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

[MadSpecialist]

The main site puts them all on a general "Movie Guide" page rather than a "Movies & Specials" page, if that's worth anything.

Sure... Under the "Television specials" header, alongside the Summer Vacation and Year-End specials... And they're also present in the relevant parts of the TV show guides, which is what the navigation links in the pages themselves point to...

Heh, true enough. Could we lobby to have the title of the page changed to Movies and Specials, then?

"Movies & Specials Guide" doesn't quite have the same ring (or conciseness) of "Movie Guide". I assume it's more so a general title for things that aren't considered movies but aren't episodes either.

For example, if it were more specific, it could even be the "Movies, Specials, Features & Public Videos Guide". A synonym for movies is feature, which even the specials could fall under as they're around the same length (if not longer than) some of the movies.

[JohnnyCashKami]

"Movies & Specials Guide" doesn't quite have the same ring (or conciseness) of "Movie Guide". I assume it's more so a general title for things that aren't considered movies but aren't episodes either.

For example, if it were more specific, it could even be the "Movies, Specials, Features & Public Videos Guide". A synonym for movies is feature, which even the specials could fall under as they're around the same length (if not longer than) some of the movies.

Agreed. Even "Video Guide" wouldn't sound right either as it would make it seem we'd be in the 90's (which I'd actually love to be in again!) and using cassettes.

Of course, "video" doesn't necessarily specify that nowadays but "Movie Guide" leaves it quite clear.

[Kuwabara]

What if it was changed to "Feature Guide?" Movies or specials, they're all feature length. "Movie & Special Guide" would also get the point across just fine.

[SpiritBombTriumphant]

So I've been thinking. Toei is notoriously cheap. Does anyone think that, to save money, Toei might just commission a new score for Kai 1.0 from Sumitomo rather than pay to have all of Z remastered? And if they don't, but do what we think they'll do and remaster Z, would they do what they did for Kai 1.0 and trace some of the damaged frames rather than repair them? It seems to me like they initially did that because it was cheaper and they are damaged. It wasn't to make some things look prettier or anything, but more of a necessity.

What do you all think?

[KBABZ]

So I've been thinking. Toei is notoriously cheap. Does anyone think that, to save money, Toei might just commission a new score for Kai 1.0 from Sumitomo rather than pay to have all of Z remastered? And if they don't, but do what we think they'll do and remaster Z, would they do what they did for Kai 1.0 and trace some of the damaged frames rather than repair them? It seems to me like they initially did that because it was cheaper and they are damaged. It wasn't to make some things look prettier or anything, but more of a necessity.

What do you all think?

Honestly I would rather them do a proper arrangement of the Kikuchi score to match the scene placement in Z, as well as being unafraid to include tracks with Head Cha La melodies (if they really don't want to use them, hit up Kikuchi and ask him to rescore those tracks with the Dragon Soul melody instead).

[Robo4900]

So I've been thinking. Toei is notoriously cheap. Does anyone think that, to save money, Toei might just commission a new score for Kai 1.0 from Sumitomo rather than pay to have all of Z remastered? And if they don't, but do what we think they'll do and remaster Z, would they do what they did for Kai 1.0 and trace some of the damaged frames rather than repair them? It seems to me like they initially did that because it was cheaper and they are damaged. It wasn't to make some things look prettier or anything, but more of a necessity.

What do you all think?

... No.

Kai's score is already in place and done. Kai is already in 1080p HD anyway, so it doesn't need any remastering.

Z's score is also already in place and done. Any audio work on DB, Z, and GT will be on restoring the audio tracks, whether they be mono or stereo(DB, Z, and the first 4 episodes of GT were all mono. GT 5+ were originally stereo, but if Toei continue to ignore their still-existant stereo master tracks of GT, then it'll be all mono).

As for the redraws, that wasn't about damaged frames. If it was, there's far easier and cheaper ways of fixing such things. If redrawing was necessary for "Damaged frames", they'd also have to redraw any frames with tape/glue marks, scratches, dirt, etc. on them... Which would mean they'd have to redraw literally every shot, as even those without any scratches, dirt, etc. on them have tape/glue marks due to the fact the show was produced by animating each shot individually, then taping/gluing the film strip of each shot together in order, to assemble the film negatives of each episode.

Kai's redrawn frames were about reframing shots(Particularly for the widescreen master, which had several more redrawn shots than the 4:3 master), correcting errors in the original production(Vegeta and Nappa's incorrect colouring in their first appearance), or censorship(Painting out baby Goku's penis), as I understand it.

[KBABZ]

Kai's redrawn frames were about reframing shots(Particularly for the widescreen master, which had several more redrawn shots than the 4:3 master), correcting errors in the original production(Vegeta and Nappa's incorrect colouring in their first appearance), or censorship(Painting out baby Goku's penis), as I understand it.

