Dragon Ball cast — Image Source: The Movie Database

The Dragon Ball franchise is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Almost everywhere it was introduced, it has become quite a success. However, it took a little bit for it to take hold in the English-speaking world. Let's take a look at the various English dubs of the anime in the Dragon Ball franchise.

Dragon Ball Pre-Funimation

Though Funimation (now Crunchyroll) is often associated with the franchise, they were not the first company to localize the anime into English. The earliest known English dub of anything Dragon Ball released was a dub of Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies produced by Frontier Enterprises in 1987. Not much is known about this dub. Frontier Enterprises was a Tokyo-based studio that primarily focused on dubbing Japanese film and media into English. Richard Nieskens is the only actor confirmed to be linked to the production. It is theorized that it was shown as an in-flight movie on Japanese flights.

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The History Of The 'Dragon Ball' Manga

Dragon Ball's next dub has a bit more information on it. In 1989, Harmony Gold, known for Robotech, produced a dub of the first five episodes of Dragon Ball and the first and third Dragon Ball films (though they edited them into one film. This dub is notable for its various name changes. Son Gokū became Zero, Bulma became Leena, Kame Sen'nin became Master Roshi, Yamcha became Zedaki, Puar became Squeaker, Oolong became Mao Mao, Kuririn was changed to Bongo, and Karin was changed to Whiskers the Wondercat. Its cast features several voice-over legends, including Barbra Goodson (known for Rita Repulsa in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) as Zero/Gokū, Wendee Lee (known for Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop) as Leena/Bulma, Kerrigan Mahan (known for Goldar in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers) as Zedaki/Yamcha, and Cheryl Chase (known for Angelica in Rugrats) as Squeaker/Puar, among others. The dub also had slightly less censorship than the first Funimation dub, with even some of Roshi and Mao Mao (Oolong)’s perverted antics kept in. It also kept the original Japanese score by Shunsuke Kikuchi. Ultimately, however, it failed to catch on and was canceled.

Dragon Ball art — Image Source: Rayas Web

After the failed attempt by Harmony Gold and somewhat concurrently with Funimation, a company known as Creative Products Corporation produced English dubs of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z for the Filipino market, beginning with Dragon Ball Z in 1993. This dub appears to have an incredibly low budget, with actors often taking on numerous roles. There are only six actors attached to this dub. Nesty Calvo Ramirez voiced Gokū, Kame Sen'nin, Oolong, Greger, Princess Snake Servant B, Bubbles, and the Saibaimen. Ethel Lizano voiced Gohan, Kuririn, Turtle Lunch (Bad), Princess Snake, Gregory, Princess Snake Servant C, Fortuneteller Baba, and the Space Pod, and was the narrator. Apollo Sheikh Abraham voiced Gyumaō and Mr. Popo. Michelle Elizabeth Frankenberger voiced Chi-Chi, Bulma, Chaozu, Puar, Lunch (Good), Leila, and Princess Snake Servant A. Raymond Martin Buyco voiced Vegeta, Nappa, Piccolo, Raditz, Yamcha, Karin, Yajirobe, Kami, Arlian Riders, Arlian Prison Guard, King Moai, Street Sweeper, Cop, Scarface, Shorty, and King Enma. Richard Jonson voiced Tenshinhan.

This dub covered the first 26 episodes and aired on RPN 9 in 1993. It was much closer to the Japanese script than future English dubs but did feature clunky writing. The dub also featured the original score, title cards, and next episode previews. Only 11 episodes of this dub have been found. The same company later went on to dub Dragon Ball in April of 1995 using much of the same cast, but this only lasted until episode 122. In 1996, they resumed their dub of Dragon Ball Z from where they left off and continued until episode 49, when it was replaced by the Taglish dub.

