Ocean Studios' "Dragon Ball Kai" Dub Turns 14; Still Unreleased

[Subzero Ice]

Would say it would be as good as Ocean's dub of Black Lagoon?

Blu-Ray set out soon (tomorrow in fact) from Funimation, by the way. Both seasons. The English dub, along with Death Note's is probably Ocean's finest work.

Haven't seen Black Lagoon so can't say.

Is there any possibility of this getting a home release or is this just a TV broadcast thing?

That's not up to Ocean. DVD releases depend on securing a deal with a distributor. At the moment, Manga UK are releasing the worst ever DBZ DVDs in the UK, but it is being distributed. Although Toei 'nudged' Manga UK to those cropped releases (it was cheaper than the Dragon Boxes) Toei would need to make sure they authorise the Ocean dub of Kai for distribution, if a distributor secures the rights to Kai.

Subzero Ice, do you know whether the dub was produced unedited or with cuts for content made before they even recorded lines? While I'd love for it to be the former, I'm kind of expecting the latter. I hope that's not something that could get you in trouble, but feel free to decline comment.

At the beginning, all options were considered, but I can't confirm whether they did end up dubbing it uncut or not.

Subzero Ice, do you know who the company making this dub is? I know you probably can't say who they are but do they have a good track record with previous dubs?

To be honest, I didn't go out of my way to try and find out who the company behind the dub is, as I was more interested in how the dub was being produced.

Oh yeah dude, no worries. I figured you probably weren't going to say exactly, but I was looking for the most intriguing vague hint that you were willing to drop.

I totally get it. I don't want anybody getting in trouble. I hear 'ya about networking, though...it certainly does have perks, regardless of what business you're in!

Yea, cheers for understanding.

[Subzero Ice]

Deleted.

[Subzero Ice]

Not happening. Kelamis wasn't even asked to audition.

I want to add a personal option to this point.

When Kelamis told me that he wasn't asked to audition for Goku, I found it......strange. Out of the VAs who have dubbed for Goku, Kelamis was the closest to the original Japanese, especially vocal wise. With new direction, I think that Kelamis could've portrayed Goku in the manner Ocean were looking for.

[Gonstead]

Not happening. Kelamis wasn't even asked to audition.

I want to add a personal option to this point.

When Kelamis told me that he wasn't asked to audition for Goku, I found it......strange. Out of the VAs who have dubbed for Goku, Kelamis was the closest to the original Japanese, especially vocal wise. With new direction, I think that Kelamis could've portrayed Goku in the manner Ocean were looking for.

Maybe they thought he didn't want to come back based on him leaving in the previous dub.

[penguintruth]

Would say it would be as good as Ocean's dub of Black Lagoon?

Blu-Ray set out soon (tomorrow in fact) from Funimation, by the way. Both seasons. The English dub, along with Death Note's is probably Ocean's finest work.

Haven't seen Black Lagoon so can't say.

Haven't heard Death Note's dub, haven't heard Black Lagoon's dub... what was the last Ocean dub you've heard?

[Kendamu]

Not happening. Kelamis wasn't even asked to audition.

I want to add a personal option to this point.

When Kelamis told me that he wasn't asked to audition for Goku, I found it......strange. Out of the VAs who have dubbed for Goku, Kelamis was the closest to the original Japanese, especially vocal wise. With new direction, I think that Kelamis could've portrayed Goku in the manner Ocean were looking for.

Maybe the guy they chose was easier to get and could still portray Goku in a Nozawa-esque way. Until I hear him for myself, I can only speculate, though.

[Kirbopher]

Oh yeah, there's one more thing I guess worth mentioning. I thought it was kind of trivial at first and didn't think it was worth mentioning, but now I think this ties into the fact that they're taking the treatment of this dub more seriously: Apparently they're going so far as to pronounce Namek as "Naw-mek" like it sounds in Japanese.

[Metalwario64]

Oh yeah, there's one more thing I guess worth mentioning. I thought it was kind of trivial at first and didn't think it was worth mentioning, but now I think this ties into the fact that they're taking the treatment of this dub more seriously: Apparently they're going so far as to pronounce Namek as "Naw-mek" like it sounds in Japanese.

Anything else like Kikoho and Tenshinhan?

[Ringworm128]

I think Cathy Weseluck would make a great Ghurd. I was listening to her Near voice and noticed it kinda sounded like Greg Ayers Ghurd minus the rasp. So I thought to myself "ad some rasp and you've got a perfect Ghurd."

Oh yeah, there's one more thing I guess worth mentioning. I thought it was kind of trivial at first and didn't think it was worth mentioning, but now I think this ties into the fact that they're taking the treatment of this dub more seriously: Apparently they're going so far as to pronounce Namek as "Naw-mek" like it sounds in Japanese.

