Ever feel like it's difficult to return to the English dub?

[Aoi]

I find it increasingly more difficult to get back to the English dub that I adored as a kid/teen because after watching the show fully in Japanese 1-2 years ago. I recently started to watch Dragon Ball (original) + "Z" with my son, and was so aggravated on so many levels watching it. I never thought that I'd care about direct translations, but sometimes they will take out some fantastic insert songs ("Dragon Ball- I got it!") for whatever reason.

It's a little sad, because I do know now that me loving the FUNI voices comes from my familiarity with them. When the original show gets to the 23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai, it's as if I'm being reunited with old friends. Yet, it's not the same anymore. I feel like with every "In you're dreams buster!" line, I'm missing out on some genuinely beautiful dialogue.

Great example occurs during the 21st Tenkaichi Budoukai when Muten Roshi explains to Nam why he does not want Goku to win the tournament. In the English version, he goes on about how he doesn't want Goku to get cocky, that's it. In the Japanese, he goes on about this being a life lesson to show Goku that the real world is not an easy place to thrive in and he must learn it now for his own sake. BIG , BIG difference. Japanese version actually got an emotional reaction out of me when I first saw it.

Funny enough, I do really believe that it's all about nostalgia now. My son thinks the English version is "fine", but adores Goku and Krillin's voices in Japanese. They just make him laugh more. Also he loves how they sound when fighting. Just the emotion is on another level.

Hard to argue with that. The Japanese are masters in screaming and putting emotion into scenes. See Trunks SSJ transformation vs. Frieza.


What do you guys think? Do you feel like you've "lost your innocence" with the FUNI remastered dub because of the Japanese original?

[Corporate_Nothing]

Yes. I shouldn't speak for anyone else in this community, but what you're describing seems to be the general sentiment among fans of the Dragon Ball franchise that grew up with Funimation's dub and discovered the original Japanese version later down the line. I can't even enjoy the English dub out of nostalgia anymore, both because of the blatant cheese factor, and because of the lack of the original music, which is, in part, what drew me in as a kid to begin with. This applies to DBZ only, though. I think I stopped watching Funi's dub of Dragon Ball on Cartoon Network during the General Blue episodes, so I don't really have a proper frame of reference to compare Funi's dub of the latter half of the series with that of the original Japanese version.

[Aoi]

Another point. There was an old thread once here where people wrote about the merits of the Dub. An American poster argued that anyone would prefer to listen to the show in their own language. That's fair, but I think that in nearly every dub, they've focused on keeping 99% of the dialogue and meaning accurate. IE: The Spanish dub is nearly perfect. I mean it. Line for line. If not that, then the intention is what it should be; so you don't feel like you're missing out on the gorgeously intended dialogue.

The English version of the show seems to be one of the few that purposefully changes key pieces of humour, dialogue and exposition for nearly no reason. This is why I find it hard to watch the older I get.

[bkev]

In a nutshell, yes. I've been spoiled by non-FUNimation dubs (and FUNimation post-2005, but there's not much in their catalogue that pleases me outside of Dragonball and YuYu Hakusho) and how accurate they tend to be - either near-direct translations, or at least lose enough that I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. With Dragonball it's a little easier to watch in English than Z but I tend to go for the Japanese voices. So you're not alone.

Dragonball is the exception where I will watch something in Japanese no matter what. I typically prefer dubs.

[Aoi]

Yes. I shouldn't speak for anyone else in this community, but what you're describing seems to be the general sentiment among fans of the Dragon Ball franchise that grew up with Funimation's dub and discovered the original Japanese version later down the line. I can't even enjoy the English dub out of nostalgia anymore, both because of the blatant cheese factor, and because of the lack of the original music, which is, in part, what drew me in as a kid to begin with. This applies to DBZ only, though. I think I stopped watching Funi's dub of Dragon Ball on Cartoon Network during the General Blue episodes, so I don't really have a proper frame of reference to compare Funi's dub of the latter half of the series with that of the original Japanese version.

I love reading about other people's experiences. Thanks for this. It's just that a lot of the time you want the show to feel serious and then something really dumb will be dropped like during an emotional scene. For me, the only dub arcs that are treated seriously are the Remastered Saiyan and the Buu arcs.

Interesting point about later in Dragon Ball. During the 23rd Tenkaichi Budoukai there's a great scene where Goku has a flash back about Chi Chi. In the English version, you have Goku basically playing along with Chi Chi's flirting, actually asking her if she thinks about him too. It was very odd, even without having seen the Japanese version. When you change it to Japanese, Goku is completely oblivious to Chi Chi's advances, basically replacing the "Do you think about me too Chichi?" line with "Yeah sure, you can have a marriage thing if you want. Whatever that is. Take care!".

