Funimation's 30th anniversary collectible home video release

[SuperSaiyanPan]

I busted out my singles to get a comparison from the Single vs 30th which amazingly shows the 30th adding more picture than the single has. I also forgot how blocky the singles were WOW!

http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/133702 This is the Gohan picture comparison.

Single

30th

[nato25]

Nice comparison, if I'm honest, colours looking a lot nicer on the singles though.

I'd love an ultimate comparison between singles (DVD), orange bricks, season blu-ray, dragon box and 30th anniversary.

[pjay]

Oh I still have my Batman TAS DVD’s. And while they may look closer to the original broadcast they’re terribly encoded (they may even edge out the terrible encoding of the DBZ single dvd’s) and interlaced to hell. I mean I’m almost all for original intent but once I saw those episodes restored from 35mm on DC Universe I was hooked and had to get those Blu Rays. May not have been perfect with the DNR and colors but my god the clarity vs the DVD’s and the TV rips was astounding. We’d be fortunate if this Black Box looked half as good as those.

Off the topic I know but many pages ago someone mentioned excessive DNR on Batman TAS. I'm assuming by extension that goes for the movies as well. Because I remember getting my Mask of the Phantasm blu ray and thinking it looked quite blurry. But I could never tell whether that intentional because of the noir style or something else.

Mask of the Phantasm did have some out of focus shots that the bluray really highlighted. But here is a shot from the Bluray set. I have it. but I also have my DVDs which are closer to the original broadcast


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX7VbERbDYg

[Scsigs]

These are copied & pasted from the FUNi Discord server I typed them on, so sorry if you saw these there, but I feel these MUST be said here as well.

"I just realized something about what the Timm mod said earlier yesterday when rewatching the video AnimeAjay put out on the new trailer & blog post. She claimed that they didn't want to appeal to one section of the fanbase without appealing to another.

Question, what do you mean by this? The new HD limited edition Blu-Ray set is SUPPOSED to appeal to the hardcore fans, hence the 4:3 aspect ratio & the limited quantity. You're not SUPPOSED to be trying to appeal to every section of the fanbase at once. Doing that is literally impossible because the section of the fanbase that bought the earlier releases are simpleton casuals who don't care about the original aspect ratio or proper details being retained as long as they get the episodes with the dub & US Faulconer replacement score in a cheap, easy, convenient format for their viewing pleasure which you've given them twice by now with the Orange Bricks & Season Blu-Rays. If she clarified these points earlier, sorry, but I haven't seen anyone discuss this part, so I don't know if that's been done. Someone just send me a screenshot of her answer if she did.

Then, the "hardcore fans" debate. I'm sorry, but clearly we ARE talking about different definitions. For one, you think hardcores are people who love the series to death so much that they'll buy anything & everything that's thrown at them no questions asked as long as they think it's good, whereas most people are talking about the hardcore fans who want preservation of quality with a proper remaster like the Level sets with acceptable amounts of grain, color enhancement & balancing without brightening the image, & 4:3.

This is the exact same kind of argument I get into sometimes with Fall Out Boy fangirls who argue about "true fans" accepting every new album & song as they come out as opposed to those who criticize their new releases because they want the best from them because they've proved to be extremely talented people in the past, but continue to just push out more music with no regards to the quality of it. One is what we call "fanboys/girls" & one is what we call "true fans," as one understands what makes them their best & the others...don't. You can imagine which is which.

My point is that this release isn't supposed to appeal to people like you who hate grain, it's supposed to be for people who don't mind grain & want the episodes remastered in a way only 1 previous BR release did back in 2011 but was cancelled because the market was flooded, resulting in low sales vs high costs & fans being left high & dry before they could get the episodes in a more than perfectly acceptable format.

If I'm wrong, I'd love the discussion & clarification. I just wanted clarification on these things."

If no one understands what I'm responding to, here you go...

Spoiler:

I can't be the only one who felt insulted personally by her words. I'm waiting to see if she responds. I know she, thankfully, has nothing to do with the remastering project, but she's already been brought up here & I wanted to discuss this with like-minded people.

[MadSpecialist]

Unless they fix this which I highly doubt they will I'll just start my hunt for the Dragon Box, Dragon Box Z and Dragon Box GT wish me luck.

FUNi released Dragon Box Z and Dragon Box GT so you'd just need to find a replacement for Dragon Ball: Dragon Box.. maybe the Saga Sets would suit you. It's missing OP2/ED2, NEPs and the Specials. Of course, the Japanese extras are usually exclusive to Japan.

Anyway these are the specials:
- Goku Traffic Safety
- Goku Fire Brigade
- American Dragon Ball Censorship
- Textless OP1/ED1

I thought those sets were missing three ending animations?

Just found out about the blog post which seems to have been taken down since. Did anybody save all of the before images? They might be the only way we ever get to see those frames that way.

In my discord server. It's not taken down, by the way.

I was made aware of that since but thanks nonetheless.

If no one understands what I'm responding to, here you go...

Spoiler:

I can't be the only one who felt insulted personally by her words. I'm waiting to see if she responds. I know she, thankfully, has nothing to do with the remastering project, but she's already been brought up here & I wanted to discuss this with like-minded people.

