AB Video to release original Dragon Ball on Blu-Ray

[PowerPhantom245]

Also, regarding the GT, could we actually, possibly, maybe have film of the special? It looks like it's labelled here:

Wow.
Look at all those films.
It's interesting that Toei has yet to release Blu-ray of original, Z, or GT.
You would think the most beloved and important anime ever would have gotten higher quality release by this point.
I guess we would have to wait 2026 for 40th anniversary of anime, if it ever gets a release.

Sorry, I went off topic, but it's just frustrating that highest quality source is available, and yet Toei has yet to do diddly-squat, to the point we have to rely on foreign market (AB Video). Talk about irony.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Also, regarding the GT, could we actually, possibly, maybe have film of the special? It looks like it's labelled here:

Wow.
Look at all those films.
It's interesting that Toei has yet to release Blu-ray of original, Z, or GT.
You would think the most beloved and important anime ever would have gotten higher quality release by this point.
I guess we would have to wait 2026 for 40th anniversary of anime, if it ever gets a release.

Sorry, I went off topic, but it's just frustrating that highest quality source is available, and yet Toei has yet to do diddly-squat, to the point we have to rely on foreign market (AB Video). Talk about irony.

Well, i mean Toei was certainly late to the party with releasing any of the original Dragon Ball anime run on home video back in the day with exception of the DB/Z movies on VHS and Laserdisc in the late '80s/early '90s. Hell, even Sailor Moon among others got a home release contemporary to it's broadcast run on the latter two formats while even after the debut of DVD a home release for any of televised Dragon Ball didn't come until March 2003 with the release of the first Dragon Box volume and even then it was a premium pre order collector's edition and standard editions (the single volumes) didn't come until a while later.

[PowerPhantom245]

Also, regarding the GT, could we actually, possibly, maybe have film of the special? It looks like it's labelled here:

Wow.
Look at all those films.
It's interesting that Toei has yet to release Blu-ray of original, Z, or GT.
You would think the most beloved and important anime ever would have gotten higher quality release by this point.
I guess we would have to wait 2026 for 40th anniversary of anime, if it ever gets a release.

Sorry, I went off topic, but it's just frustrating that highest quality source is available, and yet Toei has yet to do diddly-squat, to the point we have to rely on foreign market (AB Video). Talk about irony.

Well, Toei was certainly late to the party with releasing any of the original Dragon Ball anime run on home video with exception of the DB/Z movies on VHS and Laserdisc in the late '80s/early '90s. Hell, even Sailor Moon got a home release contemporary to it's broadcast run on the latter two formats while a home release for any of televised Dragon Ball didn't come until March 2003 with the release of DBox Z Vol. 1 and even then it was a premium pre order collector's edition and standard editions (the singles) didn't come until a while later.

I think that was due to amount of episodes for original and Z, where Toei would rather release as a set than bundle, which turned out very profitable for obvious reason.

It still doesn't change the fact it's way overdue for higher quality release at this point.
Pretty much almost EVERY popular anime (Yuyu Hakusho, Sailor Moon, One Piece, Gundam, Naruto, etc.) has gotten Blu-ray already.
If Toei announced original/Z/GT Blu-ray box set, similar to Dragon Box in 2003, the pre-sale would be insane, and it would probably sold out within an hour.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Wow.
Look at all those films.
It's interesting that Toei has yet to release Blu-ray of original, Z, or GT.
You would think the most beloved and important anime ever would have gotten higher quality release by this point.
I guess we would have to wait 2026 for 40th anniversary of anime, if it ever gets a release.

Sorry, I went off topic, but it's just frustrating that highest quality source is available, and yet Toei has yet to do diddly-squat, to the point we have to rely on foreign market (AB Video). Talk about irony.

Well, Toei was certainly late to the party with releasing any of the original Dragon Ball anime run on home video with exception of the DB/Z movies on VHS and Laserdisc in the late '80s/early '90s. Hell, even Sailor Moon got a home release contemporary to it's broadcast run on the latter two formats while a home release for any of televised Dragon Ball didn't come until March 2003 with the release of DBox Z Vol. 1 and even then it was a premium pre order collector's edition and standard editions (the singles) didn't come until a while later.

