Ocean Studios' "Dragon Ball Kai" Dub Turns 16; Still Unreleased

[ABED]

I keep reading his name, and it's not even an official dub!

[TheBlackPaladin]

As unwanted by fans as many of Nelvana's practices are, an important part of the equation needs to be remembered here: whatever they do, they have to get the permission of the original Japanese animation studio. I'm not saying that absolves Nelvana--it doesn't--but whenever you see a dub with some less-than-satisfactory changes, it's just as much a statement about the original animation studio as it is the dubbing studio, because they signed off on it. For some, the interest is exclusively in money.

[El Diabeetus]

As unwanted by fans as many of Nelvana's practices are, an important part of the equation needs to be remembered here: whatever they do, they have to get the permission of the original Japanese animation studio. I'm not saying that absolves Nelvana--it doesn't--but whenever you see a dub with some less-than-satisfactory changes, it's just as much a statement about the original animation studio as it is the dubbing studio, because they signed off on it. For some, the interest is exclusively in money.

Yeah, I get what you're saying. But, that's still annoying you how are people supposed to take your product seriously when even you don't? I guess it'll just bother me as someone wanting to get into Voice Acting. Also, as an anime fan, I'd rather see an accurate presentation.

[TheBlackPaladin]

As unwanted by fans as many of Nelvana's practices are, an important part of the equation needs to be remembered here: whatever they do, they have to get the permission of the original Japanese animation studio. I'm not saying that absolves Nelvana--it doesn't--but whenever you see a dub with some less-than-satisfactory changes, it's just as much a statement about the original animation studio as it is the dubbing studio, because they signed off on it. For some, the interest is exclusively in money.

Yeah, I get what you're saying. But, that's still annoying you how are people supposed to take your product seriously when even you don't? I guess it'll just bother me as someone wanting to get into Voice Acting. Also, as an anime fan, I'd rather see an accurate presentation.

Totally hear 'ya. It is unfortunate when everybody from the top of the production food chain to the bottom of it says, "Nah, we just want money." As an anime fan, that...to put it lightly...bugs me.

Also, just sent you a PM, check it out if you're interested!

[songohan619]

As unwanted by fans as many of Nelvana's practices are, an important part of the equation needs to be remembered here: whatever they do, they have to get the permission of the original Japanese animation studio. I'm not saying that absolves Nelvana--it doesn't--but whenever you see a dub with some less-than-satisfactory changes, it's just as much a statement about the original animation studio as it is the dubbing studio, because they signed off on it. For some, the interest is exclusively in money.

Yeah, I get what you're saying. But, that's still annoying you how are people supposed to take your product seriously when even you don't? I guess it'll just bother me as someone wanting to get into Voice Acting. Also, as an anime fan, I'd rather see an accurate presentation.

Totally hear 'ya. It is unfortunate when everybody from the top of the production food chain to the bottom of it says, "Nah, we just want money." As an anime fan, that...to put it lightly...bugs me.

Also, just sent you a PM, check it out if you're interested!

Yeah, I agree with you both, but sadly, Anime isn't always easy to market to kids who aren't used to it. However, since I also have a small dream of becoming a VA, I too get really annoyed when I hear some of the actor not even try to, you know, ACT!

[El Diabeetus]

@TPB: I replied to it! Haha, but I get why saving/making money takes more presence over everything. But, I'm a believer of the phrase "You gotta spend money to make money." At least in the case of something like a show.

@SG619: Yeah, but that's just how it works. Even though VA's can be fans of the show, these shows are just business for the companies involved with them. Yeah, trying is always good, haha!

Luckily though, the returning actors care a lot about their characters; so hopefully there are good directors to bring the best out of them. I'm still looking forward to most of the main recasts! I can't wait 'til their NDA's are up so they can talk more about what's going on here with this dub.

[Super Sayian Prime]

This has absolutely nothing to do with Dragon Ball, but Nelvana was brought up earlier with regards to their Bakugan, and Beyblade productions. Nelvana actually co-produces both of those shows. They likely wouldn't exist without Nelvana, and in the case of Beyblade: Metal ___ their soundtrack is used globally. They were the ones who composed the music for the Japanese broadcast. So it's quite amusing to see someone call that music horrible on the basis that it's a rescore, when in actuality it isn't.

