Voice actors that you want to be replaced

[TheRed259]

Which voice actors would you like to see replaced and why?

This question is not just about the original Japanese version but also the various dubs from around the world.

[JulieYBM]

All of them. It’s time for a new cast in the original productions. We're on the cusp of another anniversary, so they should just do it then.

[Hellspawn28]

Get an English actress who can play adult Goku. I bet they can pull it off.

[Tian]

From the Latin American Spanish dub:

* Jesús Cortes as Roshi: I know that Miguel Ángel Sanromán got replaced in both the One Piece Crossover and Daima because of his advanced age but man, they could've picked a better option. Cortes is like your generic old man voice for background characters.

From the FUNi dub:

* Christopher Sabat as Piccolo: Even though he somewhat improved in Kai (When Sabat could finally distinguish between Vegeta and Piccolo voices), I still feel that Piccolo deserves his own voice actor.

* Sean Schemmel as King Kai: His voice is easily one of the worst of the FUNimation cast. No matter how Schemmel tries, he will always sound awful as King Kai.

* Mike McFarland as Roshi: Look, he did a good Baby / Baby Vegeta (I even dare to say he's on par with Yusuke Numata) and a convincing Yajirobe but his Roshi is cartoony at best and ridiculous at worst.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

It's a tough question because most dubbing actors don't make a lot of money and need to make a living doing a job they surely work hard at.

That said, as Tian pointed out, Sean Schemmel and Chris Sabat as King Kai and Piccolo respectively, as these are not their best roles, and as long as they are healthy they will always have Goku and Vegeta.

I'll add that I prefer Colleen Clinkenbeard to Stephanie Nadolny and Meredith McCoy as young Goku and #18, so I wouldn't mind her playing those roles again.

Hard to say on the Japanese side of things too. Masako Nozawa wants to go on playing Goku forever, but she's not getting any younger so her performance is inevitably declining. I wonder if the cast of Daima was intended to test the waters as new actors got the other roles.

[UpFromTheSkies]

I know this will be a very hot take among dub fans, but I would like to see the original English voice actor for Goku from the Ocean Dub return. That was the first English version I heard of Goku, and I still think it's the best one. (Not better than Masako Nozawa's Goku, but the best English Goku.)

[TechExpert2021]

All of the FUNimation in-house voice actors, including the post-Kai actors. Replace them with new dub voice actors and direct them to act in a natural, organic, and conversational manner (except for a few characters like Pilaf), using the original Japanese voice performances as the basis. They should also be directed to do proper Kiai shouts and deep breathing for the fight scenes.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I know this will be a very hot take among dub fans, but I would like to see the original English voice actor for Goku from the Ocean Dub return. That was the first English version I heard of Goku, and I still think it's the best one. (Not better than Masako Nozawa's Goku, but the best English Goku.)

The Ocean cast are amazing. I'm a fan of Ian James Corlett myself and feel if he were in Sean Schemmel's position today with more faithful direction and actually getting paid for his screams he could have been an amazing Goku. Unfortunately it was a different time so we couldn't see his full potential realized.

I wish Funimation would have at least cast Corlett, or even Peter Kelamis as Goku Black like the way Brian Drummond got to do Copy Vegeta.

[MasenkoHA]

Idk. Are we talking about new projects? A reboot?

Because I really don’t think we need to see Dragon Ball SuperS or Dragon Ball Daima and Pearl. Just because One Piece has over 1000+ episodes doesn’t mean Dragon Ball does. Wanting actors to be replaced feels like encouraging them to make more.

For a complete and total reboot starting at Buruma and the Monkey King? Do a complete and total recast. Every single actor in Japanese and the dubs follow suit.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

I think everyone from the classic era should've been replaced in Kai, regardless of country and language. I'm currently wrapping up the Freeza arc in Japanese, and I can tell you for a fact that there's a clear drop in quality between their performance back then and now.

[Peach]

All of the FUNimation in-house voice actors, including the post-Kai actors. Replace them with new dub voice actors and direct them to act in a natural, organic, and conversational manner (except for a few characters like Pilaf), using the original Japanese voice performances as the basis. They should also be directed to do proper Kiai shouts and deep breathing for the fight scenes.

You had me until you said use the original Japanese voice actors as a basis: I’d rather someone make the character their own than do an impression. The Japanese voices can be an excellent source of inspiration, but can also seriously limit the performance of actors if asking them to mimic them too closely.

I would like the following characters recast:
Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta, Kid Goten, Nail, Android 17, Bulma, Chi Chi, Pan (the older voice), Uub, Ox King, Fat Buu, Kami, Popo, King Cold, Pikkon, Broly, Dyspo.

I’ve noticed that the Perfect Cell and Adult Trunks voices are getting rusty in games the last few years. If they can’t get more natural performances and direction, then I’d want them to say goodbye as well. I actually like their older takes on the voices. I don’t like them so much these days.

I really don’t like the “valley girl” and “valley boy” voices for Uub and Pan. I think Pan sounds way too old. These voices really hurt GT…


I’m cool with mostly everyone else staying. I adore the voices for Oolong, Pilaf, Shu, Hercule, King Kai, Yajirobi, Zamasu, Beerus, and Whis in particular.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Imitating the Japanese cast is definitely not the right approach to take as the performance would not feel natural. Its far more important for the dubbing actor to understand the character and find a voice that works for them and is faithful to how he/she is written.