It's so different and usually I wouldn't care if they changed a: Japanese "I'll never forgive you!" with an English "You're going down!". I mean, the meaning isn't exact but at least you get it on a basic level. However, FUNI will sometimes replace a "I'll never forgive you!" line with something like "Yea? Well I happen to like apples!" type of line. Note: That line isn't on any dub, but it might as well be.I just can't think of an exact one at the moment.

[Corporate_Nothing]

Yes. I shouldn't speak for anyone else in this community, but what you're describing seems to be the general sentiment among fans of the Dragon Ball franchise that grew up with Funimation's dub and discovered the original Japanese version later down the line. I can't even enjoy the English dub out of nostalgia anymore, both because of the blatant cheese factor, and because of the lack of the original music, which is, in part, what drew me in as a kid to begin with. This applies to DBZ only, though. I think I stopped watching Funi's dub of Dragon Ball on Cartoon Network during the General Blue episodes, so I don't really have a proper frame of reference to compare Funi's dub of the latter half of the series with that of the original Japanese version.

I love reading about other people's experiences. Thanks for this. It's just that a lot of the time you want the show to feel serious and then something really dumb will be dropped like during an emotional scene. For me, the only dub arcs that are treated seriously are the Remastered Saiyan and the Buu arcs.

I received Dragon Box 5-7 last week, and over the weekend, I dedicated myself to a nonstop no-life marathon session of the Buu arc. This was the first time I had ever watched any of these episodes with the Japanese dub (I'm allowed to call it a "dub," right?), and the last time I had watched any of the Buu arc was on my old Funimation uncut VHS tapes that I collected back in elementary and middle school, back in 2002-2003, I think. In EXTREME hindsight, I have to admit that Funi's dub is respectably close to that of the original Japanese version. I might not like Funi's voice acting, but the script isn't WAY better in the Buu arc than it was in the Freeza or Cell arc.

[Chuquita]

The only Funi dub voice that's hard for me to listen to now would be Adult Goku, but weirdly enough for me it's because of TFS's version rather than the original Japanese. I think MasakoX's Goku sounds way more natural and fitting than Funi's Goku does. Funi Goku has too much weight in his voice for me. It's like eating lasagna vs eating a salad.


The original Funi Freeza would count as one that's difficult to hear too because of how out of place it is. It'd be like casting someone with a deep booming masculine voice for 5 year old Gohan. I'm grateful Funi's Kai changed voice actors for Freeza. I still kinda wish they'd changed VA's for Kaio-sama too; his dub voice also sounds awkwardly misplaced to me. I always thought the Japanese version's choice of the same person who voiced the narrator for the show was pretty neat.


Everyone else though? I can still listen to them fine.

[Aoi]

Yes. I shouldn't speak for anyone else in this community, but what you're describing seems to be the general sentiment among fans of the Dragon Ball franchise that grew up with Funimation's dub and discovered the original Japanese version later down the line. I can't even enjoy the English dub out of nostalgia anymore, both because of the blatant cheese factor, and because of the lack of the original music, which is, in part, what drew me in as a kid to begin with. This applies to DBZ only, though. I think I stopped watching Funi's dub of Dragon Ball on Cartoon Network during the General Blue episodes, so I don't really have a proper frame of reference to compare Funi's dub of the latter half of the series with that of the original Japanese version.

I love reading about other people's experiences. Thanks for this. It's just that a lot of the time you want the show to feel serious and then something really dumb will be dropped like during an emotional scene. For me, the only dub arcs that are treated seriously are the Remastered Saiyan and the Buu arcs.

I received Dragon Box 5-7 last week, and over the weekend, I dedicated myself to a nonstop no-life marathon session of the Buu arc. This was the first time I had ever watched any of these episodes with the Japanese dub (I'm allowed to call it a "dub," right?), and the last time I had watched any of the Buu arc was on my old Funimation uncut VHS tapes that I collected back in elementary and middle school, back in 2002-2003, I think. In EXTREME hindsight, I have to admit that Funi's dub is respectably close to that of the original Japanese version. I might not like Funi's voice acting, but the script isn't WAY better in the Buu arc than it was in the Freeza or Cell arc.

Totally agree. I mentioned this above , how I felt that the only 2 arcs that are (mostly) properly dubbed are
1. Saiyan arc (remastered)
2. Buu arc (IMO the best FUNI's ever sounded outside of Kai. They're brilliant here).

Thankfully, I adore FUNI's Buu arc w/ Faulconer and find it a perfect ending if you want to show someone "KAI". I'm basically reserving that English dub when I complete Kai Parts 1-8 and want to finish the series with a "modern" Buu arc.

