Dragon Ball Z Kai Cast Announced (and Analysis)
(From Funimation's blog, a few days ago:)
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Reprising their roles from Dragon Ball Z:
Goku – Sean Schemmel
Vegeta and Piccolo – Christopher R. Sabat
Raditz – Justin Cook
Master Roshi – Mike McFarland
Tien – John Burgmeier
Ox King – Kyle Hebert
Chi-Chi – Cynthia Cranz
Nappa – Phil Parsons
Also returning are Linda Chambers Young as Frieza and Sonny Strait as Krillin and Bardock.
Joining the cast:
Gohan – Colleen Clinkenbeard
Bulma – Monica Rial
Narrator – Doc Morgan
Chiaotzu and Puar – Brina Palencia
FUNimation Entertainment will begin releasing the series on DVD and Blu-ray starting with Part One on May 18, 2010.
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From Sean Schemmel's Facebook:
Here's what you guys don't know, but need to. Chris Sabat has gone far beyond the call of duty behind the scenes to make this version happen in an amazing way that it did not before. He has donated much of his personal time and energy into this, and has been extraordinarily picky with the direction, as well as double checking japanese meaning against the adaptation for accuracy as well as entertainment value. If it were not for him personally, I would probably not be able to be a part of it. On a technical note, sound quality will be unmatched to the previous due to the amazing and highest quality gear available at Okratron as well as Rawly Pickens golden ears checking every single line for audio quality. It's the way it should have been done to begin with, but that's 20/20 hindsight. I am thrilled about the new cast, and no offense to my awesome castmates, but my new favorite voice for DBZ Kai is the Narrator. You're going to love it. Also, I am still awesome.
Chris Sabat's reply:
Hey Sean! Glad you popped in and thanks for the vote of confidence.
This version of DBZ means a lot to me. It's extremely rare that you get a chance to do something you did 10 YEARS ago all over again. And I'm not wasting the chance. We're fixing things that were wrong with the first version and trying to make it better, which is why you'll see some changes. But we don't want to make Kai so radically different that doesn't feel like DBZ anymore, so they may be some things that we don't change that you wish we would. But I honestly believe you're going to find DBZ Kai to be a totally mature version of a show, a version that grew up over the last 10 years and has come home stronger, well trained and a hell of a lot cooler.
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My comments:
Yeah, I really don't need to say much here.
After a decade of failure, Funimation has decided to do the bold thing and... replace a couple of voices. Ooooh. How brave of them.
Well, not that I was that thrilled about DB(Z) Kai coming out on Blu-Ray, with it's censorship, Yamamoto score, and lack of Gohan's encounter with the grumpy robot, but a good dub would have made all the difference.
Everytime I read more about this supposedly "more accurate" dub, it gets worse and worse. Why should I be confident in Chris Sabat, who has shown how incompetent he is time and again?
I would love to be wrong. If I'm wrong, if this dub impresses me, I'll even post an article about how wrong I am, and how great (or, at least adequate) the DB Kai dub is. But I have my doubts, to say the least.
Oh, and here's the teaser trailer: