Dragon Soul Collection Thread (To Be Updated As More Appear)

[TheBlackPaladin]

Since I have a big interest in dubbed anime songs, I figured I would devote this thread to showing all the version of Dragon Soul that there are out there. It should be worth noting, however, that not all foreign dubs have dubbed the songs. The Indonesian dub apparently airs Dragon Soul as-is in Japanese. So, the reason there is no "Indonesian Version" for example, is because the "Indonesian Version" is the Japanese version. The same rule will apply to all future dubs that keep the original version.

UPDATE 11/22/2010: Okay so...I'm in a bit of a quandary, but I've come to a decision. First, the quandary. I've been debating whether or not to include fandubs in this thread. Normally the thought wouldn't have crossed my mind, but I feel some fandubs are significant enough to be included. Anghelo Lopez's version, for example, is being included because it is historically significant. The internet was ablaze with speculation over whether or not there was going to be a Latin American dub because his company, Magic Sound Records, announced that they had liscensed the music, leading to speculation that someone had licensed Dragon Ball Kai for Latin America as well. Furthermore, fellow forum member Jurik has posted a fandub of Dragon Soul done by "César Franco,"...which is apparently a big deal, because he's the guy who did the Mexican Spanish versions of the first and third "Digimon" openings. It's no small news that a singer of his caliber decided to do a fandub. So, I've come to a decision. I'm going to separate the official versions and the unofficial versions, and will add fandubs into the "Unofficial" section. If it is significant in any historical way, such as the two above examples, it will be noted next to where they are posted. I hope this satisfies everyone!



THE OFFICIAL VERSIONS

JAPANESE
Full Original Japanese Version: Takayoshi Tanimoto
TV-Size Japanese Version: Takayoshi Tanimoto
Full Instrumental Version (With Japanese Background Vocals): Takayoshi Tanimoto

U.S. ENGLISH
TV-Size English Version (Uncut DVD/Blu-Ray Box Set Season 1 Part 1 Edition): Sean Schemmel
TV-Size English Version (Uncut DVD/Blu-Ray Box Set Season 1 Part 2 Edition): Justin Cook
TV-Size English Version (Uncut DVD/Blu-Ray Box Set Season 1 Part 3 Edition): Vic Mignogna
TV-Size English Version (Shortened Nicktoons/CW4Kids English Edition)*: Vic Mignogna
*NOTE: In this particular case, the audio is identical for both the Nicktoons and CW4Kids openings. There was a slight video edit made to the CW4Kids version, though, where a shot of Vegeta hitting Goku in the face is cut out. The footage is also slowed down a bit to compensate for the edit. I didn't feel the need to post it because, like I said, apart from that visual edit, both the Nicktoons and the CW4Kids openings are identical, that means audio too. This particular video uses footage from the Nicktoons version where Vegeta DOES hit Goku in the face. YAY VIOLENCE!

MEXICAN SPANISH
TV-Size Mexican Spanish Version (Based On Uncut English Edition...Never Used...?): Mario Heras
TV-Size Mexican Spanish Version (Based On Shortened Nicktoons-Censored English Edition): Mario Heras

BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE
Full Brazilian Portuguese Version ("Test" Edition, With Japanese Background Vocals): Rodrigo Rossi
TV-Size Brazilian Portuguese Version (TV Edition, With Portuguese Background Vocals): Rodrigo Rossi

KOREAN
TV-Size Korean Version



THE UNOFFICIAL VERSIONS
These are mostly fandubs in various languages. Some of them have some historical significance to "Dragon Ball Kai" in one way or another. If they do, it has been noted.

U.S. ENGLISH
Lanipator Fandub U.S. English Version: Lanipator (aka Nick Landis) of Team Four Star

CANADIAN ENGLISH
Danny Fong Fandub Canadian English Version: Danny Fong

BRITISH ENGLISH
Masako X Fandub British English Version: Masako X (aka Lawrence Simpson) of Team Four Star

MEXICAN SPANISH
Illegal, Uselss, Terrible, God-Awful Bootleg Rendition Performed By Money-Grubbing Thief/Pirate Mexican Spanish Version: Anghelo Lopez
César Franco Fandub Mexican Spanish Version: César Franco (the singer of the first and third Mexican Spanish "Digimon" themes)

NORWEGIAN
songohan619 Fandub Norwegian Version: songohan619


HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE UNOFFICIAL VERSIONS
Lanipator U.S. English Version
This version is sung by Lanipator--aka one of the members of the utterly hilarious "Team Four Star," the makers of "DBZ Abridged." For those of you who don't know, Lanipator plays Chris Sabat on DBZ Abridged...which is to say that he plays most of his roles (except for Yamcha). Nice job, Lani!

