Dub Gokou: A Different Character?

[Victator Supreme]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t08bnxVp1BM

3:08. Sheer awesome.

The script is better, but the voices and delivery are still shit.

No they are really good. Schemmel mails it in sometimes on the video games but this was not one of them.

[jjgp1112]

And for the record, I honestly never saw that terribly big of a difference between dub Goku and Japanese Goku. Maybe in the Frieza saga, but not really afterwards.

[B]

And for the record, I honestly never saw that terribly big of a difference between dub Goku and Japanese Goku. Maybe in the Freeza saga, but not really afterwards.

There's a difference, but like you, I wouldn't say "terribly big." I can think of two instances, both Cell and Buu arcs, where in the dub, Goku spouts off lines from Captain America's handbook.

[Metalwario64]

And for the record, I honestly never saw that terribly big of a difference between dub Goku and Japanese Goku. Maybe in the Freeza saga, but not really afterwards.

There's a difference, but like you, I wouldn't say "terribly big." I can think of two instances, both Cell and Buu arcs, where in the dub, Goku spouts off lines from Captain America's handbook.

In the Cell arc, are you referring to the whole "Sword of Justice" speech he gives to Cell after emerging from the Time Chamber?

[Joey Batz]

I have never seen a non-terribly pathetic dub of an anime show ever! I can only stand Dragon Ball Z (Only Z) Dubbed, because I grew up with it and I see the original Japanese version and American version of two completely different identities.

Every single dubbed anime i have seen has had a bad script, generally bad or worse delivery and voice acting/casting and even more bullshit mixing (I mean come on, make it sound like its the character speaking in an environment and not in a soundproof room...) I can't bare to even attempt watching anime on TV nowadays, it has to be subtitled.

If you're into those animes, I HIGHLY recommend to you Funimation's dubs of both Yu Yu Hakusho and One Piece. They both kept the original music, wrote a script that closely mirrored its Japanese counterpart (aka they TRANSLATED it), and made sure their voice acting and line delivery were top quality.

The YYH dub was actually BETTER than the original. Justin Cook was FANTASTIC as Yusuke and is probably my favorite role for any VA I've ever heard. Chuck Huber played a superb Hiei. And I think Chris Sabat was spot on as Kuwabara, using a goofy annoying voice to play a goofy annoying character (not in a bad way). And Linda Young, the infamous Dub Frieza, really nails the part of Genkai.

The OP dub is of equal quality as the original. Colleen Clinkenbeard is a believable Luffy capable of a wide range of emotions (as opposed to 4kids Luffy's constant screaming). Chris Sabat might have put on his best performance ever in this series as Zoro. Ditto for Sonny Strait's fantastic portrayal of Usopp.

So if you're into YYH and OP, I highly encourage you to give their dubs (Funimation, that is) a chance. If nothing else, take solace in the fact that their openings are translated versions of the original Japanese, not horrendous raps.

.................Boy, is this off topic or what?

[Bussani]

I disagree to some extent on your term "selfish". He fights for more legitimate self-interested needs, but isn't necessarily selfish. Selfish has nothing but negative connotations.

There's a few times he's been selfish. He let Vegeta live for admittedly selfish reasons, not because it was the right thing to do. He also didn't want to destroy the androids before they were finished, because he wanted a chance to fight them (he also said Dr Gero hadn't technically done anything wrong yet, but yeah). And there's also the way he left his family to go train with a kid he'd just met.

Overall, I definitely noticed a difference between the two versions. Seeing the dub first, of course, I started out by thinking Goku was a pretty intelligent, heroic, superhero type guy. It wasn't until things like the driving school episode and reading the manga that I realized he was supposed to be a bit thick.

[VenomSymbiote]

I've always considered Dub Goku and Japanese Goku to be the same person, other than Dub Goku being a but more... wordy than he probably should be.

[Super Sonic]

Don't think of them as being different. Only anime anime character I've heard of being different between languages is a few guys consider Usagi Tsukino and Serena Tsukino to be 2 different people. And that's only because Serena's 2nd and greatest VA personalized the role and made it her own.

[Onikage725]

There are numerous examples. That speech was bad dialogue and slightly out of character. Because he would not phrase it that way. He was fighting Freeza for more than his loved ones. After seeing Freeza he knew he had to be stopped.

Eh... Goku has "he has to be stopped" moments, that's true. But that's not his drive. Like Freeza? He was ordered (by his god, no less) to basically sneak onto Namek, get everyone, and get out. And as soon as he heard this, he decided he was just going to have to see how tough this Freeza guy was firsthand. To further illustrate my point, the one guy who agreed with Goku was Piccolo, the series' Big Bad prior to the previous season. Hell, even Vegeta wanted to avoid direct confrontation with Freeza until he had the Dragon Balls. So Goku had every caution and expectation that fighting Freeza would be suicide. And doing so would (and did) make Earth a target, should Freeza not be killed.

Granted, when Goku did actually fight Freeza, it was partly to save his son and comrades. But he had made up his mind to face him back long before. And let's not forget the move he pulled at the end. He SPARED Freeza. After seeing all the death this guy was responsible for and capable of, after watching this guy kill his rival and his best friend in cold blood, and knowing that the shamed tyrant would likely love nothing more than to hurt his loved ones to get back at him... he lets him walk. It's the ultimate martial arts master conclusion- he quiets his inner demons, and throws notions of vengeance and justice out the window. And then he attempts to leave his foe to contemplate his defeat.

He actually has a habit of doing this. He pulled it with Piccolo and Vegeta, seemed to hold no grudge against Buu in the end, and in the Cell Saga he's nearly as bad as Vegeta in placing personal issues over the greater good.

You know who fits more as a heroic figure? Movie Goku. Not DBE, the 13 animated films. He doesn't fuck around. Compare his lenient stance on guys like Vegeta and Freeza in the series to his utter disgust of Broli.

Nowadays, even the 'bad dubs' aren't 'bad' in the same way they were back in the early 2000's. You should really look into this a little more.

I second this. I think dubs are so good now that newer fans have the luxury of being picky. I think they're a bit spoiled. Whenever I hear someone say...gawd I've heard people say Cowboy Bebop doesn't cut it. And I can only conclude that they must be very fortunate to not have encountered what would truly qualify as a bad dub.

Peter Kelamis wasn't as bad as a lot of people paint him to be...

I hated him in the series, but the man was a beast in Movie 2. I've always said this, Kelamis is at once my least favorite and absolute favorite English-speaking Goku (except maybe for MasakoX
).

And on the overall point, I do agree about Goku's character motivations. He's really not a "greater good" kind of guy. He does what *he* thinks is right, by his code, regardless of consequence. Example, his giving Cell a senzu before fighting Gohan, so that the two could have a fair fight. If it was Cpt. America and the Avengers vs, say, Dr. Doom... Cappy wouldn't generally insist on a 1 on 1 confrontation. He would lead his team in and throw everything they had at the bad guy to bring him down before he could hurt anyone. There's also Goku not killing Fat Buu so that the kids could handle it. The millions of people Buu ate in the meanwhile were of no consequence. Hell, Piccolo proved himself a fully heroic character in contrast. He was actually and actively worried about the innocent lives in danger, and was disgusted for putting them in further danger to buy Gotenks time to train. If he'd had the power to stop Buu, he would have outright done so. Heck, Buu was only even revived because Goku indulged Vegeta's temper tantrum (after standing by and letting him blow away civilians at the tournament) rather than just putting him down quickly like he well could have.

[jjgp1112]

And really, the dub did try to keep Goku's character in tact after the Frieza saga, having Goku say lines like, "OPEN SESAME!!!" when they were trying to escape Buu through the holes in his head, and the infamous "People Popcorn!" line.

The one thing I don't understand though, is that people will claim that the Funi dub turned Goku into your typical Saturday morning cartoon superhero and completely abandoned him being a dimwitted hick, and then someone will post a clip of Goku acting goofy and dimwitted in the dub, and then they'll do a 180 and say that Funi made him too stupid and that Goku is in fact, not a dimwit and just a little goofy. Make up your minds, folks.

[Kaboom]

The original topic of the thread wasn't so much about his mannerisms as it was his motivation. Even though his behavior was more in-character for the Buu arc, he still ended up spouting a lot of crap about truth and goodness or whatever. Which is only his secondary interest, if that, after good fights and getting stronger.

[Taku128]

The original topic of the thread wasn't so much about his mannerisms as it was his motivation. Even though his behavior was more in-character for the Buu arc, he still ended up spouting a lot of crap about truth and goodness or whatever. Which is only his secondary interest, if that, after good fights and getting stronger.

His interest after good fights and getting stronger is eating.

[Super Sonic]

I have never seen a non-terribly pathetic dub of an anime show ever! I can only stand Dragon Ball Z (Only Z) Dubbed, because I grew up with it and I see the original Japanese version and American version of two completely different identities.

You should watch Shin Chan as well. And while Superbook and Flying House's dubs have not aged well, no one on here wants to watch them in Japanese, even the hardcore subtitled only anime fans.

[Kaboom]

His interest after good fights and getting stronger is eating.

Okay, his THIRD interest is saving the world, after getting stronger / having good fights and eating. Third. Yep.

[JulieYBM]

His interest after good fights and getting stronger is eating.

Okay, his THIRD interest is saving the world, after getting stronger / having good fights and eating. Third. Yep.

Or goin' fishin' with his son?

[bkev]

His interest after good fights and getting stronger is eating.

Okay, his THIRD interest is saving the world, after getting stronger / having good fights and eating. Third. Yep.

You guys are forgetting his hobbies: reading and sports.

[Kunzait_83]

b

[Victator Supreme]

Eh... Goku has "he has to be stopped" moments, that's true. But that's not his drive. Like Freeza? He was ordered (by his god, no less) to basically sneak onto Namek, get everyone, and get out. And as soon as he heard this, he decided he was just going to have to see how tough this Freeza guy was firsthand. To further illustrate my point, the one guy who agreed with Goku was Piccolo, the series' Big Bad prior to the previous season. Hell, even Vegeta wanted to avoid direct confrontation with Freeza until he had the Dragon Balls. So Goku had every caution and expectation that fighting Freeza would be suicide. And doing so would (and did) make Earth a target, should Freeza not be killed.

That does not change the fact he was also trying to stop Frieza for the good of the universe. As I said he is not a conventinal hero. He does not go on patrol, thecity does not have a Goku signal. At his core he is a martial artist. But that does not mean he will not help people in trouble. He can want to help people and want to test himself. These are not oppsing goals.

[KaiserNeko]

WORDSWORDSWORDS cutting this down so I don't take up a buttload of space

I'm going to state here, as a huge fan of Yu Yu Hakusho, that I love Sabat's interpretation of Kuwabara. I started with the dub and originally despised the voice, but for me, it grew on me incredibly. To the point where I could identify that, that is Kuwabara's primary voice for me. This is coming from someone who's seen the show twice through in both Japanese and English.

I know a lot of people who actually really enjoy the voice as well, considering that while it's incredibly unrealistic, it actually is well acted and it becomes genuinely endearing. It's goofy, it's loud, it's emotional, and it's often pretty damn charming at the end of the day.

As for Schemmel's Goku, count me in, in believing that they are two different characters. They share similar traits, but there is so much lost in the adaptation from Japanese to English that it's basically a different person.

[JAPPO]

Sabat's Kuwabara sounds exactly like that big fat college drop-out he plays in "Shin Chan."

Still, I like them both.