For those who like the original better...

[MyVisionity]

For me, besides liking the content itself, I am a fan of the original in part because it is the original. I think stories should always be viewed in their intended format, regardless of any language barriers.

So, just hypothetically, mind...the only way the Iliad should be presented is by someone committing the entire 24-book, 16,000-line text to memory and singing it in Greek.

I suppose I meant more so ideally. And not so much written word but spoken dialogue as in movies and television etc.

[Kunzait_83]

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[MyVisionity]

While they did do things like make the martial artists sound like pro-wrestlers, you have to remember the target audience. The same goes for the lack of talk about Ki and so forth. What's more popular with American children, old school martial arts flicks or hardcore superhero action? While I don't think children should have their intelligence insulted and do think that they should be exposed to foreign concepts, I have to appreciate the effort by FUNi.

You’d be very surprised how many kids out there love a good martial arts flick, especially in some of the more down and out poverty stricken neighborhoods like where I grew up, where Hong Kong movies have always been a big thing with just about all age groups, young and old.

And by the way, kids had absolutely no problems with accepting all of those foreign idiosyncrasies in other anime like Yu Yu Hakusho and Naruto. Yu Yu mentions ki, demons, and foreign supernatural/religious concepts out the ass, and no child was turned away from it in total disinterest like so many people were convinced for years that they would be. Certainly not with Naruto either, which is arguably becoming much bigger now than DBZ ever was.

I didn't mean to suggest that there wasn't already a large following for martial arts films out there or that kids would have problems accepting foreign concepts. I was just trying to say that I don't fault FUNi for going along with a preexisting mainstream standard.

To a greater extent, I do really appreciate the script rewrites. I like that FUNi tried to distance themselves from the original by adding off the wall humor that you might not expect outside of the US. I also like the added dialogue that expands upon the original and gives the characters new and different motivations. Although it can be a little unwarranted and cheesy at times.

The thing that's always bothered me about this whole approach is that it makes the FUNimation dub not a “real” dub at all. It makes it into something more along the same lines as a “borrowed concept”, like Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers was to Sentai, or Robotech was to Macross/Southern Cross/Mospeada/Megazone 23 (though certainly not to the same drastic degree as either of those examples).

Point is, when someone is given the task of translating a foreign work and they find themselves flat out rewriting it from the ground up, complete with adding in new wholly original creative concepts of their own that weren’t a part of the original while removing others that were… well then it’s no longer a translation anymore is it?

I’d be far less harsh on the FUNimation dub if they didn’t seem to try so often to pass it off as being, at best, a reliably direct translation of the original (which it most certainly isn’t), or at worst, as their own personal “improvement” over the original (which to plenty of people it also most certainly isn’t). They’re very dishonest (or at the very least dismissive) about the extent to what they do to the show creatively, and that attitude doesn’t fly with me at all.

I totally agree; I've always seen FUNi's version as a "borrowed concept" rather than a true dub. But when has FUNimation ever tried to pass it off as a reliable translation, or been dismissive/disrespectful?

I’m happy for the people out there who enjoy, or even prefer the “alternative” take on the series, but it certainly was by no means warranted or necessary, and definitely was not something that was expected or welcomed by the pre-established U.S. fanbase (which may have been small, but definitely existed nonetheless).

I don't think it was necessary at all either, but I can understand why they may have done what they did. As for the prior established fanbase, I don't think anyone at FUNimation cared too much about pleasing them, as much as profiting off a hot property.

[Captain Awesome]

Nakao's voice changing from civilized to angry has nothing to do with this. And I've heard Norio's Cell voice. It's just that the voices don't change too much.

You brought up how little you thought the original Japanese voices changed, I was just providing examples to the contrary.

I don't count bad post processing thrown ontop of Linda Young's terrible "Freeza" voice to count as a "change"

I also believe that the dub DID have SOME voices that at least you'd like.

Dameon Clarke and Sonny Strait, thats about it, but even then the "writers" usually fucked it up with their moronic changes.

[russ869]

It's not so much that the original is better as it is that the dub is worse. I like English dubs in general (or try to), and there are some series I own that I've never even felt the need to watch in Japanese because the English version is so well done. Dragonball (IMO) is not one of those. I just can't take the English serious enough. And it's really annoying when the script is changed to say something completely different from what was originally being said in that scene.

Btw, It's very possible that if Japanese was my native language I wouldn't like Dragonball because I would think it was too corny.

[ect5150]

Overall, I like the original Japanese the best, because its a proper script, and well acted.

Amen...

[Kid Trunks]

I also believe that the dub DID have SOME voices that at least you'd like.

