"Dragon Ball Super" FUNimation Dub Official Discussion Thread

[Kataphrut]

In light of how the #SuperSaiyanShowdown ended up going down, maybe this was all an elaborate heel-turn.

[Scsigs]

I hope you were not saying i was being disrespectful because i definitely was not. I was just stating that although their explanation for Black is incorrect the idea of doing something slightly different with rose to make Sean sound more sophisticated and elegant is not a bad idea.

Not you, don't worry. It was puar.

[puar]

In the end of the episode after may been blasted by black. Vale gave the most aweful line delivery in anime dubbing history. Instead of the awesome dramatic "mayy!!" from the original japanese version which had so much emotion to it. Vale version was like. "May?" In most terrible delivery i ever heard. Like hes not even trying. That was a low point. Vale was terrible in this episode. Even worse then schemmel.

[dbgtFO]

In light of how the #SuperSaiyanShowdown ended up going down, maybe this was all an elaborate heel-turn.

Who won?
Schemmel?

[NintendoBlaze53]

In light of how the #SuperSaiyanShowdown ended up going down, maybe this was all an elaborate heel-turn.

Who won?
Schemmel?

Chris destroyed him. They played 5 matches and it was 4-1, Sean only won the final match which was Chris going super easy on him.

[dbgtFO]

Chris destroyed him. They played 5 matches and it was 4-1, Sean only won the final match which was Chris going super easy on him.

Looks like Sean really got hampered by not getting that advance copy then.

[OLKv3]

I'm just gonna bring this up, which I already did a few pages ago, but I don't think anyone noticed.
Sean's point is based on a wrong interpretation due to a lack of facts, then him acting like their interpretation is fact, so other points don't matter. I skimmed that AMA thread where that question came up & read only the important things in it. At no point did I see Sean attempt to really justify the interpretation he stated with any conclusive facts other than, "well, he's Zamasu's soul in Goku's body, so he MUST turn into more of himself when his alternate timeline self joins the battle & he goes Super Saiyan Rose." Then again, I didn't really see anyone try to explain to him why his interpretation was lacking, other than that it was. Oh, it's a wrong interpretation of the character & the interpretation, but at no point did I see anyone explain why to him.
The interpretation's wrong because that's not how SSR works, nor Zamasu's characterization when he's in Goku's body. SSR is a form of SSGSS like SSB is, just adapted to the user's soul being a god's and the body reacting accordingly. Zamasu grows to really love having Goku's body after that, not that he didn't like it before, which is when he really turns on the "holier-than-thou" attitude even more.

I'm not defending Ajay either, since the whole "Mr. Hope of the Universe" was more up to the script writers than Schemmel, or even Sabat, since that was made at a time before they really knew their stuff with both localization of anime for dubbing & acting, as well as direction. They've since gotten a lot of experience in all 3 of those. However, I will quote The Dom here where he says, "don't try to take the author's story & turn it into your own story," meaning, don't always assume you can tell the story of something you're adapting better than the original writer(s). When it comes to anime dubbing, that goes double, especially when there's other sources to watch the anime through & can have a better translation of the story. The days of people being in the dark of the original versions of anime are long since passed, though that doesn't stop Saban & 4K Media from having bad dubs of anime they license.

People DID explain to him why he's wrong, and Sean replied with "Oh well somehow we're wrong and you're right, I guess we'll instantly change it! #artisticlicense
There's no way you missed that if you saw Ajay's comment, since it was a direct response to that. That's when the rude comments started, when he got snarky

Don't know if Schemmel still lurks here, but here's his post from 2010 when someone tried to blame him for the OG dub
viewtopic.php?p=351253#p351253

[Doctor.]

I don't get why Sean Schemmel acts so rude online. His Goku voice has been hated for 15+ years by sub fans, obviously interacting with them is not the best of ideas.

Have you read anything others have said?
Getting blasted for so long would make anyone lose their patience easily. You keep talking like he’s some complete asshole which is clearly not the case.

He's a PROFESSIONAL. You act like he's the only one who gets hate. He doesn't. All of the voice actors do. Someone mentioned Sabat a while ago; Sabat gets a lot more hate and he's always professional and polite. You expect someone of Sean's status to keep his composure ESPECIALLY after dealing with fans for 15 years.

[8000 Saiyan]

Interesting how the man who voices Goku is short-tempered, while the guy that voices Vegeta is more cool-headed.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I'll admit that I didn't follow the whole AMA and am just getting the tidbits from it here, and I'll say that I'm as disappointed as anyone that the British voice will still be coming for Super Saiyan Rose Goku Black from the sounds of it - but I'm even more disappointed that any slight difference between the Japanese version and the English one is still all it takes for fans to be at each other's throats, or even at the throats of people who work on the dub.

