Dragon Ball Kai: The 1st Chapters [PILAF DONE!]

[KBABZ]

Hello everyone! This thread is for probably the most ambitious project I've ever undertaken, one that I call Dragon Ball Kai: The First Chapters (abbreviated to T1C, to avoid confusion with TFC, The Final Chapters). It's a project that edits the original Dragon Ball anime, specifically the English dub from FUNimation in the early 2000s, to remove filler, contradictory elements, make it a tighter experience and, where possible, even make small miscellaneous other improvements. The idea is that you should be able to watch T1C without being able to tell that any edits were made, and then go right on to DBZ Kai without missing a beat.

The project has been made primarily with the Remastered Blue Brick DVDs (getting the Dragon Box footage will likely be for a second go-around as getting them is a process unfamiliar to me right now), although two Pilaf arc episodes use audio from The Path to Power. Because I'm using only the English dub for the project, this means I get to play around with the surround sound mix, allowing me to remove/adjust things like music and dialogue in certain circumstances, as well as allowing for cleaner edits.

As I've been editing, I've been keeping record of all the changes in a Change Log document. This introduces what the project is, details the General Changes, lists the episodes have have been fully cut (basically the filler arcs and the start of the Red Ribbon Army arc), then lists all of the combined episodes. After that it goes into an episode-by-episode breakdown of every single edit and change I made, so that anyone who's curious can find out what are. You can read the document as it stands right now via the link below, and I'd be happy to hear if there's any filler scenes that you guys think should have in fact been kept!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/okucshge68lwr ... g.pdf?dl=0

T1C is however still a work in progress; I've just finished Changes, the first episode of the Piccolo Jr. arc, so my first pass is nearly done! Once I've done that, I'll go back and review each episode one last time and start exporting them one by one. After that, well... I'm not sure!

EDIT: Want to see samples of the various changes I've made? Check out this playlist! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFOMq3Z ... 6y6O-FEjeb

[simtek34]

Great work! After reading the change log, this is going to be one great "Kai"! But, not trying to sound picky, I would prefer not having the added Path to Ultimate Strenght (Path to Power) clips on the recut. But great work!

[sangofe]

A shame you're doing the english dub. I'd for sure check it out if you were using the japanese version.

[KBABZ]

Great work! After reading the change log, this is going to be one great "Kai"! But, not trying to sound picky, I would prefer not having the added Path to Ultimate Strenght (Path to Power) clips on the recut. But great work!

I added them in mainly to be more accurate to the manga and remove things involving Pilaf.

If I were to remove Pilaf's exposition in the first episode, then the Dragon Balls and how they work go unexplained and the viewer will have to figure it out for themselves during the later episodes (and also kinda breaks the title of said episode, "Secret of the Dragon Balls". Bulma's version from Path to Power is more appropriate to the manga because she described finding this "old, old, old story that described them". The PtP video footage is kept only to the depiction of the book Bulma found (I couldn't use the on-location footage of Gohan's house because Goku and Bulma are outside, and in the anime they're inside), and while Shenron is depicted as being Red with a stubbier, more GT-like art style, I felt that it worked given that we're seeing what the book thinks he looks like, and his appearance is so brief it still works.

As for the beach scene, the only bit that I used was the audio for characters, so that instead of a magic carpet, they talk about an Immortal Phoenix, which is again closer to the manga. I couldn't use the PtP footage because of the art style change, but more importantly that scene takes place early in the morning and has significantly different lighting compared to the same scene in the anime. As for the fish, well, I think it works, he didn't speak in the anime which I felt was a bit odd when watching it side-by-side with the manga (which is what I do when I'm editing). I lucked out in that the English voice actors for Bulma, Roshi and Turtle were used in both the anime and PtP so they at least sound the same!

(as you can probably guess by now, I'm much more used to the English Funimation names than I am with the original japanese ones, heh)

I plan to update the document during my "combing" stage to add in timecodes, describe how long the new episode is compared to the originals, and add timecodes to the edit bullet points so I describe them based on what's removed rather than "after this shot, we cut to this shot".

