Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball helped break barriers when it came to migrating anime to North America and resonated with a wider audience through multilingual dubs. Dragon Ball sets trends with English anime dubs, and for many viewers, it's the series that first exposed them to the medium. There's a lot to love about the Dragon Ball English dub, which has gone through a fascinating evolution that mirrors the progress of the dubbing industry as a whole.
At the same time, there are sometimes unavoidable changes—whether for cultural, censorship, or logistical purposes—that cause strange rifts between the original version of Dragon Ball and the English dub that has gained so much prominence. Some of the English dub changes are fairly benign or simplified, such as changing Son Goku to Goku or Kuririn to Krillin. However, other title changes have more leeway, some of which dub viewers may not even be aware of.
Paikuhan Becomes Pikkon In A Seemingly Unnecessary Shift
Dragon Ball Z's Pikkon is an original anime character that Goku first meets during the challenging Other World Tournament, which pits the strongest fallen warriors from all four quadrants of the galaxy against each other. Pikkon from the Western Galaxy quickly emerges as Goku's greatest competition, and the two become friends once the matter is said and done. Pikkon has returned in several instances of the Dragon Ball anime returning to the afterlife, such as Fusion Reborn and Dragon Ball GT. He has also become a popular character in many Dragon Ball video games.
Pikkon was originally named Paikuhan, which is demonstrably not different from Pikkon, making the name change not very different. At the same time, it still seems like an odd change that only creates discord in the Dragon Ball community. The English dub of Dragon Ball kept the more complicated character names like Spopovitch, so it's unusual for Paikuhan to be condensed.
Universe 11’s Toppo Is Changed To Top & Causes Confusion In The Fan Community
One of Dragon Ball Super's most exciting endeavors is the introduction of the Tournament of Power, a sprawling free-for-all battle between the strongest warriors across the multiverse where the price of failure is wiped out. Dozens of powerful and memorable characters will be introduced during these events, but one of the most prominent fighters is Universe 11's Top. Top is a Pride Trooper, similar to Jiren, but he is also a candidate for God of Destruction, and when he unleashes the full extent of his power, he is able to overpower even the likes of Frieza.
Top's original name is Toppo, another name change that seems somewhat redundant. The reason this shift upsets so many fans is because they were first exposed to the character through the subtitled version of Dragon Ball Super, which refers to him as Toppo. Audiences were already used to calling the character Toppo for a long time before the English dub introduced Top and became the norm. It is often difficult to relearn the character's name, and there are still many fans who continue to call him Toppo.
The Ginyu Force’s Jheese Gets Simplified To Jeice In Dragon Ball Z
As the heroes of Dragon Ball Z leave the comfort of Earth's atmosphere and head to the planet Namek, they face many dangerous adversaries. Of course, there's Frieza and his determined army to contend with, but the galactic tyrant also summons an elite mercenary team, the Ginyu Force, to deal with the heroes. Ginyu's power is a unique blend of intimidating and incomprehensible as they combine their incredible strength with playful poses. Jeice is one of the stronger members of the team and someone who often fights in tandem with Burter.
Jeice was originally named Jheese and the changed English dub version seems pretty similar at first and is an irrelevant shift similar to Freeza becoming Frieza. However, Akira Toriyama loves grouping character names by basing them on different items such as food. All Ginyu Force have names that are meant to be dairy-based puns. Jheese gets its name from the cheese, which is sure to get lost in translation when it turns into Jeice and is pronounced a bit differently than the original.
Taopaipai Is A Dragon Ball Assassin Who Gets Streamlined Into Mercenary Tao
The original Dragon Ball’s Red Ribbon Army Saga is a tumultuous turning point for the franchise, pitting Goku against a malevolent army of horrible DB people. Mercenary Tao is a particularly despicable soul who takes lives indiscriminately and boldly displays his impressive power. The character even makes a surprising return after his "death" by transforming into a deadly cyborg. There are numerous changes going on with Tao's name that need to be considered. First, the transformation from "assassin" to "mercenary" fits the English dub's mandate to sanitize some of the anime's adult themes.
However, simplifying Taopaipai to simply Tao misses the whole point behind the character's unusually subtle name. Toriyama coined the name Taopaipai to specifically sound like a Chinese name that gets lost in English translation. In addition, Taopaipai can also be translated as "Peach White White", which is consistent with the rest of the Red Ribbon Army's color plates. "Mercenary Tao" is undeniably more succinct, but it loses the intent of the title.
Dragon Ball’s Lunch Gets Conformed To The More Mundane Launch
Launch is a mainstay in the original Dragon Ball, disappearing for an extended stretch of the franchise as Akira Toriyama completely forgets the character exists. Launch never recovers from this disappearance and remains a marginal character as a result. The deletion of Launch is unfortunate because she is a strong, stubborn female character who also suffers from the unique affliction of experiencing a drastic personality change whenever she sneezes. Launch is a good friend of Tien and has been put to good use during Goku's earlier adventures.
