What's the best English Dragon Ball DVD release?

[Vegard Aune]

Speaking as a slightly OCD fan who considers not having the Japanese title-cards a major flaw, I would say FUNi's older two-disc sets might be somewhat better, even if I seem to recall the encoding on those being rather, uh, what's the word... awful. Of course one would have to also get the Australian "Saga of Goku"-set to complete that collection, and really it just seems like more of a pain than it's worth. I'd say go for the Blue Bricks. Now admittedly I don't own those myself, but from what I've seen they seem perfectly watchable. Of course they're also missing the second opening and three variations of the endings, but then again... so did FUNi's original release. I think it's safe to assume that unless FUNi gets the rights to do a Dragon Box release for the first series, we will not be seeing those OP/ED variations on an English release.

[Super Sonic]

You want nothing cut, see if you can find the old sets. Though you'll need the blue brick for eps 1-13.

The zooming is nowhere near as bad as the cropping, and by the "old sets" I assume you are referring to the "saga" sets that came out around 02-04? Some of them are cheap, some of them will cost you over 100 dollars. If you're willing to pay over twice as much for the OCCASSIONAL cut off arm, that's your choice.

With that I have a question. Not counting anyone who finished high school after 2004, how come a lot of guys didn't get those back when they were in-print and more available? Were a lot of guys not fans then, or poor college students, or what?

[SupremeSSJ]

I think the Blue Bricks are absolutely fine apart from leaving out intro 2 and endings 1, 3 and 4. If you're like me and want the dub then they automatically beat the Boxes. And they're more affordable and shelf friendly and have marathon mode.

I watch all of Dragon Ball in Japanese with English subs, which is why I got the DBGT Singles (they contain Japanese credits + NEPs).

So if the Blue Bricks are the best release then I'll just hold on I guess.

Now whats the pq of those. should I get bricks or singles gt.

[dbboxkaifan]

I think the Blue Bricks are absolutely fine apart from leaving out intro 2 and endings 1, 3 and 4. If you're like me and want the dub then they automatically beat the Boxes. And they're more affordable and shelf friendly and have marathon mode.

I watch all of Dragon Ball in Japanese with English subs, which is why I got the DBGT Singles (they contain Japanese credits + NEPs).

So if the Blue Bricks are the best release then I'll just hold on I guess.

Now whats the pq of those. should I get bricks or singles gt.

Check these DBGT Singles Vs. DBGT Dragonboxes comparisons:

Comparison 1: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/52368
Comparison 2: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/52369

With the GT Singles you're getting the Japanese credits and NEPs, whereas the GT Green Bricks don't have either.

[Vice]

I would because I saw the screen and video comparisons, so the zooming is another con on the list.

Dragonbox


Blue Bricks

Oh my god, look at all that ground you're missing.

[VegettoEX]

Oh my god, look at all that ground you're missing.

I don't see what's wrong with a "principle of the matter" viewpoint.

As great as "Dragon Box: The Movies" looks and sounds, I still have a problem with it being the theatrical crop. I know there's more footage, and it would have been nice to have gotten it. It doesn't matter to me that everything was framed with the possibility of a widescreen crop. I know there's more footage, and it feels like a loss not to have it.

For the DB TV series, people know there's more footage, and it feels like a loss not to have it.

[kei17]

The Dbox looks close to the Blue Brick shot if you watch it on a CRT TV because of overscan, though. The framing of the Blue Bricks is fairly acceptable if you watch them on a LCD TV or a PC.

[fps_anth]

Are there any good screencap comparisons between the old Dragon Ball DVD singles release and the Blue Bricks release? I've searched high and low on this forum and haven't been able to find any in old threads. I only need a few more episodes to complete my DVD collection of the series, and if the quality between the two releases is comparable, and there's no zooming, I might just seek out the old DVD singles.

[dbboxkaifan]

Are there any good screencap comparisons between the old Dragon Ball DVD singles release and the Blue Bricks release? I've searched high and low on this forum and haven't been able to find any in old threads. I only need a few more episodes to complete my DVD collection of the series, and if the quality between the two releases is comparable, and there's no zooming, I might just seek out the old DVD singles.

I found a topic through Google which has a comparison screenshot of the English releases of Dragon Ball, but be aware that the picture quality isn't very good so it just comes down to which shows more image.

Piccolo Jr. Saga:


Blue Bricks:


And now.. the original Japanese Dragon Box: Dragon Ball:


Source: http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/88/t163 ... -releases/

It does show more detail than the Blue Bricks but the most complete release out of these three is the Dragon Box (I do like the colours better on FUNi's releases, though) and it's a shame FUNimation hasn't yet released it for the English market.

[JEFFMAN219]

Get the blue bricks because they are easier to get and plus they look better then its dragon box counter part in my opinion.

