What happened to the Dragon Ball/DBZ/DBGT masters?

[sangofe]

Someone asked this question and I couldn't answer it because I did not remember the details.
They said: "Toei is known for keeping their masters in good shape. Why would Dragon Ball, one of their major cash cows, randomly be an exception?"

They also said Toei has done a handful of proper remasters last few years:
Dai no Daibouken 1991 BD was released in 2020. Not just the remake.
Mazinger Z had multiple BD releases, including that Spanish one, but apparently the first Japanese one was in 2017-18, longer ago than I remember.
Grendizer BD Volume 1 released in February 2025, and the second one won't release until October. Though the master on it seems quite old, I'm unaware of it being available previously. Even the French BD box from a few years back was an upscale.
Voltes V BD released in 2024. If an HD remaster was available long before this, they didn't let Discotek use it, which is a bit peculiar (and Discotek would probably have mentioned it at some point?)
Daikengou BD was released in March 2025. Best Field.
Mahou no Mako-chan was released in September 2024. Also Best Field.
Queen Millennia was spearheaded by German licensor KSM anime and released in 2023 (after delays due to rescanning work). Unlike 999 and Harlock, this is an actual HD remaster and not an upscale from SD master.
And a bonus: Raideen was released in October 2023, once again Best Field.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

My understanding of the situation is that they didn't properly store them due to the show's massive length, resulting in the masters basically rotting over the years. A fan team, Seed of Might, have done an amazing job color correcting both DB & GT, so a company as massive and rich as Toei could've done the same thing ages ago, they just chose not to.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

My understanding of the situation is that they didn't properly store them due to the show's massive length, resulting in the masters basically rotting over the years. A fan team, Seed of Might, have done an amazing job color correcting both DB & GT, so a company as massive and rich as Toei could've done the same thing ages ago, they just chose not to.

There's that, and the fact that TOEI didn't create the Dragon Ball anime with the foresight that in 20/30/40 years time there would be higher quality home video formats than VHS for fans to rewatch the series looking and sounding better than it did when they first watched it as a kid. It was seen as basically a glorified commercial for the manga. TOEI didn't see any reason to store the masters well because they didn't think Dragon Ball would have much, if any longevity.

Like yourself I am grateful for the work that groups like Seed of Might have done with original Dragon Ball and GT, and I very much look forward to seeing their colour corrected version of Dragon Ball Z when it's released. The job they've done puts all the releases we've ever had, including the Dragon Boxes to shame, and is the way I'd encourage anyone to watch Dragon Ball now.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

TOEI didn't see any reason to store the masters well because they didn't think Dragon Ball would have much, if any longevity.

Whoever thought this should've been fired on the spot. DB was the biggest thing during the decade it aired/was published in, so I see no logic in thinking people wouldn't be interested in it afterwords. As for the technological aspect you mentioned, that's another thing I don't understand them thinking considering how quick tech as a whole was advancing.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

The problem, as I see it, is that Dragon Ball was seen as a fad, not a work of art. It was not until it started becoming a huge success internationally that TOEI saw it could be milked well after the original run.

Why did it take until 2003 for the TV series to get a home release in Japan with the Dragon Boxes? Because by that point Dragon Ball was at its peak in countless countries throughout Europe, Oceania, Africa and especially North America so TOEI realized (finally) that it could be milked domestically again, and if not the royalties coming from abroad made a DVD release seem like a low risk investment.

[MasenkoHA]

I think a lot of companies pushed back against home video releases because it was a threat to ad revenue. “If kids know they could just buy the vhs tapes they may not care to tune in at 7 to watch the show with commercials”. I know Disney was very anti releasing their shows in full on home video and would only do select episodes. Disney Plus was the first time a lot of their series became legally available to watch in full.

Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z were kind of outliers in the U.S as their licensors seemed intent on releasing their shows on home video in full. Funimation even had the somewhat brilliant strategy of releasing most of their episodes well before their television debuts. Probably the smartest thing they ever did from a marketing standpoint.


I don’t know what it was like in Japan but I imagine the same mindset was there. The early 2000s was a big era of releasing season boxsets of shows. I sincerely doubt series international success had any impact on Toei’s decision to release the Dragon Boxes (why do they think their consumers care if the series is big in Mexico or the America?) but I think between the release of the Budokai Tenkaichi games and the audience in Japan that grew up with the series being mostly adults by 2003 and having more disposable income they wanted to finally take advantage of that.

[PowerPhantom245]

I made a similar topic almost year ago, regards to why there hasn't been Blu-ray release.
viewtopic.php?t=49010

Toei does have films for classic series (I assume ALL of them).
Here is the picture of film cans for GT, I found from Twitter.


In recent years, Toei has been airing HD remasters for older shows from 70s and 80s on Toei Channel (cable), where it was remastered from film negative; for the most part, it looks pretty good.

It's a shame that Toei doesn't have any plan to release classic series on Blu-ray; I'm hoping we at least get original next year (2026) for 40th anniversary of anime, but very wishful thinking. It also doesn't help that as time goes on, there would be less and less demand for PHYSICAL VIDEO release, due to newer generations of audience prefer streaming/Digital.

