List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

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List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by Rockman X » Sat Mar 15, 2014 5:52 pm

Now i was accustomed to English Dub because it had cool music and better voices but as the time went on and i watched a whole episode subbed and i realized that dub has completely changed the show 99% into a different show (its very much like the experience i had with digimon adventure sub)

Below is the list of things i like/dislike about the original&the dubbed :-

1) Voice actors- The only real shocker to me is the Japanese Goku&adult gohan's voice which just seems unfitting for their age,Vegeta's voice is terrific btw and all the other characters have better voices compared to their dub counterparts where they just seem to be way over the top and comical like babidi&majin buu etc and thank goodness for Bulma,her banshee voice in dub almost kills me sometimes.

So overall i think the English dub voices are decent but the acting is really hammy&lackluster when compared to the original the acting looks mediocre,characters really fail to emote like they should.

2) Music/BGM- This is really controversial but i'd say it outloud original ambient music&BGM fits the pacing of the show perfectly,bruce falconer's music as awesome it is it completely derails the original intent of the show and the main problem with it is that it NEVER STOPS! there is no attention to ambiance or silence in the dub.

Overall it takes some time to get used to the dated 80's music but it really is much much better than bruce falconer's music when it comes to overall pacing of the show as it doesn't always keep playing randomly.

3) The Dialogs- I've only watched few episodes subbed and i can already see how much the dubbing altered the original dialogs and added unnecessary dialogs for when the scene was originally supposed to be silent.

Even then i really like some of the dubs lines better than their original counterparts because they just sound more badass like "vegeta's Pride" for example but the majority of the time it seems like the dub just messes up original dialogs a lot.

Overall i think i like both dubbed&subbed for completely different reasons.

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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by Valerius Dover » Sat Mar 15, 2014 6:11 pm

The US music is optional, so it's not entirely fair to judge the dub with it anymore. Plus, TEAM Faulconer only did Episodes 68-291 of Dragon Ball Z. Nathan Johnson did 1-67 and Mark Menza did Dragon Ball GT. The original Dragon Ball doesn't have a US score.

Even though I have yet to see it subbed (it's on my to-do list) I have seen clips and greatly respect it. I can say that I so far prefer US music with the dub. Original music with the dub can be a bit awkward at times.
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by Rockman X » Sat Mar 15, 2014 6:49 pm

Valerius Dover wrote:The US music is optional, so it's not entirely fair to judge the dub with it anymore. Plus, TEAM Faulconer only did Episodes 68-291 of Dragon Ball Z. Nathan Johnson did 1-67 and Mark Menza did Dragon Ball GT. The original Dragon Ball doesn't have a US score.
I wasn't entirely judging the dub for music its just that music seems to be the best thing about the dub.. everything else is not as good as the original.

you should totally watch a whole episode subbed to truly see the differences in pacing,dialogs,ambient music and voice acting.

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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by SSJ Electric Fury » Sat Mar 15, 2014 7:30 pm

I like receiving coherent dialogue without having to constantly look at the screen (particularly while working on stuff).

I dislike where dub creative license creates character inconsistencies, detracting cheesiness, and plot holes. I also dislike conspicuously poor voice acting.
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by B » Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:03 pm

There's nothing I actively dislike about the Japanese version. I have plenty of issues with the anime, but those exist in the dub, of course. So speaking of exclusive things such as vocal performances or music, not really. I'm not a big fan of "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA" or "Come Out, Incredible ZENKAI Power!". This may not mean much from the perspective of an American a good ten years removed from the original target audience, but if I had spent three years with Hiroki Takahashi's and Ushio Hashimoto's songs and then suddenly they were replaced with Z's themes, I think I would've been pretty upset. Most of the movies aren't very good, as we're all aware.

On the dub side, I'd say most of them have improved, which is a bit of a double-edged sword in that we've got actors who are this close to capturing their characters and fall short because their stuck doing "character voices" for no other reason than to not alienate old fans familiar with the original dub.

This might be cheating, but the The Legacy of Goku series of games are fun. They were made with the dub in mind, took the script verbatim, and used Faulconer tracks, right?
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by ABED » Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:10 pm

I don't like the Faulconer score, it doesn't mesh with DBZ. You can call the 80s score dated, but that 90s score is both cheep and dates itself very quickly.