A shame you're doing the english dub. I'd for sure check it out if you were using the japanese version.

I highly recommend you check out IAmTheMilkMan's Dragon Ball Recut project, which was edited based on the original Japanese audio. It's basically what I'm doing only even more hardcore in removing filler, and so has a much lower episode count than T1C will have when I finish.

I'm working with the English version because I can't read or speak Japanese, and I grew up watching the English version when I was a kid watching the show on Saturdays on Cartoon Network with my sis eating pizza, so I'm far more emotionally involved with that version. As well, the English audio is in 5.1 Surround Sound, which means that I have much greater editing flexibility when it comes to editing. For example, if the conditions are right (no sound effects or vocal echoes) I am able to actually remove dialogue altogether (voices are only on the Center channel, music is only on the corner channels), or retime them and move them to a different spot. This is incredibly helpful with editing out the more flagrant changes made in Funimation's version, as well as editing in scenes with a lot of ambient noise like the World Martial Arts Tournament (damn that Announcer, though!).

[Geekdom101]

DUDE! This is so cool!!!!

[KBABZ]

Hey guys, I have two questions regarding the episodes I'm making. First, given that when FUNimation did DBZKai they gave new episode titles that are more like the original Japanese two-parter titles, would it be a good idea if I did the same for my T1C episodes? If so, does the English title card font change for The Final Chapters?

Second, is it worth it to track down the Dragon Ball Dragon Boxes for their video footage, or should I stick with the FUNimation Remastered video?

[simtek34]

Do it Japanese style. But some of the early episodes had one-line titles like
"Bulma and Son Goku" "The Dragon Balls are Stolen!"

I would thing that you would change them to the dub names, but could you at least add the Japanese titles to a Japanese audio track if you do, and for the dub ones, could you keep the Son in Goku's name?

[emperior]

The link isn't working for me.

[KBABZ]

Do it Japanese style. But some of the early episodes had one-line titles like
"Bulma and Son Goku" "The Dragon Balls are Stolen!"

Okay, I'll give it a shot! Even with the shorter ones, I'll try and come up with a logical Japanese-two-parter-style title regardless. Some of the episode names also probably won't work thanks to my combining of episodes, so I'll make adjustments and combinations where appropriate. Not entirely sure how I'll handle the whole "these sorts of titles often completely give away the plot" thing, though, should I be that faithful to the Japanese title style? I've never really liked it myself and when I picked Dub titles to use the first time around, I tried my darndest to use non-spoilery titles under the assumption that it should work for someone who's never seen Dragon Ball before.

(one reason for me not using Japanese-style titles is that I don't have Doc Morgan to read the titles out, and it would be a reflection that this is ultimately the original anime edited to be like Kai, not a full Kai with new lines and stuff like that. This is why I was hesitant to go with Japanese-style titles to begin with, like I'm presenting my product as something it's not)

On a sub-question I asked, I watched a totally-illegally-uploaded-but-what-the-hell-I'm-trying-to-research-this episode of TFC dub, and they totally keep using the Gamer font! Looks like I'm using that then!

I would thing that you would change them to the dub names, but could you at least add the Japanese titles to a Japanese audio track if you do, and for the dub ones, could you keep the Son in Goku's name?

I don't intend to do a Japanese version of my project with the audio because A) I can't speak or read Japanese, and B) It would severely limit a lot of the edits I can do compared to the 5.1 dub mix (not being able to remove or retime dialogue, for example). If you're looking for a Japanese take on it, you should watch IAmTheMilkMan's Dragon Ball Recut which works pretty much entirely with the Japanese version only. The First Chapters project is an attempt to edit the FUNimation dub of Dragon Ball specifically, in a manner that closely resembles their final product of Dragon Ball Z Kai from 2009 (and TFC here in 2017), hence the use of the English voice dub but Japanese-style titles.