[NintendoBlaze53]

If you're willing to import buy the Madman boxsets. One covers Saga of Goku to Baba, with box 2 (covering) the 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai to the 23rd. They use the insert songs as well as no zoomed footage, but still no NEP or 2nd opening. Also(, it has the) free Blood Rubies movie. Also what's with the complaining about the people who want the full picture? Why do you think so many people want the original Star Wars Trilogy as it was in the 70's and 80's? What's wrong with wanting the original image and seeing the full picture?

[fps_anth]

Are there any good screencap comparisons between the old Dragon Ball DVD singles release and the Blue Bricks release? I've searched high and low on this forum and haven't been able to find any in old threads. I only need a few more episodes to complete my DVD collection of the series, and if the quality between the two releases is comparable, and there's no zooming, I might just seek out the old DVD singles.

I found a topic through Google which has a comparison screenshot of the English releases of Dragon Ball, but be aware that the picture quality isn't very good so it just comes down to which shows more image.

Piccolo Jr. Saga:
[img]http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/1492/db2mm.png[/ img]

Blue Bricks:
[img]http://img852.imageshack.us/img852/3161/db2ss.png[/ img]

And now.. the original Japanese Dragon Box: Dragon Ball:
[img]http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/5562/db2db.png[/ img]

Source: http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/88/t163 ... -releases/

It does show more detail than the Blue Bricks but the most complete release out of these three is the Dragon Box (I do like the colours better on FUNi's releases, though) and it's a shame FUNimation hasn't yet released it for the English market.

Hmm, those screen caps are pretty low quality. But from what I could tell, the Saga sets and Blue Bricks are more or less identical, except the Saga sets have a bit more picture?

I've given up hope on a North American release of the Dragon Ball Dragon Box. Such a shame, that screen cap looks so damn good.

[LordCrumb]

I'm currently watching the Fat Pack release, which is the exact same discs as the Individual Saga sets, just repackaged in a big amaray..

http://www.madman.co.nz/catalogue/view/ ... 16-fatpack
http://www.madman.co.nz/catalogue/view/ ... 11-fatpack

I think it looks incredible.

[fps_anth]

I'm currently watching the Fat Pack release, which is the exact same discs as the Individual Saga sets, just repackaged in a big amaray..

http://www.madman.co.nz/catalogue/view/ ... 16-fatpack
http://www.madman.co.nz/catalogue/view/ ... 11-fatpack

I think it looks incredible.

Yeah, I've had the first one for a while. I'm looking into picking up the second one for consistency's sake, but if the Blue Bricks have better video quality... ehh.

[dbboxkaifan]

I'm currently watching the Fat Pack release, which is the exact same discs as the Individual Saga sets, just repackaged in a big amaray..

http://www.madman.co.nz/catalogue/view/ ... 16-fatpack
http://www.madman.co.nz/catalogue/view/ ... 11-fatpack

I think it looks incredible.

I'm very tempted to buy the Dragon Ball Fat-Packs but I'll have to see about how customs deal with this.

[Gonstead]

Do the fatpacks contain episode's 1 -13? If they did, I'd guess to them using the ocean dub audio and video.

[NintendoBlaze53]

Do the fatpacks contain episode's 1 -13? If they did, I'd guess to them using the ocean dub audio and video.

Nope I just checked my set the opening and endings are dubbed and the first 13 episode's are the in-house Funi cast. Their are subtitles for both the English dub and Japanese. The Mezane Tenkaichi dub has no music but same with the Blue Bricks however Burning Red Ribbon is still in be it with Narration. I took a couple screenshots on my computer in 1366x632 screen ratio.


Why is it that in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai Goku's Gi is Red in both Dragon Box and Singles, but in the 23rd they are Orange in the singles.

[Gonstead]

Whuh.... weren't these released before the Blue Bricks, which were supposedly the first release to actually have an uncut dub of episodes 1 - 13?

Unless the Madman site is wrong or something since they say the fatpacks were released in 2006 while the Blue Bricks were something like 2009, right?

[theoriginalbilis]

Both the original 2-disc "Saga" sets and the Blue Season Sets are perfectly good releases. Yes, there's some slight zoom-in of the picture in the Blue Bricks, but the intention of the framing and shots isn't messed up as bad as the DBZ "Orange Brick" Season Sets.

Personally, I'd just recommend getting the Blue Bricks if you're interested in picking up the original Dragon Ball anime, just because the value (price-per-episode-ratio) is great and the video quality is improved over the old 2-disc sets (encoding/compression-wise.)

Of course, getting the Dragon Box version over here would be great, but I honestly think we'll get a Blu-Ray for Dragon Ball over here before we ever get those localized.