Best release of GT?

[JimmyRustam]

(Fixed the title now)

Can someone help me?
I want to purchase DVDs of GT, but i don't know which release is the best.
Is the "Digitally Remastered"-set from Funimation any good?

[Cetra]

First of all: Do not buy the German GT boxes. The German version has some very accurate text sometimes but sometimes also very free and it is cut to hell as well as half of it is not even in German.

THAT however could be a bonus because the Japanese version is something you should consider watching. You want my opinion? Watch the Japanese version with subtitles. Unfortunately the German GT Boxes only have some of those episodes in Japanese. I bought them because I just want the German version and I also love that there are Japanese episodes on it but if you have no very special taste you might end up hating that combo.

You might not be lucky enough to find someone on youtube, I guess. So maybe you might end up buying the German boxes anyway. I would not recommend the English version. It has guys like Sean Schemmel and Chris Sabat and that is awesome in my opinion, also some lines that are deliberately changed are just so fitting for some characters but it can also be very inaccurate at times (example: Vegeta shaved his mustache, in the German version he is embarassed after noticing Chichi witnessed him flirting with Bulma and complained about Chichi not even announcing her presence - just like the Japanese version does, while in the English version they made a weird joke about how angry he was that Chichi did not notice he shaved). I must say that the English version has some great lines though that just are not in the original like this. Vegeta in the English one says the hilarious "And I admire your ability to die!" and they also take the "Kakarotto!" from the Japanese version and make him say "This is for Kakarott!" - something that obviously is about the same but I think the English version made it nicer. It sometimes is really hard because even flawed versions have some good things.

Anyways - once you start watching the Japanese version you might think of this as an incredible experience - probably. I thought this was no comparison. And normally I am no "original voices = best" guy. But this feeling here, holy cow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1ucKN2aiWk

Decide for yourself.

[JimmyRustam]

First of all: Do not buy the German GT boxes. The German version has some very accurate text sometimes but sometimes also very free and it is cut to hell as well as half of it is not even in German.

Yeah i know that the German release is heavily cut and..overpriced
So i won't even consider to buy those xD

Now i want to watch it in Japanese, but i do not exactly know which DVD i should get.
For an example, if i search for Dragon Ball GT on ebay i can find something like this: http://www.ebay.de/itm/281918667021

But on Amazon there is this:
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0063RE4X8/ref ... JxbTXKPQT4

Which version would you recommend?

Btw, sorry for my bad english.

[Danfun64]

The ebay release reeks of bootleg. The amazon release comes from Funimation and is what we call the Green Bricks. They contain Japanese audio with english subs, English dub with Japanese soundtrack, and English dub with Funi soundtrack (which is eww). They have mild cropping and mind dvr, but are progressive scan, and are a fairly decent release. Even if the ebay link isn't a bootleg, the english subs are most likely going to be vastly inferior to the Steve Simmons subs that the Green Bricks provide.

Does your dvd player support multiple dvd regions and/or ntsc to pal conversion? If not, then you should get the Region 2 Manga UK Green Bricks.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dragon-Ball-Gt ... gonball+gt
https://www.amazon.de/Dragon-Ball-Gt-Se ... gonball+gt

[Akira]

There is a Funimation Release of the Green Bricks that is one large brick with both sets in one package. It contains the entire series, plus the Television Special. I have the two individual sets of this, and I like it the best. The picture quality is decent, it has the original 4:3 aspect ratio, and it has multiple versions available for viewing consumption. There is the Japanese audio track with accurate English subtitles, the English Dub with the original Japanese Soundtrack (as well as English renditions of the intro and closing themes), and a third track which is the English Dub with the replacement broadcast audio they used when it aired on Television.

I have seen this complete series set recently in Wal*Mart stores for as low as $28 U.S. Dollars. It is a real steal at that price, and I have pointed it out to some of my friends who are into Dragonball, but they don't seem to care about GT at all. Roughly thirty bucks for all 64 episodes, three separate versions, and the Goku Gaiden special makes that set more than worth it in my opinion. I'd recommend that set to anyone who is interested in GT. Short of getting your hands on a Japanese GT Dragon Box, it is probably the best option available for DBGT.

The Dragon Box would have slightly better visuals, but no english version, and not even english subtitles for the Japanese audio track, so it would be very limited in how much enjoyment could be gained for a non-Japanese speaking fan.

Edit: Yes, that set you showed on Amazon that lists it as "US Import" with Goku doing the Kamehameha pose on the front is exactly the set I am talking about. That's the one you want to get.

[SaiyamanMS]

If you have no interest in the English dub, then see if you can get the original Funimation singles because they contain the next episode previews. If you are interested in the English dub, then I recommend the green bricks. The next episode previews are cut, but they have the option to watch the dub with the Japanese music, as opposed to just Mark Menza's stuff.

[TheGreatness25]

Disclaimer
I'm only knowledgeable on the Japanese Dragon Box, FUNimation singles, and Green Bricks and cannot speak for any other releases outside of the U.S.

Okay, I'm going to show you the quality of the sets. If it's not "accurate" because of whatever reason (used the wrong DVD player to take the screenshots), then I apologize, but this should give you a sense of the cropping and color differences.


