Some ppl be forgetting that just bc you prefer one over the other doesnt mean the other is bad, both had their moment and some of yall are giving bad takes on both sides💀
@@TomatoSauce2010honestly I'm so glad to see that somebody prefers Gohan's DBZ voice because Colleen has a terrible voice when it comes to voicing male characters and kinda in general 😅
@@manyamon2723 How? Kai isnt perfect, the pacing can be a little too fast for exmaple, but in almost every aspect Kai is the superior format, especially if you watch the uncensored uncut version.
Even though Kai did the script more faithfully to the manga and the voice actors had more experience.. It sometimes just dulls out a lot of iconic moments. The Z dub had a lot of stupid lines, but they at least gave you quotes and delivery you would remember. Like the Vegeta trash talk vs A19 in Z just adds a certain confidence to the character.
I loved vegetas dialogue at the beginning of the cell saga Z version was best the score was perfect. "Fresh out of the factory with no warranty...and already broken. Vegeta is GOATED.
In my head all I think about for the Trunks defiance: "oh? what are you doing?" "What am I doing?" "Thwarting my plan?" "Thwarting your plans?" "ARE YOU?" "YOU KNOW WHAT YEEEES" "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"
Kai added the tiniest bit of subtext to its dialogue. And as I learned writing, I realized Kai is better for it. But even so, Vegeta monologues will always be iconic.
While I agree with a majority of your choices, it feels like whenever Vegeta's score played, you instantly went Z wins and then times where Z was simply better but lacked Vegeta's theme, you chose Kai.
Nostalgia is definitely a factor for a lot of us. DBZ may not have always been faithful to the source material (particularly the Ocean Dub) but it has so many iconic one liners, the Faulconer score, Gohan's not horribly whiney voice which is the biggest reasons I can't stand kai lol. Goku begins acting more dumb like in Super, too. He generally sounded a lot more serious in Z, and he was especially in the Japanese dub. Namek was obviously shaky at first, they were all inexperienced and the fact is 90s dubs could be bad, but by the time he became a super saiyan he started to make him sound a lot better.
@@rhondahoward8025 Yeah. I prefer his rougher voice a million times more. He doesn't even sound like a chain smoker anyway lol. Most chain smokers don't even have a strained voice anyway.
All that is falls. Goku is supposed to sound dumb and high and in the japanese version of Z.. He didn't even sound serious in the japanese version of Z.. And by the time you became super saiyan goku was not supposed to be serious
Aw man, I was all impressed you didn't use the Faulconer music last time. It's so hard to have a Z vs Kai debate because so many dub fans just care more about the dub score than anything else. Even Crunchyroll doesn't stream that version of it. I mean this with no offense to Faulconer fans, but DBZ will always be presented with it's original Kikuchi score going forward. It's the default setting on the DVDs/Blu-Rays. Most Future fans will watch it like that. The entire rest of the world doesn't find Z "literally unwatchable without Faulconer". Replacement scores were just a weird phase of the times.
Can’t believe you missed out on Picolo’s Super Namekian power up against 17 as well as Vegeta reacting to Picolo’s power and his declaration to surpassing the super saiyan wall. that would’ve been a good one
@@KeyReviewsOfficialeveryone sounds 20 years older, tired from doing the same lines every year for games, and many voices didn't return for Kai. You watch Z in sub and Kai in dub.
@@KeyReviewsOfficial I highly recommend watching at least some clips of the Japanese broadcast audio on UA-cam if you don't plan on watching the series subbed, it's ultra crisp and the performances are top notch.
The VAs in Kai got old, hence their weakened delivery. But watching DB Kai in Japanese to me is the closest to watching the original Z with the master audio.
@@Mat7920H nah its completely different recordings with different delivery, DBZ broadcast audio is just fine if you want high quality old dbz audio, unfortunately it's not stereo but that's an issue with Toei not moving away from mono at the time, and it still sounds pretty damn nice regardless.
@@mangaaddict3056 No one said every 10 eyar old has a super high voice. However no ten year old has an incredibly raspy voice like the dbz voice. It's not like I dislike the actress she's AMAZING as Kid Goku, but I think Colleen fits Gohan age FAR more. I don't dislike Stephanie nandoly either, her scenes are super nostalgic for me.
"You're about to fight a real Super Sayain.....and I'm not talkin about Goku!" Somehow this epic line lost to Kai which...I can't even remember what he said in that version.
@@KeyReviewsOfficial the delivery in Z is so much better and feels natural. In kai it's overacting as if they are reading a script from a piece of paper. Sounds like you're being biased towards Kai
@@drake5815 😭 dude it's an opinion I promise you it's not a big deal I like the kai scene over Z and vice versa for you. Only difference is I'm not faulting you for your opinion
@@KeyReviewsOfficial one thing I learned from talking with hardcore z dub fans, is they get very tense when you don’t think it’s the second coming of Christ
A little going away present and big bang attack is REALLY CLOSE imo…depends whether you like and appreciate the last of a Sadistic cruel vegeta laughing as he kills before his character development or if you like the delivery of the iconic BIG BANG ATTACK
For the scene where Vegeta turned SSJ (in kai), I don't get why you omitted the part where he said, "One doesn't predict or calculate the kind of power we have." It was another great line.
I grew up with original z and watched it over and over, but know im old i prefer kai its easier to get through, but i personally love team four stars for the absolute laughs while still being some what serious.
As someone who grew up with Z with the Faulconer score, watching it repeatedly on VHS recordings, I think the Kai dub is better pretty much across the board except the replacement score is usually pretty terrible, and I do miss some of the filler. Like, some of the Z lines are really memorable to me and I have emotions attached to them, but if I imagine being new to both, Kai generally wins. As for the score, plenty of fan projects now exist rescoring Kai - Faulconer's been done, and restoring Yamamoto throughout. We're just missing a well-executed version of the proper Kikuchi Z placement, which would be my ideal version. Looking forward to Buu!
For me I think Kai's music is consistently pretty good. Z's peak songs like the final flash and the ssj2 ost are better than Kai's but the rest are just okay imo
@@freezasama5802z sounds more natural? Z sounds like a bunch of amateurs who don't know what they're doing and making up dialogue due to not having accurate translation of the source material. You can tell in kai, the VAs have more experience and understand their characters better
Maybe it's just me, I feel like the OST for Kai doesn't really fit all that well. It feels more like it belongs in DBS. I'll admit, I experienced Super before even touching Kai so that's probably effecting my view.
Vegeta in this saga in the original Z sounds sarcastic and arrogant which fits him but Sabat was trying too hard to sound like Drummond (he even admitted) , they should've remastered this saga with Vegeta like they did in the first two sagas cuz that deep voice fits him perfectly , while he shows more emotion and consistency in Kai , he sounds too angry and emotional and less mature , the fact that Sabat kept the same formula for Vegeta from that Kai onwards shows how hard Original DBZ and GT dub was (GT Vegeta was perfection).
I'll be honest i like Kikuchi score in the old Z but in kai apart from a few emotional scenes its badly placed and does not fit in Many parts in kai. Z has a few parts where the ost doesn't fit but it still works and conveys the scenario of the characters much better than how kai handles it. I don't blame kai after the Yamamoto scandal but its still a big downgrade compare to the kikuchi of old.
@@manyamon2723 True. But some of it sounded great. Aside from Goku's "I Am" speech, all the emotional moments sounded great, and I really liked them using Piccolo's theme as the recap theme. Maybe they can release Kai one more time with properly placed music.
I'm more into the manga honestly. Since this is a manga that came out in the 80s I'd at least expect the anime to retain that spirit of the manga from the time period not just modernise it for a closer cheap thrill to feel pressure on being one for one because kai can never be that. Never the less I still expect aspects of its dub to sound natural. I go back and forth honestly when reading the manga to hear how both old Z and kai sounds and surprisingly there's a bit of both that I do like so its honestly comes down to preference some might just prefer old school to modern which is nothing new there.
Nah I’m sorry but this dude is biased as fuck bro I get that Z isn’t perfect voice acting especially in early arcs along with dialogue was hit or miss in some points. But z gave far more quotable iconic moments then Kai. But the last straw for me anyway was choosing gohans ssj2 Kai transformation over Zs that’s the biggest joke I’ve ever seen.especially after with the context of basically choosing 16s speech in the Kai version too. How did 16 convey more desperation in Kai when he was mono tone the entire time he barely showed any emotion with the delivery. And Kai’s music for gohans transformation was not better then gohans anger get outta here with that.
I'm constantly surrounded by noise of geopolitics, scandals, mass shootings, genocide. So I am perfectly comfortable being a 34 year old Dragonball fan. It blocks out the noise.
I think I'll always prefer Z and Stephanie Nadolny's Gohan, but over the past few months I've really come around to Colleen's Gohan in the Cell Saga. She does a really good scream for SSJ2 and the extension
Nice comparison. I've never watched Kai other than just some clips because I prefer og Z but for some scenes I can understand your opinions and see where you're coming from. In case some people are also seeing some of these Kai scenes for the first time, just try to have an open mind. Hope you do the Buu saga too man, that showed the og dub at its best imo.
