Unpopular Opinion: Nozawa should have never been Adult Goku?

[DB_Fan1991]

I used to have the same opinion as the original OP when I first became a fan as all I knew was FUNimation's dub, but now that I (since last year) have seen the whole series in Japanese my opinion has changed. I think Masako Nozawa IS Son Goku no ifs, ands or buts about it. I really can't imagine anyone else as him. She makes Goku childlike when he needs to be and also very serious when he needs to be. Sometimes her screams can be grating (especially in the most recent stuff like Kai), but that can be blamed on her age not the performance. Gaffer Tape said it best when he said the first thing that comes to mind is when Nozawa (as Goku) says Ossu! Ora Goku.

To TheBlackPaladin, the French dub also tried keeping the same Goku voice for child &a dult in the last 21 episodes of Dragon Ball, but then they changed it to a man in DBZ.

[JulieYBM]

Dragon Ball is a story about people who settle their problems with violence, but it is also a show made by people with entirely different views than those westerners (Americans?) now in this thread claiming it is 'unrealistic' or 'unbelievable'. Merely because an individual does not understand a life does not mean said life is no life at all. Nozawa Masako's Gokuu is a life that has endured with millions across the Planet Earth. Those from planets and dimensions peering down upon ours might even enjoy it, too, it's certainly not impossible!

What does this even mean? Who said anything about "no life at all"?

Using hot words like 'real' and 'believable' indicate this is now an argument about Dragon Ball the animated franchise failing reflect life. I thought those preceding sentences placed the rest of my post in context.

[ABED]

Dragon Ball is a story about people who settle their problems with violence, but it is also a show made by people with entirely different views than those westerners (Americans?) now in this thread claiming it is 'unrealistic' or 'unbelievable'. Merely because an individual does not understand a life does not mean said life is no life at all. Nozawa Masako's Gokuu is a life that has endured with millions across the Planet Earth. Those from planets and dimensions peering down upon ours might even enjoy it, too, it's certainly not impossible!

What does this even mean? Who said anything about "no life at all"?

Using hot words like 'real' and 'believable' indicate this is now an argument about Dragon Ball the animated franchise failing reflect life. I thought those preceding sentences placed the rest of my post in context.

The way you word it makes it sound like "just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's not real".

[Bullza]

Agreed with OP. Goku as an adult sounds absolutely ridiculous in Japanese. He's a ripped muscle bound warrior, strongest in the universe and yet he sounds either like a little Japanese girl or an old Japanese lady, I can't pinpoint which.

It'd be like watching the Superman cartoon and everytime he opened his mouth he'd sound like Betty White.

It's not exactly an upopular opinion though I see loads of people make fun of it all the time on youtube.

[Zephyr]

he sounds either like a little Japanese girl or an old Japanese lady, I can't pinpoint which.

I've never heard an old woman or a little girl who sounds like Nozawa's Goku.

[ImmaDeker]

Dragon Ball is a story about people who settle their problems with violence, but it is also a show made by people with entirely different views than those westerners (Americans?) now in this thread claiming it is 'unrealistic' or 'unbelievable'. Merely because an individual does not understand a life does not mean said life is no life at all. Nozawa Masako's Gokuu is a life that has endured with millions across the Planet Earth. Those from planets and dimensions peering down upon ours might even enjoy it, too, it's certainly not impossible!

What does this even mean? Who said anything about "no life at all"?

Using hot words like 'real' and 'believable' indicate this is now an argument about Dragon Ball the animated franchise failing reflect life. I thought those preceding sentences placed the rest of my post in context.

You sound like you're trying to be way too profound about a cartoon.

[ABED]

You sound like you're trying to be way too profound about a cartoon.

The fact that it's a cartoon has nothing to do with it.

[Herms]

Far from an "unpopular opinion", this same argument repeats here so often that we probably should just have a "Say Bad Things About Nozawa" sticky thread for people to vent. Anyway...

Is it really hard to see anyone else as Goku? For me, it sure isn't. Romi Park, Toshihiko Seki, Nobuyuki Hiyama, Rica Matsumoto, Katsuyuki Konishi could all do better jobs as Adult Goku.

