Two years ago today, Dragon Ball Kai exploded onto Fuji TV at 9:00 am in Japan in what would go on to become the closing chapter to the franchise’s second wind. It continues to whimper to a close this year with several delays across the world.
Dragon Ball Kai Home Releases in Japan
Over in Japan, individual DVD Volumes 7 and 8 of the “Artificial Humans & Cell arc” have been delayed from their original release date of 02 April 2011 just a month over to 03 May 2011. Interestingly, Volumes 9 and 10 are still listed for that same date, bringing the total to four whopping volumes at once next month. Volumes 11 and 12 are now due on 02 June 2011, with Volumes 13 and 14 due on 02 July 2011.
As of right now, Volume 14 is still set to contain episodes 94-96, which leaves a previously-scheduled Volume 15 hanging out in the air to wrap things up with episodes 97 and 98. However, with episode 98 being canceled from TV broadcast at the last minute, it remains to be seen if episode 97 will be considered the “final” episode for the home release (as it had been for the TV broadcast), or if episode 98 will make an appearance on the home release.
The third “Artificial Humans & Cell arc” Blu-ray set (which would compile the first part of the episodes listed above, up through episode 87) has also been delayed one month from 03 May 2011 to 03 June 2011.
Dragon Ball Kai Home Releases in Australia
Madman Entertainment, who distributes FUNimation’s production of the series in Australia, has announced that the fourth set of Dragon Ball Kai (which mirrors the American release, covering episodes 40-52) has been delayed from 18 May 2011 to some time in September, due to “a change to planned content for the title within Japan”. The fifth set is planned for release in October this year, as well.
Dragon Ball Kai Home Releases in North America
As previously announced, FUNimation has delayed their release of the fifth set of Dragon Ball Kai approximately one month to 07 June 2011. Interestingly, some of the previously-released sets (both on DVD and Blu-ray) have been drastically reduced in price across a variety of retailers. For those looking to pick up what has already been released (and still has the Kenji Yamamoto score), here are a couple Amazon links to get your day off to a cost-efficient start:
- PART ONE (EPISODES 01-13)
DVD: $18.99 // Blu-ray: $15.99 - PART TWO (EPISODES 14-26)
DVD: $42.99 // Blu-ray: $25.99 - PART THREE (EPISODES 27-39)
DVD: $19.99 // Blu-ray: $15.99 - PART FOUR (EPISODES 40-52)
DVD: $26.99 // Blu-ray: $30.99 - PART FIVE (EPISODES 53-65) – NOT YET RELEASED
DVD: $21.99 // Blu-ray: $25.99
It is likely that, in all of the cases described above, the replacement of Kenji Yamamoto’s musical score for the series is the main culprit (which is even hinted at in Madman’s delay announcement). As it stands, the most recent (and likely last) episode to be released to home format with the original broadcast score was episode 72, contained on DVD Volume 6 and second Blu-ray set of the “Artificial Humans & Cell arc” in Japan.