I think that was due to amount of episodes for original and Z, where Toei would rather release as a set than bundle, which turned out very profitable for obvious reason.

It still doesn't change the fact it's way overdue for higher quality release at this point.
Pretty much almost EVERY popular anime (Yuyu Hakusho, Sailor Moon, One Piece, Gundam, Naruto, etc.) has gotten Blu-ray already.
If Toei announced original/Z/GT Blu-ray box set, similar to Dragon Box in 2003, the pre-sale would be insane, and it would probably sold out within an hour.

I mean, true. Given that OG DB is 153 episodes and DBZ is 291. They likely figured at the time that releasing the shows on those formats was just not feasible given the relatively limited capacity of both VHS tapes and Laserdiscs because it would've possibly taken a million volumes to release the entirety of both series. So they waited on doing a release until a few years into DVD before finally jumping on it.

Indeed, i am legit surprised they haven't yet made a move on doing a BD release of the complete OG run at this point. I don't know exactly what they're waiting for when so many others of their popular anime have already been released there.

[PowerPhantom245]

Well, Toei was certainly late to the party with releasing any of the original Dragon Ball anime run on home video with exception of the DB/Z movies on VHS and Laserdisc in the late '80s/early '90s. Hell, even Sailor Moon got a home release contemporary to it's broadcast run on the latter two formats while a home release for any of televised Dragon Ball didn't come until March 2003 with the release of DBox Z Vol. 1 and even then it was a premium pre order collector's edition and standard editions (the singles) didn't come until a while later.

I think that was due to amount of episodes for original and Z, where Toei would rather release as a set than bundle, which turned out very profitable for obvious reason.

It still doesn't change the fact it's way overdue for higher quality release at this point.
Pretty much almost EVERY popular anime (Yuyu Hakusho, Sailor Moon, One Piece, Gundam, Naruto, etc.) has gotten Blu-ray already.
If Toei announced original/Z/GT Blu-ray box set, similar to Dragon Box in 2003, the pre-sale would be insane, and it would probably sold out within an hour.

I mean, true. Given that OG DB is 153 episodes and DBZ is 291. They likely figured at the time that releasing the shows on those formats was just not feasible given the relatively limited capacity of both VHS tapes and Laserdiscs because it would've possibly taken a million volumes to release the entirety of both series. So they waited on doing a release until a few years into DVD before finally jumping on it.

Indeed, i am legit surprised they haven't yet made a move on doing a BD release of the complete OG run at this point. I don't know exactly what they're waiting for when so many others of their popular anime have already been released there.

My theory of why it hasn't is probably because of release outside of Japan, such as AB Video and Funimation, where people are importing.
Even though qualities are varied, most consumer wouldn't care and buy them anyway; after all, despite its flaw, infamous Z Orange Bricks sold very well, even to the point people in Japan were importing it due to its price.
It might sounds a stretch, but it's possible.

[Scsigs]

Spoiler:

Also, regarding the GT, could we actually, possibly, maybe have film of the special? It looks like it's labelled here:

Wow.
Look at all those films.
It's interesting that Toei has yet to release Blu-ray of original, Z, or GT.
You would think the most beloved and important anime ever would have gotten higher quality release by this point.
I guess we would have to wait 2026 for 40th anniversary of anime, if it ever gets a release.

Sorry, I went off topic, but it's just frustrating that highest quality source is available, and yet Toei has yet to do diddly-squat, to the point we have to rely on foreign market (AB Video). Talk about irony.

