Who could replace Nozawa & Schemmel?

[Blade]

My problem with the English language Goku voices is that they're all kind of imitations of each other for the sake of dub consistency.

Morrow is an imitation of Schemmel, who in turn is an imitation of Kelamis, who in turn is an imitation of Corlett. Sure, they don't all sound identical - but I think that it would be nice to see a voice actor try and take the role in another direction, as it kind of feels like the paradigm for English Language Goku has kinda been set in stone.

As for Nozawa? She's irreplaceable, but I suspect when the time comes that Toei has to find a replacement, it'll probably be a no-name impersonator.

[90sDBZ]

Delete this.

[90sDBZ]

My problem with the English language Goku voices is that they're all kind of imitations of each other for the sake of dub consistency.

Morrow is an imitation of Schemmel, who in turn is an imitation of Kelamis, who in turn is an imitation of Corlett. Sure, they don't all sound identical - but I think that it would be nice to see a voice actor try and take the role in another direction, as it kind of feels like the paradigm for English Language Goku has kinda been set in stone.

What about Jeffrey Watson from the Blue Water dub of the King Piccolo saga?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvmyKIK8XS8

His acting wasn't that good but as far as I can tell he wasn't impersonating anyone. But I get what you're saying though. To be fair both Schemmel and Kelamis ended up changing their performances to be more of their own. And no other English Goku can bring out Goku's anger like Sean can. Things did get out of hand though like how we ended up with Kirby Morrow being impersonated by Jeremiah Yurk in Blue Water GT who sounded nothing like Goku should.

[NintendoBlaze53]

So many good suggestions.
For Nozawa with my limited knowledge of Seiyu, Romi Park would be a decent replacement with her noticeable rolls being Toshiro from Bleach, Edward from Fullmetal Alchemist & Naoto from Persona4. As for Schemmel Tood Haberkorn would be my pick as his voice would be good his voice for Death The Kid could fit. As for other options Johnny Young Bosvh I think is more suited to darker roles i.e. Lelouch, Kozumi & Adachi/Yu. Vic Mignogna? NO NO & NO. Vic's Voice is best fit for comedy characters like Tamaki from OHSHC & Spirit from Soul Eater. As much as I love his Edward he is way too overused (Like Troy Baker & Laura Bailey though she gets a pass as she kills her roles).
While we are here who would have been a better pick to replace Stephanie Nadolny as Kid Goku over Colleen Clikenbeard. She does a good Kid Gohan but I don't like her Kid Goku cause there is little to no difference. The Voice of Connan from Detective Connan maybe.

[Blade]

Things did get out of hand though like how we ended up with Kirby Morrow being impersonated by Jeremiah Yurk in Blue Water GT who sounded nothing like Goku should.

His adult Goku voice actually grew on me, as did a lot of the Blue Water cast for GT - save for Vegeta and Piccolo, though - as I think they rank upon the worst English voices for those characters. I'd even say they're down at the bottom with the AB Groupe Malaysian-produced movie dubs.

[ABED]

Schemmel may have started out trying to imitate Kelamis (he was told to), but he made the performance his own. He doesn't sound like the previous actors.

I'm of the belief that on the sad day when Nozawa passes, when Toei goes about recasting Goku (anybody who thinks they won't is fooling themselves), whoever the new voice actor/actress is should try to do their own interpretation of Goku. I've always believed that when a role is recast, the new actor should disregard the previous actor's performance--regardless of how good or bad it is--because if they try to imitate it, it's like saying they can do just as good a job at that portrayal as the original actor. This would result in an inorganic performance that's not true to that actor's heart, and the viewers will only long for the original actor.

Without naming names, take Season 3 for example (talking about English voices). Every single voice actor started giving much, much, much better performances when they stopped trying to sound like their Ocean counterpart. Granted, they were doing what FUNimation (initially) hired them to do, but I'm glad they let the actors go with their own interpretations as time went on.

This, I wholeheartedly agree with.

[SingleFringe&Sparks]

Sean does the heroic persona of Goku the best IMO. Yeah, he can be over-the-top but I love that, more than the under-the-bottom restrained acting done by Ian James Corlett.

I actually love that side of Goku more so than the laid-back casual fun guy Goku The japanese one is intended to be. After watching Kai's Dub I'm not used to hearing Goku speak so improperly. I love Sean's patriotic tone he gives Goku in his Fight with Super Buu (preVegito) and Kid Buu. The "You're not going to get away with this.." speeches he gives are always what pumps me up. Though Sean cant really do Goku's funny/lazier side, not the way his japanese actress does, she makes Goku so lovably goofy with her delivery. Sean's impersonation during the comedic scenes sound a bit forced at times though.
If we really want to compare all of Goku's dub voices:
http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/voi ... Ball/Goku/

[SaiyamanMS]

If we lost Schemmel, then I'd want to bring back Peter Kelamis, the man absolutely nailed the first three movies.