I'm not up on current music anyways, so I have no idea how Kikuchi's score sounds dated. It's not contemporary, it's timeless.
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by Gaffer Tape » Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:23 pm

Yeah. There are a few early pieces of DB music that really tap into that '80s vibe with the synth and such, and especially the insert songs, but for the most part, it's just orchestral music that doesn't really go out of style. Those same people might as well be saying that John Williams's music for Return of the Jedi or Danny Elfman's score for Batman or Alan Silvestri's score for Back to the Future, all of which were made in and around the same era, sound dated.
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by Eternal Super Saiyan » Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:26 pm

Out of all the music scores, I would say Nathan Johnson's work from episodes 1-67 fit DBZ the best. Bruce Faulconer is cool, though I will admit a few songs that are used are out of place. Nathan takes the cake for actually fitting his music nicely with atmosphere and the overall situation.

Japanese voices, some are great, some not. Vegeta and Piccolo are cool voices in the original Jap version, but some of the other main characters don't fit the bill.
The music score for the Jap version can tend to sound a little on the abrupt side in moments of the show, in my opinion.

If Nathan Johnson did the music score for the entire English dub instead of the first 67 episodes, I'd have preferred it this way.
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by ABED » Sat Mar 15, 2014 9:35 pm

The dub's acting is a weird patchwork. Season 3 is the height of awfulness. It gets better over time, so DB which was dubbed when the inhouse actors had more experience, plus a better script, then the redub of seasons 1 and 2. The difference between episodes 67 and 68 is jarring.

I don't like that the dub has different music and narrators for all three series.

A big problem I have with the voices from season 3 is that they were hollow imitations of voices that were often miscast to begin with. Sure, many of the actors lacked experience, and the talent pool was shallow at the time, but I think a good script, more fitting voices, and not forcing the actors to imitate previous voices would've done wonders for the inhouse dub right off the bat.
the original Jap version,
could you use a less offensive term?
but some of the other main characters don't fit the bill.
Care to give a few examples?
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by JackyBoi99 » Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:48 pm

The Sub in my opinion has far better music in terms of range and quality. The sub version knows exactly when and when not to play music with great moments of silence. This is my opinion, but I just don't think that either Nathan Johnson or Bruce Falconer's score suit dragon ball z at all. I've tried to watch z with the Falconer and Johnson score and just doesn't work for me. Kind of unwatchable sorry.
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by JackyBoi99 » Sat Mar 15, 2014 11:00 pm

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YyY3ILyI_No

Lines like that is what makes the dub unwatchable for me. This seems to happen with nearly all background characters for some reason?
It is clear that sometime in Mark Satan's life, he acquired the dragon balls and called upon shenlong to grant him immortality.

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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by Kamiccolo9 » Sat Mar 15, 2014 11:24 pm

JackyBoi99 wrote:http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YyY3ILyI_No

Lines like that is what makes the dub unwatchable for me. This seems to happen with nearly all background characters for some reason?
I don't suppose you know what the original version says during that scene?
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by Eternal Super Saiyan » Sat Mar 15, 2014 11:50 pm

ABED wrote:
the original Jap version,
could you use a less offensive term?
Don't see how I was offensive.. I have nothing against Japanese. What about when people say Japanimation, you think they are racist? :eh:
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by Smochi » Sat Mar 15, 2014 11:58 pm

Eternal Super Saiyan wrote:
ABED wrote:
the original Jap version,
could you use a less offensive term?
Don't see how I was offensive.. I have nothing against Japanese.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jap

"Jap" is actually a derogatory name for Japanese. Even though it was just an abbreviation, a lot of people still take offense to it because of its history.

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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by Eternal Super Saiyan » Sun Mar 16, 2014 12:04 am

I had no clue. I'm pretty young. And anyone saying that today I doubt means it the way it is described in the article. By all means though I'll be more careful :)
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by JackyBoi99 » Sun Mar 16, 2014 12:08 am

Kamiccolo9 wrote:
JackyBoi99 wrote:http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YyY3ILyI_No

Lines like that is what makes the dub unwatchable for me. This seems to happen with nearly all background characters for some reason?
I don't suppose you know what the original version says during that scene?
I can't remember, since I haven't seen the seru arc in a while but the old man definitely says something different. It's not just that line but the way he says it :? . It seems common that background characters in the dub sound terrible and have really stupid lines for some reason.
It is clear that sometime in Mark Satan's life, he acquired the dragon balls and called upon shenlong to grant him immortality.