Dragon Ball Z’s Filler Phantom Saiyans, Panbukin & Brocco, Are Renamed to Scarface & Shorty
Launch is a mainstay in the original Dragon Ball, disappearing for an extended stretch of the franchise as Akira Toriyama completely forgets the character exists. Launch never recovers from this disappearance and remains a marginal character as a result. The deletion of Launch is unfortunate because she is a strong, stubborn female character who also suffers from the unique affliction of experiencing a drastic personality change whenever she sneezes. Launch is a good friend of Tien and has been put to good use during Goku's earlier adventures.
It's weird that Launch is called Lunch in the original Japanese Dragon Ball, but the name was changed in the English dub because I found a character named after a food odd and confusing. That may be true, but Dragon Ball has plenty of characters with even weirder names, many of which draw inspiration from food. The name "Lunch" might seem odd on paper, but fans probably wouldn't be surprised if the character's original name was carried over instead of something close to the same.
Vegeta & Bulma’s Daughter, Bra, Turns Into Bulla & Loses A Family Tradition
Launch is a mainstay in the original Dragon Ball, disappearing for an extended stretch of the franchise as Akira Toriyama completely forgets the character exists. Launch never recovers from this disappearance and remains a marginal character as a result. The deletion of Launch is unfortunate because she is a strong, stubborn female character who also suffers from the unique affliction of experiencing a drastic personality change whenever she sneezes. Launch is a good friend of Tien and has been put to good use during Goku's earlier adventures.
It's weird that Launch is called Lunch in the original Japanese Dragon Ball, but the name was changed in the English dub because I found a character named after a food odd and confusing. That may be true, but Dragon Ball has plenty of characters with even weirder names, many of which draw inspiration from food. The name "Lunch" might seem odd on paper, but fans probably wouldn't be surprised if the character's original name was carried over instead of something close to the same.
Dragon Ball GT’s Shadow Dragons Are Given Completely New Names In The English Dub
Dragon Ball GT remains a controversial chapter in the epic franchise, but it still explores some compelling ideas. Dragon Ball GT's Shadow Dragon Saga responsibly recreates humanity's precarious relationship with Dragon Ball's wishes, arguing that it could be a privilege humanity has been abusing. The central villains of this story arc are seven powerful dragons, each representing a different wasted or selfish wish that has been made throughout the series.
The English dub of Dragon Ball GT has a lot of fun with these characters and gives them brand new names. In the original version, each Shadow Dragon is simply named after the numbered Dragon Ball they represent. This means they have names like The One-Star Dragon or Four-Star Dragon. The Dragon Ball GT dub establishes names like Syn Shenron, Haze Shenron, Eis Shenron, Naturon Shenron, Rage Shenron, Oceanus Shenron, and Nuova Shenron. Together, the first letter of each of these names becomes an abbreviation for "SHENRON". It's a unique approach to name changes, and the only reason it isn't more polarizing in the fandom is because of GT's already questionable reputation.
God Of Destruction Vermoud Becomes Belmod & Ditches A Multiversal Custom In The Process
Each Dragon Ball series expands the scope of the franchise in exciting ways, but Dragon Ball Super broke ground with the inclusion of a multiverse that is ruled by 12 unique gods of destruction and angels. Goku and company first face off against Universe 7's God of Destruction, Lord Beerus, but it doesn't take long for all 12 figures to come into focus during the Tournament of Power series. Universe 11 is one of the strongest realms in the multiverse thanks to formidable warriors like Jiren, Top, and his intimidating god of destruction, Belmod. Belmod resembles an evil clown, which certainly helps set him apart from his god of destruction peers.
Belmod's original name is Vermoud, a name change that only seems significant when considering the other Gods of Destruction titles. All Gods of Destruction names draw inspiration from various liquors and alcoholic beverages. There's Beerus (beer), Champa (champagne), Rumsshi (rum), Mosco and Mule (Moscow mule) and even Liquiir. Vermoud's name is supposed to be a nod to Vermut. This is obvious from the character's original name, but it is much less clear with the English dub name Belmod.
Dragon Ball Z’s Mr. Satan Gets A Braggadocious Rebranding As Hercule
One of the main areas that the English dub of Dragon Ball had to be careful about was the references to Hell and Satanism, despite the rampant violence and death that fills the series. Because of this, phrases like Home For Infinite Losers and Other World are used as euphemisms for hell and the afterlife. The English dub faced problems with Mr. Satan and his family, whose names are all modeled after demonic characters (Videl is an anagram of Devil). Accordingly, from Dragon Ball's Mr. Satan becomes Hercules, a ridiculous—if fitting—name that speaks to his wrestling persona.
Dragon Ball finds some middle ground here, and the "uncut" versions of their episodes refer to the character as Hercule Satana, but the character's first name is still entirely made up. There were even Dragon Ball toys sold before the English dub went mainstream that referred to the character as Mr. Savage. The name never appears in the anime, but it's still further evidence of how the character's bold last name has caused problems for international audiences.
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