Huh, I didn't even think about the widescreen composition thing. I also saw some breakdowns that redrew entire shots just to redo, say, the circle behind the Kame symbol on Goku's gi being orange rather than white. Wouldn't it be easier to colour that bit white in the original shot instead? Censorship I agree with in the sense that all of Kai's implementations were fairly natural, like the pillow sink in the first episode. It's not as blatant as giving him boxers or inserting a random flower like in the early DB dubs. But if the Blu-Ray release is already 4:3 and features uncensored blood, why keep the pee-pees hidden?

I feel like a lot of effort could have been saved by not going as overboard with the redrawn shots as they did, as I feel like certain shots just showed up redrawn for no real reason. To me that workload hampered the quality of the actual art produced for those shots (thin lines, oversaturated colours, basic background paintings, and they look like wonky traces of the original frames), and is another sign that the new elements added to Kai had no consideration for the actual age of the original product.

[MasenkoHA]

So I've been thinking. Toei is notoriously cheap. Does anyone think that, to save money, Toei might just commission a new score for Kai 1.0 from Sumitomo rather than pay to have all of Z remastered? And if they don't, but do what we think they'll do and remaster Z, would they do what they did for Kai 1.0 and trace some of the damaged frames rather than repair them? It seems to me like they initially did that because it was cheaper and they are damaged. It wasn't to make some things look prettier or anything, but more of a necessity.

What do you all think?

Don’t say such things.

God, the only worse thing for Kai than poorly utilized Kikuchi tracks is Kai with Sumitomo’s score. Why don’t you suggest Funimation give in to fan demand and offer Kai with the Faulconer tracks while you’re at it, you monster?!


In all honesty I don’t think Toei gives a shit about Kai to bother.

[SpiritBombTriumphant]

Kai's score is already in place and done. Kai is already in 1080p HD anyway, so it doesn't need any remastering.

Yes, but it does need a proper scoring since Kikuchi's tracks were haphazardly placed. And this is Toei of all companies. It would be far easier to commission a score from Sumitomo for consistency between the two Kais than to remaster all of Z. Isn't Kai supposed to be definitive anyway?

God, the only worse thing for Kai than poorly utilized Kikuchi tracks is Kai with Sumitomo’s score. Why don’t you suggest Funimation give in to fan demand and offer Kai with the Faulconer tracks while you’re at it, you monster?!


In all honesty I don’t think Toei gives a shit about Kai to bother.

I'd rather have Sumitomo than randomly placed Kikuchi tracks. I'd rather have anyone. What I desire is for someone to score the series and for the music to be placed properly. And consistency instead of jumping from one composer to another. So I'll take a Sumitomo rescore, Faulconer (whom I like), or anyone. They can get some new guy to rescore both Kais. It doesn't matter to me. And again, it would save Toei money to do this rather than have Qtec remaster all of Z.

[jaisonas]

We know that the audio masters are gone, but what are the odds of the multitracks still existing?

[Robo4900]

Yes, but it does need a proper scoring since Kikuchi's tracks were haphazardly placed. And this is Toei of all companies. It would be far easier to commission a score from Sumitomo for consistency between the two Kais than to remaster all of Z. Isn't Kai supposed to be definitive anyway?

But it is Toei... They're far too cheap to bother rescoring the show. It's nearly ten years old now.

God, the only worse thing for Kai than poorly utilized Kikuchi tracks is Kai with Sumitomo’s score. Why don’t you suggest Funimation give in to fan demand and offer Kai with the Faulconer tracks while you’re at it, you monster?!
In all honesty I don’t think Toei gives a shit about Kai to bother.

I'd rather have Sumitomo than randomly placed Kikuchi tracks. I'd rather have anyone. What I desire is for someone to score the series and for the music to be placed properly. And consistency instead of jumping from one composer to another. So I'll take a Sumitomo rescore, Faulconer (whom I like), or anyone. They can get some new guy to rescore both Kais. It doesn't matter to me. And again, it would save Toei money to do this rather than have Qtec remaster all of Z.

Well... If Ocean go on to dub TFC, and all their work on Kai is in fact put out(Wow are looking to air their already-complete 1.0 dub at least), then you may just get your wish.

I can see where you're coming from on this, but honestly, I'm with MasenkoHa. Far as I'm concerned, Sumitomo's scoring on Dragon Ball so far has been utter crap, and I'd rather have slightly crappily done Kikuchi that just functions, albeit clunkily, than a score that's actively awful and entirely un-Dragon Ball.

