Thoughts on FUNimation's treatment of Dragon Ball

[Super Ghost Kamikaze]

Haha, I just remembered I have a VHS of Manga's dub of Street Fighter II V(Street Fighter two vee, not 25 or 3)

3 would be III.

25 would be XXV.

IIV has no meaning in roman numerals. The two "I"s in front of the V WOULD indicate 5 minus two...but that would be 3, which is III. So it's just not anything in Roman Numerals.

[Kendamu]

Haha, I just remembered I have a VHS of Manga's dub of Street Fighter II V(Street Fighter two vee, not 25 or 3)

3 would be III.

25 would be XXV.

IIV has no meaning in roman numerals. The two "I"s in front of the V WOULD indicate 5 minus two...but that would be 3, which is III. So it's just not anything in Roman Numerals.

I'm guessing that he knew that and was just pointing it out to anyone who didn't know to pronounce it as "2 Vee."

[Super Ghost Kamikaze]

Haha, I just remembered I have a VHS of Manga's dub of Street Fighter II V(Street Fighter two vee, not 25 or 3)

3 would be III.

25 would be XXV.

IIV has no meaning in roman numerals. The two "I"s in front of the V WOULD indicate 5 minus two...but that would be 3, which is III. So it's just not anything in Roman Numerals.

I'm guessing that he knew that and was just pointing it out to anyone who didn't know to pronounce it as "2 Vee."

Possibly. I'm a bit exhausted today, and that can make me into a somewhat oblivious smartass.

[Captain Awesome]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, his dub VA can't act, he's nothing short of awful throughout all of Dragonball, he just sounds like a young guy pretending to be an old man, struggling to read the lines from his script.

He's great as Buggy the Clown and Ritsu Sohma. He has a great sense of humor too. At Ouran cast announcement he came out in drag (he plays a drag queen in that show).

I have heard good things about his Buggy, and I do own first voyage, I just haven't gotten around to switching over to the dub track yet.

So maybe I should have phrased that differently, I think he can't act while doing his Roshi voice, I think it's beyond awful, but that may not me true for his other roles, I just wouldn't know.

[theoriginalbilis]

From what I gather, Funimation used to Americanize ALL their anime before Fruits Basket.

I believe it was because of Justin Cook and him wanting to dub Fruits Basket as true to the original that Funimation now makes their anime the way they do today. Fruits Basket did so well, they realized they didn't HAVE to Americanize their anime.

Actually, I believe Yu Yu Hakusho and Blue Gender were FUNi's first non-DB releases, and both dubs were accurate to the original Japanese. Hell, both shows even aired on Adult Swim for a while.

I remember early interviews with Justin Cook about the dubbing of YYH, and he mentioned that they were really going for keeping true to the original Japanese while adapting the script into English. That's why the only changes for YYH I believe were some of the attack names. Otherwise the names, storyline, and music were kept intact. And from my initial purchase of Blue Gender, I remember that both the sub and dub were more or less the same.

Fruits Basket's releases didn't do well initially, since the DVDs retailed for $40 MRSP. But I know it got a lot of awards and repackagings, and that's when anime fans starting to see that FUNi was into the anime industry for real, not just Americanizing the "next big hit."

...

As for my feelings regarding FUNi's DB treatment. DB is done decently. Even GT is watchable now that the original music is back in, since their script for that was fairly accurate. But Z will always be the black sheep. The majority of the dub voices don't bother me, if the ADR direction was a little better (less grunting/snarling) and the script was more accurate, I think it'd be perfectly fine.

But as long as I can watch the DVDs in Japanese with subtitles, that's the main thing I want and that is the only reason I've bought (and will probably continue to buy) DragonBall DVDs from them.

[Kendamu]

From what I gather, Funimation used to Americanize ALL their anime before Fruits Basket.

I believe it was because of Justin Cook and him wanting to dub Fruits Basket as true to the original that Funimation now makes their anime the way they do today. Fruits Basket did so well, they realized they didn't HAVE to Americanize their anime.

Actually, I believe Yu Yu Hakusho and Blue Gender were FUNi's first non-DB releases, and both dubs were accurate to the original Japanese. Hell, both shows even aired on Adult Swim for a while.

