Initial Reaction to Nozawa as Goku

[Gyt Kaliba]

See, I'm on the fence over the 'Nozawa sounds different in the roles' thing. Because she does, but it really is a lot more minute, at least to my and many others ears, than some of you think. I think it all just comes down to...I don't want to say opinion cuz that's not really what I'm going for, but something akin to that. It comes down to how you hear it.

If I'm watching the show, I have the animation to aid it, so I can pretty easily tell who she's playing at any given time based on the sound of the voice, even if I'm only kinda seeing the show out of the corner of my eye at the moment. But if I were thrown just an audio clip alone, like say in the 'Who's That Character' segment of the podcast? Unless it was an extremely obvious Goku clip, I might actually make the mistake of thinking it's Goten, or maybe even Gohan.

What I'm about to say next is a controversial statement, I know...but please keep in mind I'm saying this about the VOICES, not the TALENT. ...I'm still putting on some body armor and hiring bodyguards. *deep breath* ...I honestly feel that, lackluster as the performances themselves were, there was probably more vocal difference between each of Sabat's original season 3 reads of like...every freakin' person on Namek, than there is between Nozawa's various roles. They're more different from each other as voices than hers are. Now her performances themselves are much, much, much, much, much better than those were, so that in the end they're more acceptable...but if we're talking about just vocal sound itself, than this is true IMO.

And since you probably already want to lynch me for that last one, I'll go ahead and throw this one out as well - the only real time that I feel Nozawa 'dropped the ball' honestly, was with Future Gohan. It just comes off too much like 'serious mode' adult Goku. She doesn't have anywhere near this issue later on when we get to the Boo era Gohan, so I can't help but think she also noticed this and did her best (and succeeded) at separating those out a little more.

[Fionordequester]

Then how do you feel about Tanaka's Kuririn? There's not a drastic difference in pitch, and the character is male, yet I never see anyone complaining about him.

Actually, I was going to bring that up, but then I realized that I couldn't really make a good, objective opinion about Tanaka's Krillin because...

1) I haven't heard much of it at all, having heard only a teensy bit of Adult Krillin and absolutely nothing of Child Krillin

2) I'm too used to Sonny Strait's much deeper Krillin.

Plus, even if adult Krillin's voice is really high pitched, it's not really all that unfitting since Krillin's kind of a dwarf anyways. Aside from gaining a ton of muscle mass, the guy really doesn't have any physical changes, so I can imagine him having a really high pitched voice.

What's skeevy about it? Obviously it worked for them, since they did it for Goku, Kuririn, Chichi, Dende (mostly), Vegeta, Trunks, and many others. In fact, the only example I can think of where they didn't is Upa.

Chichi, as I said, is a female, who have a much easier time doing child voices. And I haven't heard any of the others, so I have no opinion. I know 4Kids managed to make it work really well in their Yu-Gi-Oh dub, which is why I said they shouldn't keep the same actors from childhood to adulthood unless they're able to drastically change their pitch.

And again, that's your opinion, but it's not an absolute. There are two ways to handle the aging of a character, and both have their advantages and drawbacks. Neither one has a clear advantage over the other.

I know. I'm expressing my opinion, and you're expressing yours. Did I not word my message right?

Either you recast to sound more realistic but suddenly have a totally different character (which also isn't realistic) because of a new actor's take on it, and forcing the audience to accept a brand new interpretation of a character they already knew, or you keep the same actor, sacrifice a bit of realism in pitch, but maintain the same character.

If the actor is talented enough, they should be able to keep the same feel of the character. I suppose you could say the same for the "Child to Adult" approach, but then, it seems to me like the "acting" part is easier than the "voice" part. Or at least, it is for me. I have to work much harder at perfecting voices than I do at perfecting a persona.

[TheRed259]

It's interesting that people from Italy, Croatia, Greece and Poland find Schemmel to be their favourite Goku voice rather than what their country got, but in their defence it was probably too horrendous so it's no wonder.

I do like our Goku (Themis Psihogios Ep.88-291). His performance as Goku was very good after the Freeza Saga. But still there were many flaws because he didn't have the time to concentrate only on Goku. I have explained the whole story here.

