Poll: Dragon Ball Z Dubs

[Snotnarok]

I liked the original dub (I believe it was ocean) early on, I saw some of the later stuff and it was not up to par.

Though stupidly enough I grew up on the japanese version, back in the day when the series stopped progressing (dub deputes I guess?) we found a shop with bootleg/tv recordings of DBZ in japanese (on VHS)all the way to the end of the show.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

big ole snip

So, questions. What other changes does DBZ Kai make, if any?

Is there a place to watch DBZ Kai for free or is it something we have to buy a boxset too or something?

My wife and I may be getting into DBZ, but I want to start with Dragonball. Is there anything similar for Dragonball I need to watch out for?

The first thing you need to know about DBZ Kai is that it is expensive. If you plan on watching the uncut version of Kai, there are at least eight volumes to buy, just under one hundred episodes.

The second thing you need to know is that Kai only goes up to the Cell arc, omitting everything involving Majin Buu and the Fusion episodes. It's by far the best dub, and the uncut versions retain the more brutal violence removed from the tv broadcast. But just be warned that you will be missing out on the Buu episodes.

Kai is definitely the place you want to start with if you've never watched Dragonball before. It cuts out the filler episodes and offers a really streamlined version of the story. Due to the way DBZ is paced, I would go with the dvds over television, since you can watch a bunch of episodes continuously that way.

After that, I would suggest watching the Funimation Dubbed DBZ Uncut dvds to finish up the story. You have to deal with filler, but you're still getting a good dub that has the same voice actors.

Avoid Dragonball GT like the plague. It was not created by the original writer, and it's artwork becomes downright ugly at times.

The Ocean Dub is a bit of an acquired taste, as a lot of us grew up with it on the first run, while others grew up on Funimation when Toonami began re-airing episodes.

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

No Malaysian dub? I am disappoint.


OT: Funimation dub. Other than Brian Drummond and Scott McNeill I just don't think the voices suit the characters.[footnote]Still prefer Chris Sabat in both instances though[/footnote] Plus they just went overboard with the censorship. I also prefer Bruce Faulconers score (japanese score is the best though)

Kai shits on both those dubs though IMO.

Damn you, man! I was going to say the Malaysian Dub.

"No! What? IMPOSSIBLE! It doesn't even work! Here I come, Kuralla!" *passes out*

 

[xNightxSpawnx]

DBZ Abridged all the way. I can't watch the series anymore without thinking of their voices and laughing at the absurdity of it

 

[Dimitriov]

I probably grew up with the Ocean dub being here in Canada. But I vaguely remember that the whole show being aired here changed at some point (voice actors and intro) and I think that may have been the FUNimation version after that point.

However, since I have all of it on DVD and have watched it subbed with the original voices I really can't watch the dubs anymore... they just don't get the tone of the show right at all.

DBZ can be really silly and also serious at times and none of the dubs I have ever watched seem to understand this balance.

 

[Womplord]

The one that has bruce faulconer doing the soundtrack is far better. Also, dbz kai is shit, the voices sound stupid and don't match up with the characters and the soundtrack sucks.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

When it comes to watching the actual series, I mostly preferred Ocean but that is because it is the dub I saw when I first watched DBZ and when the voices changed halfway through, I never got used to it.
Of course, Team Four Star has the best dub of them all.

 

[Chalacachaca]

None of those listed, I liked the mexican dub, convincing and completly neutral (as in, you won't ever hear Goku say "HIJOLE GUEY!").

 

[Crimson_Dragoon]

Aren't we forgetting one of the best dubs? Team four star!

I second this. This is the best way to watch DBZ. And the voice actors are legitimately good.

 

[neoontime]

Dr*gonDubz must be mentioned in this thread!

 

[Hazy992]

Best song in DBZ right there.

Agreed. This song is so unbelievably epic, and when Ultimate Gohan's flying towards the battle and this starts playing... so goddamn awesome

 

[Innegativeion]

That was incorrect anyway; both the battle power number and Brian Drummond's delivery (Vegeta's meant to be mildly peeved, not full-on pissed; he's still much stronger than Gokuu, even with the Kaiouken x2). Both the manga and the original Japanese version have Gokuu at over 8,000, not 9,000, which creates a plothole in and of itself because that would make his Kaiouken x2 BP 18,000, and Vegeta was stated to be 18,00 by Dodoria before powering up by Namek, yet Gokuu himself said that Vegeta was beating him in both power and speed.

Everyone knows power levels are, and have always been utter horse shit anyway.

I second this. This is the best way to watch DBZ. And the voice actors are legitimately good.

Truly, some of the better abridgers (such as team fourstar and martin billany aka littlekuriboh aka Frieza aka the entire cast of yugioh abridged)

have a way of subtely replacing the original characters' voices when you think about said characters. I love those guys.

 

[anthony87]

What? No love for the Polish dub?

 

[Sean Hollyman]

Best song in DBZ right there.

Agreed. This song is so unbelievably epic, and when Ultimate Gohan's flying towards the battle and this starts playing... so goddamn awesome

He also delivers one of the most cool lines of the show shortly after he lands

So hotshot, you want to fight Majin Buu?

 

[Hazy992]

Best song in DBZ right there.

Agreed. This song is so unbelievably epic, and when Ultimate Gohan's flying towards the battle and this starts playing... so goddamn awesome

He also delivers one of the most cool lines of the show shortly after he lands

So hotshot, you want to fight Majin Buu?

Fight you? No, I wanna kill you!

So fucking badass!

 

[Furioso]

Aren't we forgetting one of the best dubs? Team four star!

Agree completely. They actually do a good job at the dubbing too, especially later on in the series. Also, I name my Voltorb/Electrode Chao-Tzu (however you spell that) in Pokemon due to the self-destruct.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

They were both shit, with poor voice acting, shitty replacement scores and retarded script changes. But I prefer the FUNimation dub because I grew up with their voices. However, they have improved vastly for their DBZ Kai dub. Apparently, Ocean might be doing a DBZ Kai dub too, but there hasn't been much word on that.

Still better than the Japanese version. Yes, this is the one of the few times that the original was awful. I get the idea of keeping the same VA for Goku from Dragonball on up, but that voice... oy it's painful.

OT: Funimation. They're pretty good at what they do.

Hahahaha...

You only think that due to nostalgia and the fact that you grew up on the dub. Most Japanese people don't have a problem with Nozawa's Gokuu. You don't have to like the Japanese version, but to say that a dub is "better" than the original, as if it's some kind of objective statement, is just retarded and kind of makes my blood boil, since I've heard this shit so much.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Being Canadian, I always enjoyed the Ocean Dub. In fact I've been searching for copies of it for years. I mean it may have mistepped in many areas, but one things for sure, they had a much better voice for Fat Buu then Funimation.