Dragon Ball Z Kai on BD from Kazé [updated 21th november]

[sangofe]

There is a chance you might not want the subs on. Maybe you want to see how a scene looks without large text blocking the view. Or perhaps you are, rare as it may be, someone who speaks Japanese living in France, and have no need for subtitles.

In the modern day, there's no real excuse not to make an uncut bilingual anime release with softsubs (I'm looking at you Saban and 4K Media, and also Toei for not paying for subs on the Bo-bobo DVDs). Want them on? They're there. Want them off? No problem, they're gone.

Besides, hardsubbing can affect the video quality to some degree, and once it's done, you can't easily go back and fix it for future releases. Softsubs have neither of those issues.

If it's anything like the AB dvds, they appear hardsubbed but if you rip the dvds, they're not.

[DBZ_Lee]

To those who own this release, would someone please be able to confirm if the scene where Babidi kills the Tournament worker is still censored?. Thanks.

[Cold Skin]

^ I'll tell you when I get there (unless someone beats me to it), but I pace myself to only 3 episodes a day and I was only at Boo's release being triggered yesterday!

But, didn't someone see already that it was censored in the international version to begin with?
If it was on the TV broadcast, do not expect any difference to what was aired in France, the objective was to have one and only ultimate French master validated by Toei and outsourced by them to all TV channels and all releases.
What you see (on TV) is what you get (on releases).

[DBZ_Lee]

Damn. I was hoping for an uncut home video release. Not to worry. Thanks for clearing that up.

[sangofe]

Damn. I was hoping for an uncut home video release. Not to worry. Thanks for clearing that up.

But it's as uncut as Toei made it already... This version on TV hasn't been censored other than the censoring Toei applied.

[Darkblade1995]

Well, if it was DBZ, it would've been a edited release, but since this is Kai it's uncut.

[Cold Skin]

BIG MISTAKE FROM ME AND KEI:
The textless opening and the textless ending are included on this set as a bonus on the last disc!

It is unknown if they will also be included on the second boxset or if it's just for this one specifically.

[Darkblade1995]

BIG MISTAKE FROM ME AND KEI:
The textless opening and the textless ending are included on this set as a bonus on the last disc!

It is unknown if they will also be included on the second boxset or if it's just for this one specifically.

How are the first 15 episodes? I heard that the music was very badly placed in those episodes.

[Freeza Soldier #156]

I just bought the first Final Chapters set. I'm pretty excited to finally be able to see the International version.

[Cold Skin]

How are the first 15 episodes? I heard that the music was very badly placed in those episodes.

They're fine by me, but you know I'm not a nitpicky person compared to... well, pretty much everyone.

The music is vastly different like it was placed by a totally different person, with not only tracks being different but even points where a track starts and stops and moments of silence being chosen differently, even when a scene was just a copy/paste in the Japanese edition.
While the Japanese OST tries to keep tracks - especially all of the serious tracks - for later, revealing more of them step by step as the episodes go by and only starting to use serious tracks when the situation gets dark with Videl, the International OST plays dark serious tracks from the get-go, even during Great Saiyaman's adventures, Goten and Trunks' fight, etc... You'll hear the apocalyptic Super Saiyan Three track even before everyone leaves the Tenkaichi Budokai.
Some tracks such as Efficient Attack (the disco-dance track) can be used up to three times in a same episode, while the use of this track was severely toned down in the Japanese edition.

Some tracks will not be played at all in the International version: the much-appreciated track named Goku was used only once in the Japanese version for Goku announcing his return, but it is not played at all in the International version, being left unused (as far as we can tell, since there are still 4-5 final episodes of the saga to be aired).

All in all, it's an experience that feels vastly different from what you've seen in the Japanese broadcast, the latter being unsurprisingly an update that is more refined with more care and thoughts put into it.

[sintzu]

All in all, it's an experience that feels vastly different from what you've seen in the Japanese broadcast, the latter being unsurprisingly an update that is more refined with more care and thoughts put into it.

How much would yo give it out of 10 compared to the Japanese cut ?

[Valerius Dover]

So, when is the Super Saiyan 3 theme used for the first time, then? According to kenisu's documentation, it's the Vegeta vs Pui Pui fight in the Jalanese version, but where does it first play in this one?

[Darkblade1995]

All in all, it's an experience that feels vastly different from what you've seen in the Japanese broadcast, the latter being unsurprisingly an update that is more refined with more care and thoughts put into it.[/quote]

While the music placement may be better in the Japanese version, I'd prefer good edited footage, which the Japanese cut (in my opinion) is not in the first 8 episodes.