I think really it depends on what you're looking for in Dragon Ball and also overall quality. The dub needs to be acknowledged because it is what people grew up with. Without the original dub, many people today would not be anime fans and hell, Kai wouldn't even be a thing over here. There is a huge nostalgia factor going into the dub because obviously if this what introduced you to the show as a kid? It's gonna have just that much more weight and impact versus the version you watch many years later where the only nostalgic connection it retains being a good chunk of the actors. Kai also should have its flaws noted. For some people, being more faithful to the manga may not necessarily be what they're looking for. They might like the additional in-between stuff with characters, prefer the fights to be longer because certain moments might give them more tension and of course there's the matter of how the footage looks since while the colors are alright and certain shots look good? Things do look a bit blurry at higher resolutions. There's also the matter of how by suggesting something is better that it means to a degree for some people you're suggesting the other is bad when of course it's purely subjective opinion. I feel like people should know it's okay to prefer the original dub. It's what you grew up with and would be your Dragon Ball and no one can ever take that away from you. However, where my opinions change is when by "better"? People try to argue that the original dub is somehow more raw and impactful because fundamentally? The OG DBZ dub and Kai are completely different shows despite sharing the same basic skeleton. The OG dub is trying its hardest to be an action cartoon for 7 and 8-year-olds of the 90s, a show that's appealing to the same demographics that love Power Rangers, Beast Wars and other more action-packed fare, an audience that once rejected the original DB, leading to Toei to be okay with Funimation and initially Saban to do what they needed to do to make Z work in the US and as a result? The DBZ we got is not the DBZ that was intended by Toriyama or Shueisha. They took a mystical martial arts story that had sci-fi elements and made it an in-your-face knockout punchfest that was about the crazy one-liners, the explosions, muscular dudes screaming wildly as rocks shook, internal monologues and more and if people like that? More power to them. However, there's a lot from that old dub that does not work. The acting is very stilted, the lines as written can be fantastic but you listen to everybody and I think outside of MAYBE the rerecording of the Saiyan Saga stuff that no one sounds like they're fully settled into their roles and that goes for a lot of even the remastered dubs which I'd say are the worst versions to watch because they're not the dub as it was broadcast, they're rerecords that are a bizarre mixture of old and new lines with dropped vocal filters, mistakes outright in the wording that make certain exchanges confusing and so much more. Also some voices just do not sound good in hindsight. Linda Young for instance is a phenomenal actress and doesn't perform Freeza badly but... it's also not a voice that fits him and at many points considering the garbage she had to say as him? The menace isn't there. Stephanie Nadolny is a great actress who really gave it her all as Gohan when she could. I mean they were working under ridiculously fast production times with equipment that barely worked and various network notes and executives dictating everything so of course some performances can't be blamed on the actors but in the case of Nadolny? She doesn't really capture Gohan until like many video games later and finally, there's also the music which controversially I'm just gonna state that the Faulconer Productions score utterly blows. On its own? A solid collection of music with individual tracks I like and a few moments where they fit. Most of the time? It is extremely repetitive synth that often times is mixed very loudly, does not match the tone of the scenes it's featured in and NEVER shuts up which when coupled with added dialogue that either adds cornball moments or just explains what a character is going through when the visuals are CLEARLY supposed to do the heavylifting? Moments are ruined. I think for instance of Gohan's SS2 transformation. In Kai and the original Japanese? It's beautiful. The haunting silence that follows 16's head getting crushed, in the case of the OG there's the use of Unmei no Hi which is a fantastic insert song and there's the long build-up to Gohan's scream. Hell, the version on DVD and Blu-Ray where due to rights issues we couldn't get the insert song and thus it plays in silence is even more powerful. The dub? Gohan Angers is a fine track and as a composition could work for the scene... but it is used so wrong, conveying that this is supposed to just be a badass moment where Gohan's about to go beast mode (minus the white hair) on fools and not the mixture of tragedy and horror like it's meant to be and this goes for so many moments. Majin Vegeta is completely butchered with what is supposed to be the character's lowest moment, his midlife crisis basically as the arrival of Goku forces him to confront feelings he never really dealt with properly instead being treated like Vegeta seemingly really is in his element with Hell's Bells indicating that when he says he wanted to be returned to the way he was before that he really is content like that because there's absolutely NO leitmotif where we hear even a more tragic version at the very least which is a big problem. There are no leitmotifs in dubbed Z. When Hell's Bells plays? It's any time Vegeta's on-screen except for at least when he's getting wrecked. Super Saiyan theme plays? It's anytime he goes Super Saiyan and really only works in both his initial transformation and the Final Flash which even then got outdone by freaking TeamFourStar whose cover of that theme thanks to AinTunez demonstrates how much better these themes would be if they were allowed variation. I get people preferring Z as in the original Japanese dub or it's enjoyment alone. But if we're talking about which is just unequivocably a much better representative of Dragon Ball as it was intended to be seen? It's Kai. Plain and simple, it's Kai. The voice acting is so much better. Everyone sounds like they have years of experience under their belt and thus every line coming out of them sounds natural and well-delivered. The screams are more raw and emotional, the delivery itself doesn't have that awkward feeling of an actor trying to maintain the voice over properly acting. Just one needs to listen to Goku's Super Saiyan transformation. The original? Sean sounds like he's about to double over laughing whereas in Kai? It's terrifying because it genuinely sounds like this is the angriest Goku has ever been and like at this moment he's at the brink of yelling, crying and flying off into a rage all at the same time, it feels raw in a way the old dub never achieved beyond the nostalgia. Also while there are still a few dubisms here and there? They're more enhancements that go with the spirit of the scenes they're involved in and the replacement voices are stellar. The late Chris Ayres IS Freeza and always will be and Colleen Clinkenbeard delivers a performance for Gohan that sounds like it's embodying Nozawa, Schemmel and Hebert and most importantly sounds like a proper young boy. While it's disappointing that Nadolny couldn't return, she still nails this role. The music? Okay that has its quirks here and there, especially when the Yamamoto thing happens and thus the Kikuchi score which already was run ragged by the fact that in DBZ they made so many movies that rather than make new music for the series, they'd most often just make music for the movie and then recycle it where they could sounds incredibly slapdash because they didn't bother to think up better music placements but even so? It's still music that sounds like it was designed to go with this series and a lot of the time portrays all the proper tones. Super Saiyan sounds a little bit like this is a dramatic almost horrific transformation as no one knows what Goku is about to become, moments that should be quiet are usually quiet and really if we must get into the pacing it's significantly better, especially in the Freeza Saga where things were slowed to a freaking crawl with filler. A lot of Kai's problems I feel like are issues that either only show up if you have a huge attachment to the old version you can't let go of or they're just nitpicks. I mean even Boo Kai which is the worst of the bunch by a long shot still is better to watch if only for the much more solid performances and faithful script and really that's my thing with Kai vs. Dub. If your modus operandi is just which show you enjoy better, I can completely understand when one chooses the latter. If we're however talking about which is more faithful and is actually trying to be a Dragon Ball show? Kai easily clears.
@@papabean9670 It's definitely a lot but I do feel it's worth it since it allows me to explain my dislike for the dub beyond just going "It changes stuff therefore it bad.".
I definitely appreciate Z's Cell Saga more, but outside of the Final Flash, I prefer everyone of Kai's scenes. Sure, I'm biased, but even during the few times where I'd say Z had better dialogue, Kai had better acting and delivery, which really changes things. I also prefer Vegeta's reaction to Trunks' death in Kai. Sure, Z's monologue was good, but I think it fits Vegeta more to just think "It will not be Kakarot's son to destroy Cell...but I!"
The Cell arc is definately when the voice acting for DBZ got REALLY good. And theyre top tier in Buu arc. I think Gohans new voice actor is my biggest reason to side with the OG DBZ dub. The rawness that Stephanie put into Gohan's scenes sound so artificial when anyone else tries to play it (other than Masako Nozawa herself) Also idk why but I always thought perfect cell sounds better in the original, even if it is the same actor
People often say that. But nevertheless I think you should still watch Kai. Maybe you'll change your mind. Even if you aren't the biggiest fan of Kai Gohan, the other actors are still there and THEY have improved considerably.
I disagree with most of the views in this video, in my opinion Z version was the rawest, not to mention I like the tones of the characters voices more in Z. Goku Kai voice sounds too chipper, he had a more serious tone in Z that I miss in newer Super episodes. Same for Vegeta, his voice change is noticeably same as piccolo’s in newer episodes, at least the Z version you can cleary tell them apart. I like Gohans voice better in Z over the Kai. As far as your comparisons I noticed you used the Japanese score for Z once or twice, and judged the majority with the falconer score. That was not a consistent accurate comparison. You didn’t grow up with Z I’m sure. Because if you did you would know hearing it for the first time the way it was introduced to the world hit different.
First off the Japanese score infinitely and objectively clears the Garbage Faulconer score so thats good for him on that part, and Goku's Z voice is corny and cheesy along with the stupid lines that weren't in the show, literally just watch a DBZ episode with subtitles on and you'll see how much of a shitshow it is, its inaccurate, horrible acting, scripts and everything. Nostalgia completely takes over DB fans i swear
@@Mr.Kakavot-sq8fv this is why I don't like Z so much in American Dub. Sometimes the Falconer soundtrack is louder than their voice, which I can barely hear their voices lol.
