Why hasn't Funi released the 2018 remastered movies yet?

[superfan2024]

In 2018, to promote and build anticipation for DBS: Broly, Fathom Events played the Bardock TV special, DBZ Movie 8, and DBZ movie 12 throughout select theaters in North America. The movies and special were all dubbed of course. Surprisingly, the movies and special were using the remastered visuals that Toei released that same year (excluding Bardock where its 2018 remaster has only aired on Japanese TV AFAIK) while not using those old 2007-2009 Funimation remasters.

So, it's been over a year and there has been no sign nor any clue of a release from Funi for the DB movies/specials. What gives? Were the remastered visuals only given for that special limited theatrical event?

[samuraix123]

I honest to God! Wish they would or give us the Dragonbox or try to remaster the movies using whatever source they had. I rewatched the bardock special the other day and you can just feel the orange bricks feeling all over it. And as much crap as Funi got for the 30th anniversary sets, they're Gold compared to those God awful orange bricks. I have personally really enjoyed watching the 30th anniversary sets but if Funi or Toei is just gonna give us another 50/50 release just don't bother ever releasing anything. I'm tired of the ''you have to take the good with the bad releases." Just gives us something that's watchable! I'm not nitpicky at all really. All I wanted from Funi was a good 4x3 release and as far as I'm concerned I got it. I would never trade my Dragonboxes off though. I wouldn't ever expect a better release than that in our lifetime.

[Robo4900]

It's worth noting we don't actually know for sure whether they used the Toei visuals for the Fathom screenings. A lot of people have speculated that this is what was shown, but no one was able to do a side-by-side comparison while in the cinema, exactly, so... It's just anecdotal "well it looked quite nice and had grain" stuff which could mean anything (remember that Funi's HD masters of the movies are actually pretty decent).

Anyway, I think Fathom's screenings were done in association with Toei?

Either way, Funi already released their masters of the movies. They probably don't see enough of an audience for them to bother licensing the new masters and re-releasing the movies.
Remember that they have fully ready HD remasters of the DB movies (though they screwed up DB movie 2), which they've only ever released on a shitty, cheap, downscaled DVD release.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

They may still release them. They will have all of Super out within a month and for all we know even if 2Uper gets announced we may end up having to wait before Funimation licenses it. The movie remasters could be released as a stopgap, there's plenty of OCD collectors (myself included) that would repurchase them.

[superfan2024]

It's worth noting we don't actually know for sure whether they used the Toei visuals for the Fathom screenings. A lot of people have speculated that this is what was shown, but no one was able to do a side-by-side comparison while in the cinema, exactly, so... It's just anecdotal "well it looked quite nice and had grain" stuff which could mean anything (remember that Funi's HD masters of the movies are actually pretty decent).

I am very certain that they used the 2018 remaster for all 3 presentations. Bardock's and Fusion Reborn's presentations can be seen in this video and it is very clear that they are both the new remasters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbVrJZWruOc

As for DBZ M8, you are correct, it's not easy to base off which remaster they used for it, but, luckily someone on YouTube who saw the movie in theaters posted the exact scene I needed to confirm that the 2018 remaster was the remaster that was used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlEDSfE2eWY

In the scene where Piccolo tells the gang to share their energy with Goku, there is an error with his hand. That error was in the 2007 Funimation remaster, but the error was fixed/wasn't present in the 2018 Toei remaster:

Funi remaster with error:


Movie theater showing with fixed hand:


If they bothered to use the 4:3 Bardock new remaster instead of their old 2000s 16:9 remaster, there's no reason they wouldn't have used it for DBZ Broly and Fusion Reborn

[Tylerman29]

I am very certain that they used the 2018 remaster for all 3 presentations. Bardock's and Fusion Reborn's presentations can be seen in this video and it is very clear that they are both the new remasters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbVrJZWruOc

Wow...good to see the original opening with the Eng dub. Is that present on the funi movie blu rays or is it just the Menza guitar garbage like the DBZ releases?

I want these in my collection SOOO bad..please funi release the Toei masters of the movies!

[samuraix123]

I am very certain that they used the 2018 remaster for all 3 presentations. Bardock's and Fusion Reborn's presentations can be seen in this video and it is very clear that they are both the new remasters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbVrJZWruOc

Wow...good to see the original opening with the Eng dub. Is that present on the funi movie blu rays or is it just the Menza guitar garbage like the DBZ releases?