Peter Kelamis was asked about this direction in an interview and had this to say:

Peter Kelamis wrote:

I have seen and heard the Japanese version only during recordings of the show. There are times when the producer actually has to check direct translations to see if they make sense. The level and emotion of the original performance is attempted to be re-created but not the voice. If I tried to re-create the original voice I think I would run the risk of hitting a note so high that I may not be able to have children in future life.

[TheRed259]

From the Latin American Spanish dub:

* Jesús Cortes as Roshi: I know that Miguel Ángel Sanromán got replaced in both the One Piece Crossover and Daima because of his advanced age but man, they could've picked a better option. Cortes is like your generic old man voice for background characters.

What do you think about Rocío Garcel?

It seemed like she was having a hard time playing the role of Bulma in Dragon Ball Daima.

[MasenkoHA]

I think everyone from the classic era should've been replaced in Kai, regardless of country and language. I'm currently wrapping up the Freeza arc in Japanese, and I can tell you for a fact that there's a clear drop in quality between their performance back then and now.

Indeed, I still think the Japanese cast wasn’t bad in Kai but the “we already said this shit 20 years ago” vibe was definitely there. A brand new cast would have made Kai feel like censored Dragon Ball Z reruns or more fresh.

I kind of understand the “redemption” argument for the Funi cast even if most of them don’t sound a whole lot better than they did in the UUE dub but the Japanese cast didn’t need a redemption.

[TechExpert2021]

I think everyone from the classic era should've been replaced in Kai, regardless of country and language.

That was the case with the Mexican Spanish dub of DBZ Kai, in which almost all the Mexican voice actors from the original Cloverway/Intertrack Mexican Spanish DB dubs were completely replaced and recast. And the dub was based on the Nicktoons-censored FUNimation dub of DBZ Kai. Thankfully, the original Intertrack dub voice cast returned for the Mexican Spanish dubs of DBZ Kai TFC, DB Super, and DB Daima.

[SaiyamanMS]

All of them. It’s time for a new cast in the original productions. We're on the cusp of another anniversary, so they should just do it then.

Honestly, with all the “minis” in Daima being recast with new actors (with the notable exception of Nozawa as Goku), I’m wondering if they were deliberately testing the waters for recasting the series. Especially considering that with the exception of Vegeta, Piccolo, Bulma and Kaioshin, we barely heard from any of those characters. Why even cast new actors for characters like Kuririn, Mr. Satan or Chi-Chi when they only have one or two lines?

[Tian]

What do you think about Rocío Garcel?

It seemed like she was having a hard time playing the role of Bulma in Dragon Ball Daima.

Oh yeah, I forgot about her. From what I've heard of her in Daima, she sounded more screechy and strained than the last movies.

I guess the pass of time is more evident now.

Although... the voice direction has worsened since Super. So that's another unfortunate factor.

[JulieYBM]

All of them. It’s time for a new cast in the original productions. We're on the cusp of another anniversary, so they should just do it then.

Honestly, with all the “minis” in Daima being recast with new actors (with the notable exception of Nozawa as Goku), I’m wondering if they were deliberately testing the waters for recasting the series. Especially considering that with the exception of Vegeta, Piccolo, Bulma and Kaioshin, we barely heard from any of those characters. Why even cast new actors for characters like Kuririn, Mr. Satan or Chi-Chi when they only have one or two lines?

I absolutely believe that that was the play they were going for. I would not be surprised to see those actors return in the next five or ten years.

[Jord]

I think everyone from the classic era should've been replaced in Kai, regardless of country and language. I'm currently wrapping up the Freeza arc in Japanese, and I can tell you for a fact that there's a clear drop in quality between their performance back then and now.

Indeed, I still think the Japanese cast wasn’t bad in Kai but the “we already said this shit 20 years ago” vibe was definitely there. A brand new cast would have made Kai feel like censored Dragon Ball Z reruns or more fresh.

I kind of understand the “redemption” argument for the Funi cast even if most of them don’t sound a whole lot better than they did in the UUE dub but the Japanese cast didn’t need a redemption.

Not to mention how many times they recreated iconic scens in Video games, from Budokai 1 on almost yearly for a long time.

[BootyCheeksJohnson]

All of them. It’s time for a new cast in the original productions. We're on the cusp of another anniversary, so they should just do it then.

Honestly, with all the “minis” in Daima being recast with new actors (with the notable exception of Nozawa as Goku), I’m wondering if they were deliberately testing the waters for recasting the series. Especially considering that with the exception of Vegeta, Piccolo, Bulma and Kaioshin, we barely heard from any of those characters. Why even cast new actors for characters like Kuririn, Mr. Satan or Chi-Chi when they only have one or two lines?

I absolutely believe that that was the play they were going for. I would not be surprised to see those actors return in the next five or ten years.

Nozawa will definitely be the last hold out from the original cast. I said somewhere else on the forum that Toei probably kept her on Daima for 2 reasons.
1) to keep a familiar voice amongst the recasted actors.
2) because they're afraid to recast her as Nozawa remains the sacred casting. Which, fair enough, I'd be afraid to recast her too.