I mean, seriously guys? The Japanese version is still there. It's not going anywhere. It's on Crunchyroll, it'll be on the DVD/Bluray release, and no matter what small changes might occur in the dub, it's still heavily influencing the dub, far more than it ever used to. If even the most remote change is all it takes to send one into a raging fit, then perhaps the dub was never something you should have been checking out in the first place, when the Japanese version is, again, still right there waiting for you to enjoy.

My criticism does stem both ways though - I love Schemmel's work as Goku, especially nowadays. He's my preferred English voice for the character by far. But man, I know he's been getting hated on for years (and yes, so have the rest of the cast, but as the lead character, Schemmel seems to get hit with far more of it than most), and that can't be easy, but...developing a slightly thicker skin in regards to critiques can only be a good thing for him at this point. People are always going to disagree with how you portray a character, especially super popular ones in super popular, long-running series like Dragon Ball. After a certain point, you need to learn to just roll with it and keep on keeping on.

So yeah, basically disappointed in both sides of the debate here. I thought we as a fandom would be way past this point by now, but I guess not.

[Scorpio Kardia]

Just a quick question, but do all the people who hate and bash the FUNimation dub and the voice actors even watch Dragon Ball Super dubbed in English? Because if they have this abysmal hate for it I actually doubt they can stand watching through it and watching a full episode dubbed by FUNimation. I mean we live in an age where they can watch Dragon Ball Super with the original japanese voices and with subtitles (I say subtitles because for as much as these people complain I doubt they can even write a single word in Japanese; which I find hilarious). It's not like we're back in the 90s where we could only watch the version that aired in our own countries with each countries respective dubs. Although, I think some of the people complaining in that discussion, are the same people who complain if Crunchy Roll replaces a synonym with another synonym when writing their subtitles, so yeah. I wonder, if some of these people just hate that they weren't born in Japan? Either way, I guess under the anonymity of the internet everyone can be an edgelord, and be rude to other people without any consequences, especially when you know you're going to be backed up by a bunch of other equally narrow minded people.

I mean there was a guy going around bragging that he told and I quote "Sean Schemmel, Nozawa is Goku's real voice!" or something. Lol ok? It's like a kid who rang a random doorbell to impress his friends and then ran away while laughing. It's so childish and sad.

This is coming from someone who grew up with the Portuguese Dragon Ball dub in the 90s lol. Back then you didn't have a choice, you either watched a version of Dragon Ball where Goku promoted other shows that aired in the same tv channel that aired Dragon Ball while fighting Freeza or you didn't watch Dragon Ball at all. Those days are gone now though, if I want I can watch Dragon Ball in Japanese, Portuguese, English, French and so on...I can even watch a freaking fan parody on YouTube for crying out loud. The possibilities are endless, so bashing something you don't even watch seems...well dumb to put it mildly.

[Noah]

I think most people who hate FUNImation dub are not even from America and yes from other countries who hated the dub on games prefering to be their region dub instead.

[Dbzfan94]

Yes, from my experience the people who bash the dub endlessly are the same ones who never watch it anyway. So maybe those people should just, ya know, stick to the Japanese.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Yes, from my experience the people who bash the dub endlessly are the same ones who never watch it anyway. So maybe those people should just, ya know, stick to the Japanese.

It is not always the case I know some sub first fans who do genuinely watch the dub whoever they don't seem to watch much anime in general dub and thus where the problem is they expect something different and don't understand that dubs are primarily adaptations for western audiences that is first thing FUNi always talk about when talking about the process of dubbing. In the credits FUNi label DBS dub as "English version" it doesn't get much more black and white than that. It isn't meant to be the Japanese version, it is still it's own thing so they can take liberties if they want too. Most of us who comment on this thread regularly understand that and don't constantly complain over every change or liberty taken. Like I said before how is it fair that the Japanese can take artistic licenses but the dub can't, it is not like Viz translating Manga from JPN to ENG where this sort of stuff matters, the dub is it's own thing separate from the Japanese. A couple months back on twitter I saw the dumbest comment ever, someone was complaining about FUNi's dub and said "they should concentrate on adapting not changing stuff".... the very definition of adapting is to change....

Plus also there is the old Z dub where people have conditioning themselves to be against any sort of change and complain like "Vegeta didn't say lets go see Yamcha in the sub this reminds me of the old days blah blah" like you can't fun? It is 10x more funnier while still being true to the scene than the generic ass reply he gave in the Japanese. if it that line was the JPN they'd all be ROFLing instead feeling the need to cringe cuz it was in the dub.

