Why do people think the English Kai dub is so great?

[BurakkuForesuto]

Yeah, compared to the Z dubs, it is, but as I said before, so was the 1995 dub of Ghost in the Shell, recorded before the movie was even completed and people think that dub is trash compared to the SAC and Innocence dubs. Being better than the English dubs of Z requires no thought. Any mediocre dub can be better than the English dubs of DBZ, because those dubs do not have consistency in regards to voice acting, scriptwriting and don't even have the original music. It doesn't help that the in house dub had green VOs. It's not hard to outperform that.

The Kai dub suffers from an inconsistent, overly liberal script, talking/no talking when vice versa is supposed to happen, removing important things such as the process of killing from Piccolo, the Cell Games mostly being a rehash of the original dubs nigh word for word and voice acting, Dude My Truck, I'm Putting My Foot Down, etc. The Kai dub is no Bang Zoom dub, that's for sure.

Sabat has made strides, but his Piccolo bleeds into Vegeta, making him sound the same. He also seems to be imitating Steve Blum, still. They do sound alike, but unlike Blum, Sabat's acting chops are severely lacking.

Schemmel is way better than Nozawa, that's for sure, but he seems to be forced when he laughs, he sounds too serious and he sounds like Superman, rather than a gentle, but powerful fighter, who wants to fight strong opponents.

Colleen is horrible as Gohan. She is doing the woman pretending to be a boy voice, that a lot of dubs admittedly do, but hers is just painful. Her yelling is ear splitting and she doesn't sound like Nozawa, even though she's not supposed. Nozawa gave this introverted, shy performance, but managed to sound male and never bled into Kid Goku. I've also noticed that the older Gohan gets, the worse he sounds. His SSJ2 sounds forced, rather than cocky. He sounds more like a teenage girl, than a cocky 10 year old.

People complain about Bang Zoom dubs, but at least those dubs keep to the original. Also, the VAs in LA are at another level. Almost as good as Japanese VAs. Seriously, no voice actor in Texas is a JYB or a Michelle Ruff or a Matt Mercer or Tom Wyner or a Mary McGlynn. Also, if you compare the F/Z dub to the Kai dub, the F/Z dub arguably only has one change, while the Kai dub has several. Also, you cannot compare acting. The F/Z dub is at another level. Arguably one of the best English dubs ever.

So why do people praise the Kai dub, without any critical thinking, while shitting on the Z dub, even though the Kai dub has issues almost as bad and in some cases worse? The dub is not good. It is sub par.

[TheAldella]

I see no places where the English dub of Kai is under the Z Dub. Everyone loves the Kai dub because it's a second chance.

[Dbzfan94]

Yeah, compared to the Z dubs, it is, but as I said before, so was the 1995 dub of Ghost in the Shell, recorded before the movie was even completed and people think that dub is trash compared to the SAC and Innocence dubs. Being better than the English dubs of Z requires no thought. Any mediocre dub can be better than the English dubs of DBZ, because those dubs do not have consistency in regards to voice acting, scriptwriting and don't even have the original music. It doesn't help that the in house dub had green VOs. It's not hard to outperform that.

The Kai dub suffers from an inconsistent, overly liberal script, talking/no talking when vice versa is supposed to happen, removing important things such as the process of killing from Piccolo, the Cell Games mostly being a rehash of the original dubs nigh word for word and voice acting, Dude My Truck, I'm Putting My Foot Down, etc. The Kai dub is no Bang Zoom dub, that's for sure.

Sabat has made strides, but his Piccolo bleeds into Vegeta, making him sound the same. He also seems to be imitating Steve Blum, still. They do sound alike, but unlike Blum, Sabat's acting chops are severely lacking.

Schemmel is way better than Nozawa, that's for sure, but he seems to be forced when he laughs, he sounds too serious and he sounds like Superman, rather than a gentle, but powerful fighter, who wants to fight strong opponents.

Colleen is horrible as Gohan. She is doing the woman pretending to be a boy voice, that a lot of dubs admittedly do, but hers is just painful. Her yelling is ear splitting and she doesn't sound like Nozawa, even though she's not supposed. Nozawa gave this introverted, shy performance, but managed to sound male and never bled into Kid Goku. I've also noticed that the older Gohan gets, the worse he sounds. His SSJ2 sounds forced, rather than cocky. He sounds more like a teenage girl, than a cocky 10 year old.

People complain about Bang Zoom dubs, but at least those dubs keep to the original. Also, the VAs in LA are at another level. Almost as good as Japanese VAs. Seriously, no voice actor in Texas is a JYB or a Michelle Ruff or a Matt Mercer or Tom Wyner or a Mary McGlynn. Also, if you compare the F/Z dub to the Kai dub, the F/Z dub arguably only has one change, while the Kai dub has several. Also, you cannot compare acting. The F/Z dub is at another level. Arguably one of the best English dubs ever.

So why do people praise the Kai dub, without any critical thinking, while shitting on the Z dub, even though the Kai dub has issues almost as bad and in some cases worse? The dub is not good. It is sub par.

