Who could replace Nozawa & Schemmel?

[The Tori-bot]

Nozawa: Kappei Yamaguchi
Schemmel: No idea, throw a rock.

[Valentine]

Probs Ian Corlette seeing as Sean is trying to imitate him to begin with. Id prefer Peter but a lot of people dislike how feminine sounding he is.

As for Nozawa that's a tough one.

[jjgp1112]

Damn, I can't really think of anybody who could replace Schemmel's Goku voice. Ian Corlett's the most similar but he was lacking a certain something.

[Metalwario64]

Ian Corlett's the most similar but he was lacking a certain something.

Emotion. He sounded too flat in the role. I thought Kelamis was a great upgrade from Corlett (outside of the Westwood dub where he was terrible ).

[ABED]

I don't know until I hear it, but given how long Nozawa has had the role, I doubt anyone will ever be as good.

Corlette may have been a little flat, but Kelamis was rotten. Nothing about his delivery was natural, even a green season 3 Schemmel was an improvement.

The only way to make that judgment would be to watch a scene or two with different actors. Strait did a good job with Bardock's voice, maybe him.

[Metalwario64]

even a green season 3 Schemmel was an improvement.

No way.

Kelamis started out sounding a bit overly goofy (but, to be fair, he did start in a filler episode where Goku glues himself to the ship), but I thought he did well when Goku finished his training on the ship until the end of the episode where he begins taking on the Ginyu Force, and was very good in the dubs of the movies. Schemmel delivered every line terribly wrong in season 3.

[penguintruth]

Peter Kelamis was excellent in the Ocean dubs of the first three DBZ movies and decent at times in the TV series, before the later seasons (I don't know what the hell he was doing).

I seriously, seriously don't know what the hell they were doing in the Westwood/Ocean dub of the later seasons.

[ABED]

even a green season 3 Schemmel was an improvement.

No way.

Kelamis started out sounding a bit overly goofy, but I thought he did well when Goku finished his training on the ship, and was very good in the dubs of the movies. Schemmel delivered every line terribly wrong in season 3.

I stand by my statement. Kelamis is awful. He's okay in the movies, but rarely in the TV show. "Overly goofy" is putting it mildly. The cadence of his delivery is so up and down and Goofy. Unfortunately, Sean had to sound like him when he first got the role. I don't want Kelamis near the role again. It might be interesting to hear someone with a higher pitched voice than Sean.

[WittyUsername]

In my honest opinion, Sean Schemmel is the only good English voice that adult Goku has had, so I can't really think of any one else at Funimation that would make a good replacement. Then again I'm not too familiar with Funimation's talent pool nowadays since I don't watch much anime anymore so I guess I wouldn't know.

[ABED]

Someone brought up Johnny Yong Bosch. I'd be interested to hear that. Also, it'd be cool if the black ranger also played Son Goku.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

Schmmeul is more replaceable than Nozawa much more because Nozawa isn't replaceable than because he hasn't made a positive mark on the character. But then I couldn't give you a replacement offhand for either of them, don't know the good options. I will say I don't think Matsumoto would be a good pick, at least not in the mainstream roles I've seen her play- too rough; not that Nozawa's Goku isn't, but it's just comes back to Nozawa's being such a distinct situation.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

I feel like once Nozawa passes, so does Goku. If Toei wants to make a new DBZ series, they'll have to do something completely different. Something like the way we treat super-hero animation here in the US. Like how every series is it's own Universe and the story is a bit different from the comic or the previous animated series. This way, at least we can have the "original series" by itself and not have it be tainted by a new, updated cast.

[KentalSSJ6]

For Japanese, maybe Romi Paku?

For English, no idea. I love Schemmel's work in Kai and am more than satisfied with it. If you want a higher pitch English Goku I would say Todd Hebrkorn or Vic Mignogna or hell, Greg Ayres.

