I bet you are wondering why I’m reviewing Kai again…
 

 
I decided since I have both on hand to not leave our DVD only friends hanging without proper caps and a review.  When it is appropriate I’ll be using text from the Blu-ray, but anything that is different for the DVD version (packaging, video quality, audio, etc) will be freshly written.  And as a small note: Any grades I give here will be specific to what is expected or wanted from a DVD, so if a video or audio grade is higher here than it was in the Blu-ray review, it does not mean the DVD is superior. And if you want to read the Blu-ray review first: Dragon Ball Z Kai: Part One (Blu-ray), Early Review Continue reading →

After doing the review of Dragon Ball Z Kai on Blu-ray I decided to check the DVD.  Very quickly I noticed a difference in colors in the remastered Z footage.  When I showed some screen shots to a friend to find out about the Japanese Kai Blu-ray, he actually ran it over right then so I could take a screen shot for a comparison.
 
I’ll let the image and my notes on it speak for themselves.  Feel free to share.  I didn’t include the Japanese DVD because I don’t know anyone who has it.  Click on it for full size.
 

 
Each version has its own odd quirks and I’m quite sure arguments over which of the three has superior colors will go on for years.  It’d also be interesting to find out who tweaked each version and why any tweaks were made (did Funi tweak their versions or did Toei? If so, why the Blu-ray and not the DVD?)
 
After doing that image comparison, I decided to check the intro, which has entirely new animation. Each one is different in the intro also, but in different ways than in the episode itself, which suggests each intro was tweaked separately from the episode. (Click to see full size)
 

 
For the remastered footage you could argue any of them could be better based on how you feel about color in general, but for the brand new animation, the American Blu-ray clearly seems superior.
 
It’s worth mentioning that a slight difference in brightness between an American disk and a Japanese disk is normal. Japanese and American TVs have different black levels, so tweaking of the brightness is normally done to make them match when being viewed, but this doesn’t appear to be the tweaking that caused these differences (especially since there are three clearly different examples instead of two.)
 
Think I should update the first image with other DVD versions of Dragon Ball Z for comparisons sake?
 
 
Update- I chose to leave the original comparisons up as they are more relevant seeing as they all have the same and proper aspect ratio, but I’ve made an updated version that adds the Japanese DVD into the mix.
 
Thanks to Hujio from Kanzentai for the lossless captures of the proper frames.
 

 
The show content itself is interesting in that there is a slight addition of footage on the side and that (once again) the colors are different.
 
Although frankly the shot of the intro is a bit crazier
 

 
Yeah… it’s pretty terrible. It is definitely the worst of the four in this case. It definitely makes it appear that DVDs from Toei were a late addition to the plan for Kai in Japan, as no care seemed to have been taken with the encode at all.
 
If you’d like to read a review of the Blu-ray of Dragon Ball Z Kai, we actually have one (it is actually what ended up leading to this article.) Feel free to have a read: Dragon Ball Z Kai: Part One (Blu-ray), Early Review
 

 

The franchise that will never die returns, but on Blu-ray in a new ‘refreshed’ version.
 

 
Yes, Dragon Ball Z returns as Dragon Ball Z Kai.  After stacks of releases in the USA, including the Dragon Boxes, is the modern refresh of Z on Blu-ray the new high bar for the series in the USA? Continue reading →

Dragon Ball Kai was finally announced by Funi as Dragon Ball Z Kai.
 

 
Here’s a bit of extra info I’ve had on hand for awhile about the release.
 
The current plan is to have the first DVD and BD boxes in May.
 
The BD releases will have a five dollar premium.
 
Having talked to a few people, it appears the cast will remain the same as the Funimation Dragon Ball Z dub, but with greater care being given to the script. I say appears because I’ve only talked to a few people, they are indeed playing the same roles they played before, and they were under the impression it was going to be the same cast, this may not apply for every character.
 
The show started being dubbed last year.
 
That’s all the information I have at the moment, but I’ll update if I gain anymore
 

 
In 1999, Pioneer began releasing the edited TV version of the first two dub seasons of Dragon Ball Z on DVD. In 2000, FUNimation began releasing their own uncut, bilingual DVDs of the series, starting with the third dub season. In 2005, after the rest of the series was finished, FUNimation began releasing bilingual, uncut versions of the episodes that were previously sub-licensed to Pioneer (now known as Geneon). But those releases were quietly canceled before even the first dub season was finished, leaving a gap of forty episodes that were never released in this format. However, in 2007, FUNimation re-started their Dragon Ball Z DVD releases in a “remastered” format that was cropped to widescreen, and fully released every episode this way from beginning to end in boxed sets. Thus, there has only been one consistent release of all 291 episodes of Dragon Ball Z in North America, but at the cost of roughly one-sixth of the footage from every frame of every episode. Continue reading →

We are finally getting an American release of the fully remastered Dragon Ball Z Dragonboxes.
 

 
Not generally a person to just post post press releases, but for now I’m just quite happy that it’s actually happening, so I’ll let Funi’s press release do the talking. There are also more pictures of early packaging mockups from our friends at DaizenshuuEX at the bottom.
 
Flower Mound, TX – July 18, 2009 — FUNimation Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation, today announces that it has acquired the original masters for the entire Dragon Ball Z anime series, episodes and films, and will release all as the Dragon Box for the first time in the U.S. The first of seven Dragon Boxes will be available at major retailers nationwide this Fall.

The Dragon Box will be produced from the original Dragon Box masters after a frame by frame restoration and will span the entire 291 episode television series and all 13 of its movies.
 
This definitive DVD box release begins with Dragon Box One which includes the first 42 episodes, uncut, on 6 discs.

The Dragon Box releases will feature an aspect ratio of 4:3, the original Japanese audio (with options for an English track or English subtitles), the original episode previews, complete opening and closing credits and a collector’s booklet.
 
Dragon Box One will be available at major retailers nationwide on November 10, 2009 and will have an SRP of $79.98.
 
About FUNimation Entertainment
 
FUNimation® Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation, is the leading company for home video sales of Japanese animation in the United States.  FUNimation has a proven formula for launching and advancing brands, and manages a full spectrum of rights for most of its brands including broadcasting, licensing, production, internet, and home video sales and distribution. For more information about FUNimation Entertainment and its brands, visit www.funimation.com