Toei's Dragon Ball GT Dragon Box

[spoiler][/spoiler]

FUNimation Single

[spoiler][/spoiler]

FUNimation Season Set (Green Brick

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Quality
From what I can see, the singles are very close to the Dragon Box footage and the Green Brick is a bit brighter. The Green Brick is also a bit zoomed in. The Green Brick is also a bit smoother (less grainy). To my recollection, the singles look worse when they're in-action, probably at fewer frames per second (or... whatever. I'm no expert).


Features
The Japanese Dragon Box has only Japanese audio and no subtitles. They also have the next episode previews. It also comes with a the TV special and a Dragon Book discusing the episodes, family trees, some interviews and sketches. Of course it's all in Japanese.

The GT singles have the dub audio with music, Japanese audio, and subtitles for both the dub and the Japanese version. The singles include the next episode previews.

The Green Brick has the dub with dub music, dub with Japanese music, and Japanese audio track. The Green Bricks have subtitles for the Japanese version. The Green Bricks do not have next episode previews. The two releases (there is a single release encompassing both "Seasons") has a booklet for each discussing the episodes and other little tidbits.


Episode Count
The Dragon Box is one set with two cases and a combined total of 12 DVDs. Each DVD has an average of 6 episodes per disc.

The FUNimation singles have an average of three episodes per disc, spanning 20 DVDs for the series and an extra one for the TV special.

The Green Brick average six episodes per disc, spanning across 10 discs. The set already includes the TV special.


Size
By width, the Dragon Box is a tad bit wider than the size of two DVD cases. However, the Dragon Boxes are tall (about 1/3 taller than the average DVD case).

The FUNimation singles span across, as I said, 21 DVDs. You can find a box set for all four releases, but it still takes up some room.

The Green Bricks are roughly the size of four DVD cases. There are two versions: two separate season sets or one set that contains both seasons.


Price
The Dragon Box usually goes for a few hundred dollars (used of course). Back in the day, I got mine for just a tad over $400, but a simple eBay search resulted in one for $298. ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/DRAGON-BALL-GT- ... SwnNBXbNae ).

You can probably get all of the FUNimation singles for about $50 and the TV special goes for $20 on Amazon (brand new and on Prime of course).

According to Amazon, you can get the Green Bricks for about $40 if you buy both Season 1 and 2 separately, or a tad bit over $50 if you get the all-in-one set.


Takeaways
If you're into having a pretty unique piece of Dragon Ball history and love the Japanese version while not caring about the subtitles, the Dragon Box is definitely the release for you.

If you care about the space that they take up, price, and dub voice with Japanese music, then the Green Bricks are for you.

If you care about a pretty good release with next episode previews and subtitles for the original Japanese version, the singles are for you.

Overall, the quality differences are pretty minuscule, at least in my opinion.

All of those condensed sets on eBay that say "episode 1-64!" are crappy quality. I have a set like for the Mexican dub and for Kai 2.0 -- they absolutely suck and are bootlegs! Maybe the one you linked isn't a bootleg (I'm not knowledgeable in non-U.S. releases), but if they contain the whole series in one tiny little package, expect crap.

Hope this helped!

[Vorige Waffe]

From what I can see, the singles are very close to the Dragon Box footage and the Green Brick is a bit brighter. The Green Brick is also a bit zoomed in. The Green Brick is also a bit smoother (less grainy). To my recollection, the singles look worse when they're in-action, probably at fewer frames per second (or... whatever. I'm no expert).

The singles were encoded at a lower bitrate because of how Funimation encoded two separate video tracks (one with English credits, another with Japanese) on top of each other, it has nothing to do with frame rate.

[Cure Dragon 255]

First of all: Do not buy the German GT boxes. The German version has some very accurate text sometimes but sometimes also very free and it is cut to hell as well as half of it is not even in German.

THAT however could be a bonus because the Japanese version is something you should consider watching. You want my opinion? Watch the Japanese version with subtitles. Unfortunately the German GT Boxes only have some of those episodes in Japanese. I bought them because I just want the German version and I also love that there are Japanese episodes on it but if you have no very special taste you might end up hating that combo.

You might not be lucky enough to find someone on youtube, I guess. So maybe you might end up buying the German boxes anyway. I would not recommend the English version. It has guys like Sean Schemmel and Chris Sabat and that is awesome in my opinion, also some lines that are deliberately changed are just so fitting for some characters but it can also be very inaccurate at times (example: Vegeta shaved his mustache, in the German version he is embarassed after noticing Chichi witnessed him flirting with Bulma and complained about Chichi not even announcing her presence - just like the Japanese version does, while in the English version they made a weird joke about how angry he was that Chichi did not notice he shaved). I must say that the English version has some great lines though that just are not in the original like this. Vegeta in the English one says the hilarious "And I admire your ability to die!" and they also take the "Kakarotto!" from the Japanese version and make him say "This is for Kakarott!" - something that obviously is about the same but I think the English version made it nicer. It sometimes is really hard because even flawed versions have some good things.

Anyways - once you start watching the Japanese version you might think of this as an incredible experience - probably. I thought this was no comparison. And normally I am no "original voices = best" guy. But this feeling here, holy cow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1ucKN2aiWk

Decide for yourself.

Wait wait wait, stop, these two statements are contradictory. Which one did you meant?

[Cetra]

Wait wait wait, stop, these two statements are contradictory. Which one did you meant?

It is not contradictory because you cannot just take the lines that you want. You need to take the entire text. Sean Schemmel and Chris Sabat are great. But the text itself is very inaccurate and it also loses a lot of its atmosphere.

[Cure Dragon 255]

Ok, sorry about that, have a nice day!