Dragon Ball poster — Image Source: Cartoon Dubbing Wiki

Enter Funimation

Funimation was founded in 1994 by Gen Fukunaga, and they soon acquired the rights to Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z. Naturally, they began with Dragon Ball. At this time, however, they did not have the finances to produce this unassisted. For their English dub of Dragon Ball, they collaborated with BLT Productions, and the voice recording was done at Dick&Roger’s Sound Studio in Vancouver, Canada. The cast featured Saffron Henderson as Son Gokū, Lalainia Lindbjerg as Bulma, Alec Willows as Oolong, Michael Donovan as Master Roshi, Ted Cole as Yamcha, Kathy Morse as Puar, Andrea Libman as Chi-Chi, and Dave Ward as Ox-King. Initially, they were going to use the Harmony Gold names, but they decided against it, only keeping Master Roshi from the Harmony Gold dub names. The score, however, was changed from Kikuchi’s original orchestral score to a replacement score by Peter Berring. Though it was heavily censored, it was surprisingly faithful to the original Japanese version. A dub of Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies was also released, though it was heavily edited and featured recycled scenes from the show not present in the original film. Maggie Blue O’Hara replaces Lindjerg as Bulma in this film. The dub only lasted 13 episodes, failing to gain an audience in syndication mainly due to Seagull Entertainment, the dub’s distributor, failing to find the show a good timeslot. However, this did not deter Funimation, as they simply decided to turn their attention to the more action-focused Dragon Ball Z.

For Dragon Ball Z, Funimation teamed up with kids' TV titan Saban Entertainment for distribution and Ocean Group for the dub. This dub featured Ian James Corlett as Son Gokū and Master Roshi, Saffron Henderson as Son Gohan, Laara Sadiq as Chi-Chi, Lalainia Lindbjerg returning as Bulma, Terry Klassen as Kuririn/Krillin, Ted Cole returning as Yamcha, Cathy Weseluck as Puar and Chaozu/Chiaotzu, Scott McNeil as Piccolo, Matt Smith (not that one Whovians) as Tenshinhan/Tien, Brian Drummond as Vegeta and Yajirobe, and Paul Dobson as Nappa. Due to the huge amount of violence in the show, in addition to Saban’s standards, Dragon Ball Z was heavily edited. Most notably, death was written around by sending characters to “the next dimension.” Other edits included editing of blood, censoring nudity, changing direct impacts to flashes, changing hell to HFIL (Home of Infinite Losers), and oddly enough, removing Gohan's tears. In addition, the script took several liberties with the source material, such as Vegeta saying “Over 9,000” instead of “Over 8,000,” Vegeta calling Gokū's father a “brilliant scientist” who developed the artificial moon technique. Just like their earlier Dragon Ball dub, a replacement score was produced, this time by Ron Wasserman (though it is credited to Shuki Levy). The dub was fairly successful in first-run syndication and was able to get a second season. However, all was not well with this dub. Ian James Corlett was replaced by Peter Kelamis as Son Gokū and Master Roshi in the middle of the second season, citing issues over payment. However, production abruptly stopped at episode 53, with Saban parting ways with Funimation due to them leaving the syndication market to focus on original programming for their Fox Kids block.

Around the same time that the edited for television dub of the series was being released. Funimation also teamed up with Pioneer Entertainment to produce home video-only dubs of the first three Dragon Ball Z films: Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone (Return my Gohan! in Japan), Dragon Ball Z: The World’s Strongest (or The World’s Strongest Guy), and Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might (or A Super Battle for the whole Earth!). These dubs used the same Ocean Group cast as the series circa the end of season two, but rather than use a replacement score, these releases featured the original score by Shunsuke Kikuchi. In addition, the movies were presented uncut and had a much more accurate script than the dub for the series. Peter Kelamis’s performance was also praised in this dub for being close to the original actress, Masako Nozawa, particularly in the screams and when shouting out the Kaio-Ken attack. Speaking of Kaio-Ken, this was the first time that it was pronounced correctly rather than “Kay-o ken” like in their dub of the series. For The Tree of Might, this was actually the second time it had been dubbed, as it had previously been dubbed as a three-part episode between edited episodes 45 and 46 and featured Ian James Corlett as Son Gokū. There were rumors that Pioneer would team up with Funimation to create an uncut bilingual release of the series, but nothing ever came of this. Instead, the next direction this dub would go in wouldn’t exactly be straightforward.

Toonami Reruns Encourage An In-House Continuation Of The Dub

Though the last episode of the Saban/Ocean dub, “Goku….Super Saiyan?” aired on May 23rd, 1998, Dragon Ball Z would not be away from American airwaves for long. On August 31st, 1998, the series would premiere on Cartoon Network’s weekday afternoon action cartoon block, Toonami. It quickly became popular, and even early on, the benefits of airing on a cable network as opposed to network television were taken advantage of, with the episode “Escape from Piccolo” airing for the first time in America. The episode was initially skipped in syndication due to its depiction of child orphans. As these episodes were now airing every weekday rather than once a week, they quickly went through these episodes, leading to plenty of reruns (Moltar, then host of Toonami, even had to give a speech regarding reruns back in the day). However, there was clearly a demand for new English-dubbed Dragon Ball Z episodes. There was a slight problem, as without Saban’s financial backing, they could no longer afford the services of the Union Ocean cast (plus, director Barry Watson was most likely getting tired of the constant flights to Canada).

