DragonBox: What is your opinion of English w/ Kikuchi track?

[Aoi]

I usually re-watch DB/Z every 2-3 years. I was thinking for my next run I'd go with the more campy English dub that I also greatly appreciate along with the original voices. My question is: How good is the FUNImation dub with Kikuchi? Has anyone ever watched the English dub using the Dragon Box? I remember really enjoying a few episodes of the re-dubbed Saiyan Arc with the Shinsuke Kikuchi music, but I'm wondering how the rest of the series fares. Does it not mix well? Is it too serious for the campy English dub? Does it actually work?

Note: I decided to replace the post-Ginyu Assault- the end of the Garlic Jr saga dub with DBZ KAI (Kikuchi); before going back to the original FUNI dub for the start of the Android story arc.

[samuraix123]

I just recently got through watching the Dragon-boxes with the English dub and Japanese music. and I loved it so much that I may just make that the default way I watch the series. but maybe that's just me. I mean I don't have a problem with the English music but I really enjoyed the Kikuchi music with the dub.

[AnimeMaakuo]

.

[OutlawTorn]

I've watched the dub with the Kikuchi score ever since the option was available with the season sets and it's definitely the way I prefer to watch the series. I'm not going to go bash the dub score, but I just feel the Kikuchi score flows better and doesn't come across as an extremely eclectic mishmash of styles rapidly cycling through one another depending on who the focus of a particular shot happens to be.

My personal opinion is it makes for an improved viewing experience, but your mileage may vary.

[DragonBoxZTheMovies]

Haven't viewed it in a while, but from what I remember it sounded very hollow and poorly mixed. There was pretty much no bass at all.

[BluezaBladeNZ]

I haven't watched it ever since I started buying the Dragon Boxes but from memory, it was definitely an improvement (also since I personally can't stand it with the Faulconer Productions score anymore) but it still unfortunately doesn't make the dub any better. Some episodes did sound inconsistent with quality and from what I remember, some of the channels were shifted a bit since I recall the echoing of Piccolo's monologue and the Narrator when Gohan eats the apples starting just before the main channel started.

[Castor Troy]

Personally, it didn't do much for me.

However, the Majin Vegeta flashback part where he pins Goku to the rocks (ep 230, I think?) sounds pretty awesome with the added narration and the movie 9 music playing.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

I love it. Makes the dub more tolerable at it's worst and in my experience rarely contradicts it. Sadly this is referring only to the Dragon Box mix job; the Season Set mixing is uneven and audibly too soft.

[Corpsecreate]

I love it. Makes the dub more tolerable at it's worst and in my experience rarely contradicts it. Sadly this is referring only to the Dragon Box mix job; the Season Set mixing is uneven and audibly too soft.

Is there really a difference between the dbox and season sets? I have to check this out...

[El Diabeetus]

I like it, and since the Dragon Box was the way I ended up collecting the series, I'm glad to have it. Sometimes my brother and cousin will wanna watch. However, they don't wanna watch in Japanese, so this is a good track to have (and they like the Kikuchi music). Plus, back when I was a kid around 7/8, I liked the dub; but, switched to the Japanese and loved the music. So, I'm glad I have the combination of the two. I love the Kai dub a hell of a lot more, but, this is definitely the number 2 watching option for me.

[sumpter360]

I feel like the the English dub w/ Japanese BGM just doesn't make sense. The English dub was made with the Faulconer music in mind, just as the Japanese dub was made with the Japanese BGM in mind. Would it make sense to mix and match the Japanese dub with the Faulconer music?

English dub w/ Japanese BGM feels like a bit of a Frankenstein's monster. The FUNi dub's jokes, extra useless dialogue, etc completely ignores and downright abuses some of the wonderful silences that the Japanese BGM affords.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad there's an English option on the Dragon Box for those who prefer it, but I'd bet it would've satisfied a larger audience, had the English option been the TV Broadcast dub and music.

To answer the original question, I think it's an interesting experiment, but the FUNi dub w/ Faulconer music is a more logical entity, one that is cohesive in that they were made for each other.

[dbboxkaifan]

Back a couple of weeks or months ago I watched a few episodes dubbed in English with the original music and enjoyed it.

Although, I was disappointed that 184 didn't have the insert song but musicless was great too.

[OutlawTorn]

Yeah, insert songs are completely absent on on the English track, so you're not getting the complete Japanese soundtrack. I wonder if there were rights issues involved.

[DarkPrince_92]

Love Kikuchi with the dub. I've never tried it before because I used to be so biased with the dub music. But I have been watching the Buu saga (only because I haven't seen it in so long) and it's great. What I would love is the Japanese version with the American music (Faulconer or Johnson)....that would be just as awesome imo.