On top of all of this Toei themselves are approving all of this, if they're allowing artistic license then Sean is right...they own the freaking show!

[Cure Dragon 255]

No. They dont own the show. They only animate it. If it was Precure, sure. Because the Toei staff wrote AND animated the show. Its Akira Toriyama and Shueisha who own Dragon Ball.

Also I really hate that NO ONE pointed out politely that many dub fans had to watch the sub to wait for the official dub. HECK! Why no one politely told Sean it was a bad idea to begin with! People always forget that!

[jelleline89]

...but I will ask again that you keep your comments strictly related to the subject matter, and not try to extrapolate analysis of me as a person from it.

Fair enough, but perhaps consider taking your own advice next time. Sorry, but behavior like you exhibited to him might discourage him from doing this again. So I think it only makes sense more should be expected from someone who also serves as a moderator for THE definitive DBZ forum.

[Kataphrut]

In light of how the #SuperSaiyanShowdown ended up going down, maybe this was all an elaborate heel-turn.

Who won?
Schemmel?

Chris destroyed him. They played 5 matches and it was 4-1, Sean only won the final match which was Chris going super easy on him.

Yeah, that's why I'm like...I know it wasn't staged, but it worked out too well. Have Sean get everybody mad at him on the AMA, then get his comeuppance from Chris the following night. The irony is Chris is just as much to blame for the Rose voice situation, but whatever. We got to have a good laugh.

It really did feel like a gimmick wrestling event. I thought for a long time it would end with Chris being hammered because he was the one talking big while Sean barely said anything except dropping that he actually, y'know...played fighting games. So I figured it would end up where Chris talks big and Sean casually wrecks him. Because that's pretty much Goku and Vegeta in the series lol. But no, instead Sean makes himself public enemy number one on Reddit, complains about how his accountant did all his training and how his buttons were wrong (which is textbook Cowardly Heel talk) and Chris walks away with it to the cheers of the adoring crowd, even letting him win a match out of pity.

If this wasn't all a work, then goddamn it could've been.

[Marlowe89]

One thing I'd like to point out that I don't see posted here often is that the anime's original dialogue does indeed insinuate, at multiple points, that Goku's body has some degree of influence over Black's personality -- particularly whenever Black mentions his new body's urges for fighting or its thirst for battle. One might counter that it might be a Saiyan trait instead of a "Goku" trait so to speak, but the script makes it pretty clear that there's a subtle distinction between Black and Zamasu regardless. So I don't think Schemmel's reasoning is entirely off-base, to be clear.

The problem is that there's nothing in the show that implies this behavioral influence would somehow decrease or become less prominent whenever Black uses Rose. His mannerisms certainly seem a bit more "posh" after the initial transformation, which might be where Sean is getting that interpretation, but I can see why it might be a bit misguided regardless. I don't know if this debate is as black-and-white as people make it seem, and I would have to agree with Sean that there is some (even if a little) room for artistic liberty here. It's not like he's never changed his voice for a Super Saiyan transformation before.

Ultimately, I guess I can see where both sides are coming from.

[Kataphrut]

I think a big difference is whether or not the accent stays after the first transformation. If it is just turning off and on like a switch, then this'll be just as bad as it sounds. But I can see it working if we get the accent change (the first Rose transformation happens between them meeting Zamasu in the present and him revealing himself in the future) as kind of a reveal before the reveal. Like "oh, you're not actually Goku, you sound like Zamasu."

The other thing that will work is if they go with the idea of Zamasu becoming more prominent in Goku Black than Goku becoming more prominent as the Japanese version implies, it might flow more naturally into Fused Zamasu taking over and being the dominant personality in the final stretch. That was always somewhat jarring in the original, the way Goku Black just kind of disappeared from the story. I don't know if it's necessarily worth re-writing the lore, but the lore surrounding Goku Black, Zamasu and Rose was always kind of confusing anyway.

[jjgp1112]

Yes, from my experience the people who bash the dub endlessly are the same ones who never watch it anyway. So maybe those people should just, ya know, stick to the Japanese.

Eh, as much as I think the complaints about the Super dub's "changes" are completely overblown and people just being stiff, this isn't really fair and painting too broad of a brush, and dismissive of some of the valid complaints about the earlier dubs.

Just because they're not necessarily watching it doesn't mean they shouldn't hope that all fans are presented with an accurate depiction of the series.