"Tenshinhan Zekkyou!! Kore ga Saigo no Kikoho da!"
(Tenshinhan Screams! This Is My Last Kikoho!)		 89-11-1
"Nappa...The Invincible?" and
"Tien Goes All Out!		 97-2-16
97-2-22

In anguish at the loss of Chaozu, Tenshinhan attacks Nappa with full force, but is quite simply outmatched, and doing nothing but wasting the last of his energy. Piccolo tells Kuririn and Gohan his plan for a head-on attack, but Gohan becomes frightened at a critical moment, and is unable to help them. Tenshinhan knows that he will be dead soon, and decides to use what is left of his energy on a final Kikoho. The blast hits Nappa, but leaves not even a scratch. Finally Tenshinhan, hopeless, grieving, and utterly defeated, falls to the ground, dead.

I have discovered that FUNimation seems to have 2 Rules of Voice Casting for English DBZ:

#1: The voices of the minor characters are about twice as good as the main ones, and

#2: All the characters whose voices are changed will be replaced with actors who don't do the job half as well, and in some cases, just plain suck.

In this particular instance, we see both Rules 1 and 2 in action. As of this episode, Kami-sama's original VA (the minor character with an excellent voice- Rule #1) is replaced by a guy who sounds like he's constipated (Rule #2). Oh well, the few voices that I like seem to be getting replaced one by one, so I guess it's only a matter of time before everyone sucks.

Also this episode contains one of the most utterly ruined scenes in the entire series so far.

English episode 18 continued

Nappa: "Don't tell me - I know what you need... A nice trip to another dimension! One way? Of course!"

Ewww, yuck. The "dimension" thing is said a couple more times in this one, this was just the most annoying example.

I can't tell you how much more effective the real Nappa is. First, his voice is a lot cooler, and second, his threats are actually threatening, as in "I'm going to send you to Hell," not "another dimension." He's quite a potty mouth in fact, all of which is lost in the translation, for obvious reasons.

End English Episode 18 (about 11 minutes in)

(55 sec.) OK, now this one makes me mad. As you may have noticed by now, I am a real sucker for the emotional moments, and when FUNimation screws them up, and drains them of all their feeling, I get very upset. This is the classic example.

Here's what happens: as Tenshinhan is lying there dying, he hallucinates Chaozu being there in front of him. OK, this is in the English version, no problem so far. Then the cut happens. He flashes back to when he and Chaozu were training with Tsuru Sennin, and there are some other shots of times when they were talking, or working out, or just being together. There's no dialogue here, but the music is absolutely, hearbreakingly beautiful and expressive. It is (for the most part) a melancholy violin solo, and you cannot watch this scene without tears springing to your eyes. The music becomes particularly effective when it cuts back to the action, as Kuririn and Gohan take on Nappa with this calm, slow, tragic theme playing in the background. It is the perfect counterpoint to what is happening onscreen, and makes it SO much more effective. It just brings out the utter hopelessness of the situation. Of course, the boring Shuki Levy crap used in the NA dub just makes it seem like the typical "action scene." I tell you, these people have absolutely no sense of style.

To add insult to injury, and to ruin the scene even more, FUNimation gives Tenshinhan one of the stupidest lines of dialogue ever.

Here's (approximately) what he says in Japanese:
"Chaozu...we will go out together. As you sacrificed yourself, so will I. This is my last Kikoho!!"

Now, compare and contrast that with FUNimation's dialogue:
"Alright! Looks like I'm back in the saddle, what luck! This three-eyed cowboy is going for ONE...LAST...RIDE!"

Ugh. This is one of those times when I truly hate what FUNimation has the power to do, and how they can utterly ruin a scene that is tragic, important, and very emotional. Just by trimming it down, changing the music, and adding terrible dialogue, they took one of the central and defining moments of the Saiya-jin saga and made it seem typical and insignificant, almost comedic.

English episode 19 continues...

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