Discussion regarding the entirety of the franchise in a general (meta) sense, including such aspects as: production, trends, merchandise, fan culture, and more.
Are there any of the people out there that can watch any dub of Dragon Ball Z and still enjoy it? I'm curious because I realized while my preferred method of watching Z is the FUNi Kai Dub - I can still watch any version of the dub that's in front of me. Now to me this includes the Ocean Dub, the FUNi Dub, Kai Dub and the Japanese dub of both Z and Kai. Now clearly there's a lot more dubs of the show, but is this the same for anyone else?
For example - I started watching DBZ Kai in Nicktoons back in 2010, while at the same time watching Ocean and FUNi Z
Spoiler:
on a certain Toonami fansite
When Nicktoons went on hiatus, I started watching fansubbed versions of the japanese airings for Kai until I caught up weekly (frankly I got a much more better atmosphere from watching Japanese Kai simply because of the sponsor cards and other things not included in the US airings) and when I started getting DBZ on DVD, I watched in Japanese subbed just for curiosity and enjoyed what I saw. Never really minded Goku's Japanese voice and adapted quickly to everything.
So, is anyone else like this? That prefers a certain dub but can watch any version that's presented in front of them or enjoys other dubs to a certain degree? I even admit I like FUNi Dub's Faulconer score and cartoony atmosphere.
GT isn't bad, just sucks ass in comparison to the other 2 animes.
I've grown up with the Ocean Dub so that's something I've always been very fond of. Nowadays I feel the same about the FUNimation dub. I love Sean Schemmel and Chris Sabat and the work they've done on the series. Kai is the best dub all round. It has the best voice acting because the actors have become more experienced and really grown into their roles - and the writing is just so much better. When I watched Kai, it felt like I was watching Z for the first time again. I'm fond of those three though.
I must admit though, the only time I watch DBZ in Japanese is when there's no alternative. Growing up I watched some of the films in Japanese (and in very poor video quality too!) and I watched Battle of Gods in Japanese too, my first viewing. It's not my preference to watch in Japanese though.
Watching the Ocean dub or the FUNi dub of any DB property made before Kai has nostalgic value and I'll watch clips and brief moments because of that, but as a whole product it's kinda meh to me. I typically watch any material produced Pre-Kai in Japanese without subs.
Starting with Kai however, FUNi kinda hit a groove and is now a much better company overall, and this translates to everything they've done Kai and after being decent and pretty enjoyable, so I actually prefer watching this material dubbed because I actually LIKE a good solid dubbed product, and so watching a Dragonball product finally have that is nice and feels like a new thing to me. After seeing this material in Japanese as many times as I have, the new competent Dub doesn't feel like an entirely different show, but seeing it in English feels new, like something I haven't quite seen before and therefore I'm getting more enjoyment from it.
So Kai these days I watched dubbed mostly, and entirely new stuff like BoG I watch an equal amount in Japanese and English.
"FUNi should take [DBZ] out behind the woodshed, give it one last treat, then blow its f%#@$ng brains out before it attacks the baby again." ~Rocketman
All the dubs have flaws honestly, I can watch any of one of them (including Funi Kai & Japanese Z) and find things that I personally think they could have been done differently. Conversely I think all the dubs (barring the Malaysian) can be enjoyed on some level, you just need to have the right mindset going in and not be overly critical (which is hard when you're no longer a child and jaded/biased).
I enjoy all the dubs aswell, my preferred way to watch is the Japanese dub. Hell for years the only way I could watch the movies was with my vhs recordings of the big green dub, and I watched them at least 20 times each
NitroEX wrote:Conversely I think all the dubs (barring the Malaysian) can be enjoyed on some level
Oh come on, the Maylay dub is awesome. I used to have Movies 6-13 in this format because I had a dumb cousin who wanted to see all the DBZ movies right around the time FUNi released movie 5, and he didn't believe me when I (his 12 year old Cousin) told him (a 20 year old at the time) that nothing beyond the first 5 movies were dubbed when he paid a lot of money for an auction for all 13 movies dubbed in English on VHS (when a cheaper, subbed on VCD offer was available)
so when we got them, we were floored to find that every movie beyond 6 were the Maylay English dub. (Except 13 which was inexplicably, luckily subbed despite the eBay auction saying they were all dubbed)
At first, this was terrible and a thing that greatly upset me (why didn't he listen to me?!) but repeated viewings of these VHS' started making me laugh quite heavily. It sounds like every voice is dubbed by like the same 3-4 people, and there are back to back mistakes and hilarious line reads (in movie 12 alone, Goku calls Vegeta "Beeta", and Freeza calls Gohan "Goku's Brother" when he recognizes him)
Those movies are hilarious.
