FUNimation Dragon Box Z #1 (In-Hands) Discussion

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:10 am

Wait, what? No marathon feature? That's slightly disappointing. Only slightly, though.

Also, the menus being static is kind of lame, too, but I'm not gonna really spend much time on the menu since it's auto-set to Japanese with subs.

G1Ravage · Post by **G1Ravage** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:31 am

I'll also mention that each episode's chapters are divided up as you would expect: Opening, Recap, A Part, B Part, Ending, Preview.

I'm a little disappointed there's no chapter menu so I could go to any episode and go straight to the preview if I wanted to, but having chapter menus is something I'm seeing anime distributors doing less and less of.

Not complaining, just mentioning. I'm seriously giddy over owning this. The Dragon Book is the best part. It feels like something I shouldn't have, and yet there it is.

Jon Jon · Post by **Jon Jon** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:32 am

Marathon mode is actually necessary?

I watch all of my DVDs on my PS3 and it just plays through all of the episodes on the anime DVDs that I own without me specifying it to.

I don't really care much about menus. I'd be spending little time in menus. Oh how I love my PS3 Blu ray remote with the audio and subtitle buttons ^_^.

Smooth Criminal · Post by **Smooth Criminal** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:33 am

Kendamu wrote:Wait, what? No marathon feature? That's slightly disappointing. Only slightly, though.

Also, the menus being static is kind of lame, too, but I'm not gonna really spend much time on the menu since it's auto-set to Japanese with subs.

Sorry, I would have mentioned it earlier but I just assumed haseowulf would have already mentioned it. To be honest, this thread moves too fast and I think the op should be edited to contain a "quick facts" sheet or something similar, so I know what has been discussed and what has not.

In regards to the static menu, it definitely feels tacky after checking out kanzentai's jp box dissection. At the very least, however, funimation should be commended for trying to match that visual style. I'm just guessing Toei did not provided them with the source materials to replicate the opening intro and animation effects.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:34 am

Jon Jon wrote:Marathon mode is actually necessary?

I watch all of my DVDs on my PS3 and it just plays through all of the episodes on the anime DVDs that I own without me specifying it to.

I don't really care much about menus. I'd be spending little time in menus. Oh how I love my PS3 Blu ray remote with the audio and subtitle buttons ^_^.

I tend to skip openings and endings after awhile which is why I liked the idea of a marathon feature. However, I'm used to most DVDs I have not having such a thing so it's no big deal.

Jon Jon · Post by **Jon Jon** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:39 am

Kendamu wrote:
Jon Jon wrote:Marathon mode is actually necessary?

I watch all of my DVDs on my PS3 and it just plays through all of the episodes on the anime DVDs that I own without me specifying it to.

I don't really care much about menus. I'd be spending little time in menus. Oh how I love my PS3 Blu ray remote with the audio and subtitle buttons ^_^.
I tend to skip openings and endings after awhile which is why I liked the idea of a marathon feature. However, I'm used to most DVDs I have not having such a thing so it's no big deal.

Don't normal DVD remotes have a chapter skip function? I normally just do that.

I guess marathon mode is good for the lazy. XD

Smooth Criminal · Post by **Smooth Criminal** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:43 am

Did anyone mentioned there are romanized lyrics for the opening and ending songs? Finally, I can pronounce these words correctly after all these years of just matching up sounds as close as possible!

What else.... The font used for the subtitles is different from previous releases. No clue why, but it looks nice.

Kanzentai's jp box dissection mentions the dragon book to list individual episode's directors, screenwriters, and animation artist (lead). There is none of that here, which really sucks because I like to know the names of who draws the clean episodes and who turned in the shit. Did funi think we wouldn't care? Seems like there was space for it...

Edit:

Going back and checking my dragon book, the panel where the original dragon book lists directors, etc, is mostly blank space. They list the original airdate, but nothing else. Complete bullshit, IMO. There is plenty of space for it. This was a blatant omission by funi... My only true disappointment with the set so far. They can credit video post and transfer in their static title card, but can't credit the original creators? Weak sauce.

Ps- I hate typing long messages on the iPhone

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:59 am

Jon Jon wrote:
Kendamu wrote:
Jon Jon wrote:Marathon mode is actually necessary?

I watch all of my DVDs on my PS3 and it just plays through all of the episodes on the anime DVDs that I own without me specifying it to.

I don't really care much about menus. I'd be spending little time in menus. Oh how I love my PS3 Blu ray remote with the audio and subtitle buttons ^_^.
I tend to skip openings and endings after awhile which is why I liked the idea of a marathon feature. However, I'm used to most DVDs I have not having such a thing so it's no big deal.
Don't normal DVD remotes have a chapter skip function? I normally just do that.

I guess marathon mode is good for the lazy. XD

Well, of course I can manually hit the skip button on my PS3 controller while watching a DVD and it's not really a problem (hence why I keep mentioning that it isn't a big deal), but I figured that marathon would be something they kept since they've done it before on the Orange Bricks and since it was on the JP DBox as well.

