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

[Naruto6583]

Pronounced incorrectly in Burst Limit, yes. In Kai? Thankfully no, he corrected it. Just hard to hear over the swelling music.

I don't know, it still kinda sounds like "Sun" instead of "Sown". Not to mention, that "Sayun" pronunciation is still there. It might be me nit-picking but I still like the line.

I can vouch for son being used correctly. I've heard that scene musicless enough that I can tell its pronounced correctly

[jelleline89]

Watch, Geekdom's video causes FUNi to delay Buu Kai even further solely to get the last laugh.

But on a more serious note, while I don't doubt Geekdom's credibility, I do however question that of his sources. I highly doubt it's integral people like Chris Sabat or Gen Fukunaga feeding him this information. Also, despite keeping them anonymous, I highly doubt these sources would want Geekdom's making these statements if they were 100% legit. These could very well be low-tier vouce actors who overheard that rumor from a fellow actor or director. Because if Geekdom had these reliable inside sources, how come he didn't accurately predict when FUNimation would announce Super or when Super will be airing?

There's also the matter of why FUNi has chosen to wait to announce Buu Kai alongside Super. You would think since it was the first of the two announced, and Z Kai's Toonami run is nearing it's end very soon, that this would be more than just a coincidence. I believe we will get Buu Kai eventually, but I think it's looking more and more likely Super will air on Toonami first. With that merchandising and streaming announced with it, it only makes sense for FUNi to have this air first!

[thaman91]

Geekdom said he triple checked to make sure. I mean, what are the odds that all 3 of his sources are incorrect? As for why he didn't predict when the Super announcement would happen....maybe the info was just too sensitive? I mean, talking about a license acquisition before it's officially announced seems like a bigger deal then simply mentioning when new episodes of an existing property will air.

For Super, I hope they announce where the dub will be airing soon; and I really hope it won't be on Toonami. And it makes sense that it wouldn't be because Toei seems to want to market it to kids and Toonami wouldn't really be the ideal place for that. Once we get a confirmation that Super won't be on Toonami, then I'll be pretty certain that we'll get Buu Kai on there. But if it is on Toonami....well, that might muddy things up a bit.

[AzuraRacon]

I guess it ultimately comes down to when Funimation announces those broadcast details
If it's anywhere but toonami or it doesn't get a broadcast location until, let's say, December I'd think we're clear for this

How long before a show airs on Toonami do they typically announce it?
Particularly for highly anticipated properties like SNK, Jojo, and OPM?

[jelleline89]

As for why he didn't predict when the Super announcement would happen....maybe the info was just too sensitive? I mean, talking about a license acquisition before it's officially announced seems like a bigger deal then simply mentioning when new episodes of an existing property will air.

For Super, I hope they announce where the dub will be airing soon; and I really hope it won't be on Toonami. And it makes sense that it wouldn't be because Toei seems to want to market it to kids and Toonami wouldn't really be the ideal place for that. Once we get a confirmation that Super won't be on Toonami, then I'll be pretty certain that we'll get Buu Kai on there. But if it is on Toonami....well, that might muddy things up a bit.

Unless the original Z Kai contract Toei drew up for FUNi included the rights to Final Chapters, which would have been 6 years before it was even airing in Japan, this would have to be a new acquisition. As we've seen with other series like Tokyo Mew Mew and One Piece, dubbing contracts end at an agreed upon set of episodes and don't extend indefinitely to suit the dubbing company. Even if FUNi is the shoe-in for all things Dragon Ball, they still need to write up and renew contracts.

As for Super, I wonder if they could air the edited dub on Cartoon Network and the uncut dub on Toonami. So long as they have the proper TV ratings to reflect the difference between the two, it should work. I definitely don't see FUNi on two direct television competitors.

