Ocean Studios' "Dragon Ball Kai" Dub Turns 14; Still Unreleased

[dbboxkaifan]

Is it known who'll be voicing Son Gohan?

They really need to get someone as good as Dameon Clarke to play Cell because he was just perfect!

[Mewzard]

...I still fail to see why it's even relevant.

The Funi Dub of Kai started over four and a half years ago. It's going to be airing on it's third straight channel in the US starting Saturday on Toonami. It aired in the US, in the UK, in Australia (did it air anywhere else?), it's been available on DVD/Blu Ray for some time.

...Where will the Ocean Dub even air? What is the audience for this? Given the competition with such a head start, does it even have a chance of profitability?

This isn't meant to be a dig at the voice actors or their fans...I'm just wondering if there's even a big enough niche for them to fill (and profit on said release) given how widespread the Funi Kai dub is in markets that want an English Kai dub at all.

[NitroEX]

And that "soon" turns out to be another several years of waiting...

I'm just saying.

The Ocean NDAs running out around the same time as the Toonami Kai broadcast give me hope that we'll see it sooner rather than later as it seems like too much of a coincidence otherwise. The anitunes website lists the Ocean Kai music as "for Cartoon Network (US)" and while I don't think it will air on CN or Toonami for obvious reasons it at the very least should be on another one of the Turner Broadcasting stations, maybe Adult Swim Canada perhaps?

I'm not expecting it to start airing at the same time as the Toonami broadcast (especially since there have been no promos for Ocean kai yet) but the NDA being up should mean that it's close and if the actors feel safe talking about it they must feel confident it's not been scrapped.

[MarcFBR]

I'm not expecting it to start airing at the same time as the Toonami broadcast (especially since there have been no promos for Ocean kai yet) but the NDA being up should mean that it's close and if the actors feel safe talking about it they must feel confident it's not been scrapped.

It's worth mentioning that actors wouldn't know that one way or the other.

Someone is paying for it to get dubbed (which likely means it'll get released in some way or form, but isn't a guarantee.)

Beyond that there isn't really much to say now that didn't apply before Lee Tokar said anything.

[dbboxkaifan]

The Funi Dub of Kai started over four and a half years ago. It's going to be airing on it's third straight channel in the US starting Saturday on Toonami. It aired in the US, in the UK, in Australia (did it air anywhere else?), it's been available on DVD/Blu-ray for some time.

In the UK while it aired on Kix (or still does) a lot of people never even watched it, specifically the older audience who grew up watching Dragon Ball Z on Toonami so when I asked some of them they didn't even know what Dragon Ball Z Kai was nor its existence and the problem is that Kix is only on Sky & Freesat not Freeview (as I had believed to).

Well, they wouldn't like it anyway because it's missing the American music and the voices they know and love.

Now if they could change that with the Ocean Kai for a UK broadcast it'd be awesome as viewers would become aware of it finally (other than those who visit forums or/and have access to Kix).

[TheBlackPaladin]

I hate to be "that guy," but I don't think there's a reason to get excited just yet.

Firstly, Tockar's tweet is still not considered an official announcement. There has been no commercial, no press release...nothing in the way of an announcement from an official source. At the most, this only means that he's able to talk about it now without getting in trouble. It doesn't necessarily mean the dub is going to air soon.

...Although, upon further review, his tweet did say "coming soon." So...eh. OK. Still not an official announcement, but perhaps we an take this as a faint spark of hope.

Secondly, keep an eye on his tweet, because who knows, he may have gotten it wrong. Let's not forget that Kyle Hebert tweeted a long time ago (I think more than a year ago) that he was reprising his role as Gohan, only to immediately delete the tweet (which was probably the result of him getting an email from FUNimation telling him he wasn't OK'd to reveal that yet, at which point he hastily deleted it in a, "OH, crapcrapcrap I'm sorry" manner).

[ShinGaijin]

According to Lee Tockar, this baby's coming out soon! Guess at least the NDAA is over.

OOOOOHHH LOOOORD THAAAAANK YOUUUUU FINALLYYYY!!
Sorry.
Hmmm...after so many years, it seems too good to be true...like the others said, and despite of Tockar's annoucement, I'll believe it when I'll hold it in my own hands.

[90sDBZ]

In the UK while it aired on Kix (or still does) a lot of people never even watched it, specifically the older audience who grew up watching Dragon Ball Z on Toonami so when I asked some of them they didn't even know what Dragon Ball Z Kai was nor its existence and the problem is that Kix is only on Sky & Freesat not Freeview (as I had believed to).