153 episodes of OG, 291 episodes of Z, & 64 episodes (& 1 special) of GT. Altogether, 508 20-25 minute episodes & 1 45-minute special. That's...a LOT of film to scan into their computers, clean up, color correct, & rerelease on a new format. It would take time & money. Toei are notoriously cheap when it comes to their older stuff & constantly treat their properties like shit. Take DBZ Kai. Definitely the best official restoration of Z. Problem is that Toei clearly gave Q-Tec a low budget to color correct, censor, & recut the footage, not to mention the rotoscoping of certain parts to either replace damaged frames, allow for easier reframing to widescreen, or change the strobe effects to comply with changed broadcast standards in a post-Electric Soldier Porygon world. Then, rather than let Q-Tec finish out the series, they did the remaining 69 episodes in-house which had the episodes still forcibly cropped to widescreen & had a green tint to them. You'd think that maybe Toei would've had them produce HD versions of the raw Z episodes they used in the recut, but no. Apparently not.
What we have so far are the 4 OG DB films, the first 13 Z films, & the 2 Z TV specials remastered in HD with a few of the Z films for some reason having some censorship on disc, but apparently none on Amazon Prime streaming(?). I would very much expect an outside company that's licensed the shows to do it before Toei ever does. Hell, I'd expect Toei to do a whole anime adaptation reboot of the manga before they remaster the shows into HD because Toei are confusing like that.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I think that was due to amount of episodes for original and Z, where Toei would rather release as a set than bundle, which turned out very profitable for obvious reason.

It still doesn't change the fact it's way overdue for higher quality release at this point.
Pretty much almost EVERY popular anime (Yuyu Hakusho, Sailor Moon, One Piece, Gundam, Naruto, etc.) has gotten Blu-ray already.
If Toei announced original/Z/GT Blu-ray box set, similar to Dragon Box in 2003, the pre-sale would be insane, and it would probably sold out within an hour.

I mean, true. Given that OG DB is 153 episodes and DBZ is 291. They likely figured at the time that releasing the shows on those formats was just not feasible given the relatively limited capacity of both VHS tapes and Laserdiscs because it would've possibly taken a million volumes to release the entirety of both series. So they waited on doing a release until a few years into DVD before finally jumping on it.

Indeed, i am legit surprised they haven't yet made a move on doing a BD release of the complete OG run at this point. I don't know exactly what they're waiting for when so many others of their popular anime have already been released there.

My theory of why it hasn't is probably because of release outside of Japan, such as AB Video and Funimation, where people are importing.
Even though qualities are varied, most consumer wouldn't care and buy them anyway; after all, despite its flaw, infamous Z Orange Bricks sold very well, even to the point people in Japan were importing it due to its price.
It might sounds a stretch, but it's possible.

Could be, and i've even read how back in the early 2000's there were many fans in Japan who imported FUNi's bilingual single disc DVD releases because none of the series were available domestically on home video at the time so it was the only way to get it prior to the Dragon Boxes and later single volume re releases.

[PowerPhantom245]

153 episodes of OG, 291 episodes of Z, & 64 episodes (& 1 special) of GT. Altogether, 508 20-25 minute episodes & 1 45-minute special. That's...a LOT of film to scan into their computers, clean up, color correct, & rerelease on a new format. It would take time & money. Toei are notoriously cheap when it comes to their older stuff & constantly treat their properties like shit. Take DBZ Kai. Definitely the best official restoration of Z. Problem is that Toei clearly gave Q-Tec a low budget to color correct, censor, & recut the footage, not to mention the rotoscoping of certain parts to either replace damaged frames, allow for easier reframing to widescreen, or change the strobe effects to comply with changed broadcast standards in a post-Electric Soldier Porygon world. Then, rather than let Q-Tec finish out the series, they did the remaining 69 episodes in-house which had the episodes still forcibly cropped to widescreen & had a green tint to them. You'd think that maybe Toei would've had them produce HD versions of the raw Z episodes they used in the recut, but no. Apparently not.
What we have so far are the 4 OG DB films, the first 13 Z films, & the 2 Z TV specials remastered in HD with a few of the Z films for some reason having some censorship on disc, but apparently none on Amazon Prime streaming(?). I would very much expect an outside company that's licensed the shows to do it before Toei ever does. Hell, I'd expect Toei to do a whole anime adaptation reboot of the manga before they remaster the shows into HD because Toei are confusing like that.

