Kai Episode 99 (06 April 2014)

[Black_Liger]

I was afraid of the music, but I just managed to watch the first episode and I must say you overreact, the music works, there´s some good variety, even some bossa nova at the baseball practice. I would have liked more orchestra, but it´s ok for only 3 short action scenes. I think it´s pretty good. We´ll just have to get a more variety of scenes to listen well to the soundtrack, so far so good with the pacing too. And there were only 2 tracks from BoG

The only orchestra piece I caught was at the very beginning of the chapter. and it sounded good quality. I´m looking forward for more.

[LordCrumb]

Don't like the new opening.. not as catchy as Dragon Soul, nor does it actually time in well with the images. It also wraps up the whole story!

[MagicBox]

Having only seen the clips that have been posted in this thread, all I can say is...

- I *love* the new opening theme! This is the only thing so far that's had me grinning from ear to ear. Tanimoto sounds great, the arrangement's great, everything's great. A fine successor to "Dragon Soul," and easily my favorite Dragon Ball song in at least a few years.

- The opening animation... Very stiff, very off-model, and very bland. Re-animating scenes like the Goku/Buu biting, which we're going to see in the actual show (and with better animation, to boot), was lazy. The CGI city was obnoxious. I was surprised to see Vegetto and Gotenks already. I hope that doesn't mean we're stuck with the same animation for every episode. I really enjoyed the little bits of new animation we'd get for "Dragon Soul" every now and then.

- I like the ending theme when I'm listening to it, but I'm having trouble keeping it in my head. I listened to it no more than four minutes ago and I can't remember anything except the "aaaah"s. It'll take some time for it to grow on me.

- Interesting concept for the ending animation. We hardly saw Goku at all, which was refreshing. It was nice to see Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, Goten, Trunks, Kuririn, Tenshinhan, and Yamcha all band together to stand up to... something. Not much else to speak of, though I was surprised by that very on-model drawing of Ultimate Gohan in that shot with Kaioshin, Kibito, and the Z Sword in the background. He looked great there.

- I'm trying to keep an open mind for the new background music. I want to give Sumitomo a chance, but GOOD LORD. That next episode preview arrangement was horrid. I don't think I've ever heard a piece of Dragon Ball BGM miss the mark by that much. That was just... I almost muted my computer speakers. Keep an open mind, keep an open mind...

I can't really see anymore than that without some sort of legal viewing option, so I'll just stay glued to the comments. It's so exciting to have weekly Dragon Ball again, even if all I've done is complain.

[samuraix123]

I couldn't get to the forums fast enough after watching the new episode of Kai. I loved it! I loved the Intro/Ending, In my opinion the new soundtrack is pure awesome! I also loved the next episode preview how Goku flies into the clouds then we get it. That episode impressed me so much! Hurry up Funimation! haha No seriously, I had a great time watching. and that music really is awesome(Sounds like the US broadcast music at certain points?) But I won't say that I can't watch each new episode that gets released because I liked that. I think I've repeated myself some

[MagicBox]

I forgot to ask. We had character debuts this week! Who voiced Erasa, Shapener, and... that third friend with the glasses and freckles?

I'm guessing they were all recast, but it'd be pretty cool if the original actors were able to reprise these minor roles.

[InfernalVegito]

The new background music mostly reminds me of the Faulconer score and video game menu music.

And what the hell is up with Son Goku and Son Goten's hair in the second eyecatcher? I thought someone with the same haircut is standing behind Son Goku at first.

[JulieYBM]

Madono Mitsu'aki took on the role of Sharpna. He previously voiced Tenshinhan for the 2008-2009 video games. It's a shame, really. Madono is a great actor. I hope he can take on another role someday.

[kei17]

Here's a comment from Sumitomo himself.

http://www.starnotes.jp/sumitomo/

そして4月6日(日)からフジテレビ毎週朝9時、「ドラゴンボール改 魔人ブー編」がスタートします。実はこの作品、「ドラゴンボールZ神と神」より前に約1年かけて密かに制作していたもの。広く海外に向けても放映される予定です。

ぎりぎりリアルタイムの私は、強く記憶に残る菊池俊輔大先生のオリジナル音楽の呪縛とその重みに苛まれながらも、楽しく作らせて頂きました。どうぞご期待下さい！！

Also, from April 6, "Dragon Ball Kai: Majin Buu arc" will start airing at 9 AM on every Sunday. To tell you the truth, before "Dragon Ball Z Battle of Gods," this show had been secretly produced for about a year. It is planned to air in many other countries, too.

