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 >^.^<