[Aoi]

The only Funi dub voice that's hard for me to listen to now would be Adult Goku, but weirdly enough for me it's because of TFS's version rather than the original Japanese. I think MasakoX's Goku sounds way more natural and fitting than Funi's Goku does. Funi Goku has too much weight in his voice for me. It's like eating lasagna vs eating a salad.


The original Funi Freeza would count as one that's difficult to hear too because of how out of place it is. It'd be like casting someone with a deep booming masculine voice for 5 year old Gohan. I'm grateful Funi's Kai changed voice actors for Freeza. I still kinda wish they'd changed VA's for Kaio-sama too; his dub voice also sounds awkwardly misplaced to me. I always thought the Japanese version's choice of the same person who voiced the narrator for the show was pretty neat.


Everyone else though? I can still listen to them fine.

I was thinking recently about how great the TFS cast is at dubbing the show. I love MasakoX's Goku. It's very natural, I agree. Actually, reminds me of the first Ocean Goku. I do really love FUNI's Goku though. The scene that sold me was when Goku has to tell the crew that Gohan "died" vs. Buu - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kwO6YS5 ... re=related
It's really well done. The first time I saw it, it actually left an impression.

The voices are fine. It's the intended meanings that are off to me. I remember when I first bought the Orange bricks and said: "I'll only watch it in English. I mean, I'm pretty sure I never had a problem with it". But now that I think about it, I would remember , as a 12-13 year old, constantly cringing during the Frieza and Cell FUNI arcs. I'd just wave constant bad dialogue with: "I'm sure the Japanese dialogue was much much better than this". I loved the story and just wanted to get to the end of it all.

[Corporate_Nothing]

The only Funi dub voice that's hard for me to listen to now would be Adult Goku, but weirdly enough for me it's because of TFS's version rather than the original Japanese. I think MasakoX's Goku sounds way more natural and fitting than Funi's Goku does. Funi Goku has way too much weight in his voice for me. It's like eating lasagna vs eating a salad.


The original Funi Freeza would count as one that's difficult to hear too because of how out of place it is. It'd be like casting someone with a deep booming masculine voice for 5 year old Gohan. I'm grateful Funi's Kai changed voice actors for Freeza. I still kinda wish they'd changed VA's for Kaio-sama too; his dub voice also sounds awkwardly misplaced to me. I always thought the Japanese version's choice of the same person who voiced the narrator for the show was pretty neat.


Everyone else though? I can still listen to them fine.

I don't like Sean Schemmel's Goku because his style simply misrepresents his personality and intellect, and I completely agree with you about Funi's non-Kai Freeza at well. I absolutely despise Stephanie Nadolny's and Laura Bailey's portrayal of Gohan and Trunks, respectively, because I hate rough, raspy sound they give those characters. In all my time with Funi's dub, I never once believed that I was actually listening to a young male child, as opposed to a young woman in seemingly desperate need of a cough drop.

I think my favorite English voice acting performance for DBZ overall are Sabat's redub of Vegeta, Eric Vale as Trunks, Kyle Hebert as Teen/Adult Gohan, and... Ian James Corlett as Goku.

[TheBlackPaladin]

What I find very interesting is that people often judge a performance as a whole by saying things like, "the voice doesn't fit." So the follow-up question that I always pose is, "Do you mean the voice, or the acting?"

As far as I'm concerned, there are two components to voice acting, and those two components are the very two words that make up the phrase "voice acting"--the voice, and the acting. It's possible for one to be fitting while the other is lacking, and that has sometimes been the case before...in dubs, in videogames, in audiobooks, in cartoons, in everything. I've heard performances where I think the voice fits the character perfectly, but their emotional range is limited, forced, or otherwise unbelievable due to bad acting. Likewise, I've seen performances where the voice didn't really fit the character, but their acting was superb and all of their lines felt very sincere in their delivery. I have always found the acting to be vastly more important. That's not to say that the voice is irrelevant, but I'm infinitely more forgiving of an unfitting voice than I am of bad acting.

A bit of a tangent, I suppose, but I couldn't help but share that thought.

Having said all that, yes, I do find it difficult to go back to the English dub, mostly because of how poorly the scripts were adapted. My rule of thumb, though, is this: the earlier something was dubbed, the more difficult it is for me to watch. Conversely, the later something was dubbed, the easier it is for me to watch. So if we're talking about...let's say Season 3 of DBZ, I can hardly bring myself to listen to it in English anymore. If we're talking about Kai, I don't have much desire to watch it in Japanese beyond occasionally checking in on it out of curiosity. In fact, I humbly believe that the English dub of Kai is superior to the original Japanese version, because many of the original Japanese actors don't sound very enthused to be back, in contrast to the English dub cast who seem actively excited to get another shot at DBZ.

