Should FUNimation have done a completely new cast for Kai?

[B]

Make me king for a day, and Sabat keeps Piccolo, God, Piccolo Daimao, the Dragons, and Reacoom. His other roles get recasted.

[Valerius Dover]

Make me king for a day, and Sabat keeps Piccolo, God, Piccolo Daimao, the Dragons, and Reacoom. His other roles get recasted.

Chris Sabat said in his Blu-Ray interview that he would keep Vegeta if he only got one role.

In my opinion anyway, I wouldn't be completely off-put by a new cast, but it may take even more getting used to.

[Kid Buu]

What don't you like about Goku, Roshi, and Yamcha? Just curious.

Goku is not goofy-sounding enough; the other two are too goofy-sounding.

Wait, I realized I misread this. I thought you said Yamcha didn't sound goofy enough. Now that I see what you originally intended, I agree.

[Mewzard]

3 main characters is bad? What about Ms. Nozawa who voiced 4 main characters, a villian, and 2 fusions.

I'm not a fan of that either but in her defence there is at least some logic behind that since she plays Goku family members. Also her performance is very unique so in my mind she is an understandable exception.

Piccolo and Vegeta have no reason at all to sound so similar since they have vastly different body shape and personality. Sure he does do a better job at separating the two nowadays but what's the point when you could easily just get someone else to play one of them?

And in my mind, Sabat's Vegeta and Piccolo are very distinct (that said, he did have far too many roles, and I'm glad he stepped away from several of them, though he could have done with dropping another role or two at least).

Frankly, I think Nozawa's closer in her roles than Sabat is in his nowadays. It's certainly a lot more noticeable to me.

And by the logic of your last line, why get Nozawa to voice every male member of Goku's family but Raditz when each could be given to a distinct actor? Of course, leaving Nozawa as Goku.

The Japanese side shouldn't get special exemptions to critiques due to being first.

[NitroEX]

3 main characters is bad? What about Ms. Nozawa who voiced 4 main characters, a villian, and 2 fusions.

I'm not a fan of that either but in her defence there is at least some logic behind that since she plays Goku family members. Also her performance is very unique so in my mind she is an understandable exception.

Piccolo and Vegeta have no reason at all to sound so similar since they have vastly different body shape and personality. Sure he does do a better job at separating the two nowadays but what's the point when you could easily just get someone else to play one of them?

And in my mind, Sabat's Vegeta and Piccolo are very distinct (that said, he did have far too many roles, and I'm glad he stepped away from several of them, though he could have done with dropping another role or two at least).

Frankly, I think Nozawa's closer in her roles than Sabat is in his nowadays. It's certainly a lot more noticeable to me.

And by the logic of your last line, why get Nozawa to voice every male member of Goku's family but Raditz when each could be given to a distinct actor? Of course, leaving Nozawa as Goku.

The Japanese side shouldn't get special exemptions to critiques due to being first.

Like I said, I'm not a fan of that whole situation with Nozawa either and if I was in charge of the casting back then I wouldn't have gone with her being in so many roles. I'm not giving the Japanese dub a free pass on that, I was merely pointing out the likely reason behind that choice which many fans have come to accept. Sabat on the other hand doesn't really have the same kind of reasoning for holding onto all his roles, it just comes off as him being in a high enough position to have a say on who get's cast as what and deciding to keep certain roles for himself. If Freeza and Gohan can get recast I don't see why either Piccolo or Vegeta couldn't have gotten new actors either.

[TheGmGoken]

Are you saying Sabat selfish? Maybe the people who audition isn't or wasn't good enough.

[ParkerAL]

In my opinion, it would be a wast to cast aside the genuine improvement all the major voice actors went through over the years since their beginnings.

[El Diabeetus]

I agree with Ajay on wanting Kaioh replaced and using the correct terms/pronunciations consistently. I remember hearing a rumor that Sabat originally wanted to bring in McNeil to do Piccolo. Which I would've loved despite Sabat's Piccolo being solid now. I would've been okay with mostly recasting. Although at this point in the cast, I only really want Kaioh and Recoome replaced even now. Although I'd be okay with Sabat cutting it down to just Vegeta and minor characters.

Ideally, I would have Sabat still direct, but do mostly everything from scratch with barely any holdover from the old dub (at least pronunciations/terms/terrible voices).

Either way except for things like Say-yan, offending voices here an there. I love how the Kai dub turned out.

[theoriginalbilis]

I do enjoy the FUNimation cast's work on the video games and Kai (since they improved both acting/translation-wise) and they've done a lot of good in spreading the popularity and longevity of the franchise, but honestly... I have no attachment to their cast.

And this is coming from someone who watched Ocean/FUNi dubbed episodes of DBZ on TV first before ever seeing the original version.

How is feel about a complete recasting is this: If FUNimation or some other dubbing outfit saw fit to recast all of the characters for Kai (so long as they were accurate to the "character" of the characters), I would be okay with it. So long as a faithful adaptation of the series was produced. Besides, it's not like the folks who work for FUNimation would be out of work, FUNimation dubs dozens of shows a year. I do suppose recasting so many "fan favorites" would cause a huge stink with the American fandom though.

And if, for whatever reason, the dubbing doesn't appeal to me, I can always flip to the Japanese track. No harm, no foul...

