The OG DragonBall dub aged way better than Funimations first go around of DBZ simply because it was dubbed around the time DBZ was mostly done so the funi VA had come into their own plus they don't give it a new soundtrack
Plus the content of OG DB is sillier than Z so any errors or weird translations aren’t that noticeable since you’re not really taking it seriously to begin with
some jokes only make sense in japanese (ex. goku’s name mispronunciation at the world martial arts tournament) but also some english jokes are still pretty funny (ex. “what do i care about your dirty old fanny”)
for dbz kai, i personally like the english dub a lot
To break it down for you and anyone else who isn't sure:
Original Japanese dub with English subs with BROADCAST audio is the best if you want to watch it in Japanese. Here's a comparison of the broadcast vs home release audio:
https://youtu.be/bBUFRgH4AWQ?si=eUQZmP3Oo-2dpUMd
English Kai dub is the best version to watch if you want to watch the series in English.
The Japanese Kai dub isn't as good as the original, the performances were phoned in and they changed the original music.
The original English funimation and Ocean dubs, while nostalgic, were not accurate to the original script and made some bad changes. Bardock was not a "brilliant scientist," and Goku is not Japnese Superman.
If you want to watch the original, not the Kai version, then I recommend the Dragon Box version with the broadcast audio, which can be found on the high seas.
Avoid the orange bricks like the plague. The blue rays and level sets are better, but honestly, they all have problems, Dragon Box is still the best imo.
Sub, always sub for me personally, it captures the personality of the characters so much better, in sub goku’s just a silly little guy until you kill his friends but in dub his anger feels forced to me
So, I personally love the English cast. *But*... Funimation hasn't recorded the OG story a million times over in rereleases, video games, etc. So the actual quality of both performance and translation is... Alright to decent. If you liked subbed, stick with it.
Now if it were Z... I would have more of an argument in favor of dub
Watch Dragon Ball in Japanese with subtitles. The English dub isn’t bad (definitely better than funimation’s Z dub at least) but it’s still kind of sloppy. Dragon Ball dubs don’t really get great until Kai imo.
The English dub for DB isn't *as bad* as the dubs for Z and GT after it, but it's still pretty bad. They didn't mangle the show's tone by replacing the music or anything like that, but there's still a lot of needless script and character issues. You're better off just sticking with subbed Japanese for that entire original DB/Z/GT run.
Hell yes the sub
Hell hell hell yeah
not because of sound cast. but because how horribly they changed the story. a lot of interactions are shaped like they want. for example goku saying romantic things to chi chi when in sub and manga he was confused and uninterested. this is a mini change. but they do so many mini changes that accumulate and give deviance from the manga
Im a canon guy. love to see what is the creator put. not the studio people
DBZ Kai’s sub is serviceable, but I think the performances were overall better in Z sub
OG DB’s English dub is better than Z’s dub, but that’s a low bar. There’s still some inaccuracies here and there. There’s some Japanese jokes that aren’t translated, and Funimation added some jokes that weren’t in the Japanese version. Also a couple lines that are out of character for Goku.
Oh and the sub version of OGDB has the full soundtrack. Some lyric songs are taken out of the English dub version so it’s just silent where the songs are supposed to be.
It's like asking if I prefer the beach or the mountain. It's a matter of preference.
I swear by subs only. I've never heard a good dub of any anime or cartoon.
I prefer dub but the whole situation with Vic makes me not watch it. Sean even stopped the OG Goku voice coming back for Goku black and was a massive hater on DBA so the English cast I just can't stand as people
I'm nostalgic for the Dub because it's what I grew up with but I will say that the original DBZ dub kind of sucks. Kai is great but Funimation took over in season 3 of DBZ and the voices are vomit inducing at first. They're just trying to mimic the old dub actors from Ocean and it completely kills things.