How in gods name could you skip over Cell’s initial reveal?!? Seems like there were plenty of moments that Z clearly wins that were skipped. Like trunks’ “if they set that android free it’ll be the end of all of us” Not to mention most times much like the Frieza video whenever Z won it was “well it was close and Kai still did this that and the other thing better“ but whenever Kai won it was shit on Z o’clock
There's several moments where I say z was a lot better than kai in this video. Idk the trunks scene you were talking about. The reason I feel like kai is close a lot of times is because the delivery and/or dialogue might be really good. To me kai does have better delivery and dialogue most of the time
Personally for me I grew up with dragon ball z dub more then Kai mostly because well I kind of like z soundtrack and plus that dub has awesome moments especially with vegeta using his final flash against cell was super epic in my opinion, and plus gohan using the kahamama against cell was really awesome and badass.
for me personally i dont really care for Vegetas new voice Chris is doing, i prefer the more rough voice from original Z cause it was far more distinct, Vegeta's new voice is just Chris's normal speaking voice which makes him and Piccolo sound almost the same. Because of this even if the dialog is better in kai it makes me prefer the og Z version pretty much every time, i also dont care for Colleen as Gohan when compared to Stephany, i think Stephany delivers most lines better even if i do prefer the silence in the ssj2 transformation
Rough voice? You though realize that by Main Buu Saga Vegeta voice changed yet again in Z. His Namek voice sound so damn bad in comparison. IN Kai he sounds far more naturalistic and his diction indicates his royal status. I don't really care that much about comparing but the original Japanese Vegeta also has the same tone.
@@awsomeboy360 in the majin buu arc his voice is still very distinctly rough. you can hear it pretty well when u compare the majin vegeta speeches, if you prefer how he sounds now thats fine. but hes basically just using his normal speaking voice now. vegeta was royalty of a very barbaric race. so i dont think diction was a thing they cared about very much, but bringing all that stuff up is subjective. i mainly like how distinct vegeta's voice was compared to every other sabat performance. he pretty much does most characters with his normal speaking voice in like everything now, never really flexes his range. og vegeta was a distinct voice he was doing and no other sabat performance sounds like that one. it also helps that Vegeta's rough voice in the og dub also fits how cocky and rash he was in early Z very abrasive. but like i said if u like the way vegeta sounds now that's fine i just happen to not
why would you want to hear that raspy ass voice when he could just talk normally lmao. It makes no difference and not even accurate to the Japanese version
honestly ive been loving these comparisons because beforehand i had almost no drive and a complete reluctance to hear the z dub because of my childhood bias to kai and my preference of voice actors, but these vids have been such a help in noticing such *GOLDEN* moments in Z's scenes
@awsomeboy360 so does Kai. This is that type of show LOL but the dramatic epic scenes of Z far outweigh the Kai versions, which is why I like it more. I don't watch DBZ for "good acting". I watch it for emotional hyperbole. The OG Z captures this better than any show that has ever existed. That's why it got as popular as it did.....
@@Bakuru perfectly said, these Kai fans keep trying to force these “intellectual” and “technical” reasons why they think Kai is better. When it doesn’t matter, DBZ touched ppls lives on an emotional level, we don’t care if YOu think the voice acting is better in Kai or the animation is “technically” better, the show that made us FEEL, is better, and no cartoon made us feel more than Dragonball Z the Bruce Faulconer Dub.
@dre66roc I actually don't think the animation is better 🤣 which is another reason I'm not a fan of Kai. It may be more "clear", but it's not nearly as striking as Z. The stillshots of Z could make posters. I don't feel the same way about Kai. Now Z's quality fluctuates, which I will give Kai for being more consistent. But peak animation in Z beats out Kai every single time
@@Bakuru You do realize that if you remaster the cels for Z it looks MORE like Kai? Z releases that you see are basically a recording of a recording. The individual cels remastered would make it look like Kai and even better. Insane dumb statement.
I’ve seen a few people say he’s biasing Kai over Z and I’ve gonna be honest with all of you, if he’s biasing anything, it’s Z. There are plenty of scenes he gave to Z that absolutely should’ve went to Kai. A lot of them being Vegeta’s scenes. I grew up with Z and Kai, I watched both, and Kai is way Superior. Im Not saying Z shouldn’t get any points but it shouldn’t have as many as it did in this video. Worse, a lot of his points for Z is solely based off the music which, is a problem. Yes, music sets tone but when that tone isn’t set properly(with how the faulconer score is almost EVERYWHERE in Z)it ruins the scene. As much as I hate to admit it, I’m ok with the final flash going to Z, that was one of the few times, the faulconer score properly set the tone of music right. That being said, I still prefer Kai’s dialogue for the Final Flash. So much so, I do rescore as on my TikTok and I rescored Kai’s final flash with an epic rendition of Kikuchi’s “Vegeta’s Sacrifice” theme. Which sets a beautiful somber tone of a one last desperate attempt to beat Cell.
Kai also had the original music as well cause at the time when Kai aired in Japan about to conclude the cell arc they found out that Yamamoto had plagiarized the score and they had to get rid of him
Cell is really somebody that should most definitely come back now Frieza is back and has new forms himself how epic would it be to see Cell do the same
I’m not sure I agree, the dialogue is still clunky and the voice acting is still rough around the edges in Z. The only thing I think Z has over Kai is the final Flash scene, and that’s really down to the music. My big issue with the original Z dub is how wrong they got a lot of the translations and characters.
i hate the original dub for the ssj2 transformation. that monologue made no sense because Gohan and 16 barely interacted to make it feel earned. also there's a good reason pretty much every game has that scene in silence, 1) because of the original japanese had it silent and 2) it just WORKS BETTER. whilst Kai had the better silence it did kind of ramp the pace up of the scene whilst Z had better pacing and the closing narration was great as well. it also had that bullshit inner monologue and since Funi wasn't paying for international music rights back then, so it's either in silence or in falconer's case, one of his team's shitter tracks and not Gohan's rage which would've worked more.
Not gonna lie when I hardly remember Goku's jab at Vegeta in either version, but I honestly expected dbz to take this one, but then Goku's sarcastic remarks had me laughing 🤣
if you like z you have nostalgia goggles???????? why can't both be good at some things and worse at others, there's nothing wrong with the ORIGINAL dub, and Kai's revisisions honestly make some moments better. that's not hard to say
The Z dialogue feels more 'sassy' while the Kai dialogue is more straightforward and logical. The Kai voice acting is usually better though. Z gets more laughs from me though.
Wrong.... when Vegeta said "NEVER SAY DIE!", it was a figure of speech/saying that was supposed to be taken as "never give up!"; it wasn't supposed to be take literally. Look it up if you don't believe me. This is one example of how you know Z was more adult in ways
Crazy for you to say that since the way they directed the og dub was to appeal to said kids that wanted their hyper action fighting cartoon lmao And I'm not saying it's a bad thing, that's what you yourself said tho
Other than the music and censoring, Kai does everything Z did but much better. It’s so much more natural. And WAY more faithful to the manga. Kai wins all for me
This is without a doubt my favorite saga in dbz. While I still prefer kai, I can't deny that the dbz dub has improved here compared to the Saiyan and Frieza sagas. Watching this video reminded me of how much I would constantly watch this saga when I was a kid. I'm glad that kai improved some of the lack luster scenes. Overall, for once, I'll watch this saga in either dub.
just making it clear that Kai and Z Kai are different things, and Z Kai uses songs from Z, but the Japanese version, but in a somewhat random way that doesn't fit, with what they choose to play at each moment being somewhat arbitrary, like when Gohan's transformation only plays a song that plays in somewhat common scenes in Z, more of dialogue, but with slight tension, while in Z itself there was a song sung that said that destiny had finally come true, and how Gohan would end this monster, because he wanted to not see a world in which love does not exist. And Kai itself, which is the Japanese version, has practically no censorship, and has a completely new soundtrack, but there were problems with Z Kai due to accusations of plagiarism and such, and so it seems to be kind of last minute, and in strange order, the songs they put on Z Kai.
In terms of comparison, DBZ does have a lot of points when it comes to the dramatic moments, especially with the music from the Faulkner score. Although this may be my absolute personal opinion, but I personally cannot stand Colleen Clinkenbeard's voice. It hurts almost every scene that kid to pre-teen Gohan is in, especially when it comes to his ssj2 transformation which is one of my favorite scenes in all DB history.
