Remaster of Dragon Ball on Hulu?

[gokaiblue]

Saw an ad on Facebook regarding a new remaster of Dragon Ball on Hulu, but it's dub only. Haven't been able to get some screenshots of it, but it looks pretty good. Noticed they have the Japanese credits. Just seems it came out of nowhere.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Sadly it's just an upscale and not a true HD remaster.

[PowerPhantom245]

If there's going to be HD remaster or Blu-ray release of franchise, Toei should be the first one to announce.
Toei has the BEST film prints of the series.
There's no way that best remaster should be available on on streaming platform first.

[Metalwario64]

Sadly it's just an upscale and not a true HD remaster.

Exactly. A waste of time.

[MasenkoHA]

On the plus side it’s nice having the original series on a more mainstream streaming platform than Crunchyroll. Shame it’s just an upscale but any attention to the 1986 series is always a nice surprise. We’re begging for scraps at this point.

[PowerPhantom245]

On the plus side it’s nice having the original series on a more mainstream streaming platform than Crunchyroll. Shame it’s just an upscale but any attention to the 1986 series is always a nice surprise. We’re begging for scraps at this point.

Classic series needs proper remaster from films (which EXISTS!); upscale is not good enough.

[MasenkoHA]

So I went and watched the first episode and here’s a pleasant surprise THEY USED THE CORRECT ENDING ANIMATION. Funimation has always used the second ending and first OP for all 153 episodes so that was actually nice to see. No next episode preview but that would have required them to pay Nadolny to record audio for the NEP or switch to Japanese audio. Still it will be nice to see the second OP used for the Piccolo saga and all the correct endings on an official English release for the first time. A small victory but a victory nonetheless.

Now I’m probably being overtly optimistic (this is still Crunchymation we’re talking about) but it seems a bit coincidental we got an HD remaster a few months before the anime’s 40th anniversary. It’s also odd to use the Japanese text on an English only stream. Is it possible we are getting a blu ray release for 2026?

On the plus side it’s nice having the original series on a more mainstream streaming platform than Crunchyroll. Shame it’s just an upscale but any attention to the 1986 series is always a nice surprise. We’re begging for scraps at this point.

Classic series needs proper remaster from films (which EXISTS!); upscale is not good enough.

We haven’t had ANY release for the classic series since 2000 freaking 10. It looks better than the Blue Bricks and we’re getting the correct OPs and EDs this time and if the Japanese sub gets released it will be nice to watch the Japanese version legally without getting the English cast and crew shoved down my throat and treated like the default. These are bare minimum improvements but they are improvements all the same and it’s nice to see from a series Funimation and Toei seem to have trouble remembering even exist. We don’t owe Crunchymation a standing ovation, but it is good to have some perspective. This whole “this is the only acceptable route” is just silly for a series that has only a single mediocre release in it the US to begin with.

[PowerPhantom245]

We haven’t had ANY release for the classic series since 2000 freaking 10. It looks better than the Blue Bricks and we’re getting the correct OPs and EDs this time and if the Japanese sub gets released it will be nice to watch the Japanese version legally without getting the English cast and crew shoved down my throat and treated like the default. These are bare minimum improvements but they are improvements all the same and it’s nice to see from a series Funimation and Toei seem to have trouble remembering even exist. We don’t owe Crunchymation a standing ovation, but it is good to have some perspective. This whole “this is the only acceptable route” is just silly for a series that has only a single mediocre release in it the US to begin with.

At least, some improvement is better than nothing.
It's nice that original series is getting some respect.

[funrush]

If there's going to be HD remaster or Blu-ray release of franchise, Toei should be the first one to announce.
Toei has the BEST film prints of the series.
There's no way that best remaster should be available on on streaming platform first.

Streaming platforms are where most people watch things, so a remaster hitting streaming before physical does make sense. I get your sentiment though, I also like owning things. And this is baseless speculation but I think if you're putting out a DVD of it you can justify spending a bit more on the remastering, but then again there's plenty of streaming shows with a bazillion dollars pumped into them.