[Cold Skin]

How much would yo give it out of 10 compared to the Japanese cut ?

Well, if you imagine the Japanese cut is a 10/10, I would give this version something like 8/10.

The Japanese version is more exciting due to its speed, but having more moments of everyday life to show Goten and Gohan's brotherhood or Videl and Gohan's relationship progressing is also enjoyable.

The thing that takes down a few points is some music placement which didn't bother me most of the time but feels flatter on important moments compared to the Japanese version, as it takes some pretty memorable placements out of the picture, like:
- Gohan's first action as Great Saiyaman: the music in the Japanese version is great as it is wacky when he does his ridiculous moves for the first time but then gets "Megaman-style" heroic when he crushes the ground and when the narrator says there is a new hero in town (the track rightfully named Great Saiyaman). It's another piece in the international version that doesn't convey both of those feeling, it's fine but doesn't feel as perfectly fitting as the Japanese choice was and doesn't make the scene particularly memorable.
- Goku's announcement that he'll be back has lost its epicness due to Effective Attack (the techno-disco track) being used instead of the triumphant and hopeful Goku track (again, the name of the track fits with the scene chosen in Japanese).
- No more mysterious Supreme Kai music for Kaio Shin and Kibito's first seconds of appearance, it's an eerie track instead as far as I remember. The mysterious Kaio Shin music does kick in later in that same scene, but it doesn't have the same mysterious feeling than when it starts right away in the Japanese version when we see our very first glimpse of those intriguing strangers.
- The fight between Goten and Trunks used nice pieces of music for this friendly kid fight in the Japanese music (the friendship-themed Fusion Complete, the Chinese martial arts track Battle Royale for the climax with Goten's aerial charge, etc...), but it uses pretty usual tracks in the longer fight of the international version (Effective Attack three times).
- To me, Videl's fight somehow didn't feel as tense as it was in the Japanese cut, possibly both because the fight takes more time (taking out the feeling of emergency) but also due to tracks that were only eerie in the Japanese version, maintaining a feeling of some twisted nightmarish situation taking place, while in this original international version, the music sometimes goes to straightforward "action scene" or epic music like the Super Saiyan 3 theme.

So, when is the Super Saiyan 3 theme used for the first time, then? According to kenisu's documentation, it's the Vegeta vs Pui Pui fight in the Jalanese version, but where does it first play in this one?

When Videl starts being in trouble when facing Spopovitch.

[Valerius Dover]

Also, which episode do the two versions sync up again exactly?

What music is played during the Cell Games reenactment, which I heard was kept in this version?

[Darkblade1995]

Also, which episode do the two versions sync up again exactly?

What music is played during the Cell Games reenactment, which I heard was kept in this version?

They sync up with episode 114 of the International version and 107 of the Japanese version.

Sadly I do not know what kind of music they play at the reenactment, but I'm sure it is comical music, as it is a comical scene.

[Valerius Dover]

Sorry about all the questions, but how much of the Great Saiyaman stuff is kept?

[Darkblade1995]

Sorry about all the questions, but how much of the Great Saiyaman stuff is kept?

Well since the Great Saiyaman arc is 20 episodes long in Z, and 15 in Kai, they kept quite a lot.

[Cold Skin]

Sorry about all the questions, but how much of the Great Saiyaman stuff is kept?

Well, we have his first appearance against two crazy drivers, the fact that he rescues Videl when the bus falls from a cliff, he saves a falling plane, has to get rid of Videl by putting her vehicule on a rooftop, also saves her (and the situation) when a building catches on fire, and the dinosaur stuff is longer as Gohan first watches the show and tries to talk to the owner, he also tries to fly away with Chibi but the baby dino is afraid of flying so Gohan's bound to escape from the ground (with the whole adventure leading him to being discovered by Videl, which ends his Great Saiyaman adventures).

Basically, from the beginning to the moment where Goku and friends fly off to follow Kaio Shin, things are twice as long.
The first episode synchronizing the international version and the Japanese version is the one with Kaio Shin and Kibito filling them in about the actual threat: a sorcerer named Babidi trying to release an invincible monster named Majin Boo.

[Valerius Dover]

Wow!

They cut all that in the Japanese version? I haven't seen either version of Kai, so this is news to me. Isn't the fire part of the date episode, though? I thought that was removed?