I remember early interviews with Justin Cook about the dubbing of YYH, and he mentioned that they were really going for keeping true to the original Japanese while adapting the script into English. That's why the only changes for YYH I believe were some of the attack names. Otherwise the names, storyline, and music were kept intact. And from my initial purchase of Blue Gender, I remember that both the sub and dub were more or less the same.

Fruits Basket's releases didn't do well initially, since the DVDs retailed for $40 MRSP. But I know it got a lot of awards and repackagings, and that's when anime fans starting to see that FUNi was into the anime industry for real, not just Americanizing the "next big hit."

...

As for my feelings regarding FUNi's DB treatment. DB is done decently. Even GT is watchable now that the original music is back in, since their script for that was fairly accurate. But Z will always be the black sheep. The majority of the dub voices don't bother me, if the ADR direction was a little better (less grunting/snarling) and the script was more accurate, I think it'd be perfectly fine.

But as long as I can watch the DVDs in Japanese with subtitles, that's the main thing I want and that is the only reason I've bought (and will probably continue to buy) DragonBall DVDs from them.

Definitely. A more accurate script for Dragonball Z would make it so much better. There are some voices I can't stand, but most of them I can when I imagine them saying the correct lines.

[theoriginalbilis]

Definitely. A more accurate script for Dragonball Z would make it so much better. There are some voices I can't stand, but most of them I can when I imagine them saying the correct lines.

I think that's why I wasn't watching the dub on TV anymore, but yet I enjoyed playing the Budokai games when they came out. No out-of-left-field dialogue, no edits, & original score.

EDIT: I'm aware that the vocal opening songs were removed, but the physical game itself was untouched. Can't say that for the American Naruto or One Piece PS2 games, now can ya?

[DBHighDefinition]

EDIT: I'm aware that the vocal opening songs were removed, but the physical game itself was untouched. Can't say that for the American Naruto or One Piece PS2 games, now can ya?

How ironic...

[Kendamu]

EDIT: I'm aware that the vocal opening songs were removed, but the physical game itself was untouched. Can't say that for the American Naruto or One Piece PS2 games, now can ya?

How ironic...

I didn't say that, but I do agree that it's ironic.

[RyujiOtogi]

Definitely. A more accurate script for Dragonball Z would make it so much better. There are some voices I can't stand, but most of them I can when I imagine them saying the correct lines.

I think that's why I wasn't watching the dub on TV anymore, but yet I enjoyed playing the Budokai games when they came out. No out-of-left-field dialogue, no edits, & original score.

EDIT: I'm aware that the vocal opening songs were removed, but the physical game itself was untouched. Can't say that for the American Naruto or One Piece PS2 games, now can ya?

The Naruto games aren't cut anymore. They also have original ingame music and English/Japanese voice options. The games were only even edited in the first place because they had spoilers. FUNimation has been done with Dragon Ball Z for a long time. Had the Budokai games come out while FUNi was still dubbing earlier episodes, those games might have been cut too. It's kind of stupid to compare DBZ games to One Piece, because the only PS2 games for One Piece that have been released were when 4K!DS had it.

[Bussani]

EDIT: I'm aware that the vocal opening songs were removed, but the physical game itself was untouched. Can't say that for the American Naruto or One Piece PS2 games, now can ya?

We must be lucky. Here in New Zealand our copies of the DBZ games had the vocal openings left in too.

[DB_Fan1991]

As much as I love all three series. FUNi really screwed the DB franchise the first go around. It was mauled to pieces.

Dragon Ball-Not much to say about the original series as its dub is pretty good sure there were some changes in dialogue and missing insert songs, but the majority of the original meaning was kept. The only other thing wrong was the 13 episode dub by the FUNi/Ocean Group in 1995.

Dragon Ball Z-As someone else said Z is the black sheep of the DB dubs especially the FUNi/Ocean Group dub of seasons 1 & 2 with its corny lines like Tien's parachutes line and Vegeta claiming Bardock was a scientist. Then season 3 came with its fan uproar of the new voices and music. Then the Ultimate Uncut redub came with its music changes as well along with sticking to the original dub's script. Then the season sets came and everyone complained about the Widescreen situation, but at least FUNi gave us a dub with Japanese music track and that's enough for me.

