The International Version of the Buu-Kai Arc

[NinjaGoku]

This is conjecture, but IMO the most likely explanation for them fiddling with the episode count is that they only intended the Japanese broadcast to be a timeslot filler until they could start airing Super. They projected that they would need X number of weeks to get the first episodes of Super into an broadcast-able state, and that number was less than 69, so they made the necessary cuts to trim the Buu Kai episode count down to match what they thought they needed.

It's easy to say now that they should've just broadcast all 69 episodes to give Super more production time (including giving Toriyama more time to work on Universe 6), but that's hindsight, and Toei obviously didn't foresee any of Super's production problems over a year ago they made the decision to cut down Kai's episode count.

That makes the most sense but we will never know the exact reasoning until we hear from someone directly working for Toei.... which will probably never happen. Corporate Toei doesn't want anyone to know.

If we knew when planning and production began on Super we would have an even better idea. The announcement of Super came within 2 weeks of ROF being in cinemas (28th April 2015), does that not strike you as a decision based on the success of the film?

I strongly believe that if ROF wasn't such a hit in the box office that Digimon Tri would be airing instead of Super right now. Digimon Adventure Tri was announced and had been in the works since the 1st August 2014, it was mentioned on various websites that it was due to premiere in April 2015. Roughly a week after Super's announcement (May 6th 2015) 'it was announced that tri. would not be a television series, but rather a 6-part theatrical film series.' The first part airing November 2015.

[TripleRach]

I would like to know the exact reasons why they switched the episode count, did they really plan on airing all 69 episodes from the start? ROF's release date, Digimon Tri delay (perhaps switched from a TV series to OVAS) and a very rushed production on Super, we'll not know the exact reasoning. What we do know is that all 69 of those episodes were already dubbed in Japanese.

My guess would be that they wanted to cut the series down to five cours (fifteen months), because sticking to a cour schedule is more ideal for TV airing. The next series would thus premiere in July 2015. The alternative would have been lengthening the series to last six cours, and trying to edit in another 4-5 episodes worth of material (including new audio) is obviously a lot more work than just trimming it down.

I also think Super was most likely a last minute decision, and not something they had in mind when Boo Kai first replaced Toriko. And I would agree that Digimon Tri was probably the original candidate to take over the timeslot in July 2015. But I doubt we'll ever know for sure.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

I would like to know the exact reasons why they switched the episode count, did they really plan on airing all 69 episodes from the start? ROF's release date, Digimon Tri delay (perhaps switched from a TV series to OVAS) and a very rushed production on Super, we'll not know the exact reasoning. What we do know is that all 69 of those episodes were already dubbed in Japanese.

My guess would be that they wanted to cut the series down to five cours (fifteen months), because sticking to a cour schedule is more ideal for TV airing. The next series would thus premiere in July 2015. The alternative would have been lengthening the series to last six cours, and trying to edit in another 4-5 episodes worth of material (including new audio) is obviously a lot more work than just trimming it down.

I also think Super was most likely a last minute decision, and not something they had in mind when Boo Kai first replaced Toriko. And I would agree that Digimon Tri was probably the original candidate to take over the timeslot in July 2015. But I doubt we'll ever know for sure.

Yeah that seemed likely, I guess TOEI saw how well "F" (and the previous BoG) did and thought a new DBZ series would be better than to revive the old Digimon Adventures series, but I think they had plans for a new series with the U6 arc anyway, possibly to air after when Digimon Tri would have ended, but instead they decided to retell the two Z movies and have Digimon Tri as a movie series instead. That is what I think was their thought process was.

[SSJ Electric Fury]

In which episode of the international version do the junior division matches start?

[Alex9196]

I am sorry if it was allready covered somewhere in this thread but could anyone briefly tell me why the international version has more episodes than the japanese and what the difference is?

[thaman91]

I am sorry if it was allready covered somewhere in this thread but could anyone briefly tell me why the international version has more episodes than the japanese and what the difference is?

Basically, the international version was produced first and was 69 episodes. Then Toei decided they wanted to air it in Japan. It's speculated that they probably only wanted to air it for one year and so it was going to be 40 or 50 something episodes. Then, it's speculated that they changed their mind during the airing and wanted it air for longer than originally intended. As a result the first batch of Great Saiyaman episodes in the Japanese version are cut down from the international version. But then it stops cutting episodes down and essentially starts airing episodes that are identical to their international version counterparts.

Aside from those first few episodes being cut down, the Japanese version also uses a different opening (and ending I think?) and has 1 more episode cut somewhere towards the end.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Aside from those first few episodes being cut down, the Japanese version also uses a different opening (and ending I think?)...

A different opening and five new endings, to be exact.