I certainly think other people could do a great job as adult Goku. And, not to be too dark, but if they keep on making DB anime then one day we're going to need someone else to play Goku in Japanese. But I also think Nozawa does a fantastic job as adult Goku, every bit as good and fitting as her voice for kid Goku, and all the arguments for why she shouldn't have played the role just seem to boil down to "she doesn't fit because...she doesn't fit". It's ultimately more about personal preference and what you're used to than anything else. People who watch the Japanese version a lot tend to be fine with the voice, and people who don't, tend not to be. I mean, near as I can tell this whole thing is simply not an issue for Japanese fans. That doesn't mean you have to personally like her performance, or that all foreign dubs ought to follow the Japanese original and have the same performer for both kid and adult Goku. But if the actual target audience for the series finds that voice for the character fine and not at all weird or jarring, then it was probably a good casting decision overall. The fact that the character's creator thinks it's a perfect voice for the character is just a nice bonus.

(And yeah, Toriyama picked Nozawa to play kid Goku and probably wasn't involved in the decision to have her continue on to play adult Goku, but he also made his "Even now, I can't separate Goku from Nozawa" comment in an interview from shortly after the manga ended. If he didn't think Nozawa fit adult Goku, he probably wouldn't have made a comment like that after seven years of Nozawa playing adult Goku.)

[Mewzard]

I think Nozawa made Adult Goku work, but at the same time, another actor could have played Adult Goku. If they were a decent enough choice, kids in Japan likely wouldn't have complained, because voices do change as one ages, so it wouldn't be that big of a surprise.

Adults can have high pitched voices (just look at Mike Tyson, a tough guy with a voice that kinds sounds unfitting for his build). Even Schemmel's Goku voice is fairly high pitched these days (more so when excited or in an innocent/silly moment), and I think he's a great Goku.

A voice can be slightly off for the age/build and still work. Look at Tohru Furuya as Pegasus Seiya. Even with his eternally young voice, it's still coming out of a surprisingly tough looking 13 year old (who surpassed Goku before he could even have a birthday, amusingly enough

Spoiler:

and beat Goku to a godform by over 20 years

). You get used to it though, and suddenly replacing his voice actor with Ichigo from Bleach was off putting.

I think either option works. We just got one that worked, but it could have been fine the other way.

[Black_Liger]

I wouldn't mind Goku being voiced by an actual dude, however I do like Nowaza in Z, she just doesn't cut it in Kai, I just hear Dr. Kureha in Kai Goku.

[andrewtuell1991]

Honestly, do you believe that someone who looks like Goku would sound anything like that? The voice is not believable at all. It's not even "natural" either, because guys as big and strong as Goku do NOT sound like that.

Agreed with OP. Goku as an adult sounds absolutely ridiculous in Japanese. He's a ripped muscle bound warrior, strongest in the universe and yet he sounds either like a little Japanese girl or an old Japanese lady, I can't pinpoint which.

I don't understand this line of thinking at all! Just because Goku has some muscles and is one of the strongest beings in his universal means he should sound like some stereotypical gym-rat juice-head? The guy's a brain-damaged, man-child hillbilly who still says "bye-bye" instead of "good-bye", someone never takes any fight seriously until it's too late, and didn't seem bothered by the death of his two sons by some deranged bubble-gum creature. He's not exactly right in the head, and he should have a voice that reflects that, which Nozawa does to perfection. It's not just the innocent man-child part, it's also the hickishness (word?) that no English voice actor has even bothered to touch upon for some reason. I will say that someone else should've done Bardock, Teen/Future Gohan, and arguably even Goten (kid and adult).

None of Goku's English voice do it for me. Ian Corlett is... Ian Corlett, is there one role he doesn't suck at? Peter Kelamis sounded like some constipated surfer/stoner. Which is sad because he's good at doing hick characters, if any English writers/director would ever notice that about Goku. Sean Schemmel didn't try to put any manchild into Goku until Battle of Gods, but his voice is just too deep for the role, and still missing the hick/hillbilly influence! Kirby Morrow was a horrible miscast who made Goku sound like either a suave teenager (normal speaking voice) or a dying old man (battle yells - ESPECIALLY SSJ3). All the others aren't even worth mentioning.