Dragon Ball GT-Script wise this is on par with Dragon Ball which is good, music wise however was bad having a Rap opening was bad as was Menza's hardcore music. Like with Z the season sets have a dub with Japanese music option with dubbed versions of the OP & ED's, so now GT's dub is decent like DB's.

[Big Momma]

3 would be III.

25 would be XXV.

IIV has no meaning in roman numerals. The two "I"s in front of the V WOULD indicate 5 minus two...but that would be 3, which is III. So it's just not anything in Roman Numerals.

I'm guessing that he knew that and was just pointing it out to anyone who didn't know to pronounce it as "2 Vee."

Possibly. I'm a bit exhausted today, and that can make me into a somewhat oblivious smartass.

Yeah, Kendamu is right. Don't worry about it ;p

EDIT: I'm aware that the vocal opening songs were removed, but the physical game itself was untouched. Can't say that for the American Naruto or One Piece PS2 games, now can ya?

I'm sorry. How is this ironic?

[bkev]

Ironic in the fact that, while the Naruto dub can be considered annoying, it's also considered accurate. And its games were mangled because they contained spoilers.

[Super Sonic]

Definitely. A more accurate script for Dragonball Z would make it so much better. There are some voices I can't stand, but most of them I can when I imagine them saying the correct lines.

I think that's why I wasn't watching the dub on TV anymore, but yet I enjoyed playing the Budokai games when they came out. No out-of-left-field dialogue, no edits, & original score.

EDIT: I'm aware that the vocal opening songs were removed, but the physical game itself was untouched. Can't say that for the American Naruto or One Piece PS2 games, now can ya?

The Naruto games aren't cut anymore. They also have original ingame music and English/Japanese voice options. The games were only even edited in the first place because they had spoilers. FUNimation has been done with Dragon Ball Z for a long time. Had the Budokai games come out while FUNi was still dubbing earlier episodes, those games might have been cut too.

That's why Budokai 1 only went up to the Cell Saga. Buu saga was still airing when it came out.

[Majin Buu]

What irks me the most about what Funi did to the series is changing the music for Z. The music is one of the most enjoyable things about the show for me and it always pissed me off that they removed it in favor of Shuki Levy's/Bruce Falconer's/Mark Menza's mediocre stuff.

[Raki]

What irks me the most about what Funi did to the series is changing the music for Z. The music is one of the most enjoyable things about the show for me and it always pissed me off that they removed it in favor of Shuki Levy's/Bruce Falconer's/Mark Menza's mediocre stuff.

Is it wrong for me to say that all that dub music sounds the same? At least I think so.

[Innagadadavida]

What irks me the most about what Funi did to the series is changing the music for Z. The music is one of the most enjoyable things about the show for me and it always pissed me off that they removed it in favor of Shuki Levy's/Bruce Falconer's/Mark Menza's mediocre stuff.

Is it wrong for me to say that all that dub music sounds the same?

Yes. Because you don't listen to it. You decided you didn't like it and you wrote it off from the moment that decision was made.

Errr.. So it seems.

I like the Japanese music as much as the next guy. In fact, before I knew they changed the music, I thought Dragon Ball (the FUNi dub) had better music (better as in better fitting). But I understand the decision. It was marketing. The orchestral BGM doesn't fit with the image they created for the show. Kids would say DBZ sounded old because the music. Music is a huge part of the ambiance. That's why watching DBZ with the JP music in the new box sets is like watching an entirely different show.

[Raki]

What irks me the most about what Funi did to the series is changing the music for Z. The music is one of the most enjoyable things about the show for me and it always pissed me off that they removed it in favor of Shuki Levy's/Bruce Falconer's/Mark Menza's mediocre stuff.

Is it wrong for me to say that all that dub music sounds the same?

Yes. Because you don't listen to it. You decided you didn't like it and you wrote it off from the moment that decision was made.

Errr.. So it seems.

That ain't the case at all. I listened to all three scores years before I even knew of the Japanese score. I just thought it all sounded the same and was irrelevant to the flow of the show.

1500th post

[Bussani]

That ain't the case at all. I listened to all three scores years before I even knew of the Japanese score. I just thought it all sounded the same and was irrelevant to the flow of the show.

1500th post

Well, I thought all the dub music sounded the same. But the flow feels better to me with the Japanese music for some reason.