Dameon Clarke and Sonny Strait, thats about it, but even then the "writers" usually fucked it up with their moronic changes.

But what about: 1. Stephanie Nadolny as Android saga/Cell saga Gohan
2. Eric Vale as Trunks
3. Bradford Jackson as Oolong
4. Kara Edwards as Goten and Videl
5. Laura Bailey as kid Trunks
6. Chuck Huber as Garlic Junior and #17
7. Justin Cook as Super Buu
8. Kyle Hebert as Buu saga Gohan
9. Kent Williams as East Kaioshin
10. John Burgmeier as Tenshinhan

I think all of those are great. (If anyone doesn't like any of them, thats fine. But please don't feel the need to rip that little list apart and explain in gory detail all the problems of each VA lol.)

[SSJ2bardock]

I also believe that the dub DID have SOME voices that at least you'd like.

Dameon Clarke and Sonny Strait, thats about it, but even then the "writers" usually fucked it up with their moronic changes.

But what about: 1. Stephanie Nadolny as Android saga/Cell saga Gohan
2. Eric Vale as Trunks
3. Bradford Jackson as Oolong
4. Kara Edwards as Goten and Videl
5. Laura Bailey as kid Trunks
6. Chuck Huber as Garlic Junior and #17
7. Justin Cook as Super Buu
8. Kyle Hebert as Buu saga Gohan
9. Kent Williams as East Kaioshin
10. John Burgmeier as Tenshinhan

I think all of those are great. (If anyone doesn't like any of them, thats fine. But please don't feel the need to rip that little list apart and explain in gory detail all the problems of each VA lol.)

Chuck Huber's #17 is and always will be the perfect matchup of character and voice actor from the show.

[Storm]

Stephanie, Eric, Kara, Laura, Chuck, Justin, and Kyle are awesome. The others are pretty good too, though.

[Pain]

Nakao's voice changing from civilized to angry has nothing to do with this. And I've heard Norio's Cell voice. It's just that the voices don't change too much.

You brought up how little you thought the original Japanese voices changed, I was just providing examples to the contrary.

I don't count bad post processing thrown ontop of Linda Young's terrible "Freeza" voice to count as a "change"

I also believe that the dub DID have SOME voices that at least you'd like.

Dameon Clarke and Sonny Strait, thats about it, but even then the "writers" usually fucked it up with their moronic changes.

So what are some factors that you like about the dub?

[Captain Awesome]

So what are some factors that you like about the dub?

I don't watch the dub, it isn't Dragonball to me, everytime I flip over to the English language track I am either dissapointed or infuriated.

The only things it does "right" are when they actually stick to the original script, I could go into a long winded rant, but I wont, suffice to say that I hate it and it kills my soul.

[Pain]

So what are some factors that you like about the dub?

I don't watch the dub, it isn't Dragonball to me, everytime I flip over to the English language track I am either dissapointed or infuriated.

The only things it does "right" are when they actually stick to the original script, I could go into a long winded rant, but I wont, suffice to say that I hate it and it kills my soul.

Aw man..that's deeply harsh. But it's your opinion and I respect it.

[Kunzait_83]

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[Joey Batz]

I like both the Japanese and Funimation dubs for different reasons (I care little for the Ocean Dubs and dubs in other languages other than Japanese).

I've always felt that the Funimation voices, for the most part at least, fit the characters better than any other version, including the Japanese. That's not always the case, as Frieza's Japanese voice actor is better than his English one, but for the most part it is. Sean Schemmel is a much better Goku than his Japanese counterpart; his voice actually fits the character. The Japanese Goku sounds like a pre-pubescent girl (mainly because the Japanese Goku is actually voiced by a girl, one whom they hired to voice little Kid Goku from the early Dragon Ball). In Japanese Goku's defense though, once he turned Super Saiyan in the Japanese Burst Limit video, he sounded really badass (especially in the "I am a Super Saiyan" scene). Kind of like how Japanese villains tend to sound. But Sean Schemmel did the same for Goku as well.

In Japan, I believe the practice is to have one voice actor voice the same character no matter how old that character gets. The same woman who voiced Goku in the beginning of DB was voicing an adult Goku, Gohan, and Goten at the end of GT. I'm not saying she is a bad voice actor (as a matter of fact, she's very good so far as I've been able to gather), but the result is you now have Goku, a forty-something year old man who looks big enough to crush a human head in his hands, screaming in a higher pitched voice than a teenaged girl. Same for Krillin in the Japanese Burst Limit video that was posted. While his voice actor did a superb job with his death scream, I'm pretty sure that's the same person who voiced Krillin in his original Dragon Ball debut. As a result, you have a 20-something year old that sounds like a small child. I'm sure it's due to the Japanese having a larger notion of respect towards their characters than us in the USA or something, but it just leads to characters whose voices (even if they are acted well) don't fit their characters.