First, The Z and Kai dubs of the Cell saga are so similar because by then Funi got a lot better at being close to the Japanese.

I don't think Schemmel's laughing sounds forced, atleast in Z.

And I agree (to an extent) about Clikenbeard's Gohan. She sounds TOO young and girly at times, and her yelling is painful to my ears. Its also too similar to her other characters.

But then I don't have that problem with Sabat. In Z he played 13+ characters, and all sounded different for the most part.

[TheBlackPaladin]

The dub is not good. It is sub par.

In your opinion--which you are perfectly entitled to.

However, this is stuff that cannot be looked at objectively. It's up to a matter of personal taste. So with that in mind, to answer the question you asked, I think the English Kai dub is great because I think the acting is great (for the most part), and I think the script is too liberal only in a few places here and there (not enough to make me significantly upset).

Could it have been improved here and there? Eh, probably. Nothing is beyond improvement. With that said...if we were to compare the Kai dub to....let's say a road...then I would regard the Kai dub's shortcomings as just a few small bumps here and there, rather than the potholes and nails found along the Z dub road.

[Metalwario64]

Dude My Truck

That was surely a NIcktoons line that slipped into the DVD release, which happened one or two other times.

I've also noticed that the older Gohan gets, the worse he sounds. His SSJ2 sounds forced, rather than cocky. He sounds more like a teenage girl, than a cocky 10 year old.

I've never heard a teenage girl that sounds like Clinkenbeard's Gohan.

shitting on the Z dub, even though the Kai dub has issues almost as bad and in some cases worse?

The (few) faults of Kai's dub are nowhere near as profound as Z's.

the Cell Games mostly being a rehash of the original dubs nigh word for word and voice acting

Not... really. That was the period when FUNi's Z dub started to improve a little bit, and perhaps every once in a while they got lines down accurately, but in no way is their Kai dub a "rehash". It's entirely re translated and almost every bit of spoken dialog is as "different" (more accurate) as it was for the rest of the series.

[ABED]

Kai's translation isn't overly liberal. I've watched the dub with subtitles on and it's VERY close. In fact, it's probably less time consuming to list the times when it doesn't adhere to the original.

I also disagree about Schemmel, Clinkenbeard, and Sabat. I enjoy all of their performances in Kai. I don't think Piccolo and Vegeta bleed into each other. Sure, you can tell they are voiced by the same actor, but that's not uncommon in many animated shows. They are distinct enough that I can suspend disbelief.

You wrote that the show is praised almost uncritically, but that seems like you wrote that because you disagree with people's positive opinions on the show.

[B]

DIdn't you basically make this thread... as a post in another thread? It's a little daunting to reply; you speak in such absolutes!

It's a perfectly serviceable, satisfying dub. The tone and spirit of the series is captured much closer than any other Dragon Ball dub we've ever received, save for perhaps the Pioneer dubs for Movies 1-3. Your odd comparisons to California dubs don't really make any sense. Sabat sounds like Blum? What?

And to say Schemmel is giving a better performance than Nozawa... you might as well say you fundamentally do not understand Son Goku.

[Mewzard]

DIdn't you basically make this thread... as a post in another thread? It's a little daunting to reply; you speak in such absolutes!

It's a perfectly serviceable, satisfying dub. The tone and spirit of the series is captured much closer than any other Dragon Ball dub we've ever received, save for perhaps the Pioneer dubs for Movies 1-3. Your odd comparisons to California dubs don't really make any sense. Sabat sounds like Blum? What?

And to say Schemmel is giving a better performance than Nozawa... you might as well say you fundamentally do not understand Son Goku.

Preferring Schemmel's performance to Nozawa's isn't an issue of "not understanding Son Goku", I personally do prefer Schemmel's performance slightly (his Kai performance, not his Z performance), while still loving Nozawa's performance.

But I agree with you guys that it has been a good dub. It improved on a lot in all areas, both in accuracy and in quality. It's not a perfect dub, but at least it conveys the important bits while also sounding natural. I've heard my fair share of dubs that are more "accurate", but sound awful as they try to blunt force certain lines exactly into scenes, even if they either don't sound right, or don't fit the lipflaps so you have to make it fit.

[JEFFMAN219]

Yeah, compared to the Z dubs, it is, but as I said before, so was the 1995 dub of Ghost in the Shell, recorded before the movie was even completed and people think that dub is trash compared to the SAC and Innocence dubs. Being better than the English dubs of Z requires no thought. Any mediocre dub can be better than the English dubs of DBZ, because those dubs do not have consistency in regards to voice acting, scriptwriting and don't even have the original music. It doesn't help that the in house dub had green VOs. It's not hard to outperform that.

The Kai dub suffers from an inconsistent, overly liberal script, talking/no talking when vice versa is supposed to happen, removing important things such as the process of killing from Piccolo, the Cell Games mostly being a rehash of the original dubs nigh word for word and voice acting, Dude My Truck, I'm Putting My Foot Down, etc. The Kai dub is no Bang Zoom dub, that's for sure.

