A Few Comments on Voice Acting and DBZ

By Mizti

As I've been reading through the editorials in the ToT, I've seen several people give their opinions on the voice acting in the DBZ series, so I've decided to toss in my own 2 cents on the subject.
First of all let me say that for the most part, I like the current voices for the dubbed version of DBZ. (Quickly dons riot gear and runs for cover.) Now mind you, that's the voices themselves, I'll be the first to admit tho' that the dialog needs a lot of work, but you can't blame that entirely on the voice actors, the writers and censors are also to blame.

There are actually a few cases where I like the FUNimation voice better than the original Japanese. Frieza, for example. In the original Japanese, he has a very masculine voice, but I think the FUNimation version of his voice is a better fit with his androgynous looks.

There are also cases where I can understand why the FUNimation voice is radically different than the original Japanese. Goku is the prime example for this. In the original Japanese, he still sounds like a high-pitched little kid (FYI: in the Japanese version, Goku has a voice actress not actor). I think his little kid voice has something to do with how Goku never really lost his child-like innocence and naiveté.

Now, those of you at home who have never seen any of the fan subs, try to imagine Goku giving one of his dramatic speeches in a little kid's voice.... (Gives the reader a few seconds to mull this concept over.)

Now, chances are you've had one of two responses 1) you're laughing your ass off, or 2) your head hurts. I tend to gravitate towards the latter myself. Thus, I think understand why FUNimation let Goku go through puberty, vocally speaking, in the U.S. They probably wanted to avoid confusion and people who didn't know any better accusing them of doing horrible job of casting the lead role. I'll admit tho', that the constant changing of Goku voice in the U.S. series was a little irritating, but the current one has grown on me.

Speaking of voices growing on me, I, like several other people out there, was a bit disconcerted when the 3rd season rolled around and it seemed like half the voices had changed. But after awhile I got used to them, hell, I even started to like 'em. But I still like some of the second season ones better, like when Jace sounded more like Lister from Red Dwarf (a very funny British sci-fi comedy series (available on videotape in the U.S.)... if you haven't seen it, I pity you...).
There is only one voice that truly aggravates me in DBZ, and that's Bulma's. That grating valley girl thing that she has going on just irritates the hell out of me. It's one of the reasons that I have a hard time seeing her and Vegeta together... I mean, given his temperament and her god awful voice, couldn't you just imagine him snapping and blowing her off the face of the planet after having to listen to her talk, non-stop for about 5 minutes? I can.

Before I sign off, I'd like to leave a little food for thought for those of you who have seen the subtitled versions of DBZ or any other anime and thought the original Japanese language version was better than the English dub. Is it possible that Japanese voice actors are superior to American ones? Or is it more likely that our own ignorance of Japanese language and its nuances keeps up from realizing that they have just as many cases of bad voice acting and dialog as we do? And when they import one of our cartoons, do fans often feel that the orginal English dub is better than the Japanese one?

Like I said, just a little food for thought...

Mitzi >^.^<