Dragonball Kai (FUNimation English) Dub: General Discussion

[Mewzard]

We're getting awfully close to the Androids, so I'm wondering what voices might change, and what might stay the same...It's always a worry wondering which voices will change (if one likes them), which ones won't change (if one dislikes them), and if there is a replacement, will it be better? But, I'm generally hopeful all future changes will be improvements.

As for the filters, didn't they get rid of 19's filter in the first redub (16's filter too, iirc)? I'm not 100% on that, but I think they did.

[Mountain]

I agree. Trunks is still too gravelly and I don't much care for the effect on Mecha-Freeza's voice. Oh well...

[Metalwario64]

I've got a question with deciphering a line by the Grand Elder. It's at this link, at about 3:15.

http://nicktoons.nick.com/videos/clip/d ... art-d.html

I can't quite tell what he's saying, but I've interpreted it as "I, by all rights, may our ways yet adore." Which isn't a cohorent sentence.

He's saying "By your lights, may our ways yet endure."

[Piccolo Daimao]

"By your lights, may our ways yet endure."

WTF is that gibberish? That wasn't there in the original, was it? *puts hands on hips with a disapproving nod*

[xzero]

"By your lights, may our ways yet endure."

<BR sab="681"><BR sab="682">WTF is that gibberish? That wasn't there in the original, was it? *puts hands on hips with a disapproving nod*

Honestly, I don't see anything particularly wrong with that sentence. No, it wasn't in the original directly. The Viz manga says something about finding a home for the Namekians. Still, this is just a fancier way of conveying the same message as I read it, so there's not really a substantive deviation here.


I will point out, unrelated to the above, that I LOVE the new little speech Freeza has right before firing that last ki blast at Goku. The whole thing is brilliant and brilliantly delivered. The rest of it was all build-up to that one perfect moment for me. Thank you, Chris Ayres!

[Daimo-Rukiri]

What the hell is up with Mecha Freeza? It doesn't sound like Ayres at all.. Again I can't wait for the blu-rays.

[DemonRin]

I'm hoping, not expecting, but HOPING they stop calling the Jinzouningen "Androids", and we actually get "Cyborgs 17 &18".

[linkdude20002001]

Oh my God! Trunks sound worse than I remember! And here I though maybe they would have improved it... <_>

[Turtle Marked Stone]

I'm hoping, not expecting, but HOPING they stop calling the Jinzouningen "Androids", and we actually get "Cyborgs 17 &18".

B-but 16 and 19 aren't cyborgs. Unless you want them to use 2 words which while more accurate overall deviates from the Japanese version anyway. This kind of thing is why I never minded "Androids". Even Jinzouningen isn't an accurate term if I remember a certain Herm's explanation correctly.

Also I really dislike Cold's voice...as a voice. For some minor character that's dead in a couple episodes it's fitting enough though.

[penguintruth]

Oh my God! Trunks sound worse than I remember! And here I though maybe they would have improved it... <_>

Really? I really thought Vale's improved his acting greatly. I thought he was a little stilted in Z, and not here.

[Turtle Marked Stone]

Have we heard anything outside of cocky, surly Trunks yet? I'm hoping this is a way to differentiate between his polite form of speaking and his cocky form. Maybe when he's just chilling out he'll sound lighter.

[Taku128]

I'm hoping, not expecting, but HOPING they stop calling the Jinzouningen "Androids", and we actually get "Cyborgs 17 &18".

B-but 16 and 19 aren't cyborgs. Unless you want them to use 2 words which while more accurate overall deviates from the Japanese version anyway. This kind of thing is why I never minded "Androids". Even Jinzouningen isn't an accurate term if I remember a certain Herm's explanation correctly.

Jinzouningen means Man-Made Human, which is exactly what an android is, so I've never understood people hating the term FUNimation went with.

[penguintruth]

I often use "Artificial Human" because of its vagueness. A lot of things can fall into that category.

[Taku128]

I often use "Artificial Human" because of its vagueness. A lot of things can fall into that category.

That's true, but the original term is inaccurate, so you're actually trying to make the show better when you use the term Artificial Human, and that's just not FUNimation's job.

[Puto]

I'm hoping, not expecting, but HOPING they stop calling the Jinzouningen "Androids", and we actually get "Cyborgs 17 &18".

