What if Dragonball had been made as an American cartoon?

[Hellspawn28]

It would be a totally different show. Anime and American cartoons have a different style to them and having characters drawn in a non-anime style would be pretty wired looking.

[samuraix123]

While I don't wish that Dragonball would have been an american cartoon, I do think it'd been cool to see the people that animate the Disney movies draw Dragonball. Now! before you guys start getting the crosses and nails out, I'm not talking about looking like Disney characters but just how they move and how fluid the animation is. and I don't have a problem with American cartoons or Japanese cartoons. but I don't see how someone can look at animation that some of the Disney movies have and other American animators and go Just look at this amazing animation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nrC8rLcvTQ
Here's a kinda newer better example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7yDf1q9jYw
Why am I talking about this again? haha I'm not trying to say that American cartoons are animated better but I don't understand how anyone can hate on them. One thing that bothers me about Japanese animation.(and I think I have an explanation) is the mouth flaps. why do they always have to go up and down? why doesn't the words they're saying,match the lips? and yes I know not all american cartoons do this but a-lot do and I can give many examples. but I guess the reason the mouth flaps only go up and down is because they're trying to reach out to English speaking audiences or others?
I heard rumors..I don't really know if it's true or not but there was a Japanese studio that helped work on the remake of Thundercats and I think it looks amazing! I've only seen a couple episodes though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBjOg-lFahQ

[Super Sonic]

Mouths move that way as unlike US cartoons, anime is usually recorded after the animation is done to the flaps to match up. Exceptions are "Akira" and if you count it as an anime, "Advent Children", hence why the dub, while good, looks weird at times.

[dbzfan7]

No thanks. I can't imagine Dragon Ball as an american cartoon (though a lot of english fans treat it as if it were).

Not trying to start anything but what do you mean ''though a lot of english fans treat it as if it were'' I don't understand? is there a special way were supposed to treat Cartoons made in another country? I mean I understand how some Dub fans get a little crazy every now and then on places like Youtube but I don't understand how they treat it like an american cartoon?

Because when it comes to characterization such as Goku, english fans complain about the lack of Super hero speeches (aka Light in the Darkness), that Goku is a manly man and should have a manly voice. Memes must be preserved, etc.

[samuraix123]

Mouths move that way as unlike US cartoons, anime is usually recorded after the animation is done to the flaps to match up. Exceptions are "Akira" and if you count it as an anime, "Advent Children", hence why the dub, while good, looks weird at times.

Akira is amazing! So is Neo Tokyo The running man. I would love to see Dragonball animated like Akira and this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV0hl1njPt4
Actually thinking about it. I guess that's what gives Dragonball it's charm is the way it's animated.

[Super Sonic]

No thanks. I can't imagine Dragon Ball as an american cartoon (though a lot of english fans treat it as if it were).

Not trying to start anything but what do you mean ''though a lot of english fans treat it as if it were'' I don't understand? is there a special way were supposed to treat Cartoons made in another country? I mean I understand how some Dub fans get a little crazy every now and then on places like Youtube but I don't understand how they treat it like an american cartoon?

Because when it comes to characterization such as Goku, english fans complain about the lack of Super hero speeches (aka Light in the Darkness), that Goku is a manly man and should have a manly voice. Memes must be preserved, etc.

What I figured he meant was that guys watch it like they do an American cartoon. A lot of anime fans watch anime, especially anime dubs differently than they watch American cartoons. They also judge them differently, and complain about something in a dub, but not care when the same thing happens in American cartoons.

[samuraix123]

Yeah I don't try to do that. every now and then I slip up and someone sets me on the right track. I have a friend that absolutely will not watch any kind of Japanese Animation for reasons I can't understand. that's why I don't talk about it much with him because he's like ''You're watching that crap anime stuff again aren't you?'' he says it jokingly but it's annoying.

[Captain-Sora]

Dragon Ball animation for American cartoons is still too advanced, there isn't anything to its level yet.

Grossly incorrect. Especially when one is comparing them to Dragon Ball, an anime that especially suffers inconsistent animation, with its dips in quality being somewhat noticeable.

