Any examples of bad voice acting in the original?

[Anonymous Friend]

While there's probably a few examples in the various English dubs of bad voice acting, how is the Japanese original in this regard?

[Ajay]

Hrm, I'm not sure I have a good enough memory to conjure any examples from the older series, but I think Horikawa's 'My Bulma' moment in Super was pretty bad.

[The gr]

This scene was badly executed and It was horrible Sean sounded bland and boring and the music was lifeless https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=58EWCg6bLYU

[Saikyo no Senshi]

Tsuru Hiromi, since Kai has refused to or can't emote. She has completely lost her charm and I kind of want her to be replaced. Kind of.

Then, there's Tanaka Mayumi's Yajirobe in Super. Probably, the one I dislike most. She completely forgot how Yajirobe sounded. It was really bad. None of the Muten Roushi's replacements sounded good to me. Miya'uchi had set the bar so high that none even came close. Same thing with Mr.Satan, Gouri Daisuke was just irreplaceable.

Kai, overall I thought the cast was at its weakest, cause Kai was a garbage product, so maybe nobody put any effort. But, in the 2 movies and Super, the main cast except Blooma has significantly improved. And the new additions have been really good. The acting department overall is still strong.

[8000 Saiyan]

Wakamoto in Kai.

[Dbzfan94]

This scene was badly executed and It was horrible Sean sounded bland and boring and the music was lifeless https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=58EWCg6bLYU

This thread is about the Japanese.

[successoroffate]

I wouldn't include this as bad voice acting but rather as "forced." Wasn't Kaiosama's voice actor sick or in bad health during the first episodes of Super? His tone of voice didn't match Kaio's actions and he was eventually replaced.

[floofychan333]

This scene was badly executed and It was horrible Sean sounded bland and boring and the music was lifeless https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=58EWCg6bLYU

Who's voicing Frieza in this one? Also, Sean's voice is somewhat mediocre but the music is even worse. It's devoid of all emotion and literally just noise.

[simtek34]

Who's voicing Frieza in this one? Also, Sean's voice is somewhat mediocre but the music is even worse. It's devoid of all emotion and literally just noise.

Linda Young

[The gr]

This scene was badly executed and It was horrible Sean sounded bland and boring and the music was lifeless https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=58EWCg6bLYU

Who's voicing Frieza in this one? Also, Sean's voice is somewhat mediocre but the music is even worse. It's devoid of all emotion and literally just noise.

Linda young I assume you grew up with greg Ayers frieza but the topic is about Jap voice actors so in my wokamoto cell in Kai was awful and kaio in DB super was unpleasant and is sad to see his voice actors retired and lastly horikawa in some scene in Kai and super sounds off

[UltimateHammerBro]

Yanami's Kaio in Super was disheartening to hear. It's one of the few times I've truly felt a dissonance between how much emotion the character is supposed to show and how much the voice emotes. The voice "not filling the character", if you will. I also thought he slurred his words a little bit as opposed to the clearer diction he used to have, but that may just be me.

I understand that he was old, and attached to the role, but certain requirements should be met, and if they ended up replacing him anyway (it's supposed to be temporary, isn't it?) they could have done it since the very beginning of Super.

[floofychan333]

This scene was badly executed and It was horrible Sean sounded bland and boring and the music was lifeless https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=58EWCg6bLYU

Who's voicing Frieza in this one? Also, Sean's voice is somewhat mediocre but the music is even worse. It's devoid of all emotion and literally just noise.

Linda young I assume you grew up with greg Ayers frieza but the topic is about Jap voice actors so in my wokamoto cell in Kai was awful and kaio in DB super was unpleasant and is sad to see his voice actors retired and lastly horikawa in some scene in Kai and super sounds off

I didn't grow up watching DBZ. I happened to stumble upon the original series a couple years ago, and Linda Young was voicing Frieza when I watched that arc. I just asked who the VA was because it sounded way to masculine to be Linda.