Well, they wouldn't like it anyway because it's missing the American music and the voices they know and love.

Now if they could change that with the Ocean Kai for a UK broadcast it'd be awesome as viewers would become aware of it finally (other than those who visit forums or/and have access to Kix).

It actually did well on Kix. I remember it dominating the ratings on Barb Top 10 when the Cell saga aired. Plus it won quite a few of those Clash of the Champions vote marathons that went on during summer 2013. Switching to Ocean Kai on Kix now would be a terrible idea, now that we've finally had some dub consistency in the UK after the mess AB Groupe made of the franchise back in the day.

[dbboxkaifan]

Not switching but broadcast it on a different channel that is part of the Freeview bundle so this way people can become aware of this 'new' series.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Not switching but broadcast it on a different channel that is part of the Freeview bundle so this way people can become aware of this 'new' series.

While I wouldn't mind that personally, there would likely be a legal problem with that. I'm no expert on this, but I'd have to believe that when a show gets the rights to air in a certain place, there's likely some sort of exclusivity clause that says only their version can air in that specific territory.

Not to mention that, as Subzero Ice spoke about it earlier, apparently Kix was perfectly aware of the existence of the Ocean dub of Kai, but Toei did not give them the option to air it. We don't know why, it could be any number of reasons, but Toei essentially said, "If you want Kai, it has to be FUNimation's English dub." So, whatever version of Kai airs has to air with Toei's approval. They likely wouldn't want their own product competing with itself in the form of two different dubs of the same show airing in the same time period and in the same territory.

Right now, the area that needs to be watched most closely is Canada. Specifically, Canadian TV. It's true that FUNimation's dub has already been released on home video there, but Kai has not aired on Canadian TV yet, and it can't be a coincidence that Canada also happens to be the country where the Ocean dub of Kai is being recorded.

[NitroEX]

Perhaps it just comes down to the Canadian content law being the reason Funimation's Kai hasn't officially aired over there. I could see that motivating Toei to give the green light to this dub. It would be pretty absurd if whoever was in charge of production didn't get Toei's approval before working on it for however many years. But at the same time it would be a dick move on Toei's part if they prevented it's release for whatever reason especially after letting the Big Green dubs slip through the cracks.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Perhaps it just comes down to the Canadian content law being the reason Funimation's Kai hasn't officially aired over there. I could see that motivating Toei to give the green light to this dub. It would be pretty absurd if whoever was in charge of production didn't get Toei's approval before working on it for however many years. But at the same time it would be a dick move on Toei's part if they prevented it's release for whatever reason especially after letting the Big Green dubs slip through the cracks.

I forgot about the Canadian content law, that makes a lot of sense. And you're right, there's no way they didn't get Toei's approval before working on it...besides needing legal permission, they'd also have to get Toei's approval in order to get the video and audio materials needed for a dub.

I also laughed when I read your comment about the Big Green dubs. Now, if we learn that this dub never airs, we need to send kindly-worded protest letters to Toei saying, "Excuse me, but um...you approved this?"

[Bananape]

What great news, and you have to wonder if the fact that this was announced the same week FUNimation's Z Kai is set to air on Toonami.

I have a little bit more hope for this dub now that another Canadian voice actor has stepped forward. It just comes down to where it's going to air. To be perfectly honest, since YTV only just recently rid it's line-up of all anime which in turn got transferred to Teletoon, I could see this airing on Teletoon at Night.

But at the same time, this dub could just as easily air on some unknown network in a random country that hasn't even been considered. I just hope we get told where it's planned to air before it actually does air.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I hate to be "that guy" again, but I've got a pessimistic theory going on right now...

I've noticed that Tockar has been retweeting Toonami's announcements of Kai coming back on the network. Does Toonami have any air time in Canada anymore? I don't think they do (but correct me if I'm wrong). So he may just think that he's been given the clear to announce that he's Freeza because he thinks the project is on the verge of airing, what with seeing all this Kai-related activity on Twitter...when in reality, he (innocently) doesn't understand the whole situation, and the Ocean dub is still not going to air in the immediate future.

After all, it needs to be remembered that the dub has still not been officially announced, so we shouldn't really treat his tweet as an announcement.

[NitroEX]

I hate to be "that guy" again, but I've got a pessimistic theory going on right now...