With respect to your liking of DBZ Kai, I feel like you missed some of the personality being presented in Z. And many times it seemed like because Kai made more sense to you, you preferred it. Also, silence seemed to be something you are akin to as well, which does sometimes bode well but not always. Some examples: In the first scene with Trunks talking to Freeza and Vegeta talking to himself, yiu said you liked Kai more for Trunks because of the silence. But I would argue, in that moment, the slow music actually adds more reverence to his conversation. It made him more mysterious, which was the initial point. Also, you said Vegeta's dialogue in Kai made more sense, but I disagree here. At the time, nobody knew who Trunks was. They thought it was Goku who was emitting the SSJ energy, that's why Vegeta said what he said. As far as he knew, only one person could be a SSJ right now: Kakarot. The thought of someone else doing it wouldn't even cross his mind (and didn't in the original dub. He called Trunks a liar when he said he transformed) Secondly, Vegeta's speech during his beatdown of Android 19 had much more charisma in the original dub. He is still an arrogant ass at this point, that's why he's talking like that 🤣 that "never say die" line is a figure of speech. The android said he'd never let go no matter what, even though he clearly was struggling. Vegeta was antagonizing this comment, basically saying "that's the spirit" even though he knew he had no chance of holding on. He was being coy. It wasn't an accident that he said that. Thirdly, there's no way you can say the Kai SS2 transformation is better than the original. The music in the original dub cannot be beaten in my opinion. The Falcouner scores were specifically meant to emphasize and enhance the greatness of specific scenes like that. It is not always best for softer, more tedious scenes, but the big scenes are ALWAYS nailed. Gohan's Anger score, the Cell Games score, Cell's Theme, they all carry so much weight. IDK how anyone can say the Kai music has any serious comparison to those? I just don't see it.....🤷🏾♂️
@@I-absolveyouofyoursins pop simply means popular culture. It’s an idiomatic expression. Asking how he knew that is just like asking how Vegeta knew Japanese lol.
idc what anyone says Stephanie will always be Gohan for me and plus there's a great edit with no monologue and it sounds amazing as well with messiah track playing, plus me personally is my favourite the kikuchi score with the eng dub not Faulconer because it doesn't have Trunk's theme or any of the iconic tracks Kikuchu has, plus I like younger Eric vale in dbz he sounds like a young teenager and not a smoker or much older 30 year old dude in Kai, finally imo the Cell saga dub is only fantastic if it's played with Kikuchi score otehrwise I'll go with Kai over anything else honestly Kikuchi is slept on soo bad and overhated by americans even though it's superior to Faulconer in everyway
Thanks for letting me see some of the Kai changes I haven't watched it in years. I did notice that unlike the Frieza Saga a lot more of the dialoge was used from the original. The Lone Warrior score hits hard af and the Z score specifically when Cell is dying. That piano hits hard. Tho we will disagree on the delivery specifically because I mostly can't stand Gohan in Kai. The voice is just annoying but that is just preferance. I will say specifically that Dameon Clarke in DBZ just sound better objectivly. In Kai he just feels like the whole time he is going "That's how I sounded 10 years ago right?" It just sounds off. I have a feeling that the Buu Saga is gonna be the oppoiste of the Frieza Saga. By the time the Buu Saga was originally Dubed the english cast really cemented their voices and delivery in DBZ at that point. Even the script had vastly improved by that point and I feel that Kai didn't really need to redo the Buu Saga. I watched Kai back in the day and once it ended and I found out the Buu Saga existed I had no problems just going to watch the OG Buu Saga. In fact when I heard the differences in the voice delivery and soundtrack it made me want to go back and watch the OG Z more. Love the hard work tho I will say syncing up the footage could be better. Kai specifically used more footage in some comparisions and it kind of felt unfair at times. I await your Buu Saga review tho and the wait begins. Now.
The most biased opinion is what you should’ve said in the beginning of this video your clearly biased on Kai and there’s no hiding it, Vegeta describing 18 and 17 in scene was overall far better in Z
@@KeyReviewsOfficialYou've been completely honest about which dub did which scenes better. While I don't agree with all of them, I still respect your opinion and appreciate some of the points about dbz that give me more appreciation for it and less biased just because I like kai's superb voice acting and almost all the new voices.
The kai dub is objectively better than z dub since it is an accurate representación of the manga and not a bastardization of it. Enjoy your bastardized versión that nobody outside the US likes
I feel lot a lot of people here never actually watched Kai so their bias. I've watched both, and also read the manga. I can tell you Kai is simply better
Idk what scene you're talking about but you do know I watched every scene in its entirety. Just because it's cut from the video for copyright reasons doesn't mean I didn't factor it in in my decision
Music? DBZ and it isn’t close Gohan’s voice? DBZ Everything else? Kai (On a side note, HE MEAT RIDED KAI WAYYYY TOO MUCH THO..LIKE THE GOHAN SSJ2 WAS WAY BETTER IN THE OG)
Your kinda wrong Kai’s version is wayyyyyyyy better then Z cause everyone in the English dub is actually screaming their lungs off staying in character while in Z they aren’t even trying at all
We used the faulconer score this time but here's my opinion on these iconic scenes! let me know what your score would've looked like.
Don't mean to sound critical, but you forgot to pay your respects to the late Akira Toriyama. RIP senei.
@@cnsayin8847 I did when i heard the news but yes RIP Toriyama.
This is one hell of an april fools joke.
You are the first to ever pick Kai's version of gohan going ssj2 over the original. It aint a compliment
@@drake5815 ua-cam.com/users/shortsbWqRjAgw_3U read the comments. A lot of ppl like the kai version bro
Some ppl be forgetting that just bc you prefer one over the other doesnt mean the other is bad, both had their moment and some of yall are giving bad takes on both sides💀
Exactly
Like quotes (not voice actors): Kai mostly
Music? Dbz easily
Animation? Kai
Clean? Kai
Original voices (Gohan)? Dbz
@@TomatoSauce2010honestly I'm so glad to see that somebody prefers Gohan's DBZ voice because Colleen has a terrible voice when it comes to voicing male characters and kinda in general 😅
"Biased towards Kai REEEE"
Nah yall are just biased af with OG Z with rose-tinted glasses on.
Same applies to Kai D-Riders
@@manyamon2723 How? Kai isnt perfect, the pacing can be a little too fast for exmaple, but in almost every aspect Kai is the superior format, especially if you watch the uncensored uncut version.
Kai did a lot of things right but it will always lack the raw emotion of Z. And for some of us that’s everything.
@@forza8719 Ehh, for me I couldnt get into the OG Z dub, kid gohan and goten sound too much like chain smokers instead of actual kids, lol
@@Rivvy250better than 18 and gohan sharing the same voice and sounding the same. Gohan and 18!? And luffy. And goten has the same voice from z to kai
Even though Kai did the script more faithfully to the manga and the voice actors had more experience.. It sometimes just dulls out a lot of iconic moments. The Z dub had a lot of stupid lines, but they at least gave you quotes and delivery you would remember. Like the Vegeta trash talk vs A19 in Z just adds a certain confidence to the character.
Facts
"I did plenty of push ups and sit ups and drink plenty of Juice" - Super Vegeta dbz
@@freezasama5802. 😂
@@freezasama5802I will ALWAYS hate that line.
@@cnsayin8847 you just don't appreciate Vegetas swagger
I loved vegetas dialogue at the beginning of the cell saga Z version was best the score was perfect. "Fresh out of the factory with no warranty...and already broken. Vegeta is GOATED.
It wasn't perfect
“Oh how cute. He named it-oh shit!” ~DBZA Cell
“Never say die” is an idiom meaning never give up. Vegeta was sarcastically encouraging Android 19 to keep holding on.
In my head all I think about for the Trunks defiance: "oh? what are you doing?" "What am I doing?" "Thwarting my plan?" "Thwarting your plans?" "ARE YOU?" "YOU KNOW WHAT YEEEES" "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU"
I prefer the time it happened with Gohan on namek
It's going to sound like a cop out for me, I honestly enjoy both versions because both versions bring something unique to the table.
I second this
Kai added the tiniest bit of subtext to its dialogue. And as I learned writing, I realized Kai is better for it.
But even so, Vegeta monologues will always be iconic.
Iconic doesn't mean better
@@firestriker3580and opinions aren't incorrect, so stop acting like yours are
@@firestriker3580he never said that
While I agree with a majority of your choices, it feels like whenever Vegeta's score played, you instantly went Z wins and then times where Z was simply better but lacked Vegeta's theme, you chose Kai.
Nostalgia is definitely a factor for a lot of us. DBZ may not have always been faithful to the source material (particularly the Ocean Dub) but it has so many iconic one liners, the Faulconer score, Gohan's not horribly whiney voice which is the biggest reasons I can't stand kai lol. Goku begins acting more dumb like in Super, too. He generally sounded a lot more serious in Z, and he was especially in the Japanese dub. Namek was obviously shaky at first, they were all inexperienced and the fact is 90s dubs could be bad, but by the time he became a super saiyan he started to make him sound a lot better.
hells bells
@@Valientlink "Gohan's horribly whiney voice"
As opposed to sounding like a chain smoker at the age of 5-11? LOL.
@@rhondahoward8025 Yeah. I prefer his rougher voice a million times more. He doesn't even sound like a chain smoker anyway lol. Most chain smokers don't even have a strained voice anyway.
All that is falls. Goku is supposed to sound dumb and high and in the japanese version of Z.. He didn't even sound serious in the japanese version of Z.. And by the time you became super saiyan goku was not supposed to be serious
There’s no way he picked Kai ssj 2 transformation over Zs 😭
Right
Fr though
And I won't watch this anymore!!!!!
I mean the Japanese original is better than both in all fairness
it’s just better, no corny monologue. the beautiful silence carries it into an incredible scream
Aw man, I was all impressed you didn't use the Faulconer music last time. It's so hard to have a Z vs Kai debate because so many dub fans just care more about the dub score than anything else. Even Crunchyroll doesn't stream that version of it.
I mean this with no offense to Faulconer fans, but DBZ will always be presented with it's original Kikuchi score going forward. It's the default setting on the DVDs/Blu-Rays. Most Future fans will watch it like that. The entire rest of the world doesn't find Z "literally unwatchable without Faulconer". Replacement scores were just a weird phase of the times.
