In your opinion, has Kai been a success?

[Aoi]

Do you think that it will run all the way to the end of the Buu saga? Will it get cancelled? I am only asking because of the bad reviews i have read around the internet.



I would like to say that the only information i'm getting from Japan are the ratings. I am very happy that Kai seems to be doing very well in that aspect!

I myself love Dragonball Kai. The only complaints I keep hearing is that the pacing is too fast. This is usually from people who have seen the original "Z".

My first experience watching dragonball, believe it or not, was watching it in Canada. Yes. I was shocked that so many "subbies" hated the original english version "Because it left so much out". But as a first time watcher, the show was perfect.
I showed kai to my friend, and she absolutely loved it. We watch each ep when it comes out on sunday together. I tried watching "Z" anymore, and now can't stand that it takes Goku 14(!!!!) episodes to reach Snakeway.

All in all, I am very happy with this anime. My friends in japan are enjoying it tremendously.

[Velasa]

I don't have an answer for the rest of your questions because I stopped watching Kai at episode 4 < < But I did want to point out that on the issue of Snake Way... well it was -suppose- to take a really long time, everyone talks about how long the road is. So it makes sense that it actually does take a really long time.

[Aoi]

I am a big fan of the Manga. So maybe this is why i liked Kai's version of Snake way. If you read the manga, it takes about 15 minutes for Goku to reach Snake way. hehe.
But I agree in some sense. I had to pretend that this was my first time watching the show to not feel like I was missing episodes.

[Rocketman]

The only complaints I keep hearing is that the pacing is too fast. This is usually from people who have seen the original "Z".

That's because those people are like the old farts who drive 35 in the left lane of the highway, then bitch when other people honk at them.

[NeptuneKai]

The complaints I have is them cutting out manga material and keeping in filler...great job guys.

[VegettoEX]

The only complaints I keep hearing is that the pacing is too fast. This is usually from people who have seen the original "Z".

That's because those people are like the old farts who drive 35 in the left lane of the highway, then bitch when other people honk at them.

The thing is, I'm fine with a faster pace. That was really exciting when we first heard about it! The problem stems from the fact that the original base footage that they're using was itself created and previously edited for a slower pace... and when re-re-editing it, all sorts of issues pop up. I haven't kept up since the Saiya-jin arc ended, but there were far too many instances of them cutting around things and creating awkward transitions -- things like a character being in a moving animation and then next frame in a standing animation (or even elsewhere in the scene) 'cuz they cut something.

The complaints I have is them cutting out manga material and keeping in filler...great job guys.

That's another part of it. Taking a weekly-produced show and now editing it on a weekly schedule again... it comes across as rushed and unpolished all over again, and doubly-so. It's not staying true to what it's mission was supposed to be, and with all of their merchandise being labeled with "Kai" these days, the "celebration" portion of its creation is totally drowned-out by the "GIVE US MORE MONEY 'CUZ IT'S DRAGONBALL" side (which, admittedly, was always there...).

But yes, I'm an old fart.

[Supa Saiya-Jin Tullece]

a weekly-produced show and now editing it on a weekly schedule again... it comes across as rushed and unpolished all over again, and doubly-so.

I find that this can be avoided if you marathon the entire thing.

I just watched episodes 16-31 over the weekend and it was pretty awesome, probably because I haven't watched the Namek arc since the original airing of the Saban dub.

Of course, that's more or less avoiding the problem rather than addressing it...

[B]

The complaints I have is them cutting out manga material and keeping in filler...great job guys.

Well, one of the things with that is the pacing of the original show. Like Mike said, they've got to edit around prexisting material that was intended for a slower pace. As such, canon parts of DBZ are altered, just as much as completely-out-of-left-field anime-only filler is added. Really, because of that, it's impossible to stay true to the manga completely. The recent episode with Ghurd's fight is an example. They rewrote his timestop powers(in Z, he's got to hold his breath), and as a result, they're working with footage of Ghurd holding his breath. The only other thing they could do besides reanimate the fight completely was to just cut out Ghurd's fight.

My main gripe with why I've put Kai on hiatus until we get to the Androids is a lot of iffy animation. If only things could look like the Ginyu Corps's entrance...

[Kendamu]

Looking at Amazon's charts, Kai's been selling pretty well and plenty of forum posts in the individual episode threads have given enough info to tell that Kai's been doing really well with ratings, too.

I'd say Kai's been successful so far.

On a personal level, Kai's really awesome and it's gotten me interested in watching Dragonball anime in general again... something I pretty much had no interest in before as I tend to be a bit of a manga elitist.

[MCDaveG]

Yes, I can say it is..... It's true that most of fans here won't feel like this, because they have plenty of DVD's and some of them are re-watching the classic series again and again....

I was watching whole series with GF and now with my lil brother because he needs translation of dialogues, so I'm getting quite sick from Dragon Ball

But I can imagine that 15 years after end of Z series on Japanese TV, where there is not plenty of people owning Dragon Ball DVD's due to it's expensive price and Dragon Ball Kai now on TV is like fresh air. It's introduced like new series with merchandise included and it's not some re-run of classic series on Animax, but it's broadcasted alongside ongoing Anime shows on Fuji-TV in the main block, so lot of children is progbably watching it and DB franchise is getting some brand new fans......

I will still like Dragon Ball Z over Kai..... because of voice acting/actors and Kikuchi's music and also, I nejoy some of the fillers.