As a person almost from the Dragon Ball generation, I enjoyed creating the score despite suffering pressure from the greatly memorable score written by Shunsuke Kikuchi Dai-sensei. Don't miss it!

[ErikB]

Haven't seen the episode but the intro and ending are up on youtube now. I'm actually quite liking a fair bit of the animation, which is a pleasant surprise. A lot of the art seems to be regaining a bit of the charm that the old art had; the scene of Goku powering up form by form in particular looked great.
There are still some crummy moments though. There is no patter a flow of air could follow that would make Dabura's cape flap the way it does. And Gohan's pose in the final groupshot is ridiculously awkward.
Additionally, I don't remember who but someone on here once asked me what I meant by "volume definition" when I mentioned how the new art lacks it; the image of Old Kai in the end credits is a really good example. Most of the time, the show makes it clear that his eyes are actually round/semi-spheres. The image of him in the new ending makes his eyes look very flat.

Also, just found our first new colouring error:

Gohan's pectorals are coloured as part of his shirt. EDIT: On closer inspection, I think they forgot to draw the shirt at all, and just coloured from his pectorals down to his gi blue.

[qjz123]

I did some comparisons between the dragon boxes and the HD broadcast of Kai. I'm really loving the look of Kai!

Spoiler:

[Black_Liger]

Kai is a whole new world of quality, shaper and cleaner. I'm liking this.

[Hujio]

The episode page on the main website is up, which I believe answers some of the questions being asked. Some supplementary material is still missing, but the manga pages are all up. Z pages and theme items will go up tomorrow, hopefully. *stumbles off to bed*

[Tanooki Kuribo]

I feel like the animation for the intro was a little... blah, this time around. There seems to be a drastic loss in detail comparing it to the previous intro animation.







I don't know... I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing... it's just, in comparison, it seems a little lackluster. I was kinda disappointing this time around. Am I being too harsh? Is it fair to compare it to totally different shots? Thoughts?

[Chuquita]

As bad as some of the new animation was for Kai's new intro (imo) it can't hold a candle to the sheer level of horrible off-model-ness that was this week's Happinesscharge Precure. It was so awful, and continuous throughout the episode! Toei can do much worse than Kai's new OP animation.

Spoiler:

Of course, they can also do much better; for example, One Piece looked pretty good this week; it has its on and off weeks too.

[TheGmGoken]

The intro of Kai(Boo) looks VERY similar to Db Heroes. Compare Beat face to Goku. I known they're very similar but here Goku looks like Beat.

[Blade]

So I've just seen this now having been unable to watch it live, and I guess my overriding thoughts are centered around the general apparent cheapness of the remastering/refreshing process. The general quality control unfortunately seems to have slipped another rung or so below where they were at with the previous series, which isn't dramatically less refined as an end product, but certainly noticeably so - but I guess I'm not too surprised by it, as I went in expecting it.

In terms of voice acting performances, I don't think there was anything glaringly bad. The new Videl is different, which whilst feeling a little alienating, doesn't necessarily reflect badly on her contribution.

I thought the new opening theme was okay, certainly very genki and befitting of the modern Dragonball mold - but in terms of new Animation I felt it was a little bland, un-flashy and uncomplicated. I don't think it's something that they've spent a whole lot of time or money on, but it's passable.

I really didn't like either the ending music, or the awfully cheap synth rendition of the opening theme in the 'next episode' preview. Talk about 'tacky'...

Toei are definitely producing a mixed bag right now. Looking at two of their newest titles: 'Disk Wars: The Avengers' and 'Majin Bone' there's a clear parity between the quality of the two. I thought Majin Bone has some really nice looking backgrounds, but the character lineart looks incredibly cheap and shaky, whereas Disk Wars looks altogether more polished - which I suspect can only be budgetary, given that we know there's Disney's American money involved in it.