I want these in my collection SOOO bad..please funi release the Toei masters of the movies!

God, That would have been so awesome to have seen the movies on the big screen like that. Around here in Kentucky stuff like that will never make it here. we do lucky just to have a theater LOL

[jjgp1112]

It's worth noting we don't actually know for sure whether they used the Toei visuals for the Fathom screenings. A lot of people have speculated that this is what was shown, but no one was able to do a side-by-side comparison while in the cinema, exactly, so... It's just anecdotal "well it looked quite nice and had grain" stuff which could mean anything (remember that Funi's HD masters of the movies are actually pretty decent).

I am very certain that they used the 2018 remaster for all 3 presentations. Bardock's and Fusion Reborn's presentations can be seen in this video and it is very clear that they are both the new remasters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbVrJZWruOc

As for DBZ M8, you are correct, it's not easy to base off which remaster they used for it, but, luckily someone on YouTube who saw the movie in theaters posted the exact scene I needed to confirm that the 2018 remaster was the remaster that was used: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlEDSfE2eWY

In the scene where Piccolo tells the gang to share their energy with Goku, there is an error with his hand. That error was in the 2007 Funimation remaster, but the error was fixed/wasn't present in the 2018 Toei remaster:

Funi remaster with error:


Movie theater showing with fixed hand:


If they bothered to use the 4:3 Bardock new remaster instead of their old 2000s 16:9 remaster, there's no reason they wouldn't have used it for DBZ Broly and Fusion Reborn

The green on Piccolo's skin having more of a yellowish tint while having a strong range of colors too also makes it pretty clear it's the 2018 master.

[SqueakyBoots]

It's worth noting we don't actually know for sure whether they used the Toei visuals for the Fathom screenings. A lot of people have speculated that this is what was shown, but no one was able to do a side-by-side comparison while in the cinema, exactly, so... It's just anecdotal "well it looked quite nice and had grain" stuff which could mean anything (remember that Funi's HD masters of the movies are actually pretty decent).

Fathom Events had posted clips from whatever masters they had on youtube so comparisons can be made with those.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvBS0X8Rrug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyY1filvgpM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuXUc1xN0jU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQOlUqktjtQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv_xseM8DyQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSC9MHvlDQw

[superfan2024]

It's worth noting we don't actually know for sure whether they used the Toei visuals for the Fathom screenings. A lot of people have speculated that this is what was shown, but no one was able to do a side-by-side comparison while in the cinema, exactly, so... It's just anecdotal "well it looked quite nice and had grain" stuff which could mean anything (remember that Funi's HD masters of the movies are actually pretty decent).

Fathom Events had posted clips from whatever masters they had on youtube so comparisons can be made with those.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvBS0X8Rrug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyY1filvgpM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuXUc1xN0jU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQOlUqktjtQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv_xseM8DyQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSC9MHvlDQw

All the visuals except the Bardock clips from the third and fourth link you posted are not accurate. Everything else is once again from the Late 2000s Funi DVD and Blu-Ray remasters, which was not used in theaters.

[superfan2024]

They may still release them. They will have all of Super out within a month and for all we know even if 2Uper gets announced we may end up having to wait before Funimation licenses it.

I pray this is what happens.

[Robo4900]

It's worth noting we don't actually know for sure whether they used the Toei visuals for the Fathom screenings. A lot of people have speculated that this is what was shown, but no one was able to do a side-by-side comparison while in the cinema, exactly, so... It's just anecdotal "well it looked quite nice and had grain" stuff which could mean anything (remember that Funi's HD masters of the movies are actually pretty decent).

Fathom Events had posted clips from whatever masters they had on youtube so comparisons can be made with those.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvBS0X8Rrug
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyY1filvgpM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuXUc1xN0jU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQOlUqktjtQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gv_xseM8DyQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSC9MHvlDQw

Bardock is the HD master we know from Animax. The rest are Funi's HD masters that they've had on streaming and Blu-ray for years.

They may still release them. They will have all of Super out within a month and for all we know even if 2Uper gets announced we may end up having to wait before Funimation licenses it.

