The following is a project I've wanted to complete for a long time, but never had the opportunity to finish until recently. The following was an interview that was published in the addendum DB Daizenshuu, TV Animation Part 3. It is an interview with the main voice actors from Dragon Ball/Z/GT. I am proud to be the first to present this to you in the English language.
This has proven to be the single most difficult piece to translate from all of my work. Even with the assistance of Japanese friends, the translation was very difficult simply because this group of actors are talking to each other in a casual manner. Some of their jokes are obscure, and since they are talking with a frame of refference, they tend to leave out certain details. I've tried to make the reading process much easier by using these brackets [] to make notes, or complete the actor's thoughts. I've tried to translate this as purely as possible so you will notice many run-on sentences. Japanese sentences tend to lean a bit on the lengthy side. Other than that, my usual poor grammar shouldn't be an issue ^0^ And now I invite you to enjoy the final interview with the DB Voice Actors!
Interviewer: Was there an audition for the voice-acting roles?
Nozawa: Yes, I did.
Tsuru: Yes, I did too.
Horikawa: I was told, "Do it."
Furuya: I didn't have an audition.
Nozawa: Yeah, that's just the best. (laughs)
Furuya: Well that's only because it wasn't an important role. (laughs)
Horikawa: Well Vegita came in during the middle. So I wonder if that why I didn't have an audition.
Furuya: Overall this production didn't really have too many auditions. That's because we used veteran voice-actors.
Interviewer: So you're saying they only used veteran voice actors...
Furuya: Well you see, they wanted to make a really good product. Like the main character's voice was done by Mako. So if they were assembling a cast to fit the likes of Mako, they couldn't even think of using anyone but us. [Note: "Mako" is Masako Nozawa's nickname that they affectionately use]
All together: Oooooooooh~~~! (laughing)
Tsuru: I was a newbie! (laughing)
Furuya: Yeah, but you were sweet so you're an exception. (laughing)
Nozawa: But the studio was honestly full of veterans.
Interviewer: When the roles were decided upon, what were your impressions?
Nozawa: When I was cast as Gokou, that was just the best. For a long time I wanted to be a part of something created by Toriyama sensei. When I perform, I naturally fit my role, but I think I especially fit Gokou. However, I had to be extremely careful here since Gokou grew up in the mountains not knowing much. Naturally something like that is tough because I know all sorts of stuff. (laughing)
Tsuru: From the very first day I teamed up with Mako but I was always nervous... but because of Mako's candid personality I was so relieved. Until that point, I always had quite character's roles, but Buruma was closer to my own personality. (laughing) Yeah, it was easy for me to do.
Suzuoki: Tenshinhan came is during the middle of the series. Normally there is a huge amount of pressure on those who come in from the middle. But Dragon Ball was an open road. I could actually relax.
Nozawa: That's right, that's right! He was really important. (smiles)
Suzuoki: So in the studio, Mako and the others said, "Why are you such a cheeky guy?" (laughing) Tenshinhan was different from normal people, but his interaction with Chaozu was really human. I really didn't think about him as if he were any different from a normal human.
Furuya: At first Yamucha was really cool. He was like a lone wolf in the wilderness. He was always running away from women, but after he fell in love with Buruma he became a playboy. (laughing)
Furukawa: Yeah, over time it became easier for someone like you. (laughing)
Suzuoki: Yeah, the creators really made the role fit Touru! (laughing)
Nozawa: Yes, but if it wasn't Vegita that snatched Buruma after all.
Furukawa: I was always in koui with Mako san... [KOUI = a good friendship]
Furuya: Koi? [KOI = in love]
Furukawa: KOUI! (laughing) so when we were doing our jobs together we were always really happy. We didn't get to work together very often. Mako is so kind and welcoming to people she doesn't often see, really puts you at ease. Even so, Piccolo was tough to do.
Interviewer: Right, you don't often play evil roles.