Smooth Criminal · Post by **Smooth Criminal** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:03 am

They want you to watch those fucking previews, dammit! No story mode for you!

nathantheguitarist · Post by **nathantheguitarist** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:11 am

Woo! Tracking update just said that it got to Phoenix around 4pm today. It'll be here Monday.

Kingdom Heartless · Post by **Kingdom Heartless** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:14 am

Yeah, Smooth Criminal is probably right. People have been wanting next episode previews for years... they've finally put them on there, so they aren't going to let you ignore them so easily.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:14 am

Smooth Criminal wrote:They want you to watch those fucking previews, dammit! No story mode for you!

Haha! I'm one of about three people in the history of all "hardcore purists" who doesn't care about previews. When I saw them on the JP releases, I was like, "Oh. Neat."

Never really clamored for them, though. It was more of a, "Well, the other fans want 'em... Heck, why not. They'd be kinda cool to see."

russ869 · Post by **russ869** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:15 am

NeptuneKai wrote:I'm still iffy about if I want to buy this or not. I already own this series but not in the proper aspect ratio. Then again I don't know if that footage on the top and the bottom is worth shelling tons of money to rebuy 291 episodes over again. The colors look nice but with the exception of season 2 the orange bricks colors never are super annoying without a side by side comparison to my eyes. The sound quality is like the only thing that's kind of pushing me to go get this and from what I've heard it's not all that huge of a difference really.

Yeah, I won't be buying this first box immediately if at all. Mainly because these aren't my favorite episodes. I know I'm buying the boxes covering everything related to Freeza and Cell. Knowing me, I'll probably end up going back and buying this first box too something after that. I always end up replacing my DVDs when a better looking version comes out, and the season sets practically feel like a bootleg.

Smooth Criminal wrote:Didn't the original dragon box have background animations that played during the menus? Also, there was a short intro animation as well, no?

Forgive me if it has already been mentioned, but after the opening funi previews, the american dbox drops right into a static menu with some jp-background music.

Animated menus constitute another *.VOB video file on the DVD. In other words it would have taken up a non-trivial amount of additional space on the disc to have a moving menu rather than a static screenshot. Just so you realize...

Post by **TripleRach** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 4:58 am

Smooth Criminal wrote:Going back and checking my dragon book, the panel where the original dragon book lists directors, etc, is mostly blank space. They list the original airdate, but nothing else. Complete bullshit, IMO. There is plenty of space for it. This was a blatant omission by funi... My only true disappointment with the set so far. They can credit video post and transfer in their static title card, but can't credit the original creators? Weak sauce.

It's possible that Toei just wouldn't let them translate the credits. That actually happened with the old GT DVDs, where FUNi had fully translated the Japanese end credits as an alternate angle, but stopped doing it after the first two discs because Toei apparently complained.

I don't know why Toei is/was against it, though. But sometimes Japanese companies have bizarre edicts about translations or romanizations.

Krycek7o2 · Post by **Krycek7o2** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 6:20 am

Smooth Criminal wrote:Didn't the original dragon box have background animations that played during the menus? Also, there was a short intro animation as well, no?

Forgive me if it has already been mentioned, but after the opening funi previews, the american dbox drops right into a static menu with some jp-background music. No intro animation, and no motion in the background.

In addition, the lack of "story mode," or a marathon feature, is kind of weird, though it doesn't upset me personally. I like the next episode previews very much.

There had to be some sacrifices to fit seven episodes. The audio had to be toned down and the animated menus were cut. To be honest, I'd rather take these sacrifices then diminish the quality of the episodes. Besides, you are not missing much on the animated menus.

Though, I do find the lack of story mode a little odd. This was done with branching on the R2 version.

kenshiro87 · Post by **kenshiro87** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 6:35 am

Axelmusic is shipping dragon box too, a member of mangamyth has received a confirmation.

Big Boss · Post by **Big Boss** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:43 am

Damn. Arrived at the party too late, methinks. All the screen caps aren't showing anymore.

DBZfan29 · Post by **DBZfan29** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 10:42 am

Smooth Criminal wrote:They want you to watch those fucking previews, dammit! No story mode for you!

I actually think it's because the Scouter in the Japan box had:

- All Play
- Story
- Episode Selection

(Forgive me if I don't have them in the correct order, a little lazy to check Kanzentai at the moment!) .. and our box has:

- All Play
- Episode Selection
- Setup

They must've only had room for three options, and I think set-up is a bit important for those of you who bought the set for the dub. Then again, like the marathon feature, you can do this manually, also.

SSJSteve · Post by **SSJSteve** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:01 am

kenshiro87 wrote:Axelmusic is shipping dragon box too, a member of mangamyth has received a confirmation.

Yeah I got my confirmation e-mail last night!

Kodoshin · Post by **Kodoshin** » Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:28 am

Got mine yesterday, just finished the first disc. Truly an amazing upgrade over the previous releases.

Kanzenshuu

FUNimation Dragon Box Z #1 (In-Hands) Discussion

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