@@Jedi-xm7rw kikuchi score is 🤢🤢🤢🤮
"you've just started your self destruct sequence" and "looks like I'm a size 19" LOL but that comes from DBZA.
Can’t believe you missed out on Picolo’s Super Namekian power up against 17 as well as Vegeta reacting to Picolo’s power and his declaration to surpassing the super saiyan wall. that would’ve been a good one
Its a good thing you didn't make a japanese comparison video because japanese in the old Z completely obliterates the japanese in the kai version 😅
I wouldn't know. I haven't watched dbz in sub. The only sub I've seen from dragon ball was from super
@@KeyReviewsOfficialeveryone sounds 20 years older, tired from doing the same lines every year for games, and many voices didn't return for Kai. You watch Z in sub and Kai in dub.
@@KeyReviewsOfficial I highly recommend watching at least some clips of the Japanese broadcast audio on UA-cam if you don't plan on watching the series subbed, it's ultra crisp and the performances are top notch.
The VAs in Kai got old, hence their weakened delivery. But watching DB Kai in Japanese to me is the closest to watching the original Z with the master audio.
@@Mat7920H nah its completely different recordings with different delivery, DBZ broadcast audio is just fine if you want high quality old dbz audio, unfortunately it's not stereo but that's an issue with Toei not moving away from mono at the time, and it still sounds pretty damn nice regardless.
it’s ridiculous how many people think the cheesy acting in Z is “more natural” than in kai
I’ve been dealing with z dub fans for over a decade. A lot of it is nostalgia and delusion
Yeah just listen to the ssj2 gohan transformation in Z its so annoying hearing him yap to himself when there was no need for a speech
And we didn't need the silence with the annoying chirping bird 🤷
31:37 Og Gohan voice actress > Kai
Easily! And doesn't sound Generic like I'm hearing Strawhat luffy
@@manyamon2723 I grew up with Kai's gohan and i never had a problem with it but nowadays I definitely hear luffy at times 😂😂
@@manyamon2723. That’s one reason why I can’t watch kai because when I hear gohan talk I just hear luffy if I wanna hear luffy I would watch one piece
@@KeyReviewsOfficialStephanie nandoly is really good for Kid Goku and Kid Gohan 😌❤️
100% and Stephanie told me some messed up stuff about how she was shafted from reprising her role.
oh what are doing!?
what am I doing?
thwarting my plans!?
thwarting your plans?
are you!?
you know what, yes I am! -DBZA trunks and vegeta.
Honestly I like Stephanie nandoly's Kid Gohan in DBZ rather than girlish Voice in Kai
Sorry but i think namdoly nailed Kid Gohan and Kid Goku for me ❤
100% agree. Nadolny's matched the bluntness kid Goku and Gohan had along with Masako Nozawa's performance.
Also the Kai voice for the Kid versions of Goku and Gohan is Colleen Clinkenbeard. The same english voice actor for Erza, Momo Yaoyorozu, and Luffy.
Gohan is literally 10 YEARS old.
@@awsomeboy360 not every 10 year old has a voice like that. I sure as hell didn't at that age.
@@mangaaddict3056 No one said every 10 eyar old has a super high voice. However no ten year old has an incredibly raspy voice like the dbz voice. It's not like I dislike the actress she's AMAZING as Kid Goku, but I think Colleen fits Gohan age FAR more. I don't dislike Stephanie nandoly either, her scenes are super nostalgic for me.
even the original va's said that the dbz dub was inferior and they didn't like their original performances.
no shit they gotta promote the newer thing lmao
DBZA did Gohan's SSJ2 transformation the best. Cell says " I'd say he's gone to a better place, but we both know he never had a soul."
Its insane how much Faulconer's music elevates the dub. God how I wish we had it in Kai!
"You're about to fight a real Super Sayain.....and I'm not talkin about Goku!" Somehow this epic line lost to Kai which...I can't even remember what he said in that version.
It's the delivery that made me go with kai
@@KeyReviewsOfficial the delivery in Z is so much better and feels natural. In kai it's overacting as if they are reading a script from a piece of paper. Sounds like you're being biased towards Kai
@@drake5815 😭 dude it's an opinion I promise you it's not a big deal I like the kai scene over Z and vice versa for you. Only difference is I'm not faulting you for your opinion
@@KeyReviewsOfficial one thing I learned from talking with hardcore z dub fans, is they get very tense when you don’t think it’s the second coming of Christ
@@オレンジ-o2j 😭😭
A little going away present and big bang attack is REALLY CLOSE imo…depends whether you like and appreciate the last of a Sadistic cruel vegeta laughing as he kills before his character development or if you like the delivery of the iconic BIG BANG ATTACK
FINAL FLASH!!!
Oh how cute, he named it- OH SHIT!
For the scene where Vegeta turned SSJ (in kai), I don't get why you omitted the part where he said, "One doesn't predict or calculate the kind of power we have." It was another great line.
“You’re about to fight a real super sayian” is better in OG
I grew up with original z and watched it over and over, but know im old i prefer kai its easier to get through, but i personally love team four stars for the absolute laughs while still being some what serious.
As someone who grew up with Z with the Faulconer score, watching it repeatedly on VHS recordings, I think the Kai dub is better pretty much across the board except the replacement score is usually pretty terrible, and I do miss some of the filler. Like, some of the Z lines are really memorable to me and I have emotions attached to them, but if I imagine being new to both, Kai generally wins. As for the score, plenty of fan projects now exist rescoring Kai - Faulconer's been done, and restoring Yamamoto throughout. We're just missing a well-executed version of the proper Kikuchi Z placement, which would be my ideal version. Looking forward to Buu!
I respect that you enjoy Kai , from my perspective in Kai it seems like they’re over acting along with me not preferring the music
For me I think Kai's music is consistently pretty good. Z's peak songs like the final flash and the ssj2 ost are better than Kai's but the rest are just okay imo
@@KeyReviewsOfficial i respect your perspective
@@TreFKennedy agreed the voices sound forced like someone exherting pressure on the actors to perform while Z sounds more Natural imo
@@freezasama5802 exactly Z felt way more natural in juxtaposition to Kai
@@freezasama5802z sounds more natural? Z sounds like a bunch of amateurs who don't know what they're doing and making up dialogue due to not having accurate translation of the source material. You can tell in kai, the VAs have more experience and understand their characters better
Trunks Transforming into a Super Saiyan bgm is much better in Japanese Dub of Dragon ball Z kukuchi's score is really something else 🔥
@@swastikbiswas2121 naw, kikuchi is fucking garbage
Maybe it's just me, I feel like the OST for Kai doesn't really fit all that well. It feels more like it belongs in DBS. I'll admit, I experienced Super before even touching Kai so that's probably effecting my view.
Truth
FATCS
Yeah its because you watched super first they use tracks from kai in super so thats your fault
Vegeta in this saga in the original Z sounds sarcastic and arrogant which fits him but Sabat was trying too hard to sound like Drummond (he even admitted) , they should've remastered this saga with Vegeta like they did in the first two sagas cuz that deep voice fits him perfectly , while he shows more emotion and consistency in Kai , he sounds too angry and emotional and less mature , the fact that Sabat kept the same formula for Vegeta from that Kai onwards shows how hard Original DBZ and GT dub was (GT Vegeta was perfection).
Thank you for this video, I've been waiting for this a long time ☺️❤
Being objective without nostalgia or anything, the best way to see dbz in English is the kai version since it is faithful to the Japanese
No
I'll be honest i like Kikuchi score in the old Z but in kai apart from a few emotional scenes its badly placed and does not fit in Many parts in kai.
Z has a few parts where the ost doesn't fit but it still works and conveys the scenario of the characters much better than how kai handles it.
I don't blame kai after the Yamamoto scandal but its still a big downgrade compare to the kikuchi of old.
The Kikuchi score kit Kai, they just didn't use that much of it.
@@bowserbreaker2515 because they did a poor job of implementing it in the right way due to a rushed schedule
@@manyamon2723 True. But some of it sounded great. Aside from Goku's "I Am" speech, all the emotional moments sounded great, and I really liked them using Piccolo's theme as the recap theme. Maybe they can release Kai one more time with properly placed music.
Finally an English speaking fan that doesn't have utterly insane takes on dubs or music.
I'm more into the manga honestly. Since this is a manga that came out in the 80s I'd at least expect the anime to retain that spirit of the manga from the time period not just modernise it for a closer cheap thrill to feel pressure on being one for one because kai can never be that. Never the less I still expect aspects of its dub to sound natural.
I go back and forth honestly when reading the manga to hear how both old Z and kai sounds and surprisingly there's a bit of both that I do like so its honestly comes down to preference some might just prefer old school to modern which is nothing new there.
Nah I’m sorry but this dude is biased as fuck bro I get that Z isn’t perfect voice acting especially in early arcs along with dialogue was hit or miss in some points. But z gave far more quotable iconic moments then Kai. But the last straw for me anyway was choosing gohans ssj2 Kai transformation over Zs that’s the biggest joke I’ve ever seen.especially after with the context of basically choosing 16s speech in the Kai version too. How did 16 convey more desperation in Kai when he was mono tone the entire time he barely showed any emotion with the delivery. And Kai’s music for gohans transformation was not better then gohans anger get outta here with that.
