Sub Fans: What's Wrong with Your Version?

[Puto]

Off the top of my head:
- I don't like Zenkai Power (the first ending theme) all that much.
- Muten Rôshi's Japanese voice in Dragon Ball GT and DB Movie 4 is atrociously bad.
- The Japanese audio track's audio quality in every release other than Dragon Box: The Movies is pathetic.

[AgitoZ]

The opening and ending themes for the first half of Z are mediocre and the poor Japanese children had to sit through them week after week for years until the next superior set.

I assume you must love 4Kids English One Piece opening.

[Perfect]

Okay, I have one I immediately thought of, although I assume the problem still exists in the dub. And that is the sound engineers' seeming inability to match up sound effects with the animation! I just got done watching the episode where Goku's heart virus is affecting him (yay, DBox 4!), and when he eats the senzu, the eating sound is put in before he even puts the bean in his mouth. Likewise with running sound effects. Never match up. And one of my personal favorites is when Goku is rapidly pushing that button on Freeza's ship trying to get it to move. I honestly don't agree with anyone saying Kikuchi's score feels like a B movie. His score feels extremely epic to me when it needs to be. It's poorly aligned sound effects that make it feel like a B movie!

The animation in 106 seems to imply he's pushing it a little faster than we can see. Though I could be wrong, it just seems that way from the perspective I saw it from. Overall most of the sound effects are on time as they should, without question or speculation. I'm also not sure as to what episode you're referring to about a senzu so I can't judge it. Like minor artwork errors you'll see things don't match up, the main ones I think of are ironically from the dub and have to do with voices.

[Cipher]

So like, you only want things specifically relating to the Japanese cast or soundtrack (even though that's present in every dub except Funimation's)?

Okay.

The lip sync is terrible, sometimes distractingly so. This is less a complaint specific to Dragon Ball and more, as far as I know having not watched many anime, directed at the entire philosophy of Japanese animation.

The music lacks variety, although it picks up substantially in the Cell and Buu arcs. It does sound "b-movie chic," as TonyTheTiger said, but I always believed that was intended. If it wasn't, it still works very well, what with Dragon Ball being a very knowing riff on all sorts of '70s kung-fu movies and cheesy sci-fi. The true complaint I have with the music, however, is the way it's used. The tracks cut off far too quickly. If there's a lot of action going on, I want the catchy tracks to last longer than thirty seconds. This applies to all three series, and I refuse to believe that it couldn't have been improved by being a bit more liberal with the music.

Oh, and also on the topic of music, the insert songs are mostly terrible. Some of Z's get by on their ridiculously fun '80s synth, ("Sensou-Iro Senshi," "Battle Point Unlimited," "Solid State Scouter") and there are a few used to great effect like "Unmei no Hi," but most of the time they come on they just produce cascades of laughter. At least, this has consistently been the case as my girlfriend and I go through the original Dragon Ball. Unintentionally hilarious; totally bad. Of course Kai's are even more over-the-top, but that's neither here nor there.

Finally, someone mentioned Babidi's voice. I'll completely agree with this one. I've gotten used to his Japanese actor, but this is one of the few instances where I really think Funimation did a better job with the character. Seeing him in the manga, that's the voice I hear, and I think it was one of the better-delivered ones out of the Funimation cast as well.

The opening and ending themes for the first half of Z are mediocre and the poor Japanese children had to sit through them week after week for years until the next superior set.

Yeah, never really have been a fan of "Head Cha-La" and "Zenkai Power." I know they're iconic, but they're easily the worst set out of all three series. I feel like they're too campy even for something as ridiculously campy as Dragon Ball, and they really overstay their welcome at two-hundred episodes.

[B]

The opening and ending themes for the first half of Z are mediocre and the poor Japanese children had to sit through them week after week for years until the next superior set.

I assume you most love 4Kids English One Piece opening.

I don't hate it.

