Funimation's Early Days - A History - A look into the past of Funimation up until DBZ's mainstream success on American television

[Michael Janke]

Just managed to unearth a local article back when Funimation started dubbing DBZ on their own.

View attachment 2913932

https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/international-incident-6396506?showFullText=true
https://archive.md/1pJr8

After publishing the article they got a lot of letters/feedback about it.

https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/letters-to-the-editor-6372623?showFullText=true
https://archive.md/w0iRi

View attachment 2913936

https://web.archive.org/web/20000301191030/http://members.aol.com/vegettoex/editorials/vegex_17.html

It should be noted that the response was written by someone who is now one of the main guys running Kazenshuu, the aforementioned main fansite of Dragon Ball nowadays.

VegettoEX is old as fuck.

Funi made him some superhero bent on fighting for good against evil,when in reality goku just wants to fight strong opponents & get stronger himself. It was pretty obvious that the only thing allowing funimation to stay in business was dragonball. Look how many different versions & box sets they kept releasing.

i wonder if gokus dub voice in itself is a cause some of this.
even in kai, where they generally didnt fuck about with the script, he's still more heroic sounding.
i think the high pitch old ass grandma voice works in making him sound childish and unserious as possible.
is it the same way for any other dubs of kai, like the spanish one?

here's an example from Kai.

 

[5t3n0g0ph3r]

VegettoEX is old as fuck.

Doxed his ass in 2019: https://kiwifarms.net/threads/weeb-...vic-vickicksback.53670/page-2105#post-5061535

i wonder if gokus dub voice in itself is a cause some of this.
even in kai, where they generally didnt fuck about with the script, he's still more heroic sounding.
i think the high pitch old ass grandma voice works in making him sound childish and unserious as possible.
is it the same way for any other dubs of kai, like the spanish one?

here's an example from Kai.

You have to remember that Sean Schemmel was chosen to voice Goku because Funimation was trying to mimic the Ocean dub cast at first.
So, Ian James Corlett would be the one you should looking for.
But in reality, it's the scriptwriters you should be blaming.
In the Ocean dub era, Christopher Neel was the main scriptwriter but Corlett and Terry Klassen also wrote scripts.

 

[Michael Janke]

Doxed his ass in 2019: https://kiwifarms.net/threads/weeb-...vic-vickicksback.53670/page-2105#post-5061535

You have to remember that Sean Schemmel was chosen to voice Goku because Funimation was trying to mimic the Ocean dub cast at first.
So, Ian James Corlett would be the one you should looking for.
But in reality, it's the scriptwriters you should be blaming.
In the Ocean dub era, Christopher Neel was the main scriptwriter but Corlett and Terry Klassen also wrote scripts.

i just want to compare this particular kai scene in several different languages and see if goku sounds more heroic in those?
a male is going to sound more serious than a 60-70 year old grandma regardless of the language.

 

[RX-78]

i just want to compare this particular kai scene in several different languages and see if goku sounds more heroic in those?
a male is going to sound more serious than a 60-70 year old grandma regardless of the language.

That would be a lot of work for comparatively little pay off, but it would be interesting to see which languages butchered the script/tone the least. On that note, which arcs did funimation fuck up the most? My wuss bet is on Buu, but that's mostly due to the entire series being a sinking ship that is also on fire at that point to begin with.

 

[GenericReviewerDraco]

That would be a lot of work for comparatively little pay off, but it would be interesting to see which languages butchered the script/tone the least. On that note, which arcs did funimation fuck up the most? My wuss bet is on Buu, but that's mostly due to the entire series being a sinking ship that is also on fire at that point to begin with.

Freeza, purely for Grandma Freeza speaking in innuendo and that one time she spoke backwards. Also the infamous "ally to good, nightmare to you" speech that people make fun of almost as much as Apocalymon talking about pizza crusts (even though in all honesty Apocalymon is legit terrible no matter what version because he's "necessary padding").

 

[Michael Janke]

Freeza, purely for Grandma Freeza speaking in innuendo and that one time she spoke backwards. Also the infamous "ally to good, nightmare to you" speech that people make fun of almost as much as Apocalymon talking about pizza crusts (even though in all honesty Apocalymon is legit terrible no matter what version because he's "necessary padding").

im talking about dragonball kai specifically, where they minimally fucked about with the script.
though i did like some scenes funimation did, like the vegeta still being very bothered by working under frieza. and in some moment of reflection, actually bothered by the fact his race is almost extinct.

in the kai version, vegeta became evil again solely to fight goku and no other reason.

 

[RX-78]

Freeza, purely for Grandma Freeza speaking in innuendo and that one time she spoke backwards. Also the infamous "ally to good, nightmare to you" speech that people make fun of almost as much as Apocalymon talking about pizza crusts (even though in all honesty Apocalymon is legit terrible no matter what version because he's "necessary padding").