That would apply to Goku's full name as well, since FUNimation don't really use it that much (except that one time during the Frieza fight in dialogue). Although I'll most likely use it for the very first episode, since it's, you know, the first episode and that warrants using the name in full.

Also, while earlier I did question whether I should go out of my way to obtain the Dragon Box footage, regardless I would still love to obtain the original and titleless non-FUNimation opening and closing credits sequences from the Dragon Box to use.

The link isn't working for me.

Try this?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/fo5i471c8fvdv ... g.pdf?dl=0

[KBABZ]

Hey guys, I have some great news! I managed to buy a Dragon Box for DB that is currently on its way to my Tenso address, where it'll be sent over to me here in New Zealand!

Beyond me being incredibly excited to have it, what does this mean for The First Chapters? Well, it basically means that I'm going to do it all again! I intend to extract the Dragon Box DVDs for their video footage and then line it up with the 5.1 English audio track from the US Remastered versions. From there, I'll use the Change Log document to recreate all of the changes I did the first time around, which means I'll be working much faster on the second go.

This will be where I get into the nitty-gritty when it comes to the "Kai unification" side of the project. Every episode will have a new title card that has the Dragon Balls arranged in the same arrangement as in DBZ Kai, with new Japanese-style titles written out in two parts, with one of the parts usually referring back to the English title, and the other referring to an appropriate manga or Japanese anime title (for example, "Running to the Sea! The NImbus Cloud of Roshi!"), written in Gamer font. The backgrounds will also refer to the current location of the story. Basically, it'll look a lot like the DBZ Kai title cards.

The Intro and Outro will also be in an evolving style that progresses along with the story, now that I'll be getting all their variations. For example, Korin doesn't show up in the credits until after Goku meets him atop his tower. For the Intro I'll leave in the Japanese credits, but for the outro it'll be English except for the first and last credits (due to panning shots in the fourth Credits variation), with certain animated shots changed to stills so the English text can be added in.

The Change Log will also get a bit of a refresh; each episode will now have details on the new runtime (even for combined episodes), and what episodes comprise the new one. As well, each change bullet point will be headed by a timecode so that you can easily find the change in the edited episode itself.

I won't be getting the Dragon Box in the mail for a while, but I already can't wait to work on what I consider to be the final version of project (at least until DB is released in HD maybe hopefully)!

[Scsigs]

I can't help but feel that you're treading most of the same ground the Dragon Ball Recut guy did with this project, but I commend you for putting the English dub as top priority. Very little to the English dubs get the praise they deserve on non-dub-related threads, so this should be interesting to see,

[KBABZ]

I can't help but feel that you're treading most of the same ground the Dragon Ball Recut guy did with this project, but I commend you for putting the English dub as top priority. Very little to the English dubs get the praise they deserve on non-dub-related threads, so this should be interesting to see,

Oh you have no idea how much my day was ruined by discovering that (no offense to IAmTheMilkMan). But over time I grew to feel like T1C covers a different market than Recut. Firstly as you pointed out, this is the English Dub, which with the exception of the V/O changes for Oolong and Bulma is actually a surprisingly smooth transition when you jump to Kai (and the timeskip between them can explain Bulma's more refined voice). But focusing on the English dub also means having to take care of anything that contradicts DBZ Kai/the manga in explicit ways. Good examples of this are King Piccolo saying to Goku that "I've traveled all across the universe, and I've never met anyone as strong as you!" and Goku/Yamcha making the ridiculous claim that Shen/Kami is an alien, which obviously contradicts the fact that Kami/Piccolo won't find this out until Vegeta shows up later. Working with the English dub also means I'm working with the surround sound mix, which gives me greater editing flexibility such as muting or retiming dialogue.

Second, while removing filler is of course the main purpose of T1C, I feel like the methodology is a tad different in that I prefer my edits to be as non-obvious as possible. Ergo, if I cannot remove filler in a way that the viewer can tell something was up, I don't do it (which is the main reason why many filler-expanded fights aren't shortened because they have music over them). As well, if a piece of filler has visible continuity effects later, I leave it in. For example when I was editing the Goku vs Tien fight at the 23rd Tournament, their first filler-only bout was left in because the wall is damaged twice, and the damaged wall appears many times in subsequent episodes.