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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by penguintruth » Sun Mar 16, 2014 12:29 am

What's to dislike about the Japanese version? Aside from some of the VAs losing a step or two by the time Kai came out, the overuse of some Kikuchi tracks late in DBZ, and spoilerrific episode titles now and then? Other than those minor gripes, it's nearly perfect, in the sense that it conveys the story and characters expertly. I guess you can make an argument for the presence of filler, but that has less to do with the version's acting or music and more to do with the animation itself. It's out of the hands of the performers and composers.

The English dub, as has been established, is poorly written tripe with large swaths of completely invented dialogue that only has the bare bones to do with the intended meaning of scenes, and of course the horrifically terrible acting that plagued most of the entirety of its existence. People were actually paid money to just completely ignore the established characterizations in the original show and write a lot of stupid bullcrap that mischaracterized and defamed the players in the plot both in word and tone, obviously and clearly deliberately by a group of people who almost seemed to have an actual disdain for the material. The casting was done on the cheap, employing rank amateurs who sounded like random people they pulled off a street, many of whom barely improved over a decade's time and yet command thousands of fans who will not only defend their terrible acting but actually hound you endlessly if you dare criticize them. If I could somehow literally spit on the English dub itself, I would. It's an abomination.

The Japanese version of DB/Z is the actual show(s). The English version is some pale shadow.
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by JackyBoi99 » Sun Mar 16, 2014 12:42 am

penguintruth wrote:What's to dislike about the Japanese version? Aside from some of the VAs losing a step or two by the time Kai came out, the overuse of some Kikuchi tracks late in DBZ, and spoilerrific episode titles now and then? Other than those minor gripes, it's nearly perfect, in the sense that it conveys the story and characters expertly. I guess you can make an argument for the presence of filler, but that has less to do with the version's acting or music and more to do with the animation itself. It's out of the hands of the performers and composers.

The English dub, as has been established, is poorly written tripe with large swaths of completely invented dialogue that only has the bare bones to do with the intended meaning of scenes, and of course the horrifically terrible acting that plagued most of the entirety of its existence. People were actually paid money to just completely ignore the established characterizations in the original show and write a lot of stupid bullcrap that mischaracterized and defamed the players in the plot both in word and tone, obviously and clearly deliberately by a group of people who almost seemed to have an actual disdain for the material. The casting was done on the cheap, employing rank amateurs who sounded like random people they pulled off a street, many of whom barely improved over a decade's time and yet command thousands of fans who will not only defend their terrible acting but actually hound you endlessly if you dare criticize them. If I could somehow literally spit on the English dub itself, I would. It's an abomination.

The Japanese version of DB/Z is the actual show(s). The English version is some pale shadow.

That is exactly what I think of the english dub. To be honest I don't hate it, but I do think that it is terrible. Especially the replacement music and wooden acting.
It is clear that sometime in Mark Satan's life, he acquired the dragon balls and called upon shenlong to grant him immortality.

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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by B » Sun Mar 16, 2014 12:56 am

penguintruth wrote:If I could somehow literally spit on the English dub itself, I would. It's an abomination.
I guess this would require access to wherever FUNimation stores their master tapes? Literally spitting on them is probably doable, albeit inconvenient.
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Re: List of the things you LIKE&DISLIKE about Dub&Sub

Post by Valerius Dover » Sun Mar 16, 2014 5:10 am

I think some people criticize the dub a bit too harshly, when it's probably one of the better dubs out there. One of the biggest, most important things for me is the fact that it's ACTUALLY UNCUT. Seriously, there are so many other anime that don't have that privilege. Not only that, but the original being legally available is a plus as well. I'm not a hardcore anime fan, but I have come across the 4Kids dubs of Sonic X and Hoshi no Kaabii / Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, as well as ShoPro's Mega Man NT Warrior / Rockman.EXE. Those are far less faithful in comparison. And they were edited and hacked to no end. Sonic, I remember having particularly bad music in the dub. I still enjoy them, but wish they could've been better.

Funi's Dragon Ball dub on the other hand has actual effort put into it. I kind of see it as a separate entity from the original. The term "adaptation" should probably be used for this and the other dubs I mentioned. Sure, it's not Pure Dragon Ball, but I certainly enjoy it anyway. :lol: I'm a positive person overall, so I enjoy those cheesy dub lines. The only dub that made me cringe was Sonic and its horrible puns killed the mood sometimes. So, if I gave Sonic a 2 out of 5 (points off for bad music, bad puns, and missing scenes) Kirby a 4 out of 5 (point off for missing scenes) and Mega Man a 4 out of 5 (point off for missing scenes and entire episodes) I'd give Dragon Ball as a whole a 5 out of 5.

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