What's Dragon Ball Kai? Funimation announces Dragon Ball Z Blu-Ray Release
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Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Zee-Row said:
I Have watched only a little of Kai, but i was unable to recognize much of the soundtrack as Kikuchi's. :/
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
Thanks. I might give Kai a shot now.
Big One said:
That's more than a year worth of material. I think that's more than enough.
I enjoyed it when the crew were on more of the episodic journey points like really early on in the series where they find that guy on an abandoned island who's in a treasure chest I believe. Then the series got caught up in the backstory's of character's I don't care about like Zoro (not Vegeta), Usopp (not Krillin), and Nami (not female Yamcha). Then we go to Buggy... Buggy...
HammerOfThor said:
And the orange bricks are still on the shelf.
They should just rename the anime section at Best Buy the "Dragon Ball" section. It's ridiculous at this point. DB shit takes up an entire shelf.
And in case anyone is wondering:
These re-releases of Kai will have the Kikuchi score. Volumes 1-4 that are on shelves now still have the Yamamoto score. Volume 5 has the Kikuchi score.
This series is a fucking mess.
perfectnight
Banned
I'm current with One Piece and it seems pretty accurate to me. The closest thing to a consistently entertaining arc in OP is water 7/enies lobby. Everything else is just vapid and shoddy.Big One said:
Takao said:
It takes OP a decade worth of material to reach decency
It's only really worth it if you are bored as fuck and don't mind putting in the time. Your time would be better spent reading something good like Blade of the Immortal or Hunter x Hunter instead.
Acerac
Banned
Holy shit I forgot about Goku's voice.Freshmaker said:
I can understand using a woman to VA a boy. However when he is supposed to be a man... it just sounds embarrassing? I know all about how he was supposed to have a boyish spirit etc. etc. but it sounded ridiculous. Like what a proper VA would have sounded like had he had a bunch of helium just previously.
Okay I have no idea what you guys are talking about. How many editions of DBZ have there been now? The music in Kai was the original Japanese music right?
Honestly, after watching Kai I don't think I can go back to the 10-episode battles of original Z. Maybe for the Buu saga.
Honestly, after watching Kai I don't think I can go back to the 10-episode battles of original Z. Maybe for the Buu saga.
Acerac
Banned
Cool. Naive people sound like they're women. I've never encountered that before in my life but whatever.Kagari said:
I understand how people would prefer that for some reason or another, but for me it was horrible.
It's funny how far past that point all the characters have gotten.Takao said:
Were Krillin and Yamcha typically integral to the plot? Nami and Usopp are.
Methinks you know very little about Zoro to compare him to Vegeta. I mean... they're both strong, and enjoy training to become stronger? Also some times people are afraid of them due to their reputation? I can't really see any other similarities.
That is something I do enjoy about One Piece. The fact that all the characters in the crew are relevant and constantly evolving.
Even Buggy makes progress as a character despite being defeated.
Acerac said:
Joke post? Krillin is the second most important character in all of Dragon Ball prior to the Saiyan arch, and even then he's still incredibly notable, and inspires a huge plot point.
Yamcha admittedly is tossed to the wayside, but he served of some importance early on.
Acerac
Banned
Prff... asking about Z and DB sagas in the same question threw me.andymcc said:
I suppose I should have assumed due to the avatar.
Nami and Usopp don't get left behind, however.
Yes, yes, I was thinking Z when I heard Vegeta's name.Takao said:
I should have asked if the characters STAY relevant.
All Krillin did to inspire a huge plot point is sit around and die.
I kinda feel bad for Yamcha. He gets murdered trying to save the world, comes back to life, and oh wait his girlfriend is sleeping with the guy who was responsible for his death.MikeMyers said:
That was horrible. Does kind of give an idea of scale of how irrelevant he was at that point though.
On Nozawa's voice, the idea was to have Goku always remain childlike and retain his innocence (read as: Marketing plot to allow kids to emphasize with Goku, haha). The reason they hired Nozawa in the first place was because she sounded like a child. The director for Z, rather than hire a replacement, decided to stick with her, and have her deepen her voice ever so softly.
