Is there interest in a DEFINITIVE version for Dragon Ball Kai: The Final Chapters?

[EGonzo]

Doesn't he go SSJ1 in one version?

Maybe in a game? I only remember the manga (straight to SS3) and anime (SS2 first, then SS3)

I remember him going ssj to kill buu in every version wtf

The two forms are kinda similar, and in the anime they sometimes mix them up when animating them. Maybe that's why

[Kakkaroto735]

Maybe in a game? I only remember the manga (straight to SS3) and anime (SS2 first, then SS3)

I remember him going ssj to kill buu in every version wtf

The two forms are kinda similar, and in the anime they sometimes mix them up when animating them. Maybe that's why

Woah, the games are weird sometimes. Like how all the heroic characters aura is shown as blue when that's far from correct in the anime.

[ArmenianPepsi]

Count me interested. Kai TFC is an extremely flawed product, so I'm always interested in alternate takes on it. I'll also put in a vote for using the Kikuchi Score, it's the score that goes best with Classic Dragon Ball material.

I second PremiumSalt here. To be able to have the complete Kai run with Kikuchi score is a real dream. I can see why some like Yamamoto's score, but for me I was never won over. With the exception of a few tracks, it sounded real generic to me.

It was such a bummer to find out that the only other real attempt to make Kikuchi Kai TFC in the past was put on permanent hiatus, and only goes to Episode 108.

See here --> viewtopic.php?f=6&t=41090

Nice enough though the Mega links are still up, you can still download the audio, so the work isnt totally lost yet. One could really use it to get a baseline, and try to build upon it's implementation.

[HarveyPlissken]

I want to start this out by saying that I've recently been hired to a job that has a lot of downtime. By a lot, I literally mean that 90% of it is me doing nothing. I'm prefacing with this because the vision and scope of the project I'm proposing are extremely ambitious. Enough about that, though, let me explain WHY I would like to do this.

Personally, I have always preferred Dragon Ball Kai (w/ the Kenji Yamamoto score) over Z. I understand that's a controversial opinion among some Dragon Ball fans but that's just my preference. I want to extend my love for Dragon Ball Kai by fixing the problems that exist with Dragon Ball Kai: The Final Chapters. If you aren't aware, The Final Chapters is riddled with numerous problems that include, but are not limited to:

-A green tint present on the image throughout the entire series.
-Being cropped from 4:3 to 16:9, resulting in a loss of picture.
-An unusual amount of filler being left in.
-A score that many believe to be lack-luster.

I plan to fix all of these issues and more with this edit. I understand that this is a very ambitious project, but it is something I would truly be willing to work on.



The goal of this project is to create a definitive version of Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters that can hopefully be comparable in quality to the original run of Dragon Ball Kai.

Video:
While I am planning for this to stand in the place of Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters, ironically enough, I won't actually be using any of the footage from that release for a multitude of reasons, mainly because there isn't enough room to work with. Instead, I will be opting to use the Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box releases for this project. The reason behind this is that it's essentially the purest release of Dragon Ball Z "commonly" available as of the creation of this post. While it is the currently best release of Dragon Ball Z currently available, it still isn't optimal as the colors in the Dragon Box releases are not accurate. They are certainly lightyears ahead of The Final Chapter, but they aren't perfect by any means. The color inaccuracy stems from degradation in the film masters used to create the Dragon Box release. The color inaccuracies are most noticeable when it comes to the character's skin-tones where instead of a fleshy peach color, they've been discolored to an almost salmony pink.

I understand that some people enjoy the color palette of the Dragon Boxes, but I believe it should be changed as this wasn't how Dragon Ball Z was ever intended to look. Because of this, I will be attempting to color correct the Dragon Box releases to be more consistent with the original run of Dragon Ball Kai.

