Is being able to watch original DBZ in a non-cropped format for a reasonable price too much to ask?

[Metalwario64]

IIRC the price of the level sets was due to the remastering being done by actual humans and not a machine. Honestly at this point I'd be fine with just the single footage rescanned at 1080/2160P, no thrills, no frills just the episode in 4:3 with no bleached footage.
Then again I already have the DBOX.

We really should have just gotten raw 4x3 scans (maybe with that frame weave removal they've been doing) advertised as the "full screen version" of the Orange Bricks. FUNimation could have made an uncropped release for those wanting it, and it could still be in production today for those who still want to buy the show in the proper aspect ratio, due to Toei not freaking out about their best masters being used. They could have also included the dub score to appeal to that crowd as well (and that's why I still have my bricks). Then other countries could have licensed that slightly touched up, newly scanned footage instead of being stuck with FUNimation's cropped masters.

The Dragon Boxes are excellent, but I'd take a slightly inferior release that would have appealed to more people and still be on the market today as opposed to going back to having no 4x3 release.

I also admit to still watching the orange bricks primarily, partly due to the scarcity of the Dragon Boxes (if I mess a disc up somehow I have a $300 paperweight!), and because while I vastly prefer the Japanese version, the bricks are the only convenient way for me to watch the old dub with the replaced scores out of nostalgia. I've had so much crap happen in my life recently that I have way more important things to worry about than the footage issues, but of course I still get that everyone else still has every single right to be adamantly against them.

That said, if we did get a new 4x3 release that was also released on DVD and had the dub score as an option, I'd gladly get it and sell off both my bricks and Dragon Boxes. It's still ridiculous that we don't have an uncropped version of the show readily available for purchase, and just because I still watch my cropped sets doesn't mean I've gone back to being blind to their faults. Between FUNimation cropping the show again despite the polls and them inserting their political ideology into their dubs, I'm not really fond of the company right now...

[Kuwabara]

A restoration style similar to what was done with the Level Sets could be used again, but this time it would be sustainable since people already expect to pay a premium for 4K. I'd also add that, as MetalMario64 alluded to, such a process wouldn't have to be quite as exhaustive this time around. Raw film scans with just a bare minimum of touch up would still be a huge upgrade from what we have now. If they ever tried such a release again, they should also finish restoring and encoding a lot more episodes before beginning to release them. Budget it out logically, they've had years to figure out how to do this correctly. As long as the product is good and print runs are conservative, it would be nothing but money and serve as a great companion piece to the rest of Funimation's current Dragon Ball catalog.

[sintzu]

You'd think an anime as big as DBZ would've gotten a proper release by this point, especially since Funimations have released older shows in their original format.

With Super being a thing now I think a re-release is very unlikely as they're going to focus on new material which will make more $$$.

[KBABZ]

I wouldn't mind a Dragon Box Blu-Ray release, might actually get to OG DB and GT too. Of course that one's more on Toei.

[coola]

They could at least allow to watch it digitally worldwide via Crunchyroll or Daisuki, Super can be watched that way, so why not DB/DBZ/GT?

[KBABZ]

They could at least allow to watch it digitally worldwide via Crunchyroll or Daisuki, Super can be watched that way, so why not DB/DBZ/GT?

That I would chalk up to rights issues, personally.

[sintzu]

They could at least allow to watch it digitally worldwide via Crunchyroll or Daisuki, Super can be watched that way, so why not DB/DBZ/GT?

I think Funimation said the only way they could get the rights to the dragon boxes was to agree to just give them a limited release so a digital release would be up to Toei and the other right holder.

[TheQuazz]

For Funimation, at least, yes it is!

"But why Z though, when the original Dragon Ball and GT at least get to keep their proper aspect ratios?!"
The answer, if you ask me, lies in what medium Funimation owns the 3 shows in.

As far as DB and GT go (as well as Z up until the "orange bricks" rolled around), Funimation only has access to footage of the shows from Digibeta tapes or the like (they've probably been digitised by now but still). Picture-wise, these things look as good as they're going to get straight off the tape, so Funimation never tampered with the footage much when releasing the shows on DVD. However, the picture is obviously only going to have a certain level of clarity, so there's no way Funimation will be able to release a decent Blu-Ray or even great looking DVD set of DB or GT unless they get a different master sometime in the future.

