Char Aznable wrote: ↑Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:30 pm
Well full disclosure, I did pre-order the set. Truth be told even though I own the Dragon Boxes, I've wanted
a Blu-ray version for awhile and I didn't want it in widescreen. If this does turn out to be the same bad footage shown in the trailer at least I'll have options to mull over - cancel my order, sell the box (and would likely get more than $350), or just keep it anyway because this'll likely be the first and last 4:3 Blu-ray for awhile at least. You have to admit though, it's strange they would use Level and Season (before cropping) footage in the same trailer. We'll see what happens. I think it's more unlikely than likely, but we'll see what happens.
If you're not convinced by the evidence now, I assure you you won't believe it until it's far too late, the boxes will be in your hands, and you'll have supported Funi in never striving to do better.
Char Aznable wrote: ↑Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:39 pm
KBABZ wrote: ↑Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:33 pm
I hate how people are attacking each other in here. I get strong disagreements but there's no need to throw insults and venom over this stuff.
Exactly, it’s ridiculous. Your favorite piece of Dragon Ball ever could be dubbed GT with that glorious Mark Menza soundtrack and you have ‘Step Into the Grand Tour’ on loop for all hours of the day and I’ll disagree with you, probably look at you weirdly, but I’m not going to start slinging insults.
This isn't about people's opinions being challenged, this is about people being willfully ignorant and supporting an official release that's a significant step-down from the previous one, already hated as one of the worst pieces of anime home video, which itself was a follow-up to much the same thing in much the same way, and so many people simply refusing to do the bare minimum required to say "No, I do not support this release."
Dragon Ball fans have a tendency to roll over and take it whatever crap happens, and any time someone tries to point out how ridiculous it is, the response is always the same: oh you're just getting unreasonably angry. calm down. it's not like it matters.
If this crap happened to Star Wars, they'd start a cultural revolution. Oh wait, they bloody did. Han Shot First is a catchphrase everyone knows, and every Star Wars fan is pretty much united in being really angry whenever Lucasfilm put out a new release that doesn't have the option of watching without all the crappy CG and such.
The Buffy fandom is in the midst of an online campaign against its crappy remaster.
So, I think you can probably understand why a lot of people are really annoyed that so many people are not just rolling over and taking it, but outright criticising anyone who's standing up against this crap.
Char Aznable wrote: ↑Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:30 pm
In other words, I ordered knowing it was a gamble. The sheer vitriol this thread has turned into over - once again - a Blu-ray box set of a Japanese cartoon meant for young boys is rather hilarious to read, really.
Yes, how pathetic and ridiculous we are for being frustrated that Funimation has continually promised big and then taken a massive shit on one of the most popular, beloved Japanese franchises in the western world. They've been doing this since 1995, when the franchise was just getting its humble start on syndication when they cancelled Dragon Ball half-way through its 26-episode order then suddenly skipped to DBZ, then said that despite all the cutting and censorship they'd have Pioneer put out an uncut version with the same cast (and we got a taste of what this meant with Pioneer's movie dubs), then they dumped the cast everyone watching the dub had grown to love in favour of cheap impressionists, and cut their ties with Pioneer, then they continued to censor and generally really poorly-translate the show despite it being an uncut dub and them clearly having good translations on hand at the time.
And then all the home video crap happened in 2005-present.
Anyone who's a hardcore enough fan to be posting in this thread almost certainly has so much resentment to Funi already, and were giving them the benefit of the doubt, hoping they'd finally get it right, then... This disappointment. We really shouldn't be disappointed by this anymore, and yet here we are.
You know what I have to say if a friend asks me "hey that dragon ball show you like. what if i want to give it a go?"
I have to go into a whole thing explaining precisely why and how each release is bad, and somehow figure out some way of getting the show to them in a decent form. I shouldn't have to do a TedTalk to explain how to pick up this highly-influential anime, I should just be able to point to a Crunchyroll stream, or throw them a link to a solid DVD release, or whatever.
Even if they hadn't royally screwed up the home video, we'd still have all the issues to do with redubbing, the poor "Remastered" dub mixing, and the jarring switch from episode 67 to 68.
Getting into Dragon Ball is a mess, and it's a mess Funimation made right in front of its fans as they desperately begged them to just do something competent like every company -- including Funi themselves -- have done with every other goddamn show.
So yes, we're a little peeved, and we're going to complain and argue about it, and people excusing this crap are going to get an earfull.
But y'know... For whatever it's worth, I'm not that angry. And I'm not angry at you. I'm mostly just disappointed. Pretty sad actually. I'm just... Done with this crap. I don't think we're ever going to get a release of Dragon Ball that's even remotely worth buying, and what's available to the masses will continue to be a bastardisation of one of my favourite things. And that's just... Sad.
The point of Dragon Ball is to enjoy it. Never lose sight of that.