Not every hardcore fan will want the same thing but I don't think she was insulting as such.

There's going to be people in the community that are for the release and its video quality no matter what those that aren't say. The least the latter can do is make that clear, which we are, but ultimately it's up to Funimation and Toei what actually gets released, especially if it's selling.

[Mr.Poot]

These are copied & pasted from the FUNi Discord server I typed them on, so sorry if you saw these there, but I feel these MUST be said here as well.

"I just realized something about what the Timm mod said earlier yesterday when rewatching the video AnimeAjay put out on the new trailer & blog post. She claimed that they didn't want to appeal to one section of the fanbase without appealing to another.

Question, what do you mean by this? The new HD limited edition Blu-Ray set is SUPPOSED to appeal to the hardcore fans, hence the 4:3 aspect ratio & the limited quantity. You're not SUPPOSED to be trying to appeal to every section of the fanbase at once. Doing that is literally impossible because the section of the fanbase that bought the earlier releases are simpleton casuals who don't care about the original aspect ratio or proper details being retained as long as they get the episodes with the dub & US Faulconer replacement score in a cheap, easy, convenient format for their viewing pleasure which you've given them twice by now with the Orange Bricks & Season Blu-Rays. If she clarified these points earlier, sorry, but I haven't seen anyone discuss this part, so I don't know if that's been done. Someone just send me a screenshot of her answer if she did.

Then, the "hardcore fans" debate. I'm sorry, but clearly we ARE talking about different definitions. For one, you think hardcores are people who love the series to death so much that they'll buy anything & everything that's thrown at them no questions asked as long as they think it's good, whereas most people are talking about the hardcore fans who want preservation of quality with a proper remaster like the Level sets with acceptable amounts of grain, color enhancement & balancing without brightening the image, & 4:3.

This is the exact same kind of argument I get into sometimes with Fall Out Boy fangirls who argue about "true fans" accepting every new album & song as they come out as opposed to those who criticize their new releases because they want the best from them because they've proved to be extremely talented people in the past, but continue to just push out more music with no regards to the quality of it. One is what we call "fanboys/girls" & one is what we call "true fans," as one understands what makes them their best & the others...don't. You can imagine which is which.

My point is that this release isn't supposed to appeal to people like you who hate grain, it's supposed to be for people who don't mind grain & want the episodes remastered in a way only 1 previous BR release did back in 2011 but was cancelled because the market was flooded, resulting in low sales vs high costs & fans being left high & dry before they could get the episodes in a more than perfectly acceptable format.

If I'm wrong, I'd love the discussion & clarification. I just wanted clarification on these things."

If no one understands what I'm responding to, here you go...

Spoiler:

I can't be the only one who felt insulted personally by her words. I'm waiting to see if she responds. I know she, thankfully, has nothing to do with the remastering project, but she's already been brought up here & I wanted to discuss this with like-minded people.

I don't know why a rep would say we're not real fans that sounds like a PR nightmare waiting to happen.

[Scsigs]

I don't know why a rep would say we're not real fans that sounds like a PR nightmare waiting to happen.

I mean, she didn't say we're not real fans, but she DID say that we're not hardcores. I was mainly making a comparison to similar arguments i've had in the past.

[KBABZ]

I thought those sets were missing three ending animations?

Yeah, specifically missing the exact same animations, and the opening, that weren't provided for Funimation. The textless OP/EDs on the DBox were the same OP/EDs Funi used in their 2001 dub. Hmm, now WHY would Toei have those two specifically lying around...?

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I thought those sets were missing three ending animations?

Yeah, specifically missing the exact same animations, and the opening, that weren't provided for Funimation. The textless OP/EDs on the DBox were the same OP/EDs Funi used in their 2001 dub. Hmm, now WHY would Toei have those two specifically lying around...?

My guess is that those were backup creditless masters they had in their archives ready to use, such as for licensing the series to other companies.

[KBABZ]

I thought those sets were missing three ending animations?

Yeah, specifically missing the exact same animations, and the opening, that weren't provided for Funimation. The textless OP/EDs on the DBox were the same OP/EDs Funi used in their 2001 dub. Hmm, now WHY would Toei have those two specifically lying around...?

My guess is that those were backup creditless masters they had in their archives ready to use, such as for licensing the series to other companies.

Maybe, but why the second and not the first? My personal (and for the record, completely unfounded) theory is that Toei assembled the creditless OP/EDs for Funimation in 2000/2001, then in 03/04 when making the Dragon Box for the first series, they stumbled upon them and were like "eh, that'd make a good extra to throw in on the last disc", and there we are.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Yeah, specifically missing the exact same animations, and the opening, that weren't provided for Funimation. The textless OP/EDs on the DBox were the same OP/EDs Funi used in their 2001 dub. Hmm, now WHY would Toei have those two specifically lying around...?

My guess is that those were backup creditless masters they had in their archives ready to use, such as for licensing the series to other companies.

