DragonBall Z Kai: Part One [2 Discs] [DVD]

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• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  must have for fans

  • Incentivized

  From my experience with the first dragon ball kai release from japan this series is absolutely awesome. This set will not be released until may 18th but it should definitely be an awesome buy. I cannot somment on the english audio as I have only heard the japanese that came with my dvd. They did an absolutely amazing job with filtering out the filler from the original series. If you have ever watched dragon ball z you therefore know that they extended fights for episodes sometimes saying five minutes were left and having 5 episodes after that 3 minutes being left... in this series withing 3 episodes goku is dead and vegeta and nappa are on their way. besides it moving so fast they also fill in the story from dragon ball a bit at the beginning. They did an absolutely amazing job with the first three episodes that I have seen and I cannot wait to get this set. I can only hope that they did as good of a job with the english audio track as they did with the japanese. Also about the apsect ratio. Many people have a way of thinking that widescreen means you see more. with current day tv shows and movies this is true. but with older shows and movies that were filmed or made using 4:3 slides or tape this is impossible. The only thing that happens when this show is put into 16:9 widescreen is that you lose either the top, bottom or a combination of the two. they chop off a section of the video. This is why I would above all recommend the BluRay release above the dvd set.

  Posted 15 years ago by dctravis

• Rated 3 out of 5 stars

  not for fans of the original

  • Incentivized

  Having watched some of this with the english dub here are my thoughts: Whats great about this series is that they went and re-animated every episode in HD and in 16:9 aspect ratio, They did NOT just upscale the frames to fit like the above poster said, since the original cel frames were discarded. So the art and animation looks fantastic and 100% true to the original. Also they added in new sound effects and re-recorded all the dialogue using the ORIGINAL voice actors from the US version of the show. Having said that, here's what I don't like. The original voice actors just don't have it anymore. Most of the voices sound radically different than they originally were recorded but you can tell that they tried to make it similar. Save for a few characters that hit the mark, Goku and Krillin for example are spot on, if you've ever heard the original voices, this is very distracting. It sounds like your friends doing their best-worst impression of these characters. not good. They also re-wrote much of that dialogue to streamline the pace of the show but now it is very campy and annoying. It is also very simplified so you almost had to have seen the show before to know the whole story. All in all this series is still great but I recommend it for those who have never seen the original. As a die hard fan of DBZ i can appreciate the fan service of re-doing the show but i think it is just too different and was made for a new generation of viewers who need dumbed down dialogue and story lines with HD graphics to even appreciate it for what it is.

  Posted 15 years ago by Printman

• Rated 5 out of 5 stars

  Kai is even BETTER than the Manga...

  • Incentivized

  With Funimation's experience in dubbing and editing on such series as Fullmetal Alchemist in the years since they first landed the Dragonball license, they've really learned a lot, and it shows. Christopher Sabat can act a little better than I previously believed... but what stands out the most is the central villain, Frieza's new voice. These episodes were first translated and dubbed in the mid-90's, and the voices were very good (think "over 9 THOUSAAAAND!"). Frieza's was eariest of all, and it sounds like they've either brought that same actor/ress back or replicated it wonderfully. Either way, the tyrant (a combination in design of an Egyptian Pharoah and a Lizard-Man) returns as the most feared being in the cosmos, and his regal yet slimy voice supports his role all too well. So until the final DVD set in the Namek chapter... HAIL FRIEZA.

  This review is from Dragon Ball Z Kai: Season 1, Part 3 [2 Discs] - DVD

  Posted 15 years ago by NERVagent