Majin Vegeta beats Goku
Goku and Vegeta fuse into Vejito

I would like it more if the job was not done professionally. All in all, my favourite Goku is Sean Schemmel and Mario Castañeda.
Both are almost perfect. But what I didn't like about them was:

- Schemmel's GT voice (he does sound like a 70 years old man).
- Castañeda's BoG performance (he definitely got worst as time went by).

[Black_Liger]

I must admit it was like a claw tearing a board for the first time, the voice grew on me with time, but sometimes it still makes me cringe, it's a love-hate relationship

[B]

Nozawa was a perfect casting choice for Goku. And since their choice was to maintain character consistency, obviously, they were going to keep her when the character happened to grow up

Eh...that's a bit skeevy to me. Unless the actor is talented enough that they can actually drastically alter their pitch, I don't think characters should be voiced by the same person from childhood to adulthood. At least, not if they're male (female however, is probably fine, since females have a much easier time of doing child voices).

I don't understand why "altering their pitch" is even necessary. Everyone is so hung up on the physicality of Goku that his personailty is being completely overlooked.

[FortuneSSJ]

Not to Nozawa in particular but to the original dub overall.

When I was a kid and I was getting the VHS, there was always trailers still in japanese dub and I remember be confused like: Why they are talking like this?! I understand nothing.
Well, I was a innocent soul and used to think Dragon Ball was a portuguese show

[Fionordequester]

I don't understand why "altering their pitch" is even necessary. Everyone is so hung up on the physicality of Goku that his personailty is being completely overlooked.

I'm not overlooking his personality. That's important as well. But, why can't I have both? Why can't I have acting that's superb and fit's the personality WITH a realistic voice? I mean, ok, Goku is a weird guy, therefore he needs a weird voice. Ok. I can buy that. I still prefer Schemmel, but I can at least buy that argument.

But what about Gohan, Bardock, or any of the other numerous anime leads with feminine voices? Like Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho, or Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin? What's their reason for having feminine voices?

[Gyt Kaliba]

But what about Gohan, Bardock, or any of the other numerous anime leads with feminine voices? Like Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho, or Kenshin from Rurouni Kenshin? What's their reason for having feminine voices?

Well, there is a sort-of reason for Kenshin. He's based upon a real historical rurouni who was said to have been rather slight, enough so that he was thought to be a woman sometimes. Watsuki details this in his character back-history in the manga.

But I agree with your point, even though I like Nozawa and Schemmel both. The best option would be a voice that fits all the way around, which is why I'm curious as to what Toei will do when it eventually becomes time to cast someone else as Goku...as horribly depressing a thought as that is.

[Nanotchi]

Mike Tyson has a squeaky voice, don't see why Goku shouldn't.

[dbboxkaifan]

I'm curious as to what Toei will do when it eventually becomes time to cast someone else as Goku...as horribly depressing a thought as that is.

Does Nozawa have any sons or daughters, in that case are did they decide to take down the same path as their mother? I tried searching but all that came up were pages of Nozawa voicing the Son family.

It would be lovely if they continued the legacy of the real voice of Son Goku.

[Fionordequester]

Yeah...I guess when it comes down to it, for me, having a man voiced by a woman is a bit like listening to Vegeta in the Greek Dub. His acting, at least from what I've heard of it, is superb, fits Vegeta very well, and is really enjoyable...or at least, it WOULD be enjoyable, if it weren't for that stupid robot filter they usually have on his voice !!

I'd still choose that over having someone whose voice is fitting, but whose acting is as subpar as, say, these guys...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4-e4nlfdRI

But it's still jarring hearing that filter coming out of someone who is most definitely NOT a robot, you know what I mean?

[Gyt Kaliba]

Does Nozawa have any sons or daughters, in that case are did they decide to take down the same path as their mother? I tried searching but all that came up were pages of Nozawa voicing the Son family.

It would be lovely if they continued the legacy of the real voice of Son Goku.

No idea, but realistically speaking, there's no guarantee that would be a good idea. There's no guarantee that any of her children would have a voice anything remotely like her, so even that could still disappoint long-time fans.

It would be interesting if we found out that whoever succeeds her was somewhat personally picked by her beforehand though, much like when Kanichi Kurita took over as Lupin III for the late, great Yasuo Yamada.

[Gaffer Tape]

And again, that's your opinion, but it's not an absolute. There are two ways to handle the aging of a character, and both have their advantages and drawbacks. Neither one has a clear advantage over the other.

