Dragon Ball Movies HD Remaster - Amazon Video/Netflix Japan - Discussion Thread

[AnimeMaakuo]

“How dare Trunks show the middle finger to an evil clone of a monster! That’s OFFENSIVE because ... well ... Trunks should be more nice to a murderer!” Or “How dare Gogeta (who resembles an oversized Oompa Loompa - I MEAN A NICE PRETTY BALLOON WITH A LOT OF AIR INSIDE) show the middle finger to an inter dimensional demon! That’s OFFENSIVE because ... well ... it’s showing that all people with weight problems are sore losers!

Welcome to 2018, where people get their feelings hurt over the slightest things and their feeble attempts to remove stuff like statues or have words “erased” from “history books”.

I'd thought that Japan would ditch the whole 'Sensitive Generation' bs but even TOEI's caving in themselves, so they're playing safe in possibly not offending anyone but also offending people by removing it. It's like renaming Christmas as "Happy Holidays" where Westerners have to accept it's been replaced by the generic name "Happy Holidays" and move on.

Dragon Ball has had blood removed, penises (which every male has and it's taught in schools) and.. now middle fingers? Well, then I guess next up is to make the fighting scenes somehow less violent or brutal.

Next thing you know, they'll try to rewrite history of countries/continents, oh wait.. that's already happening.

P.S. Back in the Kai days, Goku had his penis hidden so they were already geared up for censoring Dragon Ball ever more. God forbid natural body parts are shown which is just what it is, body parts. Some people find everything offensive, racist, sexist, misogynistic and xenophobic these days and they're the reason why shows and comedy in itself is being watered down.

100% agreed.

[DHM211]

In a sense I'm relieved, now I don't have to shell out money to import these sets!

Truly a shame, but somehow I'm not surprised? Disney Blu-rays for example almost always have something fucked up about them, so I brace myself for disappointment as a rule of thumb.

What's weird about movie 12 getting censored is... It definitely wasn't censored when the film was screened in America recently. That gives me hope that an eventual re-release from Funimation won't have these changes, but there's also the issue of the films looking different on Japanese streaming platforms... Why the fuck would they look different at all!? Why can't Toei just agree on one master to spread around? Why is this so hard? The conspiratorial side of me wants to believe that they want more and more consumers to flock to streaming this way, but I would hate to be that cynical. Aren't companies supposed to have standards in place? Really embarrassing on multiple fronts.

I have a theory that Toei, in a rush to get these new remasters on the market before the U.S. screening, posted on Amazon/Netflix what ever they had available at the moment. It makes sense, running the film through software to remove grain and sharpen the edges, and re edit the footage (adding in Piccolo’s hand, removing middle fingers, etc…), not to mention, syncing up the higher quality audio that the blu-rays come with, as the streaming versions use the optical version attached to the film, takes a decent amount of time.

Ironic, Toei put a “half assed” version of their remasters online, yet they turned out to be far superior to their final product.

[Damned]

It's not about being offensive, it's about the kids, and not doing a bad influence.

Parents doing their jobs (AKA parenting, what their title suggests they do.) solves this problem. If parents can't be bothered to parent their children then they can't care too much about what they grow up to be, so no big loss if they become a degenerate.

[jaisonas]

Not gonna lie, its pretty amusing reading replies that hope funimation will get the remasters and WONT run them thought their usual dnr/contrast filter chain

[Sani007]

I have a theory that Toei, in a rush to get these new remasters on the market before the U.S. screening, posted on Amazon/Netflix what ever they had available at the moment. It makes sense, running the film through software to remove grain and sharpen the edges, and re edit the footage (adding in Piccolo’s hand, removing middle fingers, etc…), not to mention, syncing up the higher quality audio that the blu-rays come with, as the streaming versions use the optical version attached to the film, takes a decent amount of time.

Ironic, Toei put a “half assed” version of their remasters online, yet they turned out to be far superior to their final product.

I think this is the whole story.
If Toei releases the series, probably we won't be so lucky anymore.

