Funimation's 30th anniversary collectible home video release

[Danfun64]

I honestly believe the trailer was more meant emphasize 4:3 the package design, the limited reservation period and the fact that it’s the entire series in one set then the video footage. Yes they could and should of not had anything about the film footage but then everyone would be bitching and complaining anyways saying I’m not going to reserve something that doesn’t show the film.

This was always going to have some fans complaining about it. The only way it wouldn’t would have been:

4:3 aspect ratio
Closing Credits And Next Episode Previews
Dragon Box quality film footage color corrected
Japanese Broadcast Audio
New English DBZ Dub with all the original actors
Original OG Toonami Funimation Dub
Ocean Dub of DBZ
Falconer Score
Kikuchki Score
No Grain or Grain option

If it had all that maybe there would be no one complaining.
Of course there are those who want only digital there are those who wouldn’t be happy with the packaging. I think if Funimation provides a final remaster close to the level sets it will be acceptable. Not perfect but still let’s see what happens.

Unfortunately neither would be an option because those dubs are edited and wouldn't sync with the uncut Japanese audio. Damn though, the Westwood dub still needs to receive some form of a home release. The Japanese broadcast audio would be a good selling point, but at this point I don't think that would be enough to salvage this set.

Anyone who thinks that FUNi would release the Westwood dub is fucking high. Same with the early Ocean dub on an uncut release..

I'd love it if the anglosphere got a release containing every officially licensed English dub (as well as the Speedy dub), each as different audio tracks, at least where it's practical (meaning the Saban dub would be skipped due to cutting 67 episodes down to 53). For example, if we were looking strictly at the DBZ series episodes; (Japanese + Original Funi (with US score) + (where applicable) Remastered Funi (with US score) + Remastered Funi (with Japanese score)+ (where applicable) Speedy (lol) + (where applicable) Creative Products (Fillipino dub) (+ any officially licensed English dubs of the DBZ series that I'm forgetting) + Original Latino Spanish dub + (where applicable) Remastered Latino Spanish dub + French dub (lol) ) would make for an awesome North American release, but that's NEVER going to happen, at least not with Funi at the helm.

Even topics that aren't blatant pipe dreams seem hopeless at times though. Funi could have included the Pioneer Ocean dub of DBZ Movies 1-3 on both the Ultimate Uncut singles and the Double Feature sets, but they didn't.

[Android 50]

Do we know if the footage in the trailer is footage funi is using for this boxset? I know you will say why would it be in the trailer if it wasn't? but it could be placeholder footage just like the box art. Or maybe that's just my wishful thinking and optimism. lol

We ultimately won't KNOW, and the video definitely felt like an advertisement for the set itself rather than "hey this is what the footage looks like". BUT, all the examples were from the first episode, and if they don't even have the first episode remastered at this stage, well, I don't know what to tell them. They should have the first episode done at the VERY LEAST to give as an example here. Right now it looks like they have the uncropped Blu-Ray Seasons for the episodes themselves and the Level set footage for the intro, which makes no sense (which... I guess means it makes sense to Funimation?).

As pointed out earlier, the packaging got a "not final" disclaimer, but the footage itself did not. We're in the same spot again where we have to "wait until later" to confirm what the quality of this set is ACTUALLY going to be like, so we're no better off then this time a week ago when we all we had were solid-sounding rumors.

About the only thing that can save the set at this point is if Funimation put out a second video that was a more direct sampling of the show that made it clear this is what will be on the final product. And of course it matches the Level set footage at the VERY least.

Yea this whole wait and see method while funi slowly, barely releases any decent info about the actual content of this 30th anniversary set but expects fans to rush in blindly and preorder it shows exactly just what Funimation thinks of the DBZ fanbase.

[Scsigs]

Even topics that aren't blatant pipe dreams seem hopeless at times though. Funi could have included the Pioneer Ocean dub of DBZ Movies 1-3 on both the Ultimate Uncut singles and the Double Feature sets, but they didn't.

That I can actually see, since they produced that dub with Pioneer & Ocean, right? It's usually only with what they produced themselves or have the rights to for anime they rescued & feel are serviceable, hence why we get Cowboy Bebop's early-2000s dub rather than a new one (which was one of the first truly great anime dubs) & the 2 dubs for Akira (though it was just gonna be the '01 dub till a guy who had the original '89 dub's masters told Chris Sabat at a con he had them & told him they could use them), but no shitty 4Kids One Piece dub, which would require using their edited footage too since they altered the series so much, it would require its own separate DVD release. Considering even the people who worked on that dub hated it, I can't see anyone actually wanting to release it again. Then we have series like Escaflowne where they include the original dub but also produce their own new one. This is also why the Rock the Dragon set came out, since they had those versions of the episodes & movies on their hard drives, so they threw together an admittedly excellent set for the people who love that dub, warts & all.

