"Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters" FUNimation English Dub Official Announcement and Discussion Thread

[Theophrastus]

They won't skip it, they've already started dubbing it.

They've dubbed other things that have still never been released.

Wait, they have? What have they dubbed that hasn't ever been released?

Rebuild of Evangelion 3.33 comes to mind. They did a screening of the dub at some convention a couple of years ago, but it still hasn't been released yet because apparently Khara kept making them re-do things that they were vaguely unsatisfied with (supposedly there was one line in particular that "needs" to be said in a very specific way that they didn't elaborate on, for some reason).

3.33 did finally get a release date set for early next year though, so hopefully it won't be unreleased for too much longer.

[Tobi555]

Honestly I highly doubt they're gonna can it especially since its technically new Dragon Ball merchandise. I believe we'll get it eventually but at this point it probably is pushed back to being aired on Toonami due to the hype of Super. It's already got tons of work invested in it and considering it costs money to dub shows. They're not just gonna dub something, which costs them money, then just leave it. That'd be stupid, there going to try and gain profit off of it at some point in time but I believe that,to them, that time isn't now and not to mention the fan base knows it exists. It's not a project behind closed doors that we don't know about.

[sintzu]

We might have to wait until it airs on Toonami before getting a home release but hopefully I'm wrong.

Oh god, don't say that! Do we know what episode Toonami is on now?

Another thing they might be doing is waiting till they get the rights to super so they can release it right after Kai instead of having a big gap between their releases.

[Tobi555]

Exactly they might be trying to build hype that way by going from buu kai straight to super but we won't know for sure until there's an announcement.

[Gligarman]

I think what we're seeing here is the same crap that happened in the 2000's where anime saw a spike in popularity in Western culture and then suddenly license fees skyrocketed. What are the odds that Funimation can't get the license for Super or Buu Kai because Toei is simply charging more than Funi or any other North American anime distributor can afford? I could see it happening considering that the Buu version of Kai wasn't even in production when the rest of series was being dubbed.

[ShadowDude112]

I think what we're seeing here is the same crap that happened in the 2000's where anime saw a spike in popularity in Western culture and then suddenly license fees skyrocketed. What are the odds that Funimation can't get the license for Super or Buu Kai because Toei is simply charging more than Funi or any other North American anime distributor can afford? I could see it happening considering that the Buu version of Kai wasn't even in production when the rest of series was being dubbed.

Nope. Buu Kai was produced specifically for overseas markets. The only reason it aired on Japanese TV was because Toriko was going off Fuji TV and Toei needed to fill the slot. FUNi has dubbed Buu Kai already. Presumably all of it too. Super is a different beast and mostly because Toei makes a ton of boneheaded decisions. Buu Kai is probably being held off on release due to another dumb decision by Toei. Probably so reverse importing doesn't happen since FUNi's release will be cheaper to buy. France has a home release, but that's because France is a different Blu-ray region code.

[Gligarman]

I think what we're seeing here is the same crap that happened in the 2000's where anime saw a spike in popularity in Western culture and then suddenly license fees skyrocketed. What are the odds that Funimation can't get the license for Super or Buu Kai because Toei is simply charging more than Funi or any other North American anime distributor can afford? I could see it happening considering that the Buu version of Kai wasn't even in production when the rest of series was being dubbed.

Nope. Buu Kai was produced specifically for overseas markets. The only reason it aired on Japanese TV was because Toriko was going off Fuji TV and Toei needed to fill the slot. FUNi has dubbed Buu Kai already. Presumably all of it too. Super is a different beast and mostly because Toei makes a ton of boneheaded decisions. Buu Kai is probably being held off on release due to another dumb decision by Toei. Probably so reverse importing doesn't happen since FUNi's release will be cheaper to buy. France has a home release, but that's because France is a different Blu-ray region code.

So basically it's a different level of bullcrap. I should have figured. That sounds like something Toei would do. Sadly it's not even that uncommon for an embargo to be placed to prevent overseas releases like that. Ah well. I'm guessing once the Japanese blu-rays are out for a while or when the Toonami broadcast catches up, we'll see Kai then. As for Super, I recall a DBS booth at anime expo to promote the series which cracked me up because their reps straight-up told me to my face that Super wasn't going to be available in the U.S. upon it's release. Now that's some boneheaded decision making for sure.

[Tobi555]

Why would reverse importation be an issue still? Hasn't the last box set released in Japan already? Honestly Toei's being pretty stingy if they're the reason we can't release a dub yet however if it's Funimation's doing I don't know what sense it makes to them to hold off for this long. Literally the rest of the world has announced their own version of Buu Kai and we happen to be the last to the party this time around.

[ShadowDude112]

Why would reverse importation be an issue still? Hasn't the last box set released in Japan already? Honestly Toei's being pretty stingy if they're the reason we can't release a dub yet however if it's Funimation's doing I don't know what sense it makes to them to hold off for this long. Literally the rest of the world has announced their own version of Buu Kai and we happen to be the last to the party this time around.

Because FUNimation's release will be cheaper than Toei's. Like, no question about it. So Toei is making FUNimation hold off so that they can make the most money. If FUNi released Buu Kai now, then people in Japan will import that release rather than buy Toei's release. Just because the last boxset has been released doesn't mean Toei doesn't want to make money.

[DBZ_Lee]

The longer this goes on, the more I'm starting to think that we won't see this until it airs on Toonami. Toei want a TV deal, France aired it, that's why they are now releasing it on home video.
So unless Toonami start airing multiple episodes a week to get through the backlog, be prepared for a long wait.

[sintzu]

The longer this goes on, the more I'm starting to think that we won't see this until it airs on Toonami. Toei want a TV deal, France aired it, that's why they are now releasing it on home video.
So unless Toonami start airing multiple episodes a week to get through the backlog, be prepared for a long wait.

I wish they'd just let us know what's going on so we won't have to keep guessing like we are now.

[Tobi555]

Is Funimation allowed to announce Buu Kai for Toonami right now, even if its far away from reaching that point, or is a contract preventing them from that to?

[thaman91]

Maybe they can announce it, but would rather wait until closer to the air date in order to maximize hype. I guess that makes sense for them, but sucks for us since we're left in the dark regarding its status.

[sintzu]

So unless Toonami start airing multiple episodes a week to get through the backlog, be prepared for a long wait.

They're on ep45 now so we'll have to wait till the end of 2016 for them to reach the arc and early-mid 2018 for it to finish so we're looking at a late-2018-early 2019 release for the parts and a 2020-2021 for the season sets.

The only way we'll get it early is if they release it during the time it's airing.

[Darkblade1995]

I doubt Funimation would make us wait that long. They will probably announce it somewhere in 2016. With Super now getting all the hype, Funimation would probably want Kai to get out as soon as possible.

[DBZ_Lee]

Until Funimation come out and tell us what is happening behind the scenes - which of course they won't, then expect things to continue to roll on and on the way they are. I mean, how do we know that the Manga UK release for 1-98 wasn't green lit until they aired it on Kix?.

Toei are being stubborn, or so we are being led to believe. But either way, for a series which has been in the process of being dubbed for the past couple of years to not yet see the light of day, to me, is just very strange.
For all we know, this could also be a decision which FUNi made after hearing about Super, they thought that by pushing Kai back a bit farther, they could air Buu Saga of Kai on Toonami, then follow straight on with Super, like in Japan.

[Son Goku]

We might have to wait until it airs on Toonami before getting a home release but hopefully I'm wrong.

Oh god, don't say that! Do we know what episode Toonami is on now?

Tonight's episode was when Goku uses the Kaio-Ken x20 against Freeza. So 45 episodes down, 53 more to go until they catch up.

Rebuild of Evangelion 3.33 comes to mind. They did a screening of the dub at some convention a couple of years ago, but it still hasn't been released yet because apparently Khara kept making them re-do things that they were vaguely unsatisfied with (supposedly there was one line in particular that "needs" to be said in a very specific way that they didn't elaborate on, for some reason).

Actually, the dub of Evangelion 3.33 had a theatrical run in the US in addition to convention screenings. Which makes it even more embarrassing for them that the home release got delayed over a year from the initial planned date, since a fair number of people saw the original dub.

[Xeztin]

We might have to wait until it airs on Toonami before getting a home release but hopefully I'm wrong.

Oh god, don't say that! Do we know what episode Toonami is on now?

Tonight's episode was when Goku uses the Kaio-Ken x20 against Freeza. So 45 episodes down, 53 more to go until they catch up.

Anyone else feel that, when Goku started to stand back up and Freeza just karate chopped the back of his neck, causing him to hit the ground so hard it split like that trench?

[Tobi555]

Is it possible that Funimation has a contractual agreement with Toonami/Adult Swim that they can't announce Buu Kai until its around that time for it to air on Toonami or is that an absurd thought?

[ShadowDude112]

I just discovered from a worker at FUNi why this isn't released. It turns out, Justin Rojas walked in on Rick Santorum telling Gen Fukanaga that having Buu being pink and having an antennae would convince people to masturbate. So they're in the process of editing it so Buu is now green to fit the tint of the footage and he has no antennae.