Other series like DBZ Kai?

Discussion specifically regarding the "refreshed" TV version of DBZ created in Japan for its 20th anniversary, including individual threads for each episode.

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TheRed259
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Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by TheRed259 » Sun Feb 02, 2020 11:28 am

Are there any other animated series (cartoons or animes) like DBZ Kai? (revised version of an old animated show with less episodes, the same old animation, the same or different/new soundtracks and a new dub)

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by Matches Malone » Sun Feb 02, 2020 12:51 pm

I can't think of anything official but Kai inspired fans to start their own cut of One Piece called One Pace, and I think there's one for Naruto as well.

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by OmegaRockman » Tue Feb 04, 2020 7:39 am

The closest thing I can think of are the anime compilation films of series like the Mobike Suit Gundam 0079 Trilogy, the Ashita no Joe film (or films? I dunno), Space Battleship Yamato (though that one could have been a reanimated reimagining like Galaxy Express 999 or Macross: DYRL, so correct me if I'm wrong), and other films like those that recut TV series into movies with maybe some extra footage to help smooth over the restructuring. This trend probably started due to home video releases of full series not being as big a thing at the time, so the best way to revisit a series would be through films like these that repackage the story into an easy 2-hour package.

This trend didn't die out completely with the home video boom, though, with series like Madoka Magica and Made in Abyss having compilation films, as well. Even Zeta Gundam got a compilation trilogy in the 2000s, though I heard that they changed a lot of stuff and the new footage clashed a lot with the old footage, resulting in a less successful set of films than the 0079 Trilogy. A particularly funny example is the series of English-dubbed only Fist of the North Star films, which are so poorly voiced that you could have a fun Friday night with some friends and some drinks by putting them on for bad movie night. Or you could just put on the 80s anime movie, which went the "reanimate and reimagine" route, and watch an actually awesome film.

As for recutting a TV series into another, shorter TV series like Kai did? I've never heard of anything else like it. The only thing in the same ballpark I can think of are the occasional HD rebroadcasts of shows that MAYBE get a slight title change and different OP music (such as Naruto: Shonen Hen), but are otherwise the exact same episodes just in HD and cropped to widescreen. I think Yu-Gi-Oh! may have skipped the filler arcs for its HD rebroadcast, but I believe the episodes they did air were exactly the same (again, other than being in HD and in widescreen). I've never heard of another series doing what Kai did. Most other franchises would just reanimate the entire thing from scratch, like FMA or Fruits Basket. In that sense, Kai really is one of a kind.
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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by SSJmole » Tue Feb 04, 2020 12:10 pm

Transformers Generation 2

Basically they took 52 of the orginal episodes added new intro + new swipes but wasn't as improved or edited as Kai was.

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by funrush » Tue Feb 04, 2020 4:05 pm

Sailor Moon Crystal is a redone cut down version of Sailor Moon, that's the obvious one off the top of my head.

I'm sure there's plenty of fanmade "Kai" versions of the real popular shonen shows.

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by MasenkoHA » Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:42 pm

I see to remember around 2010ish there was reruns of old Power Ranger episodes with some weird comic book pop art style effects added and I’m pretty sure it existed to sell old toys.

That’s the closest I can think of to a Dragon Ball Kai


funrush wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 4:05 pm Sailor Moon Crystal is a redone cut down version of Sailor Moon, that's the obvious one off the top of my head
Sailor Moon Crystal is a completely new animated series that is another (more faithful) adaptation of the manga.

Dragon Ball Kai is remastered and recut reruns of Dragon Ball Z.

They’re not even close to the same thing.

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by Robo4900 » Wed Feb 05, 2020 8:22 am

MasenkoHA wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:42 pm
funrush wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 4:05 pm Sailor Moon Crystal is a redone cut down version of Sailor Moon, that's the obvious one off the top of my head
Sailor Moon Crystal is a completely new animated series that is another (more faithful) adaptation of the manga.

