I was really into DBZ when it aired on Toonami back in 1998. I even purchased most of the figures that came out (even some of the Japanese figures from a video game store). I also had all three PS1 games (but I sold them eventually, since they didn't age well). The biggest laugh was buying the first DVD's, since they were anywhere from 15 to 25 dollars each. You can get a whole season for basically that price now. -_- I lost interest in DBZ after watching a few episodes of GT. MY GOD was that horrible! I tried to watch Dragon Ball, but it was just too boring. I had heard of this "Kai" form of DBZ and first thought that it was some lame attempt to bring DBZ back into the "Cool" setting that it once had. I didn't bother to watch any of it until recently. I was very impressed with the new voice actors (even though I HATE the new ones that they replaced for Silent Hill 2 and 3, but that's another story), and I even like a few of them more so than the first choices. The editing is superb in how it keeps anything moving with little to no boring areas (or filler as it is commonly called). I am shocked that roughly 100 episodes were cut from the beginning of Z to the Cell Saga! I am also disappointed in the whole music scandal, but what can you do. I would definitely recommend watching "Kai," but be warned...you might not be able to watch the older format of DBZ ever again. lol
Maybe I'm alone here, I haven't really read the thread, but I strongly dislike Kai. I prefer the Funimation Uncut dub's voice acting to be the best and the translation from the original Japanese is the closest I've seen. From what I've seen of Kai, some of the more legitametly dramatic moments may have been made less impactful, Chiaoutzu's death being the example I've seen. I'm curious to see how they handled Vegeta's death on Namek, and Android 16's final moments. I also feel that cuttings would have ruined Majin Buu's arc (the one with Hercule and his puppy) which is one of my favorites. Although it is my understanding that they stopped with Kai after the cell games. (From what I've heard, I may be wrong) As for filler, I just see it as being part of the Dragon Ball Z experience. It makes you feel like you "worked" for it . I'd say that If you've got the time and you want slightly better voice acting and dramatic moments (in my opinion), go ahead and watch the Funimation Uncut Dub. If you just want stripped story and don't mind the slightly poorer acting and "writing" then I guess you could look at Kai. Funimation's Uncut dub is definitely worth a watch though.
I have to disagree. In terms of voice acting, the old English dub of Z is just pitiful when rewatching it compared to Kai. A lot, if not all of the performances were amateur at best since literally nobody had any previous experience with voice acting and sometimes they even had to call people from the next room over to read a line or two since they were really short staffed. On top of that, when Funimation initially started dubbing at Season 3, they were trying to imitate the previous Ocean Group voice actors, which didn;t really amount to anything in the end. As for the script? Kai. Funimation's old script is chock full of corny puns, terrible one liners and also happened to ruin many of the characters personalities from what they were supposed to be. Kai is a much closer and faithful adaption of the original Japanese script in comparison to the old script. Here's Vegeta's death Uncut - DBZ Kai Uncut - Vegeta Dies - YouTube It did indeed end at the Cell arc unfortunately but personally I feel the Cell arc ending was a good choice. While I can agree there are some filler which are enjoyable to watch (Goku and Piccolo driving test), the filler is what slowed down the pacing of the show. Compare the lead up to the Goku vs Vegeta fight. In Z it took 28 episodes while in Kai it took 12. The point of Kai was for it to be a closer adaption of the Manga by removing as much filler as it could and as it should of been in the first place. It was also created to celebrate Dragon Ball's 20th anniversary. Refer to my first point. I can also provide examples on why Kai is better than Z in terms of voice acting.
I never really liked most of the fillers in DBZ so I'm glad that Kai got rid of them. The only thing I truly miss from DBZ is the epic soundtrack. Bruce Faulconer compossed a unique track for so many diffrent characters and fights. My favorite of all time had to be Vegeta's theme. In Kai they seem to be lacking in good music. I hear the same tracks over and over again each season.
Have Dragon Ball, Z, and GT complete on my shelves, along with most of the features. Still enjoy watching it from time to time. Favorite character is Vegeta, favorite Saga is the Frieza saga (season 3 set?) any time you can run a fight and keep it interesting for thirty episodes is pretty damn epic.
