Does the lack of diversity in sub and dub bother you?

[Peach]

Sean Schemmel voicing Goku, King Kai, and Nail

Chris Sabat as Vegeta, Piccolo, Yamcha, Kami, Shenron, King Piccolo, Popo, and more

Chuck Huber as Android 17, Pilaf, and Garlic Jr

Meredith McCoy as Android 18 and Launch

Same dude voicing Imperfect Cell, Pui Pui, and



In the sub -

Masako Nozawa plays literally every male in the Son family. Goku, Gohan, Goten, Bardock.

Ryūsei Nakao as Frieza, Cooler, and Frost.

It's extremely jarring in scenes where Gohan and Goku or Gohan and Goten talk to each other. Or when Frost and Frieza talk to each other.



Doesn't hearing the same voice actors bother you? When these actors step down, do you want more diversity with the characters/voices?

[MasenkoHA]

Not really no. It got a bit ridiculous when Sabat ended up voicing 3 of the 5 Ginyu Force members plus Zarbon but I'm not terribly bothered by that. I don't see why he needs to voice Yamcha, Vegeta, and Piccolo but ironically his worst performance of those 3 is the one he'd never give up so it's a wash.




I took more umbrage with Schemmel's King Kai being the most awful thing to listen to than the fact that Goku and King Kai share a voice actor.

A lot of your other examples don't even interact so who cares? Remember when Pilaf and Garlic jr talked to each other? Me neither


Far as the Japanese cast I like Ryusei voicing Freeza and Cooler and those two never interact on screen together so who cares they share an actor? And Frost and Freeza end up having limited interaction and Frost is framed as AU Freeza so made sense to have the same guy voicing them.


Nozawa voicing the male Son line plus Tullece is overblown. I wish Gohan had gotten a male actor when he turned 16 but that's the only issue I have.

I do think Bardock would have better suited voiced by Shigeru Chiba (looks like Goku, sound like Raditz) but I suppose I understand that since Bardock was only intended for a one time tv special the higher ups wanted the father of Goku to sound like Goku for the kids or something

[JulieYBM]

No, it does not. It gives the work a very 'small theater troupe' vibe, which is quaint.

[Soppa Saia People]

the only time where it gets a little too much for me was in the original dragon ball, where daisuke gori voiced sooo many different background and supporting characters. i don't really mind it, he was a great actor and i love his dragon ball performances, it just kind of shocked me when i watched the original dragon ball.

dub eh, it's a different story, but that's kind of a issue with "modern" dubbing as a whole is that there's not a whole lot of different actors, and i think most of those actors are bad so...

[Peach]

No, it does not. It gives the work a very 'small theater troupe' vibe, which is quaint.

Like the Muppets?

[JulieYBM]

No, it does not. It gives the work a very 'small theater troupe' vibe, which is quaint.

Like the Muppets?

Yeah! In high school we had a four or five person crew do all of Romeo and Juliet by running back and forth on stage, switching between costumes and such. It was really interesting and impressive. It's why I was never bothered by Gouri Daisuke voicing thirty different characters over the years.

I probably wouldn't care about Sabat voicing a million characters if he just used his one good voice instead of those shitty voice changes he does. Works for Dave Petite.

[jjgp1112]

This is obviously minutia but I always figured Funi deliberately gave Garlic and Pilaf the same voice.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

It doesn't bother me no, because usually the voices in both versions are distinct enough that I don't remember it's the same voice actor talking to him/herself unless I stop and think about it (which I rarely do because I watch Dragon Ball for pleasure).

Masako Nozawa playing all of the Son family is, in a way the point of the Japanese version because she is the voice of Dragon Ball, and the one that's been consistent throughout everything since 1986. When Goku is absent for several episodes (Garlic Junior or Saiyaman arcs for example), Nozawa's voice is present through Gohan, Goku Jr in the GT special, or in the case of the first Z special Bardock.

[TheBlackPaladin]

The lack of diversity with the dub is really more of a holdover from an older era than anything else. Back when FUNimation started dubbing in Texas, pretty much nobody in the area had any experience with dubbing. Chris Sabat said that in the early days, when they called local talent agents to ask for voice actors with dubbing experience, the agents didn't even know what he was talking about. Sabat was also the only salaried employee at FUNimation at the time, hence the reason they gave him so many roles.

Today, it's a very different story. Dallas ended up becoming the anime dubbing capital of the US pretty much because of FUNimation. Sabat said that it has gotten to the point where their dubbing roster is so enormous that they can now get an individual actor for each individual part without any difficulty now. He gave up a fair amount of his roles for Kai, but the reason he still has a fair amount is simply because a lot of dub fans grew up with those voices and are fond of them.