But yeah, I prefer almost every other song relating to the Japanese side of Dragon Ball to Head Cha-La and Zenkai. Wings of the Heart might be a little lower than them on that totem pole.

[penguintruth]

I don't get some of you. "Cha-La Head Cha-La" is what DBZ is all about, that heady shonen spirit of adventure and action while coming of age. It's essentially a song about Gohan. Same with "Zenkai Power".

[Gaffer Tape]

Overall most of the sound effects are on time as they should, without question or speculation.

This is true, but when they're bad, they're usually REALLY BAD. The Freeza ship button push is just laughably out of sync, both in general speed and timing. Another I can think of is in 124 when Vegeta has his dream sequence where he's running down a black corridor is also just hilariously bad. In fact, any time they're running and that "clop clop" effect is used, expect it to be very much off.

The senzu thing is from 127, and it's not as bad as the aforementioned, but it's still off.

[jjgp1112]

Overall most of the sound effects are on time as they should, without question or speculation.

This is true, but when they're bad, they're usually REALLY BAD. The Freeza ship button push is just laughably out of sync, both in general speed and timing. Another I can think of is in 124 when Vegeta has his dream sequence where he's running down a black corridor is also just hilariously bad. In fact, any time they're running and that "clop clop" effect is used, expect it to be very much off.

The senzu thing is from 127, and it's not as bad as the aforementioned, but it's still off.

Don't forget Goku slapping Frieza around at the speed of a turtle, despite how fast the sound effects are going.

[Adamant]

- Muten Rôshi's Japanese voice in Dragon Ball GT and DB Movie 4 is atrociously bad.

Ooh, good point. I'll steal that, since I can't really think of anything else.
Oh, and them not bringing back Akira Kamiya for the Garlic Jr. arc. I love Chiba, but Kamiya was sooo much better in the role. Why are they bringing back characters for filler if they have to recast them anyway?

I'm hesitant to bring up filler because it's not exclusive to the Japanese version of the show, which I think is what this topic is really asking about.

The only thing that IS exclusive to the original are the voices, which makes the possible answers to the question pretty limited, especially if we're not even supposed to include anything Kai-related.

[Makaioshin]

Oh, and also on the topic of music, the insert songs are mostly terrible. Some of Z's get by on their ridiculously fun '80s synth, ("Sensou-Iro Senshi," "Battle Point Unlimited," "Solid State Scouter") and there are a few used to great effect like "Unmei no Hi," but most of the time they come on they just produce cascades of laughter. At least, this has consistently been the case as my girlfriend and I go through the original Dragon Ball. Unintentionally hilarious; totally bad. Of course Kai's are even more over-the-top, but that's neither here nor there.

I agree with this though I do love some of them(Wolf Hurricane, Mezase Tenkaichi, and Spirit Vs. Spirit to name a few). The Blue Travelers is easily the worst one.

[Cipher]

I agree with this though I do love some of them(Wolf Hurricane, Mezase Tenkaichi, and Spirit Vs. Spirit to name a few). The Blue Travelers is easily the worst one.

Hardly. Try to keep a straight face when a rainbow appears and the "Son Goku Song" starts playing. Even stuff like the Red Ribbon army song, which I think is trying to be kind of bad-ass, is just hilarious.

I don't get some of you. "Cha-La Head Cha-La" is what DBZ is all about, that heady shonen spirit of adventure and action while coming of age. It's essentially a song about Gohan. Same with "Zenkai Power".

I see where you're coming from, but the other songs manage to hit the feeling pretty well while also being catchy. I guess I'd be more into them if they weren't used for as long as they were, and if Z actually was about Gohan's heady sense of adventure past the Saiyan arc filler.

[Gaffer Tape]

Don't forget Goku slapping Freeza around at the speed of a turtle, despite how fast the sound effects are going.

Ooh, good point. That one's a classic.

[Rocketman]

I don't get some of you. "Cha-La Head Cha-La" is what DBZ is all about, that heady shonen spirit of adventure and action while coming of age. It's essentially a song about Gohan.