Dragon Ball Kai is remastered and recut reruns of Dragon Ball Z.

They’re not even close to the same thing.
Sailor Moon Crystal sounds like it's what Kai kinda wanted to be, but Toei were too cheap to actually do it right.
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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by Valerius Dover » Wed Feb 05, 2020 1:47 pm

Robo4900 wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 8:22 am

Sailor Moon Crystal sounds like it's what Kai kinda wanted to be, but Toei were too cheap to actually do it right.
Eh, circumstances aren't really the same though. The Dragon Ball anime is mostly faithful to the manga but adds a bunch of padding and filler and so on. The old Sailor Moon anime would take the basic footnotes of the manga's arc and make its own story with it. Doing a re-edit to match the manga would be completely impossible, as the vast majority played out differently between the two.
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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by Rory » Wed Feb 05, 2020 2:04 pm

Matches Malone wrote: Sun Feb 02, 2020 12:51 pm I can't think of anything official but Kai inspired fans to start their own cut of One Piece called One Pace, and I think there's one for Naruto as well.
This is actually a pretty cool thing to have come from Kai. I'd never seen/read Naruto before, but the fan project 'Naruto Kai' made taking the plunge a much easier pill to swallow (as long as you can deal with a lot of fades to black/not-so-perfect scene transitions).
It's cool to see fans trimming more digestible versions of existing shows.
Valerius Dover wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 1:47 pm
Robo4900 wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 8:22 am

Sailor Moon Crystal sounds like it's what Kai kinda wanted to be, but Toei were too cheap to actually do it right.
Eh, circumstances aren't really the same though. The Dragon Ball anime is mostly faithful to the manga but adds a bunch of padding and filler and so on. The old Sailor Moon anime would take the basic footnotes of the manga's arc and make its own story with it. Doing a re-edit to match the manga would be completely impossible, as the vast majority played out differently between the two.
Also this. Sailor Moon's OG anime still holds up super well and is flat-out a different experience from Crystal, they basically made a totally different show as opposed to attempt to improve the original (as they attempted to do with Kai). Not to say Dragon Ball Z doesn't hold up to me, but it's very difficult to get people into it at this point, due to its pacing, age, and other stigma that affect the show.

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by Matches Malone » Wed Feb 05, 2020 3:25 pm

Rory wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 2:04 pmThis is actually a pretty cool thing to have come from Kai. I'd never seen/read Naruto before, but the fan project 'Naruto Kai' made taking the plunge a much easier pill to swallow.
It's such a shame Kai wasn't as good as it could've been as I think if it was done right (covering the entire manga in a consistent way), it might've been successful enough to inspire Toei and other companies to cut down other shows in a similar way.

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by SpiritBombTriumphant » Mon Feb 10, 2020 9:36 pm

It's not really a Kai in terms of cutting out filler (since there is hardly any in the main product), but Gintama had a "season" called "Yorinuki Gintama-san." To quote Wikipedia, "In addition to being broadcast in HD, new opening and ending animations and themes have been made." But again, that anime is made without much (if any) filler to begin with and it is done seasonally, so that is really a "Best of" compilation.

One thing to note is that Toei dropped Kai as the main source of revenue, merchandise sales, stayed the same throughout Kai's original run. When those cheap fucks saw that, they most likely assumed any other show would be the same and thus they no longer do it. It was a cool concept at the time and definitely one they need to revisit to simply make One Piece watchable, but it was more a loss of money (I think? IDK when figuring in international sales) so it is a done idea. Remember, Boo Kai was only made because the international licencors (ex. Funimation) requested it, and look at the pile of shit that we got.