Dub:
I will primarily be sourcing the dub from Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters as I believe it to be the superior dub. However, with that said, there are a few lines and performances from the original Dragon Ball Z dub that I may end up using in place of Kai's. This will likely be a rare occurrence, but in any case, I will be sourcing that audio from the Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box releases unless the 2014 Blu-Ray release of Dragon Ball Z happens to be of noticeable higher quality in some way that I'm not aware of.

Soundtrack:
The score is my biggest hangup with this project. In my mind, there are only 3 options for the score of this project, all with their own pros and cons.

1. Using Shunsuke Kikuchi's score from Dragon Ball Z.

Spoiler:

Pros:
-Kikuchi composed the score for Dragon Ball Z with the Buu arc in mind, as far as I'm aware. Thematically speaking, this is likely the most consistent choice as most people have heard it in Dragon Ball Z.
-This score was also used as a replacement score for Dragon Ball Kai after the Kenji Yamamoto controversies. Because of this, it's present in most releases and airings of Dragon Ball Kai, meaning that most people are probably most familiar with this soundtrack.

Cons:
-The people who would be interested in projects like this are people who may be used to the Kenji Yamamoto soundtrack when watching Kai. It may be a bit jarring if someone followed up the Yamamoto Revival project with my edit.

2. Using Kenji Yamamoto's score from Dragon Ball Kai.

Spoiler:

Pros:
-Logically, this is the most consistent score to use as the audience this project is appealing to is probably used to the Yamamoto score.(from my point of view, I could be wrong.)

Cons:
-Yamamoto never really got the chance to compose anything for Kai with the Buu arc in mind due to his controversies. Because of this, I would be forced to reuse tracks from the first run of Dragon Ball Kai. It might technically be more consistent, but it's very possible that things could easily get stale after awhile.

3. Using Norihito Sumitomo's score from Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters and Dragon Ball Super.

Spoiler:

Pros:
-Sumitomo does have the advantage of composing the soundtrack with the Buu arc in mind, meaning that thematic clashing isn't as big of a deal as Yamamoto's may be.

Cons:
-Honestly? Many people just don't like the score. Even bringing in his better works from the latter half of Dragon Ball Super may not be enough to satisfy most people.

As of now, I'm currently leaning towards the Kikuchi score as I feel like it would be the most consistent for the most people, but what I use may change in the future. I'm really interested in what you guys would rather see.

Content:
Personally, I am going to take an approach similar to the original run of Dragon Ball Kai when it comes to cutting filler. In my eyes, that means cutting needless and excessive content that was not present in the manga while leaving in somethings that allow scenes to flow better. Because of this, I want to make it crystal clear is that this isn't going to be a 1:1 manga cut. Obviously filler arcs and anime only content will be cut down to a minimum, but with that said, I want to try and leave in some anime only content that allows dialogue and action scenes to flow better. Kai actually did this and they did it rather well. In fact, most people don't even know that Kai left a lot of what could be considered "filler" in. I don't mean filler events, but rather just anime only content that allows an episode to flow better. If I were to make a 1:1 manga cut, I feel that the pacing would be harmed. You have to remember, Dragon Ball Z is an adaptation of a manga, things will be added to better translate chapters into a 24-minute time slot.



Video Sources:
Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box release
Dragon Ball Z Kai Blu-Ray release(as references for color correction)


Dub Sources:
Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters Blu-Ray release
Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box release

Sountrack Sources:
TBD

Here is a summary/TL;DR of the major changes this project aims to make:

•A reversion from 16:9 to the original aspect ratio of 4:3 used for both Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Kai.
•Dragon Box source video color corrected to be more consistent with Dragon Ball Z Kai
•Some lines and performances from the original Z dubs added
•An updated/changed score
•Cut Filler


I'm really interested in what everyone thinks about a project like this. If there does happen to be enough interest, I'll create a proof of concept sample, and from there I'll decide if there's enough interest to warrant me committing to realizing this project to the end.

Do you have any updates on this project? I really want to see a 4:3 version of TFC.