DragonBall dub

[linkdude20002001]

Funimation's dub of Dragon Ball is a huge improvement over their dub of Dragon Ball Z; however, it is not what I would call a "good" English dub by any means. The script is better, but still radially different from what Toriyama wrote. The acting is decent for most characters; Goku and Bulma are absolutely terrible. I would give it a C in terms of acting quality (remember, that's still 70-79%). Script accuracy probably also lies somewhere around that same level. Compare that to Dragon Ball Z, which would most certainly get an F (below 60%). Dragon Ball's English dub is MOSTLY watchable, but it's still not trying to be faithful. It is, after all, aimed at the fans of Funimation's "reversioning" of Dragon Ball Z.

[ABED]

Same voice actors, same inaccurate script with plenty of made up lines. Seems fair to me. They're really not that different.

With much more experience, a much better script, they are quite different. I'm not claiming it's great, but it's without a doubt better than DBZ's worst.

Marginal improvements over Z's dub don't really add up to something resembles a good dub though. It's more accurate but it's not great. How anyone can listen to Goku's voice in that garbage is beyond me. Kid sounds like he's been smoking sixty a day.

"Urghhh Bulmaaaaaaaaa~~ where are my lucky strikes?!"

If he can't even bare to watch Z in English whatsoever, he's not likely to sit through Dragon Ball just because of slightly less nonsense.

You won't get an argument from me that Nadolny is good, and unfortunately she's the main character. Even Vollmer improved and is far less irritating. Still irritating to listen to, just not as much. However, pretty much the rest of the cast is very good. However, the dub was more than a marginal improvement. The acting was better and far more natural sounding. The narrator is excellent. I could listen to Brice Armstrong read the phone book and still be riveted. Yeah, the scripts aren't great but they're good a lot of the time, and at their worst aren't as bad as season 3 of DBZ. The scripts are definitely more faithful in spirit to the source material. They still aren't as accurate as they should be but nowhere near as cringeworthy as often as DBZ's. There are a handful of episodes that are very accurate.

[TheBalishChannel]

I'm currently watching 1 episode a day of the BLT dub of Dragon Ball and I'm absolutely loving it. It's actually the first time I've ever really watched any of the series, too.

[Gaffer Tape]

Too bad that's only going to last you less than two weeks.

[linkdude20002001]

More like a couple days if you've got the free-time. :p
But FUNi's BLT dub had even LESS accurate scripts than episodes 14~153... And the music... At least the acting is good. I'd give it a B maybe. Not a single flaw acting-wise.

[TheBalishChannel]

Too bad that's only going to last you less than two weeks.

Yeah I'm dreading the end of it too. It's just like when I watch the early Ocean/Saban dub, I always have the inferior FUNimation version looming over my head but at least in the case of Dragon Ball Z I can sort of get my Ocean Studios fix with the Westwood dub but it's just not the same.

And the music...

I actually really liked Peter Berring's score for the show, especially that intro. I could never get tired of it.

[Dbzfan94]

Geez so much hate on this.

It's not perfect, but it's not nearly as bad as some people here are saying. Give it a try

[linkdude20002001]

How is it NOT that bad, then? Have you ever actually compared the two script-wise? Did you think the acting was worthy of and A, like, say, Death Note?

[theoriginalbilis]

Just watch the original DB in Japanese. You're already familiar with that cast and the original tone and dialogue, and won't have to worry about cast changes, music changes, and questionably rewritten (censored) dialogue.

That being said, the Dragon Ball dub ain't half bad. It's definitely better acting-wise and is more faithful than Z's dub, but not quite on the level of FUNimation's later efforts. They were still figuring out how much "adaptation vs. translation" they wanted to do.

[SSJ3_Zack]

It's okay. They use the Kikuchi score and the Narrator Brice Armstrong is fantastic. But everything else is meh. That reminds me I need to re-watch the Blue Water Dub of it at some point.

[jda95]

Coming from someone that is pretty unwilling to touch anything from the English side of the franchise with a 20 foot pole, I can honestly say I found the English Dragon Ball dub quite enjoyable. Although not 100% faithful nor my first choice for watching the series of course, I would think that fans watching the dub of this part of the series at least wouldn't be missing out on too much.

[dbboxkaifan]

I found the humor in Kai was pretty good. Even though the "internet connection" line irks me abit.

I see no reason why Funimation can't go ahead with a "Dragonball" Kai. They can just give it the Level treatment, though something tells me they would just slap it with the Season set makeover.