Given how long it's been, I'm starting to think Toei have decided the next thing they do will be another movie, and they're waiting on the manga's version of the arc to be done before they bring it into full production.

'Course, it's equally likely that they're just waiting for the manga to give the TV show a more solid outline, or if they're doing a movie, the manga lining up is pure coincidence, or the Moro arc will be manga-exclusive and the next thing we get is a movie that's more a direct sequel to Broly but is in-canon with the Moro arc, thus changing the Dragon Ball Super situation such that we're getting movies every now and then, while the manga continues running as the between-major-stories adventures.
Or Toei are just dragging their feet on Super Vol. 2 for no particular reason.

But given what we heard about certain people in official standing in various places being told this and that about Super's return, only for it to not return, and now we've had such a long hiatus with no news, and the manga's still going, probably heading towards a conclusion to the story in the next couple or three months... I think Toei are going to do another movie next, and have put the show on the back-burner for a little while for one reason or another.

[KBABZ]

I think Toei are going to do another movie next, and have put the show on the back-burner for a little while for one reason or another.

Am I just making this up, but was it because they saw the rather tepid reactions to Super's story and animation and decided to pull it aside so they could work on a more solid story outline for the future? Broly got them their big new animation and art direction, now they have to sort of the story. As we saw, their idea of adapting the two modern Z movies so the writers could forge ahead didn't really work at all.

[Robo4900]

I think Toei are going to do another movie next, and have put the show on the back-burner for a little while for one reason or another.

Am I just making this up, but was it because they saw the rather tepid reactions to Super's story and animation and decided to pull it aside so they could work on a more solid story outline for the future? Broly got them their big new animation and art direction, now they have to sort of the story. As we saw, their idea of adapting the two modern Z movies so the writers could forge ahead didn't really work at all.

I never saw that. But realistically, Super's reception has been really good. It's had some critics, but basically all of that was focussed on surface-level shit like episode 5's animation. Even stuff like the horrendous instances of Roshi sexually harassing/assaulting in the last arc seems to have made no real impact. People seem to generally just be happy to see a bunch of thinly-written characters, who look and sound like those guys from that TV show you used to watch 10-20 years ago, punching each-other and their hair turning new colours. Which, I guess, is the show working as intended. It was always meant to be a series of flashy, meaningless fights that coast by on nostalgia and selling merch, and that's what it's done.

So, I don't know... Maybe there were internal debates. Perhaps the writers on staff felt more creatively fulfilled by Broly. Maybe the reality is that Broly gave a greater return on investment. Maybe the idea is that pouring several million dollars into a movie every few years while the manga and video games chug along in the background will keep interest high enough that merch will sell just as well as if they spent a few million dollars every week keeping an animated TV show with (theoretically) movie-scale fights and a cast of seasoned, respected, professional voices on the air, while struggling to find the resources to animate it as well as all the other shows they're working on, in the time scales and budgets they're working under.

[MasenkoHA]

^I will say the general reception to Super as in “Dragon Ball Z is what I grew up with every day after school on Toonami and I’m not too concerned with things like acting, and music and writing and animation because that show was my jam!” demographic has been pretty positive. More so than GT (which is pretty much the franchise butt monkey) and Kai (which did well with the intended 6-11 year old boy demographic but crashed and burned outside of that)

And yeah it’s mostly because Dragon Ball Super appeals to that sweet nostalgic spot. It probably would have been a lot less liked if it came out immediately after Z.

[Robo4900]

^I will say the general reception to Super as in “Dragon Ball Z is what I grew up with every day after school on Toonami and I’m not too concerned with things like acting, and music and writing because that show was my jam!” demographic has been pretty positive.

Yessiree.

More so than GT (which is pretty much the franchise butt monkey)

GT was perfectly well liked in Japan, Latin America, France, and pretty much everywhere else that isn't the USA or Australia. But Japanese fans saw Dragon Ball as being well past its prime by the late Boo arc, which was about ten years into the run at that point, and basically all checked out. It's only seen as the franchise butt monkey according to the American-dominated English-speaking internet. The same omnipresent online hivemind that, I will remind you, outright disregards simple truths such as Dragon Ball Z's great success in syndication in 1997 in favour of a false narrative that Toonami "saved a show no one liked, and for the first time gave it a true audience who stuck by it," or the very existence of the first third of Toriyama's original story, or the general shittiness of the original Funimation dubs. To put it bluntly: The English-speaking Dragon Ball fandom hivemind online is pretty much entirely driven by emotional attachment, nostalgia, and assumptions based on vague memories and feelings from way back when. It can give you a great insight into how things felt and seemed back in the early '00s when the show was originally running in the USA, but you really do have to consider more than just this distorted point of view when seeking the truth of anything, even something as simple as "Do people hate GT?"