Furukawa: It was difficult always acting in a low tone. If I wasn't on guard I could slip into a higher pitch, professionals always surrounded me. It made me so nervous.
Horikawa: The first time I worked with Mako was in Dragon Ball. She was someone I had been longing to work with for a long time, when I saw her for the first time I was like, "AH! Ms. Nozawa is here!" In Vegita's case, I would look on in amazement because he fought violently as a villain, his eyes were opened and he became an earthling, then had children and I just always wondered what would happen next. (laughing)
Tanaka: When we were testing for the final recordings Mako and Mr. Jyouji Yanami [Narrator, Kaiousamma, Dr. Briefs] were always telling jokes. It was really interesting but in the early days I didn't get it so I thought, "Maybe they're angry at me."
Furuya: You never took it as a joke. (laughing)
Interviewer: Ms. Tanaka, you were the voice of both Kuririn and Yajirobe...?
Tanaka: At first Kuririn was a crafty little perverted brat, but I really enjoyed him that way. I heard that Kuririn and Yajirobe would never be onscreen at the same time. But they ended up being in scenes together! So I knew I had to distinguish the two voices very clearly, "~dabe", is what I'd occasionally say when doing Yajirobe, but since they ended up together at the same time I decided to use a Nagoya accent for him to make the difference more clear, "Nani itto rya~su" [NOTE: (dabe = it is) (Nani itto rya~su = Whaddya sayin') "Dabe" is commonly used by country people in Japan. However, a Nagoya accent is closer to the Kansai accent of Japan. The best way to think of this, even if it isn't the same thing, would be if Yajirobe were to speak in a Southern English accent]
Suzuoki: Yeah, that was a strange Nagoya accent. (laughing)
Interviewer: In your case, Ms. Nozawa, you did the voices of Gokou, Gohan and Goten as well as Bardock and Taaresu, for each of theses characters, which scene left you with a lasting impression?
Nozawa: The scene that left the biggest lasting impression on me was when Gokou was in the bathroom in Snow's house while the Red Ribbon Army was attacking. When I saw that they shot the door full of holes I was thinking, "Gokou just died, what is going to happen?" And when the door creaked open he just came out like, "Owowow." (laughing) That's my favorite. My favorite for Gohan was simply when he was talking with the lost robot.
Interviewer: That was a really nice dialogue wasn't it.
Nozawa: That and when Gohan talked to Piccolo during training.
Furukawa: That left a lasting impression on me too.
Nozawa: It really felt like he was beating on me. However, I liked that part so much because I felt Gohan was really attached to Piccolo like his teacher. Goten was so cute wasn't he? He wasn't exactly a genius at the top of his class, but he had a sparkling aura about him; it just seems you can find a boy like him in every neighborhood.
Interviewer: How about Bardock and Taaresu?
Nozawa: Both of them were really cool. I was thinking, "Wow, Gokou really is Bardock's child."
Interviewer: I think it must have been a big problem doing so many roles by yourself...
Nozawa: No, I didn't have to be alert of whose voice I was doing. When I see the picture, I can fit it perfectly.
Furuya: That's just comes naturally to Mako. But I certainly wouldn't want to do it. (laughing)
Tanaka: They didn't overlay recordings.
Furukawa: Each character's lines were so close together. I would only be able to do it if the lines weren't so close. Normal people just cannot do what she does.
Interviewer: As for Buruma, Ms. Tsuru, which scene do you feel left the most lasting impression on you?
Tsuru: I liked it in the beginning when Buruma was energetic and self-centered. I think I'll always remember when she showed off her panties but she wasn't wearing any. (laughing) In addition to that, I thought she was going to marry Yamucha but...
Furuya: Yeah I know!
Tsuru: Yeah, I have no idea what happened to the progress of her relationship with him. (laughing)
Nozawa: Yes, it [marriage] also happened abruptly for Gokou as well.
