Funimation dub. In fact, Gohan in the Z dub even refers to the team as Z-Fighters during his training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

SO cringeworthy. I'm still shocked Kai allowed that line and I wonder who wrote that in. I guess it's supposed to be an in-joke/in-universe reference and also pay off the narrator calling them the Z-Fighters all of the time, but it's just bad.

[90sDBZ]

I feel like many of the complaints against Kai's dub are nitpicks from people who were never going to give Funimation credit.

It's a mostly sincere attempt to be accurate to the original. Like there are some bits here and there that are slightly different, but none of it feels in poor taste. And the performances are mostly very well done.

If you want to watch something that's 1:1 with the Japanese version, then watch the Japanese version.

For me Kai's dub is a great representation of the story, and a great way to introduce people to Z.

[GhostEmperorX]

If you want to watch something that's 1:1 with the Japanese version, then watch the Japanese version.

Or maybe, say, a Bang Zoom/LA actor dub of a given series (lots of them to mention) where it's on the mark more often than not.
Not commenting on anything else, just saying.
EDIT: This thread was actually inactive since 2021 up till this late in the year. My mistake.