[El Diabeetus]

This has absolutely nothing to do with Dragon Ball, but Nelvana was brought up earlier with regards to their Bakugan, and productions. Nelvana actually co-produces both of those shows. They likely wouldn't exist without Nelvana, and in the case of Beyblade: Metal ___ their soundtrack is used globally. They were the ones who composed the music for the Japanese broadcast. So it's quite amusing to see someone call that music horrible on the basis that it's a rescore, when in actuality it isn't.

Huh, well I looked on ANN and the only staff they had for the English version is music. When I saw it on CN it just seemed like really bad replacement music, But, I'll admit when I'm wrong. Still doesn't mean the quality of that is any good. But, as you said it's basically off topic. But, there still isn't much news on this. So it's pretty easy to get off topic. But, my point of bring those up in regards to this is, with the possibility of Blue Water actors still not being any good, no info on the directors, it leaves the quality of the dub up in the air. I probably won't mind a re-score for Kai though, no matter what you aren't getting the original score. So, hell, why not create new music that might fit it bit. Replacement music isn't always bad, but, sometimes it is. But, I'm still excited for this dub and the Goku recast.

[90sDBZ]

So there's been no news for a while now. Not since Drummond confirming they'd finished the dub. One thing I'm interested in knowing that hasn't really been discussed all that much is just why exactly is this dub being made to begin with. To me the reason behind it being made could be a very important factor that might ultimately determine how good the dub is.

For example the original Saban Ocean dub was made with great care and effort because it was essentially bringing DBZ to English speaking countries for the first time. They couldn't afford to make a half-assed dub back then because the shows' chances of gaining popularity were depending on it. It had FUNi and Saban producing it with a good budget and turned out to be a great dub.

The Westwood Ocean dub on the other hand was made for all the wrong reasons. It was painfully obvious that it was made just to be a satisfactory alternative to FUNimation's dub so that AB Groupe could save some money and it showed in the finished product which was half-assed in my opinion. If it had been made as a labour of love to the old-school Ocean fans who wanted the old cast back and had had some serious care and effort put into making it then I wouldn't have resented it so much. But unfortunately that wasn't the case and the dub was mediocre at best.

So now we have the Ocean Kai dub coming out and I have to wonder just why it is being made. There are 3 possibilities as far as I can see:

1. It's being made purely to please the old-school Ocean fans and they are making sure it is a damn great dub
2. It's being made just so the few countries that haven't had Kai yet can get it distributed as a cheaper and poor alternate to FUNi's dub
3. It's being made for Canada only just so they can get around the "Canadian content" rule.

If it's being made for DVD then it should be a good dub that will be made just for the Ocean fans but if its for TV then I don't think anyone should get their hopes up. The fact that they're using the Blue Water actors isn't really encouraging.

[Super Sayian Prime]

I really doubt this dub is being produced to fulfill Canadian broadcast laws. Yes, the CRTC mandates Canadian channels to devote a certain percentage of their broadcast day to Canadian produced content. However, that doesn't prevent them from airing foreign content. The channels that could pick up Kai in this country air a tonne of US produced/dubbed programs ...

I don't understand why you'd assume this could be a poor dub made to be a cheap replacement. If it was I doubt those involved would take years to produce it. The Westwood dub was pushed out on a much faster pace than this.

[90sDBZ]

I really doubt this dub is being produced to fulfill Canadian broadcast laws. Yes, the CRTC mandates Canadian channels to devote a certain percentage of their broadcast day to Canadian produced content. However, that doesn't prevent them from airing foreign content. The channels that could pick up Kai in this country air a tonne of US produced/dubbed programs ...

I don't understand why you'd assume this could be a poor dub made to be a cheap replacement. If it was I doubt those involved would take years to produce it. The Westwood dub was pushed out on a much faster pace than this.

You make a good point on this dub taking a long time to make. It's just that there's been no advertisement or anything to intentionally build up hype at all. It reminds me of how the Westwood dub was never advertised but just appeared out of no-where on TV. I feel like if this dub were being made purely to satisfy the fans then there'd be some kind of publicity but so far all we've had is unofficial confirmation that it exists. We can be pretty sure Funi isn't involved because they'd likely have confirmed it by now so I can't see what other big company could be behind it. As for the Canadian content rule I think there is a specified amount of non-canadian shows that are allowed to air on a channel. It could be that whatever channel is interested in airing Kai already has too much US stuff to be allowed to show Funimation dubbed Kai so the Ocean dub is just being made as an alternative.