"FUNi should take [DBZ] out behind the woodshed, give it one last treat, then blow its f%#@$ng brains out before it attacks the baby again." ~Rocketman
With some dubs I might be able to enjoy it simply because it's Dragon Ball, others because they're actually decent, and other ones simply because they're so laughable bad. I'm not sure if I could enjoy any dub, but I feel like there are quite a few I wouldn't mind watching, for whatever the reason my enjoyment might be.
NitroEX wrote:Conversely I think all the dubs (barring the Malaysian) can be enjoyed on some level
Oh come on, the Maylay dub is awesome. I used to have Movies 6-13 in this format because I had a dumb cousin who wanted to see all the DBZ movies right around the time FUNi released movie 5, and he didn't believe me when I (his 12 year old Cousin) told him (a 20 year old at the time) that nothing beyond the first 5 movies were dubbed when he paid a lot of money for an auction for all 13 movies dubbed in English on VHS (when a cheaper, subbed on VCD offer was available)
so when we got them, we were floored to find that every movie beyond 6 were the Maylay English dub. (Except 13 which was inexplicably, luckily subbed despite the eBay auction saying they were all dubbed)
At first, this was terrible and a thing that greatly upset me (why didn't he listen to me?!) but repeated viewings of these VHS' started making me laugh quite heavily. It sounds like every voice is dubbed by like the same 3-4 people, and there are back to back mistakes and hilarious line reads (in movie 12 alone, Goku calls Vegeta "Beeta", and Freeza calls Gohan "Goku's Brother" when he recognizes him)
Those movies are hilarious.
They might be funny but I don't personally count them as "English dubs" since a large part of the dialogue is clearly not from native English speakers and is incomprehensible a lot of the time. Even the Big Green dubs at least have that going for them.
Well, it was intended to be English dub so we should give them credit for trying I suppose... But it still makes me wonder who thought that making dub based on non-natives is a good idea.
Per aspera ad astra, man!
Women belong in the kitchen.
Men belong in the kitchen.
Everyone belongs in the kitchen, the kitchen has food
To be honest, I'm really picky about dubs. I'm especially critical of American anime dubs, and haven't really liked one since I watched Cowboy Bebop dubbed over a decade ago (and Ghost Stories, but it's a gag dub, that doesn't count). It's frustrating because I know a lot of the actors in anime dubs are extremely skilled, but somehow in anime they always come off as extremely cheesy and unnatural. The only person I've heard that seems to avoid that in a Dragon Ball dub is Chris Ayres as Freeza in Kai, but one good performance does not make a piece of media watchable when everything else is off.
The Hebrew dub is a different story. I could, theoretically, sit down and watch a full episode of the Hebrew dub of Dragon Ball Z, though I haven't actually done so since it finished airing here about nine years ago. All considering (I mean, it really messed up some key character names in the first 50 episodes and the remainder of the dub had to stick with those), it was a fairly decent dub, so that combined with the power nostalgia should assure that I can watch it without feeling self-conscious and silly. Not sure the same courtesy would extend to the GT dub or the movie dubs, mostly because GT is unwatchable to me and the movie dubs were a blink and you miss it TV special affair, which I missed entirely and can't find recordings of.
I still watch the old Funi Z dub. I know it's not super accurate and some people hate it but to me (And I do mean ONLY TO ME! Not saying anyone has to agree with my opinion nor do they have to jump down my throat for having a different opinion.) It's my proffered way of watching DBZ. I respect and enjoyed some of Kai Dub but it just didn't do it for me. I can say with confidence that yes I can still watch it and enjoy the old z dub. Yes it's cheesy and different but...I like that about it.
Going on hiatus. Too much stuff in RL to deal with for me to keep up with posts here for now. Was fun, hope you all have a nice day and future! Volt signing off.
With the many years on the net I've spent...I've learned being polite takes you much further then being a dick. So...lesson here is! Don't be a dick!
