Funimation's 30th anniversary collectible home video release

[BluezaBladeNZ]

I had a feeling it'd happen too. At least the packaging would be more durable than what the 30th set is, but I already have custom covers in 4 disc (5 for S9) BD cases ready for when my set arrives, whenever Madman NZ send it out.

[ArmenianPepsi]

From my perspective this is a step up, if only in the sense that 4:3 is what the Blu-Rays should have been, and that hopefully this is a replacement for the Blu-Rays so that 4:3 is the standard for "publicly available Dragon Ball" going forward (considering DB and GT's DVDs are also 4:3).

That's kind of the glimmer of hope I can see with these steelbook releases. If Funi uses these to replace the 2013 season sets as the standard consumer DBZ set, then maybe we can finally start to wash the taste of fake widescreen DBZ out of the general consumer''s mouth and slowly give them something better. Like a spoonful of medicine.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

From my perspective this is a step up, if only in the sense that 4:3 is what the Blu-Rays should have been, and that hopefully this is a replacement for the Blu-Rays so that 4:3 is the standard for "publicly available Dragon Ball" going forward (considering DB and GT's DVDs are also 4:3).

That's kind of the glimmer of hope I can see with these steelbook releases. If Funi uses these to replace the 2013 season sets as the standard consumer DBZ set, then maybe we can finally start to wash the taste of fake widescreen DBZ out of the general consumer''s mouth and slowly give them something better. Like a spoonful of medicine.

Yes, maybe this steelbook repackaging is indeed a sign that they are starting to come around and gradually phase out the fake widescreen stuff they've had as the cheap and readily available releases for so long now in favor of 4:3 once again being the standard going forward for all future releases. I may not be too particularly impressed about the lackluster video quality of the product itself, but it's definitely a promising start so fingers crossed that this eventually leads to better things down the line.

[Planetnamek]

Is anyone else struck by how shitty it is of Funi to do a "Once in a lifetime opportunity" for the 30th sets, complete with the whole crowdfunding-esque thing, followed a year later by them doing a mass-market version that's the exact same aside from the packaging?

I'm seriously baffled at how they think ANY of what they've done in regards to this disaster is even close to something the fans actually want. Literally the only thing they didn't completely fuck up is that the ratio between the width and height of the picture on these sets is 4:3... Everything else really has been a mess.

The only possible solace in all this is that maybe sometime in the next 10-15 years, they'll want to put out a new release of DBZ, and their only option will be to do an actually-not-shitty release that the hardcore fans will actually want to buy. Because I really don't think there's any possible way for them to do another release without doing it properly...

Though, physical media is dying out now, so maybe this is the last release we'll ever see.
Ugh. I hate this.

I'll do a Ginyu pose to that!

I also wouldn't mind seeing another release of original Dragon Ball.

I would mind! Funi would probably fuck it up!

Now lets see what font they'll use for the title cards this time lol.

It will be the exact same visuals from the 30th set. Hell, probably the exact same discs; menus and all.

This has been such an absolute freaking mess and travesty since circa 2006/2007, with only the occasional bright spot in between to offset it. I still maintain as i have said here previously that if the Orange Bricks had just been a simple repackage of the singles but just with better encoding then things would be a lot better than is now. Seriously, something like that being a mass marketed release in stores as opposed to the DNR smeared cropped garbage that actually came out then would've spared us all of these constant headaches with FUNi constantly and painfully missing the mark so much that we've had to endure for the last decade plus.

The Orange Bricks are definitely a case where I would've preferred less effort, nice convenient box-sets of all the single versions of the episodes is all I really want.

[Kendamu]

For anyone hoping that this might become the new standard, that's what we thought when they released the DBox and then they abandoned the Level sets super quickly to go back to 16:9. Funi even had a survey asking 4:3 vs 16:9 and, even through fans who took the survey had more interest 4:3, they still went with 16:9 for the Blu ray season sets.

I think this is going to be yet another limited run in 4:3. Let's hope they actually finish the release this time.

[kyppk]

If the Yu Yu Hakusho steelbooks are anything to go by then this won't be a limited release, since they're still kicking around. Also, since these are gonna be G2 steelbooks they'll be much less prone to rust unlike the old G1 steelbooks of the DBZ movies, so that's a bonus.

The only thing I'm really surprised about is the fact they didn't do a standard bluray release before releasing the steelbooks.

[KBABZ]

Let's hope they actually finish the release this time.

Are you referring to the UUEs/Level Sets or the Black Bricks?

[sangofe]

Let's hope they actually finish the release this time.

Are you referring to the UUEs/Level Sets or the Black Bricks?

I'm too very confused about what you're referring to.

[sangofe]

Looks like this is getting a steelbook release.
"New anime announced by Funimation! Dragon Ball Z Steelbooks (in 4:3 aspect ratio)"
Source: RightStuff

CALLED IT



Not really though, I just wanna make myself feel better

What ugly covers.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

For anyone hoping that this might become the new standard, that's what we thought when they released the DBox and then they abandoned the Level sets super quickly to go back to 16:9. Funi even had a survey asking 4:3 vs 16:9 and, even through fans who took the survey had more interest 4:3, they still went with 16:9 for the Blu ray season sets.

I think this is going to be yet another limited run in 4:3. Let's hope they actually finish the release this time.

Considering the 30th anniversary set's relatively sluggish sales I don't think this release will be limited as the entire purpose is to get as many copies of this remaster sold as possible. It may be wishful thinking on my part because that could mean the end of 16:9 in mass market releases, but who knows.

[Kendamu]

Let's hope they actually finish the release this time.

Are you referring to the UUEs/Level Sets or the Black Bricks?

