Favourite Funi Casting Choices for DBZ

[Cipher]

For voices which approximate the original, I love Dr. Gero (this is actually incredibly close to his Japanese voice), Mr. Satan and #17.

For voices which take neither an incredibly similar nor a completely different direction than the original, I really enjoy Tao Pai Pai, Chris Ayre's Freeza, #18 and the Tenkaichi Budokai Announcer.

Of the voices where Funimation took a completely different direction than the original, Babidi is by far the best. He's one of the only characters where, while I by no means hate his original voice, I prefer the approach Funimation took.

[Scarz]

I like most of the Funi voices and it's hard for me to pick my favorite one. What can I say, I'm easy to please. But if I had to pick only one VA it would be Chris Rager as Mr. Satan.

[The GREAT D.]

Obviously this guy
Seriously wtf??

Forget Cell, this is why Dameon Clarke shouldn't have quit voice acting!

On topic though, I'd have to say I'm pretty comfortable with all of Funimation's casting choices with the exception of two characters. The first being Linda Young's Freeza. Not that I find Ms. Young to be a bad actress, I love her as Baba, it's just that I found her to be a very bad choice for that role. This has been rectified though by the amazing casting of Chris Ayres.

The other voice, which I can honestly say I can't stand, would be Chuck Huber as Android 13. In my opinion this is the worst casting choice in all of Funimation's dub. Movie 7's dub is already pretty atrocious as it is, but lump in this horrible stereotypical redneck voice and season 3 level scripting you get the worst dub of Dragon Ball movie Funi ever did. So yeah, with the exception of these two I can honestly say I love Funimation's cast.

[Enchanted Leg]

The other voice, which I can honestly say as I can't stand, would be Chuck Huber as Android 13. In my opinion this is the worst casting choice in all of Funimation's dub. Movie 7's dub is already pretty atrocious as it is, but lump in this horrible stereotypical redneck voice and season 3 level scripting you get the worst dub of Dragon Ball movie Funi ever did. So yeah, with the exception of these two I can honestly say I love Funimation's cast.

Well, Actually it was Phillip Wilburn who voiced #13 in the movie, (as well as #19 in the funimation dub of the show) Chuck Huber voices him in the games. but yeah, it's equally as annoying and unbearable.

[Turtle Marked Stone]

Y'know what, forget everything I've said here. After playing Raging Blast 2, intangibly the best casting choice ever was Artificial Human 15.

[Suupaa Gohan 2]

I won't say I necessarily prefer any of these to the Japanese, because I'm too attached to the latter, but these are the voices that I was always pleased with and never tried to rape my ears like the rest of the cast (Kai, for the most part, excluded).

Chris Ayers' Freeza - I've enjoyed it since he started, and somehow amazingly the man has made me love the choice more with every. single. episode. Seriously, fantastic choice - it's obvious that FUNi realized one of the biggest gripes about their dub has been Freeza's old voice (both Newstone and Young), and so they clearly put a lot of thought into who would take over (even if it was kinda last-minute) instead of just throwing some random person into the booth as they kicked Young out. He's fantastic and truly brings to life the character as he was always meant to be portrayed...in English.

Dameon Clarke's Perfect Cell - I don't know if he did the first two forms of Cell (I'm imagining so?) because I never saw those episodes in English, but man, did I always love his Perfect Cell - and yes, at times, I've felt his delivery was even better than Wakamoto's *dodges stones*. I can look at Cell in his original incarnation - black and white pages in the Manga - and gladly say that Clarke portrays the character spot-on without having to draw comparisons to Wakamoto...because Cell was, originally, a printed drawing who spoke in word bubbles. I know there are a lot of Wakamoto lovers, and sometimes it's impossible to give an opinion on a dub voice without comparing it to the original, so this is what I try to do in those cases. Does he reflect what I get out of the character in the Manga? Yes. I'm truly sad he won't be returning for Kai, because with the new script I can only imagine he'd be even more fantastic.

Scott McNeil's Piccolo - Blasphemy alert...I've always felt that even with the debacle the Saban dub brought us when it came to script and such, McNeil defined Piccolo. I grew up on the Ocean cast before I got into the Japanese version, and Furukawa just never captivated me as much as McNeil did. Since Kai was announced and news of early recasts were floating around, I had been secretly hoping that FUNi would contract McNeil again to play Piccolo (hey, he was Hoenheim in FMA, so I know they could have gotten him if they wanted it enough). Surely a pipe dream, and honestly I have warmed up to Sabat's Piccolo (see below), but it would have been awesome because McNeil was a fantastic Piccolo, and would have been even better with an accurate script (bye bye, David and Goliath).

Chris Sabat's Piccolo (KAI ONLY) - I've gotten used to Sabat's Piccolo, though I never felt it was truly great...and even in Kai, I'm not crazy about the voice as it applies to early-DBZ (successor to late-DB) Piccolo, but as Piccolo acquires his mentor persona more and more, the more appropriate I feel Sabat is in the role. In other words, not too crazy about pumped-up-fighting-guy-Piccolo, but I really like him as the-wisdom-giving-teacher-Piccolo (both to Gohan and, later, Goten and Trunks). When it comes to the more soft-spoken portrayal, I think he's doing a great job in Kai...which makes me dislike all the more that Sabat also plays Vegeta, because such a natural-sounding main cast member thus means sacrificing another main cast member with an unnatural, forced performance, to distinguish the two.

Chris Rager's Mr. Satan - See Cell above. I can look at the character in the Manga and say 'hey, this voice really reflects the character', even if it's not 'Daisuke Gouri in English'. Really great job, and you can tell he must have had fun in the role. He brought a lot of comedy into the portrayal, which is very important considering the character in question.

Monica Rial's Bulma - I'm warming up to her more and more, though I didn't particularly dislike her from the start (anyone is better than Volmer, and Rial knows how to bring out that other side of Bulma who isn't always PMSing). Sure, she doesn't do a whole lot on Namek, especially in Kai, but she's really doing well in whatever scenes are thrown her way, IMO. Very happy with this recast.

Lastly...whoever does Zarbon in Kai did a really great job, and I know most people probably disagree with me on this last one, but whoever does Yajirobe (is it Mike McFarland?). As per my Cell and Mr. Satan examples...I look at the Manga character and can easily hear Yajirobe's English voice coming out of him. It suits the character, even if it's about as far as they come from Tanaka's performance. He's still the same Yajirobe, in my eyes (well, ears, I guess).

I think that's probably it...everyone else is probably just tolerable, or downright detested.

[DB_Fan1991]

Lastly...whoever does Zarbon in Kai did a really great job, and I know most people probably disagree with me on this last one, but whoever does Yajirobe (is it Mike McFarland?). As per my Cell and Mr. Satan examples...I look at the Manga character and can easily hear Yajirobe's English voice coming out of him. It suits the character, even if it's about as far as they come from Tanaka's performance. He's still the same Yajirobe, in my eyes (well, ears, I guess).

I think that's probably it...everyone else is probably just tolerable, or downright detested.

Zarbon is J. Michael Tatum, and yes McFarland is Yajirobe.