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Funimation Announces Dragon Ball Z Kai's English Cast

The North American anime distributor Funimation has announced the English dubbing cast of the Dragon Ball Z Kai anime series at the Katsucon event in Maryland on Sunday. Dragon Ball Z Kai's main cast will be the same as in Funimation's original English dub of Dragon Ball Z, except for four new cast members:

Gohan: Colleen Clinkenbeard
Bulma: Monica Rial
Narrator: Doc Morgan
Chiaotzu and Puar: Brina Palencia

Funimation confirmed that it will ship the first part of the series on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on May 18. Navarre Corporation, Funimation's parent company, had revealed the Dragon Ball Z Kai license earlier this month during its Q3 2010 earnings conference call.

The Dragon Ball Kai television series condenses the 1989-1996 Dragon Ball Z anime series to more closely follow Akira Toriyama's original Dragon Ball manga. In addition to a digital high-definition remastering and a re-recorded soundtrack, Dragon Ball Kai also enhances selected scenes with new effects or re-animated footage. Due to the years that have passed since the broadcast of Dragon Ball Z, some of the Japanese cast members have also been replaced in Dragon Ball Kai's re-recorded dubbing.

Funimation already licensed both the Dragon Ball Z television series and the earlier Dragon Ball television series. Viz Media publishes the original manga in North America.

Images © Bird Studio/Shueisha, Fuji TV, Toei Animation

Update: More background information added.