I've noticed that Tockar has been retweeting Toonami's announcements of Kai coming back on the network. Does Toonami have any air time in Canada anymore? I don't think they do (but correct me if I'm wrong). So he may just think that he's been given the clear to announce that he's Freeza because he thinks the project is on the verge of airing, what with seeing all this Kai-related activity on Twitter...when in reality, he (innocently) doesn't understand the whole situation, and the Ocean dub is still not going to air in the immediate future.

After all, it needs to be remembered that the dub has still not been officially announced, so we shouldn't really treat his tweet as an announcement.

That is a good point. After browsing Lee Tockar's twitter page he has indeed retweeted two tweets about the Toonami "homecoming" of DBZ Kai. Unless the recent Toonami promos have mistakenly contained the Funimation version instead of the Ocean version it looks like Lee might have jumped the gun on this one which is unfortunate.

I guess this means the wait continues.

[Bananape]

Someone should tweet Tockar and tell him it's probably FUNimation's Z Kai that's airing on Toonami and not Ocean's, judging from the recent promo for it. Like seriously, it makes no sense for the promo to feature the FUNimation VAs and the actual series to have the Ocean VAs. And if Tockar removes his Frieza tweets soon, we'll know why.

[Lord Beerus]

According to Lee Tockar, this baby's coming out soon! Guess at least the NDAA is over.

Um....

Why?

[TheBalishChannel]

Um....

Why?

This is probably the 500th time I've seen someone post these exact words about this topic.

[Lord Beerus]

Um....

Why?

This is probably the 500th time I've seen someone post these exact words about this topic.

Because it seems so redundant. I mean nostalgia is a very powerful tool, especially in regards to Dragon Ball Z and knowing how many people love the original Ocean Dub of Dragon Ball Z, they probably thought this was good idea to bring back some of those fans. But at the same time, Dragon Ball Kai has already been dubbed in English and it was dubbed pretty damn well. So I honestly don't see the purpose of this unless they plan on releasing this exclusively in Canada. Which honestly, wouldn't surprise me if it was the case, considering Canada has had hellish history when it comes to anime.

[Attitudefan]

Not to mention that, as Subzero Ice spoke about it earlier, apparently Kix was perfectly aware of the existence of the Ocean dub of Kai, but Toei did not give them the option to air it. We don't know why, it could be any number of reasons, but Toei essentially said, "If you want Kai, it has to be FUNimation's English dub." So, whatever version of Kai airs has to air with Toei's approval. They likely wouldn't want their own product competing with itself in the form of two different dubs of the same show airing in the same time period and in the same territory.

I think Toei shot it down because BoG was being produced at that time, and Toei knew it was going to be dubbed by Funimation for an international release, meaning, a different set of voice actors could have disrupted sales of BoG!

I think it's possible that Ocean Studios didn't have the foresight of the new movie coming out a few years after Kai started, thus, affecting the release date of the show. But that's just my theory, and I think it is a pretty good reason too.

Because it seems so redundant. I mean nostalgia is a very powerful tool, especially in regards to Dragon Ball Z and knowing how many people love the original Ocean Dub of Dragon Ball Z, they probably thought this was good idea to bring back some of those fans. But at the same time, Dragon Ball Kai has already been dubbed in English and and it was dubbed pretty damn well. So I honestly don't see the purpose of this unless they plan on releasing this exclusively in Canada. Which honestly, wouldn't surprise me if it was the case, considering Canada has had hellish when it comes to anime.

Pretty much no anime gets released up here except for home releases. It's so annoying that cable TV doesn't provide anime here, but these days it's not so much of a problem with legal ways to view anime (for free even!). A few years ago, yes, it was a major problem. Anime has seen a boom here since sites like Crunchy Roll have enabled us Canadians to get our dose of anime. Without the internet the way it is, and cable TV remains where it is at (crap pseudo-science documentaries and "reality" TV), then anime probably wouldn't have the success it does today. After YTV stopped airing major anime such as Death Note, DBZ, InuYasha, Sailor Moon, and others, anime slumped in popularity. Now we have anime conventions getting bigger by the year in the cities along with more anime specif shops. Even HMV and Best Buy have enlarged their selections here in Vancouver!


I've been saying this for awhile, but Ocean's release on TV might be like Rock the Dragon set, where it is to celebrate homecoming, an anniversary, or anything celebrating DBZ in North America. If it is released in 2015, it could be the 20 year anniversary since Dragonball has been on TV with the Canadian cast, or it may be celebrating 10 years after it ended its run on TV in 2005.

However, I think it is possible the BoG is hindering its release. It was probably supposed to be celebrated earlier than what has happened.