[AzuraRacon]

Unless the original Z Kai contract Toei drew up for FUNi included the rights to Final Chapters, which would have been 6 years before it was even airing in Japan, this would have to be a new acquisition. As we've seen with other series like Tokyo Mew Mew and One Piece, dubbing contracts end at an agreed upon set of episodes and don't extend indefinitely to suit the dubbing company. Even if FUNi is the shoe-in for all things Dragon Ball, they still need to write up and renew contracts.[/quote]

The Final Chapters is kind of a weird case though, if not unheard of; it was specifically created with the intention that it was only going to air overseas at first
It's possible Funimation could have even been the company that requested its creation, if not at least one of them

A similar thing happened with Sonic X if I recall; there were originally just the first two seasons covering Fifty two episodes, and then a third was produced for overseas markets due to favorable ratings. Except in that case, the Third season I don't think was ever released in Japan at all, despite an Existing japanese dub, as was almost the case of The Final Chapters

[Valerius Dover]

A similar thing happened with Sonic X if I recall; there were originally just the first two seasons covering Fifty two episodes, and then a third was produced for overseas markets due to favorable ratings. Except in that case, the Third season I don't think was ever released in Japan at all.

It ended up getting streamed years later, but was never aired, true. Still, I would say the chances of us actually getting Buu Kai at all are slim to none. I'd almost say it'd border on delusional to suggest that it would suddenly show up in December when we still haven't heard a peep now. If that were the case, we would've heard about it by now for sure. Especially considering they went ahead and announced Super without giving a timeframe. I'd say that was pretty much the final nail in the coffin. Financially, the rest of Kai just doesn't have any place in a world where a new DB series exists.

[AzuraRacon]

A similar thing happened with Sonic X if I recall; there were originally just the first two seasons covering Fifty two episodes, and then a third was produced for overseas markets due to favorable ratings. Except in that case, the Third season I don't think was ever released in Japan at all.

It ended up getting streamed years later, but was never aired, true. Still, I would say the chances of us actually getting Buu Kai at all are slim to none. I'd almost say it'd border on delusional to suggest that it would suddenly show up in December when we still haven't heard a peep now. If that were the case, we would've heard about it by now for sure. Especially considering they went ahead and announced Super without giving a timeframe. I'd say that was pretty much the final nail in the coffin. Financially, the rest of Kai just doesn't have any place in a world where a new DB series exists.

I'd say we still wait until december at least to give up hope

There's no doubt the Dub exists and is finished, so I wouldn't think Funimation would just stow it away and never let it see the light of day, as unfortunately has happened to the Ocean dub.
Even if it doesn't end up airing, I could see it winding up as a quietly set out Home release at the very least. Funimation's a stable enough company that they could probably stand to do that

[thaman91]

I think all this talk of giving up hope is just people trying to lower their expectations in order to avoid disappointment if it doesn't happen. Honestly, I think it's going to happen and I'm going to predict January (people on the Toonami subreddit are predicting that the Cell episodes will actually end in January due to some holiday break).

Here are the things that point towards that being the case:

1.) Funimation, in this post-Super world of 2016, made the active decision to expend resources and have Sean Schemmel finish recording his lines for the Kai dub. So Funimation does seem to think that Buu Kai has a place in this post-Super world.

2.) I don't think that the "Buu Kai wouldn't be financially viable in light of Super" argument holds much water either. The fact is that the dub is finished. We know that because Sean Schemmel confirmed it. The money has already been spent on getting the product completed. So the only bad financial decision would be to not try to make a profit out of their investment. And before anyone points to Ocean Kai as a counterexample, the case there was that Ocean Kai was made as a TV-only dub.....but couldn't manage to secure a TV deal. So they unfortunately spent money on something for which they can't get a return because it failed to get on television. The FUNi dub of Kai, on the other hand, has a TV deal, and it's with Toonami. And given that Toei wants Super to be in a kids time slot, I don't think we'll be seeing Super on Toonami any time soon (I could be wrong about this, but I hope not). In light of all this, why would FUNi decide to turn away money?