Honestly I just want to see the Ocean Group dub of Kai. I need to know if the Canadian voice actors still got it.
Just so you know, Buce Faulconer was not the only one who composed music for the American DBZ soundtrack. It was a team effort between 4 people. Scott Morgan, Julius Dobos, Mike Smith and Bruce Faulconer (Who only composed about 9 songs out of the entire soundtrack.) Scott Morgan can be found on Youtube: M0rganstudios - YouTube and he also frequents the Kanzenshuu and TeamFourStar forums from time to time. He also has composed some original themes on his youtube page so I bet you'll love this one... Darth Vegeta - YouTube
I just used Faulconer cause he's the one that most people know best. I go to Scott Morgan's youtube page reguarly though to check out his tracks. You're right I do love the Dark Prince theme lol. I also like the Third Power one a lot too. Without awesome songs like these, Kai loses some impact.
Replacement soundtracks are a thing of the past, the dark ages of Anime dubbing which is why they don't use that music. Also, Funimation and Faulconer are also not very fond of each other after their dispute which lasted a few years over Bruce not being able to compose music for GT. I'll admit, I do like the soundtrack from the American DBZ (Grew up with it and all) but it is lacking in presence for when it comes to build up. The fact that it also doesn't shut up 99.9% of the time can be annoying as well. Lately I've been watching the Dub + Kikuchi and I've come to appreciate the original soundtrack. However, like the US soundtrack, it lacks presence. Specifically when it comes to action scenes. The Yamamoto soundtrack for Kai I feel rectifies both of these problems and creates an almost perfect mix. We have the rock + synthesizer that is used for action scenes (Faulconer) and we have the orchestral music used for build ups (Kikuchi). A good example of build up with orchestral music.
I didn't know anything about them having problems. When it comes to action scenes, I think the U.S soundtrack did pretty well. A lot of songs were named after specific fights. As for the video that really is a good example. Is that the quality it would be from blu ray? I'm thinking about picking up all of the Kai episodes but there seems to be diffrent versions with diffrent sets of music. Which one would you suggest getting?
I agree. When it came to fights, the team at Faulconer Productions did some great stuff. Bear in mind that sometimes users will add additional filters to videos to try and make them look better when in fact they look like shit. I'm not too sure about that specific clip but it does appear to be a bit bright but not to much that it ruins it. As for which version you can pick up, there are the parts releases in which the first 4 parts contain the Yamamoto soundtrack. However, due to a music scandal involving Yamamoto, they had to remove the soundtrack and replace it with the original DBZ Kikuchi soundtrack. Part’s 5 – 8 contain this soundtrack. Also coming out are the Season sets in which there are 2 parts to a season. These new season sets contain the replacement Kikuchi score and not Yamamoto. In total, there shall be 4 seasons. That about covers everything really concerning Kai unless you wish to know more about the music scandal.
I guess I'll pick up the Season sets then since I want the music to be consistent. Thanks for all of the help man.
The Season sets hit retail on May 22nd just so you know. Also, since Part's 5 to 8 already contain the replacement soundtrack, you can simply just pick up the first 2 seasons and then pick up the remaining parts without having to wait for Season's 3 and 4.
Ugh. STILL. NO. EFFING. LUCK. WITH. DRAGON. BOX. SPECIFICALLY. BOX. 2. AND. 4. Funimation, if you said that converting DBZ to Blu-ray was going to be a challenge, why in the hell did you bother doing it in the first place!? I just want to watch the 291 episodes, uncut, on DVD. Is it really that hard to ask?
Just posting this here. A Good combination of DBZ and Transformers. CELL DE DRAGONBALL Z ES UN TRANSFORMER | Flickr - Photo Sharing! Makes me wish Hasbro and Bandai would team up to put out a Transformers-Dragon Ball Crossover line. If they did, I'd buy every single one of them even if they were crap.
It's great because Vic Mignogna at the Ottawa Comic Con earlier this month sang it for the audience while we were waiting for William Shatner to appear on stage. Plus it sounds awesome. I wonder if they'll keep his version of Dragon Soul when Ocean Group Studios dub of Dragonball Kai comes out?