Thirdly, as implied by the name Dragon Ball Kai: The First Chapters, this is meant to be a little bit more than a re-edit. I've got new title cards, evolving credits and quality of life improvements like fixing eyecatch music and some badly-paced scenes, with an overall philosophy that this should be able to comfortably sit alongside DBZKai and The Final Chapters as a piece of work. This kinda plays into Recut as well, as IAmTheMilkMan has Recuts for DBZ as well that DB Recut accompanies. Fourthly, I started this project entirely for my own viewing pleasure, despite me taking the opinions of other fans on my edits seriously. There are likely ways that MilkMan has done Recut that I wouldn't agree with, and I'm sure there are things I've done with T1C that he's done differently (hence why Recut is about 80 episodes while T1C is approaching 100).

But thanks for the encouragement! The English dub is my focus because A) I can't read or speak Japanese, and B) My memories are established in the dub. I am very thankful therefore that Recut does focus on the Japanese version. Could you imagine the amount of complaining I'd get here if I stuck to just the dub? I don't have the energy to also keep the Japanese audio in mind!

[Lance99]

Second, while removing filler is of course the main purpose of T1C, I feel like the methodology is a tad different in that I prefer my edits to be as non-obvious as possible. Ergo, if I cannot remove filler in a way that the viewer can tell something was up, I don't do it (which is the main reason why many filler-expanded fights aren't shortened because they have music over them). As well, if a piece of filler has visible continuity effects later, I leave it in. For example when I was editing the Goku vs Tien fight at the 23rd Tournament, their first filler-only bout was left in because the wall is damaged twice, and the damaged wall appears many times in subsequent episodes.

I mean, if you really want to, a little Photoshopping cover-up on the wall might do the trick! It would be quite a bit of frame-editing work if there's a lot of motion in the scenes showing the wall and ergo more frames to edit (and it's been forever since I've seen that part of DB), but if there's a will, there's a way. And if you had still shots, you can just mask the edited wall into the footage, or pan it along with panning shots, etc. I've done a bunch of editing in that vein thanks to my YGO fansubbing, lol. Also, you're using the 5.1 audio, right? If you're worried about interrupting a scene with music to remove filler, why not just take the soundtrack playing (assuming it's released) and just recreate it so you can loop it to end around where you think it should?

As for the OP/ENs, I'm sure the main site has the staff credits and whatnot available; you can always pick up Aegisub and translate them in subs timed to the original credits, no? I mean, if you want to go that far, haha.

I do like your going for making the filler cuts as non-obvious as possible, though; one of the things I picked up on with Kai in episode 1 was how after Bulma hit Roshi on the head, Krillin's suddenly walked across the room and is standing next to her. I thought there was some bit of filler in the house that they got rid of showing him walk over, but I rewatched episode 2 of Z and saw it was a shot of Goku flying with Gohan that separated the two shots. They could've probably kept part of it... I've been meaning to check out IAmTheMilkman's edits since I'm interested in rewatching DB from the beginning in Japanese, but I'm really interested to see how your project comes out since I also liked the dub, and it definitely seems like you've put in quite a bit of work going by that document in the first post.

[KBABZ]

I mean, if you really want to, a little Photoshopping cover-up on the wall might do the trick! It would be quite a bit of frame-editing work if there's a lot of motion in the scenes showing the wall and ergo more frames to edit (and it's been forever since I've seen that part of DB), but if there's a will, there's a way. And if you had still shots, you can just mask the edited wall into the footage, or pan it along with panning shots, etc. I've done a bunch of editing in that vein thanks to my YGO fansubbing, lol.

To be perfectly honest it's a lot of work in a field that I'm really not experienced or confident enough to dive into. The episode itself was also running a bit too close to 18 minutes, so keeping it in meant that the filler did its job and kept the episode going to a more acceptable length, which is something that I was concerned about.