[huzaifa_ahmed]

I don't know Japanese, & so it's difficult for me to tell, but...as an analogy, I'd compare it to a similar AAA American production from the 80's/90's, such as, say, the DCAU, Batman/Superman TAS & Justice League. There's probably a small flaw in the production here & there, but in general it's taken very seriously & they have a ton of money relative to the usual size of productions of this nature. I also hear stuff like "Japanese voice actors are so much better!" but it's in context of "at performing in the styles common to Japanese media!"...to which I say "Well, duh.., if you're using "fitting to the cultural norms of the setting" as your metric for quality. One thing to note is that there is more of a "voice-over only" pool in Japan, at least for story-based stuff, than there is here. Most VAs that I've noticed are those that are doing it on the side, & really prefer live-action in general. VO doesnt pay quite as well (& dubs pay almost nothing comparatively), it pays like being a live-action extra, & IIRC Diedrich Bader mentioned that "even though he prefers doing VO, he can't just quit live-action, because he wouldn't be able to live off just that". There are tons of VAs that do commercial/promo/audiobook/etc alongside cartoons/games to make a living, & those are the "only VO" folks.

There are a few people I've noticed that are like that in Japan - Yuji Kishi (Crunch Bandicoot) in Kamen Rider stuff, off TOMH. But, while Disney may bring in mostly live-actors for big series, Shueisha or Toei generally seem to go for people like Otsuka/Yamadera/Nozawa/etc, who only do voice-overs, rather than "small TV actors doing it on the side for a paycheck". Also, something unfortunate is that Western cartoons will replace VAs with celebrities, if it's a big-budget movie, oftentimes. Spongebob, Transformers, Simpsons, a few others, IIRC, didnt do it. But it's something Westerners tend to do more. This is all just my two cents on English vs Japanese VO.The real key to remember is that dubs, especially Toei dubs, generally arent representative of a good comparison of English vs Japanese VO. Toei especially does it as cheap as possible.

[Gog]

Hrm, I'm not sure I have a good enough memory to conjure any examples from the older series, but I think Horikawa's 'My Bulma' moment in Super was pretty bad.

That's just laughably bad on so many levels. Couldn't even watch it on the first try

[Freeza9000]

Yeah, I agree with Ajay that Vegeta's "rage" moment in Super was laughably bad. There are also times where Nozawa's voice as Goku in Super annoys me, especially this scene at 1:52 But I don't remember or notice any terrible voice acting in the original DBZ, at least the Japanese version. The English version however is downright atrocious and I'm honestly baffled at the people who actually think this is superior to English Kai. I think this video sums up pretty well how much of a shitstain the original dub of Z was

[Gog]

Yeah, I agree with Ajay that Vegeta's "rage" moment in Super was laughably bad. There are also times where Nozawa's voice as Goku in Super annoys me, especially this scene at 1:52

I'm 13 seconds in and Beerus's voice actor is literally Cell in disguise, his just ss~oo good. He sounds particularly threatening, and intimidating here. Also I feel terrible for Monaka. But yeah that one Goku moment is terrible

[MajinMan]

For whatever reason, I can't stand Dende's voice in the Buu arc, especially when he screams. Also Yajirobe in Super is very weird like some have already said. I don't blame Horikawa for that "My Bulma!" moment in Super because it's mostly the storyboarding that ruins it. He HAD to ham it up to the extreme.

[TheGreatness25]

Are we really qualified to determine if there was ever bad voice acting in the Japanese version? I feel that unless you know Japanese, you don't know whether proper tones, emotions, or projection were used. Unless we actually understand how Japanese people speak, the only thing that we have to judge is the voice -- which is completely subjective.

[Kamiccolo9]

Are we really qualified to determine if there was ever bad voice acting in the Japanese version? I feel that unless you know Japanese, you don't know whether proper tones, emotions, or projection were used. Unless we actually understand how Japanese people speak, the only thing that we have to judge is the voice -- which is completely subjective.

"Tones, emotion, and projection" are literally the things that come through even when you don't know the language.

[DBZ Macky]

Does Freeza's laughter not matching the lip-flaps after he kills Kuririn has to be an example of "bad voice acting"?
If yes, then that's one for a start.