By Kenneth-san
Posted 09-29-2001

All right, my rant is going to focus on DragonBall Z, but I will mention a Pokemon reference later, and how this goes along with it. I can't stand crappily dubbed anime, which is basically the statement I'm trying to make, and Funimation's DBZ dub just takes the cake. Even though I've actually taken a liking to some of the synthesized music in the English version (whoa, whoa, put that axe down, I don't like it THAT much!), I've seen some video clips here and there of the original, and... wow.

Let me get to the point. The big scene that really fries me is Gohan’s Super Saiya-jin level 2 transformation during the Cell Games. Funimation screwed this one up like NONE OTHER. I’ve only seen the dub of this scene once, but watched a video clip of it religiously. If only Funimation came out with the videos of the Cell Games instead of delaying them to release the Boo Saga videos, I’d be able to give a better comparison, but this’ll just have to do.

I saw it in English before I saw it in Japanese, and before I viewed the original, this scene had nearly no significance to me. Here’s what happens in the dub (I don’t want to have to go to the trouble of explaining the characters, or for that matter, why Android 16 is now just a talking head, so bear with me):

Cell’s mini-clones are REALLY trashing the Z-Fighters, and Gohan’s REALLY getting mad. Android 16’s head, who had been previously telling Hercule to throw him into the battlefield (so he can give Gohan a "pep talk"), finally gets tossed into the fray. He turns to Gohan and, referring to the fact that Gohan is holding his powers back because he knows his rage is uncontrollable, says, "Gohan… let it go." Then he goes off on a tangent about how it isn’t a sin to fight for the defense of the world, yakyakyak. Cell walks up and smashes #16’s head, and the android is gone forever. Now here’s where I got confused. A symbolic dove is superimposed over Gohan’s face as the camera shows him from different angles, and we can hear Gohan’s apparent thoughts. Then he explodes in a fit of anger, the narrator sets everything up, and the episode ends. I thought it was a simple "the tables turn" scene!

Then, a couple months later, after I had almost entirely forgotten about this, I saw the clip in Japanese. Here’s how much better it was:

Everything before the transformation is left unscored, and you just hear the wind howling. #16’s head rolls in (ha ha) and from what I could gather, pleads with Gohan to protect the animals and nature which he loves. Then Cell destroys the head, and what happened next just took my breath away. Music slowly faded in… and there were lyrics too. Gohan screams as the transformation makes way, and the Z-Fighters, as well as Cell, are shocked. The narrator says NO MORE than a few words to close out, then the music fades away and is replaced by nothing but the sound of Gohan’s shimmering ki, and the episode ends with an effect that sends a chill down your spine.

I was left with widened eyes and my mouth hanging open. Memories came into my mind of how differently the dub played out. And here’s the comparison, based on what I can remember in the dub…

Where there’s supposed to be no music at all, I’m certain there was that stupid synthesized music droning on and on. Even #16’s voice is better in Japanese! In English they make him sound too much like a robot. In the original he is given a much more normal, human-sounding voice. Also, when Cell stomps on his head, there was blood that I don’t remember being in the English version. When I saw the dove in the dub, I had no idea what was going on, because I had just started watching DBZ, and I didn’t know what 16 was all about (a lover of nature). But if only Funimation had kept his dialogue true to the original, I WOULDN’T HAVE HAD TO KNOW WHAT THE DEAL WAS WITH HIM!! It would have explained the bird for me, and for everyone else who’s only seen the dub! Then, not only that, but they made the mistake of letting us hear Gohan’s thoughts, and making him say too much when he screams. Let me explain. In the original, when the dove is there, all we can hear is that AWESOME song I mentioned earlier. Then, when Gohan screams, he doesn’t say a whole sentence like he does in the dub, he just cries, "IYAAAA--!!" ("NOOOOO--!!") That makes me sick how Funimation figured we stupid Americans didn’t know what Gohan was feeling, and how they thought they had to spell it out for us.

Now – let’s review the subject that all you fans of this scene have been waiting for… the music used. The Japanese one uses a song that conveys Gohan’s emotions PERFECTLY. After watching this clip, I went on a desperate search to find out more about this song. It happens to be called "Unmei no Hi – Tamashii Tai Tamashii" ("Day of Destiny – Spirit vs. Spirit"), and it’s performed by Hironobu Kageyama. The dub, on the other hand, uses that AWFUL synthesizer music AGAIN! Oh, if only I could explain exactly how much Funimation utterly MAULED this scene, beat it to a pulp, and tossed it out into freeway traffic!

OK, now that I’ve rambled on for hours like I always do, you’re probably wondering how this ties in with Pokemon. Well, 4Kids makes similar mistakes, although they usually do a better job at keeping the true feel of the emotional scenes intact. I’ll give you an example (don’t worry, this one’s not nearly as long as the last). Here’s what happens when Satoshi lets his Butterfree go, in Japanese:

Satoshi, Takeshi, and Kasumi are standing on a cliff, silently staring at Butterfree and its new mate. There’s a gorgeous sunset in the background, and the only audible sound is that of the sea waves crashing against the cliff. Then, when Satoshi steps forward to bid his Butterfree farewell, music slowly sets in (this is my favorite sadness-conveying piece in all of Pocket Monsters, "Namida, Nochi Hare". Thanks heavens it’s on CD!). It starts out very slow and soft, and when the two Butterfree fly off into the sunset, the music gets louder and sadder, even suspenseful. Satoshi, with his head hung low and his cap brim hiding his teary eyes, is flooded with memories of when he first caught Caterpii and it evolved into Trancell, as the music rips at your heartstrings. Then, when it comes to the memory of Trancell becoming Butterfree, the music fades away and is replaced by the theme song, "Mezase Pokemon Master", which plays until the episode is over. After a few memories of the battles Butterfree has been in, it switches back to the present, where a tear falls from Satoshi’s eye as he whispers, in a raspy, choked-up voice, "Batafurii…" Then, all three run to the edge of the cliff and wave goodbye to Butterfree. Finally, the narrator closes it out. Now, here’s the same scene, in English:

The dub music at the beginning is continued from the previous scene, and is of the "sad but not sad enough" variety (Gyuck, what’s wrong with leaving a scene unscored?! The only other afternoon cartoon on Kids’ WB weekdays is Batman Beyond, and that show is CHOCK FULL of very silent, music-barren scenes). Then, they even have the nerve to continue their music further, replacing the slow, soft beginning of Namida, Nochi Hare… but fortunately, this doesn’t last, and by the time the flashback begins, the original music is there. But then they add salt to the wound by throwing in needless sound effects when the PokeBall captures Caterpie, etc. Also, Mezase Pokemon Master is (expectedly) replaced by the North American Pokemon Theme. And when Ash says "Butterfree", he says it at almost full voice, instead of the weak, helpless, suppressed voice it’s supposed to be said in.

And that’s all that really bothers me about the dub of this scene. Even though 4Kids covered up the suspenseful silence at the beginning, most of the original emotion was conveyed well… except I wish the American VAs would put more feel into it. In the movie, MewTwo’s voice is just so monotonously flat when compared to the Japanese actor. This is blaringly obvious when Mew first shows itself to MewTwo. In English: "I-am-superior-to-Mew." 

In Japanese: "Honmono wa… KONO WATASHI DA!!!" ("The real one… IS ME!!!") It’s almost as if MewTwo is physically grasping his words here, and he even puts a very thick Japanese accent into it.

Need I say any more? I think I’ve made my point, that original anime is generally better than dubbed versions. But PHEW, do I ramble on or what? At least I got something off my chest that I’ve been wanting to for quite some time.

-Kenisu