Also, you're using the 5.1 audio, right? If you're worried about interrupting a scene with music to remove filler, why not just take the soundtrack playing (assuming it's released) and just recreate it so you can loop it to end around where you think it should?

Well as you pointed out, some music tracks aren't released anywhere (like the Flying Nimbus theme HNNNNNG!). As well, most often the reason why I don't make an edit with music playing is because it's part of a fight, and fights always have all three elements involved; Music, Sound Effects and Vocals. Vocals don't appear in the "corner" channels like Music and SFX do, so if I were to use the Center channel's music-less sound effects track for it, anyone watching in surround sound would notice it (d-did that make sense?). In other words, it becomes a nightmare trying to figure it out and I only do it unless a solution can be done without spending an entire afternoon on it.

As for the OP/ENs, I'm sure the main site has the staff credits and whatnot available; you can always pick up Aegisub and translate them in subs timed to the original credits, no? I mean, if you want to go that far, haha.

Oh yes I'm definitely using the main Kanzenshuu site for aid here (it's how I came up with new episode titles!). Once again however making subtitles for all 100 episodes is more work than I expected and in a field I'm not experienced in. My outlook is that if you care enough to know what the Japanese credits are, you probably care enough to check a site like Kanzenshuu to figure out what they read.

I do like your going for making the filler cuts as non-obvious as possible, though; one of the things I picked up on with Kai in episode 1 was how after Bulma hit Roshi on the head, Krillin's suddenly walked across the room and is standing next to her. I thought there was some bit of filler in the house that they got rid of showing him walk over, but I rewatched episode 2 of Z and saw it was a shot of Goku flying with Gohan that separated the two shots. They could've probably kept part of it...

Yeah, that stuff does happen from time to time. With that specific edit, one thing I would have done was include some footstep sounds at the end of the former shot to at least give some fraile excuse as to why Krillin is suddenly next to Bulma.

I've been meaning to check out IAmTheMilkman's edits since I'm interested in rewatching DB from the beginning in Japanese, but I'm really interested to see how your project comes out since I also liked the dub, and it definitely seems like you've put in quite a bit of work going by that document in the first post.

Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy watching both!

[KBABZ]

Hey folks! I finished my first pass of the edit, and I happened to land on exactly 100 episodes, 53 less than the original! However as I stated above, I will do a second pass, specifically to incorporate the Dragon Box footage. Until that arrives, I'll be going over my existing edits to determine whether I should keep them (see below), and to add their timecodes into the edit document to make it easier for others to find them. I will also be using the Box footage to craft evolving intros and outros, new title cards, and make a standardized version of the eyecatches. I will also study Recut to see if there are any fun edits that I could incorporate as well to help reduce the episode count further.

One of the edits I reverted was Roshi's initial attempt to summon a gift for Goku on the beach. Previously, I had cleverly used audio from The Path to Power where Roshi attempts to summon the Phoenix, but I have decided to revert it back to the magic carpet dialogue in the original dub. This is because while the voice actors for Roshi, Bulma and Turtle are all the same, the actual recording "feel" is vastly different between the two; the film's audio is crisper, but the anime's is much softer and warmer-feeling. And ultimately, a magic carpet isn't that out of the ordinary for Dragon Ball since Mr. Popo uses one in the Saiyan Arc outside the hospital (and with Roshi having previously possessed the Power Pole linking Korin's Tower to Kami's Lookout, who knows!).

[MR.Mark]

Great project, I just wish the dub was on the level of kai then I'd be especially excited for it.

[KBABZ]

Great project, I just wish the dub was on the level of kai then I'd be especially excited for it.

Personally I find it's pretty good. It isn't until we get to the battle with King Piccolo and especially Piccolo Jr. that it gets dumb, probably because Funimation felt that it was more marketable than the rest and thus felt a greater need to change it. There was one shot in the 23rd Finals where Piccolo shoots the hole through Goku and Chi-Chi's like "NOOOOOOOO GOKU'S HUUUUURT!!", which I cut out of sheer "No s***, Sherlock!". Also Schemmel's early 2000's performance as Goku there doesn't quite work as it sounds like he's holding his nose.

