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

[Fennekin]

At this point, I have lost almost complete interest in this. It's taken far too long to dub this series. If Ocean doesn't get this out in some way, may it be on TV or straight to DVD, by the end of the year, I'll be done with this.

[Hades]

Everything about this dub needs to be absolutely perfect or it's going to disappoint everyone who's been waiting for this, like DNF.

[Ringworm128]

As I've said in the past, it's entirely your fault if you're expecting the best dub ever based on how long it's taken to come out. This dub has barely taken any longer then Funi's dub the only difference is they've done it all in secret. That said I'm still expecting a fairly good dub from what we've heard.

[TheBlackPaladin]

At this point, I have lost almost complete interest in this. It's taken far too long to dub this series. If Ocean doesn't get this out in some way, may it be on TV or straight to DVD, by the end of the year, I'll be done with this.

I've seen plenty of people say that, and yet this thread always bursts in activity for a bit at the slightest hint of news. Something tells me that all the people saying they've lost interest will suddenly regain their interest once the dub actually comes out.

It's also worth pointing out that, strictly speaking, we're not even supposed to know that this dub is happening. No official announcement has been made...everything we've learned, we've learned from people who were supposed to not say anything (not that I blame any of them).

[theoriginalbilis]

The average production time on most anime licenses, from licensing announcement to release date is roughly a year or two, so this is nothing new... I'll still watch the Ocean dub if it ever comes out, but I have no idea what to expect in terms of edits, script accuracy, or voices. So, just that fact that it may be quite different from FUNimation's take is exciting to me.

Then again, I'm a dub nerd/collector. I bought one of the Lupin the 3rd movies just because it had 4 different English dubs on it.

[KingofWisdom]

I guess we're not supposed to know about it, but this really could be that dub we excitedly anticipated for half a decade, just for it to be a heavily edited Saturday morning airing on Canadian TV with bad replacement music and that's it. When it comes to casting and acting, I'm expecting about what we normally get with Dragon Ball media. However, if all this has been leading up to an edited TV airing with no home video release, it really will have been like, "I waited all these years for this?!" It's not necessarily that we've been waiting for years, it's that we don't even know what to expect, because we don't know who's behind this production. It also doesn't help that FUNimation seems to have sole distribution rights of the Dragon Ball anime in North America. There'd be no problem if it were FUNi making us wait years for a dub, because we have an idea of what to expect from them.

It's starting to look like the only people who'll be pleased are those with really low standards.

[Ringworm128]

Even if it does turn out as some edited TV only dub I'l be ok as long as the scripting and acting is good.

[90sDBZ]

Even if it does turn out as some edited TV only dub I'l be ok as long as the scripting and acting is good.

And the score. If it ends up having Megaman music again it could be unwatchable. If they do recycle music from other shows then I hope they are at least more thoughtful in their choices this time around.

[Super Sayian Prime]

I wouldn't expect anything other than an edited version being made. Remember who were credited in edifting the video of the Nicktoons broadcast version.

As for this dub I'd say it's more likely to pop up in a random European or English-speaking Asian market than Canada. I can't see any network actually airing the show when the only anime airing in English Canada is Pokemon, and Beyblade. As well, Ocean cannot release this dub themselves. They are just a middle man.

[Hades]

As I've said in the past, it's entirely your fault if you're expecting the best dub ever based on how long it's taken to come out. This dub has barely taken any longer then Funi's dub the only difference is they've done it all in secret. That said I'm still expecting a fairly good dub from what we've heard.

Ok, what were you expecting when Duke Nukem Forever got out? Or what do you expect from Half life 3? Something that's worth the wait.

[Ringworm128]

I've never played either series but from what I know DNF was in development HELL for 14 years. most of the development was probably it moving from engine to engine, developer to developer and them struggling to keep the game alive etc. It wasn't 14 years of them making sure everything was perfected. And Ocean Kai isn't some super long dub, it's barely taken any longer then Funi's dub. It's like expecting a game in development for the standard 2-3 years to be better then Ocarina of Time mixed with Final Fantasy 7 and Skyrim. As I've said, it only seems like forever because we aren't being updated. It's like a little kid who thinks it feels like forever until Christmas because he isn't allowed to peek at his presents.

[xXInfinite026Xx]

This probably comes as no surprise, but Scott McNeil recently confirmed that the Ocean Dub of Kai has not reached the Buu Arc of Kai when I asked him this past weekend at San Japan 6. Considering the materials are most likely still being developed, I pretty much knew what the most likely answer would be beforehand, but I thought it'd be nice to at least have a confirmation.

Plus it's not everyday you gets to ask him anything. It sure was a blast seeing him person!

[Fennekin]

This probably comes as no surprise, but Scott McNeil recently confirmed that the Ocean Dub of Kai has not reached the Buu Arc of Kai when I asked him this past weekend at San Japan 6. Considering the materials are most likely still being developed, I pretty much knew what the most likely answer would be beforehand, but I thought it'd be nice to at least have a confirmation.

Plus it's not everyday you gets to ask him anything. It sure was a blast seeing him person!

When he says they haven't reached it, does he mean that they're still dubbing at least the Cell Arc or that they're done the Cell Arc but haven't gotten around to the Buu Arc yet?

[xXInfinite026Xx]

When he says they haven't reached it, does he mean that they're still dubbing at least the Cell Arc or that they're done the Cell Arc but haven't gotten around to the Buu Arc yet?

He keeps saying that they've finished recording Kai at many of his Q and A's' (although now he doesn't reveal the show name anymore for obvious reasons), so that gives a good enough clue that they've dubbed as much of Kai as to what's available from FUNimation at the moment.

When I got a chance to talk to him face to face, I told him that the Buu Arc of Kai was in production at the moment, and that the Ocean Cast may get to revisit it again once it's complete. He just said he really hopes that happens.

[Fennekin]

I was hoping this would be announced for the fall line-up of some station in the UK or Canada, but I guess it's still not ready for TV.

[Ajay]

Well, it would seem they didn't even ask Peter Kelamis despite him being interested in the role:




He seems so saddened by this, it breaks my heart. Shame really, I would give anything to hear him deliver that fantastic 'kaioken' scream all over again.

Perhaps this is an elaborate ruse!

Update:



Not really sure what to make of that?

[bkev]

KaiserNeko has only dropped a vague hint, saying that it's pretty ironic that they got Kappei Yamaguchi to dub Goku in "Dragon Ball Evolution." This is, of course, a very vague hint, but the general consensus is that this means whoever is playing Goku is an English voice actor who previously played a prominent role that Kappei Yamaguchi played in Japanese. For that reason, the two biggest suspects are Richard Cox and Alessandro Juliani.

Safe to say not Kelamis. Of the two guesses TheBlackPaladin has offered, my money is more on Alessandro Juliani. Somehow, I doubt Kirbopher would call Richard Cox perfect casting.

[Ringworm128]

Because when you think L with his deep smooth voice you think Goku. Unless he uses his Pit/Kid Icarus voice from Captain N, and nobody wants that.

[bkev]

I think it's more that all I know of Cox is his InuYasha/Ranma voice, which would be a real misdirection. I could see it working if he pitched it up. Heck, Juliani even sounds a little bit like a deeper version of Kirby Morrow to me.

Disclaimer: that was complete and utter speculation on my part.

[Ringworm128]

Didn't they drop Morrow because he sounded "too cool for Goku"? Wouldn't make much sense to replace him with a Morrow sound alike.