Danny Fong Fandub Canadian English Version
This is a fandub done by a Dragon Ball fan by the name of "Danny Fong." This is an interesting fandub because he literally does everything with his own voice--the drums, the voices, the guitar...pretty creative.

Masako X British English Version
Yet another member of Team Four Star lends his voice to this song! Masako X plays Goku and Gohan on "DBZ Abridged" (hence his YouTube name). There's also an item of interesting history in this one. You will notice that the lyrics are completely wrong in some parts--this is, however, not Masako X's fault. FUNimation debuted their dub of Kai at a con (which one exactly escapes me), and some low-quality cell phone footage of the English version of "Dragon Soul" was leaked to YouTube shortly thereafter. Because of the low quality of the audio, the uploader had a hard time making out the lyrics, and simply transcribed them as best he could from what he thought he heard. Masako X's rendition of "Dragon Soul" is based on that transcription. Like Lanipator, well done, Masako X!

The Anghelo Lopez Bootleg Version
This fandub is probably the most historically significant because it is one of the most interesting--and strangest--stories to ever hit Dragon Ball fandom. In mid 2009, fully-produced Mexican Spanish versions were released of the opening and ending themes for Dragon Ball Kai. They were sung by Anghelo Lopez, the grandson of a (very famous) Mexican film and TV actress, Marga Lopez. They were produced by a company calling itself "Magic Sound Records." This was strange for a number of reasons. Firstly, the videos were produced and released without any prior announcement, and even included footage of full-fledged live concerts. This led the internet to light up with speculation about whether or not a Mexican Spanish dub of DBK was in the works or not. Others were bewildered--how did all this suddenly happen all at once, with no prior hint from any of the press that it was going to? Even the original Mexican Spanish cast of the dub for DBZ, when contacted, said they had no idea who this guy was.

A big hint was dropped that Toei itself didn't know who he was either when the video on the Magic Sound Records YouTube channel of Anghelo's version of "Dragon Soul" was removed due to a copyright claim by Toei Animation (you'll notice that the link I've included in this post leads to a video that is not of super-high quality, which is because the original video is no longer available).

That didn't stop Magic Sound Records, however. They seemed to be a proud bunch. Magic Sound Records claims on their YouTube page (in oddly poor English) that they are one of the biggest record companies in Latin America. However, their only known singer was--and still is--Anghelo. Things only continued to get stranger when they announced that they had licensed the music for every single "Dragon Ball" series ever produced. Anghelo then began to tour the Latin American anime convention circuit, with Magic Sound Records following him to every con and selling his CD there. When asked about when the dub for DBK would air in Latin America, Magic Sound Records simply kept replying with, "Toei Animation does not want to say just yet due to marketing reasons." They even went so far as to say the reason their original version of "Dragon Soul" was removed was because they were re-doing the song because Toei was not completely satisfied with it...which makes no sense, but whatever. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt for now on that one...and things still didn't add up. So, Toei didn't want to say when the dub would air due to marketing reasons, and yet they had no problem with this virtually unknown singer marketing his versions of the songs? Of ALL the songs, for that matter, with the ridiculously large licensing fee that that must have entailed? Many fans tried to ask these questions on the company's YouTube channel, but Magic Sound Records deleted every single comment that was not directly praising Anghelo's "music."

Things probably reached the peak of their excitement in late 2009, though. Eduardo Garza, the Mexican Spanish voice actor for Kuririn/Krillin (along with several other popular anime characters including Gaara from Naruto) was being interviewed about the final stages of the Mexican Spanish dub of Naruto. Towards the end, they started asking him some more Dragon Ball-related questions, especially if there was going to be a Mexican Spanish dub of DBK or not (and by extension, if he would be returning as Kuririn/Krillin). Finally, they asked him what was up with Anghelo. Garza flat-out said that Anghelo didn't have the rights to perform the songs, and that he was a pirate.

Magic Sound Records flipped out and issued a statement demanding that Garza should retract his comments unless he wanted to face immediate legal action for hurting the company's reputation. The statement included some words from Anghelo himself, who said that he was "shocked and surprised at the words of my friend and fellow actor." I don't know if Magic Sound Records proceeded with legal action or not, but they probably didn't, because a few weeks after that, someone else came out and said that, "there is currently no authorization for the existence of any product outside of Japan, including the music." The kicker? That "someone else" was Eduardo Lucio, the marketing director of the official Latin American branch of Toei Animation. So, I don't know if Magic Sound Records or Anghelo proceeded with their legal action, but something tells me if they did it wouldn't last very long thanks to confirmation from Toei itself that he was a pirate.