In fact one of the reasons why I wanted to do this project is specifically because I don't want Funimation to do it. In Z Kai they use Clickenbeard for anything going back to Kid Goku (such as the Cell saga finale flashbacks), but for me Stephanie Nadolny is inseparable from Kid Goku. While she doesn't get the hick word contractions, I feel like her way of Goku pronouncing words in a more stilted way conveyed the lack of familiarity with speaking fairly well (also do you really think Grandpa Gohan would have let Goku talk like a hick?). The new Oolong isn't so hot either.

Dunno what I'll do if they do an official Kai treatment of Dragon Ball. Maybe I'll overlay the old audio over it, sort of like what IAmTheMilkMan is doing for the Buu saga's Final Chapters, only with audio instead of video. I've also been pondering over Kai-ing GT, in the sense of editing it so that it moves at a brisker pace and is hopefully more interesting as a result.

[sangofe]

Great project, I just wish the dub was on the level of kai then I'd be especially excited for it.

Personally I find it's pretty good. It isn't until we get to the battle with King Piccolo and especially Piccolo Jr. that it gets dumb, probably because Funimation felt that it was more marketable than the rest and thus felt a greater need to change it. There was one shot in the 23rd Finals where Piccolo shoots the hole through Goku and Chi-Chi's like "NOOOOOOOO GOKU'S HUUUUURT!!", which I cut out of sheer "No s***, Sherlock!". Also Schemmel's early 2000's performance as Goku there doesn't quite work as it sounds like he's holding his nose.

In fact one of the reasons why I wanted to do this project is specifically because I don't want Funimation to do it. In Z Kai they use Clickenbeard for anything going back to Kid Goku (such as the Cell saga finale flashbacks), but for me Stephanie Nadolny is inseparable from Kid Goku. While she doesn't get the hick word contractions, I feel like her way of Goku pronouncing words in a more stilted way conveyed the lack of familiarity with speaking fairly well (also do you really think Grandpa Gohan would have let Goku talk like a hick?). The new Oolong isn't so hot either.

Dunno what I'll do if they do an official Kai treatment of Dragon Ball. Maybe I'll overlay the old audio over it, sort of like what IAmTheMilkMan is doing for the Buu saga's Final Chapters, only with audio instead of video. I've also been pondering over Kai-ing GT, in the sense of editing it so that it moves at a brisker pace and is hopefully more interesting as a result.

If you do GT please cut out large portions of episodes 2-4, 6 - 16. Please.

[KBABZ]

If you do GT please cut out large portions of episodes 2-4, 6 - 16. Please.

I haven't delved too much into those; are 2-4 those episodes where they land on some dystopian planet ruled by a dictatorship? Because yeah that was awful. Looking at the episode recap, I would only keep in as much as was necessary to resolve the situation on the planet and have them pick up Giru at the end as quickly as possible. That would be the interesting thing about a GT edit; without a manga to adhere to, the edit would be focused more around telling only the core basics of the story to make it work and keep up a brisker pace, rather than waffling around with the story.

[sangofe]

If you do GT please cut out large portions of episodes 2-4, 6 - 16. Please.

I haven't delved too much into those; are 2-4 those episodes where they land on some dystopian planet ruled by a dictatorship? Because yeah that was awful. Looking at the episode recap, I would only keep in as much as was necessary to resolve the situation on the planet and have them pick up Giru at the end as quickly as possible. That would be the interesting thing about a GT edit; without a manga to adhere to, the edit would be focused more around telling only the core basics of the story to make it work and keep up a brisker pace, rather than waffling around with the story.

Episode two is Goku being "kidnapped" and them taking off, episodes 3-5 it's on the that planet. And after that is the awful story with Doll Toki and Lood. The only good thing about all these episodes is the fight Goku vs Ledgid that lasts like 3-4 minutes.