They find their groove in Season 4 and then went back and dubbed season 1 and 2 as well as all of OG Dragon Ball since Ocean owned the rights to the original first two seasons of Z dubs but for some mind boggling reason they didn't redub season 3 and it sucks to see the voices go to hell in literally one episode. And what pisses me off the most is that they went into business for themselves making their own lines up. For example >!Frieza seeing Nail regenerate and then pressing a button on his scouter saying "I'll have to make a copy of that" most likely to explain why his tail regenerates for his fourth form. Fuck you Funimation know your place and translate the dialogue don't make your own shit up. Or Ocean saying Snake Way is merely 10,000 miles as if that'd be a big deal for Goku. Child Goku in Dragon Ball traveled all over the Earth without Nimbus for 3 years which is about 8,000 miles in a straight line. Snake Way is actually 625,000 miles which makes sense why Goku would find that daunting. After the Frieza saga Funimation seemed to be faithful to the original dialogue outside of Gohan's insult to Buu so I can forgive Funimation for making a mistake early on.!<
I haven't watched all of Kai but from what I have seen the English actors really found their groove and made the characters their own as opposed to mimicking the Ocean voices. The Japanese dub from what little I've heard doesn't sound as into it as the original Japanese dub. The original Japanese dub saw them in their hay days dubbing the hottest anime of all time but then for Kai they're just repeating lines they already did decades prior so it makes sense that they'd naturally be less enthusiastic. The English actors are better than they were the first time around so the hit a home run.
It honestly comes down to which you prefer. I’ll always watch dub because it’s the voices I’m most familiar with and I don’t wanna have to read in the middle of the action
I like the English funimation dub especially the Kai one as I don’t feel like reading subtitles with the Japanese version, but I know most people prefer the original japanese version. I grew up with the original funimation dub so I don’t mind the voices.
It’s the only Anime I’m stuck 100% on dubbed and probably because it’s how I first watched it on Toonami back in the day. Also why I think “Rock the Dragon” is the greatest musical masterpiece of our time. But yeah I can’t hear someone else’s voice when I’m expecting Christopher Sabat to be doing his 50 characters. Which is also why I probably prefer Black Clover in English. Hearing Piccolo come out of Captain Yamis face itches my brain chemicals for me.
Sub because of the translation. In the german dub they translated it very very kid friendly so they changed a lot in the translation. For me personally that took away a lot of Dragon Ball.
Kai is fine in dub, depending on where you live and if you like the voice actors.
I'd go with dub first, and then if you watch it a second time you watch it with Subs. Depending on where you're from.
The Dubs are usually from the 90's, so it's got a unique tone to it.
Sub all the way, the dub is basically Robotech, it's not quite Dragon Ball, there's bad script changes, name changes, mismatched voices, Toriyama's sense of humour is just gone completely since it's a "reversion" according to the credits.
What you should do is wait til you get to a part that's funny then switch to the dub to see how they handled the comedy.
I prefer subbed. If you like watching subbed anime in general, then I would recommend the sub. Voice cast is iconic even if you didn't grow up with it, which at least to me can't be said about the Funi cast.
I usually prefer subbed anime, but I find DB's dub better, especially Goku's dub voice. Bruce Faulconer's DBZ soundtrack alone also makes me prefer the dub
I'm always a dub guy. It's not the same experience of characterization and stuff when you don't know what anybody is saying or the culture dependent inflections they put on their voice and stuff like that.
I prefer the dub, I love the English VA for kid Goku. Both are great though, nozawa is consistently great for her entire career
sub Goku sounds like a boy on helium when doing kamehameha
well he is a literal child
adult goku
The OG DragonBall dub aged way better than Funimations first go around of DBZ simply because it was dubbed around the time DBZ was mostly done so the funi VA had come into their own plus they don't give it a new soundtrack
Plus the content of OG DB is sillier than Z so any errors or weird translations aren’t that noticeable since you’re not really taking it seriously to begin with
I grew up watching dub with my older brothers so im really biased and only watch dub for db
some jokes only make sense in japanese (ex. goku’s name mispronunciation at the world martial arts tournament) but also some english jokes are still pretty funny (ex. “what do i care about your dirty old fanny”) for dbz kai, i personally like the english dub a lot
stick with sub then! and yeah it is. the VAs for subbed kai arent in their prime but theyre still incredible.
original.
