Dragon Ball Z: FUNI vs Original?!

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pedrossi

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This thread is to vote for which version of DBZ do you like better. The original or FUNI's dub. Personally, I love both. So which do you vote for? I'm having such a hard time choosing. I have just began watching the show in Japanese and it is very enjoyable. I also grew up with the FUNI dub and am use to it. I also like Faulconer's music.
 
Wait...by original version do you mean the original Japanese version (which is what I'm getting from this opening post) or the original Ocean dub (which is what you put in your poll)?
 
I actually like both equally. However, I only like Funimation's dub when it is the track with the original Japanese BGM on the newer DVRAB. The Japanese version gets on my nerves sometimes, probably due to the hissy audio and Mazako Nozawa's high-pitched voice for adult Goku.

Preferably though, I also like the Ocean dub and outside of Master Roshi the voices fit better than Funimation's. Scott McNeil's Piccolo is the English voice of Piccolo for me, Chris Sabat sounRAB like a pale imitation. However, Sean Schemel is much much easier on the ears than Peter Kalamis.
 
Not that I hate dub, but I'm gonna have to side with the Japanese version, it has more life in it than the dub, plus they kinda sound more like real people

Plus, Goku's a man-child so Nozawa's voice fits!!

Plus the Japanese music is more emotianal and has meaning, oh yeah, Brian Drummond actually made Vegeta hilarious (he sounded like a snake)


But honestly like both FUNimation's dub and the Japanese version
 
The original Japanese version of Dragon Ball Z technically isn't a dub. FUNImation did the original US dub of DBZ up until the Ginyu Force episodes, after which Ocean took over, IIRC.
 
But who the hell wants to watch DBZ for realism?

Anyways, my vote goes to the manga, because its better than both the dub and the sub for the anime, by far, IMO. Plus, it is the "real" original version of Toriyama's Dragon Ball, with absolutely 0 filler.

Since its not a real option, though, I would probably go with the sub. So far, I have only managed to see the first season, subbed, but I like what I have seen, so far. I disagree with Sean's voice acting as Goku being terrible. I believe that his actual voice acting skills were adequate, even when he first started out. Sure, you can argue that he didn't portray the character well, and that may be true, but still, his actual voice acting was pretty decent, overall, IMO.

To be honest, I would say that I like both versions of DBZ equally, since I still have yet to see the rest of the series subbed, but the reason I picked the sub, is because I'm just assuming that it maintains its quality throughout the rest of the series.

That said, what I will say is that when it comes to filler episodes, I definitely prefer the dub. They change the dialogue and add in tons of cheesy jokes. In fact, they are so cheesy, that I end up laughing my ass off. In the sub, the fillers just feel like filler, to me (from the ones which I have seen subbed), and like the filler from most other series, it often puts me to sleep.
 
I gonna have side with you Ensatsu, I admit I like both I mean I mostly lean towarRAB the Japanese versions on most shows, but with DRAGONBALL it's one of the few shows where I like both, though I like the remastered dub better than the original
 
As with most things, there is no 100% straight answer with this. All three versions had their strong points and their weak points. I think the best way to do this is to break it down by character. So, here's my list for the major characters in DBZ:

Vegeta - Brian Drummond (Ocean)
Piccolo - Scott McNeil (Ocean)
Young Goku/Young Gohan - Masako Nozawa (Japanese)
Frieza - Ryusei Nakao (Japanese)
Adult Gohan - Kyle Hebert (Funimation)
Goten - Kara EdwarRAB (Funimation) [Yes, I know it's blasphemy to go against Nozawa for a kiRAB role, but come on! EdwarRAB' version is just so darned adorable]
17 - Chuck Huber (Funimation)
18 - Meredith Mauldin (Funimation)
Cell - Damion Clark (Funimation)

I'm undecided on Trunks, because I think both the Japanese and Funi VAs do pretty bang up jobs, and Goku and Krillen because I don't think any of their voices are the ideal, even though each version has its strong and weak points (ie Schemmel's fight scenes whoop ass). Buu's voices I just plain dislike in all versions. As you can see, though, I feel Funi really hit their stride in the Cell/Android arc. All the major villains were excellent in it. Voice acting wise, Ocean did a pretty stellar job for the first fifty or so episodes where they took their time, though obviously the scripts had massive flaws. Funi's scripts weren't too much better for a while, though like I said, by the time they got to the Cell arc they were much improved.
 