Also...I've seen a fair amount of "Chris Sabat voices everyone"-chatter over the years, and everybody can absolutely have their own opinion, but whenever I hear that, I'm compelled to admit something to myself: I legitimately couldn't tell when I was a kid. Perhaps it'd be different if I was introduced to DBZ now, but when I was a kid? *shrug* Honestly couldn't tell.

[MasenkoHA]

This is obviously minutia but I always figured Funi deliberately gave Garlic and Pilaf the same voice.

For the Vancouver cast you had Don Brown voicing Pilaf for the BLT dub and Garlic jr for the Pioneer dub of Dead Zone so there’s certainly a precedent. Like Saffron Henderson voicing Goku as a child and Gohan and then Funimation having Stephanie Nadolny doing the same.

[JulieYBM]

The lack of diversity with the dub is really more of a holdover from an older era than anything else. Back when FUNimation started dubbing in Texas, pretty much nobody in the area had any experience with dubbing. Chris Sabat said that in the early days, when they called local talent agents to ask for voice actors with dubbing experience, the agents didn't even know what he was talking about. Sabat was also the only salaried employee at FUNimation at the time, hence the reason they gave him so many roles.

Today, it's a very different story. Dallas ended up becoming the anime dubbing capital of the US pretty much because of FUNimation. Sabat said that it has gotten to the point where their dubbing roster is so enormous that they can now get an individual actor for each individual part without any difficulty now. He gave up a fair amount of his roles for Kai, but the reason he still has a fair amount is simply because a lot of dub fans grew up with those voices and are fond of them.

Also...I've seen a fair amount of "Chris Sabat voices everyone"-chatter over the years, and everybody can absolutely have their own opinion, but whenever I hear that, I'm compelled to admit something to myself: I legitimately couldn't tell when I was a kid. Perhaps it'd be different if I was introduced to DBZ now, but when I was a kid? *shrug* Honestly couldn't tell.

Love to squeeze extra, health-destroying work for the same money out of my salaried employees. Love to steal wages and torture people.

[PurestEvil]

Also...I've seen a fair amount of "Chris Sabat voices everyone"-chatter over the years, and everybody can absolutely have their own opinion, but whenever I hear that, I'm compelled to admit something to myself: I legitimately couldn't tell when I was a kid. Perhaps it'd be different if I was introduced to DBZ now, but when I was a kid? *shrug* Honestly couldn't tell.

I was honestly surprised when I learned Sabat voiced multiple characters, too; I thought he only did Vegeta.

[mute_proxy]

If the voice fits, there is no problem. It is and should always be about the voice, not the person.

[90sDBZ]

Considering how many characters Chris Sabat voiced in Z, it was actually surprising how different some of them actually sounded. His Vegeta, Yamcha, Recoome, Jeice, and Korin were all pretty distinct from one another.

In the early days his Vegeta and Piccolo sounded pretty different too. He eventually stopped impersonating Brian Drummond and deepened his Vegeta voice, which made for a much better performance but sounds more similar to his Piccolo.

I will say his current Vegeta sounds very similar to his Shenron, Porunga, and Omega, especially when he's in Ape form. This can be distracting at times, but I'm pretty used to it by now.

The Ocean dub equivalent was Terry Klassen, who sounded pretty much exactly the same as Krillin, Roshi, Guldo, West Kai, and Babidi.

The Japanese version is justified in having Goku, Gohan, and Goten be voiced by Nozawa, although Bardock and Turles probably should've had different voices.

[TheBlackPaladin]

The Japanese version is justified in having Goku, Gohan, and Goten be voiced by Nozawa, although Bardock and Turles probably should've had different voices.

I've always thought it would be interesting if either Bardock or Turles was voiced by Shigeru Chiba (the Japanese voice of Radditz), so that the casting would have been more diversified while at the same time serving as a link to the rest of Goku's family.

I guess if I was forced to pick between those two characters which would be voiced by Chiba, it would probably be Bardock. Turles is supposed to be a "dark mirror image" of Goku, so having him played by Goku's voice helps reinforce that. Heck, I wish Turles had been played by the respective voices for Goku in the dub, too.

[MasenkoHA]

The Japanese version is justified in having Goku, Gohan, and Goten be voiced by Nozawa, although Bardock and Turles probably should've had different voices.

Turles is who Goku could have been if he hadn't hit his head so it made sense for them to have the same voice.

I'm more surprised none of the English dubs ever bothered with that idea and always gave Turles a completely different actor.

