Would Dragon Ball be successful in English-speaking countries if the old English dubs weren't Americanized?

[TechExpert2021]

Let's say that instead of FUNimation, another company got the rights to Dragon Ball in North America and other English-speaking countries and did faithful English dubs of the classic 1986-1997 DB anime run. Would Dragon Ball be massively successful in America and other English-speaking countries if the old English dubs were faithful to the original Japanese versions and weren't heavily Americanized?

[Vegeta th3 4th]

Yes, in fact I think it may have been even more successful, as watching the series in order and with an accurate translation would naturally produce a better experience for the viewers than...whatever it is Funimation did.

[MasenkoHA]

A faithful dub in Mexico basically became a religion.

We’ve seen faithful dubs in English succeed via Kai and Toonami airings of the Pioneer dub of Dead Zone and World’s Strongest.

Of course a faithful dub would have succeeded. Dragon Ball is basically a license to print money, aecFunimation had proven with shitty home releases still making bank.

It’s just a matter of Dragon Ball airing on a network kids watched with a good timeslot

[Vegeta th3 4th]

A faithful dub in Mexico basically became a religion.

Did DB air in order there or did it start with Z ?

[Zephyr]

Yeah, I think it would have been successful. Shit's pretty rad.

[M16U3L2015]

A faithful dub in Mexico basically became a religion.

Did DB air in order there or did it start with Z ?

It was in order, first DB, then Z and finally GT.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

It was in order, first DB, then Z and finally GT.

Fans there are so lucky to have experienced it the way it was intended. It seems like the US was the only country to not go in the proper order.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Of course it would. Dragon Ball became successful in international territories in spite of changes made by the local dubs, not because of them.

And has been stated already other regions, like Latin America had faithful dubs where the show was just as, if not even more popular so why would English-speaking countries be any different?

It seems like the US was the only country to not go in the proper order.

Not true. The Croatian, Danish, Hebrew, Kurdish and Russian dubs went straight to Z and never dubbed original Dragon Ball. India and Albania (although Kosovo, which speaks their language had a short-lived dub of original Dragon Ball) also dubbed Dragon Ball Z years before the original series. The first 6 Dragon Ball Z movies also got dubbed in China in the early 90s before the original series made its debut in 1998.

The English dubs also aired in numerous countries in Europe, South Africa and Oceania that all started with Z. In fact it was the Filipino dub that first began the practice of skipping original Dragon Ball as they dubbed Z episodes 1-26 before going back to dub the original series.

[Hellspawn28]

Of course. Why wouldn't they be?

[JulieYBM]

Eight year old girls love to see men beat the shit out of each other in cool cartoon violence. You should use that to introduce them to new forms of storytelling, not dumb it down with weird xenophobic American-style rewrites, rescoring and acting performances.

[omegalucas]

It would be just as successful. Same as the Portuguese dub would be if they didn't turn it into a borderline parody. People should give more credit to the show itself.

[Shaddy]

The only times in which deliberately unfaithful translations would make a show more popular is when said show had some sort of problem that prevented the original script/performances from being good, AND the localization team goes above and beyond to correct that somehow (a thing they're seldom equipped to do, because that's not their job). Obviously, Dragon Ball checks neither of these boxes, given that its JP version is great and the old dubs are extremely stupid and lame. The series is in a better place now with more-accurate translation (not that it doesn't still leave a bit to be desired, mind you), and it didn't stop it from still being incredibly popular and successful in the states. Any dudebro that's complaining they don't replace the soundtrack with synth guitars anymore is an outlier stuck in the past.

Dragon Ball is popular and successful because it's Dragon Ball. The fact that it was successful in the states is only proof that it wasn't butchered enough to stop its best qualities from still shining through.

[ABED]

The only times in which deliberately unfaithful translations would make a show more popular is when said show had some sort of problem that prevented the original script/performances from being good, AND the localization team goes above and beyond to correct that somehow (a thing they're seldom equipped to do, because that's not their job). Obviously, Dragon Ball checks neither of these boxes, given that its JP version is great and the old dubs are extremely stupid and lame. The series is in a better place now with more-accurate translation (not that it doesn't still leave a bit to be desired, mind you), and it didn't stop it from still being incredibly popular and successful in the states. Any dudebro that's complaining they don't replace the soundtrack with synth guitars anymore is an outlier stuck in the past.

Dragon Ball is popular and successful because it's Dragon Ball. The fact that it was successful in the states is only proof that it wasn't butchered enough to stop its best qualities from still shining through.

It's miraculous considering how cheap it all was. The in house dub screams "Cheap!" even down to the low quality of the audio. Then there were the box art of the tapes. It's bad enough that they were screenshots, but they were often some of the worst still images from the episodes.

[MasenkoHA]

The only times in which deliberately unfaithful translations would make a show more popular is when said show had some sort of problem that prevented the original script/performances from being good, AND the localization team goes above and beyond to correct that somehow (a thing they're seldom equipped to do, because that's not their job). Obviously, Dragon Ball checks neither of these boxes, given that its JP version is great and the old dubs are extremely stupid and lame. The series is in a better place now with more-accurate translation (not that it doesn't still leave a bit to be desired, mind you), and it didn't stop it from still being incredibly popular and successful in the states. Any dudebro that's complaining they don't replace the soundtrack with synth guitars anymore is an outlier stuck in the past.