I think part of the reason that the Funimation dub was so bad, especially in the early days, was because of the dialogue rather than the actors themselves. When you have stupid lines like "mondo cool" and "the next DIE-mension" scattered all over the place, you have something that no voice actor can save. When half the dialogue is Goku grunting like he has to take a shit, and the other half is the other characters looking on and moaning like they're having really bad sex, of course the Funimation version is going to sound like crap. Cheesy dialogue can kill a dub just as fast as poor voice acting. Look at the Funimation version of Yu Yu Hakusho. Look at the English version of DBZ Budokai 1. Superb voice acting and superb dubbing. And it's all by the same Funimation voice actors everybody loves to hate.

Another thing is that, while I don't hate foreign languages or foreign concepts or anything (we are here because we love a particular Japanese anime, after all), I prefer to watch a show poorly acted in English than one well acted in another language. Why? Because I speak English! That's it. You don't know what they're saying in Japanese (unless of course you are fluent in Japanese), nor do you REALLY know whether or not the voice acting in the original version is good or not (oh sure, we all know how Japanese is supposed to sound in general, but how many fans out there are really fluent enough in Japanese to honestly say whether or not the voice acting is good or not? I wonder if the Japanese fans would know how good/bad the Funimation voice acting truly is). Oh yeah, there are subtitles, but that's only if you enjoy reading Engrish on the fly. Not once, not ONCE, have I ever seen an English sub that didn't sound awkward. Even if the sub in question isn't as bad as the infamous Star Wars Episode 3: Backstroke of the West, I've never seen subtitles that accurately portray what a character would say if the movie/show/anime were originally done in English. This is even on official products, not just fansubs.

On the other hand, the Japanese music is better than the Funimation music by leaps and bounds. With the exception of a couple of tracks, the Funimation's faux-rock themes are an insult to the American viewer's intelligence. It's hard to explain. The way the music will become "action packed" while they're fighting and then become slower when a character is slammed into a huge rock formation or something, as if the musical score is trying to trick us into thinking that the villain has been killed or something like we're stupid, and then it plays sort of an "oh no" chord the exact moment said villain bursts out of the rocks. It's really hard to explain, but it's the general style of the Funimation music that makes it sound like a Looney Tunes cartoon but with shoddy rock and roll. Like I said, there are some good tracks, but the general style makes the whole thing sound so poor. The Funimation music really is god-awful. The Japanese score, on the other hand, will actually allow a song to play throughout a fight scene (like in a movie) without having to synchronize it to the action. Another thing I like about the Japanese score is that they know when the best music is no music at all. Unlike Funimation, which feels that they to throw in "suspenseful" music whenever two characters are staring at each other with intensity and getting ready to fight, the Japanese music knows when to use silence instead of playing music (such when Android 16 is killed or when Vegeta blows himself up).

That's why I like the Funimation dub of Yu Yu Hakusho so much. Great voice acting, great dialogue, little to no filler (there are actually stories in the manga that DIDN'T make it to the anime), and they kept the original musical score. When it comes to Dragon Ball, however, I don't think anything can beat the manga.

[Sebastian (SB)]

Son Goku's voiced by a woman, not a girl. I don't get the whole teenage girl thing. Nozawa never passed off to me like that, even at the highest pitches. It sounds more like an angry old woman. Sure enough it is, but it doesn't bother me.

[Joey Batz]

Son Goku's voiced by a woman, not a girl. I don't get the whole teenage girl thing. Nozawa never passed off to me like that, even at the highest pitches. It sounds more like an angry old woman. Sure enough it is, but it doesn't bother me.

Even still, we now have a Goku that sounds like an angry old woman. I don't think that's how Goku is supposed to sound.

[Sebastian (SB)]

Eh, it's a cartoon. Really while you're at it, let's go on a rant about how Naruto sounds like he hasn't hit puberty. Case in point, it shouldn't really matter. I can understand the reasoning, but it's not a big deal.

[Raki]

I like Nozawa's Goku, although I thought Sean did a good job with Goku as well. It's not his fault he was given a shit script.

[SSj_Rambo]

Nozawa as Goku was great whenever Goku was just talking, but when he was screaming and stuff (like when he yells Kamehameha) he starts to sound a bit like an angry woman...but it's till OK to me. I'm pretty sure that Akira Toryama never had a problem with her voice of his greatest character, and if he did I'm sure he would have expressed it (in his usual polite manner of course).

And Sean Schemmel was great.

[SSJ2bardock]

Well I'm glad to see that there's so much Schemmel praise.