[DHM211]

Not gonna lie, its pretty amusing reading replies that hope funimation will get the remasters and WONT run them thought their usual dnr/contrast filter chain

Funi doesn't mess with masters that aren't their own. They didn't edit the Dragon Box's or Kai in any way.

[MyVisionity]

Welcome to 2018, where people get their feelings hurt over the slightest things and their feeble attempts to remove stuff like statues or have words “erased” from “history books”.

It's like renaming Christmas as "Happy Holidays" where Westerners have to accept it's been replaced by the generic name "Happy Holidays" and move on.

Next thing you know, they'll try to rewrite history of countries/continents, oh wait.. that's already happening.

Some people find everything offensive, racist, sexist, misogynistic and xenophobic these days and they're the reason why shows and comedy in itself is being watered down.

...

100% agreed.

I just thought I would re-post the comments above for anyone reading who may not have recognized the patterns and leave it at that.

It's not about being offensive, it's about the kids, and not doing a bad influence.

Parents doing their jobs (AKA parenting, what their title suggests they do.) solves this problem. If parents can't be bothered to parent their children then they can't care too much about what they grow up to be, so no big loss if they become a degenerate.

Parents doing their jobs certainly might contribute to solving the problem, but that's only part of the solution. I don't agree with any of this censorship, but I can understand the desire to avoid being a negative influence on society's children.

That's of course if it's indeed really about the kids, or if there's not some other unknown motivation or cultural significance that hasn't been mentioned.

It's about minimising complaints from parents.

That somehow makes more sense, but if true, then why are the parents complaining now? Is it a sudden shift, or what? And why would Toei choose censorship in response?

[professorwho]

Not gonna lie, its pretty amusing reading replies that hope funimation will get the remasters and WONT run them thought their usual dnr/contrast filter chain

Funi doesn't mess with masters that aren't their own.

Hmm... then how do you explain how they took Cowboy Bebop, removed ALL the grain, smeared it, digitally sharpened it, then applied a ton of fake grain on top of the ruined master?

Granted, they didn't alter the source, but they sure messed with the master they were given (By Bandai Visual). So yeah... they do mess with masters that aren't their own.

[DHM211]

Not gonna lie, its pretty amusing reading replies that hope funimation will get the remasters and WONT run them thought their usual dnr/contrast filter chain

Funi doesn't mess with masters that aren't their own.

Hmm... then how do you explain how they took Cowboy Bebop, removed ALL the grain, smeared it, digitally sharpened it, then applied a ton of fake grain on top of the ruined master?

Granted, they didn't alter the source, but they sure messed with the master they were given (By Bandai Visual). So yeah... they do mess with masters that aren't their own.

I was only referring to DB.

Funi had the perfect chance to mess with one of Toei’s masters when people were begging them to remove the green tint on Kai TFC. Did they though?

[LordCrumb]

Are these Amazon streams I hear people mention, different from the Netflix streams?

[Arian]

Are these Amazon streams I hear people mention, different from the Netflix streams?

Content-wise, no. Just that Amazon has a higher bitrate for their streams which means less compression which is a good thing.

[AnimeMaakuo]

Welcome to 2018, where people get their feelings hurt over the slightest things and their feeble attempts to remove stuff like statues or have words “erased” from “history books”.

It's like renaming Christmas as "Happy Holidays" where Westerners have to accept it's been replaced by the generic name "Happy Holidays" and move on.

Next thing you know, they'll try to rewrite history of countries/continents, oh wait.. that's already happening.

Some people find everything offensive, racist, sexist, misogynistic and xenophobic these days and they're the reason why shows and comedy in itself is being watered down.

...

100% agreed.

I just thought I would re-post the comments above for anyone reading who may not have recognized the patterns and leave it at that.

It's not about being offensive, it's about the kids, and not doing a bad influence.

Parents doing their jobs (AKA parenting, what their title suggests they do.) solves this problem. If parents can't be bothered to parent their children then they can't care too much about what they grow up to be, so no big loss if they become a degenerate.

Parents doing their jobs certainly might contribute to solving the problem, but that's only part of the solution. I don't agree with any of this censorship, but I can understand the desire to avoid being a negative influence on society's children.

