The FUNimation Dub's "Story" Changes

Raki · Post by **Raki** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:29 pm

In terms of story, is the English dub the worst on the planet?

Vekurotto · Post by **Vekurotto** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:41 pm

Raki wrote:In terms of story,is the English dub the worst on the planet?

I can interpret this two ways. If you mean is it the worst English dub, no there are worse. See Battle of the Planets vs Gatchaman comparisons and 4kids' version of One Piece to the original One Piece and Sailor Moon dubbed compared to subbed. It makes DB's dubs look like a decent version.

If you mean is it the worst DBZ language to watch, maybe. I know the Portuguese version is terrible voicewise, but content wise they stayed pretty close to the original meaning. In fact I believe that Funi's dub is the only dub on the entire planet that's different from the original to be honest. I've seen some most of the other foreign language dubs and somehow or another they still fit the original mood and meaning better than the Funi dub ever has.

Raki · Post by **Raki** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:51 pm

Oh. I meant the latter of your explanations. Thanks for the info.

TheGreatness25 · Post by **TheGreatness25** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:41 pm

Well everyone is different. Some people prefer the mystical feel, and others like the more Americanized feel. I personally like both, and depending on my mood, that's what I watch.

And let me explain why FUNimation got away with very little censoring. It's because they were on Cartoon Network, while back when Saban was doing the show, they were on WB. There's a difference. WB was very strict with censoring. For example, if you take a look at Batman The Animated Series (I know, it's probably getting old that I use this example, but it's a good one), there's a difference between the first incarnation, and the "New Adventures". The original was a lot more adult oriented. And the newer one was more kid's based. Why? Because the original was on Fox, where they let more fly, and the newer one was on Kids WB. Simple as that. Each station has their own rules.

Post by **VegettoEX** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:04 pm

TheGreatness25 wrote:And let me explain why FUNimation got away with very little censoring. It's because they were on Cartoon Network, while back when Saban was doing the show, they were on WB. There's a difference. WB was very strict with censoring.

I'm sorry, but you simply have no idea what you're talking about. The show was broadcast in syndication. Just because it was on WB in your area doesn't mean it was on WB in other areas. For me, it was on Fox. For others, WGN. For others, WB. And yet... it was broadcast exactly the same on all of these networks. Therefore, WB could have had absolutely nothing to do with the content and/or its "censoring".

You've already quoted and responded to the actual answer:

Kunzait_83 wrote:FUNimation has gone on record several times stating that the censorship standards of the Saban dub were enforced largely by Saban itself, not FCC regulations.

Kunzait_83 · Post by **Kunzait_83** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:01 pm

Adamant · Post by **Adamant** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 11:30 pm

Herms wrote:Anyway, "Catfish people from Venus?" remind me of how in Legendary Super Warriors for the GBC, Kaio's planet is referred to as 'Neptune'. Really. Which is strange, because the translations in that game otherwise seem to be pretty good.

Did we play the same game here? It's been a while since I've touched it, but I seem to recall that the translation was rather asstastic, with roughly half the terms used for anything coming straight from the translator's ass.

Raki wrote:In terms of story,is the English dub the worst on the planet?

Nah, the Norwegian dub is worse. If you thought ignoring the concept of ki completely is bad, at least FUNi doesn't refer to ki blasts as fucking fireballs. Add in the fact that, with the sole exception of Kuririn, EVERYONE has either a shitty voice, a miscast voice, or a shitty miscast voice, and you got the worst DBZ dub on the planet on your hands.
Even Kuririn's voice annoys me, because, even though it's great, it would fit Goku even better than Kuririn, and Goku's dub voice is so impossibly bad even writing insults towards it makes me cringe. I need to upload some clips some day.

Post by **Herms** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:33 am

Adamant wrote: Did we play the same game here? It's been a while since I've touched it, but I seem to recall that the translation was rather asstastic, with roughly half the terms used for anything coming straight from the translator's ass.

That's interesting, because I remember being impressed with how the game had accurate names for things and generally avoided dub terms. Though I do remember that they called the cards for what clearly seemed to be Super Saiyan Second and Third Grade (USSJ and USSJ2 or what have you) simply Super Saiyan 2 and 3. But it has been a really long time since I played it as well, so...

@Kunzait_83: *slaps forehead* Man, I forgot about the whole thing with Freeza and his men being ignorant of ki. I always found that a very interesting aspect of the whole Freeza arc.

Captain Awesome · Post by **Captain Awesome** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:35 am

@Kunzait

I knew that Freeza and his men only had a rudimentary understanding of ki, but I had no idea they actually used different terminology!

..I need to pay more attention.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 2:04 am

VegettoEX wrote:
TheGreatness25 wrote:They HAD to censor the series
Harmony Gold didn't have to censor T'ao Paipai sticking his tongue through Gen. Blue seven years earlier.

Often standards on networks change. Like how Spider-Man really got censored and couldn't do things that Batman and X-Men got away with.

Post by **TripleRach** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 10:03 am

Herms wrote:Anyway, "Catfish people from Venus?" remind me of how in Legendary Super Warriors for the GBC, Kaio's planet is referred to as 'Neptune'. Really. Which is strange, because the translations in that game otherwise seem to be pretty good.