The decision was made to bring the dub in-house and use local Texas-based talent. The auditions were rough, with them practically getting anyone off of the street due to the open call. However, Funimation finally decided on a cast to continue their dub, and it included Sean Schemmel as Son Gokū, King Kai, and Nail, Stephanie Nadonly as Son Gohan, Sonny Strait as Krillin, Tiffany Volmer as Bulma, Linda Young as Frieza, Cynthia Cranz as Chi-Chi, Mike McFarland as Master Roshi, Dale Kelly as Captain Ginyu and the Narrator, Mark Britten as Burter, Ox-King, Chris Cason as Mr. Popo (until episode 100 in which he was replaced by Chris Sabat), and Chris Sabat as Vegeta, Piccolo, Kami (save for episodes 76 and 77), Korin, Yamcha, Recoome, Jeice, and pretty much everyone else. While the focus seemed to be on Dragon Ball Z, the first release to feature the in-house cast was Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle. This dub features most of the cast that would be in the in-house Z dub; some would be replaced in the dub of the series proper. These include Ceyli Delgadillo as Kid Gokū (who was replaced by Stephanie Nadonly in the dub of Dragon Ball), Leslie Alexander as Bulma (later replaced by Tiffany Volmer), and Christine Marten and Monika Antonellia as good and bad Launch, respectively. While many praised their dub of Dragon Ball Z for being slightly less edited due to it being broadcast on cable (not to mention an uncut version being available on home video), the voices had a mixed reception. Not only were these new actors instructed to closely imitate their Canadian predecessors, but for many, this was one of if not their first acting jobs, so they were quite green. The show continued to do well, however, and by the time they reached the Majin Buu arc, the cast was slowly coming into their own. Like their previous dub with Ocean and Saban, they used a replacement score, this time composed by Bruce Falconer and his team. Also, like that initial dub, the script was all over the place and was a continuous source of contention for hardcore fans at the time.

In 2001, Funimation returned to the original Dragon Ball, using essentially the same cast from their Dragon Ball Z dub. However, the big difference between this dub and their dub of Z was the presence of the original score by Shunsuke Kikuchi. It also had the benefit of the actors having more experience than they did when they first were hired, but the script and overall tone was ultimately still a mixed bag. Despite this, many fans consider this to be better than their Dragon Ball Z dub.

Dragon Ball fight — Image Source: YouTube

After Dragon Ball Z concluded, Funimation dubbed Dragon Ball GT. Despite the strides taken in their Dragon Ball dub, however, they essentially dubbed it the same way they did Dragon Ball Z. The first 16 episodes were skipped and replaced with a recap episode called “A Grand Problem” (though these episodes would later air as “The Lost Episodes), the score was once again replaced, this time with a score by Mark Menza, and the script was once again not entirely accurate. This dub aired on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block from November 7, 2003, to February 13, 2004. The series was briefly on the Saturday Video Entertainment System Block but returned to Toonami on March 29th, 2004, running until April 16th, 2005.

It was around this time that Pioneer’s license to distribute the first 53/67 episodes of Dragon Ball Z expired. It was at this time that Funimation decided to go back and redub these episodes with the current cast and with the previously cut content. The scripts, however, were the same as their initial dub of these episodes. They also once again used a replacement score, this time composed by Nathan Johnson. However, the “Ultimate Uncut Edition” DVDs did come with the original Japanese version, making this the first bilingual release for these episodes…at least up until episode 30. Though all 67 episodes did air on Toonami from June 14th to October 10th, 2005, they would not see a complete home release until the controversial Season Sets in 2007, this time with the option to play the dub with the Japanese score.

Around the same time Funimation hit its stride with the Dragon Ball franchise, a familiar studio returned to the fold.

Dragon Ball action scene — Image Source: Dragon Ball Wiki

The Ocean Group Returns

Though Ocean Group still assisted with scripting and video editing for Funimation’s dub, they would soon get heavily involved once more, this time through their production arm Westwood Media in cooperation with European license holder AB Groupe. The plan was to make an alternate dub of Dragon Ball Z for the European market. However, this dub also made its way to Canada as a way to fulfill Canadian content mandates. The cast was largely the same as it was in season two of their initial Dragon Ball Z dub, except Lalainia Lindbjerg being replaced by Maggie Blue O’Hara (returning from the BLT dub of Dragon Ball. It began in 2000 at edited episode 108 (uncut 123). Production on this dub was much more rushed than their previous efforts, and it unfortunately resulted in a less-than-stellar performance from the cast. The score was once again replaced, this time using music by Anitunes from Ocean’s library, particularly from the Ruby-Spears MegaMan cartoon and the English dub of Monster Rancher. Since Ocean was still helping Funimation, they mostly used the same scripts with some slight alterations, mostly when it came to the words “die” or “kill.” They loosened up a bit later, though.