FUNimation give Dragon Ball a Level remastering treatment? That's been discussed and turns out they can't, and really, why'd you want it? For a new English dub?

The Saga Sets & Blue Bricks are both perfectly sets and if FUNimation were to release better version of it it'd still not be too much of an improvement due to the lack of all the OPs/EDs/NEPs.

[UltimateHammerBro]

Just watch it in Japanese. There's pretty much nothing non-Kai that is any good dubbed.

Well...maybe only the English dub

I think he meant in English, as "there's pretty much nothing non-Kai that is any good in English dub."

in my opinion it tends to be rather hit and miss. There are patches where the translation is pretty good, but others - like the 23rd Budokai tournament - make you wonder what the writers over at FUNi were thinking. This moment comes to mind for me.

I kinda like the DB dub, but this is pathetic.

[Fulicer]

Just watch it in Japanese. There's pretty much nothing non-Kai that is any good dubbed.

Well...maybe only the English dub

I think he meant in English, as "there's pretty much nothing non-Kai that is any good in English dub."

in my opinion it tends to be rather hit and miss. There are patches where the translation is pretty good, but others - like the 23rd Budokai tournament - make you wonder what the writers over at FUNi were thinking. This moment comes to mind for me.

I kinda like the DB dub, but this is pathetic.

I wish i had the original scene as a reference...or at least knew about the differences.

[Vegard Aune]

in my opinion it tends to be rather hit and miss. There are patches where the translation is pretty good, but others - like the 23rd Budokai tournament - make you wonder what the writers over at FUNi were thinking. This moment comes to mind for me.

I kinda like the DB dub, but this is pathetic.

I wish i had the original scene as a reference...or at least knew about the differences.

Well for one thing the scene shows a flashback to Goku promising that he'd marry Chichi... except their rewriting of the script doesn't even imply that a promise was made in that scene. Originally the dialogue went something like "Your bride will be waiting for you here," "My bride? You're gonna give me something? Okay, I'll come back for it then." Then it has Goku acting about a quadrillion times too romantic about the whole thing whereas in Japanese it was literally just "Well, I did promise... Guess I'll marry you then."

[UltimateHammerBro]

Well for one thing the scene shows a flashback to Goku promising that he'd marry Chichi... except their rewriting of the script doesn't even imply that a promise was made in that scene. Originally the dialogue went something like "Your bride will be waiting for you here," "My bride? You're gonna give me something? Okay, I'll come back for it then." Then it has Goku acting about a quadrillion times too romantic about the whole thing whereas in Japanese it was literally just "Well, I did promise... Guess I'll marry you then."

Yes, that scene is hilarious with the original script, but Goku acting romantic is so, so OOC.
There is a time, in the Buu saga, when he tells Chichi that he's going to stay, and Funi makes him say "I love you". It fit a lot better considering he's all grown up and all that, but here? Come on.

However, I've heard that they tried to fix the promise mistake by making them say it the second time they see each other (in filler).

[dbboxkaifan]

in my opinion it tends to be rather hit and miss. There are patches where the translation is pretty good, but others - like the 23rd Budokai tournament - make you wonder what the writers over at FUNi were thinking. This moment comes to mind for me.

Still, the acting is better than most of Z. Take that as you will.

First he asks her if she'll marry him and then says "why are you grabbing me?!", just what the hell were they thinking changing the script so much.

[KentalSSJ6]

in my opinion it tends to be rather hit and miss. There are patches where the translation is pretty good, but others - like the 23rd Budokai tournament - make you wonder what the writers over at FUNi were thinking. This moment comes to mind for me.

Still, the acting is better than most of Z. Take that as you will.

First he asks her if she'll marry him and then says "why are you grabbing me?!", just what the hell were they thinking changing the script so much.

Ehh...I don't mind that bit as much. I mean this is the guy thought marriage was a food before being told what it really meant. If he didn't know what marriage even was, I think its safe to say he doesn't know what it includes as well. Plus we get that hilarious line from Krillin.

"Krillin, what does marry mean..?"

"It means your life is over!"

[Super Sonic]

The dub is fine, though it was hampered by laziness from not changing some things from the old scripts. As with Krillin's line about a bride, I guess they couldn't resist making that joke.

[BurakkuForesuto]

Just watch it in Japanese. There's pretty much nothing non-Kai that is any good dubbed.

The Pioneer dubs of the first 3 movies are better than Kai's dub, even though Ocean can't be consistent for shit.