"Fill up your stomach and your happiness! " - Cure Honey
Honestly if I get the content I think I can watch anything. I'm currently watching Kai 2.0 with the original Japanese voice actors and English subtitles. I love the FUNimation dub of Z because of the music, nostalgia, and the fact that it's in HD. I like the English dub for Kai 1.0 because it's very good, the dialogue is insanely better, and it cut out most of the filler. So they're all good. Although one time I downloaded a dub for... one of the movies, I forget which, and the dialogue was terrible. It wasn't the "Big Green Dub" but I thought it was (until no one said that name). I will never watch that again.
Worst line was when a bunch of things happened and then a weakened Krillin proceeded to say exactly what just happened as if the viewer was supposed to have somehow not seen the events of the last minute or two. Something was up with that. My guess is that it was the Ocean Dub or the Saban Dub (1996 dub). But honestly, I think what can ruin something for me is censoring material. That is an instant "do not watch" for me.
I used to be unable to watch DBZ in English until 2007 when they started using the original Japanese BGM. I absolutely can't watch Dragon Ball in English because of Goku's voice. Looking back now, I wish they would have just gone the South Park route and just pitched Sean Schemmel's voice for Goku and it would have probably worked fine. Everything else though, I prefer it in English now that they have grown into their roles.
I can watch and enjoy the Saban Ocean dub, Funimation DB/Z/GT dub, Funimation Kai, the Fusion and Kid Buu sagas of the Westwood Z dub and Blue Water DB.
English Kai is my preferred, due to having spottily seen Z on CN back in the day, I know the VAs and music , but storyline I know from Viz Shonen Jump.
Anyhow, old Funi dub is good for laughs and sometimes the rock score,if I want to add some spice to it. For dialogue/story, howver, I even prefer foreign original language than that dub. Heck, I prefer the Latin American dubs, the French dub, and my parents' language dub over Toonami era. Ocean dub I havent seen much of, but I dont hate it.
Japanese Kai is wonderful for finally having decent qualtty audio, not to mention Tanimoto's songs.
So...
English Kai>~Japanese Kai>>Spanish Z>Japanese Z>French Z>Ocean?>>>Funi>>>Malaysian, though i cant believe "Beta" was used. I'm tempted to put it on par with Funi's old dub if I find more Urdu/Hindi words scattered about.
If it means anything for context, I am born 96, a couple weeks before the Ocean dub debuted.
If I want to watch Z dubbed I'll watch the funimation singles and my dragon boxes for the other episodes in proper aspect ratio. Aside from the Vegeta arc I cannot stand the dub with the Japanese music, as it just does not mesh with the dub script and acting.
Don't get me wrong I'm a fan of the Kikuchi score and think it works perfectly with the Japanese cast...but the American audio in Z and Kai just sounds awful with it.
Kai is the only version of the dub I cannot watch whether it be Yamamoto's score or Kikuchii's ad hoc replacement. Until this forum I had not encountered a single person who preferred Kai to Z in terms of dub.
"You might think you know everything there is to know about me, but really, you're not even CLOSE."
"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." ~ Sir Winston Chruchill / Dragon Ball Z in a nutshell
How I enjoy the anime:
Spoiler:
I like to switch between the dub and the original. If I want to watch the original I'll watch it subbed on my Dragon Boxes.
If I want to watch it dubbed I'll watch the funimation singles and my dragon boxes for the other episodes in proper aspect ratio. Aside from the Vegeta arc I cannot stand the dub with the Japanese music, as it just does not mesh with the dub script and acting.
Don't get me wrong I'm a fan of the Kikuchi score and think it works perfectly with the Japanese cast...but the American audio in Z and Kai just sounds awful with it.
Kai is the only version of the dub I cannot watch whether it be Yamamoto's score or Kikuchii's ad hoc replacement. Until this forum I had not encountered a single person who preferred Kai to Z in terms of dub.
There's always a soft spot in my heart for the original FUNi dub of the show as well the Ocean dub of the show. I mean, it's so bad, it's good. I often go back to marathon the episodes of those versions of the show just that nostalgia.
Spoiler:
Akira Toriyama wrote:My policy is to try and forget things once they’re over. Since if I don’t discard the old and focus on what’s new, I’ll overload my brain capacity. I still haven’t lived down going, “Who the heck is Tao Pai-pai?” that one time I was talking with Ei’ichiro Oda-kun. But the fact that there are still people reading the series after all this time… All I can say is; “thank you.” Really, that’s all.