However, there were still several cast changes throughout this dub. Notably, Peter Kelamis was replaced by the late Kirby Morrow from Episode 145 (160 uncut) onward. This was due to long gaps in production and Ocean simply not reaching out to him. Saffron Henderson left the series due to wedding conflicts, and Jillian Michaels replaced her as young Gohan. This dub ran from 2000 to 2002.

After their dub of Dragon Ball Z had concluded, they moved on to Dragon Ball GT even though Funination had yet to get to it. Thus, they used their own scripts based on the French dub with some changes to keep it in continuity with their dub of Dragon Ball Z. However, though Ocean Group was initially contacted for the English voice track, production was instead moved to Ocean’s budget studio, Blue Water Studios. This new cast includes Jeremiah Yurk as a adult Gokū and Zoe Slusar as kid Gokū, Caitlynne Medrek as Pan (who was only 13 at the time of recording the role), Matthew Erickson as Trunks, Scott Roberts as Gohan, Robert Scott Henrickson as Goten, Roger Rhodes as Vegeta, Kristin Nowosad as Bulma, Jennifer Holder as Videl, voiced by Dan Gascon as Krillin, Brendan Hunter as Uub, Dean Galloway as Master Roshi and Emperor Pilaf, and Dave Pettit as Mr. Satan/Hercule. This dub used the original score by Akihito Tokunga and airs the episodes in their proper order. Some fans consider this to be the better English dub of Dragon Ball GT despite its censorship for TV.

After the success of Blue Water’s dub of Dragon Ball GT, they were once again contacted by Westwood to produce a dub of the original Dragon Ball series despite there already being a dub of the first 13 episodes of the series produced in Vancouver. As with GT, the French dub is used as a base. It contains an English version of AB Groupe’s intro for the French dub. Despite this, for the first several episodes, the Funimation version’s script was used (though it was heavily reworked). It uses Funimation’s terminology, with some exceptions such as the Nyoi-Bo retaining its original name rather than “Power Pole,” and most of the attack names were carried over from the French version. Zoe Slusar returns as kid Gokū, but instead of Jeremiah Yurik voicing him when he’s older, Jeffrey Watson voices the teen version of Gokū. The rest of the cast includes Katie Rowan as Chi-Chi as a kid and Carol-Anne Day as a teen, Leda Davies as Bulma, Mike Thiessen as Krillin, Dean Galloway returning as Master Roshi and Emperor Pilaf, Victor Atelevich as Yamcha, Chris Simms as Puar, Brendan Hunter as Tien, and Mike Shepherd as Kami and King Piccolo. Like with Funimation’s dub, they used Shunsuke Kikuchi’s original score, though the insert songs were replaced by Tom Keenlyside’s Dragon Ball Z score.

The “Big Green” Dub

Around the same time (or shortly after depending on your source), AB Groupe produced English dubs of all of the Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT movies and specials produced in between 1986 and 1997(except Dragon Ball Z movies 10-13 and the special Dragon Ball: The Path to Power). However, rather than use the Ocean or Blue Water talent pools, they instead opted to use English-speaking talent based in France. This dub is notorious for its poor script and voice acting due to its rushed production (and perhaps even due to the French Rhythmo Band dubbing technique). Notably, this dub features names and terminology based on the French dub. Kurirn is called Clearin, Bulma is called Bloomer/Blooma, Kame Sn’nin is called Genius Turtle, Chaozu is called Chaos, the Saiyans are called Space Warriors, the nyoi-bo is called the Magic Stick or Magic Baton, and most notably, Piccolo is called “Big Green.” Furthermore, most of the attacks are referred to as “Kamehameha” regardless of the actual attack. The cast remained mostly unknown for years, but it has been speculated that some of the cast can also be heard in the French cartoon Code Lyoko. Confirmed cast members include Sharon Mann as Krillin and several other characters, the late Jodi Forrest as young Son Gohan and others, David Gasman as Son Gokū and various others, Douglas Rand as Vegeta, Yamcha, and various others, Paul Bandley as Piccolo and others, and Ed Marcus as Master Roshi and various others. This dub was released on home video in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, and they were broadcast on the UK Toonami channel.