This is about quotable. This is about which dub is better. And the Kai dub is better
I'm constantly surrounded by noise of geopolitics, scandals, mass shootings, genocide. So I am perfectly comfortable being a 34 year old Dragonball fan. It blocks out the noise.
I think I'll always prefer Z and Stephanie Nadolny's Gohan, but over the past few months I've really come around to Colleen's Gohan in the Cell Saga. She does a really good scream for SSJ2 and the extension
Nice comparison. I've never watched Kai other than just some clips because I prefer og Z but for some scenes I can understand your opinions and see where you're coming from. In case some people are also seeing some of these Kai scenes for the first time, just try to have an open mind. Hope you do the Buu saga too man, that showed the og dub at its best imo.
I can’t believe Kai got a point over Z on Gohans SSJ2 transformation my word
I think really it depends on what you're looking for in Dragon Ball and also overall quality. The dub needs to be acknowledged because it is what people grew up with. Without the original dub, many people today would not be anime fans and hell, Kai wouldn't even be a thing over here. There is a huge nostalgia factor going into the dub because obviously if this what introduced you to the show as a kid? It's gonna have just that much more weight and impact versus the version you watch many years later where the only nostalgic connection it retains being a good chunk of the actors. Kai also should have its flaws noted. For some people, being more faithful to the manga may not necessarily be what they're looking for. They might like the additional in-between stuff with characters, prefer the fights to be longer because certain moments might give them more tension and of course there's the matter of how the footage looks since while the colors are alright and certain shots look good? Things do look a bit blurry at higher resolutions. There's also the matter of how by suggesting something is better that it means to a degree for some people you're suggesting the other is bad when of course it's purely subjective opinion. I feel like people should know it's okay to prefer the original dub. It's what you grew up with and would be your Dragon Ball and no one can ever take that away from you.
However, where my opinions change is when by "better"? People try to argue that the original dub is somehow more raw and impactful because fundamentally? The OG DBZ dub and Kai are completely different shows despite sharing the same basic skeleton. The OG dub is trying its hardest to be an action cartoon for 7 and 8-year-olds of the 90s, a show that's appealing to the same demographics that love Power Rangers, Beast Wars and other more action-packed fare, an audience that once rejected the original DB, leading to Toei to be okay with Funimation and initially Saban to do what they needed to do to make Z work in the US and as a result? The DBZ we got is not the DBZ that was intended by Toriyama or Shueisha. They took a mystical martial arts story that had sci-fi elements and made it an in-your-face knockout punchfest that was about the crazy one-liners, the explosions, muscular dudes screaming wildly as rocks shook, internal monologues and more and if people like that? More power to them. However, there's a lot from that old dub that does not work. The acting is very stilted, the lines as written can be fantastic but you listen to everybody and I think outside of MAYBE the rerecording of the Saiyan Saga stuff that no one sounds like they're fully settled into their roles and that goes for a lot of even the remastered dubs which I'd say are the worst versions to watch because they're not the dub as it was broadcast, they're rerecords that are a bizarre mixture of old and new lines with dropped vocal filters, mistakes outright in the wording that make certain exchanges confusing and so much more. Also some voices just do not sound good in hindsight. Linda Young for instance is a phenomenal actress and doesn't perform Freeza badly but... it's also not a voice that fits him and at many points considering the garbage she had to say as him? The menace isn't there. Stephanie Nadolny is a great actress who really gave it her all as Gohan when she could. I mean they were working under ridiculously fast production times with equipment that barely worked and various network notes and executives dictating everything so of course some performances can't be blamed on the actors but in the case of Nadolny? She doesn't really capture Gohan until like many video games later and finally, there's also the music which controversially I'm just gonna state that the Faulconer Productions score utterly blows. On its own? A solid collection of music with individual tracks I like and a few moments where they fit. Most of the time? It is extremely repetitive synth that often times is mixed very loudly, does not match the tone of the scenes it's featured in and NEVER shuts up which when coupled with added dialogue that either adds cornball moments or just explains what a character is going through when the visuals are CLEARLY supposed to do the heavylifting? Moments are ruined. I think for instance of Gohan's SS2 transformation. In Kai and the original Japanese? It's beautiful. The haunting silence that follows 16's head getting crushed, in the case of the OG there's the use of Unmei no Hi which is a fantastic insert song and there's the long build-up to Gohan's scream. Hell, the version on DVD and Blu-Ray where due to rights issues we couldn't get the insert song and thus it plays in silence is even more powerful. The dub? Gohan Angers is a fine track and as a composition could work for the scene... but it is used so wrong, conveying that this is supposed to just be a badass moment where Gohan's about to go beast mode (minus the white hair) on fools and not the mixture of tragedy and horror like it's meant to be and this goes for so many moments. Majin Vegeta is completely butchered with what is supposed to be the character's lowest moment, his midlife crisis basically as the arrival of Goku forces him to confront feelings he never really dealt with properly instead being treated like Vegeta seemingly really is in his element with Hell's Bells indicating that when he says he wanted to be returned to the way he was before that he really is content like that because there's absolutely NO leitmotif where we hear even a more tragic version at the very least which is a big problem. There are no leitmotifs in dubbed Z. When Hell's Bells plays? It's any time Vegeta's on-screen except for at least when he's getting wrecked. Super Saiyan theme plays? It's anytime he goes Super Saiyan and really only works in both his initial transformation and the Final Flash which even then got outdone by freaking TeamFourStar whose cover of that theme thanks to AinTunez demonstrates how much better these themes would be if they were allowed variation. I get people preferring Z as in the original Japanese dub or it's enjoyment alone. But if we're talking about which is just unequivocably a much better representative of Dragon Ball as it was intended to be seen?
It's Kai. Plain and simple, it's Kai. The voice acting is so much better. Everyone sounds like they have years of experience under their belt and thus every line coming out of them sounds natural and well-delivered. The screams are more raw and emotional, the delivery itself doesn't have that awkward feeling of an actor trying to maintain the voice over properly acting. Just one needs to listen to Goku's Super Saiyan transformation. The original? Sean sounds like he's about to double over laughing whereas in Kai? It's terrifying because it genuinely sounds like this is the angriest Goku has ever been and like at this moment he's at the brink of yelling, crying and flying off into a rage all at the same time, it feels raw in a way the old dub never achieved beyond the nostalgia. Also while there are still a few dubisms here and there? They're more enhancements that go with the spirit of the scenes they're involved in and the replacement voices are stellar. The late Chris Ayres IS Freeza and always will be and Colleen Clinkenbeard delivers a performance for Gohan that sounds like it's embodying Nozawa, Schemmel and Hebert and most importantly sounds like a proper young boy. While it's disappointing that Nadolny couldn't return, she still nails this role. The music? Okay that has its quirks here and there, especially when the Yamamoto thing happens and thus the Kikuchi score which already was run ragged by the fact that in DBZ they made so many movies that rather than make new music for the series, they'd most often just make music for the movie and then recycle it where they could sounds incredibly slapdash because they didn't bother to think up better music placements but even so? It's still music that sounds like it was designed to go with this series and a lot of the time portrays all the proper tones. Super Saiyan sounds a little bit like this is a dramatic almost horrific transformation as no one knows what Goku is about to become, moments that should be quiet are usually quiet and really if we must get into the pacing it's significantly better, especially in the Freeza Saga where things were slowed to a freaking crawl with filler. A lot of Kai's problems I feel like are issues that either only show up if you have a huge attachment to the old version you can't let go of or they're just nitpicks. I mean even Boo Kai which is the worst of the bunch by a long shot still is better to watch if only for the much more solid performances and faithful script and really that's my thing with Kai vs. Dub. If your modus operandi is just which show you enjoy better, I can completely understand when one chooses the latter. If we're however talking about which is more faithful and is actually trying to be a Dragon Ball show? Kai easily clears.
i respect the fact you wrote that, but fam 😭
@@papabean9670 It's definitely a lot but I do feel it's worth it since it allows me to explain my dislike for the dub beyond just going "It changes stuff therefore it bad.".
No
@@TheRealDyscyples Mind explaining that?
Truthfully if you could keep the perfect cell music, gohan rage music and vegetas music and put it into Kai it would be …. Perfect
I definitely appreciate Z's Cell Saga more, but outside of the Final Flash, I prefer everyone of Kai's scenes. Sure, I'm biased, but even during the few times where I'd say Z had better dialogue, Kai had better acting and delivery, which really changes things. I also prefer Vegeta's reaction to Trunks' death in Kai. Sure, Z's monologue was good, but I think it fits Vegeta more to just think "It will not be Kakarot's son to destroy Cell...but I!"
The Cell arc is definately when the voice acting for DBZ got REALLY good. And theyre top tier in Buu arc. I think Gohans new voice actor is my biggest reason to side with the OG DBZ dub. The rawness that Stephanie put into Gohan's scenes sound so artificial when anyone else tries to play it (other than Masako Nozawa herself)
Also idk why but I always thought perfect cell sounds better in the original, even if it is the same actor
People often say that. But nevertheless I think you should still watch Kai. Maybe you'll change your mind. Even if you aren't the biggiest fan of Kai Gohan, the other actors are still there and THEY have improved considerably.