I know that the old bilingual DVDs had the Spanish dub, but that's only because they sourced material from them back then when Toei was being slow from what I've heard, but times have changed & FUNi's changed as a company since then, so I wouldn't expect a release like those again any time soon.

[Vegard Aune]

So I'm kind of way overdue on this due to how fast the posts are piling up in this thread, but I would just like to point out to anyone who is comparing the framing here to the Dragon Boxes that... the Dragon Boxes were given a shot-for-shot reframing based off the original negatives. That framing was not the same as what was originally seen on TV. More often than not, the image was extended on all four sides. A more fair comparison would be to compare the framing to the UUE or something...
Admittedly even with that I think the Black Bricks would lose out by a not-insignificant margin, but it would be a more apt comparison.

Also while the "The Season BDs actually had more footage than this!" argument is technically true, you're losing footage that wasn't intended to be seen in favor of footage that was. The Black Bricks are at least a slight step up.

...That said, the aggressive overfiltering still leaves this in a situation where it is, at best, only barely reaching the baseline of being technically acceptable, and for a "Limited Edition Anniversary Collectors Edition aimed specifically at the hardcore fans", it's still utterly pathetic. Honestly, if someone asks me what the best way to watch Dragon Ball Z is at this point, there really is only one answer I can feel justified in giving: "Pirate it. Every legal option is either long out-of-print and as such unreasonably hard to get... or terrible."

[Jon Jon]

I think the only way this forum would be 100% satisfied is if they just released 1:1 copies of their digibetas for sale, lol.

I hope what we saw isn't the final footage, but we here are the minority. I also think this is for the newer hardcore fans as most people I know are one and done with releases and they had bought the orange bricks a decade ago.

I still have my dragon boxes, but a new set in HD would be nice. I am crossing my fingers with this one.

I saw some posts in this thread complaining about not being old enough to get the dragon boxes, and I dont understand the complaining. Timing is everything. In my early 20s I spent a lot if money on getting some of the rare variants of anime that I missed out on, like the Sailor Moon uncut Pioneer sets and the Japanese laser discs of the DB movies to name a few. It's just how it goes. At least now it's easier to consume entertainment. Back then, you had to find the releases, because good luck finding anything competent online. I still have some Anime Labs and Super 5 fan subs of Z and GT!

[sangofe]

Going back to my previous question: what do we do here? Well, in my opinion, first we accept that there is a market for Funimation's crap remaster. You may absolutely despise that fact, but it's happening whether you like it or not, so it's best to be a peace with that. A inaccurate dub and cropped picture can't hide what makes DBZ great, so there is still something for people to love there. Shitting on that won't do much good. Next and most importantly, we find some way to let Funimation know what we would be willing to put money down for. Finish up the Level sets, get that remaster Toei's doing, broadcast audio, whatever. I mean, not too long after the disaster that was the Orange Bricks came the impossible: a stateside Dragon Box. Why can't history repeat with the Black Bricks?

This is all assuming that what was shown in the trailer is representative of what will actually be in the Black Bricks. Strictly speaking, we don't know for sure one way or the other right now. If we hear it's actually going to be a good version before orders are up, you better believe I'll drop that $350. That's a big if, though.

What's your plan for convincing Funimation to do a proper job when they can make money with much less effort?

[IAmTheMilkMan]

So I'm kind of way overdue on this due to how fast the posts are piling up in this thread, but I would just like to point out to anyone who is comparing the framing here to the Dragon Boxes that... the Dragon Boxes were given a shot-for-shot reframing based off the original negatives. That framing was not the same as what was originally seen on TV. More often than not, the image was extended on all four sides. A more fair comparison would be to compare the framing to the UUE or something...
Admittedly even with that I think the Black Bricks would lose out by a not-insignificant margin, but it would be a more apt comparison.

Most of the comparisons I’ve seen have been to the Level BDs which seems like a pretty fair comparison to me as both utilize the same source.

[sangofe]

So I'm kind of way overdue on this due to how fast the posts are piling up in this thread, but I would just like to point out to anyone who is comparing the framing here to the Dragon Boxes that... the Dragon Boxes were given a shot-for-shot reframing based off the original negatives. That framing was not the same as what was originally seen on TV. More often than not, the image was extended on all four sides. A more fair comparison would be to compare the framing to the UUE or something...
Admittedly even with that I think the Black Bricks would lose out by a not-insignificant margin, but it would be a more apt comparison.

