What if Dragon Ball was never dubbed in English?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

How would this have affected the franchises popularity worldwide?

Personally I'm sure it would have became a cult classic, widely traded on the fansub market, and it probably would have eventually been rescued by Discotek as other popular undubbed series like Kimagure Orange Road were.

Also, despite the original Saban, Funimation and Westwood dubs being flawed I wouldn't trade my experience growing up with them for anything. I will always have fondness for those dubs warts and all.

Ironically I also think a lot of the sub purists in this hypothetical scenario would have wanted to see Dragon Ball be dubbed, especially seeing how popular it was in other regions like France, Latin America, etc with their respective dubs.

[Kid Buu]

Love that Kimagure Orange Road shoutout!

I feel that if Dragon Ball had never been dubbed in English, it would resemble the trajectory of Saint Seiya today—hugely popular in regions like Latin America, yet far more “hidden” within English‑speaking communities. Anime fans would still know it, of course, but it likely wouldn’t have anything close to the mainstream exposure it enjoys now.

[Yellow Flower King]

How would this have affected the franchises popularity worldwide?

Personally I'm sure it would have became a cult classic, widely traded on the fansub market, and it probably would have eventually been rescued by Discotek as other popular undubbed series like Kimagure Orange Road were.

Also, despite the original Saban, Funimation and Westwood dubs being flawed I wouldn't trade my experience growing up with them for anything. I will always have fondness for those dubs warts and all.

Ironically I also think a lot of the sub purists in this hypothetical scenario would have wanted to see Dragon Ball be dubbed, especially seeing how popular it was in other regions like France, Latin America, etc with their respective dubs.

Night of Summeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeersiiiiiiiiiiiiide!

I welcome that things happened the way they did, I mostly prefer faithful subs and dubs but I stll welcome our fellow english speaking fans.

[MasenkoHA]

It probably would have been a fairly well known cult classic of the 90s and early 2000s to anyone plugged into anime at the time but fade into obscurity with young generations.

Not quite the same as they had dubs but Ranma 1/2 and Neon Genesis never left the home video market and they’re still considered staples of 90s anime. If you had any interest in anime in the time period, at bare minimum, you would have at least HEARD of those titles. It would have been the same for Dragon Ball if it never left the fansub market.

[Saiya6Cit]

It would have become a cult anime as you say and only otaku and animation invested people would watch it in Japanese with English subtitles. I believe it would be less popular, less of a 90s pop culture cartoon and more like a Japanese classic.

Maybe dragon ball super would not exist. There would be merchandise, but not by much, probably 20-30 percent less.

I never watched Eng. dub DB, but I love the joke over 9000 so much that it is hard to imagine a world without it.

[M16U3L2015]

It would have ended up like Saint Seiya and Captain Tsubasa: a cult classic that would fly under the radar for many English-speaking people but would remain hugely popular in Latin America, Europe and Asia.

[Kid Buu]

It would have ended up like Saint Seiya and Captain Tsubasa: a cult classic that would fly under the radar for many English-speaking people but would remain hugely popular in Latin America, Europe and Asia.

It’s funny that Captain Tsubasa became a global cultural phenomenon, yet it remains relatively obscure in the very country where football originated and hosts the world’s biggest league.

[Kenji]

I doubt it would be the case in Latin America, as I was introduced to Dragon Ball via Cartoon Network, and I'm not sure it would've been broadcast here if it hadn't become a hit in the US first.

[M16U3L2015]

I doubt it would be the case in Latin America, as I was introduced to Dragon Ball via Cartoon Network, and I'm not sure it would've been broadcast here if it hadn't become a hit in the US first.

That has nothing to do with it. OG DB had been dubbed and aired from 1992 to 1993 under the title "Zero y el Dragón Magico," and was then redubbed and aired from 1995 until the end of GT in 2000. Its success in the United States had no bearing on its broadcast in Latin America.

It premiered a year before the dubbed version of Ocean dub was released, and in fact it wasn't aired on Cartoon Network until 2001; before that, it had already been aired on various channels in Latin America and had become a hit.

[Yellow Flower King]

I doubt it would be the case in Latin America, as I was introduced to Dragon Ball via Cartoon Network, and I'm not sure it would've been broadcast here if it hadn't become a hit in the US first.

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh... You DO know Dragon Ball was already popular in Latin America BEFORE CN/Toonami touched it did you? Magic Kids (Argentina/Paraguay) and local broadcast networks made it a sensation. The only thing CN did in Latin America was appropiate that success for themselves. In USA Toonami put DBZ on the map, but in Latin America DBZ put CN on the map.

[Kenji]

I'm from Brazil, where only the original DB was dubbed for its first 60 episodes before being cancelled and only redubbed and brought back years after Z was successful in the CN airings it, so... Yeah.

I assumed it was also the case in the rest of Latin America as our dub was primarily based on the Mexican dub, but apparently not, so my apologies.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

With regard to Latin America, from what I've heard it seems Dragon Ball's success in Europe paved the way for it there moreso than the US.