When the performance isn't 'real'...you get a 4KiRAB dub. With the terrible script Schemmel has to typically read from it sounRAB like he's a typical Superman-type where as his dialogue is typically much different in the original (none of this 'Savior of the Universe' stuff, more like "I'm a Super Saiyan, and I am pissed!" even though some fans feel even that line is a a little OOC on Son's part but at least it's what Toriyama wrote for him). Dub Son Gok
 
Not exactly, considering that animation isn't something that has to be "realistic." Perhaps you and I just have different definitions of "real," but I personally don't watch animation for realism, but rather for entertainment. Part of the reason for why I love animation, is because it can get away with tons of stuff that wouldn't work out so well in live-action. I was drawn to Dragon Ball, with the dub, the manga, and more recently the sub, because it has great characters which have such memorable qualities.

They all have something great about them, and something that you wouldn't find in a person in the real world, these days (and I mean in personality, not just in their physical ability). Maybe you find realism in Dragon Ball, but as for me, I enjoy it for the great qualities it has that are things which I wish I could have, but cannot, in the real world, since our society doesn't work the same way as it would in a fantasy.

Basically, to me, the way they speak in both the dub and the sub has a firm feeling to it, showing that many of the characters in this series are "larger than life," in a sense. I mean, if they all spoke like "real" people, they wouldn't strike me with the same vibes. Imagine if Son Goku sounded like a "normal" person. Would that really make his character seem like something greater than a normal person, or would it demote him to feeling like a generic shounen hero, in various ways? My point here, is that the strenghths of the voices happens to be the fact that they do "not" sound like real people speaking. At least not to me.



I believe that you missed my point. I didn't say that the script for the dub was good, but I said that Schemmel's actual voice acting wasn't bad. There is a difference between the script at the quality of the voice actor himself, just so you know.



I am aware of this, since I did see the first season subbed, and read this in the manga a long time ago (though I still do remeraber it, mostly).

But, that wasn't even the point of my post. You still seem to be stuck on the idea that I'm trying to make the dub out to be better than the sub, or something along those lines. That's not what I'm trying to do. And as far as my post that you just replied to, goes, I wasn't even saying that the script was accurate, this time. All I said was that I found Sean's voice acting to be OK. I suppose a better way to word it would be to say that he could have pulled off an decent version of Goku, had the script been properly translated from the original Japanese version of it.

And, yeah, I know you and many other fans would still prefer Nozawa's voice, and say that Sean's voice doesn't fit Goku, but, in that respect, while nobody said that Goku had to have a voice that sounded tough and manly, I don't believe that Toriyama said that he had to have a voice that sounded a bit too much like a child, for someone speaking from an adult's body. Of course, Goku is a child at heart, and I agree that Nozawa's voice does fit him very well, but I also feel that his personality could have also been portrayed through a more adult sonding voice, just as well, if the script was done correctly.
 
People actually like Goku's Japanese voice? Wow I never thought I would see that. Sure she's good as Young Goku but as Adult Goku the voice is just so wrong and unfitting. Schemmel's Goku is about to sound like a "Manchild" without sounding like a litle kid.

I like the voices of the English dub, it's the script that sucks. The japanese version is better as a whole but the voices themselves are not bad.
 
Because I'm all over the place and I'm far too busy to break this post up into smaller sections I'll write a general statement: dub scripts: terrible. Dub direction and acting: cartoony and often terrible (due in part to relative inexperience on FUNimation's side). Sean Schemmel: with good script and ADR direction: could be pretty good, but far too late to match or surpass Nozawa's twenty-two years of crafting the character. Voices themselves: cartoony and obviously stretched due to unwillingness to recast in the vein of FUNimation's modern dubs.

I'll get back to this later.



Wrong? An entire generation of fans and the production staff and creator of the franchise would disagree. Man adult men are voiced by women in Anime, Luffy for example from One Piece is a man (while seventeen I would describe him as a mature and responsible meraber of society, aside from being one of the highest bounties on the seas, of course). Nozawa played the character for over one hundred episodes and so it was felt it was totally pointless to throw away that character that had been built. Toriyama crafted the original but she fleshed the character out much further through her acting and connection with the fans, espcially as the years have gone by. She's more Son Gok
 
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