With Korean fans starting to chatter online about their dub and some of our own community members getting out and about, we are starting to piece together a few more details about the “alternate” — or, perhaps more fittingly, “original” — version of Dragon Ball Kai‘s Majin Boo arc.

As we detailed the other day, it appears that Toei and Fuji TV have further condensed the by-default-already-edited-down version of the Majin Boo arc for their Japanese television broadcast of Dragon Ball Kai. What will likely be roughly 69 episodes internationally may end up as only about a year’s worth of episodes in Japan. At first it seemed as if the raw content of the episodes themselves was the only differentiating factor, but in addition to that, the opening and ending themes are in fact completely different.

While the Japanese broadcast of the Majin Boo arc for Dragon Ball Kai brought back Takayoshi Tanimoto to perform the new opening theme “Kuu-Zen-Zetsu-Go” (as a part of the unit “Dragon Soul”, and as a follow-up to the first opening theme also itself named “Dragon Soul”), the Korean dub of the arc has an entirely different song. Most confusing is the fact that this other song is also a Japanese song and is produced by artists that worked on the original 2009-2011 run of Dragon Ball Kai. Named “Fight it out“, the song is performed by Masatoshi Ono with the musical composition by Yō Yamazaki and lyrics by Hiroshi Yamada. While Ono is new to the Dragon Ball franchise (most notably recently contributing an opening theme to the revived Hunter x Hunter anime), Yamada provided lyrics for a slew of previous Dragon Ball Kai insert songs, while Yamazaki composed the fan-favorite “Take the Stage!! Ginyu Special-Squad!!” insert song.

It is perhaps worth noting that the opening theme song to the 2008 PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 game Burst Limit, “Kiseki no Honō yo Moeagare!!” by Hironobu Kageyama, had an English version included on the game’s original soundtrack under the same title of “Fight it out”. These are two separate songs, with the alternate Kai opening composed (as noted above) by Yō Yamazaki, and the game opening composed by Kenji Yamamoto.

A separate ending theme is also used in the international version: “Never give up!!!“, performed by R&B singer Junear.

Incidentally, the title of “Never give up!!!” also shares in-name-only similarities with another Dragon Ball video game theme song: the closing theme to 1996’s The Great Dragon Ball Legend on the PlayStation and Saturn, “Never Ending, Never Give Up” performed by Hironobu Kageyama.

It remains to be seen if these “international” theme songs will make their way back to the Japanese version and/or vice versa. We know that we will likely have four total ending themes for the Japanese broadcast, with two of them already either in-use or announced (“Dear Zarathustra” by Good Morning America and “Junjō” by Leo Ieiri). The “international” version’s songs seem to be even more “in-house” than seen with Japan’s broadcast, whose ending themes seem to be more of the promotional tie-in types with record labels such as Columbia.

The animation for each is a combination of animation we have seen in the Japanese broadcast’s theme songs, combined with as other “new” cuts, some of which were used in the initial preview trailers for the Japanese broadcast. It seems likely that these sequences in the international version are how they were originally conceived, with the Japanese broadcast editing them (including removing footage and speeding up certain cuts) to match the new music. The animation accompanying “Never give up!!!” in particular reveals who the characters are fighting against — Bobbidi, Dabra, and Majin Boo — where the version of the sequence used with “Dear Zarathustra” leaves it a mystery.

Curiously, the eyecatch tune — even in the Japanese broadcast — appears to be an arrangement of “Fight it out”, further indicating that the international “Final Chapters” cut is the “original” version from which the Japanese broadcast cut has been derived. Likewise, the next-episode preview music in the Japanese broadcast — an arrangement of “Kuu-Zen-Zetsu-Go” — has seemed bizarrely under-orchestrated and over-synthesized for its prominent and recurring role at the end of every episode. Its being written at the last minute (to complement a replacement opening, rather than the originally-intended “Fight it out”) would explain this discrepancy in quality, although we have yet to hear the next-episode preview music from the Korean dub to verify that it is indeed different there.

The “international” broadcast keeps Norihito Sumitomo’s musical score to the show, though certain pieces are placed differently due to the additional footage.

To recap, so far the theme songs include:

Japanese Broadcast

• Opening Theme: “Kuu-Zen-Zetsu-Go” by Dragon Soul (episodes 99-???)
• Ending Theme #1: “Dear Zarathustra” by Good Morning America (episodes 99-111)
• Ending Theme #2: “Pure Heart” by Leo Ieiri (episodes 112-???)

International Broadcast

• Opening Theme: “Fight it out” by Masatoshi Ono (episodes 99-???)
• Ending Theme #1: “Never give up!!!” by Junear (episodes 99-???)

Special thanks in particular to DongHyun for providing various bits of information and to kei17 as well.

The second ending theme for the Majin Boo arc of Dragon Ball Kai has been revealed: “Junjō” (“Pure Heart”) by 19-year-old singer-songwriter Leo Ieiri.

The song will take the slot from “Dear Zarathustra” by the band Good Morning America starting with the 06 July 2014 episode of the “refreshed” version of the series currently airing on Fuji TV in Japan.

The CD single has also been announced for 30 July 2014 and will follow the same release format as “Dear Zarathustra” with a regular edition (VICL-36938; ¥1,296) as well as “A” (VIZL-676; ¥1,836) and “B”-type (VICL-36937; ¥1,296) limited editions. The various releases will come packed with b-sides “For you”, “a boy”, and “Sun Goddess” along with instrumental and acoustic versions depending on the version purchased. The “A”-type limited edition will also come with a DVD packed with music video, making-of, and tour material.

