Initial Reaction to Nozawa as Goku

[Rocketman]

It has nothing to do with a woman voicing a male character, or aging or anything like that.

It has everything to do with Nozawa's voice being godawful and not enjoyable to listen to.








BWAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKHHHH

[RedRibbonSoldier#42]

I am one of the few people who heard the dub first but liked nozawa better as soon as I heard it. maybe its because my first clip was: "suupa siajinn, son goku da!" vs freeza which was really epic

[ConfusedPhantom]

It was pretty gutsy to go through such a strange casting move.

But that's the thing. It wasn't really gutsy or strange. Nearly every single character in the series kept their voice actor throughout all ages of the character, be it a boy growing into a man, a girl growing into a woman, or, in Trunks's case, a man being replaced by his alternate reality younger self. It probably would have been seen as a much more gutsy move to risk alienating the audience by replacing the people who had already spent a few years bringing their characters to life.

Well, if you put it that way, it makes sense why they left the same actors to play the roles regardless of their age.

There's still a part of me that wishes they did switch though. As much as I like them, it is pretty distracting. It isn't that much of a stretch for them to sit down with another voice actor to make sure their performance would have some sort of familiarity and sense that it's the same character and for the audience to accept it.

[penguintruth]

It has nothing to do with a woman voicing a male character, or aging or anything like that.

It has everything to do with Nozawa's voice being godawful and not enjoyable to listen to.

Akira Toriyama, the creator of the character, disagrees, since he casted her himself.

Yes, you could argue he merely casted her as Goku as a child, but he still decided, "That's Goku." If there was any reason to change it up, he probably would have suggested something.

You can still find her unpleasant, but you can't really find a better endorsement than the original manga creator. If he says she's Goku, she's Goku.

And anyway, who can possibly deliver Goku's lines better? None of the English VAs give him those eccentricities in the way he talks. Most of them just do plain line reads, which is fine for some characters, but not Goku.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

Akira Toriyama, the creator of the character, disagrees, since he casted her himself.

What does this have to do with anything? Toriyama liked the voice, but that doesn't mean that everyone should like the voice, even if she is a great actor and fits perfectly with Goku. I love Nozawa as Goku/Gohan/etc, but I can totally see why others don't like it: it's a really weird voice for a muscled man.

Liking Nozawa because Toriyama chose her is a very childish reason to like her. It's like saying that anything not written by Toriyama is crap only because it's not written by Toriyama.

[Gdugz]

The first time I heard Nozawa was when I was playing Ultimate Battle 22 on ps1. I really liked her voice. I was always so confused with the english voices on the games, I grew up with the ocean dub and didnt understand why the voices werent the same.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

Well, I can't really say I had much of a reaction. My first exposure to anything Dragon Ball in Japanese was GT, in which Goku had been turned into a child, and all I really thought about his voice was "well, it's certainly different from his English voice in Dragon Ball, but it still seems to fit fine".

Gohan and Goten (particularly Gohan, as I hadn't heard Goten's older voice in the dub yet) were a different story, however. My reaction to hearing their voices was "okay, that's weird". It didn't detract me from the show by any means, but given that what I was used to at the time was Gohan's much deeper English dub voice, it was pretty jarring. That said, it didn't take long for me to get used to the voice, and once Super Saiyan 4 Goku came around, I wasn't shocked by it at all.

[penguintruth]

Akira Toriyama, the creator of the character, disagrees, since he casted her himself.

What does this have to do with anything? Toriyama liked the voice, but that doesn't mean that everyone should like the voice, even if she is a great actor and fits perfectly with Goku. I love Nozawa as Goku/Gohan/etc, but I can totally see why others don't like it: it's a really weird voice for a muscled man.

Liking Nozawa because Toriyama chose her is a very childish reason to like her. It's like saying that anything not written by Toriyama is crap only because it's not written by Toriyama.

The opinion of the creator of the character should certainly hold some weight. It's likely pretty rare that the manga author themselves pick the VAs for the animated version.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

The opinion of the creator of the character should certainly hold some weight. It's likely pretty rare that the manga author themselves pick the VAs for the animated version.

Not really. Opinions are opinions. If someone can't stand listening to the sound of Nozawa's voice, then he just can't stand it.

[Ajay]

The opinion of the creator of the character should certainly hold some weight. It's likely pretty rare that the manga author themselves pick the VAs for the animated version.

Not really. Opinions are opinions. If someone can't stand listening to the sound of Nozawa's voice, then he just can't stand it.

And if you're disagreeing with the creator of the source material, you should go back and reconsider how much you really understand each character. Who knows them better than the person who made them, right?

[RandomGuy96]

If someone finds another's voice to just be downright aggravating and borderline physically painful to listen to, it doesn't really matter how much it fits the character, does it? Assuming it even does, which is all subjective.

[TheBlackPaladin]

If someone finds another's voice to just be downright aggravating and borderline physically painful to listen to, it doesn't really matter how much it fits the character, does it? Assuming it even does, which is all subjective.

Let's put it this way.....a few weeks ago, I got an email from two separate VO clients of mine, each asking for an audition for projects they're working on. One said, "We want it to sound young, hip, and trendy, like the Apple ads." The other one said, "We don't want it to sound stiff and rehearsed, like the Apple ads." The point being...yeah, this is subjective. Very subjective. Not everyone hears the same thing, even when they hear the same thing.

As this relates to Nozawa's performance, it is subjective, and it will depend a fair deal on a viewer's ability to suspend their sense of disbelief. Those who like it hear a strange, quirky, goofy voice that's very fitting for a strange, quirky, goofy character like Goku, and those who don't like it hear a lady providing a voice for someone who does not look like a lady at all. Nothing's wrong with either opinion, that's just what they hear.