As for Nozawa, let me say that she is Son Goku, but I honestly don't get the whole "if Nozawa dies, then Goku dies" sentiment. Should Kermit the Frog have died when Jim Henson died? Should Lupin III have died when Yasuo Yamada died? Steve Whitmere and Kanichi Kurita are certainly worthy successors to their roles.

As for who could replace Nozawa, I feel that Rica Matsumoto (Satoshi/Ash Ketchum in Pokémon) would probably do a good job. Romi Park is also an option as others have mentioned. I find the suggestion of Kappei Yamaguchi an interesting one though (especially since he actually did play Goku in the Japanese dub of Evolution), the man is an amazing talent and would probably do a good job if they wanted to take the voice in a different direction.

[BurakkuForesuto]

@Penguintruth You are such a big hypocrite. When somebody criticizes Nozawa's Goku, you go ape shit and start saying how Toriyama picked her and how Goku is supposed to sound. When somebody talks about Vic's Edward, you shit on it, even though Aniplex picked Vic to be Edward and did not WANT Vic to sound like Romi Park. That was kinda the point of Vic being Edward. Why? Why don't you defend Vic like you defend Nozawa?

Anyway, neither Goku is that good. How can anyone like Nozawa? You know she is a woman, you know Goku sounds like a woman, which is unbelievable and forced. Her screams are not that good and I do not buy Goku having to have the same voice for years on end. Characters from Gundam who are more iconic than DBZ characters have had their JP voice changed and nobody cared(well they did, but they got over it) so why is Nozawa special? It would be easy to replace her. Wataru Takagi doing his Garrod Ran voice would be perfect as Goku. Kappei Yamaguchi doing his Sai Saici voice would be pretty good. Tomokazu Seki, Nobuyuki Hiyama and many more are much more suitable than Nozawa.

As for Schemmel, he always sounded like a watered down Superman and not an innocent, fun loving guy. He is way too serious and his voice is forced. I would pick Dave Wittenberg doing his Gino voice from Geass R2 or JYB doing his typical voice. Those are better actors and would both make better Gokus than Schemmel.

[ABED]

As for Schemmel, he always sounded like a watered down Superman and not an innocent, fun loving guy. He is way too serious and his voice is forced.

He doesn't sound like that ALL the time, nor does Nozawa sound like a laid back, innocent, fun loving guy. Schemmel is serious when Goku's serious and laid back when Goku's laid back. Nozawa's better, but I wish people would stop talking in hyperbole about their performances.

[VegettoEX]

@Penguintruth You are such a big hypocrite. When somebody criticizes Nozawa's Goku, you go ape shit and start saying how Toriyama picked her and how Goku is supposed to sound. When somebody talks about Vic's Edward, you shit on it, even though Aniplex picked Vic to be Edward and did not WANT Vic to sound like Romi Park. That was kinda the point of Vic being Edward. Why? Why don't you defend Vic like you defend Nozawa?

Please tone yourself down. You're bordering on a personal attack here and you're being unbelievably rude about it. You have valid questions, and I know I personally wouldn't be interested in responding to them, however, if they were phrased this way directed at me. You're doing yourself and your viewpoint zero favors.

You know she is a woman, you know Goku sounds like a woman, which is unbelievable and forced. Her screams are not that good

I do not agree with a single point you're making here other than, "Yes, I am aware that Masako Nozawa is a woman."

I don't think Goku sounds like a woman; I think he sounds like Goku. It's a distinct voice that I just don't hear anywhere else for any other character, including other iconic roles of Nozawa's. I don't think it's an unbelievable voice. I don't think it's a forced voice, but I have zero professional background to explain to you why on an acting/performance level I feel that way... I just do. That's how I hear the voice - true, realistic, and grounded. I disagree about her screams; I find them full of vigor and packing unbelievable punch.

My answer? Corlett directed by someone incredibly talented, and... I don't know on the Japanese side. Matsumoto, Park, sure... maybe, again, with the right direction... when it comes down to it, I think I might prefer an unknown, someone else who magically happens to embody the Son family the same way Nozawa does. Asking a lot there, but that's the question, right?

[Blade]

@Penguintruth You are such a big hypocrite. When somebody criticizes Nozawa's Goku, you go ape shit and start saying how Toriyama picked her and how Goku is supposed to sound. When somebody talks about Vic's Edward, you shit on it, even though Aniplex picked Vic to be Edward and did not WANT Vic to sound like Romi Park. That was kinda the point of Vic being Edward. Why? Why don't you defend Vic like you defend Nozawa?

