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Is Dragon Ball Better in Japanese or English?
By ImJustThatKinky • 2 years ago
•  4330  •   1 41


As I've gotten older, I’ve switched to Japanese dubs over English dubs. That is for two reasons. One, sometimes the English dub isn’t all that good in my opinion and the Japanese sounds better (most likely because I don't understand Japanese). And second, the Japanese dubs with subtitles are usually out before the English dub. So as someone who doesn't want to wait for too long, Japanese dubs just seem like the way to go. But one thing I will never listen to in Japanese, is Dragon Ball. I feel like the English cast is perfect, and I grew up with it. And I thought that all American Dragon Ball fans were all the same. But when I started playing Dragon Ball FighterZ, I learned that some people actually prefer the Japanese dub over the English one.


I thought that when the debate of English dub vs Japanese dub came up for this series, I figured the argument was obvious. But how wrong I was. It’s actually a good amount for people who enjoy the Japanese dub of Dragon Ball. Even one of my friends, that damn weeb trash traitor. No matter how much I hear the Japanese dub, I can never get over most of the male characters' voices. Definitely grandma Goku, the voice is just too high pitched for my liking, and throws everything off. Maybe if I heard it first, I would think differently, but English dub Dragon Ball is the only true experience for me.


Yeah, I'm talking about you.


Now I’m just wondering how many other people agree with me and prefer the Dragon Ball  English dub? How many people would rather listen to grandma Goku? I would think if you grew up watching Dragon Ball Z, it would be English, but as we grow, our taste changes, so you might’ve jumped to the Japanese once you learned of its existence. Or you might be one of those memers who thinks the Dragon Ball Z Abridged dub is the best Dragon Ball dub.



Do you prefer dubs, or subs? Do you like Dragon Ball English or Japanese? What do you think of grandma Goku’s voice? Tell us in the comments.



Oddest Ball 2 years ago
I really just can't stand Masako Nozawa as Goku and his family, as experienced as she is. Cell and Freeza in Japanese are supposed to be amazing, but frankly, Handsome Cell and Chris Ayres and his understudy whose name I can't remember just keep me solidly in the dub camp. And of course, us dub people get Hercule Torgue.
Anon - Hentaizo 2 years ago
In Spanish, english dub sucks
WM-R 2 years ago
I live near Japan, so we either got the kind-of-cheap-local-English-dub or the Japanese, so it'll always be Jpn for me. Plus, I understand Japanese so I can tell that Goku, Gohan and Goten all have distinct talking styles (e.g. Gohan ALWAYS uses polite Japanese while Goku uses a kind of odd rural variant) that naturally gets lost when you translate into English.

Plus, I prefer the JPN soundtrack.
MrObvious 2 years ago
Meh, as crazy as it sounds I'd go for both. As kids growing up along the US-Mexico border we'd even get transmissions of the Spanish dub flicking our TV antenna at a certain angle. Got to admit the English version sure has given us some memorable memes.
God Revan 2 years ago
ENG. You can NEVER make me take Goku seriously if I hear him in the JPN Voices. Him or his family. I just can't stand the voices when it just doesn't match the bodies and identities they have. None whatsoever.
Anon - Chris Palmans 2 years ago
Japanese version is the best. English version sucks. Even French version is better than the English one.
Anon - doopypoopy 2 years ago
I grew up with the dub. The men in dragonball sound like fucking squirrels.
Anon - Rush 2 years ago
I’m ok with both. But lately I’ve been leaning towards the Japanese voices. The English dubbing you can hear some difference from how they used to sound years ago. It throws off the consistency. Plus the English dubbing with the new voices for certain characters really don’t match the past I was used to. And finally English dub Rosé Goku Black sounds terrible! Japanese won that one hands down!
Anon - Rath_Lonewolf 2 years ago
I prefer the English version of dbz
Hectotane 2 years ago
I actually like DBallZ dubbed. Goku actually sounds like he has some male genitals. And Cell IS A RIOT; I'm surprised that he didn't become a regular cast like Vegeta and Piccolo.