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Dragon Ball fans get first preview of Bulma’s new voice following voice actress’ death【Video】

Casey Baseel Feb 15, 2018
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Bulma’s back, with a famous voice actress taking over the role.

Last month, we recently received the startling news that Dragon Ball Super, the newest anime installment of the massively popular Dragon Ball franchise, will be coming to a close in March. With so little time remaining, fans are clinging to every bit of new animated Dragon Ball content, and a recently released 30-second clip has their full attention.

However, the short sequence doesn’t give any clues as to how the current Universe Survival arc will conclude. As a matter of fact, it’s not even part of Dragon Ball Super, technically, but it still has fans picking up their ears, since it contains the first spoken words from character Bulma following the sudden death of her voice actress, Hiromi Tsuru, in November from aortic dissection while driving on the Tokyo expressway.

https://twitter.com/KINECT023/status/963941788913254400

The video opens with Bulma’s extraterrestrial martial artist husband, Vegeta, marveling at his own power and stoically stating “I no longer have any adversaries who’re a match for me.” Bulma is quick to correct him with “Maybe outside the house, but we have an enemy called grime in the bathroom, so lend a hand!”

“What a filthy bath area,” Vegeta remarks after cutting to an interior shot. “What is this pink sludge, and this black stuff?” he asks, before shouting “I’ll blow it all away. FINAL FLASH!” and releasing a blinding blast of ki energy.

“Seriously?” Bulma chastises her hubby, less than pleased at the hole he’s put in their bathroom wall with his superpowered shenanigans. “For dirt and grime, use these!” she commands while exasperatedly handing him a pair of bottles containing real-life manufacturer Kao’s Magiclean bathroom cleaning products, with Dragon Ball artwork gracing the containers as part of a promotional tie-up between Kao and the anime franchise.

No credit is given for Bulma’s new voice actress, who keeps her performance similar to the standard Tsuru established voicing the character for almost three decades.

Update: Bulma’s new voice has now been revealed to be Aya Hisakawa, another anime vice acting veteran whose resume includes another iconic character with short blue hair, Sailor Moon’s Sailor Mercury.

永年に渡り“ブルマ”の声優を務めて頂いた鶴ひろみさんがお亡くなりになりました。
あまりにも突然のことで、信じられず、なかなか言葉が見つかりません。

鶴さんは、たくさんの勇気と優しさを届けてくださいました。
本当にありがとうございました。
心からご冥福をお祈りいたします。スタッフ一同 pic.twitter.com/hP9NzIorAM

— 映画「ドラゴンボール超スーパーヒーロー」公式 (@DB_super2015) November 17, 2017

While it’s unclear if this is going to be Bulma’s permanent voice going forward, anime franchise’s generally strive for consistency in character portrayals, with the same actors and actresses handling a character’s voice across animation, video games, and other forms of media. It’s also worth noting that none of the Dragon Ball Magiclean packages feature illustrations of Bulma, so it’s not like the ad’s creators were forced to make a temporary voice casting decision because they had to include Bulma in the animated endorsement.

So it’s likely that this is how the character will sound from here on, and even though Dragon Ball Super is going off the air soon, the continued popularity of the franchise means that this definitely isn’t the last we’ve heard of Bulma’s new voice.

Source: Jin, Twitter/@DB_super2015

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he has Hiromi Tsuru’s portrayal of Ukyo in Ranma 1/2 to thank for contributing to his interest in okonomiyaki.