Sean Schemmel on the Dangers of 'Dragon Ball Super' Perfection

Dragon Ball Super's English dub is fast approaching the biggest arc of the series with the Universe Survival arc, and the pressure has definitely been on for everyone involved with the series.

That's especially true of voice actor for Goku, Sean Schemmel, who Comicbook.com recently got a chance to speak with. Schemmel talked about the true dangers of fans wanting nothing but perfection.

Schemmel described the push and pull between his identity as an artist, and the production behind the actual work, "There's a bunch of humans working on this. Some of them are learning as they go also. People make mistakes." There's also numerous machinations of things pushing and pulling at the show that have nothing to do with the art. Money which can affect the art. Budgets which can affect the art. Contractual negotiations which can affect casting. As an artist, I wish it didn't have anything to do with it. But it's part of the thing."

But Funimation and Toei have definitely improved over the years in Schemmel's eyes, "when you look at early days of Funimation and even the early days of Toei Animation, and Toei gets better and better and better. Funimation gets better and better and better. All the companies typically get better and better." Schemmel definitely has noticed a change overall, "I think everybody's trying as hard as they can with the tools they have, but those tools may not be as honed as they are today, such as my own acting or direction or the kind of directors they hire or the budgets that they have."

So at the end of the day, Schemmel is feeling the weight of his portrayal of Goku and the expectations fans have of the series, but the nature of the criticism he gets has changed, "I'm really bothered by how society and Twitter and the social media has just become, and it's exacerbated by our current political climate...I'm not showing up at your job, kid, telling how shitty a pizza you made because you're trying to work your way through college with a pizza."

As for how he'll respond to that change? Schemmel will be sure to not contribute to that climate further on his end, "I've been guilty of shaming online and saying some nasty things to companies, and I've decided it's not something I'm going to do anymore."

Dragon Ball Super is currently airing its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 9:30 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on Funimation, VRV, and Crunchyroll.

If you want to catch up with the English dub, the first 52 episodes of Dragon Ball Super are now available to stream on FunimationNOW, VRV, and available to purchase on Amazon Video as well. The 52 episodes span the full range of what has aired in the North America and covers the "Battle of Gods" arc, "Revival of F" arc, the "Universe 6" arc, and bringing the series right up to the current TV airings of the "Future Trunks" arc.

The first Dragon Ball Super film, now titled Dragon Ball Super: Broly, is set to release this December in Japan, and has released its first trailer. The film will focus on the Saiyans, the "origins of Goku's power," and has been confirmed to feature a rebooted take on the famous raging Saiyan Broly. The series will get a major makeover when its first film drops, and fans can thank Naohiro Shintani for that.

The beloved animator was brought in by Toei Animation to oversee the movie, and was approved by series creator Akira Toriyama. He'll be contributing to the film's script and character designs. Fans will get their first look at the new film during the Dragon Ball North America Tour and San Diego Comic-Con, as well.