Nathan Johnson: the Dragon Ball Z composer is now Texas AG

Nathan Johnson, a former Dragon Ball Z composer who wrote music for Funimation's English dub, has been elected Texas Attorney General. The Texas Tribune reports it under the headline "In major upset, Nathan Johnson takes Texas attorney general's office for Democrats." I think it's worth giving him his flowers, because he's someone who worked on Dragon Ball and made memorable music for it.

I avoid talking about politics. It's polarizing, and I'm not the most educated on it. There are people far more qualified than I am. I don't follow Texas politics, and I don't even know what Johnson's politics are. He might have bad policies. I couldn't tell you. This piece is about his Dragon Ball work, not his platform.

Nathan Johnson replaced Bruce Faulconer on Funimation's Dragon Ball Z movies

Funimation still had some of the later Dragon Ball Z movies to do, including Fusion Reborn and Wrath of the Dragon, and it wanted a soundtrack made specifically for the English dub. That's where Johnson came in.

These movies were dubbed late, after the Dragon Ball Z anime dub was already finished. World's Strongest and Tree of Might had already been dubbed through the Ocean Group. When Funimation finally got the rights to those films in the mid 2000s, it dubbed them in house as well.

The Gogeta theme from Fusion Reborn is Nathan Johnson's best known work

The most famous thing Johnson did was the Gogeta music in Fusion Reborn, the theme that plays when Goku and Vegeta fuse to make Gogeta. That was Nathan Johnson. That Gogeta theme is unforgettable for many people.

Dragon Ball Wiki lists Broly Second Coming and episodes 1 through 67

Dragon Ball Wiki lists Johnson's credits, and the information there is correct. He did Broly Second Coming, Fusion Reborn and Wrath of the Dragon. The wiki also lists him on episodes 1 through 67 of Dragon Ball Z. Those are the Ultimate Uncut editions, the ones that wound up on the orange bricks.

Faulconer did not do those episodes. Faulconer was brought in for the second half of the Frieza saga, from episode 68 onward, which covers the Captain Ginyu material. Faulconer Productions then worked all the way through the Buu saga. Johnson came in afterward to finish the movies.

The wiki also covers how he got hired. He was hired by Barry Watson to discuss writing a new score for the last few movies, and he wound up doing it. The page even mentions the Ultimate Uncut work. I've criticized Dragon Ball Wiki in the past, but it has improved a lot in the past few years, so it deserves respect.

Why I'm giving the new Texas attorney general his flowers

I consider Johnson part of the Dragon Ball family. Even though I have my criticisms of the English dub, I still respect the people who worked on it. He's a musician, so I respect him, even if there are other scores I prefer. Some people prefer Kikuchi or Faulconer, and that's fine. There's nothing wrong with having an opinion on that.

Whenever there's a story about voice actors, it's usually bad news. It's either a scandal or a death. That's unfortunate. So I'm happy there's some good, refreshing news this time: a Dragon Ball alumnus is still moving up in the world, and someone from Dragon Ball has become an attorney general.

So I tip my hat to Mr. Johnson. Good luck, and don't forget Dragon Ball. I would assume the fans still love him, and they still love the music he put together back in the day.