'Dragon Ball' actors visit Cape Anime

A trio of "Dragon Ball" voice actors visited Cape Girardeau as celebrity guests of Cape Anime on Saturday, March 9, at Drury Conference Center.

Josh Martin (Majin Buu), Chris Rager (Mr. Satan) and Dameon Clarke (Cell) have worked together on numerous anime projects, and in regard to "Dragon Ball", the trio has most recently worked in the games Dragon Ball FighterZ and Dragon Ball Kakarot.

The trio answered a wide range of questions in a conference room full of fans.

Martin said his Majin Buu character came from an earlier impression of the Pillsbury Doughboy listening to rap, saying his favorite line, "What’s my muffin baking name?"

Rager’s Mr. Satan was inspired by professional wrestling legends Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.

Clarke’s main character has three forms, each with their own voice. For Cell’s first form, he said he got his inspiration from watching "The Exorcist" because he wanted the scariest thing to go with his character. Clarke saw a meathead in Cell’s second form and drew inspiration from Terence Stamp, who played General Zod in 1978’s "Superman" and 1980’s "Superman II", for his final form.

Regarding "dubbing", translating from Japanese to English, since the two languages are so different, Western voice actors are more free to put their own spin on the characters.

They are limited to the lip flaps when it comes to their lines. There isn’t much room for improv, but the actors managed to find a way to put their stamp on it.

The series "Dragon Ball Z" ended in 1996 and the sequel series, "Dragon Ball GT", concluded in 1997, but the series was kept alive through the rise of video games and eventually a renascence with four movies and another series.

As YouTube was also rising as the premier portal for independent video creators, anime fan-based parody dubs started to become prevalent. The most famous of them all is "DragonBall Z Abridged" from Team Four Star.

"They are hilarious," Rager said. "They’re very good at what they do."

It’s been common in convention panels to bring up the topic of parodies and the trio was fine with the practice. Clarke said during the panel that parody is the highest form of applause.

The event took place a day after the creator of "Dragon Ball", Akira Toriyama, died at the age of 68.