obviously they're different people, but the "style" for lack of a better word is very different. i got used to dbz in dubbed, and the original japanese piccolo/vegeta sound way too weird now. similarly, i got used to the japanese yuno gasai's voice, and i just watched a dub'd trailer and in english sounds too weird. why don't they use similar voices? pitch and whatnot

Because 'murica

because Japanese (and most of other Asian languages) have completely different sentence structure and their language relies more on intonation and overall "melody" of sentences, and you simply can't transfer that to other languages without them sounding completely weird

This post was edited by mortwatcher on May 26 2013 11:18am

I like the dub version of DBZ too characters and voices fit perfectly.

Because they are voice actors not voice impersonators

In Japan, they get the entire cast for a scene together, and have them record that scene as a group. This allows them to have a feel for the flow of the scene, hear how the other actors are delivering their lines, and respond accordingly. Thus it makes it more like regular acting. In North America, voice work is dominated by the budget. Actors are hired to record all of their lines for a season in one block (usually a few hours to a day). They record their lines alone in a studio, with no one doing the other lines. Sometimes, they aren't even allowed to read any part of the script except their lines, and have to rely on the director to tell them what emotion the character is feeling at the time to know how to deliver it (so the actor is basically flying blind).

This post was edited by NatureNames on May 26 2013 08:20pm

the americans don't watch the sub'd anime first? i guess the producers dont wanna pay em for 20hrs of watching, but really...

Dubbing for foreign shows is the most difficult type of voice acting an actor can attempt. They have to try to match up their translated script with the mouth movements on screen, which is exceedingly difficult because the animation was originally made to be dubbed in Japanese. This means, the English VA needs to not only worry about making sense, but also make sure that his length, emphasis, pausing, etc matches up with what's going on on screen- even though the structure of the words he is using may be completely different from the original Japanese..

Most anime voice actors are not members of the Screen Actors Guild or the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. What does this mean? Simply that they on average get payed a heck of a lot less than any of the VAs who do work for syndicated cartoons you see on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon.

Put this all together and what do you get? The lowest paid voice actors in America are doing the toughest voice acting jobs in America.