[TheBlackPaladin]

The lack of diversity with the dub is really more of a holdover from an older era than anything else. Back when FUNimation started dubbing in Texas, pretty much nobody in the area had any experience with dubbing. Chris Sabat said that in the early days, when they called local talent agents to ask for voice actors with dubbing experience, the agents didn't even know what he was talking about. Sabat was also the only salaried employee at FUNimation at the time, hence the reason they gave him so many roles.

Today, it's a very different story. Dallas ended up becoming the anime dubbing capital of the US pretty much because of FUNimation. Sabat said that it has gotten to the point where their dubbing roster is so enormous that they can now get an individual actor for each individual part without any difficulty now. He gave up a fair amount of his roles for Kai, but the reason he still has a fair amount is simply because a lot of dub fans grew up with those voices and are fond of them.

Also...I've seen a fair amount of "Chris Sabat voices everyone"-chatter over the years, and everybody can absolutely have their own opinion, but whenever I hear that, I'm compelled to admit something to myself: I legitimately couldn't tell when I was a kid. Perhaps it'd be different if I was introduced to DBZ now, but when I was a kid? *shrug* Honestly couldn't tell.

Love to squeeze extra, health-destroying work for the same money out of my salaried employees. Love to steal wages and torture people.

As I understand it, things have gotten a tad better since then in terms of payment. But yeah, in the early days, FUNimation--by the admission of everyone involved--didn't pay much, even by dubbing standards. Chris Sabat said that he was paid a grand total of $20 to play Yamcha in Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle.

Still, even though they have improved since the old days, it's of great concern to the dubbing industry just how much anime will now be handled by the Crunchyroll/FUNimation merger. There has been a much louder call for unionized dubs lately. At first, Texas voice actors were really resistant to it, but they're slowly starting to come around. So I remain hopeful--more so than I used to be!

[JulieYBM]

The lack of diversity with the dub is really more of a holdover from an older era than anything else. Back when FUNimation started dubbing in Texas, pretty much nobody in the area had any experience with dubbing. Chris Sabat said that in the early days, when they called local talent agents to ask for voice actors with dubbing experience, the agents didn't even know what he was talking about. Sabat was also the only salaried employee at FUNimation at the time, hence the reason they gave him so many roles.

Today, it's a very different story. Dallas ended up becoming the anime dubbing capital of the US pretty much because of FUNimation. Sabat said that it has gotten to the point where their dubbing roster is so enormous that they can now get an individual actor for each individual part without any difficulty now. He gave up a fair amount of his roles for Kai, but the reason he still has a fair amount is simply because a lot of dub fans grew up with those voices and are fond of them.

Also...I've seen a fair amount of "Chris Sabat voices everyone"-chatter over the years, and everybody can absolutely have their own opinion, but whenever I hear that, I'm compelled to admit something to myself: I legitimately couldn't tell when I was a kid. Perhaps it'd be different if I was introduced to DBZ now, but when I was a kid? *shrug* Honestly couldn't tell.

Love to squeeze extra, health-destroying work for the same money out of my salaried employees. Love to steal wages and torture people.

As I understand it, things have gotten a tad better since then in terms of payment. But yeah, in the early days, FUNimation--by the admission of everyone involved--didn't pay much, even by dubbing standards. Chris Sabat said that he was paid a grand total of $20 to play Yamcha in Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle.

Still, even though they have improved since the old days, it's of great concern to the dubbing industry just how much anime will now be handled by the Crunchyroll/FUNimation merger. There has been a much louder call for unionized dubs lately. At first, Texas voice actors were really resistant to it, but they're slowly starting to come around. So I remain hopeful--more so than I used to be!

Holy shit, that is some fucking bullshit. $20? How the fuck are you supposed to pay rent for $20?

Eat shit, Fukunaga.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Holy shit, that is some fucking bullshit. $20? How the fuck are you supposed to pay rent for $20?

Eat shit, Fukunaga.

Pretty sure Sabat said he had some other jobs around that time in call centres and some commercial work too. I know when Sabat has said when he started working for Funimation he was paid a salary of $20,000. Though that still wasn't great. It wouldn't cover you for living in Ireland, I can only imagine how tough that wage would be in Texas. Luckily we can safely assume he's doing much better now, but those first few years must have been hard.

[Adamant]

the only time where it gets a little too much for me was in the original dragon ball, where daisuke gori voiced sooo many different background and supporting characters. i don't really mind it, he was a great actor and i love his dragon ball performances, it just kind of shocked me when i watched the original dragon ball.

This, as well as Banjo Ginga getting cast as every other gruff sounding side character. He's a good actor, but he didn't need to voice EVERYONE.

Complaining about Nozawa's multiple roles is ridiculous though, that was deliberately done to make them sound similar. Complaining about that is just missing the point.