Yahoo Movies Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero stars on the show's legacy as 'Marvel before Marvel'
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero may be the surprise blockbuster hit of the summer. Already on track to best Idris Elba's Beast at the box office, the latest feature in the long running Dragon Ball franchise has a dedicated fan base turning out in record numbers to see their favourites return.
Ahead of the movie's UK debut, Digital Spy spoke to two of the franchises' long-running voice actors: Christopher Sabat who voices Piccolo and Vegeta, as well as Kyle Hebert who voices Gohan.
We're sure you've been hearing this all day, but we grew up with these characters, and it's fun as an adult now to be in this place of interviewing you and talking to you.
Christopher Sabat: Well, thank you. I can say the same for myself because I think we all grew up with these characters in some way or another.
What's your approach when people bring up the subtitles vs dubbing debate?
Kyle Hebert: For me, I can say that there are many other things in this world worth getting angry about, and that is not one of them.
Whether it's a local language or subtitled, you're giving fans a choice. Obviously, there's a huge mainstream audience that just doesn't want to read subtitles. And so the dub cast are obviously serving that audience.
And it's great to see the passion from fans that want to watch it a certain way, of course. That's totally respectful. I think there's nothing wrong at all. You know, you watch it the way you want to. But don't be trolling other people over it, and giving them a hard time. Because that's just a waste of time and energy. It just makes no sense in a world when there's so many other injustices. It's like, "You watch it dubbed? How dare you!" Come on.
CS: I feel like Dragon Ball is in a unique position where a lot of fans of early Dragon Ball – people who grew up on the show – it was their first introduction to anime in general. A lot of people probably didn't even realise that Dragon Ball was from Japan. A lot of people just assumed — you know, when you're six, you're not thinking about: "Should I be watching this in the original language?" You're just watching an amazing show.
From the very beginning, it's been my goal as the director and as one of the actors in it to understand how remarkable it is that we've been given this opportunity to breathe life into these characters in our own language. But it's also our goal to make sure that our version in English sounds as interesting and palatable to an English audience as it would in Japanese.
There are some countries where the dub actors are as successful in motion pictures as the actual actors themselves. We're very lucky that we've had this group of people for 20 years who have been breathing life into these characters.
How do you approach a feature versus the TV shows?
KH: As an actor, I like seeing things unfold. I don't want to have to know exactly where my character is going. It's fun to just take that journey with the character. I don't necessarily have a process with it. I just feel a sense of familiarity with something like Gohan in Dragon Ball, and where it's going to go. I'm just as excited as any other hardcore fan would be, and I'm ready to bring my A-game because it's like riding a bike. I've done it for so long, I can just snap right into that zone. It feels organic that way.
CS: Kyle does a lot of pre-lay stuff, too, which is the type of animation where the voices are done prior to the animation. The beautiful thing about getting to be an anime voice actor is that when we step into the booth, and we put on the headphones, especially if you're one of the last people in the show to record, you get the music and the sound effects and all the other characters in your ear.
So you really are theoretically standing in that universe, getting to perform in what would be the final stage performance, without all the rehearsals. You get to be in that universe.
When the show is great, and the music and the sound effects are all working with you, you are inspired by all of those things. You get to hear the Japanese performance before you even do your own performance.
There's so much to be inspired as a dub actor. I think that helps improve our performances in a lot of ways, because we get to feel the gravity of everything else going on around us.
A lot of animes have come and gone, and have had popularity in the US, or maybe not. What do you think it is about Dragon Ball that has permeated the cultural zeitgeist?
KH: The sense of family is so strong. It's just the core values, and it something that is so relatable. Even as outlandish as the plot can be – as Chris knows, trying to describe to someone what the plot is, they will look at you with the strangest look, like, "What is this again? What happens?" You know, it's an experience!
But any good storytelling is based on giving you good characters that mean something to you, and the story beats. Again, no matter how outlandish the story or the plot might be, something speaks to you.
CS: The story I hear again and again in the United States is: "I had to run home from school every day to watch that show. And if I didn't make it, I missed that episode."
There's something about the generation of the people – they were literally the last generation of people that had to run home to watch anything. Because right after that, the DVR came out, and after that, streaming media came out. People who watched Dragon Ball had to earn the right to watch that show.
And in many ways, it was the Marvel movies before the Marvel movies existed. It was our Marvel.
So the show, as Kyle just mentioned, it's so long, and it's such a show that people have found themselves escaping into over the years, either to plain enjoy, but also to escape hardship.
This show has united a lot of people. And I think it's that spirit that the show has. It's tattooed on people's bodies. It is part of our culture, and I don't think it's going to be going away any time soon.
Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero is out in UK cinemas on August 19
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