A Newcomer's Experience

[baneofdemon22]

EDIT: I wrote how I liked the Boo arc so much. Makes me sick! I'm just kidding. I wanted to edit this out, since it's not true anymore though!

[Ajay]

Someone just reminded me of this on Twitter. Just to let you guys know, this isn't dead. She finished up the Cell arc and is currently making her way through the Boo arc of Kai each week. I'll update this with her thoughts on the Cell finale and then maybe do Boo thoughts after each mini arc. Don't know if she'd be interested joining the forums for fear of spoilers.

[thekingfallsdown]

Someone just reminded me of this on Twitter. Just to let you guys know, this isn't dead. She finished up the Cell arc and is currently making her way through the Boo arc of Kai each week. I'll update this with her thoughts on the Cell finale and then maybe do Boo thoughts after each mini arc. Don't know if she'd be interested joining the forums for fear of spoilers.

Awesome. I just found this thread and was beginning to be disappointed that it wasn't going to continue. Look forward to more of her thoughts! Also, as far as this forum goes idk.. It wouldn't be heard to bookmark this and avoid other threads, but it may not be worth it.

[Ajay]

Alright, everything is now updated!

Let us know if you felt similarly.

[thelittlethings]

This is about me! It's so cool looking at my own thoughts laid out like this and reading other people's opinions on the show. I know a lot of you don't seem to be loving Kai this time around but it's my first time seeing all this and I'm loving it.

[Mewzard]

Oh cool, you joined the forums. Been following the thread for a while. It's always fun to see a new fans' first experiences in a fandom.

A lot Kai's fans are actually people enjoying a more accurate, better acted dub. Seems with the sub fans, most tend to stick with the original Z, citing music issues, some visual oddities, and a few lesser performances/beloved voices replaced.

Welcome to the forums, hope you continue to enjoy the ride that is Dragon Ball.

[thelittlethings]

Yeah, I can't stand Goku or Gohan's voices in English so I probably won't be watching them. I never really watched the show in English as a kid so I don't really have any nostalgia for that cast. Likewise, with Z in Japanese, I've not seen the original show outside of the Ano-yo'ichi Budokai and Great Saiyaman arc so I dont really have any comparisons to make with the original performances versus their ones in Kai now!

[ABED]

Which actors are you referring to? I assume Sean Schemmel and Stephanie Nadolny.

[thelittlethings]

Yeah, I love Nozawa’s voice for Goku and Gohan in comparison to Schemmel and Nadolny. In the English version, Goku’s voice sounds too much like a superhero at times rather than like a regular person who just happens to enjoy fighting.
Personally, I found it amazing hearing the progression of Gohan's voice from a kid to a teenager in Kai. Nozawa’s kid Gohan was so cute and reflected what I imagined a child to sound like whereas I don’t think the English version really did. It sounded unnatural and whiney.

[Cold Skin]

Man, it reminds me of the years in college when showing Kai to my roomates, years after years, new roomate after new roomate.

Most of them had at least seen the show as kids, but one of them - a Naruto and Full Metal Alchemist fan (although he only watches the show and/or the manga without owning them) - discovered it for the very first time.
It's always nice to have the comments of people who haven't seen the show for the last 10-15 years and had only seen it with the censored, mistranslated, old French dub back then (it's nice to have comments of friends when you watch anything anyway, even if each of you has already seen it all before).
But it's just something else to have the comments of a newcomer that has a fresh vision of the series and discovers it for the first time ever. You forget how things appear to someone who's not used to that universe and doesn't know what's next.

It was more of an accident than anything else though, he entered my room while I was watching the end of The Plan To Eradicate Super Saiyans (seeing all four Super Saiyans together with their spiky blond hairs, he asked me "They're all brothers?") and since he was a bit curious and perplexed at what he saw, I showed him how it all starts with the first episode of Kai (if you don't remember, that first episode quickly shows Bardack's final battle and summurizes Goku's youth).

I planned on only showing him the big recap of that first episode just so that he had a glimpse of "how it all started", but he said to let the rest of the episode rolling, and then asked for the next two episodes, and then would come to watch one or two "episodes of the evening" on a daily basis.
However, he quickly asked me to never show the Next Episode Previews.

He also needed a break of a few weeks after seeing the Freezer fight, because it felt very long and he just couldn't take any more for a while.
To temperate his reaction at the beginning of the Cell arc, I told him as my introduction to the new saga "and you'll even have Freezer as a guest star in the first two episodes", and that worked, he didn't even complain when seeing him again (I'm sure he would have been desperate if I hadn't hinted at a two-episodes presence only).

Tss, Vincent was also genuinely shocked at the fact that Goku chose Gohan to fight Cell, he clearly didn't expect Gohan to be a possible choice when Goku was about to name the next, most powerful warrior. How could he not see that one coming?!

[Mewzard]

Yeah, I love Nozawa’s voice for Goku and Gohan in comparison to Schemmel and Nadolny. In the English version, Goku’s voice sounds too much like a superhero at times rather than like a regular person who just happens to enjoy fighting.
Personally, I found it amazing hearing the progression of Gohan's voice from a kid to a teenager in Kai. Nozawa’s kid Gohan was so cute and reflected what I imagined a child to sound like whereas I don’t think the English version really did. It sounded unnatural and whiney.

