What the hell's up with Chi-Chi's voice?

[DBZAOTA482]

A lot of people have pointed it out before but it's not just the English dub I notice this problem with. It's also with the original Japanese version.

Chi-Chi's original seiyuu was Mayumi Sho who gave her a very high-pitched and "cutesy" voice which empathises the character's softer traits but it also makes the scenes where Chi-Chi is angry or shows any extreme emotion especially effective. Sho voiced Chi-Chi throughout Dragon Ball and the first two seasons of DBZ:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agNnSpZ-axE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuL4cAl9Oxw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exO-ZP9WxVY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9JrsPYa7LM

After episode 66 of DBZ, Mayumi Sho left the show due to pregnancy and was replaced by Puar's seiyuu Naoko Watanabe who gave a somewhat deeper voice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1qQexEdwGY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFoE2bcYFSU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbqIW-c-dZE

This carries on into Kai though she does sound a bit worse than originally... though that's to be expected as most of the seiyuus have declined in comparison to their primes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lavpejvNENk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFkR-0xPIY0

However in Super, the voice has lost the "cutesy" factor and now just sounds like a stuck-up bitch or a middle-aged liberian:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U66PNKt7K0k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPbllCV13k8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lmW0UPdE9I



Now about her English voice... who was Cynthia Cranz ever since FUNimation first started dubbing the series. She often got flack for more making Chi-Chi a "raging bitch"... even when she's not raging but I never had a problem with her Chi-Chi in particular:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlKanTnrtTs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJS9KwKASdk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRwHXpnzmQc

Now compare to her work in Kai:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_z7ryk5ASM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap7Ad2iXLHQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q636_VJy5Gs

The voice acting has certainly improved but the overall direction I feel has gotten worse. A lot of times she sounds over-the-top for no reason.

It only gets worse with the Kai Boo Saga and Super:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHsnba8-vvI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bwOofDOhfA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYCkQhhTgwE

Cranz just sounds like she's dying here and that's sad because she's only 48.


I just wonder what's going on with the voice actresses....

[8000 Saiyan]

Maybe Cranz isn't being directed well. Which is strange, since from the clips I've seen of The Final Chapters dub, the other actors are being directed well. Anyway, I was never a fan of her performance or voice. I don't think there's one great voice for this character.

[DrakenballP]

I have always hated Chi-Chi to begin with. She's too over the top.

[Metalwario64]

Damn... Chi-Chi's already intolerable in Super to begin with, and Cranz somehow makes her 10x worse...

[Ki Breaker]

I see what you mean, the voice does make her sound even worse than she is and that is astonishing..

Sadly, I am not aware of what's going on with the VA, my guess would be she thinks that's how the lines written for ChiChi will have the most impact.

[DBZAOTA482]

Damn... Chi-Chi's already intolerable in Super to begin with, and Cranz somehow makes her 10x worse...

Poor thing's not gonna make it through Super...

[spoiler]And neither are my eardrums.[/spoiler]

[DragonBallFoodie]

I don't know if it's age for Ms Cranz or it's the way she's being directed. I hope it's something she can sort out.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I don't know if it's age for Ms Cranz or it's the way she's being directed. I hope it's something she can sort out.

It's been sorted she has been fine post BoG arc.

[Robo4900]

One of many reasons I prefer Ocean's Chi-Chi(Laara Sadiq); she followed the more soft, motherly sound Chi-Chi used to have in Japanese Z, and while her more intense, angry moments aren't quite as on-point as Cranz's, you actually warm to her much more outside of when she's angry, so her angry moments have a lot more impact.
Plus, you can actually hear concern in Sadiq's Chi-Chi voice when she's talking about how Gohan or Goku shouldn't go into battle; Cranz's Chi-Chi just sounds like an annoying nag, and her portrayal often has me thinking "Why does anyone tolerate this woman?"

[JulieYBM]

I wish Shou had returned. Her Chichi was so moe. Watanabe was never as cute and now that she's older she is definitely not capable of pulling it off. I can't wait to see who succeeds the role someday. Maybe Hayami Saori could? Or Tanaka Aimi?

[DBZAOTA482]

I wish Shou had returned. Her Chichi was so moe. Watanabe was never as cute and now that she's older she is definitely not capable of pulling it off. I can't wait to see who succeeds the role someday. Maybe Hayami Saori could? Or Tanaka Aimi?

Shou did return once for Episode 30 of Super.... not my proudest fap though.

I dunno why Toei won't rehire her.

[Saikyo no Senshi]

Yeah, not a fan of Watanabe's Chi-Chi. She is not a bad actor, she's great as Pu'er, but the cutesy voice which Shou brought to the character was so damn fitting and Watanabe couldn't capture it that well.

[8000 Saiyan]

I wish Shou had returned. Her Chichi was so moe. Watanabe was never as cute and now that she's older she is definitely not capable of pulling it off. I can't wait to see who succeeds the role someday. Maybe Hayami Saori could? Or Tanaka Aimi?

Satsuki Yukino could do it.

[Metalwario64]

I wish Shou had returned. Her Chichi was so moe. Watanabe was never as cute and now that she's older she is definitely not capable of pulling it off.

I definitely agree with this. I really start disliking the character when Watanabe takes over, because Sho had this endearing, almost naive quality to the voice with how cute she sounded when she was angry, but Watanabe just sounds like an angry housewife.

[DrakenballP]

Just checked out the English Dub to Super and OH MAN! Chi-Chi sounds like someone who smokes 40 packs of cigarettes a day!

[JulieYBM]

I wish Shou had returned. Her Chichi was so moe. Watanabe was never as cute and now that she's older she is definitely not capable of pulling it off.

I definitely agree with this. I really start disliking the character when Watanabe takes over, because Sho had this endearing, almost naive quality to the voice with how cute she sounded when she was angry, but Watanabe just sounds like an angry housewife.

Yeah, definitely. Her work always made me feel like she was both young, but mature and capable of having different kinds of scenes.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

I just took both their declines as Chi-Chi's angry housewife shtick becoming all that was really left of her after the Saiyan arc. Super certainly hasn't changed that.

[Ripper 30]

Always Preferred Sho's Voice for ChiChi over Watanabe's Chichi because she made chi chi sound cute and adorable even if she was Scolding Gohan still her "Gohan Chan" sounded so fitting and her performance in Dragon Ball was already great but Watanabe's Chichi just lacked that adorable quality that Sho had though she sounded fine but I like the first chichi voice though now Watanabe's Chichi doesn't even sound cute but that's because Seeiyus are old now but the dub voice has gotten worse in Kai Final Chapters Dub, now it sounds like how Tiffany Volmer's Bulma sounded like in Z Dub

[Quantum-Kakarrotto]

Post BOG, Cynthia Cranz has gotten better as Chi-Chi again compared to how she was at the start of Super and in TFC. I remember someone saying that during the voice work for TFC, Cranz's was sick which was why her Chi-Chi wasn't as good. And for Super, she really hasn't voiced the character since Battle of Gods the film, so I just think she needed to get used to the role again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyHqcizSxdM