U.S.'s Nicktoons TV Adds Dragon Ball Z Kai in May

[Treklin]

America's Nicktoons television channel has announced that it will run the Dragon Ball Z Kai action anime series starting in
May 2010. Nicktoons, a spinoff of Nickelodeon, will also launch Voltron Panthera Force from World Events Productions, Ltd.
in conjunction with Kick Start Productions. (The channel did not specify if Voltron Panthera Force is Japanese-animated or
not.) Nicktoons made the announcements during its 2010 Upfront Presentation for advertisers on Thursday morning in New
York City.

The Dragon Ball Kai television series condenses the 1989-1996 Dragon Ball Z anime series to more closely follow Akira
Toriyama's original Dragon Ball manga. In addition to a digital high-definition remastering and a re-recorded soundtrack,
Dragon Ball Kai also enhances selected scenes with new effects or re-animated footage. The series premiered under the
name Dragon Ball Kai in Japan last April, and it has consistently ranked among the top 10 anime in viewer ratings every
week since.

Funimation had licensed the series for North America, and it plans to ship the first part of the series on DVD and Blu-ray
Disc on May 18. The distributor already licensed both the Dragon Ball Z television series and the earlier Dragon Ball
television series for North America. Funimation reassembled most of its original Dragon Ball Z cast for the English dubbing of
Dragon Ball Z Kai, except for four new cast members. Viz Media publishes the original manga in North America.

Nickelodeon has run a number of anime titles in the past, although neither Nicktoons nor Nickelodeon has a Japanese
animated program in the current season.

Source: ANN

Official "Nick Press" Press Release from 3/11/2010 Page 3

Now, the most important question:
Will be Nicktoons airing DBZ Kai in 4:3 ???

[LilKokuLink]

Never quite expected it to air on NickToons, seems like it is targeted more for the younger audience (atleast there will be no need to censor things and flippin cut out footage, there's no reason for it anyway). I'm really gutted I don't have this channel.
Ah well, I was always going to get the blu-ray sets anyway. Just would have liked to watch it on TV for major nostalgia flashbacks!

Not like I'm gonna go to my parents and ask if they can subscribe to Nicktoons >.>.

[Strongbad456]

Only thing I'm worried about is edits and edited dialogue. It is a children's network after all. Hopefully FUNi won't screw up.

[Metalwario64]

Since it's more appropriate here...
Wow...

Does this mean FUNimation is once again going to go with the "uncut in terms of footage only" route and have "censored" dialogue in the dub? I mean hecks, darns, goshes and a severely toned down Roshi? I'm talking about the uncut DVD's here.

Also, I wonder if Kai is going to be further censored visually. That would be worth a laugh. What am I saying, of course it will be...

[Kendamu]

I have Nicktoons. I'll certainly check it out when it hits to see what changes are made.

Oh, cool! Ninja Turtles and Dragonball Kai in the same block!

[VegettoEX]

Since this is the section for Kai on this forum, let's keep this as the dedicated thread.

Something I just posted over on the ANN thread --

Unless I'm reading something wrong from the formal press release, there is absolutely nothing stated about a traditional television broadcast for Kai in North America. It is specifically listed under the "Nick's digital nets" header, and Kai is furthermore specifically listed for "Nicktoons", one of their online portals for streaming.

[VegettoEX]

See the home page for further analysis. Probably coming to TV, yes, but I personally don't think it's 100% clear.

[Greenman]

See the home page for further analysis. Probably coming to TV, yes, but I personally don't think it's 100% clear.

In the press release "Nick's Digital Nets" seems to refer to their digital cable channels and not their online networks. The press release seems to be separated by regular Nickelodeon/digital cable not by TV/online.

[VegettoEX]

Yeah, I've made that a little more clear in the update on the home page. As I noted, I suppose it's my lack of cable that confused me from the start (and, ya' know, the Nicktoons site actually streaming stuff)... though I still think it's important to get an official "YES ON TELEVISION" from someone soon .

[Hujio]

See the home page for further analysis. Probably coming to TV, yes, but I personally don't think it's 100% clear.

I'm going to go with your "lack of cable" angle on this one. TeenNick, Nicktoons and Nick Jr. are all part of Nickelodeon's digital tear of TV channels, or their digital network. I understand where you're coming from, although it seems a bit out-there, but I can't imagine they'd not put it on TV in some form and only stream it online. I mean, FUNimation could easily do that on their own. Besides, everything Nicktoons streams, has already aired on TV. Kind of like how ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX do it these days.

[Big Momma]

This is amazing news. I for one am curious as to how Nickelodeon would handle anime censorship (Any censorship would be mostly due to Nickelodeon, not Funimation, right?).

[SSJSteve]

Is this going to air in the UK?

[Chuquita]

How strange it'll be to have Dragon Ball airing on a station in the U.S. that isn't Cartoon Network.

I seriously doubt Nick could ever come close to some of the old advertisements Toonami used to put together for Z though.
Cartoon Network must really be done with anime for good if they turned Kai down. (Or maybe Funi never offered Kai to CN to begin with? )

I have NickToons. I haven't watched the channel in forever, but I have it. If Funi doesn't stream their Kai dub on one of their online accounts (YouTube, Hulu.) I'll check it out on TV.

[LilKokuLink]

Is this going to air in the UK?

Oh damn, US Nicktoons. Fuck. I will cry if the UK is left out .

[Gozar]

How strange it'll be to have Dragon Ball airing on a station in the U.S. that isn't Cartoon Network.

I know what you mean.

This is really shocking news. Let's just hope FUNi goes the route that they went with One Piece. Keeping the cursing intact on the DVD's but making separate toned down dialogue for the TV Broadcast. But I must say I'm very happy to hear that there's still a market for DragonBall on TV.

[SSJSteve]

Is this going to air in the UK?

Oh damn, US Nicktoons. Fuck. I will cry if the UK is left out .

Me to, but I wont be surprised if we dont get it.

[mysteriousdbzgt]

Wow, this is very interesting that DB Kai is getting aired on Nicktoons rather than Cartoon Network, it's a shame that it probably won't be aired over here in the UK (or then again it might). Would have loved to have checked it out.

[Kendamu]

I'm gonna stick with the simplistic way of thinking and assume that it'll be on TV. I do hope that it gets streamed and episodes are available for purchase on iTunes and PSN or whatever, but I'm going to assume that this press release is in relation to television.

[Big Boss]

I hope they don't butcher down dialogue because of this. Man, this is like 1999 all over again.

[LilKokuLink]

It's interesting though, we may not actually get a broadcast in the UK due to FUNimation now being owned by Navarre. Region encodes on DVD's, access to website, we're so left out .

Episodes being available for download on iTunes is pretty cool, but to me that'll just feel like downloading the episodes online (well it is that, but legally). I think the blu-rays play a better part in that sense, apart from costing more.

The UK still has a really big fanbase, the amount of DragonBall fans or just anime/manga in general I've found are quite extraordinary.

However, I don't get the 'oomft' that I used to get when watching these on DVD. I want to go all fan-boy again, air in the UK!