Which leads us to Z. By far the most popular part of the franchise, Funimation decided it was a good business move to purchase a crappy third or something-or-other generation copy of the entirety of DBZ on FILM, probably around the time the Ultimate Uncuts were hitting shelves. They (presumably) were hoping that all the extra detail film provides would allow them to produce an amazing release of Z, a great remastered set with spectacular video quality.
Unfortunately for Funimation, and even more unfortunately for us, their film prints didn't exactly look the best, and would need to be tampered with a bit to remove all the dirt and scratches. But, either because they were low on time/resources/budget or were just plain shoddy, they did a pretty poor job at "cleaning up" the picture. We all know the Orange Brick horror stories by now, overblown colours, absurd brightness, horrific DNR etc.

"But that doesn't explain why it's cropped! Surely the film would still be in 4:3! Why not just make the horribly remastered set in it's original aspect ratio like the other two shows?"
This line of thought has been plaguing me for quite some time, but I think I know the answer. There have been many proposed reasons as to why we can't have a good release of Dragon Ball Z from Funimation. Market research, horrible cropped and filtered DBZ videos on YouTube, an attempt to make the show "modern and HD" etc. I think it has more to do with the difficulties that come from remastering shoddy film.

Tape marks in particular, if you ask me.
As shown in this now-depressing Level Set featurette, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAy02J2fd8 (around 5:10), tape marks were apparently a very common find on Funi's print of DBZ, which would need to be manually edited out of the top and bottom of the frame. Now this is obviously extremely tedious work, so my theory is that someone in charge of remastering had a amazing idea regarding how they would be able to quickly and cheaply remove any signs of blemishes from the top and bottom of the frame:
"Just get rid of the top and bottom of the frames altogether! And we can cover our tracks by saying that the decision was made to make the show more "modern", and even get a few fans on board with the idea as well!"
Obviously they went back on this decision for the Level sets, but their lacklustre sales couldn't adequately cover the expense of the time-consuming and professional processes used to actually restore the footage in it's original form, so they just went OB-style again for DBZ's next Blu-Ray outing.

Anyway, the point of my little rant is that I'm very sure the film source Funi uses for their modern releases of Z dictates what they do to the show. Even though they're still remastering the series poorly and cheaply, someone probably decided that it's the only cost-efficient way of doing it, cropping included.

[SuperCyan2]

It's not that big of a deal. If you know Spanish, French, German or Italian then you can just import and go with that and these releases all contain the original Japanese audio as well plus, they're not cropped like FUNimation's Orange Bricks or its Blu-ray version. Unfortunately, most countries in the West have used FUNimation's Double Feature footage for the DBZ movies so it looks as though the Dragon Box: The Movies might not make its way to the West (neither did Dragon Box: Dragon Ball or Dragon Box: Dragon Ball GT did).

My personal favorite DB media releases:

Dragon Ball
- Saga Sets (DVD)

Dragon Ball Z
- Dragon Box Z (DVD)
- Level Sets 1.1 & 1.2 (Blu-ray)

Dragon Ball GT
- Singles (DVD)

Movies
- Fullscreen DB Movies (DVD)
- Fullscreen DBZ Movies (DVD)

Hoping that FUNimation releases the DB Movies 1-4 on Blu-ray so I can have an English release of it rather than import the Mexican one.

[Damned]

(if I mess a disc up somehow I have a $300 paperweight!)

Funny you should mention that. I bought the R1 Dragon Boxes last year for about $920 total. I was slowly working my way through them, only to find out that disc 32 in Box 6 apparently got badly scuffed in manufacturing, refusing play part of episode 220. I had to order a replacement last night (I refuse to buy 16:9 DBZ no matter what.) and the cheapest I could find was $250 for a new copy.

So, the current home media situation for DBZ is still bad for Dragon Box owners, at least for insanely meticulous people like me. I feel like I'm performing open heart surgery when handling the discs, especially Boxes 2 and 7! Not to mention, no US Dub / US score audio track.

"But that doesn't explain why it's cropped! Surely the film would still be in 4:3! Why not just make the horribly remastered set in it's original aspect ratio like the other two shows?"

I think it has more to do with the difficulties that come from remastering shoddy film.

Yeah, to be honest, the more I keep thinking about this, the more I keep realizing that just about nothing good has come out of Funimation buying film for DBZ. We were given the Orange Brick line with its miserable picture quality, likely for the reasons you stated. Then we are given the gorgeous Level sets...only for them to be taken away and replaced with the Blu-ray season set line (AKA Orange Bricks 2.0). I do happen to own the Singles line for the older specials and would've been perfectly fine if the Orange Bricks just used those masters. Yeah, I know the Blu-ray Double Features are native HD, but that wasn't worth ruining the picture quality of the episodic series.

