| Happy Birthday, Dear Dragon Ball Z Uncensored II! | |
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Well it's finally been one full year since I started up DBZU2. Wow, one whole year. That's a whole lot of time. So what better way to commemorate the occasion than by... commemorating the occasion? Anyway, although I've told you some of the story before, why don't I start from the beginning about how this whole site began?
It was almost 2 years ago when I visited my first fansub store- and what an experience that was. Over the following 5 months I eventually viewed all of Season 6 and 7 on raw (even most of the Japanese commericals were still intact. Man, those things can be hilarious!) fan-subtitled tapes, along with dabbling in the movies and DBGT. But it was then I noticed a change within me that I had never felt before... I liked this stuff better than the English version. Much, MUCH better. And the English version had previously been my favorite show to watch. The music in this "new" version was more fitting, enjoyable. The comedy was fresher, made me laugh much, much, much more. And the action- it made everything I had seen beforehand look absolutely tame in comparison! However... my opinion of FUNimation still remained firm and strong even at that point. I had always liked them, for over 2 years, and imagined them to be the greatest and most wonderful company in existence. Heck, had I met Gen Fukunaga I probably would have smiled at him, shook his hand, and complimented him on doing a damn fine job of bringing this show to America. Instead, I find myself telling him to go screw himself while doing enough research to find out that, to this day even 8 years after he first started getting his hands on DBZ, he's still censoring even the "Uncut" version's dialogue to be "PG-13, under a certain 'level' of 'Uncut'" and lying to fans about it. How did such a dramatic change come over me? And why? Well, when I first had just light exposure to the original version (6 episodes) something inside just knew that somehow this was "better, even greater" than the English version I'd enjoyed for years. Until that time I'd never even given any consideration to the fact that there was an original version, or that FUNimation's dub was based off of it. Akira Toriyama was just "that famous Japanese guy" and Toei were simply the ones who drew all the pictures. But change eventually did come. The first thing I did after experiencing the Buu saga was to uncover more information, specifically on FUNimation and the original version. And what better place for me to go than Chris Psaros's Dragon Ball Z Uncensored? And went there I did. However, it was different this time... last time almost everything he said didn't even phase me. "Oldschool days, FUNimation has improved SO MUCH since then, and they pretty much reached perfection when the awesome Garlic Jr. saga first came out." (Yes, I actually thought that.) But this time- I took his words to heart. It finally dawned on me that as a fan I was being lied to and that DBZ was being totally screwed over. Why I didn't accept this the first time, I don't know, but I guess maybe deep inside I just wanted to believe in and have faith in FUNimation and the English dub I had so enjoyed. The 2nd major change occured while I was watching English DBZ episode 27.
Kuririn- "Oh yeah guys, we totally gotta wish em back ta dis dimension!" Kuririn- "-THE NEXT DIMENSION!" I turned off the channel immediately in complete disgust. "Alright... I just can't STAND having to listen to that next dimension crap! Maybe the rest of the Seasons will turn out alright... Say, when exactly DO they stop saying that God-awful annoying catch phrase, 'the next dimension?'" (technically episode 96, as I later found out) I then did more research- and discovered that FUNimation had changed Freeza's sexual orientation and mannerisms to that of a bizarre, homosexual alien who likes flirting with male members of other species, in addition to seeing how much dialogue had been screwed over. And it's then I noticed the "Season 3 voice cast change", and came to miss so many of the old voices. (To me the FUNimation cast came first to my ears, but overall I still missed much of the first Ocean cast who had done a remarkably better job.) Over time I eventually noticed something on DBZU's main page- it was a blue banner with light reflecting off of SSJ Future Trunks's sword that he was about to swing. It read, "The Dragon Ball Z Otaku Alliance". Below it Psaros wrote, "Please visit my host, the Dragon Ball Z Otaku Alliance. If you like my site, I guarantee you'll love theirs." I thought to myself for a few minutes- "Wait a... of all the sites on the internet he could have possibly chosen to bequeath his extraordinarily popular DBZU to, he chose THIS one? Not Planet Namek, not anything else? The... Dragon Ball Z Otaku Alliance? Well... if they've got his seal of approval then they must be one hell of a site, maybe one that specializes in the same content that he does." So I decided to see for myself and I then clicked the link. Once inside I explored everything. Particularly "Truth". I felt like Neo when he first leaves the Matrix and understands that the life he led had all just been a lie. Everything I knew about DBZ- or thought I knew- had been just that... a lie. A lie perpetrated by FUNimation, for whatever reasons they so had and chose to go with. It was then that the cloak I had over my eyes was now starting to slowly move away from my field of vision. But as this change occured I felt miserable, as if a good friend I had always been nice to had just taken a knife, stabbed me in the back, kicked me, spat on me and insulted me. That's what I had always considered FUNimation- a good, dependable friend I could count on for a fine, quality entertainment show. Instead, almost overnight I felt as if they were my enemy and didn't have my interests at heart