Masako Nozawa Appreciation Thread

[ryou766]

Ultimately, the sole purpose of this thread is for sub fans to express their general appreciation for Ms. Nozawa's remarkable voice acting talents in Dragon Ball. I haven't seen one around. So, I figured, so I thought I would take the opportunity.

We all know that Ms. Nozawa is a very important figure in the Dragon Ball community. However, be that as it may, I feel as though she doesn't get enough credit; being a woman in the voice acting business for, if I recall, 63 years and counting (30 for Dragon Ball). She is currently at 79 years of age and is STILL continuing to send chills down our spines with her character portrayals as Goku, Goten, Gohan, Bardock, Tullece, Goku Jr., and now more recently, Black (or Goku Black). Of course, we shouldn't forget about her character portrayals outside of Dragon Ball; my most favorite being Dr. Kureha from One Piece.

She is also such a generous and charming woman outside of the job.

What do you admire about Ms. Nozawa? Also, depending on choice, you're more than welcome to share your personal favorite samples of her voice acting.

[Bansho64]

This topic is awesome! Coincidentally, I was actually watching some Dragon Ball Z yesterday and I was watching this one scene in the Boo arc that I felt that she nailed. It was the scene where Gohan and Supreme Kai were trying to stop Boo from being hatched. Their efforts to stop the hatching were useless and Supreme Kai basically told Gohan to retreat. Gohan seemed really conflicted about leaving because of the fact that he had lives of many weighing in on him but he also didn't have any power to stop the current threat. Suddenly there's a flashback of Goku telling him to release his anger and you feel Gohan's emotion in that moment. He then powers up and sends a Kamehameha straight at the egg. Of course, we all know that it didn't do anything but I felt that Nozawa really showed us that Gohan is just a scared teenager at the end of the day and just wants to protect his family and friends. Here's the scene for reference- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0fVBk7eU2nk

[ryou766]

This topic is awesome! Coincidentally, I was actually watching some Dragon Ball Z yesterday and I was watching this one scene in the Boo arc that I felt that she nailed. It was the scene where Gohan and Supreme Kai were trying to stop Boo from being hatched. Their efforts to stop the hatching were useless and Supreme Kai basically told Gohan to retreat. Gohan seemed really conflicted about leaving because of the fact that he had lives of many weighing in on him but he also didn't have any power to stop the current threat. Suddenly there's a flashback of Goku telling him to release his anger and you feel Gohan's emotion in that moment. He then powers up and sends a Kamehameha straight at the egg. Of course, we all know that it didn't do anything but I felt that Nozawa really showed us that Gohan is just a scared teenager at the end of the day and just wants to protect his family and friends. Here's the scene for reference- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0fVBk7eU2nk

Yes! I absolutely LOVED this scene. You could really hear the strong emotion in Masako's voice for Gohan. He was frightened, but he understood that he was Earth's last hope at that moment. It was either him, or no one. Gohan knew Goku at the time only had 24 hours; he wasn't staying forever.

[MajinMan]

My favorite performance from Nozawa would have to be the kaioken x20 scene. I love how she delivers her lines and her kamehameha yell in that scene is my favorite in all of Dragon Ball. It's a thing of beauty.

[Saikyo no Senshi]

Where do i start everything this amazing woman has done is praise worthy. I can't imagine GOKUU without her. Just like Toriyama.

- Travis

[RandomGuy96]

It's amazing that she not only voices Goku, both as a child and as an adult, she voices Bardock, Tullece, Vegetto, Gogeta, Gotenks, Black Goku, Goku Jr, and Goten too. I love how in the Buu arc (and likely Super) you have Nozawa versus Nozawa and Nozawa and then Nozawa blasts Nozawa and Nozawa away and you get the double-dose of BWAAAAAAKKKKKHHH.

And her screams, oh my. Truly, such a performance of the the blood-curtdling warrior cries could only have come out of her mouth.

"kkkkkkkkkkKKKKKKKKKKkkkkkkkkkkkkKKKKKKKKKKKKK BWAAAAAAAAHHHHHHKH" - Goku

[Zephyr]

Thank you, Rocketman.

[RandomGuy96]

Thank you, Rocketman.

I miss Rocketman.

[Zephyr]

We all do, man.

[Kid Buu]

He certainly had his own, unique flair.

Just like Nozawa does!

[Bansho64]

We all do, man.

This RocketGuy seems pretty sarcastic I wish I could've been here when he wasn't banned.

[ryou766]

I was looking back at this this fight from M3 and couldn't help but admire Masako's sinister portrayal for Tullece. I also find it funny how this fight is basically what's going to happen in DBS. Lol

[Metalwario64]

Thank you, Rocketman.