"Jinzôningen" is a term that is used in Japan to describe pretty much the same thing as "Android". Yes, calling them "Androids" isn't 100% correct since some are human-based... but "Jinzôningen" has the exact same problem. Also, personally, I believe that Dr. Gero calls them "androids" because from his point of view, the human base is just another mechanical part, therefore making them his machines.

tldr; Toriyama was in the wrong, not FUNimation.

[Tsukento]

My overall thoughts:

Right from the beginning, the first thing noticeable is the writing style. J. Michael Tatum did an amazing job writing the scripts for the Freeza episodes. Patrick Seitz wrote the scripts for these episodes and you get a really big old DBZ dub impression from it, too. Some of the dialogue comes across as either trying to be goofy or making certain people sound too casual considering the situation. Honestly, it seemed more like a bit of a parody at times during some of Vegeta's or Freeza's lines. Particularly Vegeta snapping back at Yamcha who asks him if he's sure it's Freeza ("Oh, I don't know! Maybe because I've fought him before?!") and Freeza's orders to his men ("The rest of you search for the Earthlings and...well, you know.")

Speaking of Freeza, his manner of speak slightly changed as well. Rather than sticking to having him speak in the refined manner he did on Namek, he seems to now throw big words around left and right. Same with Cold. Which is another problem I had with. The big problem with King Cold in DBZ's dub was that he, well...quite literally sounded like an incredibly flamboyant British flamer. They did away with his voice and he actually sounds pretty decent. Problem is that he sounds a bit too forced and his dialogue now constantly makes him sound like a bit of an overprotective father to Freeza, which sounds REALLY weird and stupid at the same time. Sadly, his better moments are right before he's killed by Trunks and when he's begging for his life. It also sounded really weird having him trail off in his laugh when he and Freeza believe Trunks is dead, like as if he was laughing at a bad joke and realized no one else was laughing and stopped out of embarrassment.

The metallic voice Freeza had was also a bit annoying. Primarily because it shouldn't be there to begin with, but also because it had a nasty tendency to vanish during certain different points in episode 56. As for Trunks himself...I know Eric Vale can do better. I really do. His Trunks just comes out too gruff sounding. Hell, his voice for Sanji (who's roughly the same age as Trunks) isn't anywhere close to being gruff like it. His polite attitude is still completely absent and he still presented as a cocky brat, rather than sounding insulting even while being polite to the enemy (something they got right with Freeza in earlier episodes).

Overall...I'm kinda disappointed, primarily with the script. I'd rather not see more of Patrick Seitz's writing if he's gonna keep making it feel like DBZ's dub again.

Jinzouningen means Man-Made Human, which is exactly what an android is, so I've never understood people hating the term FUNimation went with.

Didn't really help FUNi's case that they kept acting like #17 and #18 were robots and kept having Vegeta refer to them as electronic appliances.

[JulieYBM]

I often use "Artificial Human" because of its vagueness. A lot of things can fall into that category.

That's true, but the original term is inaccurate, so you're actually trying to make the show better when you use the term Artificial Human, and that's just not FUNimation's job.

http://www.freedict.com/onldict/onldict.php

I searched for 'jinzou' and those are the results. 'Artificial' is a proper translation of the word used.

[Puto]

Read this. Translating "Jinzôningen" to "Artificial Human" would be like translating the english "ice cream" to other languages literally by individually translating the "ice" and "cream" parts. Try again.

[penguintruth]

That's true, but the original term is inaccurate, so you're actually trying to make the show better when you use the term Artificial Human, and that's just not FUNimation's job.

Adorable, but there's a gulf of difference between that and "Cat loves food, yeah yeah yeah!" Or the difference between "I wonder if he's used to wearing our kind of clothing" and "I wonder if he'll take us hostage to get Goku back here".

Jinzoningen translated to "artificial human" makes some sort of sense at least. I'm not sitting around bitching about "King Kai".

[MetalMadness]

Particularly Vegeta snapping back at Yamcha who asks him if he's sure it's Freeza ("Oh, I don't know! Maybe because I've fought him before?!") and Freeza's orders to his men ("The rest of you search for the Earthlings and...well, you know.")

It's likely that those, especially the latter one, are just forms of censorship for Nicktoons. I'm assuming that Vegeta would say "He killed me" to Yamcha, and Freeza would say "The rest of you search for the Earthlings and kill them."