at all, only their own greedy and selfish ones. It was then that I realized that I wasn't the only one- there were millions of other fans gullibly watching "Funiball Z" on a daily basis, just like I had once done, thinking that they were watching and seeing what "true DBZ" was all about- when instead they were being lied to and cheated out of what it really was, like I had been for a full 2 years. They had never seen original DBZ like I once had, so they didn't know the differences between the two versions. I decided to try and change people's opinions- but I had little luck. Real life friends would just dismiss what I'd have to say, with, "Oh, English Dragon Ball Z is sooo GREAT! It's the best show EVER! I LOVE the show so much, I'm perfectly happy with it! Yeah, maybe it has a few flaws, but it's still a pretty good show!" That was exactly what I had always told myself beforehand whenever I saw complaints about FUNimation (which I'd usually try my best to avoid and ignore) or had read Psaros's work. And on message boards- man, no offense to all you dubbies, but you guys can be pretty vicious and stubborn sometimes. At least 99% of reactions I got when I'd try to argue with people on boards were negative and like, "So what? FUNimation did this because, blah, blah, blah, etc. Stop complaining, just buy the DVD's and shut up and leave us alone." People kept refusing to listen, and I kept wanting them to understand. Eventually I picked up the DVD of Movie 4. I watched the Japanese version of it- and loved it. (It's REALLY not that bad of a movie people, sheesh. And I even thought this before I'd seen the Piccolo Daimao saga and understood it more.) I later decided to give the dub a shot and see what'd turn up... For starters, the really cool "dark, techno" style credits from the 2 tv specials and the "Head Cha La" opening from the first 3 Pioneer movies... now had this incredibly shitty "neu, neu, neu, neu, neuneneuuuuuuu!" rock song instead that completely grated on my nerves. Inside, the dub was littered with crappy rock songs that didn't fit in anywhere, and incredibly lame and horribly outdated dialogue like Kuririn saying, "HOLY COW!" that I thought had been retired when the first TMNT show (where, contrary to this anime filled with Japanese people, that kind of dialogue actually fit in perfectly) stopped airing. The rest of what I thought you can read in my review Movie 4. To say the very least, I wasn't exactly all that impressed with the dubbing work FUNimation Studios had done with DBZ Movie 4. That, combined with everything else, was the straw that finally broke the camel's back. I then decided that if I liked Chris Psaros's DBZU so much... and liked dbzoa.net so much... and wanted to let as many people as humanly possible know what real DBZ is all about like I once found out- then why don't I just create my own DBZU? Or rather, DBZU2? I wrote up the roughdraft of my Movie 4 review sometime around August 8-11. Starting August 12, I got my first response from Seashore Angel, and then Wedge and SSJLeia as I tried to figure out who I needed to submit the thing to. About a month later, on September 7th, she posted my review and later she and other staff members taught me some html basic's- and now here I am. Almost 5 years after Chris Psaros had the first thought about DBZU, almost 4 years after it first formally began on July 7th, 1998 at approximately 3:00 am PST, and almost 10 months after Chris Psaros's last update on DBZU- on September 7th at 12:30 AM Pacific Standard Time, DBZU2 finally began. So why'd I create it? Well first of all I had a problem way with how English DBZ was being treated by FUNimation, and I wanted a way to express how I felt. And what better way than a site on the internet, where any fan or person across the English-speaking world and beyond can see and read it? Secondly, it was sort of a way of honoring Chris Psaros's DBZU. I liked the site so much I wanted to create something just like it, only different and still unique- a "sequel" site of sorts. (and hey, he DID express in his goodbye editorial his hope that somebody would create a "Dragon Ball Z Uncensored 2" site and continue his work- particularly, the Cell saga) Plus I wanted to continue in a way the site that so many people including myself had come to know, love and respect. Finally- I wanted to fully understand for myself why FUNimation did everything that they did, from giving almost all of Majin Buu's forms horrible voices, to the horribly repetive and lifeless techno replacing the awesome original score, to all the dumb dialogue rewrites floating around left and right everywhere. And you know what? I feel like I really have accomplished everything I set out to do. I have researched the company FUNimation so well that I pretty much know them inside and out, and understand their manner of thinking and why they've done and decided to do things the way they have done them. I've also gotten tons of e-mails and messages thanking me and telling me that they support what I do and that they've had their "eyes opened to what real DBZ is all about" and that they think that dbzoa.net is, "quite simply, the best DBZ site on the internet anywhere." I honestly have no idea how many hits dbzoa.net's been getting as our counter's been broken for a while (it's going to be fixed very soon....) but we're now currently #36 under "Dragonball Z" on yahoo.com and #39 on google.com and weren't in the top 100 a year ago, so I guess it's probably quite a lot. Basically though, my work on DBZU2 at dbzoa.net over the past year has been a very successful project and I'm very happy to know that so many people like and support what me and everybody else at the dbzoa are doing. However, there has been one complaint that I've heard consistently quite a few times- that I'm much, much, MUCH harsher than Chris Psaros ever was. Granted I was undually harsh on FUNimation in the beginning (just compare my first reviews to recent stuff like Movie 8), but my opinion on FUNimation has mellowed out and relaxed significantly over the course of my time here. However- I'm still more extremist and harsh than even the Psaros man. Why's that? Well... for one I'm an ex-dubbie who feels a strong sense of betrayal from FUNimation. Psaros had the fortuity of seeing true DBZ long before FUNimation mangled it up and so, he was very lucky in being able to completley avoid that whole messy experience. But more importantly than that... most of Chris Psaros's work was done prior to Season 3 coming out. And most of what he wanted to do, in addition to letting fans know the differences between the dub and the original version, was to try to get FUNimation to clean up their act. He trusted that FUNimation were simply misguided people capable of improving vastly if someone would just pass along the right advice to them in a fairly friendly manner- and he spent most of his time and effort on his site letting them know and giving them advice on how to treat the show and dub it in a respectable manner. But things were much different in 2002 when I first arrived on the scene than when he began in 1998. Most of the series had already now been dubbed and was beyond any hope of salvation. And shortly afterwards what was formerly their most recent work on DBZ (Movie 7) had been a complete, total and utter disgrace to DBZ, the art and concept of anime dubbing, and anime fans everywhere. And GT's rap/e music... man, do I even need to bother explaining that subject? Sure, Movie 8 turned out very well- but so what? Even if everything else turns out perfect, there are only 5 movies left and the redub to go. Even if they're -completely- 100% perfect, everything that's been screwed up will be stay screwed up and FUNimation's not going to go back and correct them. Freeza will stay be gay. The Cell saga will still be loaded with more techno music than the world's largest rave party. And chubby Buu will still sound like an idiot, just as Super Buu will sound like an overacting-moron. So what I'm trying to say is- it is pretty much too late for FUNimation to turn around and seriously save the series and really show it respect. DBZ's pretty much already been ruined. It's kind of like I've just arrived at the scene of an accident, whereas Chris Psaros arrived while there was still time to try and prevent the accident. Thus, that's why I tend to be much more harsh. My main number one goal here at DBZU2 isn't to try and get FUNimation to change their act (though that is certainly one of my main goals. Even though there's not a whole lot of DBZ left, I'd still like to see at LEAST that much be treated with respect) but just to let as many fans out there as humanly possible know what's really going on with their favorite show. In any case, what I really want to say more than anything right now is thanks to everyone out there for reading. Thank you Ed Gorgen, for creating the original DBZUncensored (http://web.archive.org/web/19970127071333/http://www.bayside.net/users/saiyajin/) that inspired Chris Psaros to start his own DBZUncensored. Thank you Chris Psaros for letting countless fans know the truth, and for ultimately inspiring other fans to form the Dragon Ball Z Otaku Alliance to unite the fanbase and stand up to FUNimation. Thank you Dragon Ball Z Otaku Alliance for helping me know the truth and letting me do my thing here for a full year, and thank you everybody here who's helped me out. Thank you everybody for e-mailing me news, advice, random thoughts, etc. (There are way too many of you to thank to possibly mention you all without missing a few, but thanks particularly Wassup2@aol.com) What I be without all of you guys? And... thank you FUNimation. Although I certainly may have my list of grievances against you guys, you did inspire me to create DBZU2, one of the biggest accomplishments and undertakings of my life, so at the very least I am grateful to you guys for that. I may not necessarily agree with everything you do, but- some of you guys are pretty cool and do care about doing the best job with this series, and I thank you for that. So now then- what's going to happen at DBZU2 this 2003? Lots actually. Although I've pretty much done most of the same kinds of things Chris Psaros did, there is still one verrry important thing, that was the heart and soul of DBZU, that I'm still missing- episode reviews. The very bread and butter of DBZU that made it so famous, relevant and well-liked and I only did one this whole year! Well, my reasoning behind that was this- Chris Psaros has extremely large shoes to fill, and trying to fill them is no easy task. Thus, I didn't want to rush into the episode reviews too quickly, plus there was a lot of other stuff I wanted to say and do first. Basically though, this past year has in a way indirectly helped train myself to do the episode reviews. Looking at how different my Movie 8 review is from my earlier writings, I think I'm now ready and experienced enough to finally get into them, or at least much more so than when I first began. I'm not sure what I'll do after I review Seasons 6 and 7 (Garlic Jr. saga?) or where the site will go from there, but I am definitely sticking around for at least one more birthday. So, FUNimation and everybody else out there- like it or not, you're just going to have to be stuck with me and my crazy antics for at least one more year!
Thanks again to everybody for helping to make this past year a truly memorable experience, and for talking about the site, coming by the site, supporting the site and linking to the site. I'm glad so many accept what we're doing, and it's truly a thrill so many people are enjoying my writings and learning the truth about DBZ in America. Anyway, I'll see you all next year and I promise that next year will definitely be DBZU2's greatest year yet!
GreatSaiyaman777 |