[WIP] DB Kai Z-Cut | A Kai Recut with 4:3 SOM CC Footage, Z's OP, ED, Soundtrack & More!

[ATOMICexe]

Update 03/02/2026: Seed of Might's Colour Correction is out and the Dragon Box/Kai Sync episodes are gradually releasing. New updated versions of Z-Cut episodes will slowly begin to trickle out as I update my project files and include more audio tracks, subtitles. You can see the new episodes available on the Archive.org page as episodes are now formatted in MKV. Enjoy!

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 for EP1-98 and Stridster's Kikuchi Rescore for EP99-167 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, all of 1.0's 98 episodes and a few episodes of TFC are available right now! More episodes will be up periodically over the next few weeks.

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 aspect that takes the longest time to make 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. Episodes will be released on a weekly basis (hopefully lol)

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

[ATOMICexe]

Hey Everyone!

Had a few weeks away with travelling but I'm back to continue making episodes!

Massive thank you to Stridster once again for diligently and comprehensively re-exporting his Rescore with higher quality audio and fixing errors. The episodes will be only lacking a 4:3 version of TFC before they're at their best.

Look forward to some new episodes coming soon!

[ATOMICexe]

Hey Everyone!

BIG Update for Z-Cut!

Very happy to announce that a 1st version of Kai Episode 1-98 has been completed and are currently being uploaded to the Archive.org page! And so far roughly the first 10 episodes of TFC have been released too.

As mentioned in the description, the episodes marked with a ` at the end of their file name are missing their next episode preview, which will be added after a version of every episode is released.

Should be about 1-2 months until all of Kai has a Z-Cut episode, and then they'll start being replaced by a current final version with previews. Ideally, the ultimate final version will be when a version of Kai that uses the Dragon Box Footage is finally available but that may be a bit far off, maybe when Seed of Might completes their recolouring is when we finally get a true 4:3 TFC.

I have a lot of great ideas coming up for some special and alternate episodes including:
- Editing the Z Movies and OVAs into episodes using Neo-Raws Upscaled 4:3 Versions
- Making a Z-Cut version of Otherworld Tournament
- A few versions of Episode 165 & 167 with next episode previews for GT, the Yo! Son Goku OVA, Super, DAIMA and maybe BOG?
If anyone has any ideas or requests for special episodes, please suggest away!

A user on Archive.org mentioned the possibility of subtitles, which for me is out of my know-how, but seemingly they were able to make subs for it. If that user is here on the site, I'd love to chat with you about subs for the series

Additionally, coming soon on a different archive.org page is a spoiler-free version of Z-Cut. Basically, it's a version of Kai better suited for first time watchers of Dragon Ball Z. Kai in it's original version spoils so much of the story, revealing Frieza, Planet Vegeta and Bardock immediately, showing off Super Saiyan in its credits, and titling episodes very openly and spoiling the episode before it's begun.

In my spoiler free version, known as Dragon Ball Kai Z-Cut SF, the main changes made are removing next episode previews, altering majority of the episode titles to minimise spoiling, and removing a few scenes from Kai. Uploading will begin soon for that page and the first 108 episodes are completed currently.

Thanks to anyone who has checked out my project, I love creating Z-Cut and hope you all enjoy this new way of experiencing Z. This started as a little project for my partner watching DBZ for the first time and has become this massive undertaking that I'm very proud of.

Happy watching!
AtomicEXE

[ATOMICexe]

Hey Everyone!

I am happy to announce that a base version of episodes 1 to 167 are available to watch!

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

What that means now is that majority of episodes are missing their next episode preview. Roughly 30 episodes currently have theirs, but the rest will gradually be added over the next few months. If you don't care for the preview or skip them anyway, please enjoy! If you want the previews, stay tuned until the project is fully complete. Episodes marked with an apostrophe at the end of their title are incomplete.

Thanks everybody! As always I welcome any feedback or suggestions, especially for alternate version episodes like the ones currently up.

Happy watching!

[ATOMICexe]

Hey Everyone!

Progress is moving steadily along for the project, slowly adding next episode previews to every episode.

But for those who are interested in this project, another version of it has been completed and is available here.

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

The Spoiler-Free version of Z-Cut is ready to go! All 167 episodes of Kai with the changes made for Z-Cut but additionally, I have removed the next episode previews and altered most of the episode titles and title cards to minimise spoiling. This version is great for someone watching DBZ for the first time, where you don't learn of massive moments from the show before you start the episode.