That's of course if it's indeed really about the kids, or if there's not some other unknown motivation or cultural significance that hasn't been mentioned.

It's about minimising complaints from parents.

That somehow makes more sense, but if true, then why are the parents complaining now? Is it a sudden shift, or what? And why would Toei choose censorship in response?

Notice what pattern? You mean... two people thinking alike? OH NO, IT’S THE KANZENSHUU WATCH PATROL! He’s probably a Republican like me. Lefties don’t agree with our viewpoints and get offended by everything. Are we supposed to praise Toei for trying to alter the movies so snowflakes don’t get offended by a middle finger? FORGET ABOUT GOKU’S LITTLE PECKER NOT BEING CENSORED, BUT WOAH MAN THAT MIDDLE FINGER IS SoOoOo OFFENSIVE! I think people need to grow up. I don’t understand Toei’s logic and never will. FWIW, if you were a moderator you’d see a totally different IP address from his account and mine.

[sangofe]

It's not about being offensive, it's about the kids, and not doing a bad influence.

Parents doing their jobs (AKA parenting, what their title suggests they do.) solves this problem. If parents can't be bothered to parent their children then they can't care too much about what they grow up to be, so no big loss if they become a degenerate.

What about the violence then?

[DHM211]

Are these Amazon streams I hear people mention, different from the Netflix streams?

They might be compressed differently but the masters are exactly the same.

[ekrolo2]

How likely is it even about the kids? From what I've heard this release costs a pretty penny, implying it's for the collectors.

[mute_proxy]

How likely is it even about the kids? From what I've heard this release costs a pretty penny, implying it's for the collectors.

I think the ones responsible for this release are fully aware that censorship is the opposite of what the collectors want

[KBABZ]

How likely is it even about the kids? From what I've heard this release costs a pretty penny, implying it's for the collectors.

I think the ones responsible for this release are fully aware that censorship is the opposite of what the collectors want

I disagree personally. It's a big company, and they're from Japan. Not exactly a recipe for listening directly to their customers in a logical manner, from my perspective.

[mute_proxy]

How likely is it even about the kids? From what I've heard this release costs a pretty penny, implying it's for the collectors.

I think the ones responsible for this release are fully aware that censorship is the opposite of what the collectors want

I disagree personally. It's a big company, and they're from Japan. Not exactly a recipe for listening directly to their customers in a logical manner, from my perspective.

Which means it's not for the collectors, but the casual consumers

[Baggie_Saiyan]

How likely is it even about the kids? From what I've heard this release costs a pretty penny, implying it's for the collectors.

Toei will probably make the excuse it is but deep down it will BS and they know it, no kid has 5kyen lying around and no parent is gonna get this for them (plus didn't the first set come with a fancy collectors box too?) but beyond this Toei/Sheuisha have deluded themselves into believing that main series DB is still aimed at kids, Bandai for all the crap I give them have at least had the balls to embrace the fact that main series DB is not aimed at kids anymore and the teen/adult market is where the money is at which is why beyond SDBH stuff they barely release anything for kids.

If they want DB to have simple writing okay whatever no problem but it becomes problematic when they delude themselves into pulling stunts like this or not having a film exceed a certain time limit. Only collectors are gonna be interested in the very idea of a BD release for old non canon movies, most people are probably not gonna give a shit about these releases which is what makes the censorship even more sad.

[KBABZ]

How likely is it even about the kids? From what I've heard this release costs a pretty penny, implying it's for the collectors.

Toei will probably make the excuse it is but deep down it will BS and they know it, no kid has 5kyen lying around and no parent is gonna get this for them (plus didn't the first set come with a fancy collectors box too?) but beyond this Toei/Sheuisha have deluded themselves into believing that main series DB is still aimed at kids, Bandai for all the crap I give them have at least had the balls to embrace the fact that main series DB is not aimed at kids anymore and the teen/adult market is where the money is at which is why beyond SDBH stuff they barely release anything for kids.

Speaking of which, some guy in the Kotaku comments chastised me for saying that Dragon Ball is for kids and that Shonen is more for teenagers. That confused the hell out of me!