Voices In Your Head (While Reading the Manga)

[Ringworm128]

I have a Question for all the Manga Readers who hate the dub but don't know Japanese. How do you read The Manga Dialog in your head? Do you imagine the Japanese voice actors speaking English? Or do you make up your own voices in your head? Or do you just read every thing in monotone in you mind?

[G1Ravage]

When I first started collecting the Raditz arc in the Viz manga, I heard the Ocean voices from that arc in my head, as I liked their voices, even if the dialog was rotten. From the Namek arc onward, it was the Japanese actors speaking English.

[Fin]

I can't not hear Chichi's father as the late great Macho Man Randy Savage.

[VegettoEX]

I have a Question for all the Manga Readers who hate the dub but don't know Japanese. How do you read The Manga Dialog in your head? Do you imagine the Japanese voice actors speaking English? Or do you make up your own voices in your head? Or do you just read every thing in monotone in you mind?

Why does it have to be hating the dub...? And which dub, exactly? Remember, somewhere around half this website's/forum's audience isn't even from North America, so you've got plenty of people from other countries that have either never been exposed to an English dub, or -- rightfully so -- just have zero interest in one.

Makes more sense to me to open it up to all folks and what voices they hear in their heads!

Not "knowing" (as in, I don't actually speak it fluently or anything) Japanese doesn't stop the cast of the show from talking in my head. It's not even necessarily complete words or full sentences... it's just the "sense" that it's them "talking" that kinda flies by my brain cells as I cruise through the words. It's not just DB, either... same goes for One Piece, for example, where I have absolutely no reference point for English voices at all.

[Vice]

When I first started collecting the Raditz arc in the Viz manga, I heard the Ocean voices from that arc in my head, as I liked their voices, even if the dialog was rotten. From the Namek arc onward, it was the Japanese actors speaking English.

See, I've been arguing this from day one. People can hate on the lousy script all they want, but the Ocean dub actors simply were vastly more talented then the best Funimation has ever been able to produce.

[jjgp1112]

I hear all of the Z Dub voices except for Frieza, who I imagine with his Kai voice.

[El Diabeetus]

I hear all of the Z Dub voices except for Freeza, who I imagine with his Kai voice.

This, exactly! And if I don't hear voices in my head sometimes I act it out myself just for the hell of it.

[PuppetDoctor]

When I read manga I just read it to myself in my own monotone voice. I never realized until I listened to an episode of the podcast people hear the characters voices when they read sometimes. I have always found that interesting. I tried to do that afterwards but it never worked for me so I stick to my monotone voice.

[Fin]

When I read manga I just read it to myself in my own monotone voice. I never realized until I listened to an episode of the podcast people hear the characters voices when they read sometimes. I have always found that interesting. I tried to do that afterwards but it never worked for me so I stick to my monotone voice.

Yeah, I usually read that way too, though a few exceptions like the Randy Savage one just naturally crop up for god-knows-why. Right now I'm reading Hikaru no Go and Touya Meijin sounds like Mark Lenard. Oh, and Vegeta and Goku usually sound respectively like Brian Drummond and Mike West's Fox McCloud.

[Drabaz]

I'm pretty sure I read everything in a monotone voice to myself. Except for First Form Cell's "bwaaah" voice. I can't help but hear Norio Wakamoto's voice.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Pretty much a combination of FUNimation's DB/DBZ dub, FUNimation's DBZKai dub, DBZ Abridged and voices I make up. Although sometimes I don't really assign any real voice to characters. I mean, whenever I read the Harry Potter books, I don't particularly think of Daniel Radcliffe's voice when Harry's talking. Just an indeterminate male voice.

[PuppetDoctor]

When I read manga I just read it to myself in my own monotone voice. I never realized until I listened to an episode of the podcast people hear the characters voices when they read sometimes. I have always found that interesting. I tried to do that afterwards but it never worked for me so I stick to my monotone voice.

Yeah, I usually read that way too, though a few exceptions like the Randy Savage one just naturally crop up for god-knows-why. Right now I'm reading Hikaru no Go and Touya Meijin sounds like Mark Lenard. Oh, and Vegeta and Goku usually sound respectively like Brian Drummond and Mike West's Fox McCloud.

What a coincidence I just finished reading Hikaru No Go again after years of not having read it. I love that series and I read the whole thing in a monotone voice to myself although part way through I thought of Touya Akira's Japanese voice.