Furuya: Well you see, there had to be a really strong second generation, which would have been impossible if Buruma and Yamucha had kids. (laughing)
Tsuru: Suddenly one day she was married to Vegita and Trunks was born... I was like, "Huh? What's going on here?" (laughing)
Horikawa: There wasn't even like a hint or anything.
Furuya: At that time, I just wanted to get out of the studio. (laughing)
Tsuru: After all that I tried to be in love with Vegita...but it was really difficult. (laughing)
Interviewer: She made the transition pretty quickly didn't she. (laughing)
Furuya: Kind of disturbing isn't it. (laughing)
Suzuoki: Along the way, Tenshinhan became a really nice guy, I liked that. In the latter half of the series, I wasn't around very much... And I was pretty weak too. (laughing) I came back one last time to fight but I lost really quickly so I wasn't in the anime very often after that. I showed up as often as the Olympics.
Furuya: "If you make the team, that's what counts." (laughing) [I'm using quotes because it sounds like a commonly used phrase, but I am unaware of the origin] That held true for Yamucha too. But after all, in the end he was just like, "I don't even want to go [to the Olympics]." (laughing) I know there used to be a cool Yamucha that was training with Kuririn...
Tanaka: Well it was just training. (laughing)
Furuya: Right, there wasn't a real battle [between us]. Actually I was always beginning Director Yamauchi, "Give Yamucha a cool part." So he threw in something extra for me.
Furukawa: As for Piccolo, they really used a lot of intense training scenes with Gohan. That got a huge response from the fans. It's not exactly his true character, but the scenes I'll always remember were when Piccolo would say a pathetic pun.
Nozawa: Oh Yeah oh yeah, that was so bad. (laughing)
Furukawa: When they went to get driver's licenses, they really sucked at driving. (laughing) Half of the episode was made up of action scenes and I got hoarse [from yelling so much]. Everyone was so tense. And after that, in fighting scenes when you see lots of fists flying, I tried really hard to make my voice fit the hands and that was a big problem.
Furuya: Yeah there was a little bit of cropping there. (laughs)
Horikawa: I think the most memorable scene with Vegita was when Freeza killed him, "You must be so angry at yourself", was Gokou's line. Because he was so mighty and elite, yet he was crying and begging Gokou. It was really a feeling of sorrow. After that, I think the scene where he mutters his final thoughts to Gokou, "You are Number 1."
Nozawa: But you were happy about that scene where he was hugging Trunks.
Horikawa: Oh, I was pleased by that too. It went, "Take care of your mother, Buruma."
Tsuru: I wasn't there at the time, but afterwards I heard it and I was so moved.
Horikawa: To express feelings of love for Buruma through lines like that is a most impressive aspect of Toriyama sensei.
Tanaka: To tell the truth, when Kuririn suddenly grew back his hair I was disappointed. (laughing) I thought he kept it shaved because of religion... Maybe he did it because Number 18 told him he had a stupid little bald head, I really wanted to have an episode based on why he decided to grow his hair...
Suzuoki: 'Hair, hair', say it completely, hair on his head. [NOTE: Perverted joke alert. He says this as if she could be referring to hair elsewhere on his body.
Tanaka: (laughing) ...so when Kuririn finally got hair on his head, that event left the greatest impression on me.
Nozawa: See, Kuririn really was best known for his baldhead.
Tanaka: After that, the first time he died was really a shock. Tenshinhan had just won the Tenkaichi Budoukai and Kuririn went back to get something Gokou forgot...
Nozawa: Geez, it happened so suddenly in a peaceful atmosphere.
Tsuru: We never imagined he was going to be brought back to life again and again. (laughing)
Tanaka: Dragon Ball is amazing. Even if you're dead you can still come around with a halo over you. (laughing)
Interviewer: Are there any interesting anecdotes from when you were recording?
Nozawa: The best was one time Vegita's line was "HMPH!" and this snot came out of his nose.