Dragon Ball Z Kai Gives Funimation A Second Chance

In 2009, Dragon Ball Kai, a remastered and recut version of the 1989 Dragon Ball Z anime, premiered in Japan, about a year later, Funimation released their English dub of the show, titled Dragon Ball Z Kai, while most of the cast returned, this was seen as a chance for the company to do the dub correctly. This production was produced like a then-modern anime dub and was much closer to the original Japanese script than their original dub. Though it still used the dub names for most of the characters, it did feature more accurate and pronunciations of names and attacks, including Guru being called Grand Elder, Kaio-Ken being pronounced correctly, and Makankosappo, Kienzan, and Taiyo-ken being used instead of “Special Beam Cannon,” “Destructo Disc,” and “Solar Flare” respectively, though this only lasted until the Cell saga. Some characters did receive new voices, however. The late Chris Ayers replaced Linda Young as Freeza, Colleen Clinkenbeard replaced Stephanie Nadonly as Gohan and also Meredith McCoy as Android 18, Monica Rial replaced Tiffany Volmer as Bulma, Chris Cason replaced Chris Sabat as Mr. Popo and the Turtle, J Michael Tatum replaced Chris Sabat as Zarbon, Bill Jenkins replaced Chris Sabat as the Grand Elder, Vic Mignogna replaced Chris Sabat as Burter, Jason Liebrecht replaced Chris Sabat as Jeice, John Swasey replaced Chris Forbis as Dodoria and the Farmer, Mark Stoddard replaced Chris Forbis as Dr. Brief, Bryan Massey replaced Brad Jackson as Oolong, Jason Douglas replaced Brad Jackson as King Cold, Todd Haberkorn replaced Phillip Warburn as Android 19, Brina Palencia replaced Monika Antonellia as Puar and Chaozu, Greg Ayers replaced Bill Townsley as Guldo, R. Bruce Elliot replaced the late Brice Armstrong as Captain Ginyu, and Maxey Whitehead replaced Laura Bailey as Kid Dende.

A total of three versions of the dub were made: the uncut version, the version for its Nicktoons broadcast, and the version for its Saturday morning broadcasts on CW4kids, Toonzai, and Vortexx, respectively. The differences between the three versions mostly had to do with the content standards for the networks, but they also featured different versions of certain lines, such as using the American names for the attacks and using the classic “Over 9,000!” over the proper “Over 8,000!” translation. Visual edits were done mostly to remove blood, suggestive content, and intense violence, but there were some more interesting edits done for its over-the-air broadcast version, most infamously the change of Mr. Popo’s skin color from black to blue. Despite this, Dragon Ball Z Kai marked a turning point for Dragon Ball's English dub. However, the uncut version of the dub finally premiered on Adult Swim’s revival of Toonami in 2014, and it was followed by the dub of Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters in 2017.

Funimation’s dub of Kai was not the only English dub for the series, however. History has a funny way of repeating itself, as an unaired alternate English dub was also produced that has yet to see the light of day.

The Lost Ocean Dub Of Dragon Ball Z Kai

Between 2010 and 2014, a separate English dub for Dragon Ball Z Kai by Ocean Group. There was no official announcement, but many leaks have been revealed regarding the production. Notably, Sean Schemmel, the English voice of Gokū since 1999, is aware of the dub’s existence and does not think highly of it, saying in a conversation with Subzero:

“Here is why the Ocean group dub will suck. And it has nothing to do with the actors as I have enormous respect for all of them. As far as I know, the Ocean group dub is going to have this really shitty music (some of which I have heard) and a whole host of added sound effects such as ‘doinks’ and ‘boinks’ and even in one scene, where Bulma simply turns her head in a conversation you hear a ‘whoosh’ sound ala a bad martial arts movie. We are giving you the purest DBZ experience possible, and if you don't like that, then you don't like DBZ.”