To go back on topic sometimes though after reading a manga first and then watching the anime the voice of the character can be a bit of a shock. I remember when I first read Naruto Kage Summit arc and I was surprised by some of the Japanese voices since they sounded different than what I had imagined.

[Castor Troy]

For some reason I hear Peter Kelamis as Goku and Scott McNeil as Piccolo when reading the 23rd Budokai arc.

[Pokewhiz7]

For some reason I always hear Stephanie Nadolny for Kid Goku/Gohan even though I don't even like that voice.

[Piccolo Daimao]

For some reason I always hear Stephanie Nadolny for Kid Goku/Gohan even though I don't even like that voice.

I used to continue hearing Linda Young's Freeza (which I dislike) even after Chris Ayres/Little Kuriboh's Freeza (similar portrayals) were introduced. It's probably because you may be more familiar with Nadolny's Goku/Gohan rather than Nozawa's or whatever voice you like best, and that was the same for me. But after a while, I became more familiar with Chris Ayres/Little Kuriboh's Freeza (probably due to watching more DBZ Abridged episodes) that it's now taken over as my main Freeza voice.

[nathantheguitarist]

Everyone is Sean Connery or William Shatner.

[Son Satan]

I generally hear a mix of both the FUNimation and Japanese cast. Now that Kai has been dubbed, I imagine more characters with that cast. It's still mainly the FUNi cast, as, even though like Mike said, I can hear the essence of the Japanese cast, it's easier for my brain to act out if I've got an exact reference to go by (that is, the voice, and exact portrayals).
Notably, I use a mix for certain characters, like half of Gohan's lines I'll hear in Nozawa's voice, but others in Clinkenbeard's/Hebert's. Freeza I of course hear both Nakao and Ayers. For others, I'll still hear the English voice, even if they are unfitting, such as Jeice, Recoome and Future Trunks.

[Pantalones]

Hmm... I'm not sure. I know I've never had the Japanese voices come to mind much at all (partly because I still can't stand how high-pitched Goku and family are in Japanese... I mean, I understand giving Goku a "young-sounding" voice because he's silly and pure-hearted but the Japanese voice just seems too high to me and just sounds wrong, even after watching entire episodes/mvoies/video games of it. There's a few other voices that bug me a little in Japanese, and there's a few that bug me in the various English dubs too, but Goku's in Japanese is just that one I really can't get used to), though I can definitely picture Perfect Cell sounding like Norio Wakamoto and Piccolo (especially when yelling out attacks like the Makankosappo) sounds sort of like a combination of the Japanese voice and the Kai voice.

I guess I picture some of their voices being similar to the English dubs (mostly Funimation's, generally more in the direction of how the voices sounded in Cell/Buu or Kai rather than the earlier stuff), but not exactly the same... like the "Freeza voice in my head" sounds somewhat like the original Funimation Freeza, but not quite as scratchy-sounding or older-woman-ish, so it's more "creepy and kinda androgynous" rather than creepy but sort of embarrassing for the big bad guy to have. Vegeta's is similar to in English but with the "angry twitching about-to-blow-something-upness" not quite as exaggerated... except when he really goes nuts. King Kai has a silly voice, but not quite as exaggeratedly silly as in the dub. And so on.

I guess I basically imagine most characters sounding like their dub voices, but from an alternate universe where the Funimation voice actors can do the voices perfectly and without some of the little screwy bits here and there.

[DanielGClapp]

Haha I don't even hear voices. I just comprehend what they are saying and apply it to the situation. This is probably because I read so many books before I ever read manga. In books, I usually don't have a voice to relate the character to, so I don't even hear it. Most people read books and such with their own voice in their head, since they learned to read out loud. I (and I'm sure a number of others) read without any voices whatsoever. I just comprehend the information.

[Kuwabara]

Haha I don't even hear voices. I just comprehend what they are saying and apply it to the situation. This is probably because I read so many books before I ever read manga. In books, I usually don't have a voice to relate the character to, so I don't even hear it. Most people read books and such with their own voice in their head, since they learned to read out loud. I (and I'm sure a number of others) read without any voices whatsoever. I just comprehend the information.

This sounds about right for me as well. Sometimes I'll act out character dialogue out loud as well, but I usually stop once I realize I could never hope to act as well as Chris Ayres or Dameon Clarke...