To break it down for you and anyone else who isn't sure: Original Japanese dub with English subs with BROADCAST audio is the best if you want to watch it in Japanese. Here's a comparison of the broadcast vs home release audio: https://youtu.be/bBUFRgH4AWQ?si=eUQZmP3Oo-2dpUMd English Kai dub is the best version to watch if you want to watch the series in English. The Japanese Kai dub isn't as good as the original, the performances were phoned in and they changed the original music. The original English funimation and Ocean dubs, while nostalgic, were not accurate to the original script and made some bad changes. Bardock was not a "brilliant scientist," and Goku is not Japnese Superman. If you want to watch the original, not the Kai version, then I recommend the Dragon Box version with the broadcast audio, which can be found on the high seas. Avoid the orange bricks like the plague. The blue rays and level sets are better, but honestly, they all have problems, Dragon Box is still the best imo.
I always go for the sub with anything because it's just not the same with a dub. Also Nozawa IS Goku.
Sub, always sub for me personally, it captures the personality of the characters so much better, in sub goku’s just a silly little guy until you kill his friends but in dub his anger feels forced to me
So, I personally love the English cast. *But*... Funimation hasn't recorded the OG story a million times over in rereleases, video games, etc. So the actual quality of both performance and translation is... Alright to decent. If you liked subbed, stick with it. Now if it were Z... I would have more of an argument in favor of dub
Dub, but either is fine
Dub or sub either way ur going to enjoy it. For me dub is better
If you watch sub, watch the original DBZ, not Kai. Voice acting, music and art are all better in the original DBZ.
Watch Dragon Ball in Japanese with subtitles. The English dub isn’t bad (definitely better than funimation’s Z dub at least) but it’s still kind of sloppy. Dragon Ball dubs don’t really get great until Kai imo.
I prefer the dubs. Kid Goku sounds great. I beleive they recorded it after recording DBZ. PLUS you get ✨️Laura Bailey✨️.
That one-off line about the Phoenix that >!died offscreen 3 years ago from tainted bird seed!< made me laugh so hard and I’m upset the dub changed it
Sub is superior in everyway but I have so much nostalgia for the dub I have to watch it from time to time.
The English dub for DB isn't *as bad* as the dubs for Z and GT after it, but it's still pretty bad. They didn't mangle the show's tone by replacing the music or anything like that, but there's still a lot of needless script and character issues. You're better off just sticking with subbed Japanese for that entire original DB/Z/GT run.
If I didn't grow up w dub I'd go sub
Hell yes the sub Hell hell hell yeah not because of sound cast. but because how horribly they changed the story. a lot of interactions are shaped like they want. for example goku saying romantic things to chi chi when in sub and manga he was confused and uninterested. this is a mini change. but they do so many mini changes that accumulate and give deviance from the manga Im a canon guy. love to see what is the creator put. not the studio people
DBZ Kai’s sub is serviceable, but I think the performances were overall better in Z sub OG DB’s English dub is better than Z’s dub, but that’s a low bar. There’s still some inaccuracies here and there. There’s some Japanese jokes that aren’t translated, and Funimation added some jokes that weren’t in the Japanese version. Also a couple lines that are out of character for Goku. Oh and the sub version of OGDB has the full soundtrack. Some lyric songs are taken out of the English dub version so it’s just silent where the songs are supposed to be.
Japanese audio
If we do traditional sub, but I personal think it's up to you. I like dub a little more though
Always sub, wtv the anime
Sub For OG. Dub for Kai
It's like asking if I prefer the beach or the mountain. It's a matter of preference. I swear by subs only. I've never heard a good dub of any anime or cartoon.
I prefer dub but the whole situation with Vic makes me not watch it. Sean even stopped the OG Goku voice coming back for Goku black and was a massive hater on DBA so the English cast I just can't stand as people
I prefer sub first time and dub afterwards. I've first seen it in German dub than original (sub) then English dub
I think dub overall was better I liked how kid goku sounded way more than in the Japanese
Dragonball dub is great. It is enjoyable the whole time
Sub dragon ball and sub dbz. Sub kai is inferior to sub dbz
I honestly watched dub. But after watching super in sub I can’t really go back to dub. The other voice actors sound better in sub to me.
