Anyone Thinking of the Manga UK BluRays? Forget it!

[Googaliemoogalie]

So I recently posted a comparison between the New SteelBook BluRays from Funimation to the Levels and DragonBox sets.
IMO The SteelBook sets are a disappointment (Typical Funimation), yet I noticed a common reply on the thread: "let's just get the Manga UK releases and import them". Most people thought that would be the superior release, but I didn't find any comparisons of the two.
So I bought The BluRay set 1
....uggghhhh so Funimation purchased Manga Entertainment in May of 2019. And This BluRay set has been released after that.
IT IS IDENTICAL TO THE FUNIMATION RELEASE! The disc starts with the Funimation logo, has the same menus and the same extras. Confusingly the case says Region B yet plays on my Region A player.
I wouldn't be surprised if Funimation just gave their discs to the UK division to stamp with a different label.
If you skipped the 30th anniversary, the SteelBooks, and the Season sets because of the poor remaster and overused DNR, then this set is just as useless.
Here are some comparisons:









I had more screenshots but I think you all get the point. Funimation's cheap business practices spread to Manga Entertainment, and this set is another one to skip. Wait for Toei to release a 4k remaster or something. although, even Toei is censoring DragonBall now, so we might just all have to give up on getting a proper release of this show.
ah well.
Oh The UK version comes with little character cards and a poster. (If that's worth it to you)

[90sDBZ]

We've known this all along, as the UK got the 30th set too.

These are still in 4:3 at least, and a definite improvement over the Orange Bricks. Plus the UK packaging for the standard release is really good. It's not a perfect release by any means, but I'd say get it if you want to support the UK release and want 4:3.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Manga UK has been importing and repackaging other companies discs literally since they first released Dragon Ball. The UK releases of the orange, green and yellow bricks, Battle of Gods, Resurrection F and Kai 1.0 were authored by Madman, the old movies and specials were a mix of Funimation and Madman (depending on whether you popped in the Blu-Ray or DVD respectively), Final Chapters, Super and now the Z Blu-Rays are all based on discs Funimation authored. This is nothing new and you shouldn't be disappointed because it's common practice for distributors in as small an anime market as the UK. The only exception was Super Broly, which they hired an external authoring house to do for them.

Also worth noting, these Blu-Rays are A/B, as indicated by the disc art.

Wait for Toei to release a 4k remaster or something. although, even Toei is censoring DragonBall now, so we might just all have to give up on getting a proper release of this show.
ah well.

TOEI didn't remaster Z for the 30th anniversary in 2019. Golden opportunity missed just there. It's not worth waiting anymore to see if they will release the series again, because there's no guarantee anything will happen. At least with buying these new Blu-Rays you are legally supporting the show and proving the demand for 4:3 is there.

[VDenter]

Never ceases to amaze me how crap these look whever i come across a screenshot. What a waste.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

The main improvement of these is that they are in 4:3 as opposed to the fake widescreen of the Orange Bricks and previous BD release, though of course there's the DNR and oversharpening on top which literally didn't need to be done. They surely could have just gone with a minimal cleanup process of the film as shown in the raw shots and it would look perfectly fine even with being a third generation source.

That said, i have all the Dragon Boxes and given the amazing deals i got them for this is a definite pass for me. If it were a Level set type remaster OTOH then and only then would i consider upgrading.

[mute_proxy]

I mean MangaUK literally said it's the 30th anniversary set repackaged on their twitter, so...

[KPike87]

I wasn't expecting anything different or anything, I just wanted to import them because I think steelbooks are stupid. I wasn't expecting the raw transfer from before they enabled all their garbage filters.