That's the climax of the story and definitely the highest point of interest, but still not quite the end. Almost insultingly, Anghelo continued to tour the con circuit with official support from Magic Sound Records, continued to sell his CD, and even claimed that another one was in the works. For this reason, a small degree of doubt remained that maybe he wasn't a pirate after all.

Then the official Mexican Spanish versions of the DBK themes hit the internet. That's my way of saying, "The End." There should be no remaining doubt that he was a pirate. It absolutely sickens me when people try to make money off a business like the anime business that is in such a dire state right now, so I hope Anghelo fades into obscurity.

That's the end of the story, but sometimes in stories there is an epilogue, and this story does have one. Later, when the Brazilian Portuguese versions of the DBK themes were released, it was noted that the translation was based on Anghelo's translations of the songs. I for one love that--even if it was unintentional, what better way is there to extend the proverbial middle finger to a pirate than to rip him off?

César Franco Fandub
The story behind this is not nearly as interesting as the Anghelo case, but still pretty cool (and this version of the song is MUCH better sounding) The guy who sings this fandub is César Franco, which is cool because apparently he is also, according to fellow forum member Jurik, the original Mexican singer for the first and third Digimon openings. Having listened to it a few times, it grew on me pretty quickly, and I actually think this is my favorite version of "Dragon Soul"! From what I can gather--and Jurik can feel free to elaborate, since he collaborated with Franco on this one--a petition was started to get him to be the official singer for the Mexican Spanish dub. It must have not worked, because Mario Heras ended up singing it instead. Quite the pity, really. Franco took a little bit of liberty here and there with the rhythm, but his enthusiasm can't be denied, and I personally think his singing sounds excellent.

songohan619 Fandub Norwegian Version
This is a fandub done by our own forum member, songohan619. Nice to see so much passion from all over the world about this song!

[dragondyle]

Awesome. This will be a nice and huge collected reference in the future when more come about.

[songohan619]

Don`t forget my crappy fandub

[StarRot]

Oh, wow, Vic Mignogna is terrible.

[linkdude20002001]

FUNimation told him to sing like that. He actually is a great singer, but FUNi wanted the TV version to have more grit. Apparently children like more grit...?

[StarRot]

Well, I'll take your word for it that he's a great singer. I haven't heard any of his other songs.
He sounded too nasally to me. I just don't think his voice suited the song.
I preferred Schemmel’s take, despite the auto-tuning.

[TheBlackPaladin]

FUNimation told him to sing like that. He actually is a great singer, but FUNi wanted the TV version to have more grit. Apparently children like more grit...?

I don't mean to belittle kids, as they have consistently shown to be exceptionally more creative than adults, but having worked as a camp counselor, I can sympathize a little bit with FUNimation's decision to do that. Things that are loud and exciting tend to catch their attention very easily, and considering we're dealing with a whole generation of kids who have never heard of Dragon Ball before, FUNimation probably wanted to portray the theme that way as a way of saying, "HEY, KID, DON'T CHANGE THE F'ING CHANNEL, WATCH THIS DAMN SHOW, IT'SODAMNCOOLANDYOUWILLLOVEIT!!!!"

I don't know if it worked from that perspective, but DBZ Kai is the highest-rated show on Nicktoons, and Nicktoons is doing exceptionally better than Disney XD despite Disney XD having MUCH more subscribers. So Nicktoons is quite happy with Kai and are now kind of treating it as one of their flagship programs. Clearly a new generation of kids are watching. And I couldn't be more happy that they're getting introduced to DBZ through this dub and not the dub we were introduced through.

I go back and forth over whether I like Sean's or Vic's version more in English. I would be interested to hear Vic do a "clean" version of the song (which he reportedly did at first). Who knows, maybe one of the so-far unreleased box sets will have the "clean" Vic Mignogna version. I'll be sure to post it here, of course!

I don't know that I'd call it terrible, though. Especially not when we have Justin Cook's version (sorry Justin).

Between the Mexican Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese versions, though, I think I'm gonna have to side with Brazil on this one. The singer sounds more into it in my opinion, which is to say more excited about what he's singing. Plus the translation is based on the Anghelo Lopez bootleg version, so that makes me like it even more--I take a slight degree of pleasure in knowing that a pirate has been himself ripped off.

[StarRot]

I don't know that I'd call it terrible, though. Especially not when we have Justin Cook's version (sorry Justin).

I don't know what it is, but everytime I hear Vic's voice I have the urge to go kick puppies. I don't even know why, it just .. really, really grates on me. That's no comment on his voice acting or anything, by the way. He is quite good at what he does.
Cook was definitely worse at singing, though.