I've never understood the comparison of Schemmel's Goku to that of a Superhero, given I do regularly watch superhero cartoons and movies. Kai especially so. Season 3 Schemmel when he just started, and was giving his "Hope of the Universe" speech to Freeza, I could see (certainly, the hokey dialogue didn't help)...but I'd say in Kai he really capture Goku well both in his innocent, almost child-like moments of excitement to his shift to more serious, angrier moments in fights. I put his Kai performance up there with Nozawa as two I really enjoy (the man certainly grew as an actor over the last decade and a half since he started on DBZ as a newbie voice actor).

I think Clinkenbeard did a good job with Gohan from what we heard from Kai (certainly better than Nadolny, who had the gruffest voice for a small child I've ever heard). I found it believable enough as a child voice (well, as believable as a non-child voiced child can be in anime voice work). Nozawa's early Gohan really was a bit too high for my ears to fully enjoy. Some of those screams were a tad shrill for my tastes, but she did a fine job. I just wish Goku's family would have had more variety in voices. Not only to give more actors time to shine, but to add a bit more distinction to each character's voice.

Still, it's fun either way for me, so I can't complain.

The little differences we have in tastes as fans can lead to such fun discussion, so I don't get too bothered by it, though some fans do (Get some fans of the original Mirage TMNT Comics in with fans of the '87 Fred Wolf Cartoon and you could have a fight though, lol).

How far along are you into the franchise at this point?

[theoriginalbilis]

Yeah, I love Nozawa’s voice for Goku and Gohan in comparison to Schemmel and Nadolny. In the English version, Goku’s voice sounds too much like a superhero at times rather than like a regular person who just happens to enjoy fighting.
Personally, I found it amazing hearing the progression of Gohan's voice from a kid to a teenager in Kai. Nozawa’s kid Gohan was so cute and reflected what I imagined a child to sound like whereas I don’t think the English version really did. It sounded unnatural and whiney.

Welcome to Kanzenshuu. It's a great community for DragonBall fans overall.

Glad to hear you're enjoying the series. It's quite the ride for a first-timer. I treasure my first viewings of the show immensely (on TV in English and then very quickly converted to the Japanese version via VHS/DVD.)

I'm even more glad to hear you've straight-up decided to stick with the original, unedited version of the series (Z) and the comic-accurate cut (Kai). The English version may be what a lot of fans were introduced to, but it's so different in tone and characterization from the original show, that I wouldn't even recommend it unless you were curious about the changes (compared to the original language and the comics by Toriyama, there are quite a bit of alterations.)

Feel free to join in a discussion or ask anything about DragonBall.

[Ajay]

I actually liken thelittlethings' reaction to Schemmel to how many fans accustomed to the English dub tend to react to Nozawa on a first listen. It's really damn different and I think you can easily get hooked on the very extreme differences. For example, many people pick on Nozawa's screams since they're so high pitched compared to any other dub. With Schemmel, if you're someone who's totally hooked on Nozawa, the difference in masculinity is really clear. It can definitely be very incongruous to this initial image of Goku that Nozawa depicts and can certainly come across as overly manly and heroic for the type of guy Goku is.

As much as I dislike the guy, I don't really mind Schemmel as Goku, personally. I do agree that he does come across as a bit too stern but I think that's always going to be the case with an English dub. I had the same feeling about Vic Mignogna's Edward Elric after being so accustomed to Romi Park. I still do think Peter Kelamis manages to nail what I think an English Goku should sound like but even then, he's definitely not perfect. His acting definitely leaves a lot to be desired even if I do think his voice is great.

There are no English language Gohans who I like at all. Jillian Michaels had the best voice but she couldn't act to save her life and the piss poor production of the Westwood dub certainly didn't help matters.

But yeah, back on point, I'd be interested to see how you feel about him after we see Battle of Gods dubbed. I think it's kinda hard to form full on opinions from short clips so maybe sitting through a 90 minute movie will change things? Maybe not! You do love Nozawa an ungodly amount

[thelittlethings]

The little differences we have in tastes as fans can lead to such fun discussion, so I don't get too bothered by it, though some fans do (Get some fans of the original Mirage TMNT Comics in with fans of the '87 Fred Wolf Cartoon and you could have a fight though, lol).

How far along are you into the franchise at this point?

I think it’s quite interesting hearing everyone’s different opinions and preferences. Everyone is different at the end of the day so we'll never be totally the same with how we feel. We'd have nothing to talk about!
I'm planning to watch Episode 114 of Kai tomorrow then I should be up to date.

Welcome to Kanzenshuu. It's a great community for DragonBall fans overall.

Feel free to join in a discussion or ask anything about DragonBall.

Thank you for the welcome. Hopefully I don't run out of things to learn from this site. It's interesting hearing other people's opinions compared to mine.

[ABED]

I agree to a certain extent regarding Sean's superhero voice, but that's mainly due to the direction and scripts. It's practically non-existent now. I like both him and Nozawa. Both can portray Goku's affable side and his warrior side.