I know. I'm expressing my opinion, and you're expressing yours. Did I not word my message right?

No, sorry, that's me not wording my message right. That wasn't a, "How dare you not explicitly say your opinion is an opinion or I'm gonna get all huffy and assume you think you're handing down gospel." It was meant more as a, "There are two schools of thought on this matter, so please don't think the pitch of the voice is the only thing that matters just because it's the method you're used to encountering in American cartoons."

[Fionordequester]

No, sorry, that's me not wording my message right. That wasn't a, "How dare you not explicitly say your opinion is an opinion or I'm gonna get all huffy and assume you think you're handing down gospel." It was meant more as a, "There are two schools of thought on this matter, so please don't think the pitch of the voice is the only thing that matters just because it's the method you're used to encountering in American cartoons."

Ah, alright, that's cool. I was more worried that I was stating my opinion as fact rather than as an opinion. I'd preface each and every message with "in my opinion", or something like that, but, that gets a little repetitive after a while, so I guess I just kind of hope that there's an unstated assumption that "yeah, he knows it's just an opinion", or something. Kind of naive, now that I think about it, but, now you know!

[DBZfan29]

I'm pretty sure my first exposure to Nozawa as Goku was when I watched some of the films and GT. I don't remember ever having a problem with it. Even today, when I hear his voice, I don't really notice that it's a woman's. That's why I get so mad when people try to convince me that the Japanese did horribly wrong by casting a woman, but she is everything Goku is. I think an initial WTF? is expected, but people who think it's a problem are kind of ignorant. Maybe this is because I know Goku's voice isn't male, but to me, it doesn't really sound female either. It's just Goku.

[garnetjester]

I think Nozawa is amazing at what she does. Absolutely. I admit I haven't watched GT properly ever at all, so I have no idea how her adult Goten sounds but it was really impressive to hear all of her characters speaking to each other in Buu saga without her missing a bit and with their tones and inflections being so different to each other.

The original Goku I heard was Laura Torres for kid Goku, which I think was super super amazing at her role, and reprised it for Kid Gohan and kid Goten still being amazing (although the 3 of them kind of sound the same haha) and then Mario Castañeda when Goku grew up. I really like Castañeda's Goku, he managed to keep his naive child-like personality properly and delivered well for the angsty scenes and action stuff. I think the latin american dub was pretty great, in general, but I might have rose tinted glasses because it was what I grew up with anyway.

Here's kid Goku vs Piccolo Daimao in the latin american dub https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXyqfYS35xQ

And here's adult Goku https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_AtI5GXbMA

[Zephyr]

Don't remember the exact reaction I had, but I know I didn't like the voice at first for a while. I eventually got used to it.

[ConfusedPhantom]

Like many, I thought it was very strange. But, I gave her a chance, and I actually find myself enjoying her performance as Goku. A lot. It was pretty gutsy through with such a strange casting move. They probably could have gotten a guy that's just as talented to do the adult roles and still feel like the character. But, even so, she just makes Goku so entertaining. The only ones that come close are Castañeda's and that Italian dub that was posted earlier.

[Gaffer Tape]

It was pretty gutsy through with such a strange casting move.

But that's the thing. It wasn't really gutsy or strange. Nearly every single character in the series kept their voice actor throughout all ages of the character, be it a boy growing into a man, a girl growing into a woman, or, in Trunks's case, a man being replaced by his alternate reality younger self. It probably would have been seen as a much more gutsy move to risk alienating the audience by replacing the people who had already spent a few years bringing their characters to life.

[Wibbs]

My first experience listening to Nozawa as Goku was whilst playing Super Butouden 3 at a friends house, I watched the intro and heard a rather high pitched voice yell out "KameHameHa!" but I just though it was an announcer or something. However, after actually playing as Goku (I had only heard the Ocean dub at this point) and realising that's what he sounded like in the original version I was a little put off. I often spouted off the usual responses when asked by others like "he sounds girly". Although, after getting a little more acquainted with the original thanks to a cheap pickup at a car boot sale I grew to really enjoy Nozawa as Goku, I feel she delivers her lines with a lot more passion than the other voice actors. Schemmel has greatly improved but come on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S30cBkGu1tc , it just doesn't get any better than that.