My Experience Watching Dragon Ball Z Kai

[Valerius Dover]

-Chris Cason has taken over Sabat's old role as Mr. Popo. This voice sounds somewhat similar enough, still being sophisticated, but I think it's too early to make a judgement here.

Which is hilarious in hindsight as he originally voiced Mr Popo back when Funimation first started dubbing Dragon Ball Z in-house before being replaced by Sabat. He also did Tenshinhan before John Burgmeier took over.

Oh. Really? Cool! Huh, guess Sabat redubbed him in Season 3, since I definitely haven't heard this Popover voice before. How is the performance in comparison?

[thaman91]

-Chris Cason has taken over Sabat's old role as Mr. Popo. This voice sounds somewhat similar enough, still being sophisticated, but I think it's too early to make a judgement here.

Which is hilarious in hindsight as he originally voiced Mr Popo back when Funimation first started dubbing Dragon Ball Z in-house before being replaced by Sabat. He also did Tenshinhan before John Burgmeier took over.

Oh. Really? Cool! Huh, guess Sabat redubbed him in Season 3, since I definitely haven't heard this Popover voice before. How is the performance in comparison?

Yup, Sabat re-dubbed him in season 3. Here is a clip of the original season 3 dub with Chris Cason playing him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HGmj6tnuY0
Kami's face makes the whole thing seem like a comedy skit lol. And that version of Kami also seems to be voiced by someone different.

[Valerius Dover]

Ok, we had an issue with the DVD player, but it's taken care of now. Another 4 episodes covered since last time! Since I'm getting more into it, there isn't really much to say, but I'll note a few things regarding the voices.

-Linda Young is indeed still Fortuneteller Baba, like in DB and the beginning of DBZ.
-John Burgmeier is still Gregory, but his voice sounds completely different, apparently having a high-pitch filter applied to it.
-Bryan Massey replaces Brad Jackson as Oolong, just like in Curse of the Blood Rubies. Jackson came back for Battle of Gods and Resurrection F, so I wonder who does him in the Buu Arc?
-Music continues to be awesome and is quite varied. I don't know what people are complaining about, honestly.
-Speaking of which, Episode 9 went back to using the first title card theme again. What's going on here?
-Also, new eyecatch, this one centered around the battle with the Saiyans!

So, this is fantastic. Got no complaints so far.

[Naruto6583]

Ok, we had an issue with the DVD player, but it's taken care of now. Another 4 episodes covered since last time! Since I'm getting more into it, there isn't really much to say, but I'll note a few things regarding the voices.

-Linda Young is indeed still Fortuneteller Baba, like in DB and the beginning of DBZ.
-John Burgmeier is still Gregory, but his voice sounds completely different, apparently having a high-pitch filter applied to it.
-Bryan Massey replaces Brad Jackson as Oolong, just like in Curse of the Blood Rubies. Jackson came back for Battle of Gods and Resurrection F, so I wonder who does him in the Buu Arc?
-Music continues to be awesome and is quite varied. I don't know what people are complaining about, honestly.
-Speaking of which, Episode 9 went back to using the first title card theme again. What's going on here?
-Also, new eyecatch, this one centered around the battle with the Saiyans!

So, this is fantastic. Got no complaints so far.

Because in the late arcs fans felt that the score was butchered due to bad placements plus repetitive ones

[Valerius Dover]

Was too busy to update, but covered up through Episode 15 now.

-Ah, yes, the famous Over 8000 scene, now with the original number.
-New eyecatch as of Episode 13, this one showcasing the later portions of the battle.
-Vegeta doesn't say any of that stuff about asking Goku to join him in the original script. Kind of thought that was a little out of place in Z.
-Speaking of which, that aforementioned "army" like track is played during the above scene. I feel it's put to great affect in any scenes with the villains, really. Where does this track originate?
-New singer in the opening as of Episode 14. We had Sean Schemmel before, and now Justin Cook. I don't think I like this one as much, but this one does seem to have less autotune at least.
-Interestingly enough, Vegeta's big "DAMN YOU" after getting blasted in the eye was in the same spot in the Z dub, too.
-Krillin's "HOLY CRAP!" caught me off guard.
-I will say after the emotional events in these past few episodes, Colleen Clinkenbeard ABSOLUTELY does a better performance than Stephanie Nadolny. You can really hear the pain when Vegeta headbutts him, for example.

[TheBlackPaladin]

-Ah, yes, the famous Over 8000 scene, now with the original number.