Perhaps Ocean actually are fully aware of how poor their Westwood dub was and are taking an extra long time to avoid a repeat of it.

[penguintruth]

With all this build up, I find it unlikely it won't be disappointing. I mean, seriously, it's been several years. What are they doing, using the studio money for coke and whores? It better be the best f***ing dub Ocean has ever done, better than Black Lagoon's and Death Note's combined. If it's anything less at this point, it'll be a letdown. What is even the point of it at this juncture? It almost took as much time for the original DBZ to air in Japan.

[Duo]

We could just add this one to the rumor archive and call it good.

[Ringworm128]

Well as far as I know we've only known about his dub a bit over two years which is a somewhat long time, but we only heard about them doing the auditions. So it's possible that they started recording much later. And honestly it isn't taking them that long if you compare it to how long Funi's dub took, only difference is that Funi released their episodes as they made them, Ocean seems to be saving their dub until it's complete. And for all we know Funimation could have started their dub for Kai long before any of us got word of it, just remember this thread wouldn't even be here if it weren't for a couple of the voice actors letting the Cat out of the bag.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Well as far as I know we've only known about his dub a bit over two years which is a somewhat long time, but we only heard about them doing the auditions. So it's possible that they started recording much later. And honestly it isn't taking them that long if you compare it to how long Funi's dub took, only difference is that Funi released their episodes as they made them, Ocean seems to be saving their dub until it's complete. And for all we know Funimation could have started their dub for Kai long before any of us got word of it, just remember this thread wouldn't even be here if it weren't for a couple of the voice actors letting the Cat out of the bag.

This.

FUNimation said......somewhere......that they actually began dubbing Kai in December of '09. They waited a while at first, but then they started to release episodes as they were being made.

Ocean--or whoever these new producers are--are clearly waiting until the dub is done from start to finish before they begin releasing it. Which makes me wonder how much longer we'll have to wait now that they're doing the Buu arc, but...alas. Honestly though, I personally don't care how long it takes to make a dub as long as it's good. Or, heck, even if it's not good. How long it takes to make a dub doesn't figure into my enjoyment of the final product one way or another.

[NitroEX]

With all this build up, I find it unlikely it won't be disappointing. I mean, seriously, it's been several years. What are they doing, using the studio money for coke and whores? It better be the best f***ing dub Ocean has ever done, better than Black Lagoon's and Death Note's combined. If it's anything less at this point, it'll be a letdown. What is even the point of it at this juncture? It almost took as much time for the original DBZ to air in Japan.

I agree it's taking way too long to be released but let's be honest, it was going to get hated on regardless of when it came out or how good it is. You're always going to get people hating on it right out of the gate simply because it's not the Funimation actors they're used to. Funi's Kai dub is a perfect example of this. The replacement actors/actresses in Kai were better suited for the roles in mostly every way to their Z counterparts and yet they still got hated on.

I'de be willing to bet that even if this dub came out roughly the same time as Funi's Kai people would have bashed it for being rushed and sloppy and on the flip side, if it came out a year from now people would say "OMG they spent all this time for THIS?! ROFLMAO" etc.

I just hope that they at least give us some sort of explanation at the end of it all once they can talk about it. I'm very intrigued as to why it's taken so long.

[Hades]

Well as far as I know we've only known about his dub a bit over two years which is a somewhat long time, but we only heard about them doing the auditions. So it's possible that they started recording much later. And honestly it isn't taking them that long if you compare it to how long Funi's dub took, only difference is that Funi released their episodes as they made them, Ocean seems to be saving their dub until it's complete. And for all we know Funimation could have started their dub for Kai long before any of us got word of it, just remember this thread wouldn't even be here if it weren't for a couple of the voice actors letting the Cat out of the bag.

This.

FUNimation said......somewhere......that they actually began dubbing Kai in December of '09. They waited a while at first, but then they started to release episodes as they were being made.

Ocean--or whoever these new producers are--are clearly waiting until the dub is done from start to finish before they begin releasing it. Which makes me wonder how much longer we'll have to wait now that they're doing the Buu arc, but...alas. Honestly though, I personally don't care how long it takes to make a dub as long as it's good. Or, heck, even if it's not good. How long it takes to make a dub doesn't figure into my enjoyment of the final product one way or another.

As I said, it's like Duke Nukem Forever all over again

[Gonstead]

Well as far as I know we've only known about his dub a bit over two years which is a somewhat long time, but we only heard about them doing the auditions. So it's possible that they started recording much later. And honestly it isn't taking them that long if you compare it to how long Funi's dub took, only difference is that Funi released their episodes as they made them, Ocean seems to be saving their dub until it's complete. And for all we know Funimation could have started their dub for Kai long before any of us got word of it, just remember this thread wouldn't even be here if it weren't for a couple of the voice actors letting the Cat out of the bag.

This.

FUNimation said......somewhere......that they actually began dubbing Kai in December of '09. They waited a while at first, but then they started to release episodes as they were being made.

Ocean--or whoever these new producers are--are clearly waiting until the dub is done from start to finish before they begin releasing it. Which makes me wonder how much longer we'll have to wait now that they're doing the Buu arc, but...alas. Honestly though, I personally don't care how long it takes to make a dub as long as it's good. Or, heck, even if it's not good. How long it takes to make a dub doesn't figure into my enjoyment of the final product one way or another.

As I said, it's like Duke Nukem Forever all over again

And currently like Half Life 2: Episode 3.

[90sDBZ]

With all this build up, I find it unlikely it won't be disappointing. I mean, seriously, it's been several years. What are they doing, using the studio money for coke and whores? It better be the best f***ing dub Ocean has ever done, better than Black Lagoon's and Death Note's combined. If it's anything less at this point, it'll be a letdown. What is even the point of it at this juncture? It almost took as much time for the original DBZ to air in Japan.

I agree it's taking way too long to be released but let's be honest, it was going to get hated on regardless of when it came out or how good it is. You're always going to get people hating on it right out of the gate simply because it's not the Funimation actors they're used to. Funi's Kai dub is a perfect example of this. The replacement actors/actresses in Kai were better suited for the roles in mostly every way to their Z counterparts and yet they still got hated on.

I'de be willing to bet that even if this dub came out roughly the same time as Funi's Kai people would have bashed it for being rushed and sloppy and on the flip side, if it came out a year from now people would say "OMG they spent all this time for THIS?! ROFLMAO" etc.

I just hope that they at least give us some sort of explanation at the end of it all once they can talk about it. I'm very intrigued as to why it's taken so long.

I see what you mean about people hating on stuff just because they're not used to it. However I don't believe that to be the case with the Westwood dub. I personally watched all of that dub as a kid and still hated it most of the time because it was clearly a bad dub. And it was rushed. There's just no getting around that. In my opinion that dub gets the hate it does because it is actually bad. If the Ocean Kai dub is genuinely good then I doubt people will call it rushed.

[Solidus]

I don't think that this is just a cheaper dub for the sake of a cheaper dub. Too much time and effort as been put in by the producers themselves for this to be poor. I won't deny that the Blue water actors being apart of this isn't slightly disappointing as it does give us reason to doubt the dub quality but I doubt the ratio of Ocean actors to Blue Water actors is going to be anything beyond 70:30. The producers being hands on could mean that they are pushing the Blue water actors more during recording sessions to make sure that there acting is up to par with that of their Ocean actors. That might explain why the dub is taking as long as it is. Has there been a bad Ocean dub since the name change from The Ocean Group to Ocean Productions?

I think it's fairly clear that Funimation and this company got the license for Kai around the same time. Whilst Funimation got the license for US and Canada, these guys got the license for the English speaking countries in Europe primarily Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands. Unfortunately even with these countries combined the market when compared with North America is small. That's why you don't see many dubs specifically made for the UK.

It's possible that the new company went ahead and started work on the dub disregarding whatever Funimation was up to because they deemed Funi's previous Dragon Ball dubs inadequate. Then producing a new faithful dub for Kai so that fans in the US would pay heed and import the DVD's. It would be a roundabout way of getting some extra sales even if they are small. Here is an example of the sales numbers you're looking at in the UK, additional import sales wouldn't really be something to ignore. Of course I am just speculating but it wouldn't be that hard to be believe with all the strange developments surrounding this dub. I hope the producers explain their reasoning behind everything, I'd love to see a making of documentary as a DVD extra.

I'm surprised that this wasn't announced in the build up to Battle of Gods, it seems like a missed opportunity. Aren't those NDA's supposed to expire soon?