Sabat has made strides, but his Piccolo bleeds into Vegeta, making him sound the same. He also seems to be imitating Steve Blum, still. They do sound alike, but unlike Blum, Sabat's acting chops are severely lacking.

Schemmel is way better than Nozawa, that's for sure, but he seems to be forced when he laughs, he sounds too serious and he sounds like Superman, rather than a gentle, but powerful fighter, who wants to fight strong opponents.

Colleen is horrible as Gohan. She is doing the woman pretending to be a boy voice, that a lot of dubs admittedly do, but hers is just painful. Her yelling is ear splitting and she doesn't sound like Nozawa, even though she's not supposed. Nozawa gave this introverted, shy performance, but managed to sound male and never bled into Kid Goku. I've also noticed that the older Gohan gets, the worse he sounds. His SSJ2 sounds forced, rather than cocky. He sounds more like a teenage girl, than a cocky 10 year old.

People complain about Bang Zoom dubs, but at least those dubs keep to the original. Also, the VAs in LA are at another level. Almost as good as Japanese VAs. Seriously, no voice actor in Texas is a JYB or a Michelle Ruff or a Matt Mercer or Tom Wyner or a Mary McGlynn. Also, if you compare the F/Z dub to the Kai dub, the F/Z dub arguably only has one change, while the Kai dub has several. Also, you cannot compare acting. The F/Z dub is at another level. Arguably one of the best English dubs ever.

So why do people praise the Kai dub, without any critical thinking, while shitting on the Z dub, even though the Kai dub has issues almost as bad and in some cases worse? The dub is not good. It is sub par.

The voice acting in Kai is way better then the original in my opinion and this is coming from a person who is a fan of the original dub. Plus the original dub was a dumb down verion made for 10 year olds and no it is not the best dub ever.

[Ajay]

Schemmel is way better than Nozawa, that's for sure.

In what way do you find him better than Nozawa?

[Kid Buu]

I never got into the Kai dub either, something always just felt off about it.

[KentalSSJ6]

Schemmel is way better than Nozawa, that's for sure.

In what way do you find him better than Nozawa?

*Insert Goku sounds like a woman remark here*

[Tanooki Kuribo]

So why do people praise the Kai dub, without any critical thinking, while shitting on the Z dub, even

Because the DBZ dub deserves to be shit on? Despite all the inconstant attack names and mixed up TV audio on the home release, it's the closest thing to a descent DBZ dub we have. The original DBZ dub was horrible, corny, the voice acting was terrible and on top of everything, it was totally inaccurate. Here are two of my favorite comparison clips...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65846913@N ... 1604586029

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65846913@N ... 604586029/

Then again, if you said you loved the original DBZ dub purely for nostalgia reasons, I'd totally understand.

Also, if you compare the F/Z dub to the Kai dub, the F/Z dub arguably only has one change, while the Kai dub has several. Also, you cannot compare acting. The F/Z dub is at another level. Arguably one of the best English dubs ever.

What's the F/Z dub?

[B]

I believe he's talking about Fate/Zero, a completely different franchise.

[TheAldella]

I believe he's talking about Fate/Zero, a completely different franchise.

It seems to have exploded in popularity, and the dub IS rather controversial, haha.

[Rocketman]

Schemmel is way better than Nozawa, that's for sure.

In what way do you find him better than Nozawa?

BWAAAAKKKKKK

[VegettoEX]

BWAAAAKKKKKK

This is not a valid response. Please add actual content to your posts.

[ABED]

I think Nozawa's the better actor, but maybe age affected her performance, it's definitely affected the sound of her voice. Her performance in Kai was not as good as the original, whereas Sean's was far greater than his first go around. I dare say it was even better than Nozawa's Kai performance.

[Mewzard]

So why do people praise the Kai dub, without any critical thinking, while shitting on the Z dub, even

Because the DBZ dub deserves to be shit on? Despite all the inconstant attack names and mixed up TV audio on the home release, it's the closest thing to a descent DBZ dub we have. The original DBZ dub was horrible, corny, the voice acting was terrible and on top of everything, it was totally inaccurate. Here are two of my favorite comparison clips...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65846913@N ... 1604586029

http://www.flickr.com/photos/65846913@N ... 604586029/

Then again, if you said you loved the original DBZ dub purely for nostalgia reasons, I'd totally understand.

There's always one comparison that I feel that shows just how much things have changed perfectly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgL-RKRRJ5E

Dialog, acting, and voices in general, all are clear with this one. Also, Kai fixes Goku's character in the scene immensely.

[Fionordequester]

Sigh...it saddens me to see that it's Season 3 that people ALWAYS go back to when saying how bad the Z dub is, like that season is actually representative of it's quality as a whole. I mean, I know there was an Uncut/Remastered clip in there, but that was from Season 1, when the writers were still using large chunks of the original Ocean script, which of course, was the worst the series ever had in terms of scripting (yes, even worse than Season 3, which at least was funny in just how off-the-wall the dialogue was).

I mean heck, Season 3 didn't even have an actual translator on staff, so of course the dialogue was going to suck.