Has Dragon Ball Made Your Life Happier?

[Gaffer Tape]

Please ask me how my criticism of a single voice actor precluded me from ever being hired as an anime reviewer!

Since this ties into your post (I assume this is what you're referring to), I am going to ask. May I assume this has something to do with the time Sean Schemmel came here?

[Wibbs]

Please ask me how my criticism of a single voice actor precluded me from ever being hired as an anime reviewer!

Since this ties into your post (I assume this is what you're referring to), I am going to ask. May I assume this has something to do with the time Sean Schemmel came here?

When did that happen?

[Gaffer Tape]

2010, if I recall. If I remember correctly, he came solely to have it out with penguintruth, and... they did.

[TheGmGoken]

Please ask me how my criticism of a single voice actor precluded me from ever being hired as an anime reviewer!

Since this ties into your post (I assume this is what you're referring to), I am going to ask. May I assume this has something to do with the time Sean Schemmel came here?

When did that happen?

http://www.kanzenshuu.com/forum/memberl ... ile&u=6820
http://www.kanzenshuu.com/forum/search. ... 0&sr=posts

If only they got somebody with actual singing talent to sing it.

Would you care to explain in great detail, why I am so talentless, when I keep get hired by professionals over and over to use my talents?

[90sDBZ]

Absolutely. It's a constant inspiration when working out or doing pretty much anything challenging. When I'm feeling down Dragonball keeps me going.

[Wibbs]

http://www.kanzenshuu.com/forum/memberl ... ile&u=6820
http://www.kanzenshuu.com/forum/search. ... 0&sr=posts

If only they got somebody with actual singing talent to sing it.

Would you care to explain in great detail, why I am so talentless, when I keep get hired by professionals over and over to use my talents?

That's just so... surreal. I mean what the hell. Why sign up to a forum just to argue with someone, about something so stupid. Shame I missed that, I doubt it will ever happen again.

[TheBlackPaladin]

That's just so... surreal. I mean what the hell. Why sign up to a forum just to argue with someone, about something so stupid. Shame I missed that, I doubt it will ever happen again.

Perhaps it was a combination of the fact that his feelings were hurt and that he wanted to encourage insightful discussion over comments that could easily be interpreted as mean-spirited?

Don't get me wrong, I would have handled it differently if I was in Schemmel's shoes (probably by just not responding), but I'd stop short of calling his response unprovoked.

[Wibbs]

That's just so... surreal. I mean what the hell. Why sign up to a forum just to argue with someone, about something so stupid. Shame I missed that, I doubt it will ever happen again.

Perhaps it was a combination of the fact that his feelings were hurt and that he wanted to encourage insightful discussion over comments that could easily be interpreted as mean-spirited?

Don't get me wrong, I would have handled it differently if I was in Schemmel's shoes (probably by just not responding), but I'd stop short of calling his response unprovoked.

I see where you're coming from, but I don't know. Everybody has the right to criticize at the end of the day, you just have to grow a thick skin when you're in the acting business.

[TheBlackPaladin]

That's just so... surreal. I mean what the hell. Why sign up to a forum just to argue with someone, about something so stupid. Shame I missed that, I doubt it will ever happen again.

Perhaps it was a combination of the fact that his feelings were hurt and that he wanted to encourage insightful discussion over comments that could easily be interpreted as mean-spirited?

Don't get me wrong, I would have handled it differently if I was in Schemmel's shoes (probably by just not responding), but I'd stop short of calling his response unprovoked.

I see where you're coming from, but I don't know. Everybody has the right to criticize at the end of the day, you just have to grow a thick skin when you're in the acting business.

I know exactly what you mean. I'm conflicted on my feelings about it as well, and I think it's a parallel of the conflict between my feelings as an actor and as a...person in general, I guess. Yes, one does have to have a thick skin in this business, and you can't just go complaining whenever somebody doesn't like your performance (you can never please everybody...look hard enough, and you'll always find somebody who thought any given performance was somehow unsatisfactory).

On the other hand, I also think that--to a degree--actors can get dehumanized, and people can begin to think of them as "abstract entities" rather than real people. Sure, we know they're real people, but I think we forget that on a subconscious level sometimes...not only that they're real people, but that they're real people who can read the things we write about them (which is basically the point behind the "Celebrities Read Mean Tweets" skit on Jimmy Kimmel Live).