[JulieYBM]

Park Romi is probably the only actor I can think of who would actually be as subjectively good if not better a Son Gokuu as Nozawa Masako. At this point I doubt we will see a man voice Gokuu in an original work again, especially now that American developers are no longer creating Dragon Ball video games.

The way you word it makes it sound like "just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it's not real".

That is exactly what I am arguing. It is entirely believable that Gokuu be voiced by Nozawa using a different pitch and mannerism as an adult Gokuu because she performs confidently. Her contribution to each episode, film, commercial, or video game is no less defining than the contribution made to every other aspect of the character, whether it is a drawing from an artist, a animation, a writer, a director, a producer, an audio director and engineer or that poor bastard drawing a rock in the background. If we are to accept her contribution is no longer 'real' or 'believable' there is no reason to consider any of the other thousands of pieces to each work 'real' or 'believable'.

Mind you, the entire basis of this subject in the first place is "I already know everything" when very clearly we as a species do not know everything, so that's something to keep in mind.

You sound like you're trying to be way too profound about a cartoon.

Given I have, as of this post, 7,927 posts on a message board dedicated to a Japanese comic and cartoon children's franchise despite being a grown man from the United States I would say I have some rather strong feelings regarding art of any sort. I cannot fathom why I would consider 'cartoons/animation/comics/film/television/music' unworthy of engrossment. People become passionately engrossed in sports. Some patient bastard out there collects stamps. My dad collects coins. I am on this message board to learn, discuss, and appreciate the art that is the Dragon Ball comic and animated franchise. This level of passion or respect doesn't just stop at Dragon Ball "because Dragon Ball." I would similarly question why in the world anyone would want a man to voice Uzumaki Naruto given Take'uchi Junko has voiced him for six hundred-plus animated series episodes and ten films. Gokuu could be a decrepit hermit and I would expect no voice actor other than the one who voices him at any other age to perform him then.

[Kid Buu]

I think Kappei Yamaguchi and Romi Park would be good choices; both of them have done really well in the role of a Shonen protagonist in the past.

Actually I'd like to see Megumi Hayashibara have a shot at it. I'm pretty sure she was going to do Boy-Ranma too until it was decided that Ranma have two voice actors.

[nhienphan2808]

Do I think Word of God is too often used to justify stupid things? Yes. Do I think a creator is fallible? Definitely. Do I think Toriyama has made bad decisions? Oh, hell yes. Do I agree with you about Nozawa? ...No.

Honestly, I've never understood the believability argument. Considering all the breaks from reality the dramatic arts have asked us to accept from the beginning of time up until now (young boys playing women, characters breaking the fourth wall, adults playing children, a painted backdrop standing in for a sunny field) and just specifically the breaks from reality in Dragon Ball (an old man blows up the moon with a laser from his hands, a kid turns into a monkey, a full-sized house can be shrunk into the palm of a hand, Goku having hair like that), THIS of all things is what you can't believe? That Goku's voice only marginally deepens at puberty? That's less believable and realistic than him one day waking up and having a completely different set of vocal cords? Because, honestly, while neither is able to be spot on realism, what we get with Nozawa is much closer to reality. My voice is fairly deep. It certainly changed a lot when I went through puberty. But if you play back a tape of me as a kid, you'd instantly recognize my voice and speech patterns. Because when people say "voices change" they don't mean they're out and out replaced. They just deepen.

Do I think Nozawa was perfect? No. Even I think her screams can occasionally be grating, although that's not exclusive to her adult form. But for the majority, I absolutely love all of her roles. And while, since I was coming from the dub, I was a bit surprised the first time I heard adult Goku's Japanese voice, I never had difficulty accepting it.

