[WIP] Dragon Ball Kai Z-Cut | A Kai Recut with Z Elements

[ATOMICexe]

Hey everybody!

This is my first post and project but I'm very proud of it and want to share it with all of you.

A few months back, my partner and I started watching Dragon Ball together and we had to choose whether to watch Z or Kai. Ultimately, we went with Kai. We prefer the pacing and the performances but were disappointed by the music and OP/ED. Not that they're bad or anything but they hardly compare to Z.

So after some contemplation, I decided to start this project which I call:

Dragon Ball Kai Z-Cut

I have created what I believe is the closest watching experience of Z that you can get from Kai. The key changes made are:
- Z Openings and Endings replacing Kai's
- Diccolo's Kikuchi Rescore used
- Recap placed after OP
- Episode Title Cards resemble original Z episode
- Original Eyecatches
- Replaced Kai's next episode preview with original Z version (Japan/Dragon Box Exclusive)
- High Quality Audio for OP and ED.

This project is still currently in progress but at a very quick pace.

As for TFC, the same changes will be made as mentioned before and the footage used will be Team Mirolo's Colour Corrected version and the audio will be Stridster's Rescore. When the day comes that a 4:3 version of TFC becomes available, it will be implemented into the Z-Cut

As of right now, the first twelve episodes of 1.0 and a few episodes of TFC are available right now! More episodes will be up periodically over the next few weeks. It will be a bit random going between uploades of 1.0 and TFC episodes as my partner and I are currently up to Buu Saga.

I have re-uploaded the files with a few fixes to the videos and page metadata but it's all set up and live for you to enjoy!

LINK: https://archive.org/details/dragon-ball-kai-z-cut


I am currently seperating the project into two stages of edits. Basically, it is very quick and easy to edit an episode but the segment that takes the longest time is the Next Episode Preview. For the preview, I make it as close to Z as I can and that means adding the title card of next episode at the end. By doing that, I don't want the Kai text of the next episode's title to appear as it usually does so I find and bring in the background footage in the preview from the next episode and condense the whole preview slightly to show all scenes before the title card fills the frame.

So I will first be uploading new episodes without the preview. Some episodes already have it and are finalised, but episodes with an "*" at the end will be re-edited later down the line to include the preview. Basically every episode of TFC is completed and will be uploaded over time, with a revised version coming down the line (including re-adding voice effects for internal dialogue).

Please note that the files are in MP4 and are only in English.

If you have any questions or feedback, please post reply! I also have a number of alternative versions of episodes available, such as removing Episode 1's Planet Vegeta segment, including the driving filler and more so if you have an episode edit similar to those that you would like, please suggest away! And if you find any errors or mistakes, please let me know and they'll be fixed up.

Big Credits to:
Diccolo-420 for his 1.0 Rescore
Stridster for his TFC Rescore
TeamMirolo for their TFC Edit
IAmTheMilkMan for their recuts and inspiration to make my own
BladeBGM for their High Quality BGM
Akira Toriyama for everything <3

DISCLAIMER:

This is a fan-project. Dragonball and all associated products are owned by Toei Animation and Akira Toriyama, produced in English by FUNimation. Please support the official release.

Thanks everyone!
AtomicEXE

[Shaddy]

This initially started as a small edits to IAmTheMilkMan's Kai Recut but rapidly evolved into something else entirely.

So, wait, this is just Kai with Z's music and branding, and not Milkman's pacing or edits?

[ATOMICexe]

This initially started as a small edits to IAmTheMilkMan's Kai Recut but rapidly evolved into something else entirely.

So, wait, this is just Kai with Z's music and branding, and not Milkman's pacing or edits?

What I wrote was a bit confusing haha, just fixed that.

But yes, this is just Kai but with the Z elements. No change in pacing, same episode count

[Fizzer]

I've heard that someone has been syncing Dragon Box Z footage to Kai and completed the Saiyan and Freeza sagas, but I haven't seen it materialise yet. I think it might just be floating around some discord servers.

If those files show up somewhere, that in conjunction with the OP/ED/eyecatchers and Kikuchi Z rescore would make a really awesome base for Recut projects - scenes or episodes from Z could be added back in seamlessly in addition to removing remaining filler Milkman style.

[ATOMICexe]

That's a very cool project. Personally for me, I have more attachment to the performances and scripting of Kai. Admittedly, there are definitely moments from the Z dub that I prefer, but as an all round product, Kai is my preferred way of watching. In the future, if no one already has done it and we have a rescore that has no dialogue, I wouldn't put it past myself to tackle it but after I finish this, I'll be looking forward to editing personal projects and watching more dragon ball with my partner instead of editing the next few episodes we're up to haha