Thanks for sharing technical aspect of Kai.
That explains why Funimation Level Sets looks better; had they continue with that release, it would have been a best release.
Even though Kai was a novelty, when it came out the time (2009) where there wasn't much HD remastered show and Blu-ray wasn't common, I kind of wished they remastered ALL episodes of Z, since most episodes were remastered on HD; I'm still upset that driving episode hasn't got higher quality release. lol
It's such a shame that we have to rely on outside company for possible better release.

[sangofe]

Colour Correction and the Broadcast Audio were the prime two golden carrots that Toei could dangle in front of us in order to keep vomiting out home media releases of the shows, especially in partnership with Funimation.

In an age where people can buy online and bypass region restrictions, AB one-upped them in every single category and their anti-consumer practices wouldn't be as effective moving forward.

This, I think, is the real reason behind this release being canceled straight away after the unanimous positive reception.
The only way to improve upon it would be with a straight-up rescan.

It's not canceled. It's on pause.

[Scsigs]

Spoiler:

153 episodes of OG, 291 episodes of Z, & 64 episodes (& 1 special) of GT. Altogether, 508 20-25 minute episodes & 1 45-minute special. That's...a LOT of film to scan into their computers, clean up, color correct, & rerelease on a new format. It would take time & money. Toei are notoriously cheap when it comes to their older stuff & constantly treat their properties like shit. Take DBZ Kai. Definitely the best official restoration of Z. Problem is that Toei clearly gave Q-Tec a low budget to color correct, censor, & recut the footage, not to mention the rotoscoping of certain parts to either replace damaged frames, allow for easier reframing to widescreen, or change the strobe effects to comply with changed broadcast standards in a post-Electric Soldier Porygon world. Then, rather than let Q-Tec finish out the series, they did the remaining 69 episodes in-house which had the episodes still forcibly cropped to widescreen & had a green tint to them. You'd think that maybe Toei would've had them produce HD versions of the raw Z episodes they used in the recut, but no. Apparently not.
What we have so far are the 4 OG DB films, the first 13 Z films, & the 2 Z TV specials remastered in HD with a few of the Z films for some reason having some censorship on disc, but apparently none on Amazon Prime streaming(?). I would very much expect an outside company that's licensed the shows to do it before Toei ever does. Hell, I'd expect Toei to do a whole anime adaptation reboot of the manga before they remaster the shows into HD because Toei are confusing like that.

Thanks for sharing technical aspect of Kai.
That explains why Funimation Level Sets looks better; had they continue with that release, it would have been a best release.
Even though Kai was a novelty, when it came out the time (2009) where there wasn't much HD remastered show and Blu-ray wasn't common, I kind of wished they remastered ALL episodes of Z, since most episodes were remastered on HD; I'm still upset that driving episode hasn't got higher quality release. lol
It's such a shame that we have to rely on outside company for possible better release.

Problem with the Levels is that it was a multigeneration film master they were using. The colors weren't as great as they could be, or some details, but where they suffered the most were from the crushed blacks, where dark colors would blend into similar or the same dark colors (usually the black colors). A better film source to use would be Toei's 1st gen film masters in Japan, which is why most people use the Dragon Box masters when doing upscales & color correction projects. They're the closest we have to the raw film scans. This, I believe, was also what the Kai remaster was based on.

[BlueChi]

It's not canceled. It's on pause.

I get your point, but I'm of the mind that this is just PR speak for 'canceled' due to the insane backlash Toei knows they'd get.
It'll be on hiatus until we forget that this was a thing in the first place, then never mentioned again.

I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong, but Toei is both malicious and incompetent.

[Jord]

Dommage. I have the first box set and although it's annoying how I can't turn the French subtitles of on my series X, it does look and sound amazing. Wouldn't be surprised if they aren't allowed to sell the first box set after the first run.

[PowerPhantom245]

Problem with the Levels is that it was a multigeneration film master they were using. The colors weren't as great as they could be, or some details, but where they suffered the most were from the crushed blacks, where dark colors would blend into similar or the same dark colors (usually the black colors). A better film source to use would be Toei's 1st gen film masters in Japan, which is why most people use the Dragon Box masters when doing upscales & color correction projects. They're the closest we have to the raw film scans. This, I believe, was also what the Kai remaster was based on.