What happened to him anyway? All I see is that he was "temp banned", but his last post was in 2015, and I can't see anything immediately offensive in his last few posts, so what got him banned must have been deleted. I know it's off topic, but I'm just curious.

Anyway, I've always like Nozawa's performances. When I was a kid and heard her for the first time, I didn't even realize the voice was female, I thought it was a goofy Bruce Lee impression (because I didn't even know much of him, I thought his voice was high pitched like his battle cries. ). I still don't see how people think it sounds "girly" or "very effeminate", because those are qualities in the voice Nozawa uses for Goku that are simply nonexistent. It's a very unique character voice, with the closest comparison I can think of being Bart Simpson. You didn't have Simpsons fans saying "Bart sounds so girly" because of his voice actress.

I did like Schemmel as a kid (when I was a kid, I couldn't tell any problems with even the Season 3 dub, just that the voices were new and AWESOME! ), and I really do now with his current performances in Kai and the movies, but to me, Nozawa is to Goku as Cullen is to Optimus Prime.

[precita]

After she passes away, which hopefully won't be for a long time, I feel like the Dragonball franchise should end. If Super is still running by then it needs to end, I don't want Japanese Goku voiced by anyone else.

In Japan they wouldn't accept a new voice for Goku anyway after 30 years, so the franchise should stop and end. For the videogames they now have enough sound clips from older stuff to reuse so that's how Goku's voice will continue in the games. But for the anime it should end.

[ryou766]

After she passes away, which hopefully won't be for a long time, I feel like the Dragonball franchise should end.

I doubt Nozawa would want that to happen.

[Dbzfan94]

With my limited exposure to the sub, I really love what Nozawa has done. It does get grating at times but I've really grown used to the Japanese voices to the point where I might finally go back and watch the whole thing subbed

[Lord Beerus]

Nozawa, despite voicing several male characters in the series, always seems to bring a distinctive tone with each different male character she voices, whether it be Goku, Goten, Gohan, Bardock and Turles. This gonna sound weird, but even during scenes when Adult Gohan, Goku and Goten would be talking to each other, their voices always sounded so distinguished and different from each other. It just makes all the more of a unique seiyuu, especially at the age of 79, that she is that talented enough to do that. It just makes the day when Nozawa passes away all the difficult to take, but I'm not gonna concern myself with that. Right now I'm going to enjoy listening to her effortlessly bring forth the whimsical man-child nature and innocent charm of Son Goku through her wonderful voice acting.

[ryou766]

Right now I'm going to enjoy listening to her effortlessly bring forth the whimsical man-child nature and innocent charm of Son Goku through her wonderful voice acting.

I second that, man.

[Zephyr]

Nozawa, despite voicing several male characters in the series, always seems to bring a distinctive tone with each different mail character she voices, whether it be Goku, Goten, Gohan, Bardock and Turles. This gonna sound weird, but even during scenes when Adult Gohan, Goku and Goten would be talking to each other, their voices always sounded so distinguished and different from each other.

Yeah, all of this. It's impressive how she manages to make all three male members of the Son clan sound distinct in the way that they speak. Even the sound/timbre and pitch of the voices themselves have subtle differences. It's just impressive.

I'll admit to outright hating her voice at first, though. Being raised on the dub, that just wasn't Goku, and like most dubbies, I couldn't really articulate my problem with it. Like Metalwario said, it's not actually effeminate or girly, just high and kind of squeaky. Watching Kai subbed online as it was coming out during the Cell arc got me used to it. Watching DB from the beginning in Japanese all but sold me on it. Once you get to the 23rd TB, Goku's voice has a clear deepening happen to it. Gohan's does the same when he reaches adulthood.

Now, her screams sound kind of samey between different characters, I think. That's not really unexpected, though. You can't really make screaming sound distinct when the character voices sound so similar.

What happened to him anyway? All I see is that he was "temp banned", but his last post was in 2015, and I can't see anything immediately offensive in his last few posts, so what got him banned must have been deleted. I know it's off topic, but I'm just curious.

I'm not entirely sure. It might have just been too many warnings piling up.

[NothiaBlue]

Oh man! I remember the first time I had heard her voice acting for Goku, Gohan and Goten in that 2008 OVA. I was taken by surprise that Goku didn't have a voice like Sean Schemmel, but not in a bad way at all!

I actually thought she sounded familiar, so I stopped watching some way through and looked her up, and she had voiced Guilmon in Tamers. Funnily enough, I watched that for another character's seiyuu.

Honestly, I love Masako Nozawa's voice acting for all of them; you can tell the difference between Goten, Goku, Gohan and Bardock (can't quite say for Black and Tullece because I haven't properly heard them yet). I'd say it's one of my favorite things about Goku, she plays him so well. I feel that she portrays his childish and serious sides perfectly, and he sounds like he's an adult.