Characteristic absences of main voices

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TheRed259
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Characteristic absences of main voices

Post by TheRed259 » Sun Jun 21, 2026 7:49 am

I know there are dozens of cases out there but I will mention a few that have stood out to me. I'm mainly mentioning cases where, let's say, it doesn't seem like a re-dubbing will be done or it's completely impossible (or really difficult) to do it again with the original voice actor.

I also don't mention cases like the Latin American dub of Dragon Ball Z Kai (eps. 1-98) since Dragon Ball Z already exists out there with the original voice actors or cases like the French dub of Dragon Ball Z with the various voice replacements since most of them have been corrected in Dragon Ball Z Kai.

🇲🇽 Latin American dub 🇲🇽
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Mario Castañeda wasn't Goku in Dragon Ball Z: Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan:
Not only Mario Castañeda but most of the original voices were replaced because they couldn't come to a financial agreement. René García (Vegeta) remained and that was because he worked as a director in the company that was responsible for the dubbing. Mario Castañeda was replaced by Enrique Mederos who had also played Goku in episode 144 from OG Dragon Ball for just a single line.

🇲🇽 Latin American dub 🇲🇽
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Carlos Segundo wasn't Piccolo in Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might & Broly – The Legendary Super Saiyan:
Carlos Segundo was replaced by José Luis Castañeda as in Dragon Ball Z episode 193. José Luis Castañeda is known for being the voice of many Dragon Ball characters like Nappa, Burter, Dr. Gero, Kibito and Omega Shenron. The reason why Carlos Segundo got replaced in these 2 movies is because he couldn't come to a financial agreement.

🇲🇽 Latin American dub 🇲🇽
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Luis Alfonso Mendoza wasn't Gohan in Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero:
Luis Alfonso Mendoza passed away in 2020 and he was replaced by Luis Manuel Ávila. So far except for Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, Luis Manuel Ávila has also voiced adult Gohan in Dragon Ball Daima and Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Super Collaboration Special.

🇫🇷 French dub 🇫🇷
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Eric Legrand wasn't Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler:
Eric Legrand was replaced by Frédéric Bouraly as in some Dragon Ball Z episodes (29-30, 53-58, 139, 142, 147, 205, 207-210 & 212). His absence from episodes 3-64 of Dragon Ball GT is also notable as it is for most of the original cast members.

🇫🇷 French dub 🇫🇷
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Patrick Borg wasn't Goku in Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming & Bio-Broly:
These 2 movies were released as 1 movie under the title Dragon Ball Z: Le Film 2 in 1996. Patrick Borg's absence is noticeable but not that serious since Goku doesn't play that big of a role in these 2 movies. He was replaced by Thierry Redler, the voice of Goku in episodes 1-10 of Dragon Ball Z and episodes 1-2 of Dragon Ball GT. His absence from Dragon Ball GT is also notable as it is for most of the original cast members.

🇫🇷 French dub 🇫🇷
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Marc Lesser wasn't Gohan in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn & Wrath of the Dragon:
These 2 movies were released as 1 movie under the title Dragon Ball Z: Le Film in 1995. Marc Lesser was replaced by his brother David Lesser as in Dragon Ball Z episodes 254-256 & 260. However, Marc Lesser participated in the advertising for the film's VHS release. It is also worth noting that in Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks, Marc Lesser didn't voice Future Gohan although he participated in that TV Special as Future Trunks. Future Gohan was voiced by Patrick Borg (Goku's VA) who has played Gohan in Dragon Ball Z episodes 234 & 248 as well. Patrick Borg had also voiced Gohan for 1 line in the Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon movie but as it seems this mistake has been corrected in other releases. Marc Lesser's absence from episodes 4-64 of Dragon Ball GT is also notable.

🇪🇸 Castilian dub 🇪🇸
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Alejandro Albaiceta wasn't Gohan in Dragon Ball Z: Broly – Second Coming, Fusion Reborn & Wrath of the Dragon:
Alejandro Albaiceta was replaced by Miguel Ángel Montero, the 3rd voice of adult Goku in Dragon Ball Z (eps. 168-291). Surprisingly, Alejandro Albaiceta participated in Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn & Wrath of the Dragon as Paikuhan and Tapion. It is also worth noting that Miguel Ángel Montero had also voiced Future Gohan in Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks and in episode 164 of Dragon Ball Z.