To put it another way:
People didn't watch it in Japan, and America hates it. The situation is far more nuanced than "GT is the franchise butt monkey".
No offense, it just annoys me to see these things painted in such simple ways.

and Kai (which did well with the intended 6-11 year old boy demographic but crashed and burned outside of that)

Kai did great in general, but in Japan merch sales just weren't any good; people watched the show, sure, but they preferred to buy Dragon Ball/Z/GT/Heroes-branded merch rather than any of the "Kai" branded merch, which crashed and burned. The poor merch sales led Toei to consider it more worthwhile to work on a new IP, Toriko, which did very poorly, so Toei threw it off the air and filled in its timeslot with the dependably-high-rating Dragon Ball, since they had Final Chapters lying around.
And internationally, Kai did really well too. Remember that Final Chapters was produced solely for the international market, initially.

And yeah it’s mostly because Dragon Ball Super appeals to that sweet nostalgic spot. It probably would have been a lot less liked if it came out immediately after Z.

I think it's quite clear that Super would be looked on in the same light as GT if it came after Z, meanwhile if GT had come out now, it'd be just as successful as Super.

After Z, the Japanese fans were done with the franchise and weren't interested in a new instalment. American fans hated it because it wasn't as good as DB or Z, it was slow to start, its overall approach was far lighter and more chilled-out than the more intense stuff they expected after watching Z, and Funimation's presentation of it was utterly awful. Put Super in GT's place, and the situation would've been exactly the same.

Right now, fans are receptive to more Dragon Ball, even are begging for it in many cases, and just want to see recognisable characters punching each-other and expanding the "lore". GT fills that role just as well as Super has.

Not saying GT was any masterpiece, just that you're perfectly right; Super isn't doing well because it's any good, it's doing well because it's a nostalgia trip for a bunch of people, and came at just the right time to do that.

[MasenkoHA]

GT was perfectly well liked in Japan, Latin America, France, and pretty much everywhere else that isn't the USA or Australia. But Japanese fans saw Dragon Ball as being well past its prime by the late Boo arc, which was about ten years into the run at that point, and basically all checked out. It's only seen as the franchise butt monkey according to the American-dominated English-speaking internet. The same omnipresent online hivemind that, I will remind you, outright disregards simple truths such as Dragon Ball Z's great success in syndication in 1997 in favour of a false narrative that Toonami "saved a show no one liked, and for the first time gave it a true audience who stuck by it," or the very existence of the first third of Toriyama's original story, or the general shittiness of the original Funimation dubs. To put it bluntly: The English-speaking Dragon Ball fandom hivemind online is pretty much entirely driven by emotional attachment, nostalgia, and assumptions based on vague memories and feelings from way back when. It can give you a great insight into how things felt and seemed back in the early '00s when the show was originally running in the USA, but you really do have to consider more than just this distorted point of view when seeking the truth of anything, even something as simple as "Do people hate GT?"

I probably should have made it more clear I meant with the Western English-speaking fandom comes in. As in that’s where my perspective would be from. I’m not going to pretend I know how Japan or Latin America feels about GT now or then.

From what I recall even in the US, GT did well in the ratings (I believe Barry Watson even bragged about his changes making the series a success) but the reception to it now (in the English speaking fandom) is lol GT sucks. This isn’t me saying GT is bad or making a claim that hate for it is international. (Though I will say the disregard for GT in Japan doesn’t make me think its in current high regard over there now but I don’t know and I’m not going to pretend to know)


To put it another way:
People didn't watch it in Japan, and America hates it. The situation is far more nuanced than "GT is the franchise butt monkey".
No offense, it just annoys me to see these things painted in such simple ways.