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by GhostEmperorX » Tue Mar 03, 2020 4:55 pm

Practically none. Kai really shouldn't have existed due to all the things Toei got massively wrong with it, and if the Funimation actors wanted a second chance they should have just re-dubbed the original show as it was and left the original score intact.
Other series getting anything like what Kai turned out to be is also a big no, even though I'd argue that some may eventually need it because too many fillers (cough Naruto cough).
SSJmole wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 12:10 pm Transformers Generation 2

Basically they took 52 of the orginal episodes added new intro + new swipes but wasn't as improved or edited as Kai was.
They didn't re-do the voice acting nor was it done like what DB was which was meant to be more faithful to the manga it was based on.

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by ZodaEX » Thu Aug 20, 2020 9:54 pm

MasenkoHA wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 5:42 pm I see to remember around 2010ish there was reruns of old Power Ranger episodes with some weird comic book pop art style effects added and I’m pretty sure it existed to sell old toys.

That’s the closest I can think of to a Dragon Ball Kai


funrush wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2020 4:05 pm Sailor Moon Crystal is a redone cut down version of Sailor Moon, that's the obvious one off the top of my head
Sailor Moon Crystal is a completely new animated series that is another (more faithful) adaptation of the manga.

Dragon Ball Kai is remastered and recut reruns of Dragon Ball Z.

They’re not even close to the same thing.
It mainly existed because Disney didn't want to produce a new season of Power Rangers, yet they had to have something in 2010 to air or else they would have lost their Super Sentai license from Toei. It gave them enough time for them to sell off the franchise to Saban.

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by Underscore_Johny » Fri Aug 21, 2020 8:14 pm

The two Gurren Lagann movies are essentially just the first and second halves of its anime (27 episodes) condensed down into 2 hour films, though unlike Kai, they actually added new scenes (such as the fight between the Anti-spiral and Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann). That's about all I could think of. And aren't the first two arcs of Super technically just a reverse Kai? (Content from the movies stretched out for over 30 episodes, with a new soundtrack and dub). Just a thought.
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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by MasenkoHA » Sat Aug 22, 2020 11:58 am

I wouldn't call the first two arcs of Super "a reverse Kai" because the arcs are entirely newly animated.

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by Underscore_Johny » Sat Aug 22, 2020 1:48 pm

MasenkoHA wrote: Sat Aug 22, 2020 11:58 am I wouldn't call the first two arcs of Super "a reverse Kai" because the arcs are entirely newly animated.
True, but it did use a new soundtrack (even if it was the same composer) and dub, which makes it similar. Of course, not reusing the movie footage makes it different than Kai, but it would be difficult to do that anyway with how much longer the Super version is compared to the films (Though I think they should have at least tried, surely it couldn't have been any worse than what we got).
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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by GhostEmperorX » Tue Dec 20, 2022 12:59 pm

Underscore_Johny wrote: Fri Aug 21, 2020 8:14 pm The two Gurren Lagann movies are essentially just the first and second halves of its anime (27 episodes) condensed down into 2 hour films, though unlike Kai, they actually added new scenes (such as the fight between the Anti-spiral and Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann). That's about all I could think of.
I know this thread is two years old and over by now, but I would like to mention that compilation movies for anime series have existed since the medium was young, like with the original Gundam 79 and Ideon (which is what this example you've just mentioned falls under). It has zero similarity to what DB Kai is.

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by mecha3000 » Wed Feb 22, 2023 8:46 pm

Surprised no one mentioned Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which came out the same year as Kai and both were licensed by Funimation at one point.

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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by JulieYBM » Wed Feb 22, 2023 9:10 pm

mecha3000 wrote: Wed Feb 22, 2023 8:46 pm Surprised no one mentioned Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, which came out the same year as Kai and both were licensed by Funimation at one point.
The original post specificed using old animation, therefore the 2009 animated series Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST would not qualify for this.
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Re: Other series like DBZ Kai?

Post by UpFromTheSkies » Mon Mar 13, 2023 11:53 am

There are lots of fan made versions like this, like One Pace for One Piece, Naruto Kai, and there's one for Bleach but I forget what it's called. Dragon Ball also has multiple fan edits including one for the original series.

(The Dragon Ball fan edit is called Dragon Ball Recut)

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