Super Gazellian wrote:This may just be me but I've noticed something about myself when it comes to anime and manga or anything related. I always prefer the first version of something I've watched/read. So whenever I try to get into the alternate version of series be it the manga or the anime I just can't get into it as much. This means there are lots of manga I've read but never give the anime more than two episodes, and visa-versa.
The first version of Dragonball(Z) I saw was the Funimation dub. So this is my favourite version. I have brought manga volumes but only if I see them when I'm in town and I have enough money on me to spend, I've never felt any urge to begin collecting the full series.
And now for the controversial part... My only exposure to the Japanese dub is from clips I've seen on youtube or content only in japanese like Super Dragon Ball Z (though I recently saw a dubbed version on youtube
I live in England so maybe only America got the dub?) and I've gotta say, I don't like it. I know it's probably ignorant of me not to appreciate the original work and I know people hate it when people complain about Nozawa's voice but it all just doesn't feel as good as the Dragon Ball I first watched.
So my question is:
1. What was the first version of Dragon Ball or Dragon Ball Z you watched or read?
2. Which version is your favourite?
And as a bonus:
3. Do you think what I've said holds any truth? Would you agree that your first exposure heavily influences your preferences? Not just for Dragon Ball but for all franchises?
1. The first version that I saw was the Ocean dub, and I began watching it in 1998.
2. I prefer the English dub of Kai above everything else.
3. I completely agree that someone's first exposure heavily influences one's preferences. Not just in anime, but in everything...the example I usually use is the question of who one's favorite actor to play James Bond was. Not always, but in many cases, whatever Bond someone saw first will always be their favorite Bond. Same thing with Superman and Batma--okay, off-topic, sorry. But yes, I absolutley agree that someone's first exposure heavily influences one's preferences.
For me--with regard to DBZ, at any rate--it also goes back to the dub vs. sub debate about anime in general. I don't like to read TV shows. It takes me out of the moment. Not to the point of making the experience torturous, but to the point where the experience isn't thoroughly enjoyable anymore. What I always say when trying to explain my view is this: in Japan, Japanese people don't watch anime subtitled. They just watch the show and experience it, rather than read it. The idea behind dubs is that they were meant to replicate the experience of watching a show rather than reading it. It's too much multi-tasking for my brain to both watch and read something at the same time...not like I can't handle it, I mean that it's too much multi-tasking for me to
enjoy the experience.
Now, having said all that...I agree that someone's first exposure heavily influences people, but does it
definitively define one's preferences for the rest of their life? Nope. Not necessarily. People break away from whatever their initial exposure to something was, that's not uncommon at all. However--and again, I'm speaking purely from personal experiences--part of the reason I was so reluctant to check out the Japanese version for a while was because whenever I watched clips of it, it felt "wrong" to me. Not even bad, just "wrong." Incorrect. I had no sentimental attachment to the Japanese cast like I did to the English cast. It felt just as foreign as it would be for me to watch the Japanese dub of "Star Wars." To me, the English version felt like the "original version," and the Japanese version felt like a "dub," even though it was technically the exact opposite.
On the other hand, I do highly recommend that you watch the Japanese version. Full episodes, too. It's not my favorite version, but I've watched a lot of it, and many parts of it I really enjoy, like the music. In fact, my first exposure to the Japanese version was when I listened to the "English Voices With Japanese Music" 5.1 Surround Sound audio track on the Orange Brick DVD bx sets. I fell in love with Kikuchi's music from the first note I heard of it, and I greatly appreciated the moments of silence, too. I had a sentimental attachment to the English voices, but never really to the English music. So I said to myself, "Well, if the music is this good, I'll check out the voices, too." Make sure you watch full episodes, though. I know where you're coming from, but it's hard to appreciate clips when you don't see everything that set up that clip, y'know?
Lastly...I suppose the logical question one might ask after reading this is, "Well, if you have a sentimental attachment to the English voice cast that you heard in the Z dub, then why do you like the Kai dub better?" The simple answer to that is because I think the writing and acting are much, much better in the Kai dub. I may be attached to the English voice cast, but that doesn't mean I don't value accuracy in a dub. I stuck with the original Z dub for a while because that was the
only way I had to watch the show rather than read it. Now that a new dub is out, with better acting, better writing, and a more faithful representation of the original story, I'll gladly take that in a heartbeat.
.
So, I had to rely on the crappy scanlations. 