The claims of a replacement score were backed up by a leak of the theme sung by prolific session singer David Steele and a listing for Dragon Ball Z Kai on the website for AniTunes, the music production company responsible for the replacement score for the Westwood Productions dub of Dragon Ball Z. Confirmed cast members include returning actors Brian Drummond as Vegeta, Scott McNeil as Piccolo, Jeice, and Dr. Briefs, Michael Dobson as Nappa, Saffron Henderson as Son Gohan, Carol-Anne Day as Bulma (though she previously voiced Chi-Chi in the Blue Water dub of Dragon Ball), Brendan Hunter as Tenshinhan and Captain Ginyu, and Don Brown as King Kai and Mr. Satan. Confirmed recasts include Richard Ian Cox (known for the titular character in Inuyasha) as Son Gokū, Lee Tockar as Freeza, Lucas Gilbertson (known for Zero in the MegaMan X games) as Yajirobe, Dawn Harvey as Fortuneteller Baba, Cole Howard (known for voicing MegaMan in MegaMan: Powered Up) as Android 17, and Tim Hamaguchi and Steve Olson voicing either unknown or incidental characters. No footage of the dub itself has been revealed, but it has been speculated that it was produced specifically for broadcast on television. Efforts have been made to release it, but all have fallen through. Like Funimation’s dub, efforts were made to make it as accurate as possible, but it appears that Ocean might have gone even further, with Goku and Namek being pronounced closer to the Japanese version. It is unknown if this dub will ever be released. It was close to being released in the United Kingdom, but it was passed over in favor of Funimation’s dub. However, when it came time to release Dragon Ball Super, an alternate dub did see the light of day, this time from an unexpected source.

A Tale Of Two Dragon Ball Super Dubs

Dragon Ball Super premiered in Japan on July 5th, 2015. Funimation announced it had acquired the rights to the anime on November 4, 2016, and that it would be producing an English dub with many of the cast from their in-house cast returning (except Laura Bailey, who was replaced by Alexis Tipton as Kid Trunks). Around the same time, another dub was announced for the Southeast Asian market. Bang Zoom Studios would produce this dub and would feature several anime voice-acting veterans including Lex Lang (known for Cortex in the Crash Bandicoot series and Son Gohan in Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout) as Son Goku, the late Philece Sampler (known for Mimi in Digimon) as Son Goten, Archie Fletcher as Beerus, Kai Tang (known for Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen) as Vegeta, Erica Mendez (known for Gon in HunterXHunter) as Kid Trunks, Michael McConnohie (who previously voiced Pilaf and Tao Pai Pai in the Harmony Gold Dub of Dragon Ball) as King Kai, Ray Chase (known for Tengen Uzui in Demon Slayer), Michelle Ruff (known for voicing Fujiko Mine in the Lupin the Third series and Cream the Rabbit in the Sonic the Hedgehog series) as Chi-Chi, Brian Beacock (known for Takato in Digimon) as Krillin, Kirk Thorton (known for Shadow the Hedgehog in the Sonic the Hedgehog series) as Master Roshi and Champa, Jamieson Price (known for Yasutora "Chad" Sado in Bleach) as Hercule/Mr. Satan, Spike Spencer (known for Shinji in Neon Genesis Evangelion) as Majin Buu, and Wendee Lee reprising her role as Bulma for the first time since the Harmony Gold dub.

While Funimation’s dub was a bit looser than its previous efforts, the Bang Zoom dub was seen as closer to the original Japanese. Both dubs premiered on Toonami (the Funimation dub premiering on the block on Adult Swim and the Bang Zoom dub premiering on the Southeast Asia Toonami channel) on January 17, 2017. Funimation’s dub was intentionally looser than its previous efforts due to the team attempting to make something “fresh” for those who have kept up with the Japanese version. In comparison, the Bang Zoom dub was much closer to the Japanese script, down to even using the Japanese names for some characters and attacks. Despite this, however, it was criticized for its vocal direction. Funimation dubbed all 130 episodes of Dragon Ball Super, while Bang Zoom only dubbed the first 27. Bang Zoom’s dub was not alone in featuring titans from previous Dragon Ball productions. Funimation brought in original English Vegeta Brian Drummond to voice Copy Vegeta, and, in an interesting twist of fate, they also brought in James Marsters to voice Zamasu. Though Marsters is mostly known for Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he also played Piccolo in the critically panned Dragon Ball Evolution film.

As of this writing, all English dubs for Dragon Ball-related media are produced at Okatron 5000 in Texas, and the series itself is licensed by Crunchyroll (formerly known as Funimation). Dragon Ball Daima is currently being simulcast on Crunchyroll in Japanese, while the first three episodes of the series premiered in English in theaters last month. Notably, the English dub features the return of Stephanie Nadonly as Goku. There is no word on when or where the rest of the English dub will be released. The series has had quite the journey throughout its English releases, but it seems its dub has been streamlined for now.

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