Kai did great in general, but in Japan merch sales just weren't any good; people watched the show, sure, but they preferred to buy Dragon Ball/Z/GT/Heroes-branded merch rather than any of the "Kai" branded merch, which crashed and burned. The poor merch sales led Toei to consider it more worthwhile to work on a new IP, Toriko, which did very poorly, so Toei threw it off the air and filled in its timeslot with the dependably-high-rating Dragon Ball, since they had Final Chapters lying around.
And internationally, Kai did really well too. Remember that Final Chapters was produced solely for the international market, initially.

I said it did well with its intended audience. It was pretty well despised with the general English speaking fandom (for the wrong reasons rather than the right reasons) from my understanding the Latin American dub wasn’t well regarded because it changed voice actors and they did it right the first time with Z. And as for Japan I understand it did well with ratings (but had shit toy sales) but I have no clue what the feelings of the audience who were old enough for Z actually thought of Kai.

And yeah it’s mostly because Dragon Ball Super appeals to that sweet nostalgic spot. It probably would have been a lot less liked if it came out immediately after Z.

it was slow to start, its overall approach was far lighter and more chilled-out than the more intense stuff they expected after watching Z, and Funimation's presentation of it was utterly awful. Put Super in GT's place, and the situation would've been exactly the same.

The slow start was initially skipped over. The Menza score and super duper serious narrator was done to give the illusion that Dragon Ball GT was an edgier Z.

I think GT isn’t well liked because it just isn’t very good and it came out immediately after Z so its status as the crappier sequel is more clear.

If Super and GT were reversed I’m mostly confident Super wouldn’t have been very popular. But would GT have been popular? Maybe.

Right now, fans are receptive to more Dragon Ball, even are begging for it in many cases, and just want to see recognisable characters punching each-other and expanding the "lore". GT fills that role just as well as Super has.

Not saying GT was any masterpiece, just that you're perfectly right; Super isn't doing well because it's any good, it's doing well because it's a nostalgia trip for a bunch of people, and came at just the right time to do that.
[/quote]

[Robo4900]

From what I recall even in the US, GT did well in the ratings (I believe Barry Watson even bragged about his changes making the series a success) but the reception to it now (in the English speaking fandom) is lol GT sucks. This isn’t me saying GT is bad or making a claim that hate for it is international. (Though I will say the disregard for GT in Japan doesn’t make me think its in current high regard over there now but I don’t know and I’m not going to pretend to know)

Calling it the franchise butt monkey in regards to the production of Super and its future doesn't really speak to this intent. But fair enough.

As for GT's disregard; again, no one watched it at the time. Doesn't mean it's hated, just means no one cared at the time. Nowadays... My understanding is it's seen as being fine, and I think the GT stuff showing up constantly in the video games has probably made it seem more visible these days, but mostly Japanese fans focus on the original run.

The point I was trying to make throughout that post was simply this: America doesn't like GT. That's always been true. But America doesn't represent the global view. And by all accounts, the global view is far more kind to GT. It's no one's favourite Dragon Ball series, but it's only America that really dislikes it. France and Latin America consider it to be just fine/okay. And Japan just didn't care, because they'd already given up. On reflection, Japan's ended up being fine with GT, but no one was interested at the time, and no one's exactly praising it as their favourite, people just kinda... Don't really care.
And ultimately, Toei only really care about what's going on in Japan. So... It's more nuanced than "GT is the franchise butt monkey".

I don't want to dwell on this, because we have more than enough GT vs Super threads, but talking about GT in such terms is disingenuous, whether you meant it that way or not.

I said it did well with its intended audience. It was pretty well despised with the general English speaking fandom (for the wrong reasons rather than the right reasons)

Source? I've never seen this reception except from a handful of butthurt individuals who complained about it here and there.

from my understanding the Latin American dub wasn’t well regarded because it changed voice actors and they did it right the first time with Z. And as for Japan I understand it did well with ratings (but had shit toy sales) but I have no clue what the feelings of the audience who were old enough for Z actually thought of Kai.

Yes, I know certain dubs of Kai did change some actors and that wasn't hugely well received, but my understanding was that ratings and such were good.

That was ultimately the point I was getting at with "It did well internationally"; basically all the foreign distributors picked it up, and it sold/rated well everywhere it went, therefore it did well internationally.

The slow start was initially skipped over.