I agree fully. I so think some of her screams could be better, but all the rest she's THE Goku. I heard her Goku when i was 10 and watching the confronting Majin Vegeta scene from the AnimeLabs tapes back then, way before i watched the other dubs. And I had liked her voice ever since, never had problem with it. Her Goku didn't sound one bit unmanly, and that scene even sent chills sown my spine. Girls and old women don't sound like Goku when he said "I will settle this quickly, right here and now." Now after i watched the whole show, i can say her voice was good over all and the acting was nuanced and dynamic, ranging from the goofy, childlike, naive Goku to the warrior Goku, making him in character and multi-dimensional, in which Sean Schemmel fell short.

Hara hetta zo ~~~

[ABED]

That is exactly what I am arguing. It is entirely believable that Gokuu be voiced by Nozawa using a different pitch and mannerism as an adult Gokuu because she performs confidently. Her contribution to each episode, film, commercial, or video game is no less defining than the contribution made to every other aspect of the character, whether it is a drawing from an artist, a animation, a writer, a director, a producer, an audio director and engineer or that poor bastard drawing a rock in the background. If we are to accept her contribution is no longer 'real' or 'believable' there is no reason to consider any of the other thousands of pieces to each work 'real' or 'believable'.

Mind you, the entire basis of this subject in the first place is "I already know everything" when very clearly we as a species do not know everything, so that's something to keep in mind.

But it's not real, the show breaks scientific laws all the time, and never purported to be real. It doesn't have to be real to be good.

It doesn't imply omnipotence, just experience.

[ImmaDeker]

Given I have, as of this post, 7,927 posts on a message board dedicated to a Japanese comic and cartoon children's franchise despite being a grown man from the United States I would say I have some rather strong feelings regarding art of any sort. I cannot fathom why I would consider 'cartoons/animation/comics/film/television/music' unworthy of engrossment. People become passionately engrossed in sports. Some patient bastard out there collects stamps. My dad collects coins. I am on this message board to learn, discuss, and appreciate the art that is the Dragon Ball comic and animated franchise. This level of passion or respect doesn't just stop at Dragon Ball "because Dragon Ball." I would similarly question why in the world anyone would want a man to voice Uzumaki Naruto given Take'uchi Junko has voiced him for six hundred-plus animated series episodes and ten films. Gokuu could be a decrepit hermit and I would expect no voice actor other than the one who voices him at any other age to perform him then.

I was almost with you and then "I would be the same way about Naruto" rounded me right back over to laughing.

I've decided you're my favorite.

[VegettoEX]

I was almost with you and then "I would be the same way about Naruto" rounded me right back over to laughing.

I've decided you're my favorite.

That's just about enough of these responses. Sarcastic comments with literally nothing else of value can be kept to yourself. Further account strikes will be issued from here on out. These add up to temporary/permanent bans, which revoke access to the entirely of the Kanzenshuu website. If you enjoy being able to access the site (be it guides, translations, news posts, and yes the forum), please reevaluate what you're looking to accomplish with these contributions.

Be an awesome person. This is not being an awesome person.

That being said, Jacob, your posts here are so flowery-verbose-close-to-nonsense that it's near-unreadable.

[damn]

I can't imagine Goku in Japanese with a different va tbh(I can in dub since I'm used to it)
Nozawa fits Goku perfectly...she fits that Monkey Boy Personality of his
It just feels right...and hearing a Japanese Guy do Goku's voice would be very awkward

Off Topic:I would like to see Steve Blum voice Adult Goku in the English Dub(and yes I'm aware he voiced him in that shitty Final Bout game)...he has the charisma(which Schemmel sorely lacks) to pull it off
I mean...just imagine...Spike Spiegel's voice as Goku....beats Schemmel easily

[gohann]

I have to agree, her voice doesn't fit Adult Goku the way it did Kid Goku. I mean, I can't imagine any of the English dub actors for Kid Goku playing Adult Goku.

[sangofe]

To me, Goku isn't human (although he says he is). Goku's something different, and boy is that voice Nozowa gives him different. And those screams! Can you imagine a Saiyajin not screaming inhumanly? I can't!