Most of the comparisons I’ve seen have been to the Level BDs which seems like a pretty fair comparison to me as both utilize the same source.

Do we know they do?

[sintzu]

What's your plan for convincing Funimation to do a proper job when they can make money with much less effort?

This is the problem, people are willing to pay for what they are offering so they have no reason to change what they're doing.

[MadSpecialist]

Although this set looks serviceable from the trailer, for purist videophiles like myself, it's a let down. I wasn't expecting the impossible but know Funimation is capable of doing better in that aspect from previous releases.

With the set being geo-blocked and released in limited quantities, I'm guessing Toei, in favour of their own inevitable Blu-rays of the series in Japan, wants to avoid reverse importing. The trailer's Saban-style narration, Season Set-looking footage (albeit 4:3) and not even hinting at Japanese audio, titles or credits may also imply this.

I imagine Japan's Blu-rays of the series will probably look more like Animax's HD broadcast of the first TV special, which as far as I know, wasn't censored or repainted like some of their recent movie Blu-rays but could suffer the same fate upon release.

[ABED]

It's not much of a revolution if they can't convince Lucasfilm or Disney to release the original. I get it, I want a proper unedited release of both SW and DB (I have the latter, not the former), and I can understand petitions and voting with your wallet, but the vitriol for something like this is unwarranted. It's trivial in the scheme of things.

Some people are getting really riled up at people who are preordering this thing, man. People should be kind, but can you really blame them when literally the entire premise of this release is that it won't happen if it doesn't get to 3000 preorders?

It's kind of like this release was specially assembled to cause division, and to give a middle-finger to the hardcore fans; everyone who preorders this is working against the wishes of anyone who cares about the integrity of the show. And at the same time, anyone who doesn't preorder it is working against the idea of a 4:3 release. It's a bloody nightmare, and there's no way to win: Either the boxset succeeds, and Funi have put out their nominally hardcore-orientated release, and everyone who isn't crazy enough to spend $350 on some collectible boxset can stick to the 16:9 flavour of this crappy mastering but it's also cheaper than the box of all the Season BDs on Amazon; $350 instead of $400. But that's a crazy, overpriced thing for people who don't do their research, because buying the BDs individually only comes to about $200... And anyway, even if this 4:3 release wasn't crap, it's a limited thing anyway, like the Dragon Boxes (which was in theory a good release, but its low numbers and thus collectible nature takes away any of the good aspects of it), but it's also crap, so every aspect of this, the fans lose. Or, this fails, and Funi can say "well we tried 4:3 but no one wanted it." So, if this fails, the fans still kind of lose, even if we win the moral victory. But Funi marketing can easily just ignore us and pretend there was no backlash; the casual masses who buy up the Season BDs will be none the wiser. This whole thing just... Ugh.

This is just... It's the worst. We're being pitted against each-other, and it's probably a no-win scenario anyway. We can protest it all we like, but like Star Wars fans, we're doomed to be stuck with this atrocity that has no respect for the original classic work, but unlike Star Wars fans, we're fighting each-other over it because so many people have been taken in by the crap, and don't understand the problem. And there's the simple factor of: This release sucks, and if you buy it you're wasting your money. I don't want people to waste their money on this crap; it's a bad decision, they're being manipulated into buying something that's at best on the same level as the Season BDs, but they're spending nearly twice as much on it. Naturally, everyone's free to spend their money as they please, but there's also the element that if this doesn't get to 3000, then it sends the message to Funi, especially given how many people are saying stuff on Twitter, YouTube, etc. against this... But so many people simply don't care, and it'll probably reach 3000 anyway, and all this will have fallen on deaf ears.

... God I'm tired.

I know all this, all I ask if people have some perspective. I can see being irritated by this, but using loaded language like "evil" and comparing it to battered wives staying in an abusive marriage is complete overkill and shows a complete lack of not only perspective, but decency.

I would love to get a proper untouched release of the original trilogy, but since it's not likely to happen, and I have decades of experience, I can say with certainty that life moves on. You'll live.

If that is his point, then that's another fallacy. Just because bigger problems exist doesn't minimize this problem whatsoever. Our concerns are valid.

Your concerns are valid. It's valid to point out FUNi's marketing is BS. I remember what they tried to pull with the season sets and claiming we were getting more picture and it was "the way it was meant to be seen". I wish FUNi would release a good quality release at a decent price point. This is not a fallacy, nor was the previous one you pointed to.

