Kendamu wrote:xzero wrote:Bottom line, I think the marketing and Americanization of the series back in the day was a necessary evil, and had they handled it the way a chunk of this community would have preferred, it at least in theory may not have enjoyed the success it ultimately did.
Translation: "It was necessary because I personally like it that way."
Sure, it was important to
you but I've met a lot of people that it didn't matter to. Outside of people who obsessively post online about DBZ, I haven't met anyone who really cares. They pop in their Orange Brick disc and hit "go" without any regard for the cast or score. Had I never said anything to the two friends who I mentioned specifically, they wouldn't have ever even known!
I'm sorry, but your translation is mistaken
It was necessary because there is a decent chance American kids--the target audience--would not have taken to the show with the fervor they did back then. What I personally like or prefer is irrelevant. However, my opinion is a reflection of like-minded opinions of the show from back then.
Concerning the orange brick example, a buddy of mine from high school and college is a year younger than me. He used to watch DBZ on TV when it was airing, though he's not as into it as I am. I was over at his house a couple of years ago and noticed he had the Season 3 set. I mentioned it to him and he said, "Yeah, I like those episodes. But the music sucks on the DVDs. I wish they had the old stuff on there." I quickly pointed out that they did, which prompted him to rewatch the whole thing with the Faulconer score.
You can certainly rebut this by saying that it's just the opinions of two people, and you'd be correct. However, if it wasn't a success, Funimation would likely have cancelled its contract with Faulconer before the end of the series. There's no way they contracted for all of Freeza - Buu in one shot. Back then, it really and truly was all about the money, whereas today, though they're of course profit-driven (as any corporation is), there's a much more apparent emphasis on quality.
The attitude has changed, as has the market. Since DBZ originally aired, anime went from niche to mainstream to somewhere in the middle. Because of where it currently is, the fans are more about the Japanese product, which is why we see stuff like simulcasts, the DBoxes, etc. Back then, the marketing of DBZ was designed to reach a certain demographic. People in this community may not like that fact (and I'm not really targeting anyone in particular here). They may claim the product was just fine the way it was back before it ever hit U.S. shores. The release of the DBoxes and the super-accurate Kai dub validate that argument to some extent.
However, this argument illustrates a failure to appreciate the situation in which Funimation and the anime community found themselves back in the late-1990s: anime was becoming increasingly mainstream thanks in large part to Pokemon and DBZ. Funimation had to figure out a way to market the show effectively to a demographic through which it can maximize advertising revenue. It had to make money; if it didn't, there's no point in existing as a company (legally, the purpose of a business is to make money). You may not like the product that resulted; you may hate the dub names, the voices, and the music. You may despise the script. Yet while we cannot say for sure which elements contributed to the show's ultimate success and profitability, we also absolutely cannot deny that the way it was, it was indeed a success domestically, and it proved profitable for Funimation. This is evidenced by the fact that the company was essentially built around DBZ.
I suppose this whole exchange is the answer to the OP's topic question. Had the product been more like shows like Fullmetal Alchemist, this debate would be completely moot since FMA and so many shows like it were essentially English versions of the original, rather than Americanizations. As it stands, the marketing of DBZ seems to have had 2 effects, and this is something everyone should be able to agree on:
(1) Like it or not, the show enjoyed tremendous success back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which exposed it to American audiences and created a generation of fans...
(2) While simultaneously dividing up those fans into dub fans and sub fans who can agree that they like the show, but disagree as to which elements of it are superior whenever the two diverge.
That was the impact of marketing of DBZ in the U.S.
)
Most people don't really consider DBZ to be an Anime and often forget about Dragon Ball and GT (although I'm kinda glad people forget about GT, especially the way it was marketed in the U.S 
).