I forgot all about that chain smoking hag, sweet jesus funimation dubs really have always been shit. I do remember Apocalymon's stupid analogy, but I also remember the script doing nothing to hide the fact that he wanted to kill eight children so saban wins that round.

in the kai version, vegeta became evil again due to homolust and being the prince of inconsistent characterization.

Why do spics and manlets like this guy again?

 

[Anonymus Fluhre]

Funimation - Early Days A History or How white people learned to re-enslave black with trashy weebo shit.

 

[The Decimator]

It's definitely worth looking into. Carly Hunter probably has tons of stories. She was one of the first people hired at Funimation during the early days and was one of the two main producers at the company alongside Justin Cook after Barry Watson and Daniel Cocanougher stepped down as producers. She would later be married to Chris Sabat for a few years until they divorced. Carly was basically how Sabat first got involved with Funimation when they went in-house for the dubbing.

Afterwards, Barry Watson would go on to start a company called Illumitoon Entertainment that licensed a few anime titles before it collapsed in the late 2000s and hasn't been active in the industry since. It's unknown what Daniel did afterwards but his father Allen, the initial investor of Funimation, passed away in 2017.

https://archive.md/Uwmm7
https://archive.md/Cj8Qf

The company Barry Watson started on ANN's Encyclopedia:
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/company.php?id=5896

Here's a great article about Illumitoon and its eventual failure: https://landofobscusion.blogspot.com/2011/08/illumitoon-entertainments-website.html

Basically, the gist of it is that they bit off more than they could chew, getting their hands on shows that were too long-running for such a small company. Another thing that doomed them was their lack of accurate subtitles. Most of them just used the subtitle track for the dub, while others had none at all. Illumitoon lost its distributor only a year after it was formed and they died not long after. Since then, Barry Watson has all but disappeared from the business, except for minor voice roles in Dragon Ball Kai.

 

[Lone Dogma]

Not gonna lie, Sabat works just fine as Jigen and Sonny Strait as Lupin is also great.

Sabat is great Jigen but ruins it by being a massive prick. Sonny Strait can actually be better at Lupin than Tony Oliver at times and is on par with the rest of the time. Richard Epcar is still the definitive Jigen.

It went over as well as you'd think with the Lupin crowd

Well I've had the misfortune of mostly coming across the woke fans who get upset over the crossdressing Nazi (I've seen a few KV lot with Lupin pfp's), so I need to start finding this crowd.

And hopefully the trend of Lupin licenses going elsewhere continues, because I won't be buying them otherwise.

They appear to be in the hands of Sentai and Richard Epcar's company now, using the Pioneer/Geneon guys (Doug Erholtz vice Dan Lorge as Zenigata). Lex Lang (Goemon) said they're dubbing another series beyond Part 1.

 

[Mothra1988]

Sabat is great Jigen but ruins it by being a massive prick. Sonny Strait can actually be better at Lupin than Tony Oliver at times and is on par with the rest of the time. Richard Epcar is still the definitive Jigen.

Well I've had the misfortune of mostly coming across the woke fans who get upset over the crossdressing Nazi (I've seen a few KV lot with Lupin pfp's), so I need to start finding this crowd.

They appear to be in the hands of Sentai and Richard Epcar's company now, using the Pioneer/Geneon guys (Doug Erholtz vice Dan Lorge as Zenigata). Lex Lang (Goemon) said they're dubbing another series beyond Part 1.

I hope so, and I hope it was that autism where Discotek put a warning before the Blu-ray played about how problematic it was like it was some kind of 1920's Al Jolson black face film that caused them to lose the license. As far as SJW shit perpetrated by R1 companies goes, that has to be in the top five for sure. Not to mention how detestable some of their regular contractors are regardless.

 

[Lone Dogma]

I hope so, and I hope it was that autism where Discotek put a warning before the Blu-ray played about how probleamtic it was like it was some kind of 1920's Al Jolson black face film that caused them to lose the license. As far as SJW shit perpetrated by R1 companies goes, that has to be in the top five for sure. Not to mention how detestable some of their regular contractors are regardless.

I doubt that'd be the reason but I still hope that Sentai get more Lupin. They currently have Part 1, TWCFM, Part 5 and Part 6, so hopefully more is on the way. The SJW rot needs removing or the industry will go the way of comics. Their idea of the "mainstream" is tumblr refugees and fellow SJWs on twitter.

 

[RX-78]

Sabat is great Jigen but ruins it by being a massive prick. Sonny Strait can actually be better at Lupin than Tony Oliver at times and is on par with the rest of the time. Richard Epcar is still the definitive Jigen.

Well I've had the misfortune of mostly coming across the woke fans who get upset over the crossdressing Nazi (I've seen a few KV lot with Lupin pfp's), so I need to start finding this crowd.