[andrewtuell1991]

A complete recast? If we were back in 1999 I would've said yes in a heartbeat, but to do that now seems excessive. Sure we still have some voices that are weak (Son Goku, Piccolo, Tenshinhan) and others that are just plain terrible (Gyumao, Reacoom, Kaio), but for the most part the voices have either improved tremendously (Vegeta, Yamucha, Kuririn) or recasted to near perfection (Son Gohan, Bulma, Freeza). A complete overhaul would've been a waste of time and resources.

[ConfusedPhantom]

I'm with Ajay on this one. While I'm not really that attached to the English cast, it's thanks to Chris Sabat that we're actually getting anything decent with the Dragon Ball series in these dubs. But, I would love them to use the proper pronunciations and names....and a better Kaio, Gyumao and Recoome, especially if someone like Sabat still directs it. But, as it stands now, I'm alright with how they're handling it now, so....I dunno.

[theoriginalbilis]

Agreed. Dragon Ball's been handled much better in recent years than back in 1999-2000, and the current cast is perfectly serviceable. No real reason to recast these days unless it's a necessity (someone quitting or moving), or a directorial choice (like the Kai recasts.)

At least newcomers can come into the franchise via Kai and not get potentially turned away by lines like "Why didn't I become a shoe salesman?" or "Piccolo, you da bomb!"

[Valerius Dover]

At least newcomers can come into the franchise via Kai and not get potentially turned away by lines like "Why didn't I become a shoe salesman?" or "Piccolo, you da bomb!"

Wait, what? I don't remember these. When were these again?

[TheKingOfKamehamehas]

At least newcomers can come into the franchise via Kai and not get potentially turned away by lines like "Why didn't I become a shoe salesman?" or "Piccolo, you da bomb!"

Wait, what? I don't remember these. When were these again?

Probably the Ocean Dub? Speaking of Ocean Dub, I am kind of happy that Ocean Dub did get replaced though because Dragon Ball would maybe be edited for a long time and that cheesy dialogue...Also I prefer Bruce Scott and the other guy over Shuki Levy. Sure some of the actors sounded pretty good, but I think the dialogue is more important than the performance

[Valerius Dover]

At least newcomers can come into the franchise via Kai and not get potentially turned away by lines like "Why didn't I become a shoe salesman?" or "Piccolo, you da bomb!"

Wait, what? I don't remember these. When were these again?

Probably the Ocean Dub? Speaking of Ocean Dub, I am kind of happy that Ocean Dub did get replaced though because Dragon Ball would maybe be edited for a long time and that cheesy dialogue...Also I prefer Bruce Scott and the other guy over Shuki Levy. Sure some of the actors sounded pretty good, but I think the dialogue is more important than the performance

If that's the case, it isn't really fair to judge the dub by the old dub. It was swept under the rug for a reason. Cat loves food? Complain about that all you want. But any lines involving Bardock's education or Mr. Hot Pants should be left forgotten.
Also, there were two other guys aside from Bruce Faulconer and Scott Morgan. Mike Smith and Julius Dobos were the other guys. Then there was Nathan Johnson, whose music directly replaced Levy's.

[Weejus]

Honestly, I'm fine with the current cast FUNi has. Yes, even Kaiō. He sounds like gibbering idiot but I don't really mind since he gets used for comic relief more and more throughout the series.

[theoriginalbilis]

At least newcomers can come into the franchise via Kai and not get potentially turned away by lines like "Why didn't I become a shoe salesman?" or "Piccolo, you da bomb!"

Wait, what? I don't remember these. When were these again?

Why didn't I become a shoe salesman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks19HjX1HaA
Man, you're da bomb!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8rTFgriWng#t=07m52s

Here's some other nuggets of (rank) cheese for you to savor:
Helping people can be fun, too!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9rIrqRQwRs
Krillin's the da house: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5WLj_dxSWc
Unsexy grunting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ODnGoPyuBk

FUNi's come a long way from the dark ol' days, though I will admit the old dub can be entertaining (if only for it's amusing lack of polish and WTF-ness.)

[Valerius Dover]

Why didn't I become a shoe salesman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks19HjX1HaA
Man, you're da bomb!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8rTFgriWng#t=07m52s

Here's some other nuggets of (rank) cheese for you to savor:
Helping people can be fun, too!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9rIrqRQwRs
Krillin's the da house: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5WLj_dxSWc
Unsexy grunting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ODnGoPyuBk

The first clip is too long. The second clip has the salesman line, but it's from the old dub. The voices are way off from the definitive version. Now, that I think about it, I do remember him saying it in the redub, too, however. The third one, I'll give you that. Early Sean Schemmel line. No Next Episode Previews in the definitive version, so fourth one is also irrelevant. The fifth one, pretty sure all those grunts are from the old version, too.

[ABED]

Of course they are relevant, those lines existed.

I think the dialogue is more important than the performance

Bad dialog can hurt a performance.

The cast is by and large more than serviceable, they are very good. I would keep most of them as is except for Schemmel as Kaio, McFarland as Roshi, Josh Martin as Buu, any role Justin Cook has, and Hebert as the narrator and Gyumao.

[Valerius Dover]

Yes, those lines existed, but what he was saying was that with Kai it is now possible to get through the series without such lines. Granted, the Remastered Version still contains some really hilarious lines, but there are plenty others that were removed.