Part of why I was drawn to Kanzenshuu is that, save an occasional post here and there, the discussions go into such great detail. As a bonus, they do so by and large without being mean-spirited. It was such a refreshing break from the "dude this guys performance is gay it was a giant suckasarus og funimation dub fl"...stuff that I saw on YouTube. And--and I say this as an actor myself--actors actually like detailed criticism, because that level of detail helps them to become better actors, and helps to point out elements of a performance that a director may not necessarily pick up on. So I think gentle, civilized reminders about the importance of detailed (but not mean-spirited) artistic criticism are warranted every once in a while, and Schemmel's response was at the very least a reminder that he is a real person, not an abstract entity. One that was not unprovoked.

It was also, however, a situation that, if I were in it, I would have done very differently. Like I said, probably by not responding at all, especially not in the way that Schemmel did with some of his later, private responses to Penguintruth (which he then proceeded to publicize...may not have been a nice thing for Penguintruth to do, but on the other hand, there's no rule saying he couldn't do that, so one could argue that Schemmel should have thought about that before writing what he did). We're not supposed to give responses like that as actors...but a (small) part of me is kinda glad that someone broke the "unwritten code," and reminded people that on the internet, your thoughts are public, can be read, and can be spread.

Like I said, very conflicted on this. But I don't see it as a one-sided thing either way.

[dbboxkaifan]

So yeah. Not really sure what else to say here. Has Dragon Ball made you a happier person? Has it made you enjoy life more?

Depends. If I were listening to FUNimation's Z/Kai dubs it would be frustrating (more so the Kai than Z), but in Japanese, English "Ocean Dub", Latin Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese then I'm happy I'd say.

[Wibbs]

I see where you're coming from, but I don't know. Everybody has the right to criticize at the end of the day, you just have to grow a thick skin when you're in the acting business.

I know exactly what you mean. I'm conflicted on my feelings about it as well, and I think it's a parallel of the conflict between my feelings as an actor and as a...person in general, I guess. Yes, one does have to have a thick skin in this business, and you can't just go complaining whenever somebody doesn't like your performance (you can never please everybody...look hard enough, and you'll always find somebody who thought any given performance was somehow unsatisfactory).

On the other hand, I also think that--to a degree--actors can get dehumanized, and people can begin to think of them as "abstract entities" rather than real people. Sure, we know they're real people, but I think we forget that on a subconscious level sometimes...not only that they're real people, but that they're real people who can read the things we write about them (which is basically the point behind the "Celebrities Read Mean Tweets" skit on Jimmy Kimmel Live).

Part of why I was drawn to Kanzenshuu is that, save an occasional post here and there, the discussions go into such great detail. As a bonus, they do so by and large without being mean-spirited. It was such a refreshing break from the "dude this guys performance is gay it was a giant suckasarus og funimation dub fl"...stuff that I saw on YouTube. And--and I say this as an actor myself--actors actually like detailed criticism, because that level of detail helps them to become better actors, and helps to point out elements of a performance that a director may not necessarily pick up on. So I think gentle, civilized reminders about the importance of detailed (but not mean-spirited) artistic criticism are warranted every once in a while, and Schemmel's response was at the very least a reminder that he is a real person, not an abstract entity. One that was not unprovoked.

It was also, however, a situation that, if I were in it, I would have done very differently. Like I said, probably by not responding at all, especially not in the way that Schemmel did with some of his later, private responses to Penguintruth (which he then proceeded to publicize...may not have been a nice thing for Penguintruth to do, but on the other hand, there's no rule saying he couldn't do that, so one could argue that Schemmel should have thought about that before writing what he did). We're not supposed to give responses like that as actors...but a (small) part of me is kinda glad that someone broke the "unwritten code," and reminded people that on the internet, your thoughts are public, can be read, and can be spread.

Like I said, very conflicted on this. But I don't see it as a one-sided thing either way.

I can get on board with that, after all if you are going out of your way to constantly criticize someone the least you can do is be constructive about it and yeah I would've hated to Schemmel at that point. But a lot of this is before my time on Kanzenshuu so hopefully things have changed in regards to criticism since then.

Also a little off topic but, I never knew you were an actor , that's so cool . What have you been in?

[VegettoEX]

I appreciate everyone keeping things on-track with the actual question at hand. Thanks!

