Is anyone still hoping for an international Blu-Ray release of TOEI's movie masters?

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Is anyone still hoping for an international Blu-Ray release of TOEI's movie masters?

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Thu Jul 04, 2019 6:05 am

This is something I've been thinking of lately with all the disappointment over Funimation's 30th anniversary release of the series, and the fact TOEI don't seem to have plans for their own remaster, and to a lesser extent Super seemingly set to return later than the vast majority of us expected, which means we may see another short draught soon, at least in the home release market.

For me its personally lower down the pecking order as what really needs a Blu-Ray release everywhere is original DB and GT, which sadly won't happen unless TOEI do a new Z remaster to go with them. Although I'd still like to own some of the movie remasters as the ones without the green tint look gorgeous.

Obviously importing is an option, but for a lot of us it would be more cost effective if Funimation or any other licensor acquired these remasters and put subtitles and their local dub on it.

If it comes out I may buy if Manga UK release it, which would have been very unlikely before as they had just released the Double Features, but now that they are owned by Funimation I could see more simultaneous releases in future, which would be nice so no one has to wait.

If it ever happens I hope the streaming version will be the master on the disc so we won't get all the censorship.
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Re: Is anyone still hoping for an international Blu-Ray release of TOEI's movie masters?

Post by Vegard Aune » Thu Jul 04, 2019 11:19 am

Certainly... as long as they give us the footage as it looked in the streaming version and not the over-filtered, slightly censored version Toei released on BD. That really was one of the most aggravating instances of them screwing us over; Release a version with excellent video but poor audio on streaming... then the home video version has vastly improved audio but goes out of its way to make the video worse.

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Re: Is anyone still hoping for an international Blu-Ray release of TOEI's movie masters?

Post by Robo4900 » Thu Jul 04, 2019 12:37 pm

Vegard Aune wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 11:19 am Certainly... as long as they give us the footage as it looked in the streaming version and not the over-filtered, slightly censored version Toei released on BD. That really was one of the most aggravating instances of them screwing us over; Release a version with excellent video but poor audio on streaming... then the home video version has vastly improved audio but goes out of its way to make the video worse.
Yep. Agreed.

Honestly, if it's gonna be the Blu-ray version, I'd rather Funi just continue to re-release their own masters. It has similar issues to Toei's BD version, but has better colouring in the movies Toei screwed up the colours on, and has a noticeably wider framing area.
Plus, maybe Funi would finally get around to releasing their HD masters of the DB movies. I imagine if they imported Toei's, they may just skip straight over the '80s DB trilogy disc.
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Re: Is anyone still hoping for an international Blu-Ray release of TOEI's movie masters?

Post by sintzu » Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:01 pm

No. When they were announced, I was very excited about the possibility of them getting an international release, but after re-watching the movies recently, I don't really care anymore. The reason is that they're not as good as I remember them to be. They're not terrible but they're nothing I'm interested in watching again or investing more $$$ into. I do however hope that one day we can get a Blu-Ray release for the original DB, either from Toei or Funimation.
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Re: Is anyone still hoping for an international Blu-Ray release of TOEI's movie masters?

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:46 pm

sintzu wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:01 pmI do however hope that one day we can get a Blu-Ray release for the original DB, either from Toei or Funimation.
Funimation won't do it, they only have digibetas for OG DB so it would look like an upscaled DVD at best. Maybe if TOEI took the initiative to remaster DBZ themselves instead of handing it over to Funimation we could have seen how well a Blu-Ray release would have done in Japan, that could have set a precedent for OG DB and GT followed by an international release. Yes I know there have been rumours of them doing their own remaster, but surely that would have been announced by now, especially when Funi and TOEI could have split the costs since they like working together.

Honestly though, I have my doubts Funimation will import TOEI's movie Blu-Ray set. They don't have the same air of prestige about them that even Dragon Box The Movies have, and without new remasters of the series they will just be another part of an incomplete set that will turn completionists away.

It would be nice to have for OG DB movies on Blu-Ray and maybe a re-release of the Pioneer trilogy (wouldn't count on this, but if Funimation ever announces acquiring these masters I urge everyone to demand they include them as audio tracks).
Do you have any info about international non-English broadcasts about the Dragon Ball anime or manga translations/editions? Please message me. Researching for a future book with Dragon Ball scholar Derek Padula :thumbup:

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Re: Is anyone still hoping for an international Blu-Ray release of TOEI's movie masters?

Post by HakkaiBills93 » Sat Jul 06, 2019 2:13 pm

Dragon Ball Ireland wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:46 pm
sintzu wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:01 pmI do however hope that one day we can get a Blu-Ray release for the original DB, either from Toei or Funimation.
Funimation won't do it, they only have digibetas for OG DB so it would look like an upscaled DVD at best. Maybe if TOEI took the initiative to remaster DBZ themselves instead of handing it over to Funimation we could have seen how well a Blu-Ray release would have done in Japan, that could have set a precedent for OG DB and GT followed by an international release. Yes I know there have been rumours of them doing their own remaster, but surely that would have been announced by now, especially when Funi and TOEI could have split the costs since they like working together.

Honestly though, I have my doubts Funimation will import TOEI's movie Blu-Ray set. They don't have the same air of prestige about them that even Dragon Box The Movies have, and without new remasters of the series they will just be another part of an incomplete set that will turn completionists away.

It would be nice to have for OG DB movies on Blu-Ray and maybe a re-release of the Pioneer trilogy (wouldn't count on this, but if Funimation ever announces acquiring these masters I urge everyone to demand they include them as audio tracks).
of course funi will do it, in 5 years when they will release the movie "for hardcore fans versions" after they'll wait 5 years and will rererererelease the wholes series using Toei HD master if they got it (and will use the DNR edited one of course)

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Re: Is anyone still hoping for an international Blu-Ray release of TOEI's movie masters?

Post by PhoenixEX » Sat Jul 06, 2019 7:22 pm

I'm pretty happy with the version FUNimation released on Bluray. I recently rebought them all on iTunes and I don't want to have to buy them again so I'm good with what we have. Plus, from what I head, the TOEI Bluray versions aren't even that good.
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