[Kinokima]

People ordering this and saying they will just cancel if the trailer is the final product. People on twitter have said they tried to cancel but couldn’t.

Too late if you already ordered but keep that in mind if anyone is on the fence about this set.

[ABED]

It's not much of a revolution if they can't convince Lucasfilm or Disney to release the original. I get it, I want a proper unedited release of both SW and DB (I have the latter, not the former), and I can understand petitions and voting with your wallet, but the vitriol for something like this is unwarranted. It's trivial in the scheme of things.

Some people are getting really riled up at people who are preordering this thing, man. People should be kind, but can you really blame them when literally the entire premise of this release is that it won't happen if it doesn't get to 3000 preorders?

I think his point is "but kids are starving in Africa, this dumb anime doesn't matter".

No, it's "this is just a Home Video set you don't have to buy. Please don't compare it to spousal abuse."

[KBABZ]

No, it's "this is just a Home Video set you don't have to buy. Please don't compare it to spousal abuse."

Did you not catch the apology for that comparison earlier?

[ABED]

No, it's "this is just a Home Video set you don't have to buy. Please don't compare it to spousal abuse."

Did you not catch the apology for that comparison earlier?

Sorry, no I didn't. I haven't been keeping up with this thread. I just responded to a few comments that quoted me.

[Jon Jon]

People ordering this and saying they will just cancel if the trailer is the final product. People on twitter have said they tried to cancel but couldn’t.

Too late if you already ordered but keep that in mind if anyone is on the fence about this set.

That's pretty messed up. You could just contact your CC company and dispute it I'd imagine.

[Forte224]

Just wanted to chime in and say that the longer posts by MetaMoss and Vegard Aune are very welcome amidst everything this thread has been through the past couple of days.

I'd like to point out too that 3000 pre-orders is such a tiny, tiny number compared to the overall DB(Z specifically) fanbase that it being reached is inevitable. If 6000 were the necessary number, there would be a better shot at them not hitting it. But 3000? The Tweet alone has 166k views and the YouTube video has 38k.

I'm not saying voicing against it is/was pointless. I replied myself with comparison shots and questions/complaints about the set's footage being bad. I'm just saying we don't need to feel defeated in any way because 3000 is a number almost impossible to not hit. I can guarantee you a good chunk missed the Dragon Boxes and have accepted that at least it's in 4:3, another chunk are collectors, another chunk are scalpers, and another chunk don't do research at all and just saw "Oh 4:3 that's what everyone said is good, right?" And there are other groups that bought into it for other reasons I'm sure too, like the packaging, the hype of an anniversary collection, etc.

The bigger travesty in my mind are the Orange Bricks and Season Blu-rays that had no limit and sold like hotcakes, sending FUNi the worst message possible.

[sangofe]

I imagine Japan's Blu-rays of the series will probably look more like Animax's HD broadcast of the first TV special, which as far as I know, wasn't censored or repainted like some of their recent movie Blu-rays but could suffer the same fate upon release.

You're hoping for way too much. Toei will use Funimation's "remaster".

[MetaMoss]

What's your plan for convincing Funimation to do a proper job when they can make money with much less effort?

Honestly, I don't have much of an idea outside of organizing something. A petition would probably go nowhere, but what about a Twitter hashtag or a email/letter writing effort? I was kinda hoping I could hear some ideas from folks here, so I'm all ears for whatever anybody else can come up with. But, whatever it is, the idea is we show Funimation that there's a group with our tastes that is large and passionate enough to be worth doing something for. Hell, if we want to increase our chances by asking for something low-effort on their end, this could just be asking them to reissue the Dragon Boxes.

[eledoremassis02]

I think another hint as to the possibility of the PQ not being finalized is the inconsistency with the openings. The first shot is saturated compared to the level set and the second shot is almost identical with the level sets. The shots of the level sets are also taken from youtube as they both are compressed youtube HD and you'll notice no grain on these just like in FUNi's trailer

Funi 30th

Level Set

FUNi 30th

Level Set


Honestly, for me, at the end. I've thought about giving it a shot but I'm just done with getting DBZ. They've milked it too much and I barely watch what I have (the level sets) so this is just going to be a $350 display piece, even if it turns out being stellar. And if I have to wait another 10 years for another set that might be good, I'll be almost 40 and that's just ridiculous (not buying anime at 40 more so, that I need to save money and not just throw it at every release because I don't have the luxury of doing so..) If the movies come out then perhaps i'll get the ones I enjoy the most but I think I'm done.