ヴェジテールズ

The logo

ヴェジテールズ (rōmaji: Vejitēruzu) is the Japanese dub of VeggieTales.

The dub was produced sometime in 1998 at Dream Force, Inc. in Meguro, Tokyo (voice recording) and Zack Promotion in Shibuya City, Tokyo (sound production) and featured the same number of episodes as the original Latin Spanish dub.

The series was released exclusively on VHS and the episodes were released on June 30, 1998, with distribution from Word of Life Press Ministries (despite the Word/Everland Entertainment logos appearing on the back covers).

Translations and Voices[]

English Name	Japanese Name	Japanese Voice Actor
Bob the Tomato	トマトのボブ	Masami Kikuchi
Larry the Cucumber	きゆうりのラリー	Tomokazu Seki
Junior Asparagus	アスパラガス・ジュニア	Yuri Mori
Laura Carrot	キャロット・ローラ	Unknown
Archibald Asparagus	アスパラガス・アーチボルド
Jimmy Gourd	ひょうたん・ジミー
Jerry Gourd	ひょうたん・ジェリー
Pa Grape	グレープ・パパ
Dad Asparagus	アスパラガス・パパ
Mom Asparagus	アスパラガス・ママ
Scooter Carrot	キャロット・スクタ－
Jean-Claude Pea	エンドウ・ジャン・クロード
Mr. Nezzer	ネザーさん	Yū Shimaka
Mr. Lunt	ラントさん	Kenzo Hamada
The Scallions	新玉ねぎ	Yasunori Matsumoto (Scallion #1) Unknown (Scallion #2) Ikue Ōtani (Scallion #3)
Silly Song Announcer	「ラリーと歌おうのコーナー」のアナウンサー	Tōru Ōkawa

Other Characters[]

English Name	Japanese Name	Japanese Voice Actor
Igor	イゴール	Unknown
Mad Scientist	狂った科学者
Frankencelery	フランケンセロリ
The Pear	梨
Tom Grape	グレープ・トム
Henry the Potato	ジャガイモのヘンリー
Palmy	椰子
Singing Coconuts	ココナッツを歌う
Dad Carrot	キャロット・パパ
The Peach	桃
Asparagus Singers	アスパラガスの歌手
Christophe Pea	エンドウ・クリストフ
Goliath	ゴリヤテ
Percy Pea	エンドウ・パーシー
Lil' Pea	エンドウ少し
Dad Pea	エンドウ・パパ
Ma Grape	グレープ・ママ	Miyuki Ichijō
Lovey Asparagus	アスパラガス・ラビー	Miyuki Ichijō
Rosie Grape	グレープ・ロージー	Ikue Ōtani
Lenny Carrot	キャロット・レニー	Ikue Ōtani
Grandpa George	ジョージおじいちゃん	Ikuo Nishikawa
Annie Onion	玉ねぎ・アニー	Satomi Kōrogi
Buzz-Saw Louie	ハイパーロボットルイー	Kosuke Okano

Additional voices: Tōru Ōkawa

Terminology[]

ラリーと歌おうのコーナー (rōmaji: Rarī to utaou no kōnā) (Silly Songs with Larry) (Sing with Larry Corner)
- ラリーと歌おうクリスマス (rōmaji: Rarī to utaou kurisumasu) (Silly Songs with Larry; Oh, Santa!) (Let's Sing Christmas with Larry)

Episodes[]

Japanese Episode Title	Original English Title	English Translation
ぼくが怖(こわ)い時(とき)、神(かみ)様(さま)はどこにいるの？(rōmaji: Boku ga kowa kowai toki toki, kami kami-sama sama wa doko ni iru no?)	Where's God When I'm S-Scared?	same translation
神(かみ)様(さま)が赦(ゆる)せとおっしゃっているんだ！(rōmaji: Kami kami-sama ga sha yuruse to osshatte iru nda!)	God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?!	same translation
ほんとうの友(とも)だちって？(rōmaji: Hontō no tomo tomodachi tte?)	Are You My Neighbor?	What is a True Friend?
だれに従(じゅ)ったらいいの？(rōmaji: Dare ni ju-juttara ī no?)	Rack, Shack and Benny	Who Should I Follow?
少(しょう)年(ねん)ダビデとジャイアントピクルス (rōmaji: Shō shō-nen nen dabide to jaiantopikurusu)	Dave and the Giant Pickle	same translation
クリスマスを救(すく)え！(rōmaji: Kurisumasu o jiù sukue!)	The Toy That Saved Christmas	Save Christmas!