[TripleRach]

Basically, the international version was produced first and was 69 episodes. Then Toei decided they wanted to air it in Japan. It's speculated that they probably only wanted to air it for one year and so it was going to be 40 or 50 something episodes. Then, it's speculated that they changed their mind during the airing and wanted it air for longer than originally intended. As a result the first batch of Great Saiyaman episodes in the Japanese version are cut down from the international version. But then it stops cutting episodes down and essentially starts airing episodes that are identical to their international version counterparts.

I don't know about this "they changed their mind during airing" part. As it is they cut out exactly enough content to fit the arc into a five cour (fifteen month) schedule, which is the highest cour they could aim for without increasing the episode count. If they had ever intended it to be only three or four cours, they probably wouldn't have stopped cutting content so early on, since the end date would be even closer.

For instance, the Japanese episodes started to sync up with the international episodes around May or June 2014. The way the story was paced after that, they would've had to scramble hard to edit the show to end in December 2014 or March 2015. I remember commenting on the pacing quite a bit as it aired, because a lot of us assumed the show would end in March, yet the story didn't seem to be in any hurry to end. We were surprised when a fifth cour was confirmed, but in retrospect it explains a lot.

[thaman91]

I don't know about this "they changed their mind during airing" part. As it is they cut out exactly enough content to fit the arc into a five cour (fifteen month) schedule, which is the highest cour they could aim for without increasing the episode count. If they had ever intended it to be only three or four cours, they probably wouldn't have stopped cutting content so early on, since the end date would be even closer.

For instance, the Japanese episodes started to sync up with the international episodes around May or June 2014. The way the story was paced after that, they would've had to scramble hard to edit the show to end in December 2014 or March 2015. I remember commenting on the pacing quite a bit as it aired, because a lot of us assumed the show would end in March, yet the story didn't seem to be in any hurry to end. We were surprised when a fifth cour was confirmed, but in retrospect it explains a lot.

So do you think that 5 cours were planned to be shown from the very start? If so, why were essentially the early episodes the only ones cut down? Why not spread out the edits so that there is overall more even pacing? Maybe out of convenience? I guess cutting from either end of the production would probably be easier than having to go through and re-cut every single episode.

[Alex9196]

From what I am reading here the Buu Arc from Kai doesnt sound very good. If the Buu Arc in Kai has nearly 70 episodes than they only cut out a bit more than 20. So I would assume the Buu Arc is still not fast paced, right?

[sintzu]

From what I am reading here the Buu Arc from Kai doesnt sound very good.

If the Buu Arc in Kai has nearly 70 episodes than they only cut out a bit more than 20. So I would assume the Buu Arc is still not fast paced, right?

It depends on who you ask, personally I think the faster pace and accurate dub outweigh it's downsides.

The filler in it is more integrated into the story so cutting out too much will make the pacing feel a bit off like the first few episodes in the Japanese cut and most of the filler was extended fights which couldn't be cut to match the manga's due to how short they were.

[Alex9196]

From what I am reading here the Buu Arc from Kai doesnt sound very good.

If the Buu Arc in Kai has nearly 70 episodes than they only cut out a bit more than 20. So I would assume the Buu Arc is still not fast paced, right?

It depends on who you ask, personally I think the faster pace and accurate dub outweigh it's downsides.

The filler in it is more integrated into the story so cutting out too much will make the pacing feel a bit off like the first few episodes in the Japanese cut and most of the filler was extended fights which couldn't be cut to match the manga's due to how short they were.

Did they cut down many fight scenes?

[sintzu]

Did they cut down many fight scenes?

In the Japanese edition they cut down Goten&Trunks' fight but it was left unchanged in the international edition.

[TripleRach]

So do you think that 5 cours were planned to be shown from the very start? If so, why were essentially the early episodes the only ones cut down? Why not spread out the edits so that there is overall more even pacing? Maybe out of convenience? I guess cutting from either end of the production would probably be easier than having to go through and re-cut every single episode.

Yeah, my guess would be that they found it easier to frontload the cutting process. Plus doing it that way also leaves more room for error, in case some unexpected event interrupted the airing schedule and they needed to cut down more later.

Or it could just be they found those episodes more expendable, and they wanted to get to the debut of the villains even sooner.

[danielsan_190196]

[ShaneisMC]

If this is the song we get with the english release... Personally I'm quite underwhelmed. I really don't care for Fight it Out either. I really liked Kuu Zen Zetsu Go.

[Kuririn Fan]

Well yeah, international version has 1 op and 1 ed. Never give up is awesome, what you're saying, dude

[Iberian_Saiyan]

Who's that Junear guy and why's there a black bar below YouTube?

[danielsan_190196]

Who's that Junear guy and why's there a black bar below YouTube?

He is the 'Never give up' singer and the black bar is from the video

[SSGSS Goku]

Well, for those who still think there's a full version of Never Give Up!!! currently available, here's proof that it currently doesn't, but this could mean that it's coming eventually

Spoiler: