Dragonball Kai (FUNimation English) Dub: General Discussion

[dan2026]

It doesn't have to sound like the Japanese, just whatever suits the character well and good deliveries.

Exactly, and that is the problem.

Forgetting any potential improvements on script and delivery.
Her voice has never suited Freeza, in fact her portrayal is notoriously bad.
Hence all the 'Freeza is gay' jokes, that stemmed from it.

So unless she completely changes her performance, I honestly don't see how it could improve.

[xzero]

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but I genuinely believe that Mike and every other big Japanese version fan here is missing the point of the Linda Young casting for Freeza. When I think of Freeza, I think of the dubbed version's voice. The idea was and is that the voice is effectively the sound of a lizard. Freeza is very lizard-like, and that is the character trait that the voice tries to reflect.

I get the arguments against her, but I offer two points. First, those arguments are largely offered by people whose preference lies with the Japanese version, and the original characterization of Freeza from a vocal perspective is different. Second, much like Goku, I think even Linda Young's Freeza can sound good--albeit different--with a good script. That was the element that was missing from Season 3, and I felt that her portrayal of Freeza was fine for Season 2's redub.

The key argument that I didn't offer above is that this is subjective, which a lot of people on these forums seem to forget. What works for some people does not work for others, and there is no objective line to measure the quality of an actor's performance.

How anyone can "hear" Freeza in Young's performance, I'll grant you, is beyond comprehension (there is no non-delusional way you can say the characters are the same or even remotely close)

I can hear Freeza in Young's performance because over 10 years ago, that was the version I first heard. I've watched the Japanese version, and I don't question the quality of that performance. You would be delusional to argue that Young's portrayal of Freeza is close to the original TV show version, but I can hear Freeza in Young's performance much more than I can in the original. To me, the voice fits the character; to you, Mike (and all the others who don't like the choice), it doesn't. That is why it's subjective, and that's why the opinion that Young is a proper choice for Kai's version of Freeza is not subject to objective criticism; there simply is no objective point to be made.

[JulieYBM]

What is 'lizard-like' when it comes to Freeza? His appearence? That's stripping the character down to one dimension. Dragon Ball's not Shakespearian, but Freeza's charm comes exactly from his personality. The former is the exact casting decision that goes behind every 4Kids dub, terrible direction and writing to boot.

[Metalwario64]

Personally, I'm not the biggest fan of Young's Fri­eza voice, mostly since my father won't stop making jokes about him sounding like a woman. He always intentionally refers to him as "her" and "she"... It's possible that he does so because of the voice, but, on the other hand, he thought he was a woman before he even spoke...

I may not agree with Young's voice being appropriate for Fr­ieza for the most part, but I'm willing to give Young a chance during Kai's dub, where the directing and scripts will be top-notch. Hopefully, somehow they can make it work decently.

[Mewzard]

The voice can work, I feel, with a proper script and direction. She can capture that villain hiding behind a polite facade with the right dialog. Just not hearing "Whatever turns you on, big boy." ever again will be a massive improvement, much less a full on script fix.

[G1Ravage]

I'm probably going to get flamed for this, but I genuinely believe that Mike and every other big Japanese version fan here is missing the point of the Linda Young casting for Freeza. When I think of Freeza, I think of the dubbed version's voice. The idea was and is that the voice is effectively the sound of a lizard. Freeza is very lizard-like, and that is the character trait that the voice tries to reflect.

And there-in lies one of the fundamental differences between American and Japanese voice acting. America is very much about making a character voice sound as if it's coming from that character, based on what it looks like, while Japan will often use a more natural sounding voice, regardless of what the character looks like. Japanese Piccolo doesn't sound like a deep throated, street-tough wrestler like Sabat's Piccolo.

Yet another example is character transformations. When Freeza and Cell transform, their Japanese voices don't change at all, except for Freeza's third form, in which he became marginally more nasal. In the English dub, each new form came with its own voice. Same with Tony Tony Chopper in One Piece in the original 4Kids dub. It's an American thing.

[penguintruth]

I'll give Linda Young one thing, her Freeza definitely sounds "alien", but that might be part of the problem. She's trying too hard to sound "alien" and not hard enough to sound like Freeza, who happens to be an alien.

[SaiyamanMS]

Same with Tony Tony Chopper in One Piece in the original 4Kids dub. It's an American thing.

Chopper's voice changes in Japanese too. Not to the horribly extreme degree that 4Kids did it, but if you actually listen, Ikue Ohtani's voice does become slightly deeper when Chopper is in his big form.

[ohaimynameiserik]

I'll give Linda Young one thing, her Freeza definitely sounds "alien", but that might be part of the problem. She's trying too hard to sound "alien" and not hard enough to sound like Freeza, who happens to be an alien.

This.

One thing that would really help would be if they emphasized on Freeza acting much more civil and polite.

FUNimation's previous script had him always acting like some incredibly evil tyrant who would kill you if you worked for him and fucked up in the slightest.

Granted, that is the case, but the personality is supposed to contrast.

[Amigo Ten]

I haven't really watched the anime enough to form a proper opinion about Young's actual performance, in terms of intonation and line readings and such. But I have no real problems with her voice. She could tone down the rasp a bit, which would actually make it sound slightly less feminine I think, but other than that it's fine. The JP voice is pretty androgynous, and I think Linda could do that well enough. Not sure if she will, but either way I have no major problem.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I agree with xzero here. If you dislike Freeza's dub voice, that's your opinion and there's nothing wrong with that, but to say the voice doesn't fit the character is rubbish. Freeza looks like a lizard type alien and I believe that Freeza's dub voice fits his appearance well.