[TheBlackPaladin]

For clarification's sake, the English Voices/Japanese BGM audio track on the Dragon Box is the same one found on the orange bricks. They just slapped it on to the Dragon Boxes. A new mix was not made.

Anyways...the general consensus is that it's unpopular. Hardcore dub fans don't like it because they recognize Faulconer's score as the "real" score, and hardcore sub fans don't like it because they think it "sounds wrong" and accentuates how different the dub can be from the original version. However, I guess I'm one of those weirdo exceptions to the general consensus in this case. Granted, Kai is my preferred way to watch the dub now, but if I ever watch the DBZ dub, I watch it with Kikuchi's music. Firstly because, in general, I vastly prefer orchestral music over techno music. Secondly, because I love the moments of silence, and the revised score didn't have any moments of silence.

Honestly, the first time I ever heard the original Japanese score was with that audio track. More specifically, when I bought the "Season 1" orange brick set, and selected the English Voices/Japanese BGM audio track. I was never a fan of Faulconer to begin with, but I wasn't aware that the music had been replaced, so when I saw "original music" on the box I was like, "Wait, w--they changed the music?" When I heard Kikuchi's music for the first time, I remember saying, "Wow, I'm glad they included the Faulconer music as a nostalgic item for those who care about it, but nobody's gonna want to listen to Faulconer again after hearing this, and I'm sure even the subbies will like this too!"

...............................Turns out.........................I was wrong. VERY wrong. I saw countless comments like these from subbies...

"It's ten years late, who the hell cares?"
"It feels wrong."
"It accentuates how terrible the English voice acting is."

Also, I saw countless comments like these from dubbies...

"Dude, what is this gay *beep*?"
"AWW GOD, it sounds like music to an old vampire movie!"
"This [crappy] music destroys the scene...Faulconer is the freaking Mozart of DBZ."

I was kinda bummed for a while that almost nobody liked it as much as I did. However, it's my preferred way to watch DBZ's dub if I can't watch Kai. I don't think it accentuates any shortcomings in the dub. The shortcomings are there no matter what music track is selected. If anything, listening to Kikuchi's music made the shortcomings more bearable for me.

That's my opinion of the artistic aspects. As far as a technical review is concerned...it varies from episode to episode how well the music is mixed. On some episodes, the music is turned down so low that it's embarrassingly underwhelming, and on other episodes, it's mixed nice and loud. The quality of the mix was inconsistent, unfortunately, and I began to take note during each episode, movie, and TV Special whether or not I felt the music was mixed well. I seem to remember that they did an exceptionally good job mixing the movies, the "Story of Trunks" TV Special, and the late Cell Saga episodes.

[Gonstead]

Yeah, insert songs are completely absent on on the English track, so you're not getting the complete Japanese soundtrack. I wonder if there were rights issues involved.

Not true. Battle Point Unlimited still plays when Trunks powers up to Super Saiyan.

[Pokewhiz7]

Yeah, insert songs are completely absent on on the English track, so you're not getting the complete Japanese soundtrack. I wonder if there were rights issues involved.

Not true. Battle Point Unlimited still plays when Trunks powers up to Super Saiyan.

And Solid State Scouter is still in the Bardock special. Otherwise, his point still stand.

[kei17]

Yeah, insert songs are completely absent on on the English track, so you're not getting the complete Japanese soundtrack. I wonder if there were rights issues involved.

I guess they got omitted because they're sung in Japanese. Or maybe they originally aren't included on the tapes given by Toei.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

I guess they got omitted because they're sung in Japanese.

I doubt it, considering all of the Japanese ending themes are intact on the English track with Japanese score. Plus, by the time the bricks came out, retaining Japanese insert songs in shows was a pretty regular thing for FUNi.

Or maybe they originally aren't included on the tapes given by Toei.

I find this more plausible, given that Toei had something of a track record for providing their international clients with incomplete materials for shows in the analog era.

[Dizrythmia]

I'd sworn off the dub for years as I love the Kikuchi score, that is until I got my hands on the first orange brick. I was disappointed in the video quality, but loved the fact that the dub now accompanies the music I enjoy so much. It makes it more tolerable, even in the really bad parts (Namek arc).

I gave up on the orange bricks after the horrible volume 2 & bought the Japanese Dragonboxes (except Dragonball as I was already buying the singles) & watched the whole series in raw Japanese from Dragonball right through to GT. I knew what was going on & I still enjoyed it thoroughly. When the US Dragonboxes came out I just HAD to import them & watch through Z again with the English voices & Japanese audio from start to finish.

In summary, English voices with Kikuchi track is what I had been waiting for since the early Funimation DVD releases. I'm glad all these years later we finally have it.