I got in trouble for talking about specifics last time, but let's just say there will be more Ocean Dragon Ball in the future.
Yamcha wasn't killed by Vegeta.
Besides, him and Bulma were no longer an item at that point.
I also like Yamcha, and do feel he, and Tien were characters that were unceremoniously tossed aside.
Zee-Row said:
I got in trouble for talking about specifics last time, but let's just say there will be more Ocean Dragon Ball in the future.
Acerac said:
Yamcha wasn't killed by Vegeta.
LOL Saibamen
I also like Yamcha, and do feel he, and Tien were characters that were unceremoniously tossed aside.
Acerac
Banned
That's why I phrased it very carefully to say responsible for his death. <3Takao said:
Hadn't they just broken up? I must admit it's been a while since I've gone through the series but there was a reason he was so annoyed when asked if Trunks was his kid.
Ten at least gets his moment in the sun against Cell. Granted, almost kills himself to do so but shows WAY more power than any other human character in the series.
Saw it the first time. I just can't imagine how to reply to that idea.MikeMyers said:
MikeMyers said:
I like Yajirobe because he's ugly, and beats Vegeta.
RedSwirl said:
There are many, many, many releases of Dragon Ball Z. You do not want to know, lol.
As for Kai, the music has always been Japanese, it's just that right before the show ended in Japan Toei revealed that the composer for the show had some "inspired" music choices, and decided to replace his music with the original Japanese score for Z. This has transferred to all the licensees, no matter how far into the series they were.
Yajirobe only cut off Vegeta's tail and made him regress into being human looking again, he still got battered by Vegeta.
Yamcha and Puar legitimately stopped Oozaru Goku from attacking everyone.
Goku was sent by Freeza to go onto Earth and destroy it in Oozaru Form.
Yamcha beat Oozaru.
Therefore, Yamcha thwarted Freeza in the Pilaf arc.
Yamcha and Puar legitimately stopped Oozaru Goku from attacking everyone.
Goku was sent by Freeza to go onto Earth and destroy it in Oozaru Form.
Yamcha beat Oozaru.
Therefore, Yamcha thwarted Freeza in the Pilaf arc.
Vulcano's assistant
Banned
HammerOfThor
Member
Anth0ny said:And the orange bricks are still on the shelf.
They should just rename the anime section at Best Buy the "Dragon Ball" section. It's ridiculous at this point. DB shit takes up an entire shelf.
And in case anyone is wondering:
These re-releases of Kai will have the Kikuchi score. Volumes 1-4 that are on shelves now still have the Yamamoto score. Volume 5 has the Kikuchi score.
This series is a fucking mess.
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?
Trojita
Rapid Response Threadmaker
Someone mentioned that the Kai Blu-ray were uncut? Is this the same as the Japanese Kai blu-ray? Because last time I checked they were also censored compared to the original episode. Most notable thing at the beginning was that they covered up the bloody hole on Raditz.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
So the dragon boxes are uncut and the best set so far? They're so expensive. 
Trojita said:
The sets are as uncensored as the Japanese version. Which means no Goku penis, no excessive blood, etc.
andymcc said:
Last week 1-5 were like $20 on Amazon.
HammerOfThor said:
The original Kai release (13 episode sets) of episodes 1-52 include the Japanese score as seen on TV. However, at that point, Toei in Japan decided to replace that score with the original Japanese score for Z due to complaints of plagiarism. This means all releases, broadcasts, etc. now feature the Z score rather than the one composed for Kai. Once 1-52 of Kai are reprinted (like in those 26 episode sets) they'll come with the Z score.
Zaraki_Kenpachi
Member
$60 for some of the them isn't really reasonably priced for me.andymcc said:
Kagari said:
It was those and not the orange?
Edit: Fuck, it was the dragon boxes. I thought it was the orange for some reason so I didn't bother.
ThatObviousUser
ὠαἴÏÏιÏÏÎ¿Ï Ïαá¿Ï εἶ
HammerOfThor said:
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.
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