HammerOfThor said:
WOW now I really dont know whats going on.
can someone please give me a breakdown of each set, and what is distinctive about it?
Let's count the sets Funimation has released of this series:
- Original VHS/DVDs
- Discontinued before the series midpoint, I believe.
- Dragon Ball Z Uncut
+ New dub, optional Japanese music included, has no edits from original material whatsoever
- Dicontinued after like two sets
- Orange Brick Sets
+ Lots of episodes per box set, something like 35+ I think. So that's pretty insane.
+ Both the Japanese music/voices and American broadcast music/dub.
+ 16:9 widescreen ratio, but at the cost of...
- Episodes being cropped to hell, shaving off like 20% of the image.
+/- Image quality is significantly cleaner than any other DBZ DVD release, including Dragon Box, but some colors are off and some edges are blurry.
- Dragon Box Sets
+ Complete re-master using original footage in-house at series creator Toei. More faithful colors
+ Completely uncut and unedited.
+ Obviously the Funimation release has the American dub, with the Japanese voices optional.
- Lacks the American broadcast music, as Funimation couldn't fit it onto the DVDs. No matter your feelings on it, choice is still better than no choice.
- 4:3, but it's the original ratio so most people probably don't care.
- Dragon Ball Z Kai
+ On Blu-ray and DVD.
+ Basically an up-resing of DBZ footage, but preserves colors.
+/- Some footage and scenes have been redrawn digitally.
+/- Completely new music, not using DBZ's original Japanese or American dub music. It's orchestrated fair that I personally think suits the new series, but the old dub music will always have a place in my heart. And actually, as mentioned, due to plagiarism claims, all music will be replaced with the original Japanese score in the later episodes and any re-issues. Most people have found the new music direction to be downright terrible.
+/- Oddly, there's cropping for 16:9 on the DVD and broadcasted TV versions, but the Blu-ray is completely 4:3 (yet still 1080p.)
+/- Cuts out all the filler, whether it's filler arcs (which can be quite good) or the filler in fights (so they don't stand around for eps on-end powering up*.) *Hyperbole
- Doesn't cover the Buu saga. Basically just stops when Gohan defeats Perfect Cell. I think this is where Z/the manga originally should have ended, but there's no getting around the fact that Kai is just incomplete. And there are some good parts in the Buu saga, mostly Majin Vegeta.
- Offers less than 1/3 of episodes per set as the Orange Boxes, clocking in at 13 eps for each release. Funimation has even started bundling Kai sets together at retail stores to try and make it seem like a good value.
- Dragon Ball Z (Blu-ray)
+ Well, it's ALL of DBZ on Blu-ray. Filler, Buu saga, etc. So just comparing what's available on Blu-ray, this set of releases will offer a more complete DBZ experience.
+ This is a plus for me... it won't have any redrawn scenes like Kai does. I wanted to like them but they are just so out of place. Either give me an entire new series that looks like that Toei, or don't bother. (Using new animation for the openings and endings is fine, though.)
+ Confirmed to offer both the original American audio in Dolby TrueHD, with the Japanese audio presumably along for the ride as well (although, it's unconfirmed if it will be the same quality. But it should be as good as what's been on the DVD's.)
+/- Doesn't offer the value of the Orange Brick sets, only 17 or so episodes per box. Still, compares favorably with the amount included in each Kai release.
- Presumably uses the same transfers as the Orange Bricks (still unconfirmed, though), but it's still unknown if it will be cropped or not.
- Could be discontinued later on. 17 episodes per set equals to roughly 18 sets they'll have to release.
And none of these are Japan-only. Hell some are American-only. Funimation has put out ALL of these in the past ten+ years. I think this may be getting a little ridiculous.
Personally I have no idea what the hell to buy. I was going to get Z Kai because I like having certain, special things on Blu-ray, and I really, really dig its brevity (although I do miss some parts like Gohan and the orphans, or Gohan and the robot.) But then I thought I should be a purist, and get the Dragon Boxes since they offer the most unadulterated and complete version of the series, even if it is just DVDs.
Then I said "screw it" and bought the first two brick sets because they were super cheap and I actually like the widescreen ratio and the American music (both sacrileges to any series purist.) Now I don't know if I should wait for this new set since it combines some things I like (American music, Blu-ray) but also has some things I don't (17 eps per box, could be discontinued later, has filler out the butt.)
Sigh. Funimation doesn't know what it wants any more than I do...
I guess if I could say what I want, it would be this:
- Dragon Boxes
- But on Blu-ray
- With non-cropped 16:9 magically added in somehow
- With both Japanese and American music
- And with a "Kai Mode" that allows you to play the episodes as if it were DBZ Kai
So yeah. THAT'S never going to happen. So I'm hoping for something almost equally as unlikely but not quite: that for the 30th anniversary of DBZ, Toei re-animates the entirety of Kai (plus what Kai would have done to the Buu saga) in glorious HD like the openings/endings of Kai. They could use the voice track they just did for Kai, too. And then when Funi releases it they put the Faulconer music as an option.
Yup. I'm never gonna get what I want. But it's nice to dream.