On he other side, I really like the fast pacing and more trueness to manga (excluding the filler left and some unchanged scenes, like Dodoria's kill instead of Frieza's).

Also, it got good ratings

[Izlude]

I love Kai so far, I love how we are just breezing through all of the best parts so quickly, with most of the bs taken out, and I love the new opening animation and bgm too.

The great thing about Kai though in my opinion is you can show it to people who always shrugged off the DragonBall Z series because of it's slow pace. Like most of my friends are finally giving the series another chance now, and they haven't seen it since the Toonami days, and they are enjoying it so far.

The other thing I like about Kai is it will no doubt bring in some renewed interest in new DragonBall Z video games. I was always a sucker for the RPG's on the SNES, and I did enjoy Legacy Of Goku 2, and the recent Attack Of The Saiyans for the DS looks interesting.

[Innagadadavida]

I have said this countless times, and I'll say it again. It is such a shame that we got Kai instead of a reanimated-refresh. Not only does it seem half-assed and pointless, but it destroys any possibility of getting a newly modern animated HD Dragon Ball anytime soon.

That being said, I will pick up the Blu-Ray sets when they are eventually localized and distributed here in the states. And if I ever get a hankering to watch Z, I'll probably watch Kai in it's place.

The bright side of Dragon Ball Kai could be that if Toei ever decides to revisit the concept of doing Dragon Ball all over again, they'll have to do something different. That difference might be covering Dragon Ball also.

[theoriginalbilis]

I'd say so, it has me following the series on a weekly basis again, looking at new merchandise (games, calendars, CDs), and it's easily kicking butt in the ratings too. (I think Episode 31 was 3rd in the anime ratings for the week it aired, beating out even One Piece. So yeah, it's not going anywhere.

I do hope the controversy springing up from the reused footage will convince Toei to create new DragonBall animation for the future, instead of using old clips.

[Rocketman]

The recent episode with Ghurd's fight is an example. They rewrote his timestop powers(in Z, he's got to hold his breath),

Huh? He has to hold his breath to stop time in the manga too.

[Hujio]

The recent episode with Ghurd's fight is an example. They rewrote his timestop powers(in Z, he's got to hold his breath),

Huh? He has to hold his breath to stop time in the manga too.

No he doesn't. The "holding breath" thing is an anime-only creation. In the manga he simply yells "STOP!" and he can stop time without having to hold his breath. He even talks to himself out loud in the manga, which would be really hard to do if you're holding your breath. Anyway, he can only do it so many times in a row, as he notes he can't stop time anymore after he has done it twice, so he decides to paralyze Gohan and Krillin instead.

[Izlude]

it destroys any possibility of getting a newly modern animated HD Dragon Ball anytime soon.

That would of been so totally awesome... but it probably would of been extremely expensive and time consuming too.

Maybe they can save that for like a couple of feature films someday that re-tell each saga in a hour/hour and a half.

[Blade]

I have said this countless times, and I'll say it again. It is such a shame that we got Kai instead of a reanimated-refresh. Not only does it seem half-assed and pointless, but it destroys any possibility of getting a newly modern animated HD Dragon Ball anytime soon.

I'm really not quite sure what makes you think that.

For me, if anything, the fact that Kai is proving to be a ratings success and that the Dragonball Franchise remains firmly in the public lexicon in Japan the possibility of brand new material seems more real than it ever has since GT went off the air.

Something which really supprised me when I visited Japan last year was how much Dragonball-related merchandise was actually on-sale over there. Given that, at the time, Japan hadn't seen any new material in over 10 years it was quite eye-opening to see the level of popularity which has nevertheless endured.

Even when at its commercial hey-day overseas, Toei never seemed interested in creating new material - perhaps renewed success at home in Japan both in the television and video game markets will prove more powerful tools of persuasion.

[Castor Troy]

It gives me something else besides Naruto Shippuden to watch every week, so I think it's doing it's job.

[NeptuneKai]

Well, one of the things with that is the pacing of the original show. Like Mike said, they've got to edit around prexisting material that was intended for a slower pace.

Your entire post makes a good point. The quoted section really is where the problem lays though (as Mr.EX and others have already claimed.) They should have animated entirely new footage because trying to go 3 chapters per an episode from animation that's absolutely not supposed to be paced in that fashion just looks extremely awkward. The process they set out to achieve is being compromised by using Z footage for sure. Maybe I'm just picky but watching Kuririn randomly pop out of the Kame house and be standing next to Goku in the next shot or anything of the like completely takes me out of the moment.

Then there's the voice replacements which I hate. I understand they aren't going to bring people back from the dead, but there's no reason to get rid of current living voice actors just to replace them with a couple of popular pretty boys. I wouldn't want any voice actors for the dub to lose their role for no reason either I think doing that is mind numbingly disrespectful. (Granted I don't like the dub voices and I talk about them being replaced somewhat often but in reality I would hate to see Chris or Sean lose their main roles.)

The music is a whole other can of worms but I really do not like it one bit. It is heavily reminiscent of the old Season 1 and 2 dub score in the fact that it just sits there and never shuts up. At least there are a few tracks on Morgan's score that I enjoy and think "oh that's kind of cool" but I have never felt that with Kai.

The less said about the randomly touched up scenes the better.

[MCDaveG]

It gives me something else besides Naruto Shippuden to watch every week, so I think it's doing it's job.

Man, your avatar always reminds me of Tay Zonday)))))))))

Neptune Kai: your points are quite sympathic for me troughout the message board