Dragonball Kai (FUNimation English) Dub: General Discussion

[Kendamu]

THEY DIDN'T DUB "SAIYAN BLOOD"!!! OR "SUPER DRAGON SOUL"!!! Now I'm getting thoroughly pissed.

Think back to the DBZ dub. At least we get insert songs this time.

[ShadowDude112]

Think back to the DBZ dub. At least we get insert songs this time.

Think back to the tweet you just made.

No wonder DBZ was treated so badly. Anytime we get anything good we act spoiled and get way too angry over little things.

I have to agree with both these statement but the second one is the most true.

[penguintruth]

Since dubbed songs are usually terrible, I couldn't care less about whether the songs were dubbed or not. It is strangely inconsistent, though, since "Over the Star" was dubbed. Or maybe "Over the Star" is now inconsistent!

[Suupaa Gohan 2]

I'm kind of hoping the lack of dubbed songs recently is a "rushed for TV" sort of thing, and that we'll get them dubbed on the home releases. That's happened before.

This was my theory. A lot of people seemed to be saying Only A Chilling Elegy was left in Japanese likely due to the nature of the lyrics, and making a 'clean' alternate version of the song would be too much work, but obviously this isn't the case. We know they're pumping these things out as fast as they can, and dubbing songs takes more effort than dubbing dialogue, since you have to not only translate the lyrics but get them to fit the meter, and then get someone talented enough to sing it (and while FUNi has several talented singers on staff, my mind wanders to Cook's rendition of Dragon Soul... *shudder*). I'm sure they'll be dubbed for the DVD releases, because Over The Star was, as are the OP and ED, so leaving these songs in Japanese for the final cut would be wildly inconsistent.

Though I am thankful Saiyan Blood was left as-is, because the idea of hearing Sabat sing in his Vegeta voice is just very...unappealing...to me. Like OACE, though, most of the song is covered by dialogue and fighting sounds, so it's not as glaring to hear the song left in Japanese...Super Dragon Soul, on the other hand, felt very awkward being left in Japanese, because it pretty much played on its own over silence ala the insert songs in DBZ. Here's Gokou all fully-healed and ready to go kick ass, dramatically busting out of his healing tank and standing on top of the ship, and you've got some random Japanese rock playing in the background...nothing unusual for me and a lot of us here, but when you consider the average uninitiated Nicktoons viewer and newcomer to the series, I can imagine that'd sound really strange. I remember the first time I saw movies #1 and #2 on Toonami, back in my dub days, and suddenly heard Gohan bust out singing in some gibberish language I didn't understand...yeah, it's really a jarring experience when you're not used to watching Japanese cartoons and listening to Japanese music. Hopefully, if these are fixed for a DVD release, Nicktoons will get updated copies with the dubbed songs included for rerun airings.

Overall, another great episode. I think all the actors are really giving their all now; there seems to be a noticeable step-up since the new premieres and the Freeza fight started, but maybe that's just me. I still have my complaints over Sabat's Vegeta, but even he felt like he was conveying the mood pretty well. I'm really looking forward to an accurately translated death scene for him tomorrow night. The only thing I can really complain about is that episodes like this are the perfect example of why Kaioh's voice not being changed is such a big deal. A lot of people brush it off because most of his scenes involve him joking around and emphasizing the whole 'lol big blue catfish thing' aspect of his character...but it just doesn't work for important scenes like this. If I recall, the Manga had some narration boxes explaining what was going on inside Vegeta's heart...I don't exactly remember the original Anime version, but narration boxes in Anime form = the narrator, usually, and since both the narrator and Kaioh are voiced by Johji Yanami, maybe it was intended to be the voice of the narrator explaining this to us. For the dub, they equated the voice to Kaioh informing the audience, and it just plain does not work to have such a serious scene related in that horrible, horrible voice. This is a major character revelation, and we get a marble-mouthed catfish delivering it to us. Thanks.

It'd be awesome if the guy voicing the narrator was also Kaioh. Not only because it'd parallel the Japanese version, but because that's the kind of voice he should have. I really want to know why Kaioh wasn't recast. Was Schemmel that attached to the role that he didn't want to give it up? Was Sabat? Did they just think no one would care enough for it to be worth replacing him? I highly doubt they'd fear the fans being upset, considering they recast Gohan, Freeza and Bulma. Fans wouldn't be outraged if Kaioh had a new voice - I'm pretty sure even the people who never knew any other voice for him, or just didn't mind it, would gladly welcome a new voice for the character. @#$% [/rant]

Also...sounds like they cut the next episode preview short in a really odd way. "I beg you, Kakarrot," clearly had a...vocal comma...after it, but then it just cut to a brief commercial before Avatar started. Very sloppy sounding; I'm assuming he said something related to his death, but why not just change the dialogue like the usual edits? That was just really glaring.