[MasenkoHA]

If there's going to be HD remaster or Blu-ray release of franchise, Toei should be the first one to announce.
Toei has the BEST film prints of the series.
There's no way that best remaster should be available on on streaming platform first.

Streaming platforms are where most people watch things, so a remaster hitting streaming before physical does make sense. I get your sentiment though, I also like owning things. And this is baseless speculation but I think if you're putting out a DVD of it you can justify spending a bit more on the remastering, but then again there's plenty of streaming shows with a bazillion dollars pumped into them.

To add to this, one of the biggest excuses I’ve seen from younger fans of the Kai/Super generation for refusing to engage with the original series is that it “looks too old and dated” giving it an HD make over to look more appealing to their sensibilities and putting it on one of the more popular streaming platforms is a good way to introduce the original series to a younger generation of anime fans. Far better than throwing it on Adult Swim or Disney XD or whatever so many people on here seem to think is the best answer.


Physical media has also made something of a comeback recently. And “Collector’s Editions” have become very common for physical media releases lately. I’m guessing we’ll get a “Complete Series” (probably no 5 season split) blu ray boxset of the 1986 anime sometime early next year.

Still, I’ll hold on to the Blue Bricks until an official announcement and release

[The Dark Knight]

I think the chances of us getting a proper home release of the original material is below zero; we can't even get a proper release of the new material thanks to that green tint. At this point the only proper way to watch anything related to the classic era is through fan projects like what Seed of Might has been releasing over the past three years. There's absolutely no way I could go back to these terrible home releases after watching their color corrected version of the show.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Yeah, I still think it would be a small miracle if TOEI or Crunchyroll comes out with a good Blu-Ray release of original Dragon Ball for the 30th anniversary.

Even if TOEI announce something there's always the possibility of the Japanese release being censored like the movie Blu-Rays or have a green tint like Super Hero, which would affect international releases as distributors wouldn't be offered other materials.

Crunchyroll did release a Blu-Ray of original Dragon Ball in Germany, but Germans love physical media even more than English-speaking territories from what I've heard, so not surprised the German branch of the company would be more ambitious. Even then that Blu-Ray is just the Selecta Vision upscale and not a new remaster like what AB Groupe did in France.

[MasenkoHA]

Crunchyroll did release a Blu-Ray of original Dragon Ball in Germany, but Germans love physical media even more than English-speaking territories from what I've heard, so not surprised the German branch of the company would be more ambitious. Even then that Blu-Ray is just the Selecta Vision upscale and not a new remaster like what AB Groupe did in France.

Has anyone done a comparison? Wouldn’t surprise me if the remaster on Hulu USA is also the Selecta Vision upscale. Would explain how Crunchyroll got it all released at once with no heads up. And how it managed to be a semi-competent release compared to Funimation’s Z efforts

[Vegard Aune]

So the general impression I'm getting here is that this is by no means a great presentation of the show, but that given that the bar is in hell, it's still above average. Like, sounds like the Hulu uploads are at the very least watchable, yeah?

...Admittedly I would say the Blue Bricks also narrowly managed to clear that bar, with the main problems with them being the edited title cards and the lack of OPED variations carried over from the generally superior two-disc Saga releases.

...But fan efforts are probably always going to be better, unless Toei were to swallow their pride and just take the fan recordings of the broadcast audio and then shell out for a full 4k remaster from the original film prints with proper color correction and level adjustments to make sure no episode is too bright or too dark, and I don't know how much of that is even possible anymore, considering how those original 16mm film prints are probably in substantially worse condition now than they were when Toei last scanned them. For all I know, a lot of the brighter details on those overly bright episodes from the Dragon Box might just be completely unrecoverable now.