While it is true that some who refuse to listen to Nozawa's performance can be classified as stubborn, it's not necessarily right to call them stubborn if they simply have trouble believing what they're hearing. Given the subjectivity of watching or listening to a performance, that's a perfectly valid concern. Some people have trouble watching a super-skinny actor play a macho comic book superhero, some people have trouble believing an extremely good-looking actor is playing a nerdy character who can't get a girlfriend, and some people have trouble believing a female actress sounds like a grown male character.

It's all good...even better if they're able to explain their concerns in an intellectual, civilized manner. Not to come across as Mr. High-And-Mighty, of course, but I can't honestly say that I have much respect for the criticisms of either Nozawa's or Schemmel's (or any actor's) performance if they have verbiage to the effect of, "dude tht was so GAY wtf happnd rl db fans no who the real goku is OG DBZ FTW!"

The opinion of the creator of the character should certainly hold some weight. It's likely pretty rare that the manga author themselves pick the VAs for the animated version.

Not really. Opinions are opinions. If someone can't stand listening to the sound of Nozawa's voice, then he just can't stand it.

And if you're disagreeing with the creator of the source material, you should go back and reconsider how much you really understand each character. Who knows them better than the person who made them, right?

In spite of that, there are several known, widespread disagreements between fans and creators. Bob Kane said that he felt Val Kilmer's Batman was closer to what he imagined than Keaton, Ian Flemming said Roger Moore was closer to James Bond than Sean Connery, and George Lucas.....well. The dissatisfaction with his creative decisions inspired a documentary.

To be clear, I say this as someone who agrees with Toriyama's descision to cast Nozawa. I just felt it worth noting that there are known instances of fans preferring to understand stories and characters in ways other than what the creator intended, to the point that they feel their understandings make for better ones.

[Rocketman]

and those who don't like it hear a lady providing a voice for someone who does not look like a lady at all.

No, no, no, no. I will not have my opinion filed in with the easily dismissed Youtubers.

Nozawa's voice is bad. Not bad for Goku, not bad for muscley-mans, bad. If Goku was a girl, the voice would still be bad. If Nozawa was a dude, the voice would still be bad.

[TheBlackPaladin]

and those who don't like it hear a lady providing a voice for someone who does not look like a lady at all.

No, no, no, no. I will not have my opinion filed in with the easily dismissed Youtubers.

Nozawa's voice is bad. Not bad for Goku, not bad for muscley-mans, bad. If Goku was a girl, the voice would still be bad. If Nozawa was a dude, the voice would still be bad.

Oh, well, for clarity's sake, I was not lumping you in with YouTubers, and I'm sorry if I gave that impression. I would only lump someone in with YouTubers because of immature expressions of their opinions, not their opinions in and of themselves.

[Ajay]

In spite of that, there are several known, widespread disagreements between fans and creators. Bob Kane said that he felt Val Kilmer's Batman was closer to what he imagined than Keaton, Ian Flemming said Roger Moore was closer to James Bond than Sean Connery, and George Lucas.....well. The dissatisfaction with his creative decisions inspired a documentary.

Bill Finger is far closer to a 'Batman creator' that Bob Kane ever was. Same can be said of the actual screenwriters for the original Star Wars trilogy. I'd argue Dragon Ball is different on the basis that there's a sole writer: Akira Toriyama.

[ABED]

I don't know for a fact but I think Kane came up with the idea of having a superhero that was human and the bat motif, but that's about it. Everything else was Finger. The costume, the early rogues gallery were all Finger.

As for Keaton and Kilmer, I do think Kilmer is closer to Bruce Wayne from the comics than Keaton's was.

In any case, I do agree that I think it's interesting that the creator picked the voice for Goku but that doesn't mean everyone has to agree with it. Stan Lee thought Tobey was a great Peter Parker, but I wasn't particularly enthralled with his take.

[jjgp1112]

I don't know for a fact but I think Kane came up with the idea of having a superhero that was human and the bat motif, but that's about it. Everything else was Finger. The costume, the early rogues gallery were all Finger.

As for Keaton and Kilmer, I do think Kilmer is closer to Bruce Wayne from the comics than Keaton's was.

In any case, I do agree that I think it's interesting that the creator picked the voice for Goku but that doesn't mean everyone has to agree with it. Stan Lee thought Tobey was a great Peter Parker, but I wasn't particularly enthralled with his take.

Not to bring the thread off track, but I think Tobey was a great Peter Parker but a bad "Spider-Man," though that had to with the writing. But still, I don't think the creator's opinion is the end-all, be-all. People have different ways of interpreting the character's voice. Toriyama himself said he picked Nozawa on the basis that he heard her and said, "Hey, that sounds like how I'd picture him, I guess." Any number of fans can hear Goku, watch the show, ardently, and imagine a different type of voice for him.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

The opinion of the creator of the character should certainly hold some weight. It's likely pretty rare that the manga author themselves pick the VAs for the animated version.

Not really. Opinions are opinions. If someone can't stand listening to the sound of Nozawa's voice, then he just can't stand it.

And if you're disagreeing with the creator of the source material, you should go back and reconsider how much you really understand each character. Who knows them better than the person who made them, right?

I'm not saying it doesn't fit, Nozawa's voice for Goku is like his black spiky hair, it's his voice. However, not everyone must like that voice. I personally love it, but others don't.

[penguintruth]

I will not have my opinion filed in with the easily dismissed Youtubers.

Too late.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

I will not have my opinion filed in with the easily dismissed Youtubers.

Too late.

If I may do something uncharacteristically juvenile for this forum...



As for me, I cheated. I knew Nozawa was a thing before I ever watched the show in Japanese, so when I did I was good to go- as Vegetto says, "it just was." Same with most of the rest of the cast really, aside my approval of Babidi being recast.