The Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Super Collaboration Special has finally been dubbed in English — or at least the second half has. For any Toriko fans in the audience, this was their first time getting to hear the eponymous Gourmet Hunter and his friends in about 10 years, complete with food puns aplenty. What’s more, this would be their first chance to hear what Zebra’s English voice would sound like.
Unfortunately, Crunchyroll missed a golden opportunity with Zebra’s voice. There was one English voice actor who would have been perfect for voicing the Heavenly King, especially within the context of this crossover, but the role was given to someone else entirely. The performance may have only lasted a moment, but it still would have been a chance to add to the meta of this crossover in a creative and fun way.
The Dream 9 English Dub Missed the Perfect Casting Opportunity
In Dream 9, there is a scene where Roronoa Zoro from One Piece and Zebra meet up and pick a fight with each other. Vegeta from DBZ also finds them and joins in on the fight. Thus, these three rivals of the three main characters spend the whole episode battling each other, albeit off-screen.
Besides being main characters second in strength only to the protagonists of their respective series, Vegeta and Zoro have something else in common: they are both voiced by Christopher Sabat in the English dub of their respective anime. Looking at things like this, it stands to reason that Zebra should also be voiced by Sabat. This casting choice would add a layer of meta to this meeting that can only be experienced by American audiences.
The opportunity to cast Sabat as Zebra was also only possible within the context of Toriko’s English dub. In America, this dub never made it past Episode 52. Meanwhile, Zebra wouldn’t make his physical debut until Episode 56. If it weren’t for the crossover dub, Zebra’s English voice would have remained a mystery. At the same time, Zebra’s voice in Dream 9 was open to whoever was considered right for the job. Therefore, Sabat could have been given the role and turned the battle between Vegeta, Zoro, and Zebra into a complete meta-joke.
Unfortunately, the role of Zebra was not given to Sabat. The Heavenly King was instead played by Alejandro Saab. He fits the role well enough, but Sabat was practically primed for this.
That said, the casting choice isn’t too big of an issue. Zebra doesn’t get to say much in the special, especially not in the second half; he only got a single shout. If either the rest of Toriko or the first half of Dream 9 ever gets dubbed, that could be another chance for Sabat to play the role he was always meant to.