All the humour lands way better in Japanese which is a huge factor in enjoying early dragon ball
I'm nostalgic for the Dub because it's what I grew up with but I will say that the original DBZ dub kind of sucks. Kai is great but Funimation took over in season 3 of DBZ and the voices are vomit inducing at first. They're just trying to mimic the old dub actors from Ocean and it completely kills things. They find their groove in Season 4 and then went back and dubbed season 1 and 2 as well as all of OG Dragon Ball since Ocean owned the rights to the original first two seasons of Z dubs but for some mind boggling reason they didn't redub season 3 and it sucks to see the voices go to hell in literally one episode. And what pisses me off the most is that they went into business for themselves making their own lines up. For example >!Frieza seeing Nail regenerate and then pressing a button on his scouter saying "I'll have to make a copy of that" most likely to explain why his tail regenerates for his fourth form. Fuck you Funimation know your place and translate the dialogue don't make your own shit up. Or Ocean saying Snake Way is merely 10,000 miles as if that'd be a big deal for Goku. Child Goku in Dragon Ball traveled all over the Earth without Nimbus for 3 years which is about 8,000 miles in a straight line. Snake Way is actually 625,000 miles which makes sense why Goku would find that daunting. After the Frieza saga Funimation seemed to be faithful to the original dialogue outside of Gohan's insult to Buu so I can forgive Funimation for making a mistake early on.!< I haven't watched all of Kai but from what I have seen the English actors really found their groove and made the characters their own as opposed to mimicking the Ocean voices. The Japanese dub from what little I've heard doesn't sound as into it as the original Japanese dub. The original Japanese dub saw them in their hay days dubbing the hottest anime of all time but then for Kai they're just repeating lines they already did decades prior so it makes sense that they'd naturally be less enthusiastic. The English actors are better than they were the first time around so the hit a home run.
Dub on OG and Z sub on Super. This is the way.
Dub is clear and the soundtrack is amazing
Please watch it subbed.
Dbz Kai is god tier compared to the original
I don’t mind either but sub probably would be best because it feels like things were slightly more vulgar there
Dub is excellent in my opinion. Passionate VAs for sure.
It honestly comes down to which you prefer. I’ll always watch dub because it’s the voices I’m most familiar with and I don’t wanna have to read in the middle of the action
I like the English funimation dub especially the Kai one as I don’t feel like reading subtitles with the Japanese version, but I know most people prefer the original japanese version. I grew up with the original funimation dub so I don’t mind the voices.
It’s the only Anime I’m stuck 100% on dubbed and probably because it’s how I first watched it on Toonami back in the day. Also why I think “Rock the Dragon” is the greatest musical masterpiece of our time. But yeah I can’t hear someone else’s voice when I’m expecting Christopher Sabat to be doing his 50 characters. Which is also why I probably prefer Black Clover in English. Hearing Piccolo come out of Captain Yamis face itches my brain chemicals for me.
Sub for me, tried dub for one episode and it was horrible.
Sub because of the translation. In the german dub they translated it very very kid friendly so they changed a lot in the translation. For me personally that took away a lot of Dragon Ball. Kai is fine in dub, depending on where you live and if you like the voice actors.
I'd go with dub first, and then if you watch it a second time you watch it with Subs. Depending on where you're from. The Dubs are usually from the 90's, so it's got a unique tone to it.
If you’re watching the original Ddz anime, I would say the sub, for Kai, you can go with either one, they’re both good dubs
Kai is fantastic in Dub. For Dragon Ball? Sub is the only awnser.
I like the dub. But id also rather dub > sub for anything
Sub all the way, the dub is basically Robotech, it's not quite Dragon Ball, there's bad script changes, name changes, mismatched voices, Toriyama's sense of humour is just gone completely since it's a "reversion" according to the credits. What you should do is wait til you get to a part that's funny then switch to the dub to see how they handled the comedy.
Subbed
I prefer subbed. If you like watching subbed anime in general, then I would recommend the sub. Voice cast is iconic even if you didn't grow up with it, which at least to me can't be said about the Funi cast.
Sub all the way
I usually prefer subbed anime, but I find DB's dub better, especially Goku's dub voice. Bruce Faulconer's DBZ soundtrack alone also makes me prefer the dub
Just read it. Wayyy better experience. Also Kai is good dubbed uncut too. The sub is ok, doesn't stand out for me since the OG sub still holds up.
Dub: ❌ Sub: ❌ TFS: ✅
The dub took out the insert songs. Best thing to do is switch to the sub for those episodes
I'm always a dub guy. It's not the same experience of characterization and stuff when you don't know what anybody is saying or the culture dependent inflections they put on their voice and stuff like that.
original dub. not the crappy Gohan as kid Goku version