Dub Credits[]

Singing direction: Keiko Takenouchi

Fun Facts[]

Trivia[]

This is the only dub of the show to have been exclusive to the 1990s, with the exception of the two feature films. Because of this, while the Japanese dubs for the two feature films are available on digital retailer sites but only in Japan, the first six episodes that were dubbed exclusively for VHS have been long out of print and never reprinted on DVD, somehow owing to licensing issues. The six tapes were available on Words of Life Press Ministries' online catalog, but because they since discontinued them, it makes this dub now one of the most hardest foreign dubs of the show to find. As a result, this dub was nowadays famously labeled by fans as the most sought-after VeggieTales foreign dub. However, five of the six tapes were uploaded to YouTube (via U.S. import, due to Japan copyright law prohibiting unauthorized online uploads of TV shows) and mirrored onto Nico Nico Douga, and as of 2024, Where's God When I'm S-Scared? is the only tape leftover that is still lost at the moment and awaiting to resurface.
- Despite this, the Japanese dub of The Hairbrush Song was also included on the Have We Got A Show For You: 10 Years Of VeggieTales album and even as an Easter Egg on the DVD releases of The Ultimate Silly Song Countdown (without the text localization in the title card). Portions of the Japanese dub of said Silly Song were also included on a couple of other albums:
  - Foreign Exchange Veggies uses the "back there is my hairbrush" part.
  - The B.I.T.S. album and VeggieTales Live! Sing Yourself Silly use the final stanza.
Packaged volumes having three tapes per volume (one volume having Where's God When I'm S-Scared? to Are You My Neighbor?; another volume having Rack, Shack and Benny to The Toy That Saved Christmas) were also available on Words of Life Press Ministries' online catalog.^[1]
Despite only 1% of Japan believing in Christianity, this dub oddly (and intentionally) keeps Biblical references, including God, intact, due to it being distributed by a Christian company. A non-religious cut of this dub was never made.
This dub renames two of the story segments and an episode as follows:
- Larry's Lagoon to "Larry's Blunder" (regarding the part where Larry crashes his ship into a rock)
- The Gourds Must Be Crazy to "Crisis at the USS Applepies"
- Rack, Shack and Benny to "Who Should I Follow?" (regarding the episode's moral about the three boys standing up to what their parents believe in)
The covers for the 1993-1996 episodes replace "Big Idea Productions presents" with "Entertainment by pleasant vegetables."
- The cover spines, VHS end labels, and theme song title card also make heavy use of it, thus making it a slogan rather than just plain text.
The Japanese dubs of the first six episodes from 1998 use the same foreign cut from the original Latin American Spanish dub.
The Japanese dub of God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! uses the theme song from Where's God When I'm S-Scared?.
- The beginning portion of the theme song (up until Bob says "Have we got a show for you...") was also spliced from this version of the episode during the theme song for Are You My Neighbor? in this dub.
Like with the original Latin American Spanish dub, Dave and the Giant Pickle entirely keeps the American visuals intact, with localizations plastered onscreen and the unedited original Big Idea logo intact. This could be because either that was the version the studio was given (Dream Force, Inc. usually dubs content with the generic 1990s foreign cut), or the only 1990s foreign cut of this episode had The Hairbrush Song (as seen in the Arabic dub which this episode's foreign cut was most likely produced for) and no such version of it with Love My Lips exists.
- Additionally, a Japanese title card is added during the black screen of death after the theme song and remains onscreen for a few seconds when the opening countertop fades in.
The later episodes such as Larry-Boy! and the Fib from Outer Space and Lyle the Kindly Viking had been long rumored to be dubbed. It wouldn't be until 2022 that the Japanese dubs of those episodes were discovered to be non-existent, due to confusion with the Korean covers at the time.
- In addition, it had also been rumored that the dub was broadcast on television on possibly Fuji Television, as a poor quality clip of The Toy That Saved Christmas was originally on YouTube, but was later taken down. It was later discovered that the clip shown in that video was a clip from a VCD of the original Taiwanese Chinese dub for said episode.
On the description of the Japanese dub of The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie on some sites, Kappei Yamaguchi was incorrectly credited as having voiced Larry in the series.
The prime ministers in office at the time this dub was created were Ryūtarō Hashimoto, Keizō Obuchi, Yoshirō Mori, and Junichirō Koizumi.
The emperor in reign at the time this dub was created was Akihito.