On TV, sure. Where it has the Menza score and the super duper serious narrator, to give it the faux-edgy feel. Where Funimation basically distilled everything they possibly could about their poor presentation of the franchise, dialled it all up to eleven, and basically gave us the worst possible presentation of the show, all while the source material was at odds with Funi's presentation to the strongest degree it would be. (OG DB would hold this crown equally, except that Funi didn't replace the score of that show, and actually ended up not distorting the tone too badly)

Meanwhile, anyone who watched it fansubbed or later on, on home video, got the entire presentation with its slow start, and very un-"ZEEE"-like feel.

Ultimately, I don't think we'll ever truly know exactly why America has a unique hatred for GT, but whatever the case is, whyever the case is, anyone who says GT is the "franchise butt monkey" or otherwise refers to it as being generally-disliked, is really distorting the truth, intentionally or not, in that very uniquely American Dragon Ball fandom way that tends to emphasise the American view (distorted and messy as it often is) as the truth, intentionally or not.

I think GT isn’t well liked because it just isn’t very good and it came out immediately after Z so its status as the crappier sequel is more clear.

GT not being that great is certainly a key part of why it wasn't very well liked. Personally, I'd say GT is more Revenge Of The Sith (or even Return Of The Jedi) than Phantom Menace. But as you say, it came out right after Z. And that, combined with the west generally being unfamiliar with OG DB, and with Funi's sabotage of the show that generally gave the idea of this edgy "Z style"... It all worked in concert to basically build a perfect situation for America to hate GT.

It's not one thing, if you ask me; GT in America was problematic at every level, and I think with the fact it's generally regarded as being fine/okay elsewhere, it's naive to say it's just the quality of the show that's lead to its contemptful standing in the American fandom, especially with how... "Unique", let's say, the American presentation of Dragon Ball was and is.

If Super and GT were reversed I’m mostly confident Super wouldn’t have been very popular. But would GT have been popular? Maybe.

I stand by what I said before. People just want to be nostalgic and see the familiar characters punch each-other, and GT would have done that just as well as Super has. But it just so happens that GT was then, and Super is now. So people hate GT, and love Super.

(Also, the formatting of your post is a mess; you might want to fix that up while you have time before it's edit-locked)

[KBABZ]

GT was perfectly well liked in Japan, Latin America, France, and pretty much everywhere else that isn't the USA or Australia. But Japanese fans saw Dragon Ball as being well past its prime by the late Boo arc, which was about ten years into the run at that point, and basically all checked out.

I feel like the "it wasn't based on or has the involvement of Toriyama" didn't help either, it made it easier to ignore and becomes the quick blanket excuse for why the show doesn't spark as well as DB+Z did.

That aside, yes the big gap in time has certainly helped create that supply and demand. Grand Theft Auto is a master at this, taking just long enough between installments that people pine and clamour for a sequel (nowadays this has been replaced with GTA Online though). On the other scale was PS3-era Assassin's Creed, which despite being big AAA blockbusters had tired people out by the time III and Rogue and Unity rolled around.

Thought experiment question: when do you think the Japanese audience started feeling nostalgic towards Dragon Ball such that a sequel series would have been received with more open arms than GT?

[sangofe]

GT was perfectly well liked in Japan, Latin America, France, and pretty much everywhere else that isn't the USA or Australia. But Japanese fans saw Dragon Ball as being well past its prime by the late Boo arc, which was about ten years into the run at that point, and basically all checked out.

I feel like the "it wasn't based on or has the involvement of Toriyama" didn't help either, it made it easier to ignore and becomes the quick blanket excuse for why the show doesn't spark as well as DB+Z did.

That aside, yes the big gap in time has certainly helped create that supply and demand. Grand Theft Auto is a master at this, taking just long enough between installments that people pine and clamour for a sequel (nowadays this has been replaced with GTA Online though). On the other scale was PS3-era Assassin's Creed, which despite being big AAA blockbusters had tired people out by the time III and Rogue and Unity rolled around.

Thought experiment question: when do you think the Japanese audience started feeling nostalgic towards Dragon Ball such that a sequel series would have been received with more open arms than GT?

GT well liked in France? Where are you pulling this from, Robo? That's certainly not the vibe I've got reading French message boards.