[sangofe]

I heard rumblings there were biddings a year ago to have a remaster of DB being made. If it were to happen Toei would go cheap and go for companies like QTEC and use a cheap encoder.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

I heard rumblings there were biddings a year ago to have a remaster of DB being made. If it were to happen Toei would go cheap and go for companies like QTEC and use a cheap encoder.

Kai 1.0 & 2.0 were their attempt at a "remaster", and both left so much to be desired. Toei's handling of Dragon Ball in the modern era (starting with Kai) has had far more misses than hits, so I can't say I trust them to get this right.

[sangofe]

I heard rumblings there were biddings a year ago to have a remaster of DB being made. If it were to happen Toei would go cheap and go for companies like QTEC and use a cheap encoder.

Kai 1.0 & 2.0 were their attempt at a "remaster", and both left so much to be desired. Toei's handling of Dragon Ball in the modern era (starting with Kai) has had far more misses than hits, so I can't say I trust them to get this right.

Yeah but surely it would be better than FUNimation and SV? AB's been canceled, and Dynit I know nothing about...

[Vegeta th3 4th]

Yeah but surely it would be better than FUNimation and SV? AB's been canceled, and Dynit I know nothing about...

It would be better in the same way that a D is better than an F. Toei now seems to really like green tint for some reason, so I expect that to be the bare minimum of its issues. Speaking of cancellations, would you even trust them to see this hypothetical remaster all the way through ? If they try to sell sets of 10 episodes each like what they're doing with Daima, then chances are no one's going to buy them, especially in this economy. I'd say anything less than 20-25 episodes will be dead on arrival.

[sangofe]

Yeah but surely it would be better than FUNimation and SV? AB's been canceled, and Dynit I know nothing about...

It would be better in the same way that a D is better than an F. Toei now seems to really like green tint for some reason, so I expect that to be the bare minimum of its issues. Speaking of cancellations, would you even trust them to see this hypothetical remaster all the way through ? If they try to sell sets of 10 episodes each like what they're doing with Daima, then chances are no one's going to buy them, especially in this economy. I'd say anything less than 20-25 episodes will be dead on arrival.

Yes, they did DB Z GT Dragon Boxes. Why would Toei cancel?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Another reason I wouldn't trust TOEI is that their movie Blu-Rays were censored. Whose to say they wouldn't do the same thing to the TV anime. They would probably finish the series if they ever released it on Blu-Ray, but whether or not it would be worth it is another story.

[PowerPhantom245]

Another reason I wouldn't trust TOEI is that their movie Blu-Rays were censored. Whose to say they wouldn't do the same thing to the TV anime. They would probably finish the series if they ever released it on Blu-Ray, but whether or not it would be worth it is another story.

Don't remind me.


...ugh.

I hope TV series won't get censored if it comes out on Blu-ray; has any anime of 80s and 90s were censored for Blu-ray release?

Another thing to note regards to Toei, their HD remastering can be hit and miss depending on the show, where they cut corners; I know some of the Showa Era (70s) Kamen Rider series had issues with their Blu-ray release.

[Vegeta th3 4th]

I hope TV series won't get censored if it comes out on Blu-ray...

If they censored the movies, then chances are they'll censor the series as well. We'll be lucky if all that gets removed are middle fingers, as they might decide to also remove scenes with certain lighting effects as well. The way things stand now, I think Seed of Might's release is the best way to experience the classic series.

[TechExpert2021]

Toei initially didn't consider preserving DB and DBZ because they saw them as commercials for selling the DB manga and DB-branded merchandise and products within Japan. That is also why they completely threw away the high-quality audio masters of both anime series. I'm sure they did the same thing with the 1981 Dr. Slump anime.

[PowerPhantom245]

I hope TV series won't get censored if it comes out on Blu-ray...

If they censored the movies, then chances are they'll censor the series as well. We'll be lucky if all that gets removed are middle fingers, as they might decide to also remove scenes with certain lighting effects as well. The way things stand now, I think Seed of Might's release is the best way to experience the classic series.

Is there any other anime TV series and movies that has gotten censorship for Blu-ray and 4K UHD?
Why is Dragon Ball left behind when it comes to high quality release?
It's such a shame that fan restoration and foreign release is the only way to watch the shows in best quality.

[TechExpert2021]

Slightly unrelated, but does FUNimation still have the edited-for-broadcast-TV masters of their pre-Kai in-house English dubs, even after they’re rebranded as Crunchyroll in 2022? Or did they threw them away?

[Vegeta th3 4th]

Is there any other anime TV series and movies that has gotten censorship for Blu-ray and 4K UHD?

Not that I know of, but I assume there is.

Why is Dragon Ball left behind when it comes to high quality release?

The powers at be know that if they put out a perfect release, they would no longer be able to regularly resell it. Haven't you notices how each new release is only slightly better than the one before it, leaving room for future releases ?

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Slightly unrelated, but does FUNimation still have the edited-for-broadcast-TV masters of their pre-Kai in-house English dubs, even after they’re rebranded as Crunchyroll in 2022? Or did they threw them away?

We don't know for sure, but there is a chance they still have them. When Nicktoons aired GT in 2012 they used the same edited cut that aired on Toonami, so it's possible Funimation/Crunchyroll kept the edited Z masters just in case they were needed for a broadcast.