Maybe, but why the second and not the first? My personal (and for the record, completely unfounded) theory is that Toei assembled the creditless OP/EDs for Funimation in 2000/2001, then in 03/04 when making the Dragon Box for the first series, they stumbled upon them and were like "eh, that'd make a good extra to throw in on the last disc", and there we are.

Yeah, i wouldn't be surprised if that's the case given the DB Dragon Box came just a few years later no less.

[nathantheguitarist]

I can't believe it's been 10+ years since the orange bricks fiasco... And I'm ripping my hair out again over Funimation being this incompetent still.

Really regret selling my Dragon Boxes but you do what you gotta do sometimes. 30th anniversary set has the right price honestly, but it's just so dumb that it has to be this way.

They can't just put something out that's good enough and that be the end of it. Instead it has to be a fucking circus of stupid shit every fucking time.

It's just home media, Funimation... It's not really this hard.

[simtek34]

Yeah, specifically missing the exact same animations, and the opening, that weren't provided for Funimation. The textless OP/EDs on the DBox were the same OP/EDs Funi used in their 2001 dub. Hmm, now WHY would Toei have those two specifically lying around...?

My guess is that those were backup creditless masters they had in their archives ready to use, such as for licensing the series to other companies.

Maybe, but why the second and not the first? My personal (and for the record, completely unfounded) theory is that Toei assembled the creditless OP/EDs for Funimation in 2000/2001, then in 03/04 when making the Dragon Box for the first series, they stumbled upon them and were like "eh, that'd make a good extra to throw in on the last disc", and there we are.

I’d agree with SuperSaiyaManZ94, that they were most likely just what Toei had at the moment. I’m not stre if FUNi’s pre-2001 Dragonball masters are also from Mexico, like the Z Digi-Beta Masters, but if they were, I would think that they were just whatever as well and not DBox Masters.

[KBABZ]

I’d agree with SuperSaiyaManZ94, that they were most likely just what Toei had at the moment. I’m not stre if FUNi’s pre-2001 Dragonball masters are also from Mexico, like the Z Digi-Beta Masters, but if they were, I would think that they were just whatever as well and not DBox Masters.

Well I'm not saying that what Toei gave to Funi in 2001 WAS a DBox master. Quite the contrary: if you watch those extras it's plainly obvious that they were not remastered in any way, just like the safety videos.

[Robo4900]

Word from the community manager of Funimation, via Discord:

Best way to voice your dissatisfaction is to email Funi using either the contact form, or for non-USAers, the help email at help@funimation.com. Tweets, etc. will just go to him or another member of the community management team, who can do nothing, meanwhile help emails will go to the care team, who will pass it on to people who can do something. He suggests using the "Product concerns" category for the help form.

So, get those emails flowing!! You all know what to do!
And remember, keep it civil, and be specific!

(And also, spread the word!)

[JohnnyCashKami]

Maybe not today but it will eventually reach the 3000 goal. I wonder if the other 3000 limited orders will be an Amazon exclusive so people from around the world can pre-order if they want to, regardless of our opinions.

[eledoremassis02]

Oh I still have my Batman TAS DVD’s. And while they may look closer to the original broadcast they’re terribly encoded (they may even edge out the terrible encoding of the DBZ single dvd’s) and interlaced to hell. I mean I’m almost all for original intent but once I saw those episodes restored from 35mm on DC Universe I was hooked and had to get those Blu Rays. May not have been perfect with the DNR and colors but my god the clarity vs the DVD’s and the TV rips was astounding. We’d be fortunate if this Black Box looked half as good as those.

Off the topic I know but many pages ago someone mentioned excessive DNR on Batman TAS. I'm assuming by extension that goes for the movies as well. Because I remember getting my Mask of the Phantasm blu ray and thinking it looked quite blurry. But I could never tell whether that intentional because of the noir style or something else.

Mask of the Phantasm did have some out of focus shots that the bluray really highlighted. But here is a shot from the Bluray set. I have it. but I also have my DVDs which are closer to the original broadcast


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX7VbERbDYg

I think the new 30th set looks pretty close to that, there is no grain in those BATS shots and the line art comes out a fair better than FUNi's. I think it's the darkness of the way the shots were composed that hide it (similar to the launch shot in the trailer)

[DragonBallKing]

In a dream world they would use this pre order funding to finish the level blu Ray remaster and use that footage, sadly this is reality.

[coola]

Yeah..at this point, it is best to wait for fanmade editions with broadcast audio included, it might be grey area, but, if you already own whole series in more than one format, i'd say its not too bad

[sangofe]

Word from the community manager of Funimation, via Discord:

Best way to voice your dissatisfaction is to email Funi using either the contact form, or for non-USAers, the help email at help@funimation.com. Tweets, etc. will just go to him or another member of the community management team, who can do nothing, meanwhile help emails will go to the care team, who will pass it on to people who can do something. He suggests using the "Product concerns" category for the help form.

So, get those emails flowing!! You all know what to do!
And remember, keep it civil, and be specific!

(And also, spread the word!)

Doing this might save the day.

Yeah..at this poit, it is best to wait for fanmade editions with broadcast audio included, it might be grey area, but, if you already own whole series in more than one format, i'd say its not too bad

Don't give up! Contact Funimation through this!