Dragon Ball did come to the US before Latin America, in 1989 via the Harmony Gold dub but we all know that was not very successful due to bad timeslots and the lack of national exposure. Around that time the series was starting to take off in France, Spain and to a lesser extent Italy.

Earliest I'm aware of Dragon Ball coming to Latin America was 1994 when ATC in Argentina aired segments of Z movies 2 and 4 with the European Spanish dub, but some time after it the series came to Magic Kids and other local channels as Yellow Flower King mentioned.

Not quite the same as they had dubs but Ranma 1/2 and Neon Genesis never left the home video market and they’re still considered staples of 90s anime. If you had any interest in anime in the time period, at bare minimum, you would have at least HEARD of those titles. It would have been the same for Dragon Ball if it never left the fansub market.

Wasn't Evangelion out of print for years before it came to Blu-Ray?

I agree Dragon Ball would have been known about by people heavily invested in anime even without a dub.

[90sDBZ]

Most of us on this forum would've probably never gotten into it, as well as countless others who grew up loving it.

Many have had their lives enriched through their fandom, to the point were they'd be considerably worse off without it.

In an alternate universe where I never became a fan, it's hard to imagine anything else having the same impact. I was obsessed with several shows as a kid, but DB was the only one that I never lost interest in throughout my entire life.

In Primary School I was into stuff like Power Rangers, Pokemon, Digimon, and Beyblade, but by High School I had largely lost interest. DB was different. I never lost interest in it.

[Chuquita]

Dragon Ball isn't my first manga or anime, so I'd probably still know of it in the way I know of other 80's series that I've never watched/read, but with no U.S. release I probably wouldn't get into DB if at all until years later than I did, and with different circumstances it probably wouldn't be quite the same.

[PowerPhantom245]

I'm grew up with original uncut version in early 90's, thanks to Japanese neighborhood friend who happened to have VHS recording of the shows. I watched Ocean/Pioneer dub when it aired and noticed the amount of edits, which was noticeable even as kid. lol

Had Dragon ball never dubbed in English, it probably would have not gotten global success as it is now.
Sean Schemmel and Christopher Sabat would have not been famous as voice actor; though, they would have still dubbed other anime and would have eventually gained same amount of popularity.

No "Over 9000!"
No "If I don't eat rice the power won't come"

On the other hand, not dubbing into English means that we could have gotten uncensored version much earlier (I think), since it would have been subbed. We wouldn't have to suffer with several releases with several dubs (Ocean edit dubs, Funimation individual volumes dub, Funimation Orange Brick DVD dubs, etc.).

I'm not sure if we could have gotten Dragonball Evolution. lol

[The Dark Knight]

As far as English speaking countries are concerned, it wouldn't be nearly as big as it is today, obviously. As far as non-English speaking countries are concerned, things would've likely remained exactly the same or extremely close. The only exception to this would be countries that decided to dub it as a result of its success in English speaking countries.

[Kunzait_83]

Personally I'm sure it would have became a cult classic, widely traded on the fansub market

You say that as if it already wasn't exactly that back in the pre-dub years. "Remained" would be more accurate here than "became".

Also there's something this thread doesn't seem to be differentiating: dubbed vs licensed. Lots of titles have historically gotten licensed subbed releases without getting dubbed, even back in the 80s and 90s.

Is this thread specifically asking what if Dragon Ball was never licensed in English markets at all? Or simply if it was licensed but never dubbed into English? Because those are ultimately two wildly different and distinct scenarios, and it seems that folks here are treating the two as being synonymous and interchangeable when they're really not at all.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Personally I'm sure it would have became a cult classic, widely traded on the fansub market

You say that as if it already wasn't exactly that back in the pre-dub years. "Remained" would be more accurate here than "became".

Fair enough.

Is this thread specifically asking what if Dragon Ball was never licensed in English markets at all? Or simply if it was licensed but never dubbed into English?

The latter. I mentioned Kimagure Orange Road as an example because that is what I'm thinking of, a popular series that was licensed, just never dubbed in English. Given Dragon Ball's popularity I think its nigh on impossible it would have ever not been licensed at all in English-speaking territories.

[Kid Buu]

In Primary School I was into stuff like Power Rangers, Pokemon, Digimon, and Beyblade, but by High School I had largely lost interest. DB was different. I never lost interest in it.

Add in Spider-Man: The Animated Series and Jackie Chan Adventures and I'm in a similar boat.

Though Sailor Moon I've never lost interest in. Last year I went through Yu-Gi-Oh again, but that was mostly because I never finished the series as a kid.

[JulieYBM]

I would have still gotten into Dragon Ball and Japanese animation and comics because my friends had access to fansubs and other releases. There's also the case of of the International Channel and torrenting.

Things honestly just wouldn't have been very different. Heck, maybe they would have been better lol