I disagree with most of the views in this video, in my opinion Z version was the rawest, not to mention I like the tones of the characters voices more in Z. Goku Kai voice sounds too chipper, he had a more serious tone in Z that I miss in newer Super episodes. Same for Vegeta, his voice change is noticeably same as piccolo’s in newer episodes, at least the Z version you can cleary tell them apart. I like Gohans voice better in Z over the Kai. As far as your comparisons I noticed you used the Japanese score for Z once or twice, and judged the majority with the falconer score. That was not a consistent accurate comparison. You didn’t grow up with Z I’m sure. Because if you did you would know hearing it for the first time the way it was introduced to the world hit different.
Ok
Yeah another dbz fan lol. Kai is far better
@@awsomeboy360 that's right.
First off the Japanese score infinitely and objectively clears the Garbage Faulconer score so thats good for him on that part, and Goku's Z voice is corny and cheesy along with the stupid lines that weren't in the show, literally just watch a DBZ episode with subtitles on and you'll see how much of a shitshow it is, its inaccurate, horrible acting, scripts and everything. Nostalgia completely takes over DB fans i swear
@@Mr.Kakavot-sq8fv this is why I don't like Z so much in American Dub. Sometimes the Falconer soundtrack is louder than their voice, which I can barely hear their voices lol.
How in gods name could you skip over Cell’s initial reveal?!? Seems like there were plenty of moments that Z clearly wins that were skipped.
Like trunks’ “if they set that android free it’ll be the end of all of us”
Not to mention most times much like the Frieza video whenever Z won it was “well it was close and Kai still did this that and the other thing better“ but whenever Kai won it was shit on Z o’clock
There's several moments where I say z was a lot better than kai in this video. Idk the trunks scene you were talking about. The reason I feel like kai is close a lot of times is because the delivery and/or dialogue might be really good. To me kai does have better delivery and dialogue most of the time
Personally for me I grew up with dragon ball z dub more then Kai mostly because well I kind of like z soundtrack and plus that dub has awesome moments especially with vegeta using his final flash against cell was super epic in my opinion, and plus gohan using the kahamama against cell was really awesome and badass.
for me personally i dont really care for Vegetas new voice Chris is doing, i prefer the more rough voice from original Z cause it was far more distinct, Vegeta's new voice is just Chris's normal speaking voice which makes him and Piccolo sound almost the same. Because of this even if the dialog is better in kai it makes me prefer the og Z version pretty much every time, i also dont care for Colleen as Gohan when compared to Stephany, i think Stephany delivers most lines better even if i do prefer the silence in the ssj2 transformation
Rough voice? You though realize that by Main Buu Saga Vegeta voice changed yet again in Z. His Namek voice sound so damn bad in comparison. IN Kai he sounds far more naturalistic and his diction indicates his royal status. I don't really care that much about comparing but the original Japanese Vegeta also has the same tone.
@@awsomeboy360 in the majin buu arc his voice is still very distinctly rough. you can hear it pretty well when u compare the majin vegeta speeches, if you prefer how he sounds now thats fine. but hes basically just using his normal speaking voice now. vegeta was royalty of a very barbaric race. so i dont think diction was a thing they cared about very much, but bringing all that stuff up is subjective. i mainly like how distinct vegeta's voice was compared to every other sabat performance. he pretty much does most characters with his normal speaking voice in like everything now, never really flexes his range. og vegeta was a distinct voice he was doing and no other sabat performance sounds like that one. it also helps that Vegeta's rough voice in the og dub also fits how cocky and rash he was in early Z very abrasive. but like i said if u like the way vegeta sounds now that's fine i just happen to not
why would you want to hear that raspy ass voice when he could just talk normally lmao. It makes no difference and not even accurate to the Japanese version
I mean.. vegetas final flash in z sounded a bit.. weak imo. And cell's "whats this?" Was kind of stupid 😢
The dbz vegeta final flash is goated 💯💯
I put z over kai during this saga
Almost every vegeta scene was better in Z because of his theme music.
Just think of him doing these videos for Yu-Gi-Oh.
4:29 okay. 19 speaking there was definitely edited in for blue ray or something. That was not there before
Z Is the Goat cannot be topped never.
honestly ive been loving these comparisons because beforehand i had almost no drive and a complete reluctance to hear the z dub because of my childhood bias to kai and my preference of voice actors, but these vids have been such a help in noticing such *GOLDEN* moments in Z's scenes
Z is just so much more CINEMATIC, the og version feels like a MOVIE. Kai just feels like a Saturday Morning Cartoon…
How do you say something so dumb so confidently? Z has such dumb lines and poor acting. It's kinda laugable
@awsomeboy360 so does Kai. This is that type of show LOL but the dramatic epic scenes of Z far outweigh the Kai versions, which is why I like it more. I don't watch DBZ for "good acting". I watch it for emotional hyperbole. The OG Z captures this better than any show that has ever existed. That's why it got as popular as it did.....
@@Bakuru perfectly said, these Kai fans keep trying to force these “intellectual” and “technical” reasons why they think Kai is better. When it doesn’t matter, DBZ touched ppls lives on an emotional level, we don’t care if YOu think the voice acting is better in Kai or the animation is “technically” better, the show that made us FEEL, is better, and no cartoon made us feel more than Dragonball Z the Bruce Faulconer Dub.
@dre66roc I actually don't think the animation is better 🤣 which is another reason I'm not a fan of Kai. It may be more "clear", but it's not nearly as striking as Z. The stillshots of Z could make posters. I don't feel the same way about Kai. Now Z's quality fluctuates, which I will give Kai for being more consistent. But peak animation in Z beats out Kai every single time
@@Bakuru You do realize that if you remaster the cels for Z it looks MORE like Kai? Z releases that you see are basically a recording of a recording. The individual cels remastered would make it look like Kai and even better. Insane dumb statement.
I’ve seen a few people say he’s biasing Kai over Z and I’ve gonna be honest with all of you, if he’s biasing anything, it’s Z. There are plenty of scenes he gave to Z that absolutely should’ve went to Kai. A lot of them being Vegeta’s scenes. I grew up with Z and Kai, I watched both, and Kai is way Superior. Im
Not saying Z shouldn’t get any points but it shouldn’t have as many as it did in this video. Worse, a lot of his points for Z is solely based off the music which, is a problem. Yes, music sets tone but when that tone isn’t set properly(with how the faulconer score is almost EVERYWHERE in Z)it ruins the scene. As much as I hate to admit it, I’m ok with the final flash going to Z, that was one of the few times, the faulconer score properly set the tone of music right. That being said, I still prefer Kai’s dialogue for the Final Flash. So much so, I do rescore as on my TikTok and I rescored Kai’s final flash with an epic rendition of Kikuchi’s “Vegeta’s Sacrifice” theme. Which sets a beautiful somber tone of a one last desperate attempt to beat Cell.
Luffy's voice actor was Gohan's???? 😮😮
Kai also had the original music as well cause at the time when Kai aired in Japan about to conclude the cell arc they found out that Yamamoto had plagiarized the score and they had to get rid of him
Cell is really somebody that should most definitely come back now Frieza is back and has new forms himself how epic would it be to see Cell do the same
Z Cell Sega is definitely better than the Kai version
Absolutely not lol.
@@awsomeboy360 all the major quotes come from the Z saga and the fights were way better as well
@@shinsukecorbin425cap asf lol
I’m not sure I agree, the dialogue is still clunky and the voice acting is still rough around the edges in Z. The only thing I think Z has over Kai is the final Flash scene, and that’s really down to the music.
My big issue with the original Z dub is how wrong they got a lot of the translations and characters.
@@jameskingman1227 They only saying this cause they blinded by nostalgia.
Wish there was a sega where all three Raditz, Nappa and Turles was live and stand with Goku, Vegeta and Gohan
Trunks in Z sounds like such a dork
I can’t tell if I like vegeta’s slightly more deeper voice in Kai or if the more lighter yet scratchier voice from Z
Best way I can describe vegeta’s voice in Z
Personally I prefer Kai’s since it doesn’t sound like he has to cough all the time
@@オレンジ-o2j yeah that makes sense
No offence to the z fans here I just prefer Kai’s Colleen Clinkenbeard Gohan over Z’s Stephanie Nadolny when it comes Gohan’s lines that is.
i hate the original dub for the ssj2 transformation. that monologue made no sense because Gohan and 16 barely interacted to make it feel earned. also there's a good reason pretty much every game has that scene in silence, 1) because of the original japanese had it silent and 2) it just WORKS BETTER. whilst Kai had the better silence it did kind of ramp the pace up of the scene whilst Z had better pacing and the closing narration was great as well. it also had that bullshit inner monologue and since Funi wasn't paying for international music rights back then, so it's either in silence or in falconer's case, one of his team's shitter tracks and not Gohan's rage which would've worked more.
Z all the way. Z fixed a lot of the manga’s shortcomings.
Oh yeah you tripping gohan’s whole transformation in Dbz is way better then Kai
Not gonna lie when I hardly remember Goku's jab at Vegeta in either version, but I honestly expected dbz to take this one, but then Goku's sarcastic remarks had me laughing 🤣
The only time I agree with you is with Trunks dialogue. Really enjoyed the video either way. Keep it up!
if you like z you have nostalgia goggles???????? why can't both be good at some things and worse at others, there's nothing wrong with the ORIGINAL dub, and Kai's revisisions honestly make some moments better. that's not hard to say
The Z dialogue feels more 'sassy' while the Kai dialogue is more straightforward and logical. The Kai voice acting is usually better though. Z gets more laughs from me though.