3.) To address the argument that "we would have heard something by now", I think that this may have to do with not confusing the audience with too many Dragon Ball products. They probably want Super to be their cash cow right now, so they're not going to make press releases talking about Super and Kai because they want the audience to focus on the former. So in all likelihood, they'll probably just end up having Buu Kai air quietly on Toonami without any fanfare (and some home releases afterwards) whilst Super rightfully gets all the hype & attention from the casuals. In fact, I think this is actually what the Kanzenshuu folks predicted on their 2016 predictions podcast.

4.) Geekdom has proven himself to be rather credible and he has mentioned triple checking to make sure it was true. And his sources are saying that it'll either come in December or January.

I wouldn't be surprised if the only announcement we get is a commercial on Toonami in December mentioning that there will be all new episodes of Kai next month.

[AzuraRacon]

Honestly, I don't see Toonami getting super just because of how limited it is
It's one episode a week format completely rules out chances for Reruns (Unless they bring back what they did with Kai for a while but that's still only one rerun a week) and marathons of new episodes to get past the "Rougher" patches of the show
I mean, is anyone really looking forward to waiting over half a year for them to get past the Movie arcs?

I do want to trust Geekdom on this too, though I personally have no prior knowledge of his accuracy and have been burned by similar Rumors this year about Mother3
Actually the more I think of it the more I realize the Final Chapters has become a Second Mother3 to me, just one I'm slightly more optimistic about

[thaman91]

To me, I'm feeling similarly to how I felt in the late 90s waiting for "Season 3" of DBZ on Toonami. I don't think I've been so eagerly anticipating a Dragon Ball product since back then. And here I am now, waiting for new episodes, on the same darn TV station for the same darn franchise lol.

[AzuraRacon]

How long before a show airs on Toonami do they typically announce it?
Particularly for highly anticipated properties like SNK, Jojo, and OPM?

To answer my own question here, It looks like anywhere from Two Weeks in the case of OPM to around Three Months in the case of Jojo so there's really no solid window for that

[sintzu]

I don't think I've been so eagerly anticipating a Dragon Ball product since back then. And here I am now, waiting for new episodes, on the same darn TV station for the same darn franchise lol.

For the same show as well.

It's amazing that no matter how old Z gets and how many times fans see it, they'll still want to see it again.

For me it's the only show I can watch countless times and still get excited to watch it again afterwards.

[ShadowBardock89]

To me, I'm feeling similarly to how I felt in the late 90s waiting for "Season 3" of DBZ on Toonami. I don't think I've been so eagerly anticipating a Dragon Ball product since back then. And here I am now, waiting for new episodes, on the same darn TV station for the same darn franchise lol.

I find the parallel to be ironic. I mean even the original run was on a different channel before it came to Cartoon Network and Kai was on Nicktoons.

[AzuraRacon]

Hell If all goes well, it'll even be starting almost exactly Five years after it finished it's run on Nicktoons, if only a week off

Not counting the final final episode that didn't air for another year but still

EDIT: Okay no I'm just really tired and bad at figuring stuff like this out, I guess yes it would have been a week give or take a day

[LettuceJUMP]

Approximately 34 days based on estimates. And based on marathons etc. But we could be looking at Buu Kai in about a month!

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Approximately 34 days based on estimates. And based on marathons etc. But we could be looking at Buu Kai in about a month!

*Breathes heavily* almost there guys!!

[snaku]

Approximately 34 days based on estimates. And based on marathons etc. But we could be looking at Buu Kai in about a month!

And then it loops back to the beginning of the Saiyan saga like the good old days.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Approximately 34 days based on estimates. And based on marathons etc. But we could be looking at Buu Kai in about a month!

And then it loops back to the beginning of the Saiyan saga like the good old days.

Except no one will sit through it all again... Thankfully I have little doubt the Buu arc will begin after Kai 1.0 ends.

[DBZ_Lee]

If Toonami hasn't got the contract to air Buu Kai, it is a huge blow for them.
Kai has been their top performing show for the majority of 2 years now, I just don't see Nick airing it, as I expect they'll be airing Super.
It makes no sense to change networks for Kai right now.

I am really hyped for Buu Kai still, especially now Super is confirmed.
Oh, and I want my BluRays!