FUNimation’s more-formal “season” set releases of the refreshed Dragon Ball Z Kai series officially begins 22 May 2012, but as per the norm, RightStuf is shipping out orders early… which gives us all a chance to confirm things equally nice and early!
After the announcement of possible infringing works in Kenji Yamamoto’s musical score to the series, FUNimation’s two-disc “Part” releases of Kai shifted to the Shunsuke Kikuchi replacement score (Parts 1-4: Yamamoto, Parts 5-8: Kikuchi).
It was way back in July 2011 that FUNimation first announced “season” releases for Kai, essentially combining two “Part” releases (each 13ish episodes) into one larger “season” release (26ish episodes). When the first set eventually made its way out for its 18 October 2011 release, it was assumed that, since all of the other subsequent releases had shifted over by then, this newly-packaged release would contain the Kikuchi replacement score; instead, it still had the original Yamamoto broadcast score. The set was strangely pulled from online listings shortly after its release, leading many fans to assume the Yamamoto inclusion was a mistake; however, when the set popped back up again, those purchasing it still found the Yamamoto score on the discs.
This past February, FUNimation’s solicitations noted upcoming releases of “Season One” and “Season Two” for Kai — this left “Season One” in an odd spot, since it had technically already been released, but was now a part of what appeared to be a more-consistent, well-planned “Season” release series.
Well, it has been confirmed — this new (re?)re-release of “Season One” does indeed contain the Shunsuke Kikuchi replacement score, as does the new “Season Two” release (repackaging Kai episodes 27-52 in North America for the first time, which come from “Part 3” and “Part 4” that have now been discontinued). The whole Kai release history can be incredibly confusing even for fans like us who live and breathe this stuff — check out the “Dragon Ball Z Kai TV Series” page of our “Home Video Guide” for a nice breakdown of all the different releases and which options are available on them.
4 Comments
I understand that this is subjective in opinion, but I’d still like to ask.
Which is more impactful? The Kikuchi score or the Yamato score? I’m planning to purchase the sets, but I want to figure out which versions I should hunt down. before throwing my money on the table.
Thanks!
My opinion would be Yamamoto. The Kikuchi mix was thrown in as an afterthought after the scandle, and does sound a little out of place.
However, I could be completely biased, because I find Yamamoto’s tracks with or without them playing over Dragon Ball to be really good.
Whoops! *Scandal*
I *would* go hunt down the Part sets, since Yamamoto’s music does fit Kai a bit better. But that was only for 1-4, the rest is Kikuchi. I’d rather have all the music be the same than have it change on me mid-series.