[Mewzard]

I feel like once Nozawa passes, so does Goku. If Toei wants to make a new DBZ series, they'll have to do something completely different. Something like the way we treat super-hero animation here in the US. Like how every series is it's own Universe and the story is a bit different from the comic or the previous animated series. This way, at least we can have the "original series" by itself and not have it be tainted by a new, updated cast.

I don't think Toei cares to that great a degree. After the first Hades OVA, they replaced the main cast of Saint Seiya (which started the same year Dragon Ball's anime did, I believe), so it's not without precedence (I'd argue Tohru Furuya as Seiya was just as important as Masako Nozawa as Goku). Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star would also need a new actor, but that's more due to Akira Kamiya retiring from the role (I'll miss that man and his ATATATATA!) than Toei's doing.

Now, for their live action work, that's a little trickier (due to them being the characters in look as well), but in some bigger movies, they've either left some suits voiceless, or gotten other actors already there to voice old characters for grunts, or maybe an off-line or two.

You wanna talk someone being a role, Hiroshi Fujioka was Kamen Rider #1 back in 1971, and still is now (and returning this year outside of the suit, and not just a voice).

But yeah, if it comes to that, I suppose we could move to the realm of spin-offs, or distant sequels/prequels without Goku if the demand is still there, but they wish to respect the passing of a long time voice actor.

[penguintruth]

Vic Mignogna

His Edward Elric was bad enough, you want him desecrating Goku now, too?

[KentalSSJ6]

Vic Mignogna

His Edward Elric was bad enough, you want him desecrating Goku now, too?

Yes yes I get it, you hate a lot of English dubs. I watched both FMA series in English and Japanese and like them both equally. I think Vic did fine as Ed.

[Cursed Lemon]

Yes yes I get it, you hate a lot of English dubs. I watched both FMA series in English and Japanese and like them both equally. I think Vic did fine as Ed.

Broly.

...

...

...Anyway, I think Corlett or Kelamis would be just fine. You can't have someone trying to replicate the original Japanese Goku in the midst of a bunch of DECIDEDLY American-sounding characters in the rest of the cast.

[Soul]

Oh, Penguintruth~, can't live with him, can't live without him.

You gotta face it, a large majority of anime fans in the West who AREN'T familiar with Nozawa's Goku, completely detest it.
But, as such, as she's been mentioned, Romi Park would be at the top of my list. Though let's face it, a Goku replacement may be an imitator of Nozawa, or just another
big name seiyu. I could easily see Junko Takeuchi (Naruto) or Megumi Han, the recent seiyu for Hunter X Hunter's Gon going for it as well.

And yeah, sorry. I don't see Toei moving on from Goku as a whole period; we'll always see some form, adlib a descendant of him.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I'm of the belief that on the sad day when Nozawa passes, when Toei goes about recasting Goku (anybody who thinks they won't is fooling themselves), whoever the new voice actor/actress is should try to do their own interpretation of Goku. I've always believed that when a role is recast, the new actor should disregard the previous actor's performance--regardless of how good or bad it is--because if they try to imitate it, it's like saying they can do just as good a job at that portrayal as the original actor. This would result in an inorganic performance that's not true to that actor's heart, and the viewers will only long for the original actor.

Without naming names, take Season 3 for example (talking about English voices). Every single voice actor started giving much, much, much better performances when they stopped trying to sound like their Ocean counterpart. Granted, they were doing what FUNimation (initially) hired them to do, but I'm glad they let the actors go with their own interpretations as time went on.

[Duo]

I would actually give MasakoX as shot as a Sean Schemmel fill-in, but he's entirely based on parody so that chunk of the fanbase couldn't take it seriously.

That said, I've always had a soft spot for Ian Corlett. He played characters in shows before then who had been my favorite characters of their respective series', so hearing him as Goku at the age of 10 just clicked for me. He makes the Kamehameha against Vegeta sound like the culmination of mankind's battle against alien invaders. It just works for me, because nostalgia.

As for Nozawa-sama, I just...would prefer they assume the character dead after she passes. Let that legacy live forever.