I couldn't have explained my hatred of it any better.

[penguintruth]

I don't get some of you. "Cha-La Head Cha-La" is what DBZ is all about, that heady shonen spirit of adventure and action while coming of age. It's essentially a song about Gohan.

I couldn't have explained my hatred of it any better.

Even as I was typing that, I was thinking to myself, "And that's why Rocketman hates it." I swear.

[Fishman]

The opening and ending themes for the first half of Z are mediocre and the poor Japanese children had to sit through them week after week for years until the next superior set.

I disagree. "Cha-La Head Cha-La" and "Zenkai Power" are a lot better than anything Ocean or Funimation came up with, and even better than Kai's OP and EDs.

Cha-La Head Cha-La is easily the greatest part of the entire series to me, but I'm going to have to disagree with you on the ending. I've always thought Zenkai Power was absolutely terrible and it just made me glad the Orange Bricks had the marathon mode that skipped the credits between each consecutive episode.

[El Diabeetus]

I love CHA-LA-HEAD-LA, it explains the general wackiness of Dragon Ball. But, I don't know, it may be because I've watched a lot of Kai recently; but, Dragon Soul just feels more "shonen" and "Dragon Ball", even if the lyrics are generic.

[AnimeMaakuo]

"Cha-La-Head-Cha-La" Is what it's all about. What a brilliant made series. That's one thing I'm proud of.

[TonyTheTiger]

It does sound "b-movie chic," as TonyTheTiger said, but I always believed that was intended. If it wasn't, it still works very well, what with Dragon Ball being a very knowing riff on all sorts of '70s kung-fu movies and cheesy sci-fi.

Yeah, it's not that I don't think it works. It definitely does it's job just fine. But when I realize at the same time Dragon Ball was airing so was Transformers, The Real Ghostbusters, Batman: TAS, and Gargoyles, I can't honestly say I'm all that impressed by it. Different shows and all that, sure, but there were a lot of great scores out there at the time and I don't think Kikuchi's stands out above them in any meaningful way. It does a decent job and isn't particularly bad at any point. I even think there are great moments. Kikuchi was always good at musical interludes where he adapted some of the vocal songs from the series. For instance, I love the sequence where Goten and Trunks are fighting at the tournament. I think it has it's moments of pure awesome, sure, but most of the time I'm not finding myself all that amazed by it. Admittedly the audio fidelity (or lack thereof) could have a lot to do with that.

That being said, I think pretty much every intro/outro (perhaps with the exception of Zenkai Power) and all the insert songs are crowning moments of awesome. I still think the Cha-La intro is one of the greatest animated intros of all time and think you guys are crazy for hating on it.

[Gozar]

Okay, ignoring preferences and focusing on cold faults... There are a handful of little mistakes when it came to sounds and the animation. Such as a moment in the Goku VS Freeza fight where Freeza is speaking(his mouthflaps are moving) but the sound(Nakao's voice) is him laughing and it looks really awkward.

I remember this. I was so upset that they didn't fix it for Kai. I mean really, there was even a line directly from the Manga that was unused in the Anime Version that they could have put in its place.

[theoriginalbilis]

What's wrong with the original Japanese version? Plenty.

- Poorly recorded, stored, outdated monaural audio (but is still quite audible on the Dragon Boxes and my original fansub tapes for some reason)
- Some slight vocal inconsistencies (Baba, Roshi), but only for minor characters
- Some of the musical score is definitely overused (some pieces even used twice in one episode), and it's even more noticeable when you're marathoning episodes.
- ZENKAI Power is the only theme song I skip regularly, it's cute, but not on every viewing.
- Typical animation quality from the 80's-90's. Decent to poorly rendered. Only a few episodes have "movie-quality" animation.

Kai's dub is really well-done, but the older dubs have enough problems to where I can't watch them anymore. I still prefer the DragonBall franchise in Japanese. The original music and cast has a charm that draws me in and I can't always explain it.