Interestingly, the regular and “A”-type limited edition versions will feature an image of the singer, while the “B”-type limited edition version will be the one to feature Dragon Ball artwork (pictured respectively above).

A 45-second commercial for the song has been uploaded by the artist and label to YouTube:

“Junjō” will be the fourth ending theme for the “refreshed” series overall, following “Yeah! Break! Care! Break!” by Dragon Soul (1-54), “Kokoro no Hane” by Team Dragon from AKB48 (55-98), and “Dear Zarathustra” by Good Morning America as detailed above.

The CD single for “Dear Zarathustra” included a sticker on the packaging specifically detailing it as the ending for the April “cour” (three-month television broadcast “season”). When the song was announced, the band noted that it would be used for the first “quarter” of the story arc. With the recent uncovering of an alternate edit/cut of the Majin Boo arc of Dragon Ball Kai being developed within Japan versus what seems to be provided to Toei’s international licensees, the math so far seems to add up for the Japanese broadcast, at least, running for only about a year.

Thanks to our buddy kei17 for the heads-up.

The recent Korean television broadcast of the Majin Boo arc for Dragon Ball Kai finally gives solid confirmation on something we at Kanzenshuu have also been able to independently confirm for elsewhere in the world: there are multiple versions of the arc being produced within Japan.

The surprising reveal of the Boo arc’s existence in Kai-form came via voice actress Mayumi Tanaka all the way back in November 2012. The blog post detailed that the final arc of the “refreshed” version of Dragon Ball Z would not be aired in Japan, “…but overseas, Dragon Ball Kai is continuing.”

Things were left at that with the occasional extra tease from other Japanese voice actors as well as confirmations from North American voice actors that would then go on to either be deleted, retracted, silenced, or some combination of all of the above.

It was clear that the Majin Boo arc of Dragon Ball Kai was coming, but the extent of its perhaps turbulent production is only just coming to light.

The “refreshed” series did ultimately make its way back to Japanese television, unlike what Tanaka’s original statement implied. With a new musical composer and a cropped video presentation, the series has been plugging away on Fuji TV for about three months now.

While the on-going analysis from fandom is obviously all just subjective observations, there is a consensus that something is clearly “off” about what has been airing on Fuji TV. From the green tint to the rather haphazard editing, it cannot just be the removal of Q-TEC from the video remastering process that is affecting things.

Additionally, there have been massive contradictions in episode titles: promotions in issues of Weekly Shōnen Jump and V-Jump list one set of titles, and by the time the episodes make their way to television, the final broadcast either has adjusted titles or entirely new titles for certain episodes.

For example, in late May an issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump printed upcoming episode titles, but the broadcast title for episode 108 was never mentioned; this episode title was also overlooked in the respective issue of Saikyō Jump. Until the next episode preview was shown earlier this month, that specific title had never appeared anywhere, and the episode before that (107) had its title halfway rewritten for the broadcast (removing the first sentence, swapping the second sentence up to the first, and writing a new second sentence).

Original Printed Episode 107 Title:
うごめく陰謀！！恐ろしき魔人の秘密
“A Slithering Conspiracy!! Secrets of the Terrible Majin”

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Actual Broadcast Episode 107 Title:
恐ろしき魔人の秘密　黒幕出現！！
“Secrets of the Terrible Majin — The Man Behind the Curtain Appears!!”

If the Majin Boo arc of Dragon Ball Kai has been in production since at least late 2012, it is baffling to think that episodes are being re-titled this late into the game, especially with episode titles already simply being adaptations of prior Z-proper titles. It is clear that that Toei has been adjusting things just prior to broadcast, and has not bothered to keep Shueisha in the loop.

We knew that international dubs would be coming (under the subtitle of “The Final Chapters”), but it is finally now with the Korean broadcast of Dragon Ball Kai that everything starts to add up. There is simply more footage in this “international” version, with — for example — three (extended) episodes in the Korean version of the Great Saiyaman arc covering what was reduced down to only two episodes in the Japanese television broadcast.

Toei’s English-language announcement of 69 episodes seemed to be at odds with the pace set by the Japanese broadcast, and while that could always be adjusted down the line, it was setting the stage for episodes eventually being straight-up adaptations of Z-proper episodes on a 1:1 ratio, essentially defeating the entire purpose of making Dragon Ball Kai. If there are two “versions” in production, this at least starts to make a little more sense.

The question is: which is the “original” version of the Majin Boo arc of Dragon Ball Kai…? All signs point to the “international” version (“The Final Chapters”) with its perhaps extended episode count being the “first” version, and then Toei’s and Fuji TV’s current broadcast version in Japan being the “adaptation”.

Of course, once you ask that question, more come to mind. Which version of the show will pop up on Japan’s own home release? How long will the Japanese broadcast truly go for? Why is it being edited down in the first place? At whose discretion or request was this edit-of-an-edit made? How do international broadcasts, and specifically the announcement of Dragon Ball Kai coming to Toonami in North America, tie in to its production?

We do not have the answers to all of these questions yet, but rest assured that we will continue to document the Dragon Ball Kai production process every step of the way as we always have! Thanks as always to our various community members for going above and beyond with their own analysis and research which contributed to our being able to tell the full story.