Anyway, neither Goku is that good. How can anyone like Nozawa? You know she is a woman, you know Goku sounds like a woman, which is unbelievable and forced. Her screams are not that good and I do not buy Goku having to have the same voice for years on end. Characters from Gundam who are more iconic than DBZ characters have had their JP voice changed and nobody cared(well they did, but they got over it) so why is Nozawa special? It would be easy to replace her. Wataru Takagi doing his Garrod Ran voice would be perfect as Goku. Kappei Yamaguchi doing his Sai Saici voice would be pretty good. Tomokazu Seki, Nobuyuki Hiyama and many more are much more suitable than Nozawa.

As for Schemmel, he always sounded like a watered down Superman and not an innocent, fun loving guy. He is way too serious and his voice is forced. I would pick Dave Wittenberg doing his Gino voice from Geass R2 or JYB doing his typical voice. Those are better actors and would both make better Gokus than Schemmel.

I agree to some extent that Nozawa is revered so highly for her Goku partly because she has held the role so long it has became almost unthinkable to imagine someone else taking it, but by the same token - she hasn't held onto the role for such a long period of time out of pure production sentiment alone, she's held onto it because she's damned good at it.

Sure, in her more recent work in Kai and Battle of Gods she hasn't quite lived up to her earlier standards - but the woman isn't far away from hitting 80, and it's not like even now she's performing badly, just to a lesser quality to what we know she used to be capable of.

In regard to the Schemmel 'Superman' comments, I hear these criticisms of him so often now that I don't even think they're worth responding to. I don't understand why people blame him for the acting the way he was being directed to act in certain parts of the old dub. I mean, I have no problems with people who criticise him for his acting - as yeah, in the old dub especially there's a number of occasions, especially earlier on, where he's totally crap - the same way I don't mind people who just outright don't like his voice - that's purely preferential. But to blame him for portraying the adapted dialogue the way in which the people who were paying him told him to portray it? Come on, that's not really grounds to shoot the messenger.

If you've seen the dub of Kai then you'll know how he handles the role when he's given more free reign over it (incidentally, I believe he actually directed and recorded his own performances from New York and sent them over to Texas). Moreover, even in the old dub there are plenty of occasions where he really captures Goku's 'innocent, fun loving side' and where he's suitably heroic in regard to the source material without being the immaculate white hero that the first Funimation adapation attempted to portray him as. To be honest, as far as outright dialogue and performance goes, you don't really see a great deal of that after the Freeza saga anyway - it's largely carried more subliminally by things such as the Faulconer score.

[TheAldella]

I was always a dub watcher until after I'd switched to Kai's dub. I then started watched the original Dragon Ball Z in japanese. I feel like no one could really give the same exact performance as Sean can. But that's not my issue. Nozawa is irreplaceable. She's a phenomenal actor with an amazing range. I can actually tell her characters apart, unlike a good portion of other actors.

[WittyUsername]

I don't get the argument that Sean Schemmel makes Goku sound like a 'superhero'. Sure, some of the dialogue he had back in the day may have given off that impression, but I think he does a perfectly fine job of handling Goku's goofy personality while also making him sound serious when the situation calls for it. Besides, his voice really doesn't sound as deep as a lot of people seem to make it out to be.

[Blade]

I can actually tell her characters apart, unlike a good portion of other actors.

I kinda disagree here. I think she's a little bit like Sabat in that although her character voices do sound different from one and other, they're all very obviously Nozawa voices to the iniated ear. I think with the Son family there was an intentional similarity kept between the characters, but that's not what I'm referring to.

I think a voice actor that I feel is very good at bringing multiple characters to life where it's hard to distinguish that the voices are all from the same person is someone like Billy West.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I can actually tell her characters apart, unlike a good portion of other actors.

I kinda disagree here. I think she's a little bit like Sabat in that although her character voices do sound different from one and other, they're all very obviously Nozawa voices to the iniated ear. I think with the Son family there was an intentional similarity kept between the characters, but that's not what I'm referring to.

I think a voice actor that I feel is very good at bringing multiple characters to life where it's hard to distinguish that the voices are all from the same person is someone like Billy West.

I would have to agree with Blade here. You can start to tell the difference in performances between Nozawa's Son family roles if you listen, but there's still no getting around the fact that it's very clearly the same person doing them. You can tell that with ease, it's nowhere near the same level of difference as say...I'm trying to come up with a Japanese example, but I'm drawing a blank, so I guess Billy West is really a good example. It takes a lot more time listening to his voice to pick up on the fact that Zoidberg is also Fry (though there's more to go on between Fry and the Professor or Fry and Zapp Brannigan).