It really is sad that DBZ, one of the most popular and well known anime in existence, can't even get a "standard" release like the Blue / Green Brick lines... for nearly 22 years now.

Seriously, just think about that for a moment...

Dragon Ball Z, an anime show which has pretty much reached the same heights as Super Mario Bros as a pop culture phenomenon; something that people who are ambient to or hate the medium as a whole probably still enjoy, and it still doesn't have an easily available "as is" style release over 2 decades later.

[GamerSkull]

It's not too much to ask.

I personally own the blue bricks of original Dragon Ball and the green bricks for GT.

I own the blu-rays for DBZ... and I would agree that it doesn't look as good as it could have. Colors and cropping included. However, I cannot afford to buy the Dragon Boxes as they seemed to be priced nowadays and I'm extremely hesitant to purchase second hand products. I missed that.

So the blu-rays are serviceable enough for me (even though they have a lot of flaws). I will one day buy the series again if it's released in a better format and a reasonable price. I just don't like pirating and I really wanted an affordable way to watch the series today... although I agree that by contributing to the sales, I might not be helping.

[Dragon Sponge]

It's not that big of a deal. If you know Spanish, French, German or Italian then you can just import and go with that and these releases all contain the original Japanese audio as well plus, they're not cropped like FUNimation's Orange Bricks or its Blu-ray version. Unfortunately, most countries in the West have used FUNimation's Double Feature footage for the DBZ movies so it looks as though the Dragon Box: The Movies might not make its way to the West (neither did Dragon Box: Dragon Ball or Dragon Box: Dragon Ball GT did).

My personal favorite DB media releases:

Dragon Ball
- Saga Sets (DVD)

Dragon Ball Z
- Dragon Box Z (DVD)
- Level Sets 1.1 & 1.2 (Blu-ray)

Dragon Ball GT
- Singles (DVD)

Movies
- Fullscreen DB Movies (DVD)
- Fullscreen DBZ Movies (DVD)

Hoping that FUNimation releases the DB Movies 1-4 on Blu-ray so I can have an English release of it rather than import the Mexican one.

Actually the 16 German DVD Boxes of DB/DBZ (which I own) only have German Audio, with the exception of the Movie & Special Boxes (which i have too), Kai, and the new Movies (i hav BOG) who have the Japanese Audio. The GT Boxes contain the heavy censored German version, but atleast they added all the episodes that weren´t shown here in Germany back, in Japanese with subs. As far as the DB/DBZ Boxes are concerned, they contain the same masters we had here on TV which are from the slighty cencored French Version. They atleast didn´t contain the additionally cuts RLT II made, but KAZE made additionally cuts in Z Episode 253, in the scenes where Van Zant & Smitty shoot the elderly couple, the Town & Bee to prevent a FSK 16 age Rating. They still show how the couple & Bee get shot, how Vant encourages Smitty before and how Vant starts the Town shoting. But they removed the telescopic closeups of the couple & Bee before they got shot, how Vant explains his motives, how both of them found cool what they did and how they drive towards the Town and how the actually Town shoting goes. There exists actually a Uncut German Version of this Episode but its not avaible to the public. Back in 2002 where the Buu Arc was first airing in Germany, there happened the massacre of Erfurt, which resulted in this Ep, alongside the following Z EP 254 not being shown on TV at the original Broadcast. And when this EP was later included in reruns, RTL II only showed a censored version of it, and since KAZE also only realesed their own slighty censored version of it, there is no way possible to watch the uncut German version of this Ep yet (as far as I know). The picture quallity of the DVD is also not the best and it has some dirtmarks or something at points, but i would still call it overall decent. By the way: [spoiler]from Summer 2016 to Spring 2017, I edited my own uncut Version of the German Dub where I collectet all the removed Scenes and readded them back with German Subs. I also switched the replacement German Opening with the German Movie version of Makafushigi Adventure. I also used the second opening of Makafushigi Adventure & the first & second openings of Chala Head Chala for their respective Episodes. Also I readded the Episodetitlecards, the removed Insertsongs & outros and reinserted the original Score of Fusion Reborn into its German Dub + more. I watched this selfmade Uncut Version with my Mother last year which is also one of the reasons i did this, since i wanted to show her the Series Uncut. Some of the readded Scenes are in poor quallity, which i´ll fix some day.[/spoiler]

Dragon Ball German (https://www.amazon.de/Dragonball-Box-Ep ... ragon+Ball)