[Daimo-Rukiri]

I would love to hear a chiling elegy in English but I wasn't that surprised when it wasn't dubbed in English as well as Saiyan Blood.

However I see no reason why Super Dragon Soul was dubbed or they're saving these for DVD/Blu-ray release.

I'm at work so haven't watched today's episode of course I set it up via dvr so I'm good.
Only 2 boring hrs to go..

[Gaffer Tape]

I remember the first time I saw movies #1 and #2 on Toonami, back in my dub days, and suddenly heard Gohan bust out singing in some gibberish language I didn't understand...yeah, it's really a jarring experience when you're not used to watching Japanese cartoons and listening to Japanese music.

I remember that, too, but I remember thinking the song from movie 2 was just the coolest thing ever. Since I recorded it on that viewing, I watched that song sequence over and over again. Then again, I also watched "Rock the Dragon" repeatedly too...

Anyway, it doesn't matter one way or the other to me, but it would be nice if they were consistent, so this is a bit odd.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Well, I guess I should clarify, by "thoroughly pissed," I mean in the context of this episode (and, 2016 edit: this was nothing to get thoroughly pissed about in hindsight, especially since I now understand more about the intricacies of the dubbing biz). I'm still thoroughly in love with the dub overall.

[Attitudefan]

I said in another topic, NONE of Schemmel's voices were replaced. None. What does it mean, Sean ass kissing club I guess. I don't hate the guy but come on!

[Mewzard]

I said in another topic, NONE of Schemmel's voices were replaced. None. What does it mean, Sean ass kissing club I guess. I don't hate the guy but come on!

They didn't replace any of Sonny Strait's voice roles yet, are they kissing his ass too? Come on, the guy has 3 roles in Texas, and that's it. They've got to justified flying him out there somehow, lol.

[Attitudefan]

I said in another topic, NONE of Schemmel's voices were replaced. None. What does it mean, Sean ass kissing club I guess. I don't hate the guy but come on!

They didn't replace any of Sonny Strait's voice roles yet, are they kissing his ass too? Come on, the guy has 3 roles in Texas, and that's it. They've got to justified flying him out there somehow, lol.

But his roles aren't as bad. At least change Kaio, but when something sucks change it. When something is good, don't change it.

[penguintruth]

Schemmel doesn't play nearly as many roles as Sabat did, and he's friends with Sabat. Let's be realistic here.

[Codarik]

I love Schemmel's Kaio in Kai. In Z I couldn't stand it sometimes. His voice really works for the comedy side of Kaio.

This video had me laughing hard the first time I saw it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl5TRG6wzW8

[penguintruth]

It's exactly the same as it was in Z. Terrible.

[Codarik]

It's exactly the same as it was in Z. Terrible.

Not exactly the same, listen to him in the Frieza arc in Z and compare it with Kai, there is a difference.

[jjgp1112]

Yeah, in the Fr­ieza saga, his voice was really weird and slurred sounding and it sounded like his mouth was stuffed. Now he just sounds really weird and raspy.

[penguintruth]

It's exactly the same as it was in Z. Terrible.

Not exactly the same, listen to him in the Freeza arc in Z and compare it with Kai, there is a difference.

That's ridiculous. He sounds the same as he's always sounded.

It's by far the worst voice in the entire dub. At least Schemmel's Goku is salvagable. His Kaio is just tragic.

[Ishtar318]

There is a chance dubbed versions of those songs could be included on the 4kids (Toonzai) edit. Not only would FUNi have them dubbed on time, if they really dub them at all eventually, but I have a feeling 4kids would not be keen on keeping Japanese singing. Even if FUNi doesn't dub the songs, they may replace it with an instrumental version or mute it all together.

[Gaffer Tape]

Considering that Linda Young only had two roles, only one of which had any prominence, yet they felt compelled to recast Freeza, I really don't see any rationale for not recasting Kaio. I mean, come on! Schemmel only plays the main damned character in the show, and Kaio barely appears after the Freeza arc. I really doubt he'd be hurting for material.

[penguintruth]

But, with that same argument, one could easily argue that it's pointless to replace a VA for a character who isn't prominent after the Freeza arc. Who knows what sort of reasoning Funimation uses?

I wanted a new Kaio simply because the current one is awful. That's reason enough.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Damn, no new dubbed songs. Oh well, I'm backing the "they'll be dubbed for the DVD release" theory.