Feel free to check it out on my Archive.org page. I will continue adding next episode previews to the main Z-Cut files and once Seed of Might's Z Colour Correction is out, we will be close to a definitive version of Z with Kai's pacing and voiceover.

I see a few projects similar to this one on the forum, so go check them out too and support! You'll have plenty of options to pick your version of Z to watch

Thanks everyone for checking out my cut so far!
AtomicEXE

[ATOMICexe]

PRODUCTION UPDATE

Hey everyone!

It's been a little bit since I've updated the project but I thought I would make a summary of what's been finished so far as of the end of November.

I haven't been able to finish more episodes for a while as I've just moved houses and had minor surgery but production will recommence very soon, and I can share a rough progress status and what's yet to come:

• Total episodes converted to Kai-Z format (Z OP/ED, Eyecatches, Rescore, Title Cards) excluding next episode previews
  167/167 (100%)

• Total episodes converted to Kai-Z format including next episode previews
  49/167 (29%)

• Total episodes of Kai-Z completed for the Spoiler Free (SF) version (altering episode titles, removing next episode previews)
  167/167 (100%)

• Bonus alternate episode versions included
  30

Upcoming Updates

• Completing the remaining 118 episodes

• Include small audio updates from Diccolo-420 and Stridster when released

• Replace Kai's footage with Seed of Might's Z colour-corrected footage when available and synced to Kai's audio

• Find/create a Kai version of the Otherworld Tournament arc

• Explore creating episodic versions of Movies and Specials

• Create more alternate bonus episode versions

If you haven't checked out the project yet, you can find it here: https://archive.org/details/dragon-ball-kai-z-cut

And if you're interested in the Spoiler Free (SF) version, it's found here: https://archive.org/details/dragon-ball-kai-z-cut-sf

As always, I would love to hear any feedback or thoughts, and if you have ideas for the project or for some fun extra bonus episodes like the ones I've made already, please let me know.

Thank you so much to everyone for keeping up with Kai-Z, it's one of my most favourite things I've created and I very much look forward to completing it (then completing it again when a Z footage sync is made)

Happy Holidays everybody!
ATOMICexe

[ATOMICexe]

Hey everyone!

New Update: The release of Seed of Might's CC DBZ cut is seemingly very close to release, and a Dragon Box Sync to Kai won't be too far off from then. When these are available, the final versions of the episodes will begin production.

Production of Kai Z-Cut will focus on preparing for the new footage and getting ready for the final versions of this cut. Additionally, new elements will be included in the final cut that I wasn't sure I could implement but have worked out, such as:

• Each episode will have three audio tracks; Diccolo and Stridster's Kikuchi Rescore, Diccolo's Faulconer Rescore and the original Japanese Kai Audio. If there ever comes a day where we have the Japanese dialogue with the Kikuchi Rescore, that will be implemented.

• English Subtitles will be included for the Japanese audio.

No new uploads will be put up until these final versions are ready, so for the meantime, enjoy the current available episodes

But I do have this to offer, which is a kind of proof of concept of how episodes will end up looking. This uses the Dragon Box Sync to Kai of Z footage but not the CC version. There's a few things missing and not correct but overall, it should help display how I want this project to look. You can check it out here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Thanks everyone, and Merry Christmas
ATOMICexe

[ATOMICexe]

Hey Everyone!

Seed of Might's Colour Correction is out and I now await for the DBOX Sync to Kai project to include SOM's footage. Once that is done, Z-Cut episodes will slowly begin to trickle out as I update my project files and include more audio tracks, subtitles. I'll be back once episodes begin uploading but in the meantime, I hope you all have a great rest of 2025 and a great start to 2026!

Happy Holidays everyone!
ATOMICexe

[ATOMICexe]

Hey everyone!

New updated versions of Z-Cut episodes are beginning to be uploaded onto the Archive.org page. I'm quite busy at the moment so I can only do a handful of episodes a week but I will do what I can. These new versions look fantastic, and additionally, all episodes will now be formatted in MKV and have a subtitle .srt file with them. I hope you all enjoy these new episodes are look forward to more. And if you have any feedback or suggestions, let me know. Thanks!

ATOMICexe

[ATOMICexe]

CORRECTION: MKV files will have the subtitles included in the file, so no .srt files are on the archive.org page