Dragon Ball Movies German (https://www.amazon.de/Dragonball-Movies ... all+movies)

Dragon Ball GT German (https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00BMILIU0/ref ... 99754&sr=2)

Dragon Ball Kai (https://www.amazon.de/Dragonball-Kai-Ep ... 886&sr=1-2)

Battle of Gods German (https://www.amazon.de/Dragonball-Kampf- ... %C3%B6tter)

Massacre of Erfurt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_school_massacre)

[Forte224]

All I can say is, I finally dropped the money on the Dragon Boxes last year and haven't regretted it. I meticulously backed up each disc to 2 different hard drives and tested each episode by scrolling through it to be somewhat sure it worked.

Anyway, it is indeed really, really dumb that we don't have an easily accessible 4:3 DBZ release. The Dragon Boxes were marketed towards "hardcore Japanese fans" almost implying that people who enjoy the English version could care less about picture quality.

[KinguKurimuzon]

At this point I would honestly be happy if Funimation did what Discotek Media did for Fist of the North Star and just dump all the 480p Dragon Box or singles footage on a single Blu-Ray. I'd rather see them put in zero effort whatsoever rather than all these half-assed attempts at making HD releases.

[SuperCyan2]

At this point I would honestly be happy if Funimation did what Discotek Media did for Fist of the North Star and just dump all the 480p Dragon Box or singles footage on a single Blu-Ray. I'd rather see them put in zero effort whatsoever rather than all these half-assed attempts at making HD releases.

Still waiting for Discotek Media to release the second volume of the Dr. Slump movies.

[Damned]

Still waiting for Discotek Media to release the second volume of the Dr. Slump movies.

Me too, as well as the episodic series and the 90s reboot.

EDIT: I don't know if you are aware or if this release would accommodate your needs, but France is releasing episodic Dr. Slump Arale (Apparently it has the French dub and the Japanese original) on Blu-ray. If they manage to finish, they may very well do the movies next. Sadly, it would appear that volume 1 of the movies did not sell well for Discotek, because I can't imagine they would've waited four years to sell the next volume if it did.

[Desassina]

Didn't they release Dragon Ball Z on Blu-ray with the original aspect ratio to no commercial success? Keep it 16:9 as long as it sells, because not buying it will lead to no release at all, and we have already seen the show as intended on TV by the producers. We can enjoy it as intended by the editors at home, with the drawings matching to them pixels, and no interpolation scaling to be seen. I don't remember anyone complaining that what they saw at home was different than the movie theatre either. I know that, because I saw Dragon Ball Z Movies 12 and 13, on theaters and at home.

[Forte224]

Didn't they release Dragon Ball Z on Blu-ray with the original aspect ratio to no commercial success? Keep it 16:9 as long as it sells, because not buying it will lead to no release at all, and we have already seen the show as intended on TV by the producers. We can enjoy it as intended by the editors at home, with the drawings matching to them pixels, and no interpolation scaling to be seen. I don't remember anyone complaining that what they saw at home was different than the movie theatre either. I know that, because I saw Dragon Ball Z Movies 12 and 13, on theaters and at home.

Well, "It was 4:3 and didn't sell" doesn't cover the whole scenario. They came out not long after the Orange Bricks, Dragon Boxes, and Kai Blu Rays (maybe they came during the Kai releases I can't remember, but it was close either way). Therefore, the market was very oversaturatred and I'm sure the casual viewer had no idea what was going on. Top that off with them only releasing a 18 episodes per disc for full price and there's your issue.

It was mainly the remastering process that cost so much money that drove their prices up enough that they didn't sell. There is no indication that 4:3 aspect ratio had anything to do with it. In fact, I'm positive if they had released the current blu rays as is, except in 4:3, they would be selling just as well.

[Desassina]

Ok, but keep buying what we have, that one day we will be treated with the digital download of DBZ in its original aspect ratio. I hope, because complaining and not buying is different than say, showing that you're actually a customer in need of being supported.

[Forte224]

Ok, but keep buying what we have, that one day we will be treated with the digital download of DBZ in its original aspect ratio. I hope, because complaining and not buying is different than say, showing that you're actually a customer in need of being supported.

I've always felt by complaining and buying anyway that you don't help the situation at all. If enough people don't buy, it'll affect the company and force them to make changes. The fact that people are eating up the blu rays with incorrect aspect ratio and poor remaster is upsetting because Funimation probably sees that and wonders why they should care about fans that want an actual good remaster.