Wrong.... when Vegeta said "NEVER SAY DIE!", it was a figure of speech/saying that was supposed to be taken as "never give up!"; it wasn't supposed to be take literally. Look it up if you don't believe me. This is one example of how you know Z was more adult in ways
Z is just so much more CINEMATIC, the oh Z dub feels like a MOVIE, Kai feels like a Saturday Morning Cartoon….
Crazy for you to say that since the way they directed the og dub was to appeal to said kids that wanted their hyper action fighting cartoon lmao
And I'm not saying it's a bad thing, that's what you yourself said tho
@@Deivid_Donofr dude jus yappin
Dbz Kai dub is objectively superior to the dbz dub and these videos just keep proving it
so not just dub reads but a music fan so this wasn't what I thought the video was from the title
Other than the music and censoring, Kai does everything Z did but much better. It’s so much more natural. And WAY more faithful to the manga. Kai wins all for me
This is without a doubt my favorite saga in dbz. While I still prefer kai, I can't deny that the dbz dub has improved here compared to the Saiyan and Frieza sagas. Watching this video reminded me of how much I would constantly watch this saga when I was a kid. I'm glad that kai improved some of the lack luster scenes. Overall, for once, I'll watch this saga in either dub.
just making it clear that Kai and Z Kai are different things, and Z Kai uses songs from Z, but the Japanese version, but in a somewhat random way that doesn't fit, with what they choose to play at each moment being somewhat arbitrary, like when Gohan's transformation only plays a song that plays in somewhat common scenes in Z, more of dialogue, but with slight tension, while in Z itself there was a song sung that said that destiny had finally come true, and how Gohan would end this monster, because he wanted to not see a world in which love does not exist. And Kai itself, which is the Japanese version, has practically no censorship, and has a completely new soundtrack, but there were problems with Z Kai due to accusations of plagiarism and such, and so it seems to be kind of last minute, and in strange order, the songs they put on Z Kai.
Doesnt feel like dbz without the og gohan and frieza va’s
I don’t agree. It doesn’t feel like z without gohans theme song or cell theme song
In terms of comparison, DBZ does have a lot of points when it comes to the dramatic moments, especially with the music from the Faulkner score. Although this may be my absolute personal opinion, but I personally cannot stand Colleen Clinkenbeard's voice. It hurts almost every scene that kid to pre-teen Gohan is in, especially when it comes to his ssj2 transformation which is one of my favorite scenes in all DB history.
Vegeta trash talk in z is better than kai’s
With respect to your liking of DBZ Kai, I feel like you missed some of the personality being presented in Z. And many times it seemed like because Kai made more sense to you, you preferred it. Also, silence seemed to be something you are akin to as well, which does sometimes bode well but not always. Some examples:
In the first scene with Trunks talking to Freeza and Vegeta talking to himself, yiu said you liked Kai more for Trunks because of the silence. But I would argue, in that moment, the slow music actually adds more reverence to his conversation. It made him more mysterious, which was the initial point. Also, you said Vegeta's dialogue in Kai made more sense, but I disagree here. At the time, nobody knew who Trunks was. They thought it was Goku who was emitting the SSJ energy, that's why Vegeta said what he said. As far as he knew, only one person could be a SSJ right now: Kakarot. The thought of someone else doing it wouldn't even cross his mind (and didn't in the original dub. He called Trunks a liar when he said he transformed)
Secondly, Vegeta's speech during his beatdown of Android 19 had much more charisma in the original dub. He is still an arrogant ass at this point, that's why he's talking like that 🤣 that "never say die" line is a figure of speech. The android said he'd never let go no matter what, even though he clearly was struggling. Vegeta was antagonizing this comment, basically saying "that's the spirit" even though he knew he had no chance of holding on. He was being coy. It wasn't an accident that he said that.
Thirdly, there's no way you can say the Kai SS2 transformation is better than the original. The music in the original dub cannot be beaten in my opinion. The Falcouner scores were specifically meant to emphasize and enhance the greatness of specific scenes like that. It is not always best for softer, more tedious scenes, but the big scenes are ALWAYS nailed. Gohan's Anger score, the Cell Games score, Cell's Theme, they all carry so much weight. IDK how anyone can say the Kai music has any serious comparison to those? I just don't see it.....🤷🏾♂️
20:00 German version wins this one. ^_^
“Never say die” is a pop reference. It was not a mistake.
How did Vegeta know about pop?
@@I-absolveyouofyoursins pop simply means popular culture. It’s an idiomatic expression. Asking how he knew that is just like asking how Vegeta knew Japanese lol.
Kai is much better and more well paced than Z Is.
idc what anyone says Stephanie will always be Gohan for me and plus there's a great edit with no monologue and it sounds amazing as well with messiah track playing, plus me personally is my favourite the kikuchi score with the eng dub not Faulconer because it doesn't have Trunk's theme or any of the iconic tracks Kikuchu has, plus I like younger Eric vale in dbz he sounds like a young teenager and not a smoker or much older 30 year old dude in Kai, finally imo the Cell saga dub is only fantastic if it's played with Kikuchi score otehrwise I'll go with Kai over anything else honestly Kikuchi is slept on soo bad and overhated by americans even though it's superior to Faulconer in everyway
Thanks for letting me see some of the Kai changes I haven't watched it in years. I did notice that unlike the Frieza Saga a lot more of the dialoge was used from the original. The Lone Warrior score hits hard af and the Z score specifically when Cell is dying. That piano hits hard. Tho we will disagree on the delivery specifically because I mostly can't stand Gohan in Kai. The voice is just annoying but that is just preferance. I will say specifically that Dameon Clarke in DBZ just sound better objectivly. In Kai he just feels like the whole time he is going "That's how I sounded 10 years ago right?" It just sounds off.
I have a feeling that the Buu Saga is gonna be the oppoiste of the Frieza Saga. By the time the Buu Saga was originally Dubed the english cast really cemented their voices and delivery in DBZ at that point. Even the script had vastly improved by that point and I feel that Kai didn't really need to redo the Buu Saga. I watched Kai back in the day and once it ended and I found out the Buu Saga existed I had no problems just going to watch the OG Buu Saga. In fact when I heard the differences in the voice delivery and soundtrack it made me want to go back and watch the OG Z more.
Love the hard work tho I will say syncing up the footage could be better. Kai specifically used more footage in some comparisions and it kind of felt unfair at times. I await your Buu Saga review tho and the wait begins. Now.
The most biased opinion is what you should’ve said in the beginning of this video your clearly biased on Kai and there’s no hiding it, Vegeta describing 18 and 17 in scene was overall far better in Z
😭 I wasn't biased bruh just bc I didn't like the scene you liked doesn't mean I'm biased. I liked a bunch of scenes from Z this video
@@KeyReviewsOfficialYou've been completely honest about which dub did which scenes better. While I don't agree with all of them, I still respect your opinion and appreciate some of the points about dbz that give me more appreciation for it and less biased just because I like kai's superb voice acting and almost all the new voices.
it’s called having an opinion at all, biased? bruh it’s just what he likes more. THAT’S WHAT AN OPINION IS
The kai dub is objectively better than z dub since it is an accurate representación of the manga and not a bastardization of it. Enjoy your bastardized versión that nobody outside the US likes
You think he was biased on KAI?! There were plenty of of scenes that should’ve went to Kai that he gave to Z. That’s hilarious lol
I feel lot a lot of people here never actually watched Kai so their bias. I've watched both, and also read the manga. I can tell you Kai is simply better
Bro what!? You didn't even use the "IF THEY SET THAT ANDROID FREE IT'LL BE THE END OF ALL OF US!!!!" Line! What!? Nah this is rigged to high hell! 😂😂😂
Idk what scene you're talking about but you do know I watched every scene in its entirety. Just because it's cut from the video for copyright reasons doesn't mean I didn't factor it in in my decision
@@KeyReviewsOfficial my bad it's the scene before Trunks blast the Androids cause they we're about open Android 16's container.
Music? DBZ and it isn’t close
Gohan’s voice? DBZ
Everything else? Kai
(On a side note, HE MEAT RIDED KAI WAYYYY TOO MUCH THO..LIKE THE GOHAN SSJ2 WAS WAY BETTER IN THE OG)
Although I would’ve picked some scenes to go to original Z that would probably have it win i agree with most of the Kai winning scenes
Nah bro you tripping
Anyone notice how he kept cutting the Z clips short compared to Kai. Biased much!? Z for the win!!
Not to mention that he also forgot Vegeta's speech after Cell's defeat. Smh
I'm not the editor and I wasn't biased 😭 I watched the scenes in its entirety the only reason why there's cuts is due to copyright
Definitely biased to the trash of kai
@@aarondaniels5024 are you not biased to Z tho 😭
@KeyReviewsOfficial no I'm not... kai just sucks. Doesn't sound good or hit emotionally
Your kinda wrong Kai’s version is wayyyyyyyy better then Z cause everyone in the English dub is actually screaming their lungs off staying in character while in Z they aren’t even trying at all
Z is better than Kai