🇮🇹 Italian dub 🇮🇹
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Gianluca Iacono wasn't Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods & Resurrection 'F':
He was replaced by Massimo De Ambrosis who had also voiced him in the past in the Dynit dub of Dragon Ball Z Movies 6-9, 12-13 and Dragon Ball Z TV Specials 1-2.

🇬🇷 Greek dub 🇬🇷
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Yiannis Papaioannou wasn't Vegeta on Vegeta's Sacrifice:
He was voiced by Themis Psihogios as in some Dragon Ball Z episodes (from ep. 111 onwards). Themis Psihogios was the voice of Goku (eps. 88-291) and many others in Dragon Ball Z. It would be very interesting to see how Yiannis Papaioannou would handle such a moving episode (at least he was heard later in a flashback from episode 242).

🇵🇭 Tagalog dub 🇵🇭
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Vincent Gutierrez wasn't Vegeta in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods:
He may not be the original voice of the character since he started voicing him from episode 41 of Dragon Ball GT but I think his absence from the Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods movie is noticeable. He was replaced by Raffy Miranda.
Last edited by TheRed259 on Mon Jun 29, 2026 5:51 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Re: Characteristic absences of main voices

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Sun Jun 21, 2026 2:54 pm

There was one scene in the Saban dub where it sounded like Vegeta was voiced by Don Brown. Never been confirmed though, but I have my doubts it is Brian Drummond in this clip.
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Re: Characteristic absences of main voices

Post by Metalwario64 » Mon Jun 22, 2026 10:36 am

Dragon Ball Ireland wrote: Sun Jun 21, 2026 2:54 pm There was one scene in the Saban dub where it sounded like Vegeta was voiced by Don Brown. Never been confirmed though, but I have my doubts it is Brian Drummond in this clip.
Yeah I noticed that on my last Saban Funimation dub rewatch! Definitely not Drummond. Wonder if they somehow needed that line and missed it when Drummond was in the booth?
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Re: Characteristic absences of main voices

Post by TheRed259 » Tue Jun 23, 2026 8:22 am

Metalwario64 wrote: Mon Jun 22, 2026 10:36 am
Dragon Ball Ireland wrote: Sun Jun 21, 2026 2:54 pm There was one scene in the Saban dub where it sounded like Vegeta was voiced by Don Brown. Never been confirmed though, but I have my doubts it is Brian Drummond in this clip.
Yeah I noticed that on my last Saban Funimation dub rewatch! Definitely not Drummond. Wonder if they somehow needed that line and missed it when Drummond was in the booth?
Yes, it's probably something like this that happened. The dubbing studio would have to hand the episode over to the TV station to air it, and because there was no time, they casted whoever was available at the time to say Vegeta's lines.

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Re: Characteristic absences of main voices

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Tue Jun 23, 2026 9:22 am

Another one on the English side.

David Gasman generally voiced adult Goku in the Big Green dubs, but in the dub of the GT special it may have been William Dunbar.
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Re: Characteristic absences of main voices

Post by Tian » Tue Jun 23, 2026 2:49 pm

Dragon Ball Ireland wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2026 9:22 am Another one on the English side.

David Gasman generally voiced adult Goku in the Big Green dubs, but in the dub of the GT special it may have been William Dunbar.
They really shouldn't have taken voice matching too literally.

I mean, it was originally thought that the voice changes like that one happened because the movies were dubbed out of order but actually, those voice changes were based on the ones made in the French dub of those movies.

In this instance, Goku wasn't dubbed by Patrick Borg as usual in the GT special but by the late Thierry Mercier, whose voice is lighter than Borg's and this is the most likely and logical explanation of why David Gasman uses his Rayman characterization there instead of the Jim Morales characterization we are used to from other movies and specials.
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