[JohnnyCashKami]

So I've been thinking. Toei is notoriously cheap. Does anyone think that, to save money, Toei might just commission a new score for Kai 1.0 from Sumitomo rather than pay to have all of Z remastered? And if they don't, but do what we think they'll do and remaster Z, would they do what they did for Kai 1.0 and trace some of the damaged frames rather than repair them? It seems to me like they initially did that because it was cheaper and they are damaged. It wasn't to make some things look prettier or anything, but more of a necessity.

What do you all think?

Dragon Ball Kai is in the past, it's done and as badly butchered as it was, better to just leave the way it is. TOEI has fucked it up more than plenty. Kai didn't deserve to be cancelled and then brought back in such an atrocious form.

Besides, Sumitomo composed music for Kai TFC and that didn't really turn out too well. Sounded more like VGM/porn-ish music than anime music.

[jjgp1112]

We know that the audio masters are gone, but what are the odds of the multitracks still existing?

The only multi tracks around are for the music and effects track, and even those cases, for the early Saiyan saga episodes and some Cell Games eps, those two tracks are only available packaged together rather than separate, which is why on the Funi Dub+JP music audio tracks for those episodes, the music has a washed out, "tinny" sound; they had to filter out the sound effects manually for a 5.1 mix, creating distorted audio.

[SpiritBombTriumphant]

You people... I must be the only person here who thought Sumitomo did all right for Boo Kai. He isn't bad at all. I prefer music made for the show and placed properly instead of made for the show and thrown about randomly (Kikuchi in Kai). I tried, I simply cannot do it with Kikuchi's music placement, repetition, and general awfulness in Kai and then switch to a completely new composer in a quarter-assed monster of a sequel series, Boo Kai.

I like Sumitomo and Kikuchi, but they need to stay away from each other's series. =/

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I think Sumitomo's TFC score was fine with the exception of the disco track, which fel misplaced whenever it was used.

[JohnnyCashKami]

You people... I must be the only person here who thought Sumitomo did all right for Boo Kai. He isn't bad at all. I prefer music made for the show and placed properly instead of made for the show and thrown about randomly (Kikuchi in Kai). I tried, I simply cannot do it with Kikuchi's music placement, repetition, and general awfulness in Kai and then switch to a completely new composer in a quarter-assed monster of a sequel series, Boo Kai.

I like Sumitomo and Kikuchi, but they need to stay away from each other's series. =/

Sumitomo composed music for Kai TFC but even then it didn't fit very well (imo), so if I watch TFC then it's some fan-edited version where Sumitomo's TFC music doesn't exist nor the green tint. His Super music is certainly an improvement but not a huge one.

[SpiritBombTriumphant]

You people... I must be the only person here who thought Sumitomo did all right for Boo Kai. He isn't bad at all. I prefer music made for the show and placed properly instead of made for the show and thrown about randomly (Kikuchi in Kai). I tried, I simply cannot do it with Kikuchi's music placement, repetition, and general awfulness in Kai and then switch to a completely new composer in a quarter-assed monster of a sequel series, Boo Kai.

I like Sumitomo and Kikuchi, but they need to stay away from each other's series. =/

Sumitomo composed music for Kai TFC but even then it didn't fit very well (imo), so if I watch TFC then it's some fan-edited version where Sumitomo's TFC music doesn't exist nor the green tint. His Super music is certainly an improvement but not a huge one.

I thought it fit just fine. His score for Super was sub-par up until the ToP. It kicked ass there. Honestly, I just wish KFC fixed that tint. It is the bane of my existence.

[superfan2024]

Other than BoG, RoF, and Super, everything in the mainstream DB franchise has not gotten a proper video release yet, and that's kind of concerning...

[JohnnyCashKami]

I thought it fit just fine. His score for Super was sub-par up until the ToP. It kicked ass there. Honestly, I just wish KFC fixed that tint. It is the bane of my existence.

I'm not saying I hate Sumitomo's TFC score because I actually bought the soundtrack from iTunes as I quite liked it and still do, but I just can't watch TFC with this music playing. None of it really seems to fit anywhere (imo) and feels as randomly placed as Faulconer in FUNimation's Z dub or Kikuchi in Kai.

Great as background music for games and multitasking.

Anyway, the iTunes version is without a doubt the best one to go for since it offers the highest bitrate in terms of compressed audio formats' marketplaces (iTunes, Amazon, Play Store, Spotify). And newer one too, iTunes is M4A while the others are MP3 for some odd reason, such a relic of a music format.

[KBABZ]

Anyway, the iTunes version is without a doubt the best one to go for since it offers the highest bitrate in terms of compressed audio formats' marketplaces (iTunes, Amazon, Play Store, Spotify). And newer one too, iTunes is M4A while the others are MP3 for some odd reason, such a relic of a music format.

They're probably MP3 because anything can play them, from iPhones to a Kia.