Dragon Ball is popular and successful because it's Dragon Ball. The fact that it was successful in the states is only proof that it wasn't butchered enough to stop its best qualities from still shining through.

It's miraculous considering how cheap it all was. The in house dub screams "Cheap!" even down to the low quality of the audio. Then there were the box art of the tapes. It's bad enough that they were screenshots, but they were often some of the worst still images from the episodes.

It’s actually kind of impressive in the worst way they actually went cheaper once Dragon Ball Z was a proven success than when they were a start up company. You’re already saving money cutting Pioneer out as a home video distributor why is it so hard to throw a few extra dollars on custom video covers? It took them until 2003 with the Dragon Ball Saga Sets and GT singles to do that.

The whole point of initially outsourcing to Canada was because of Canada’s lower dubbing rates (and to have the show be considered Canadian Content) and they moved from BLT productions to Ocean because Ocean could save them more money by screwing their actors over by finding loop holes in ADR union contracts. But now that the show’s a hit lets cut the completely unnecessary airfare expense out for Barry Watson and record the show locally with equipment we got at Radio Shack sale and put one guy on a 20K salary do a third of the voices without having to pay him overtime or by the line

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

and to have the show be considered Canadian Content

Where was this stated? I don't think the Saban dub would have been considered Canadian content since it only utilized a Canadian cast, some writers and a Vancouver-based recording studio, but otherwise it was wholly an American production.

At best it would have been a neat bonus but never a deciding factor, the latter seems to have always been about it being cheaper to record in Canada (which was a popular option at the time).

[MasenkoHA]

and to have the show be considered Canadian Content

Where was this stated? I don't think the Saban dub would have been considered Canadian content since it only utilized a Canadian cast, some writers and a Vancouver-based recording studio, but otherwise it was wholly an American production.

At best it would have been a neat bonus but never a deciding factor, the latter seems to have always been about it being cheaper to record in Canada (which was a popular option at the time).

By Gen Fukunaga way back in 1997.

So is it you that picks who does the voice acting for the characters?
No, actually that's done in Canada. In fact, 35% of all cartoons shown in the US have the voice acting done in Canada. Partially because it's cheaper to do so there and also in order to show our cartoons in Canada a certain amount of work has to be done there.

https://dbzu.3gkai.com/opinions/gfukunaga.html

The cheaper rates and wanting their product to be considered Canadian Content to get on Canadian television were both the reasons

[Hellspawn28]

People in America would have no issues with the Japanese music as well. If kids in the 90s can enjoy re-runs of Showa Era Godzilla movies playing on TV, they would have no issues with a faithful English dub of DB.

[MasenkoHA]

People in America would have no issues with the Japanese music as well. If kids in the 90s can enjoy re-runs of Showa Era Godzilla movies playing on TV, they would have no issues with a faithful English dub of DB.

Indeed the only time Japanese music ever actually gets criticized is when the American fanbase is accustomed to a rescoring. Like when the Funi dub of Z started defaulting to the Kikuchi score for the Orange Bricks or when the 90s Sailor Moon dub starting using the original Japanese score for its third season. Even more recently ish I’ve seen people complain about the music in the Pokemon CG remake of the first movie because it wasn’t the American score they were used to. Despite the fact that it was from the same composer whose music for the Kanto season was kept for a majority of the tv series dub.

People just like what they heard first.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

People just like what they heard first.

As someone that grew up on the Westwood dub I can relate, as I have a soft spot for the replacement score from Tom Keenlyside, John Mitchell and David Iris. It feels just right when I watch Dragon Ball Z.

I was of course exposed to the Shunsuke Kikuchi score through the movies (which we got home releases and TV airings of with the Big Green dub) and Blue Water dub of original Dragon Ball. It felt like it made Dragon Ball feel older, but it was around this time (2004-2005) I learned that this show was from the late 80s and early 90s so I learned to accept it, in fact I grew to love the score for that reason, particularly when I learned about wuxia and the fact Dragon Ball was intended to be a martial arts fantasy, not a typical Saturday morning cartoon.

By the same token I'll always have a fondness for the Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters replacement score despite acknowledging that what I've heard of the Japanese score is better music overall.

I'm sure either of these two shows would have still been successful if the original scores were used. There's no reason to suspect they wouldn't.

[Tian]

By the same token I'll always have a fondness for the Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters replacement score despite acknowledging that what I've heard of the Japanese score is better music overall.

Yeah, while the Japanese OST is superior, there are some 4Kids' tracks that were good like Kaiba's theme.

I'm sure either of these two shows would have still been successful if the original scores were used. There's no reason to suspect they wouldn't.

It's a shame that the uncut Yu-Gi-Oh! DVDs were stopped. Their sales were reported to be as good as the edited DVDs but unfortunately, they were screwed because of "legal reasons".