Horikawa: Yuuji Mitsuya [Kaioshin, Gregory] seriously cracked up. (laughing)
Tanaka: The time I laughed the most was Mr. Suzuoki's "*Peep Peep* Shoes Incident". There was this noise in the recording room and nobody knew what this disturbing sound was coming from. (laughing)
Suzuoki: I didn't even notice. Whenever I walked I heard this *squeak squeak* but I never thought it was from me.
Horikawa: Were they the ones kids wear? [In Japan there are children's shoes that make peep-like sounds on purpose]
Suzuoki: No, no they were normal shoes.
Furuya: They didn't look like they'd make noise.
Suzuoki: After some time passed Mr. Yanami would always ask me, "Are your shoes gonna cry?"
Furukawa: Well it was pretty funny when Junpei Takiguchi [Uranai Baba, Porunga] misread 'Son yo' as 'Mago yo'. [NOTE: 'Son' as in Gokou's family name. The Chinese character for "Son" is similar to the character "Mago" which means grandchild. So basically instead of saying Gokou's name he said, "Grandchild!"]
Horikawa: If Suzuoki did that, we'd know immediately that he was trying to make us laugh. (laughing)
Furukawa: It was right after he turned the page so it caught him off-guard and he did it unexpectedly. (laughing)
Nozawa: The first scene of Piccolo, when his egg was delivered, made me sick.
Furuya: Overall, Takeshi Aono (Piccolo Daimaou) is really good. At making you feel sick that is.
Tsuru: It made me feel like, "Aw, don't deliver it." (laughing)
Furuya: This is straying from talking about recording stories, but this one time, I told these middle school boys, "I'm the voice of Yamucha on Dragon Ball.", and they just said, "Whatever, it's just Yamucha..." (laughing)
Tanaka: Little kids like strong characters. I'll always say things like, "Kuririn and Yamucha are the strongest earthlings. Everyone else is an alien." (laughing)
Nozawa: Just the other day I went to a bar. This college student sat down next to me and goes, "AH, the voice of Gokou, Masako Nozawa!", causing an uproar. Then he goes, "I've been a fan of yours since elementary school." Already I've been doing this for that long. (laughing)
Horikawa: A long time ago, this biker-gang-type lady started talking to me. She said, "Mr. Vegita, please shake my hand." (laughing)
Tanaka: In the original animation, there was a story where Kuririn fell in love with a girl named Maaron. At that time I received lots of letters, "Why the hell does he like that girl?"
Nozawa: And when Gokou got married we received so many letters asking, "Why?"
Furukawa: During my work on Dragon Ball, the elementary school I graduated from saw its 100th Anniversary. So because of that they requested that I act as a speaker there. It was tough because I wrote out over 500 autographs and we also planted a special memorial tree; a plaque before the tree reads, 'Piccolo's Tree'.
Nozawa: Wow, that's so nice.
Interviewer: Since Kouhei Miyauchi who played the role of Kame Sennin passed away, could you please tell us some stories remembering him?
Nozawa: It was truly a shock. [Together] We often played the role of a grandpa and grandchild, because we were like an inseparable combination... But during recording of the movies, we said we would remain cheerful because Mr. Miyauchi was watching us.
Furuya: Even now we expect him to show up at the studio unexpectedly.
Interviewer: Finally, Ms. Nozawa, would you please leave us with a comment.
Nozawa: Even an adult listens carefully to someone they love, in that way, when there is a child left in a coma as the result of a traffic accident they still have many likes and dislikes; I often send tapes with messages to these children. Even though they are unconscious, they have shown a reaction when they hear the tape. Kindness, courage, caring, cheerfulness, power, and so on are carried by Gokou, Gohan and Goten to these children just as if by a friend, big brother, and something even a lover that cheers them up. I think these three people have become completely alive. They are alive inside of everyone, I think it is so wonderful that they live together [with us]. That I was able to act out such a role brings me a feeling of great pride. Dragon Ball is truly a wonderful work.