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Answerman - Why Do Dubs Cast Men As Boy Characters, while Japan Casts Women?

Even non-human characters can have these mistakes: In Digimon Adventure 01-02, Angemon and Greymon are both voiced by Japanese ladies. An angel that is clearly a male gender and dinosaur should authoritative and booming male voices.

In the remakes of Trails in the Sky for instance, I have a hard time taking Joshua seriously because he so obviously sounds like a girl trying to do her best male impression, and there's a grit to his character in the writing that just doesn't quite reach, vocally speaking.

In Brazil we also used women to do voice acting for boys, Gohan was portrayed by a women for example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwhWGs4or2E

The US dubs don't have this flexibility because the US dub industry is very primitive. The US doesn't have a well developed dub industry because the US doesn't import a lot of media from other languages so the demand for dubs of foreign TV shows and movies is low.

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Same with when a man voices a female character; that's just WTF...yes, I'm talking about YOU, Bob's Burgers.

What’s wrong with it though? When it’s done in Bob’s Burger it’s meant for comedic reasons.

Sure, Goku may not sound like an older man, but he sure doesn't sound like a woman, either

Juno016 wrote:

Sure, Goku may not sound like an older man, but he sure doesn't sound like a woman, either

I really think he does and so does Kenshin so yeah, dub tracks for me, please. Lol

Jose Cruz wrote:

In Brazil we also used women to do voice acting for boys, Gohan was portrayed by a women for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwhWGs4or2E

No offense to the voice actress, but Gohan sounds too much like a girl in that clip.

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The US dubs don't have this flexibility because the US dub industry is very primitive. The US doesn't have a well developed dub industry because the US doesn't import a lot of media from other languages so the demand for dubs of foreign TV shows and movies is low.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here or where you're getting this from, but it's very rude to refer to something as primitive when that really isn't the case at all. Not to mention, what you stated isn't even remotely true.

I doubt belvadeer was trying to be rude here, he was just stating an observation.

I'm belvadeer. You have the wrong guy. In addition, I never stated he was insulting anyone, just that what he posted isn't true and that "primitive" is a poor word choice.

I think part of why western viewers expect a more deep-voiced Goku is because most fans were introduced to the franchise via Dragon Ball Z, when Goku is already grown up, while Japanese fans had 150+ episodes to get used to the idea of Goku's kid voice before Z began. So they were fine with Goku's familiar voice not changing when he grew up, but to an American who had never seen Dragon Ball, this would seem really weird.

Son Goku is the most famous example that come to mind.

His seiyū always been the same since the beginning, Nozawa Masako is been perfect for the role and her voice make Son Goku credible as a boy that never grow-up trapped in a adult body.
But for western dub audience that doesn't sound alright, because of the image of muscle brain man Son Goko have.

Have been grow with TV dub, it was a surprise when i first listen to the original voice, and i think is better for the childish personality of Son Goko even when adult. But that's me. Most western friends of mine think a male voice is better..

Dubs are a niche for us Americans. Elsewhere in the world they are normal, everyday, television. The word choice might not have been the greatest but the facts behind it stand.

I can assure you subs are the default here in the Nordic countries. Almost the only time you will ever see dubs is for children's movies or series...