I'm too very confused about what you're referring to.

I'm talking about the Level set Blu-rays, but the fact that they also didnt finish the Ultimate Uncut DVDs says something about how this release has a risk of going unfinished.

[KBABZ]

The most interesting oddity here is the character artwork. We've seen it before on the Level sets and the first volume of Kai... but for this set it's been redrawn! Note the deeper shading, re-positioned highlights, different colour palette, even angrier expression, and the thumb now going across the groin guard rather than parallel with it.

Spoiler:

You can see the same thing with Frieza. His hand is closer to his chin, his shading is deeper, the ball is in his palm rather than above it... and they kinda fucked up the masking on the ki ball: they're too low and shifted to the right, cutting off Frieza's fingers and exposing his shoulder or the lavender background.

Spoiler:

Goku has also been redrawn. His face is blockier and less like in the Saiyan arc, his shirt opening is MUCH wider as it has been since DBZ was revived, his screen-right hand is closer to to the shoulder and not outstretched, his screen-left hand is now visible to the left of his had, his belt now flies to the left rather than downwards and his screen-left leg isn't visible, presumable extended behind him and covered by the shoulder.

Spoiler:

If I were to guess why this was done, I'd say it's so that the artwork across the four cards that come with each set looks consistent with each other.

[VDenter]

Looks like this is getting a steelbook release.
"New anime announced by Funimation! Dragon Ball Z Steelbooks (in 4:3 aspect ratio)"
Source: RightStuff

Maybe these are fixed? (Probably not)

Still as terrible as these are, they are far better to have out there being easily accessible than the 16:9 Season sets. 4:3 Makes them automatically better but it does suck that they aren't as good as they could and should have been. I get the impression that many casual fans would have bought a 4:3 releases but the only options were the 16:9 releases.

[mute_proxy]

I can see they're both A and B region. I wonder if these will be distributed in Europe too or will MangaUK re-release them under their logo sometime later.

[Scsigs]

The most interesting oddity here is the character artwork. We've seen it before on the Level sets and the first volume of Kai... but for this set it's been redrawn! Note the deeper shading, re-positioned highlights, different colour palette, even angrier expression, and the thumb now going across the groin guard rather than parallel with it.

Spoiler:

You can see the same thing with Frieza. His hand is closer to his chin, his shading is deeper, the ball is in his palm rather than above it... and they kinda fucked up the masking on the ki ball: they're too low and shifted to the right, cutting off Frieza's fingers and exposing his shoulder or the lavender background.

Spoiler:

Goku has also been redrawn. His face is blockier and less like in the Saiyan arc, his shirt opening is MUCH wider as it has been since DBZ was revived, his screen-right hand is closer to to the shoulder and not outstretched, his screen-left hand is now visible to the left of his had, his belt now flies to the left rather than downwards and his screen-left leg isn't visible, presumable extended behind him and covered by the shoulder.

Spoiler:

If I were to guess why this was done, I'd say it's so that the artwork across the four cards that come with each set looks consistent with each other.

What it looks like is FUNi commissioned Toei's artists, under the guy who directed the animation on Super, to redraw a bunch of different character artworks specifically for these releases. They're more in-line with how everything's looked since Kai's sets started coming out. Honestly, I think I'm in the minority of people who don't mind that look. I agree that the Super Broly movie's artstyle is better, since it hearkens back to older Z & is easier on the animators as well as is visually more appealing, but I didn't mind that look. The only place where it was objectively bad at points was Super, since that series was under crunch time for most of its run because of Toei wanting to rush it out the door to meet a market demand for DB. Had Super had the proper animation time it needed right out of the gate, there wouldn't be nearly as many complaints about it. Bet.

[Sin]

I can see they're both A and B region. I wonder if these will be distributed in Europe too or will MangaUK re-release them under their logo sometime later.

It's definitely to encompass a MangaUK release now that Funi own them.

I feel like I'm in a minority that think these are actually really ugly, especially looking on Twitter I can say with pretty much certainty they won't fix anything and I won't be buying them.

[Kinokima]

[quote=KBABZ post_id=1665258 time=1597457096 user_id=120073]
From my perspective this is a step up, if only in the sense that 4:3 is what the Blu-Rays should have been, and that hopefully this is a replacement for the Blu-Rays so that 4:3 is the standard for "publicly available Dragon Ball" going forward (considering DB and GT's DVDs are also 4:3).

That said I'm not a fan of the packaging art design. The urban splatter half-tone look felt out-dated in 2015, and it certainly doesn't feel like Dragon Ball. Looks like the Spanish DB Blu-Rays win again!
[/quote]

I think it’s a step up that now people can get 4:3 without it being a limited time expensive collector box set

I wish the quality was better and yeah the box designs are pretty meh but I agree it’s a small step up.


And I have no clue why the quote html isn’t working

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I would still be very surprised if Manga UK doesn't release these. They have had constant requests for DBZ on Blu-Ray, I've also heard through the grapevine there are new home releases coming from them, and what little talk there was of a Rock the Dragon set seems to have died down. And for better or for worse it would also sell particularly well for them because unlike Funimation and Madman they haven't released any Z Blu-Rays yet.

[sangofe]

Are you referring to the UUEs/Level Sets or the Black Bricks?

I'm too very confused about what you're referring to.

I'm talking about the Level set Blu-rays, but the fact that they also didnt finish the Ultimate Uncut DVDs says something about how this release has a risk of going unfinished.

"This release"? You mean the anniversary set Re packaged? That would be good, actually.

[Catsenti]

So I've been looking at the steelbooks. I've only ever watched Z via streaming, so would these be a competent enough option for me to buy? I would get the Dragon Boxes but the price of them intimidates me.