[MagicBox]

Hey, Megumi Urawa returned to voice Erasa! How cool. That would have been such an easy role to recast; I'm glad the original actress was able to return. Hopefully this means Urawa can also reprise her role as Uub for the finale (or a newly-animated kanzenban ending).

From the clips I've seen, Kakinuma was fine as Videl. Not the original, but fine. This is probably going to be my reaction every time a cast member gets replaced over time. Once I get over my "NOT YUKO MINAGUCHI" sadness and look at the voice for what it is, I'm sure it'll be okay. Videl doesn't do much in this episode; we'll get to see some of Kakinuma's range once the character starts falling for Gohan. I still applaud the casting director for resisting the (probably tempting) idea to cast an up-and-coming celebrity for cheap ratings.

Thanks for the credits translations, Kanzenshuu team!

[JulieYBM]

Toei are definitely producing a mixed bag right now. Looking at two of their newest titles: 'Disk Wars: The Avengers' and 'Majin Bone' there's a clear parity between the quality of the two. I thought Majin Bone has some really nice looking backgrounds, but the character lineart looks incredibly cheap and shaky, whereas Disk Wars looks altogether more polished - which I suspect can only be budgetary, given that we know there's Disney's American money involved in it.

Disk Wars: Avengers didn't have a significantly different budget from a normal Toei Animation work. Episode #1 had at least seven weeks to be produced and thirty key animators. Of those key animators at least four of them were talented: Shida Naotoshi (Opening fight scene), Kawamura Atsuko, Itaoka Nishiki, and Takara Isamu. For these new Opening and Ending no talented key animators were assigned. Animators are not paid by detail or time. Key animators are paid by the cut (shot) and in-between animators are paid by the drawing. The quality of the animation depends on the skill of the key animator to properly time a cut to create the greatest effect possible. Nobody here had that skill, let alone many in-between drawings to work with.

[Blade]

Toei are definitely producing a mixed bag right now. Looking at two of their newest titles: 'Disk Wars: The Avengers' and 'Majin Bone' there's a clear parity between the quality of the two. I thought Majin Bone has some really nice looking backgrounds, but the character lineart looks incredibly cheap and shaky, whereas Disk Wars looks altogether more polished - which I suspect can only be budgetary, given that we know there's Disney's American money involved in it.

Disk Wars: Avengers didn't have a significantly different budget from a normal Toei Animation work. Episode #1 had at least seven weeks to be produced and thirty key animators. Of those key animators at least four of them were talented: Shida Naotoshi (Opening fight scene), Kawamura Atsuko, Itaoka Nishiki, and Takara Isamu. For these new Opening and Ending no talented key animators were assigned. Animators are not paid by detail or time. Key animators are paid by the cut (shot) and in-between animators are paid by the drawing. The quality of the animation depends on the skill of the key animator to properly time a cut to create the greatest effect possible. Nobody here had that skill, let alone many in-between drawings to work with.

Well, even if what you say is true in regard to the financial side of things - my point still stands, that Disk Wars has obviously been backed with more resources - be that in key personnel/talent or otherwise. Moreover, where longer time is ascribed, one would expect that greater cost is incurred regardless of the rate of pay received by the key talent, as the longer spent on one project, the less time they can be employed elsewhere, ergo reducing production quantity and efficiency.

All in all, it's obviously clear where Toei's priorities lay and Dragonball Kai, more now than it has ever been, is a low cost cash-cow turned TV schedule stop-gap.

[RocktheDragon]

I actually really enjoyed this first episode of the Buu arc. I thought the music really worked for me, along with the new intro and outro songs as well. They really pump me up and get me excited to watch some DB!

As far the budget restraints go, and the lack of animation quality in the intro/outro, I think I'm totally fine with the way it is now. Though I guess it'd be nice to have better quality animation, DB Kai doesn't really need it as far as I'm concerned. If this same kind of crap was going on with a brand new DB anime, then I'd definitely be pretty peeved at it. But as things stand, Kai doesn't really need to be that fancy for me to derive enjoyment from it. It does the job, and then some, I guess is what I mean to say for my tastes.

I really look forward to watching one of these upcoming episodes live, as I had to acquire it after the fact. But to live in an age when I can watch DB live...well my mind can't even handle that. If I had the funds I'd totally fly into Japan on Saturday night, just to watch an episode live in Tokyo. I will continue to dream...