[Jurik]

César Franco's spanish cover.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ae43uHmrGA

César Franco is the original mexican singer for Digimon 1 and 3 openings-

[linkdude20002001]

I don't know that I'd call it terrible, though. Especially not when we have Justin Cook's version (sorry Justin).

I don't know what it is, but everytime I hear Vic's voice I have the urge to go kick puppies. I don't even know why, it just .. really, really grates on me. That's no comment on his voice acting or anything, by the way. He is quite good at what he does.
Cook was definitely worse at singing, though.

Hey! I wasn't the one that said that!

Have you heard FUNi's English version of Dan Dan Kokoro Hikarete 'ku? Mignogna sang that. He also sang We Are and Hikari E in One Piece, and Kimi ga Inai Natsu in Detective Conan.

[linkdude20002001]

Oops. Please delete.

[StarRot]

I don't know that I'd call it terrible, though. Especially not when we have Justin Cook's version (sorry Justin).

I don't know what it is, but everytime I hear Vic's voice I have the urge to go kick puppies. I don't even know why, it just .. really, really grates on me. That's no comment on his voice acting or anything, by the way. He is quite good at what he does.
Cook was definitely worse at singing, though.

Hey! I wasn't the one that said that!

Have you heard FUNi's English version of Dan Dan Kokoro Hikarete 'ku? Mignogna sang that. He also sang We Are and Hikari E in One Piece, and Kimi ga Inai Natsu in Detective Conan.

Oops, sorry about that.
I'll go give them a listen. But ... if I beat up any puppies ... I hold YOU responsible.

EDIT: The 2 OP songs were all right. Didn't like his take on Dan Dan.
Couldn't find a video for the DC song.

[linkdude20002001]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLTIuE-D-sg

[StarRot]

That was really good, actually.

[SonEric84]

Yeah, I love Kimi ga Inai Natsu. I didn't realize that was Vic Mignogna singing that version. Would have been great to see a full English version. That's one of my favorite DEEN songs...but that's a totally different topic. I don't really mind his Dragon Soul though.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Hey guys. Just wanted to let you all know that I updated this thread to include another "unofficial" version, and decided to separate the official and unofficial versions into different sections.

[songohan619]

Hey guys. Just wanted to let you all know that I updated this thread to include another "unofficial" version, and decided to separate the official and unofficial versions into different sections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyRfNVFS ... er&list=UL

[dbgtFO]

Hey guys. Just wanted to let you all know that I updated this thread to include another "unofficial" version, and decided to separate the official and unofficial versions into different sections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyRfNVFS ... er&list=UL

Scandinavian FTW
To give you some constructive crtisicm, it was you singing wasn't it?
If not, then just ignore what I have to say.

First of all you need to work on your timing ie. how good your lines match up with the pace of the music, since it was off several times. You could improve on your timing, by rewriting the lyrics, so they don't have too many words for you to sing or too few.

Second of all it seems like your mic is making it sound worse, since you probably are at the same distance, when you sing the more quieter version of the song and the louder version of the song, so you'll need practice on that as well.

And lastly I would suggest to you, that you practice the way you sing and how the words leave your mouth, because right now it isn't as good, as one would want it to be.
Please don't take this in a wrong way, since I'm very admired someone would actually dub the whole song, when they themselves admit it's a crappy fandub. I don't think I would have done it myself honestly.

So all in all props for the creativity, but you need to work on your singing(if you want to get better, that is). Hope this helps

[songohan619]

Hey guys. Just wanted to let you all know that I updated this thread to include another "unofficial" version, and decided to separate the official and unofficial versions into different sections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyRfNVFS ... er&list=UL

Scandinavian FTW
To give you some constructive crtisicm, it was you singing wasn't it?
If not, then just ignore what I have to say.

First of all you need to work on your timing ie. how good your lines match up with the pace of the music, since it was off several times. You could improve on your timing, by rewriting the lyrics, so they don't have too many words for you to sing or too few.

Second of all it seems like your mic is making it sound worse, since you probably are at the same distance, when you sing the more quieter version of the song and the louder version of the song, so you'll need practice on that as well.

And lastly I would suggest to you, that you practice the way you sing and how the words leave your mouth, because right now it isn't as good, as one would want it to be.
Please don't take this in a wrong way, since I'm very admired someone would actually dub the whole song, when they themselves admit it's a crappy fandub. I don't think I would have done it myself honestly.

So all in all props for the creativity, but you need to work on your singing(if you want to get better, that is). Hope this helps

Thank you.
It is also pretty hard to sing for me now, because I`m in the middle of puberty, and my voice is just awkward when singing.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Updated to include the unshortened TV-Size version of Vic Mignogna's take on "Dragon Soul," as well as a Norwegian fandub in the Unofficial Section.