‘Dragon Ball’ Star Spurs Debate Over Controversial Dub Bashing

If there is one word to describe the Dragon Ball fandom, it is passionate. The community has become one of anime’s largest thanks to its global reach, and fans have done a lot to spread the gospel of Goku. However, that doesn’t mean the fandom won’t take up arms if need be, and a recent controversy has some fans rather irate.

Not long ago, yet another dub debacle popped up within the anime fandom, but it had no connection to the English dub. This time, it was the Portuguese dub that came under fire, and the whole ordeal falls back on the man who voices Goku.

Taking to Facebook, Henrique Feist posted a comment about Dragon Ball, and the voice actor shared his thoughts on the ongoing fan-war about the anime’s Japanese dub. As it turns out, Feist doesn’t have any love for the show’s original audio.

“As a dub (voice actor) for the show Dragon Ball, there is something that I can no longer keep quiet about — I am sick and tired of hearing that the Japanese version is better!!!! I respect all opinions as long as they are believable and not baseless. Your are either watching a different show that I don’t know or your barely understand the show, if at all,” the actor wrote (as translated via Ken Xyro).

Continuing, the actor railed on the dub’s quality with some sharp remarks.

“Do you have any idea how long it takes to dub an episode because of the f**king Japanese? Have you realised how badly dubbed it is? Have you realised that most of the time the sentences aren’t even synced with the animation of the characters? Have you noticed that sometimes the line is short but the character’s mouth keeps opening and closing without anything to say? Or even vice versa,” Feist asked before sending a final blow.

“If you noticed that and even so continue to say that it is better… keep the Japs all you want because I will stick with my fellow Portuguese voice actors who at least have some pride in their work.”

As you might have guessed, Feist’s explosive comments have caused fans to rally behind the original dub and the team behind it. While netizens have had issues with Toei Animation in the past, many refrain from aiming critiques at Goku’s Japanese voice actor. Masako Nozawa is the venerable actress responsible for bringing the Saiyan to life, and her performance is considered the standard for Goku. So, it is up to fans to decide whether Feist’s comment comes from a place of frustration or genuine dissatisfaction.

What do you think about this new controversy? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

If you are interested in the anime series, Dragon Ball Super is currently airing its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings and Adult Swim on weeknights. 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.