Akira Toriyama wrote:Drawing Dragon Ball again reminded me of two things--how much I love it, and how much I never want to do it again.
Kunzait_83 wrote:And if you're upset because all this new material completely invalidates the tabletop RPG rulebook-sized statistical system and flowchart for the characters' "canonical Power Levels" that you'd been working on painstakingly for the last bunch of years now... well I don't think there's a kind, non-blunt way of saying this, but that's 100% entirely your own misguided fault for buying so deeply into all this nonsensical garbage in the first place. And that you also have IMMENSELY skewed and comically backwards priorities in what you think is most important and needed to make a good Dragon Ball story.
Zephyr wrote:Goodness, they wrote idiotic drivel in a children's cartoon meant to advertise toys!? Again!? For the ninetieth episode in a row!? Somebody stop the presses! We have to voice our concern over these Super important issues!
Kamiccolo9 wrote:Fair enough, I concede. Sean Schemmel probably has some kind of hidden talent. Maybe he is an expert at Minesweeper. You're right; calling him "talentless" wasn't fair.
Michsi wrote: ↑Mon Jul 04, 2022 11:29 amIn Super Piccolo got yelled off the stage by Vegeta in the U6 Tournament arc and lost to Jiminy Cricket in the ToP , he deserved 15 new transformations with his theme song played by Metallica in the background.
Kakarot88 wrote:If I want to watch Z dubbed I'll watch the funimation singles and my dragon boxes for the other episodes in proper aspect ratio. Aside from the Vegeta arc I cannot stand the dub with the Japanese music, as it just does not mesh with the dub script and acting.
Don't get me wrong I'm a fan of the Kikuchi score and think it works perfectly with the Japanese cast...but the American audio in Z and Kai just sounds awful with it.
Kai is the only version of the dub I cannot watch whether it be Yamamoto's score or Kikuchii's ad hoc replacement. Until this forum I had not encountered a single person who preferred Kai to Z in terms of dub.
What the heck? If you are on Youtube and Facebook, even, there are plenty of folks who acknowledge Kai's English version being better than the old dub.
Perhaps this is a habit/nostalgia/"accustomed" thing for you?
Kakarot88 wrote:If I want to watch Z dubbed I'll watch the funimation singles and my dragon boxes for the other episodes in proper aspect ratio. Aside from the Vegeta arc I cannot stand the dub with the Japanese music, as it just does not mesh with the dub script and acting.
Don't get me wrong I'm a fan of the Kikuchi score and think it works perfectly with the Japanese cast...but the American audio in Z and Kai just sounds awful with it.
Kai is the only version of the dub I cannot watch whether it be Yamamoto's score or Kikuchii's ad hoc replacement. Until this forum I had not encountered a single person who preferred Kai to Z in terms of dub.
What the heck? If you are on Youtube and Facebook, even, there are plenty of folks who acknowledge Kai's English version being better than the old dub.
Perhaps this is a habit/nostalgia/"accustomed" thing for you?
Mind you, a
I don't watch the series on YouTube nor would I engage in the flame wars that go on there.
Better to you, not to me. There are other threads with that as a topic for debate.
It's not s habit/nostalgia thing. I dislike Kai because of the odd pacing and choice of edits and removal of action filler and not just dialogue or subplot or staring filler. I dislike the dub of Kai on more levels than just the IMO phoned in acting.
"You might think you know everything there is to know about me, but really, you're not even CLOSE."
"Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy." ~ Sir Winston Chruchill / Dragon Ball Z in a nutshell
How I enjoy the anime:
Spoiler:
I like to switch between the dub and the original. If I want to watch the original I'll watch it subbed on my Dragon Boxes.
If I want to watch it dubbed I'll watch the funimation singles and my dragon boxes for the other episodes in proper aspect ratio. Aside from the Vegeta arc I cannot stand the dub with the Japanese music, as it just does not mesh with the dub script and acting.
Don't get me wrong I'm a fan of the Kikuchi score and think it works perfectly with the Japanese cast...but the American audio in Z and Kai just sounds awful with it.
Kai is the only version of the dub I cannot watch whether it be Yamamoto's score or Kikuchii's ad hoc replacement. Until this forum I had not encountered a single person who preferred Kai to Z in terms of dub.