As for the question itself, I've been pondering this for a bit myself but honestly, I'm having a hard time coming up with an answer honestly. It really will be hard to imagine someone else for Japanese Goku other than Nozawa, she's just that iconic in the role. I hope whoever they pick though does a good enough job as the character rather than just completely trying to be Nozawa, because the latter will only set themselves up for failure. Kanichi Kurita's Lupin doesn't work because he's playing Yasuo Yamada's Lupin III, it works because he's playing Kanichi Kurita's Lupin III. I guess if I had to pick, maybe Kappei Yamaguchi? I could hear it working, but at the same time I could see the Toei staff wanting to go with a woman again, just to preserve that level of familiarity in people's minds too. Hmm...I dunno what it'd come off like, but I'd be curious to hear what Yui Horie would do.

In English, Schemmel probably has a good many more years left to play the character comparatively, so it's also really hard for me to pick someone there. I have a feeling that if we ever have to have another English Goku, it may be someone 'new'-ish that we haven't really heard a lot from yet. So my prediction there is 'I have no idea'.

[TheAldella]

I never said you can't tell it's her.

[B]

I don't get the argument that Sean Schemmel makes Goku sound like a 'superhero'. Sure, some of the dialogue he had back in the day may have given off that impression, but I think he does a perfectly fine job of handling Goku's goofy personality while also making him sound serious when the situation calls for it. Besides, his voice really doesn't sound as deep as a lot of people seem to make it out to be.

The problem is really summed up best in Kanzenshuu's dub review of the first Dragon Ball Kai set. Happy Goku? Goofy, smiling, laughing, palling-around Goku? Schemmel's got that down, and he sounds the way Goku should sound when he's expressing those feelings. But then the action starts, and Schemmel has to get angry or upset... Goku goes away when this happens. His demeanor becomes deathly serious and his IQ jumps five fold. When Nozawa has to play Goku getting angry, she never lets Goku's simple child-like qualities slip away; my best analogy is that Goku getting angry shouldn't sound all that different from a four-year-old getting angry. There's a bit of a pouty, whininess to it(obviously not as played up as Gohan). It's another of the case of the dub going for the superficial aspects of these characters. Schemmel's Goku sounds like a grown man getting upset, and that doesn't feel right if you're familiar with Goku's overall characterization.

Kanzenshuu didn't review the entire Kai dub(I think...?) but the initial Super Saiyan scene really encapsulates what I'm talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeXUgF2qEuk#t=2m12s

"... Before I lose what little sense I have left!"? Goku on a normal day wouldn't sound like this, and this is supposed to be the scene where he's supposedly his most unstable. Yes, at a certain point, scripting comes into play(and then on the Japanese side you have chief writer Takao Koyama's slightly twisted views on Goku) but Schemmel does Goku absolutely no favors in these types of scenes.

[cpuguy18]

Mayumi Tanaka could replace Nozawa as goku.

[WittyUsername]

I don't get the argument that Sean Schemmel makes Goku sound like a 'superhero'. Sure, some of the dialogue he had back in the day may have given off that impression, but I think he does a perfectly fine job of handling Goku's goofy personality while also making him sound serious when the situation calls for it. Besides, his voice really doesn't sound as deep as a lot of people seem to make it out to be.

The problem is really summed up best in Kanzenshuu's dub review of the first Dragon Ball Kai set. Happy Goku? Goofy, smiling, laughing, palling-around Goku? Schemmel's got that down, and he sounds the way Goku should sound when he's expressing those feelings. But then the action starts, and Schemmel has to get angry or upset... Goku goes away when this happens. His demeanor becomes deathly serious and his IQ jumps five fold. When Nozawa has to play Goku getting angry, she never lets Goku's simple child-like qualities slip away; my best analogy is that Goku getting angry shouldn't sound all that different from a four-year-old getting angry. There's a bit of a pouty, whininess to it(obviously not as played up as Gohan). It's another of the case of the dub going for the superficial aspects of these characters. Schemmel's Goku sounds like a grown man getting upset, and that doesn't feel right if you're familiar with Goku's overall characterization.

Kanzenshuu didn't review the entire Kai dub(I think...?) but the initial Super Saiyan scene really encapsulates what I'm talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeXUgF2qEuk#t=2m12s

"... Before I lose what little sense I have left!"? Goku on a normal day wouldn't sound like this, and this is supposed to be the scene where he's supposedly his most unstable. Yes, at a certain point, scripting comes into play(and then on the Japanese side you have chief writer Takao Koyama's slightly twisted views on Goku) but Schemmel does Goku absolutely no favors in these types of scenes.

Well you know, Goku is a grown man even if he doesn't usually act like one.