If Toei is not going to do HD remaster, at the very least, they could release SDBD consist 30~40 episodes per disc, which could save shelf space.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

If Toei is not going to do HD remaster, at the very least, they could release SDBD consist 30~40 episodes per disc, which could save shelf space.

This is more likely than a full HD remaster at this stage, TOEI did it for One Piece after all.

Can we keep the thread to the AB Blu-Ray though? As sangofe has said American and potential Japanese releases are going off-topic.

[sangofe]

It's not canceled. It's on pause.

I get your point, but I'm of the mind that this is just PR speak for 'canceled' due to the insane backlash Toei knows they'd get.
It'll be on hiatus until we forget that this was a thing in the first place, then never mentioned again.

I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong, but Toei is both malicious and incompetent.

In Norway we have a saying "faith can move mountains". And it's true. We create with beliefs, emotions and thoughts. It serves no purpose to have the mindset you're adopting here. Rather, it makes the chance of what you say bigger if enough people adopt that mindset because guess what, faith can move moutains both ways. Besides, this was not an official statement from AB, it was a statement from someone contracted to do the design work for the blu ray boxes and covers.

[PowerPhantom245]

What is AB Video overall reputation when it comes to home video release?
How is the quality of their other shows compared to Dragon Ball?
Are they essentially Funimation/Crunchyroll of France?

[sangofe]

What is AB Video overall reputation when it comes to home video release?
How is the quality of their other shows compared to Dragon Ball?
Are they essentially Funimation/Crunchyroll of France?

AB's history has little to do with what they are now. They recruited several Dragon Ball fans to work on Dragon Ball these last few years. I am not sure exactly when, but their team is completely different than what it used to be. Apart from hideous covert art for the BD movies boxset, everything has been solid since the "collector" DVD boxsets of DB and DBZ came out years ago. Unfortunately the video on these isn't great; ab subcontracted it to someone who messed up.

[PowerPhantom245]

AB's history has little to do with what they are now. They recruited several Dragon Ball fans to work on Dragon Ball these last few years. I am not sure exactly when, but their team is completely different than what it used to be. Apart from hideous covert art for the BD movies boxset, everything has been solid since the "collector" DVD boxsets of DB and DBZ came out years ago. Unfortunately the video on these isn't great; ab subcontracted it to someone who messed up.

Even with their flaws, it's still better than Funimation in terms of video quality (no forced 16X9 cropping (Z) nor excessive DNR), right?

[sangofe]

AB's history has little to do with what they are now. They recruited several Dragon Ball fans to work on Dragon Ball these last few years. I am not sure exactly when, but their team is completely different than what it used to be. Apart from hideous covert art for the BD movies boxset, everything has been solid since the "collector" DVD boxsets of DB and DBZ came out years ago. Unfortunately the video on these isn't great; ab subcontracted it to someone who messed up.

Even with their flaws, it's still better than Funimation in terms of video quality (no forced 16X9 cropping (Z) nor excessive DNR), right?

If you're referring to the DVD boxsets they're very pixelated for DBZ but better for Og DB.

[PowerPhantom245]

AB's history has little to do with what they are now. They recruited several Dragon Ball fans to work on Dragon Ball these last few years. I am not sure exactly when, but their team is completely different than what it used to be. Apart from hideous covert art for the BD movies boxset, everything has been solid since the "collector" DVD boxsets of DB and DBZ came out years ago. Unfortunately the video on these isn't great; ab subcontracted it to someone who messed up.

Even with their flaws, it's still better than Funimation in terms of video quality (no forced 16X9 cropping (Z) nor excessive DNR), right?

If you're referring to the DVD boxsets they're very pixelated for DBZ but better for Og DB.

But are they cropped and DNR'd like Funimation?
If not, then I take that over pixelization. lol
Which video source (or master) are AB Video using for their DVD set?