Sabat only has three voices and they're only distenguished by his pitch, his Jigen sounds exactly like Zoro who sounds like Piccolo. Sonny is good at Lupin because he can shift between absurd monkey man, dangerous thief, and tryhard ladies man on the fly. As for finding the Lupin crowd that isn't pozz'd, just stay off of the rainbow gulag that is twitter and you'll be fine.

I hope so, and I hope it was that autism where Discotek put a warning before the Blu-ray played about how problematic it was like it was some kind of 1920's Al Jolson black face film that caused them to lose the license. As far as SJW shit perpetrated by R1 companies goes, that has to be in the top five for sure. Not to mention how detestable some of their regular contractors are regardless.

Its possible, but the timeline of events would have to be looked at and then the lengthy process of negotiating license deals has to be applied. Even if the correctthink(tm) disclaimer wasn't the case, Japanese companies usually don't kick out a licenser unless they've done something incredibly stupid behind the scenes. If china can have a specific term for sjw gaijin, so can the Nips.

I'm a little tired-high after a long run so I'm very likely failing to read properly, but what do you mean by detestable contractors?

I doubt that'd be the reason but I still hope that Sentai get more Lupin. They currently have Part 1, TWCFM, Part 5 and Part 6, so hopefully more is on the way. The SJW rot needs removing or the industry will go the way of comics. Their idea of the "mainstream" is tumblr refugees and fellow SJWs on twitter.

Discotek, off the top of my head, only has the TV specials, Part 2, and a few of the movies. Sentai has plenty of issues but I haven't noticed anything being slipped into their subtitles or dub under Epcar's watch. As for the industry needing to shake off the genderblob ticks, this is a perfect example of why all scripts need to be either written by or supervised by Japanese who have learned English and can catch the lgbtpedophile bullshit.

 

[Mothra1988]

Its possible, but the timeline of events would have to be looked at and then the lengthy process of negotiating license deals has to be applied. Even if the correctthink(tm) disclaimer wasn't the case, Japanese companies usually don't kick out a licenser unless they've done something incredibly stupid behind the scenes. If china can have a specific term for sjw gaijin, so can the Nips.

I'm a little tired-high after a long run so I'm very likely failing to read properly, but what do you mean by detestable contractors?

I mean ANN assholes like Justin Sevakis and Mike Toole, SJW Twitter retards, etc. Company is infested with cancer, and I'd rather not own anything with those idiots in the gaijin tacked on credits at the end of my Blu-ray.

I also remember they asked TMS if they could CENSOR the special itself and were shot down. Maybe there's no connection at all, but maybe that could have been enough for them to choose to go somewhere else for later licensing (if the timeline makes sense like you say, I'm not sure). Either way, I hope Lupin goes back to other people.

 

[General Gunther]

For those who are curious, the 1997 pilot episode of Cyboars, an original animated series produced by Funimation has been discovered on Youtube.

 

[Mothra1988]

For those who are curious, the 1997 pilot episode of Cyboars, an original animated series produced by Funimation has been discovered on Youtube.

It's like if ReBoot and Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa has an autistic retard baby. Seriously, WTF?

 

[Suikafag]

I was originally gonna post about how I was a bit surprised that funi had actually said “Faggots” in the Cromartie High dub before doing a bit of research and realizing I’m an idiot that was ADV. Well heres the clip anyways because the Cromartie High School dub is fucking great

Anyways read the whole thread and this was pretty informative. Did not actually know about the petition that made Funi go in-house or that Funi was actually started by some Japanese man who wanted to bring it to the west until today.

Now I actually have a question for you guys. What is your favorite Funimation dub? Given the thread is about Funi I think its actually worth asking. My favorite dub of theirs is Space Dandy, with the original FMA coming in at a close second.

 

[He's Ronald McDonald]

For those who are curious, the 1997 pilot episode of Cyboars, an original animated series produced by Funimation has been discovered on Youtube.

I checked the credits and since they did not have their own talent pool at the time, Funimation used the same talent pool from the early Saban/Ocean Group dub of Dragon Ball Z.

 

[demosthenes7531]

Most Funimation dubs are just okay. The only ones that I think are very good are Fullmetal Alchemist and Psycho-Pass.

I also kind of like the Yu Yu Hakusho dub. Although with mixed feelings, since it is one of those where the script is heavily rewritten compared to the Japanese (like their Dragon Ball Z dub) which I normally can't stand. But for some reason it sort of works here. The original Japanese script is often kind of dull, and this is a series about junior high students who get super powers so all of the dumb jokes and one liners just kind of "fit." It's one of the few shows where I think the ridiculous dialogue rewrites in the English dub actually elevate the material.

 

[RX-78]

What is your favorite garbage audio dump that reuses the same five voice actors for 60% of their productions?

Funimation singlehandedly did more to ruin the reputation of English dubs with a fraction of the effort that Central Park, ADV, Manga, etc did in building the foundation in the first place. The objectively right answer is whichever has the least amount of chris sabat and monica rial in it.