Why didn't KAI start at the beginning of the DB series?

[Kakarot9001]

Couldn't Kai started by Dragon Ball instead of Z? It's the first saga, the beginning of everything... All that flashback scenes in the first episode seemed to be something very rushed just to straight to Raditz arrival and etc.

Dragon Ball anime has 153 episodes with a couple of fillers, with the same work that Kai is being done, they could easily transform those 153 episodes in 60 max and then go straight to Z story.

Kai is proposed to be faithfully based in the manga, in the manga there is no division between DB and Z, they could do both in the same anime, it would be PERFECT!

One thing that really piss me off is all that media that insists in overshadow the original Dragon Ball beginning with Kid Goku meeting Bulma and etc., Its all about DBZ and stuff, I know DBZ was way more appealing than DB, but they could show more respect for the first series, even in the videogames they never begin with DB story or rarely introduce a DB char, it's always the same old Raditz over and over again, I'm glad that a game like BT3 could introduce the most DB chars ever in a DBZ game, that's why is one of my favorites, but yeah just my opinion at all hehe

What do you guys think about that?

[Hellspawn28]

DBZ is a bigger brand name even in Japan then the first Dragon Ball show. Kai was made for DBZ's 20th anniversary in 2009 and they thought the best way for its anniversary is to make a digital remaster show with little to no filler.

[Kakarot9001]

DBZ is a bigger brand name even in Japan then the first Dragon Ball show. Kai was made for DBZ's 20th anniversary in 2009 and they thought the best way for its anniversary is to make a digital remaster show with little to no filler.

But don't you agree that if the initial proposal of Kai was to be based on the manga, wouldn't be great if they had started in DB to then end in Z?

[Hellspawn28]

It would have been nice but DBZ is a bigger money maker though.

[Lord Beerus]

As Hellspawn28 stated, DBZ has more brand appeal and is a bigger draw as a whole in Japan. The original DB sell well in Japan but just not as much as how much something with DBZ slapped on it.

[Akumaito Beam]

It would have been cool but as others have said Z is the money maker. The point of Kai was to make maximum profit using minimal effort so starting with the original less popular series would have been an unnecessary risk. I have a theory that in any DB related material the longer it takes for Vegeta to show up the less interested casual western fans get.

Edit: That's not a knock. People just really love Vegeta.

[Herms]

Apart from Z's popularity, I have to imagine a big part of it is the way the filler is done in the DB anime, especially those early episodes. It's often so tightly integrated into the manga material that it'd be a nightmare to try and edit it out. I mean, right in episode 1 there's Mai explaining about the dragon balls to Pilaf. In the manga the entire explanation is said by Bulma, but the anime gives half the explanation to Mai as part of the first of the many filler scenes featuring Pilaf and co.'s misadventures. If they're trying to make a Kai version of that, what are they supposed to do? Obviously they can't just remove Mai's part of the explanation, at least not without losing a lot of important exposition. And if they leave in Mai's explanation, they'd pretty much have to leave in the entire filler scene, or else how is the audience supposed to know who the heck this crazy paramilitary chick is? At which point they've left most of the filler in episode 1 intact, which is going to make an odd start to this new filler-free version of the show. The filler in Z just leaves itself much more open to the "cut it out and speed up the pace" approach.

[Kakarot9001]

As Hellspawn28 stated, DBZ has more brand appeal and is a bigger draw as a whole in Japan. The original DB sell well in Japan but just not as much as how much something with DBZ slapped on it.

It would have been cool but as others have said Z is the money maker. The point of Kai was to make maximum profit using minimal effort so starting with the original less popular series would have been an unnecessary risk. I have a theory that in any DB related material the longer it takes for Vegeta to show up the less interested casual western fans get.

Edit: That's not a knock. People just really love Vegeta.

You got a good point but I don't see how could be a risk, the series gained popularity by the start of the first ever introduced Tenkaichi Budokai in DB anime and I know how TOEI and other owners departments only seek for profit from the franchise and like said before I think they could put more effort in 'Kai Project' it would be good for both (Fans and Producers)

Apart from Z's popularity, I have to imagine a big part of it is the way the filler is done in the DB anime, especially those early episodes. It's often so tightly integrated into the manga material that it'd be a nightmare to try and edit it out. I mean, right in episode 1 there's Mai explaining about the dragon balls to Pilaf. In the manga the entire explanation is said by Bulma, but the anime gives half the explanation to Mai as part of the first of the many filler scenes featuring Pilaf and co.'s misadventures. If they're trying to make a Kai version of that, what are they supposed to do? Obviously they can't just remove Mai's part of the explanation, at least not without losing a lot of important exposition. And if they leave in Mai's explanation, they'd pretty much have to leave in the entire filler scene, or else how is the audience supposed to know who the heck this crazy paramilitary chick is? At which point they've left most of the filler in episode 1 intact, which is going to make an odd start to this new filler-free version of the show. The filler in Z just leaves itself much more open to the "cut it out and speed up the pace" approach.