One thing that bothers me about Japanese animation.(and I think I have an explanation) is the mouth flaps. why do they always have to go up and down? why doesn't the words they're saying,match the lips? and yes I know not all american cartoons do this but a-lot do and I can give many examples. but I guess the reason the mouth flaps only go up and down is because they're trying to reach out to English speaking audiences or others?

It's just a blessing in diguise more so than them actually purposely doing that for the benefit of dubs. The real reason for that is because anime utilizes limited animation. Anime is generally produced at a quick rate, which is why you see episodes constantly churned out with hardly any long breaks. To make this possible, they have to be cheap and cut corners with the animation.

Most shots would be static with the characters not moving unless they really had to(hell, half of the time, the only things that are really "moving" are the panning shots), the art would be a little inconsistent at times, and the animation would be a bit more choppy. Regarding the mouths just flapping up and down, other than lip syncing being a more painstacking process, I think it's also because, due to the rushed production times, the actors are actually doing their lines near the end of an episode's production(and maybe during it as well), so the animators cannot use the actors' voices as a reference since the recordings aren't even done yet. There's nothing for them to sync up to.

That's why it bothers me when I see people talk so badly about Western animation and hold anime on such a high pedestal. American animation may have hit a few slumps, especially as of late with all those cheap looking flash series, but to dismiss the achievements and breakthroughs made and the high quality works produced in the past is just ignorant. Hell, to this day, the only anime that even has animation that has come close to the likes of big budget Western animated features are films such as Akira, Steamboy and Ghibli's productions and even they are relatively dwarfed by Disney, Don Bluth's films, Warner Bros., and Dreamworks(before they quit traditional animation) and so on.

That's why I'd really love to see Dragon Ball animated by an American studio, so long as it isn't made into some crummy flash cartoon with flat character designs. Such intricate animation and fluidity would make the fights look outstanding.

[samuraix123]

You spoke it better than I ever could Captain-Sora.

Edit because this didn't add anything. - I'm just curious why someone would be so against an American company fully animating a Dragonball movie? I mean if they can keep the characters looking the same but with better animation and stuff, what's wrong with that?

[dbzfan7]

What I figured he meant was that guys watch it like they do an American cartoon. A lot of anime fans watch anime, especially anime dubs differently than they watch American cartoons. They also judge them differently, and complain about something in a dub, but not care when the same thing happens in American cartoons.

Great way to sum it up.

[Pretorious]

I would be way more interested in an American animated Dragon Ball movie over an American live action one. Though it would still be reaaallly weird. Also, character designs in a lot of modern American cartoons are very unattractive to me because of how angular and flat they are. I will be very happy when this trend goes away.

[Super Sonic]

Question, would you rather have an American DB cartoon that Toei does some work for as well, like how they did for the first season of the original TMNT, and other toons way back when, or still the same, but done new for the States like they did for Voltron and Ultimate Muscle?

[Kuwabara]

A western Dragon Ball series made in the same vein as series like Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend of Korra, and 2011 ThunderCats has the potential to be sublime. I personally feel FUNimation has way more love for the series than Toei does, and would dump more money into it. You guys are more than welcome to engage me on both counts.

[Hellspawn28]

If DB was originally made as a original show then it won't have a anime style look to it if was made in the 80's. I would imagine Dragon Ball would have a similar art style to shows like Transformers or Thunder Cats at the time.

[DBZ Mick]

It'd probably be episodic if it came out in the 80's or so...

[Smochi]

?

[ConfusedPhantom]

I wouldn't mind it much if it was sort of a collaboration with the people who animated the Avatar/Korra shows and Toei...but considering that they almost never cut corners in animation (or at least it seems that way), it might take them an eternity to finish it all. But, yeah...if it's purely an American cartoon....nah, especially when it comes to scripting. I want a studio like Madhouse to try their hand on Dragon Ball.

[Cursed Lemon]

Dragonball could easily be transferred, but not Dragonball Z.

[hulkty]

If Dragonball was an American cartoon, the fan base would have died in a year or 2 lol

[Scarz]

If it went with the style and writing of, lets say Young Justice or Avatar, it would've been one hell of cartoon. But then it would be canceled after two amazing seasons and replaced with a bastard version of the show called "Dragon Ball Go!"