Remarks[]

Though the dub was produced in 1998, the first six episodes oddly use the original 1993-1996 covers after the 1993 VeggieTales logo was already revamped at that time. Although it is possible the dub may have been created and released before the logo was changed.
In the theme song for Rack, Shack and Benny and Dave and the Giant Pickle, Bob and Larry's intro dialogue is rerecorded (and is slightly different à la the recording used in the English version from 1998 to 2009) due to the fact that Larry's voice in it is not the same as in the previous three episodes.
- The theme song also fades in a few seconds before it starts.
While most of the episodes use onscreen localizations for the episodes' signature moral-themed songs, God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! oddly doesn't.
This dub sometimes dubs in additional non-verbal noises for characters (i.e. Larry cheering while taking a bow at the end of The Hairbrush Song) which weren't present in the original English version.
Palmy's coconuts are given lower voices compared to the English version.
During Busy, Busy and Love Your Neighbor, the original English titles are sung rather than translated versions. This could be because English is one of the most spoken second languages in Japan.
Scallion #3 is given a voice similar to that of a young girl.
The Hairbrush Song and Love My Lips keep the original English title cards intact, with the Japanese title of the Silly Song segment localized below the screen.
Spoken lines in The Story of Flibber-o-loo do not rhyme, unlike most dubs.
Before The Toy That Saved Christmas opens, the Japanese VeggieTales logo (along with the "Entertainment by pleasant vegetables" caption) appears on a black background. The "Big Idea Productions presents" caption that appears during the opening credits also uses a Typist font instead of rather being plastered from the American visuals.
During the closing credits for each episode, the English version of the credits (from the American visuals) appears first, then the Japanese credits appear after.
- However, God Wants Me to Forgive Them!?! oddly uses the credits from the Latin Spanish dub.
- Are You My Neighbor? is the only episode found thus far to lack the English credits.
- Rack, Shack and Benny also has the 1995 year (in a Typist font) plastered over the 1996 one on the Big Idea logo that was used from the original master of Dave and the Giant Pickle.
- The Toy That Saved Christmas also replaces the Big Idea logo at the end of the English credits with a simple black screen of death, with just the 1996 copyright info in a Typist font on the bottom of the screen. The Japanese credits that follow also appear in a blue background.

Goofs[]

The only characters credited for their voice actors in any episode are Bob, Larry, and Junior.
The Silly Songs have localizations on the title cards during the beginning, but oddly not at the end.
Like in the other two dubs, whenever verses (except in Rack, Shack and Benny) appear, either there is a white covering plastered or the screen freezes before cutting to Qwerty showing them.
- However, during the closing countertop of Dave and the Giant Pickle (which used the unedited American visuals as did the original Latin Spanish dub), when Qwerty pulls up the verse, the entire shot where he squiggles his head and the English verse pops up is intact, and his close-up shot has his screen covered with a plain blue square (not adjusted in any proportions) with the Japanese-translated version of the Matthew 19:26 verse, making the cut between shots odd.
During Love Your Neighbor, Junior does not sing during when he and Larry sing "When you love your neighbor" until the song's title is sung.
When the Flibber-o-loo mayor (Archibald) declares friendship between Flibber-o-loo and Jibber-de-lot, the sound of the citizens from both towns cheering in the distance is left out.
At the beginning of Are You My Neighbor?, Bob says the letter "べ" (be) rather than "ヴェ" (ve) in the show's title.
At the end of Dance of the Cucumber, there's an animation error of a duplicate Bob running off to the right edge of the screen before another Bob, as seen in the other two dubs.