Funny story about that. Somebody asked Chris Sabat before this episode was seen how he was going to handle that scene. On the one hand, the, ahem...more famous number...isn't accurate, but on the other hand, it's also a very popular meme. Chris Sabat simply laughed and said, "Let's just say, everyone wins."

For a while, we didn't know what he meant. The first home video release had the number as "over 8000."

However....on the edited Nicktoons airing.....

[ABED]

-Speaking of which, that aforementioned "army" like track is played during the above scene. I feel it's put to great affect in any scenes with the villains, really. Where does this track originate?

Is this the one that uses a lot of drums? If so, it originated during the Red Ribbon Army arc.

[Darkblade1995]

-Speaking of which, that aforementioned "army" like track is played during the above scene. I feel it's put to great affect in any scenes with the villains, really. Where does this track originate?

Is this the one that uses a lot of drums? If so, it originated during the Red Ribbon Army arc.

The track that plays during that scene is called M1405 - The Androids March, Part 2. Kai never used part 1 for some reason.

[ABED]

-Speaking of which, that aforementioned "army" like track is played during the above scene. I feel it's put to great affect in any scenes with the villains, really. Where does this track originate?

Is this the one that uses a lot of drums? If so, it originated during the Red Ribbon Army arc.

The track that plays during that scene is called M1405 - The Androids March, Part 2. Kai never used part 1 for some reason.

Well it does use drums, but that wasn't what I was thinking of so disregard what I wrote. Both are good tracks, though.

[Valerius Dover]

Oh, thanks! This track is awesome. I recently figured out where to look when it comes to music, since Kai only uses cues created for early Z and Movies 6-9. Wonder why the other variation of this Androids track is unused in Kai? It seems to be a released one as well. It definitely wasn't Red Ribbon, though, I would've recognized it then. Plus, they don't use any DB music.

[Darkblade1995]

They only use music of the Cha la head cha la bgm minus the cha la head cha la variations, 1 track of movie 2, a couple of tracks of movies 6-9, and also 1 track of movie 10, which i believe, first played when piccolo killed that saibaman that tried to attack Gohan. Kai as a whole only uses 71 tracks, with 1 track being the title card at the beginning of the episode (Funimation doesn't have them for some reason) and 2 tracks for the episode title cards. However the first episode title card track is also used as the recap theme of episode 13 I believe. I do not think the music placements are bad. Yes it could've been better, but to me it's better than the Yamamoto placements.

[Valerius Dover]

Ok, checked out Episodes 16-18.

-So, Episode 16 ended at an interesting point, right when Krillin is about to almost kill Vegeta.
-Oh, yeah, Goku's reason for letting Vegeta go is more believable than in the Z dub, which went with the excuse of giving him the same chance Piccolo got. Here, Krillin in fact pointed out that Vegeta is pure evil unlike Piccolo. It all comes down to Goku not wanting to waste him here.
-Oh, nice Insert Song called Over the Star plays during the scene where they place the bodies away. It's even in English. I do, however, feel that this song would've worked better in a scene with less dialog so that we could actually hear the lyrics better. But that's just nitpicking.
-Bad Kai. The big close-up shot of Mr. Popo's eyes was cut.
-Yunzabit Heights has become Yunzabit Highlands here. I'm going to guess the Kai version is more accurate once again.
-New eyecatch, this time with our space travelers and Cui.
-Chris Sabat's Korin voice sounds very different here, being less of a...whatever stereotype he was supposed to be in DB and DBZ.
-When Gohan says goodbye to everyone, you can actually SEE Turtle here. Poor fella was a victim of cropping in the widescreen Z releases. Which reminds me. They cut the part earlier where they read his power level as 0.000001 or something.

[theoriginalbilis]

-Oh, yeah, Goku's reason for letting Vegeta go is more believable than in the Z dub, which went with the excuse of giving him the same chance Piccolo got. Here, Krillin in fact pointed out that Vegeta is pure evil unlike Piccolo. It all comes down to Goku not wanting to waste him here.

Yep, so glad the Kai dub got this part of Goku's character right. Goku's not that much of a moralizer. Even though he does the right thing and saves the Earth and his friends, he still wanted to fight Vegeta again even if it meant a potential threat in the future.

-Chris Sabat's Korin voice sounds very different here, being less of a...whatever stereotype he was supposed to be in DB and DBZ.

I always saw Sabat's Korin voice as a Harvey Firestein impersonation.

[Valerius Dover]

I haven't updated this in ages, but recently I got back to the series and have seen another 4 episodes.