[KaiserNeko]

I agree with xzero here. If you dislike Freeza's dub voice, that's your opinion and there's nothing wrong with that, but to say the voice doesn't fit the character is rubbish. Freeza looks like a lizard type alien and I believe that Freeza's dub voice fits his appearance well.

You're saying it fits his appearance... not his actual character. Just sayin'.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I agree with xzero here. If you dislike Freeza's dub voice, that's your opinion and there's nothing wrong with that, but to say the voice doesn't fit the character is rubbish. Freeza looks like a lizard type alien and I believe that Freeza's dub voice fits his appearance well.

You're saying it fits his appearance... not his actual character. Just sayin'.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.


But still, Freeza is sort of effeminate so a female voice isn't too out of character.

[dan2026]

But still, Freeza is sort of effeminate so a female voice isn't too out of character.

I've never imagined Freeza as effeminate, more pompous, proud and perhaps a little childish.

That Freeza is an alien is also kinda irrelevant to his character.
I've always seen him as a bit of a stuck-up, spoiled brat.
He sounds polite and courteous to a fault, when things are going his way.
Then becomes extremely uncivil, when they don't.

[SylentEcho]

What the dick? ?? Bardock doesn't have a scar. The narrator's voice sounds cool, but Dale Kelly was better. Actually they should have hired the Ocean actors for this again.

Can you guys imagine how censored this is going to be? What's the point of Kai if it's going to be nothing like the manga again all because of this gay dub? Why does Chi Chi still say Geauhan instead of Gohan? Funi has always irritated me so much. Why would they go to Nickelodeon in the first place? That itself makes Dragonball a laughing stock.

This is a great marketing strategy. Two versions of this can be released. The censored and uncensored version. They're out to make fools of us again, but I'm not going to buy even one DVD of theirs coz their dub sucks. \

By the way, it's still the Kurririn guy doing Bardock. Also Raditz's voice actor sounds pretty awesome. Sucks that Frieza still sounds like a girl though, they should have had Cooler's voice actor come and do him.

[dan2026]

What the dick? ?? Bardock doesn't have a scar. The narrator's voice sounds cool, but Dale Kelly was better. Actually they should have hired the Ocean actors for this again.

Can you guys imagine how censored this is going to be? What's the point of Kai if it's going to be nothing like the manga again all because of this gay dub? Why does Chi Chi still say Geauhan instead of Gohan? Funi has always irritated me so much. Why would they go to Nickelodeon in the first place? That itself makes Dragonball a laughing stock.

This is a great marketing strategy. Two versions of this can be released. The censored and uncensored version. They're out to make fools of us again, but I'm not going to buy even one DVD of theirs coz their dub sucks. \

By the way, it's still the Kurririn guy doing Bardock. Also Raditz's voice actor sounds pretty awesome. Sucks that Freeza still sounds like a girl though, they should have had Cooler's voice actor come and do him.

Then don't buy it for the dub, get it for the original.
I personally have no interest in the dub.
If Funi do a good job, all the better. If they don't, oh well, it matters not.

As for the TV censorship, it does boggle the mind somewhat.
I can't decide when it airs, if i'll want to laugh or cry.

[Mewzard]

Wait, because there's an edited version of the dub, you've deemed to punish them by not supporting an uncut, more accurate dub in spite? That's extremely juvenile (but then again, so is calling a dub gay).

None of the edits will be on the dvds, and will have even differing audio tracks, so not one bad, inaccurate thing will be there. The actual, uncut dub has sounded nice so far, from what has been seen.

Freeza always has been a bit soft spoken/effiminant. A script fix and focusing on his polite villain side could be done rather easily. From what all we've seen/heard, a lot of work has gone into making this dub very accurate to the original. The tv edits kind of suck, but you've got to get future fans in some how.

For announcers, I would have liked Brice Armstrong to do it, like he did in DB, but the new narrator sounds good.

And when did Chi-Chi say Geauhan? Sounded like go was being said, to me.

As long as I get my uncut version with the accurate dub, I'm happy.

[LilKokuLink]

Exactly, and that is the problem.

Forgetting any potential improvements on script and delivery.
Her voice has never suited Freeza, in fact her portrayal is notoriously bad.
Hence all the 'Freeza is gay' jokes, that stemmed from it.

So unless she completely changes her performance, I honestly don't see how it could improve.

I never really stated my opinion on her voice, I know all of this already.

[ohaimynameiserik]

What the dick? ?? Bardock doesn't have a scar. The narrator's voice sounds cool, but Dale Kelly was better. Actually they should have hired the Ocean actors for this again.

Can you guys imagine how censored this is going to be? What's the point of Kai if it's going to be nothing like the manga again all because of this gay dub? Why does Chi Chi still say Geauhan instead of Gohan? Funi has always irritated me so much. Why would they go to Nickelodeon in the first place? That itself makes Dragonball a laughing stock.

This is a great marketing strategy. Two versions of this can be released. The censored and uncensored version. They're out to make fools of us again, but I'm not going to buy even one DVD of theirs coz their dub sucks. \

By the way, it's still the Kurririn guy doing Bardock. Also Raditz's voice actor sounds pretty awesome. Sucks that Freeza still sounds like a girl though, they should have had Cooler's voice actor come and do him.

Even if you think their "gay" dub sucks, the uncut version on the Kai DVDs is probably the most accurate one we're ever going to get.

[Gaffer Tape]

None of the edits will be on the dvds, and will have even differing audio tracks, so not one bad, inaccurate thing will be there.

Well, just to split hairs, and because this is an issue that does hold some importance to me, I'd argue that, unless FUNimation has gone back to using alternate angles, there will be some "bad, inaccurate" things there in the Japanese version, namely the letter Z in the logo and English title cards and credits. And that will just be annoying... Although at least since they're translating things properly, most of those would more so fit in the "bad" category than the "inaccurate" category, I admit.