I don't see why that could be a problem, in Z they couldn't edit some fillers like Gregory for example, it would be a bad impression at start but then the series could go on without any major problems

[sbk]

I wonder if they would've started with Dragon Ball if they had never renamed the second part into "Z"

Such a shame, the original series desperately needs a new dub

[Herms]

I wonder if they would've started with Dragon Ball if they had never renamed the second part into "Z"

Well, the full color comics in Japan started at the Saiyan arc before going back and releasing full color editions of the earlier stuff, even though they just released it all as "Dragon Ball". And the pre-Raditz volumes are so far digital releases only with no print edition (at least the Pilaf arc was actually first to get the full color treatment, in a limited digital release a few years before the full-scale release of the color manga). So it's not completely unthinkable that they still would have opted for something similar with Kai, even in some alternate universe where the anime had never split the series up in two before then.

[Kakacarrottop]

Budget restraints i assume

Such a shame, the original series desperately needs a new dub

Does it really? I think most here would agree the original Dragon Ball anime had a pretty good and faithful dub, at least when compared to FUNi's efforts on Dragon Ball Z & GT.

[Herms]

Does it really? I think most here would agree the original Dragon Ball anime had a pretty good and faithful dub, at least when compared to FUNi's efforts on Dragon Ball Z & GT.

It's definitely a step up from their Z dub (can't say much about GT); the voice acting is better overall, and keeping the original score helps immensely. But script-wise I don't think it can be considered especially faithful, especially compared to how they later handled Kai or BoG. There's still one too many scenes where (for instance) characters have long and elaborate conversations about squirrels that weren't present in the original version at all.

[Adamant]

I mean, right in episode 1 there's Mai explaining about the dragon balls to Pilaf. In the manga the entire explanation is said by Bulma, but the anime gives half the explanation to Mai as part of the first of the many filler scenes featuring Pilaf and co.'s misadventures. If they're trying to make a Kai version of that, what are they supposed to do? Obviously they can't just remove Mai's part of the explanation, at least not without losing a lot of important exposition. And if they leave in Mai's explanation, they'd pretty much have to leave in the entire filler scene, or else how is the audience supposed to know who the heck this crazy paramilitary chick is? At which point they've left most of the filler in episode 1 intact, which is going to make an odd start to this new filler-free version of the show.

Didn't most of Mai's explanation take place over some footage of Shenlong? Even if it didn't, they could easily just throw some in there and have Bulma do the voiceover of that particular line. That scene is handleable.

[sintzu]

Because Kai was made to celebrate Z's 20th anniversary and the original isn't as popular as it nor is it a must watch to understand what's going on cause of how different it is.

Next years is the the original's 30th anniversary so we might get it's Kai version but I doubt it.

I have a theory that in any DB related material the longer it takes for Vegeta to show up the less interested casual western fans get.

When I watched the original something felt missing thanks to him not being in it.

[sangofe]

Everytime I see "started" in the title I cringe a bit inside... Could thread starter please edit it to "start"! Please!

[Kakarot9001]

Everytime I see "started" in the title I cringe a bit inside... Could thread starter please edit it to "start"! Please!

Sorry, It was wrong the way I wrote it?

[sangofe]

Should be "why didn't Kai start..."

[Theophrastus]

"Why didn't Kai start with the first saga of Dragon Ball?" would probably be the best way of phrasing the title in English.

[Kakarot9001]

Because Kai was made to celebrate Z's 20th anniversary and the original isn't as popular as it nor is it a must watch to understand what's going on cause of how different it is.

Next years is the the original's 30th anniversary so we might get it's Kai version but I doubt it.

I have a theory that in any DB related material the longer it takes for Vegeta to show up the less interested casual western fans get.

When I watched the original something felt missing thanks to him not being in it.

I doubt that too, but it would be pretty neat