That's cool but I just know there is going to be more then a few dub fans complaining. Just look at what happened with the comercial for DBZ Kinect.

[Kendamu]

Oh yeah, there's one more thing I guess worth mentioning. I thought it was kind of trivial at first and didn't think it was worth mentioning, but now I think this ties into the fact that they're taking the treatment of this dub more seriously: Apparently they're going so far as to pronounce Namek as "Naw-mek" like it sounds in Japanese.

Sort of makes me wonder about "Saiyan" now that you brought that up.

[kei17]

Pronouncing Namek as "Naw-mek" like it sounds in Japanese? I've never pronounced Namek like that.

[VegettoEX]

It's tough to get pronunciations across using just letters for our stupid American accents . I think what Kirb's getting at is that instead of "Namek" in FUNimation's dub sounding like the "a" in "cane", it will be more like "calm" in the UK dub.

[Puto]

It's tough to get pronunciations across using just letters for our stupid American accents :). I think what Kirb's getting at is that instead of "Namek" in FUNimation's dub sounding like the "a" in "cane", it will be more like "calm" in the UK dub.

The ‘a’ in FUNi's Namek doesn't sound like the ‘a’ in ‘cane’, it sounds like the ‘a’ in ‘mad’.

[VegettoEX]

See what I mean? Tough to convey.

[Kirbopher]

Mike gets it. ;]

[TheBlackPaladin]

Hmm....interesting. So what is the proper pronunciation of "Namek"? I always thought that the Japanese pronounced it like "naw-mek" just because that's how "Namek" sounds when pronounced with a Japanese accent.

Also, one of the things intriguing me about this dub is that I've heard evidence to suggest that it will be a relatively cheap, low-budget dub (rumors of replaced BGM, outsourcing to Blue Water), and I've heard other things to suggest that they are really taking their time to make this a great dub (the extensive effort put into casting Goku, pronunciation of Japanese terms just as the Japanese cast pronounced them).

[El Diabeetus]

Well, if they're going with the Nah-mehk pronunciation, how about Saiyan and Saibaimen, Saibamen was never pronounced wrong, but, you guys get what I'm saying, haha. Hell, if they use Saiyan (Sigh-yan) and Goku ends up being as good as the hype is implying, this could give it a slight edge over the FUNimation dub.

[Subzero Ice]

Maybe they thought he didn't want to come back based on him leaving in the previous dub.

I thought of that as well, but the situation is not the same as it was in the early 2000s. Kelamis seemed a bit disappointed at not being asked to return so it's possible if chosen he may have committed for the entire duration this time. Nonetheless Ocean certainly know what they are doing.

Haven't heard Death Note's dub, haven't heard Black Lagoon's dub... what was the last Ocean dub you've heard?

Correction. I have heard Death Note's dub, but not all or even most of it. Death Note didn't interest me at the time so I didn't bother to keep up with it. However the story sounds interesting on paper so I plan to give Death Note another chance sometime.

Black Lagoon doesn't interest me. Even though Ocean produced a decent dub of it, I don't have time to follow it unless I am interested in it.

It's tough to get pronunciations across using just letters for our stupid American accents . I think what Kirb's getting at is that instead of "Namek" in FUNimation's dub sounding like the "a" in "cane", it will be more like "calm" in the UK dub.

Yep. They also have words which are pronounced closer to how they'd be said in the UK instead of the US.

To further illustrate the Namek example. Think of how the word Majin is pronounced in the dubs. It's the same as the Japanese, with a strong 'a' sound. Fortunately both Ocean and Funimation pronounced Majin properly from the start. The Japanese pronunciation is the same as it would be in the UK. If they followed the US pronunciation, the 'a' in Majin may have ended up sounding like the 'a' in sad.

Now think how Funimation pronounces Namek, the 'a' sound is not as 'strong' as it should be. The 'a' in Namek should be pronounced like the 'a' in Majin, in Gohan, in Saiya-jin, etc to use some DBZ related examples. That's how Ocean would be pronouncing Namek properly this time.

[kei17]

It's tough to get pronunciations across using just letters for our stupid American accents . I think what Kirb's getting at is that instead of "Namek" in FUNimation's dub sounding like the "a" in "cane", it will be more like "calm" in the UK dub.

Ah, I get it. Now I want them to pronounce Gero as "Ghero", too.

[Puto]

It's tough to get pronunciations across using just letters for our stupid American accents :). I think what Kirb's getting at is that instead of "Namek" in FUNimation's dub sounding like the "a" in "cane", it will be more like "calm" in the UK dub.

Ah, I get it. Now I want them to pronounce Gero as "Ghero", too.

Anything's better than pronouncing it as Jyro.