[Gyt Kaliba]

Considering I have a similar story to Mike's own, at least on the front of meeting my best friend and girlfriend because of Dragon Ball...yeah, I'd say it's made my life pretty happy. Always amuses me on that front too - arguably the least romantic series of all time bringing people together like that.

Even beyond that though, I get a ton of happiness out of the series. It caused me to get more into anime in general, which led me to my preferred kind of storytelling (though I think that's damaged my writing ability slightly to be honest - it's not easy to write original stories in that vein and get them to come out right), which caused me to meet more and more friends that I've had for years now. I honestly don't know where I'd be in life if it wasn't for Dragon Ball, and out of all the nerdy stuff I like, I'm pretty sure there's only one other series I can say that about.

[DonZ]

Let's be realistic for a little while here, a show/manga isn't the kind of thing that would make your life happier, this is just sooo cheesy to say. yes you may enjoy it very much, but overall it's a just a show. it wouldn't make any difference in your life.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Let's be realistic for a little while here, a show/manga isn't the kind of thing that would make your life happier, this is just sooo cheesy to say. yes you may enjoy it very much, but overall it's a just a show. it wouldn't make any difference in your life.

You'd be surprised, actually. It's not with Dragon Ball specifically, but Rob Paulsen on his podcast has mentioned many a times how people will come up to him at conventions and say how watching Animaniacs helped them when they were little and their parents were going through a divorce, or how watching TMNT helped them when they were being bullied. Entertainment really can have the power to change lives, even if it's just helping someone get through a rough patch in life.

[Gaffer Tape]

Um, I dunno. Have you read the other posts in this thread? Gyt Kaliba and Mike met their romantic partners because of DB. I remember when Chris Psaros shut down DBZ Uncensored, he mentioned that his desire to make the site forced him to learn web page design, which in turn got him work in that field. So I don't think it's at all ridiculous to say that it can have a positive impact on your life depending on what you do with it.

[Wibbs]

Let's be realistic for a little while here, a show/manga isn't the kind of thing that would make your life happier, this is just sooo cheesy to say. yes you may enjoy it very much, but overall it's a just a show. it wouldn't make any difference in your life.

It's a little unfair to say that, you can make friends through enjoying a show/manga, especially with one that has as large a fanbase that DragonBall has, which in turn could make you happier. Besides if you're feeling down it's nice to watch something goofy for a while, like the original show.

[samuraix123]

Absolutely! I've been going through the original series and I've been under a lot of stress for the past couple of months and anytime I watched Master Roshi doing his stupid stuff with the woman I die laughing and forget about my problems. Last night Goku got a pirates skull and scared Bulma and that made me laugh pretty good. Dragonball is just a magical series that will always make me feel happy. I love talking about it so much that's why I'm glad I found this site. even though some of us disagree on dubs and such here I truly don't feel alone(Like I am at the house) when I'm here.

[Fizzer]

Well, DBZ caught my interest when I saw the first episode of the Ocean dub on TV when I was around 6. After a couple of episodes I was obsessed, and I spent my childhood thinking about it, writing stories about it and drawing the characters again and again and again. The other thing I was consistently obsessed with throughout my childhood was Super Metroid. From not long after I started watching DBZ until the end of primary school, my best friends were those in my year who also watched DBZ, and we used to play DBZ and talk about what was going to happen next pretty much every day at school.

I didn't have much to do with the series between being 11 and around 14, but then my obsession resurfaced, and the fact that I screwed up my GCSEs can be partially attributed to the fact that I stayed up watching Dragon Ball until 4am every night, but I had a great time. My GCSEs were just about good enough for me to go to college, and now I'm approaching the end of my physics degree, so that particular habit of mine didn't actually have any long-lasting repercussions and it was worth it.

It's less direct than some people here, but I started talking to my girlfriend of four-years-and-counting because of my "Over 9000" T-shirt. She wasn't a Dragon Ball fan at the time, she was a /b/tard, but me being a fan almost certainly caused that to happen.

I watched the series again across my first two years at university, in Japanese for the first time, and it basically served to give my a rest from work in the evenings, something to look forward to while dealing with the heavy workload. It was during that time that I joined Kanzenshuu.

Basically, Dragon Ball has been a big part of my life, and it's effect has definitely been positive.

[WittyUsername]

Can't say it has.