‘Dragon Ball’: Goku’s Voice Actress Awarded Lifetime Honor

Dragon Ball has one of the hardest working voice actresses in the business in Masako Nozawa, and her voice has made a big impression on anime fans because of it. In fact, it’s not a leap to say she played a big role in many children’s upbringings.

The Foundation for Promoting Sound Growth of Children and the Child Welfare Foundation in Japan definitely agree as they awarded Nozawa with a lifetime achievement award for her contributions to the lives of many children.

Officially revealed by Nozawa’s Geikdan Moonlight theater troupe on Twitter, the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare awarded Masako Nozawa the special Child Welfare Award from both the Foundation for Promoting Sound Growth of Children and the Child Welfare Foundation, who recognize her contribution to the positive growth of children.

Although Nozawa has voiced characters in over 200 anime series, such as Kitaro in Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro, Hina Urashima in Love Hina, Doctor Kureha in One Piece, she is most famously known for her work as Goku in the Dragon Ball series.

Her work as Goku alone would be enough to get an award, but it’s great to see Nozawa get official recognition for the major contributions her performances have made to the world of anime and children’s entertainment.

You can here more of her work in Dragon Ball Super, which 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 is set to release this December in Japan, and it has just released its first trailer. The film will focus on the Saiyans, the “origins of Goku‘s power,” and potentially the story of the very first Super Saiyan. Not only does it aim to be the best film in the series, original creator Akira Toriyama will be contributing to the film’s script and character designs.