-Chris Ayres is simply amazing as Frieza. Even being used to Linda Young's performance, I just get the feeling that Ayres sounds RIGHT.
-Bill Townsley is still Cui, interesting.
-Cui, I believe you're fired.
-John Swasey replaces Chris Forbis as Dodoria, who does a pretty similar performance.
-J. Michael Tatum took over Chris Sabat's Zarbon, making him sound a lot less campy. I like the sound of this one. Incidentally, he also voiced Spice in the Garlic Jr. portion of Dragon Ball Z.
-Maxey Whitehead has replaced Laura Bailey as Dende, as well. Sounds a lot more childlike.
-Dr. Brief talks about a stereo instead of a coffee maker like in the Z dub.

[Ajay]

-Maxey Whitehead has replaced Laura Bailey as Dende, as well. Sounds a lot more childlike

I'm glad you brought her up. She was my favourite part of the Kai dub next to Ayres' Freeza. Sounds weird to say for such a small character, but she's just so good.

[theoriginalbilis]

Glad to hear you're still enjoying the ride, Valerius Dover.

[Valerius Dover]

Another two episodes!

-Vegeta's out of place "Damn, just a fish" from the Z dub becomes "Great, it's only a fish".
-Dende mentions having brothers and sisters, before then saying there's only one type of Namekian. Oops.
-Goku apparently doesn't learn or at least remember Frieza's name after his conversation with King Kai, which he did in the Z dub.
-No ugly Vegeta in the scene where he's about to kill the villagers. Good Kai.
-The slow, tense music playing when Zarbon attacks Vegeta after transforming gives off a very different feel than the fast-paced intense track heard in the Z dub. I'm honestly going to have to say I prefer the Z dub version for this part. That being said, Vegeta's "What the Hell!?" is priceless.

[TheBlackPaladin]

-Dende mentions having brothers and sisters, before then saying there's only one type of Namekian. Oops.

Not only an oops, but an oops that Chris Sabat himself mentioned on Facebook. He said that they caught the error...but not in time. He said that if time allowed, they would try and re-dub that line for the home video release (this episode was first seen in a censored format on Nicktoons), but I guess time didn't allow for it.

[Valerius Dover]

And now it's time to continue to Kai again after a long break! I should go at a much faster pace from now on since I'm on my own now. Starting at Season 2 with 4 episodes.

-Vic Mignogna sings the opening now, and he's fantastic. As most know, he also sang the GT opening.
-Vegeta saying Damn It several times during his rage scene seems redundant.
-R. Bruce Elliot is a great Ginyu. Can't really decide if I like him better than Brice Armstrong or not. I'd say they're pretty much even. I expect to hear Elliot again in Super.
-Greg Ayres is Guldo, and he's hilarious. I've seen so many anime with him voicing wimpy characters that his voice is practically ingrained in my head now. Much higher pitched than Bill Townsley. Also "SHIT. Time to bust up my secret weapon!"
-Vic Mignogna as Burter. Not much to say, but sounds good. A lot smoother than Sabat's performance.
-Chris Sabat is still Recoome, and he sounds pretty much the same. I've never had a problem with this voice, though.
-Jason Liebrecht takes over Sabat's Jeice, and what's interesting is that he still has an Australian accent. This is definitely a deliberate holdover from the Z dub, since the idea of Jeice having an Aussie accent is just so ingrained in the English version that they just went with it, I guess. Had Z been dubbed accurately from the beginning, he probably wouldn't sound much different from everyone else. Not that I'm complaining. Australian Jeice is awesome.
-Ginyu Force Rules! This entrance is so much cooler than Z. The awesomely cheesy song playing, the even more energetic yells that produce echoes, and the flashier colors make this a grand entrance indeed!

Yeah, it's great to be back! I'm gonna love watching the rest of this series!

[theoriginalbilis]

Glad to hear you're still enjoying the ride, Valerius.

- Vic's rendition of Dragon Soul is easily the best IMO.
- The more cursing, the better, IMO. "Fifteened" anime dubs usually end up being very memorable to me.
- Almost all of the new casting choices for Kai were improvements over the antiquated Z dub. I don't really have any complaints, except for Sabat's Recoome never sounding quite as threatening as the Japanese VAs. But then again, Recoome's basically a super-powered jock, so I guess it still fits.
- The Ginyu Force Rules/Ginyu Tokusentai scene in Kai was one of those moments where they surpassed the both the original manga and TV series. Here's the full version of the song for maximum entertainment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyAEB8TPs1g
- You're in for a treat when you get to the Freeza vs. everyone/Goku fight. Some of the best performances from the dub and Japanese cast are featured in that arc.