Hmm, was the original game all kana? I'd assume so, since trying to use kanji on the original GB would be about as bad as using it on the Famicom. If the translator knew nothing about the series, I can see how he'd make the mistake, even though one image search for the character could have cleared that up.

But for those who don't know, his planet is called "Kaiousei" in Japanese, and that's a homophone for the word for Neptune, which is "Kaiousei" with slightly different kanji. (Which makes you wonder why the planet wasn't termed "Wakusei ~" like Vegeta and Freeza's planets instead of "~sei" like everything else.)

To be fair, the Japanese version does sometimes use the English word 'energy' (enerugii; for some reason they say it with a hard g)

Well, enerugii actually comes from "energie," which is French or Dutch or something, and pronounced with the hard G. The English word "energy" is enajii, which I don't believe is ever used in Dragon Ball. But I'm getting really trivial here...

Adamant · Post by **Adamant** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 4:55 pm

TripleRach wrote:But for those who don't know, his planet is called "Kaiousei" in Japanese, and that's a homophone for the word for Neptune, which is "Kaiousei" with slightly different kanji. (Which makes you wonder why the planet wasn't termed "Wakusei ~" like Vegeta and Freeza's planets instead of "~sei" like everything else.)

I'd assume that was the very reason. Toriyama loves his puns.

Onikage725 · Post by **Onikage725** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:14 am

@Kunzait

The whole generic "power/energy" thing over here really did over-simplify things. I think that's why many fans in the states see the characters less as god-level martial artists and more like Saturday morning super heroes.

Casual Matt · Post by **Casual Matt** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:33 am

Onikage725 wrote:@Kunzait

The whole generic "power/energy" thing over here really did over-simplify things. I think that's why many fans in the states see the characters less as god-level martial artists and more like Saturday morning super heroes.

Hell, I'm a little miffed that the back of the Budokai Tenkaichi 3 box says "Super Hero Showdown" on it.

Sebastian (SB) · Post by **Sebastian (SB)** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 10:46 am

Casual Matt wrote:Hell, I'm a little miffed that the back of the Budokai Tenkaichi 3 box says "Super Hero Showdown" on it.

Same here. That's "hip" alright.

Onikage725 · Post by **Onikage725** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 11:07 am

Casual Matt wrote:
Onikage725 wrote:@Kunzait

The whole generic "power/energy" thing over here really did over-simplify things. I think that's why many fans in the states see the characters less as god-level martial artists and more like Saturday morning super heroes.
Hell, I'm a little miffed that the back of the Budokai Tenkaichi 3 box says "Super Hero Showdown" on it.

Haha yeah, same here.

Ya know, it isn't just the Freeza crew that has the general lack of understanding thing going on. Dr. Gero did too. Look at when he drained Piccolo, and then got his butt kicked shortly thereafter. In the original script Piccolo explains that ki, or "what (Dr. Gero) calls energy" can be amplified by himself and the others as needed in combat. In essence, what you see on the surface is not even close to what you ultimately get. In the dub this was changed to a motivational speech about putting technology to good use and how hurting others only hurts yourself, or something like that. See? Martial arts show on one side, Saturday morning USA-style super hero cartoon on the other. That's why I always maintain that while it may be considered a kids show in Japan, it qualifies for an older market in the US. If you have to heavily edit, change, or flat out ignore key concepts and plot points to force it into a demographic, then you're automatically aiming at the wrong target.

MyVisionity · Post by **MyVisionity** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 4:46 pm

Onikage725 wrote: If you have to heavily edit, change, or flat out ignore key concepts and plot points to force it into a demographic, then you're automatically aiming at the wrong target.

Why? Maybe the "USA-style superhero cartoon" is what FUNi was aiming for. Those key concepts and plot points obviously weren't necessary to create a successful product among the resulting demographic.

Raki · Post by **Raki** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 4:54 pm

MyVisionity wrote:
Onikage725 wrote: If you have to heavily edit, change, or flat out ignore key concepts and plot points to force it into a demographic, then you're automatically aiming at the wrong target.
Why? Maybe the "USA-style superhero cartoon" is what FUNi was aiming for. Those key concepts and plot points obviously weren't necessary to create a successful product among the resulting demographic.

Dragonball Z was bound to be a hit, so why change such important elements? They didn't do it for any of their other dubs.

Kunzait_83 · Post by **Kunzait_83** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:57 pm

Xyex · Post by **Xyex** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:59 pm

Raki wrote:Dragonball Z was bound to be a hit, so why change such important elements? They didn't do it for any of their other dubs.

You're speaking from a completely biased stand-point. You can't say it'd be a hit if left untouched. Especially back in the day it was brought over. Anime was 100% niche market back then, the cloestest thing to main stream it had gotten was Pokemon. FUNi was a new company, they needed to make sure it would sell, not cross their fingers and hope that something that was big else where would be so here with the finicky American public.

These days original sells. But ten years ago? Ten years ago releasing the original was like playing Russian Roulette with your finances. Better to release a modified product cattered more toward the average crowd than risk something that the average crowd might not like.