[DBZ Mick]

I can't watch it all in English since getting the orange bricks in 2010 and the Dragon Boxes 5-7 this year. It's just the voice-acting is either terrible or the (mostly) dialogue is worse. Even if it's accurate like Kai is, it still doesn't have the same charm.

I just love hearing the language with all the varying characters. I always liked Dameon Clarke's Cell but after watching just a few episodes of Wakamoto's Cell, he blows Clarke out of the water. I love the emphasis he puts on certain pieces of dialogue and his Kamehameha's are awe-inspiring! I've found watching in Japanese has given me more appreciation for certain characters- Tenshinhan, Muten Roshi, Freeza are now some of my favourites.

I adore Nozawa's Goku too. I'm really amazed at how much passion and love there is behind her voice. And to the dubbies who say she sounds like a girl, I don't agree whatsover at all. I never did before when hearing parts of it in Japanese but after hearing Goku throughout parts of his life I can firmly say he doesn't. And Nozawa's voice does change when he first appears as an adult.

I think the show is more charming too. The English dub had this kind of immature, silly humour I thought only youngsters could like while the original has this charm that makes it so fun and funny. It's lame I know but I always laughed at Muten Roshi's pervertedness. His seiyuu is so amazing. Part of the reason why I don't watch Kai is because they've all passed on and I can't watch whoever voices them now. Even Popo!


I watch everything in Japanese now. One show, I'm not sure if I've watched much in English anyway, but I cannot watch in English as well is Evangelion. That show is so perfect and there are little things that don't transfer well in English. I've heard from other fans of that they screwed things over in English as well.

[BluezaBladeNZ]

For the Ocean Dub, I can still watch it no problem, but I now find it incredibly hard to watch FUNimation's dubs except Kai. I tried watching the 1999 Z dub via singles back in 2010 and I stopped after one episode, it was like watching an unfunny abridged episode. At times I randomly switched to the dub track on the Dragon Boxes for a few seconds and even that was hard to bear.

[dario03]

I'll watch it either way but I do prefer Funi's dub and I was watching some of Dragonball in Japanese before they got pass the first 53 episodes in English. I wish they would let you mix and match the music because I'll jump between the two while watching with english voices and I would kind of like to see how the japanese voices with Funi music would work (and thats the only option not there). I've also enjoyed watching things in English but with the subtitles as well, kind of like watching both versions at the same time.

[Kiddo626]

That was how I felt when I watched the Spanish dub for the first time. As soon as that happened, I couldn't help but cringe at the English dub, and this was back when it was still the Ocean dub. It just got worse with the in-house dub. Now, Kai's rectified that completely, but I've felt that way about the English dub for the longest time.

[Hades]

Yeah, I watch Kai, or Teamfourstar for that matter, for anything up to Cell Saga. I only watch the old dub for the Buu Saga, at least until Kai gets around to it.

[SongOfStorms125]

Dependant on my mood I will watch I will watch the dub, but it’s come to that annoying point when I do watch the dub I need the Steve Simons subtitles which makes the dub seem worse.

I have to say I tend to dip in and out of anime, I don’t search it out, and I go more on what my friends recommend.
90% of the English dubs I try seem to be perfect; faithful to the original as well as taking some artistic liberties due to the mix of cultures. I’m currently watching the dub of Solty Rei which has Chris Sabat as one of the lead protagonists and I love his performance and the Funimation dub overall.

DragonBall is the clear exception when it comes to dubs so glad with the direction the dub went with kai.

[dbboxkaifan]

If FUNi's DBZ dub was as good as the Kai one it certainly would've been a lot better and easier to listen to.

DBZK = Fantastic.
DBZ = Denied.

[Aoi]

I agree with a lot of the posters here who actually think the performances are fine (if you were to have never seen the Japanese version of course). It's the dialogue changes that are at times baffling. When I watch the English dub now, I just feel like I'm missing the real meaning of the story.

One poster wrote about how they started to appreciate characters more in Japanese. I 100% agree too. Cell, Tien, Roshi, even Vegeta (though I adore Drummond's Vegeta) were elevated to a new level in Japanese; so was Gohan.

The dub isn't that bad at times. I do wish that they had re-dubbed just the Frieza arc. Sadly, for me, messing up perhaps the most iconic fight in the entire canon is pretty unforgivable as far as dubs go. I just can't enjoy watching the solid Saiyan/Namek arc dubs knowing that the Ginyu and Frieza climaxes are such a let down. The Cell stuff for me is passable at least.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I don't think I'll have a problem going back to the dub when I'm finished with my sub watching of the franchise, but it'll definitely be different now. I'll always have the original in the back of my mind, sub-consciously reminding me of where things are wrong and where they're awfully acted.

The main reason I'd return to the dub though is cuz I like to multi-task while watching something I know well, and I can't do that well with the Japanese version.