But ultimately... Well, most people are not going to be hardcore fans who insist on watching the show in the most pristine quality possible, and while it would still be nice to have the versions on streaming be pristine regardless because who's gonna complain about that... At least it's nice to have a legal streaming option with all the proper OPEDs and that presumably has not been completely smeared into oblivion with overly aggressive DVNR. Unless this thing has been subjected to exactly that, idk, I don't know if Hulu is even available in Norway and even if it is, I don't have an account.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Would explain how Crunchyroll got it all released at once with no heads up. And how it managed to be a semi-competent release compared to Funimation’s Z efforts

Was original Dragon Ball on Hulu before this upscale? According to this article it was removed in February, so maybe in that time Hulu was looking for better masters.

...But fan efforts are probably always going to be better

A lot of people have mentioned Seed of Might. It's truly a shame that TOEI can't hire those guys as they've done the best job anyone could do with the materials available (Dragon Box masters). Years ago TOEI probably could have surpassed these fan efforts as they still had the original negatives, but as you say, who knows if that's even possible anymore given how much the masters must have deteriorated in the 20+ years since they were last scanned.

[The Dark Knight]

So the general impression I'm getting here is that this is by no means a great presentation of the show, but that given that the bar is in hell, it's still above average. Like, sounds like the Hulu uploads are at the very least watchable, yeah?

Pretty much. If I were to rate this from an A to an F, then it would be a C; they're not exactly good looking, but they're not terrible either. Another major problem with them besides the video/upscaling quality is the complete lack of Japanese audio with subtitles. I tend to watch my anime dubbed, but I make an exception for Dragon Ball due to the terrible voice acting and scripts, so I would never watch these or Z and GT without the Japanese option.

A lot of people have mentioned Seed of Might. It's truly a shame that TOEI can't hire those guys as they've done the best job anyone could do with the materials available (Dragon Box masters).

They still can. Video game companies do it all the time, so I don't know why these guys can't. The problem is that Toei is in complete denial about the quality of their products, with newer dragon ball releases like Broly, Superhero, and Kai suffering from bad home releases.

[MasenkoHA]

Completely on its own merits I’d also give it a C but grading on a hell of a curve it’s a B.I’m hardly s videophile but it looks more than okay for an upscale. Most of the nicest things that can be said about it is in comparison to the series track record in the States. Appropriate for the original Dragon Ball dub compared to Z’s blu ray release in the U.S it’s BETTER. Not great but better. The bar is obviously in hell. But yeah the Blue Bricks were passable at best (and really just a case of “we have literally no other legal option”). I would agree with Dark Knight it’s a blow to not have the Japanese audio but I’m assuming/hoping it’s been saved for the blu ray release next year or will eventually be uploaded for streaming if no physical release happens, so I’m not holding it against it at this time.

Was original Dragon Ball on Hulu before this upscale? According to this article it was removed in February, so maybe in that time Hulu was looking for better masters.

Correct. Original Dragon Ball had been missing on Hulu for a hot minute and February sounds right. I’m not convinced Hulu had anything to do with better masters being acquired since they still have the Home video/Nicktoons mess for Kai that Crunchymation gave them and I believe still have the shitty Buffy HD remaster that is universally despised to Orange Brick levels of infamy. Seems like Crunchy just wanted to celebrate the series upcoming 40th anniversary in the easiest way possible i.e grab the Selecta Vision(?) remaster and slap the English audio on it and call it a day.

[Yellow Flower King]

Does Hulu have THOSE scenes? The nude Bulma ones?

[eledoremassis02]

It looks like the Dragon Box with the blue brick coloring and it is uncensored. All text is also in Japanese which leads to it being the Dragon Boxes. Not really seeing the HD tho lol

Can't screenshot so this is the best I can do sadly

[gokaiblue]

If there's going to be HD remaster or Blu-ray release of franchise, Toei should be the first one to announce.
Toei has the BEST film prints of the series.
There's no way that best remaster should be available on on streaming platform first.

Funny thing is that they did!


...but with very little fanfare.

Sucks that it's simply an upscale, because it looks like they used the Japanese credits too, so I thought it was new. Looked good on my phone.