W00T! Super Saiyan 2 Gohan on October 19th!

Ben Plante · Post by **Ben Plante** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 5:27 pm

"Cell Games: Awakening" has a release date of October 19th, 2004 on animeondvd.com.

At last, DVD quality Unmei no Hi!

CELEBRATE!

oponok · Post by **oponok** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 5:49 pm

Hurrah.

Izlude · Post by **Izlude** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 6:12 pm

I got it on VHS...

...Edited VHS...seeing it at Wal-Mart priced at 4.99 in the bargain bin, I just had to get it

Deus ex Machina · Post by **Deus ex Machina** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 6:35 pm

I'm really looking forward to this disc the most out of the entire Cell Games saga. It's beyond me why it's coming out so late though, they should've released it in time with movie 9.

Sun_Wukong · Post by **Sun_Wukong** » Thu Aug 05, 2004 6:52 pm

Yes I will finally complete my collection. I only collect SSJ transformation episodes for some strange reason.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 12:19 pm

Heh, I was just watching this on DVD last night (I have the Dragon Box collections), and it still remains one of if not my favorite part of the series. Especially the final Kamehameha showdown.

-Corey

Ben Plante · Post by **Ben Plante** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 12:27 pm

Yeah, despite the poor animation throughout most of the Cell Game (In my opinion), the famous Gohan scene and the final epiode of the battle were very well done. That 'Gohan walking trough the Kamehameha light' thing is awesome.

Sun_Wukong · Post by **Sun_Wukong** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 6:12 pm

MajinVejitaXV wrote:Heh, I was just watching this on DVD last night (I have the Dragon Box collections), and it still remains one of if not my favorite part of the series. Especially the final Kamehameha showdown.

-Corey

God, how much did the Dragonboxes cost you? And where exactly do you get a region free dvd player?

Tenken · Post by **Tenken** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 6:27 pm

Sun_Wukong wrote:
God, how much did the Dragonboxes cost you? And where exactly do you get a region free dvd player?

Dragon Boxes cost around USD ~$800 each. And there are two of them.

Region free players are easy to get, just buy a cheap one at Wal-Mart and hack that sucka!

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 7:35 pm

Tenken wrote:
Sun_Wukong wrote:
God, how much did the Dragonboxes cost you? And where exactly do you get a region free dvd player?
Dragon Boxes cost around USD ~$800 each. And there are two of them.

Region free players are easy to get, just buy a cheap one at Wal-Mart and hack that sucka!

True, but if you want the best out of the Dragon Boxes, you'd want a region free DVD player *with* progressive scan. I have a player I'm about to hack though, plus a 43" plasma I just financed with my fiancee after paying my car so... *drool*

In short, there are actually 3 Dragon Boxes, one for DB and two for DBZ. The DBZ boxes are hard to find (the first one is at least, not sure of the second), and I think Amazon.co.jp still carries the DB one. But yeah, $2400 for the whole series, encoded at great bitrates and progressive to boot. I think it was well worth the money, given that:

A. It makes FUNi's discs look like a subpar DivX encode
B. It isn't hacked up at all
C. Does FUNi even know when they'll have all of DB/DBZ out? O_o;;

Besides, the Z boxes are either less than or marginally more than the domestics (depending on whether you use the original or the new price tags). The DB box is more, but I just wanted the more complete version and the better quality ;p

-Corey

B-kun · Post by **B-kun** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 9:48 pm

Heh, I have a region-free DVD player that I didn't need to hack. Only got it for 80 bucks too.

My god, the Dragonboxes cost 800 bucks? Son of a...

Post by **SaiyaJedi** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 10:33 pm

MajinVejitaXV wrote:In short, there are actually 3 Dragon Boxes, one for DB and two for DBZ. The DBZ boxes are hard to find (the first one is at least, not sure of the second), and I think Amazon.co.jp still carries the DB one.

I should hope that they do, considering it's barely a month old... ^^;

PsyLiam · Post by **PsyLiam** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 10:56 pm

MajinVejitaXV wrote:[I think it was well worth the money, given that:

A. It makes FUNi's discs look like a subpar DivX encode

Oh dear god, please don't let this start up again.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 11:26 pm

PsyLiam wrote:
MajinVejitaXV wrote:[I think it was well worth the money, given that:

A. It makes FUNi's discs look like a subpar DivX encode
Oh dear god, please don't let this start up again.

Come on, I'm not starting anything, but you've got to admit FUNi's discs (for DBZ, I completely skipped their DB releases after my ass got sore from buying the few DBZ discs I owned) aren't the best releases in technical aspects. Would I take them over 1300th generation fansubs that are on P2P applications? Yes. Would I recognize them as archival quality, which is what a good DVD release should be at or damn close to? Hell no.

Everything about FUNi's presentation of the series smacks of slopiness. I mean, they got people who actually can translate (and damn well at that), but nothing else. The menus, excluding the Freeza discs and maybe a couple of the movies, were bland and looked like they were created with a freeware program, there were obviously compression, authoring, and overall quality checking issues (sound drops, subtitle glitches, video glitches), and the only time they corrected this was by re-releasing the disc, adding two episodes, and asking people to pay for it. Again. No exchange offers or anything. Not saying all other companies do, but still, cheap...oh, and screen captures for covers. When numerous amateurs (fans) have beaten FUNi into the ground with their own designs...and FUNi has *how* much money and how many resources? Jeez...

I would give exact bitrate comparisions, but I just sold all 22 FUNi discs that I had and bought another Wavebird for my gamecube

I'll pop my Dragon Box discs in sometime and capture the info, if you wanna compare yourself.

SaiyaJedi wrote: I should hope that they do, considering it's barely a month old... ^^;

Granted, but it was preorder only, and I dunno how many extras retailers order. I had heard it actually sold well, but I didn't get actual figures so I can't really confirm anything ;p

-Corey

Tenken · Post by **Tenken** » Sat Aug 07, 2004 11:55 pm

I agree that the Future Trunks dvds sucked, as far as quality goes. They look grainy on my 25 inch 480i television, I can only imagine what they look like on a HDTV or a big screen television. I would buy the Dragon Boxes if I had the cash, or an elementary understanding of japanese. Unfortunately, I have neither.

PsyLiam · Post by **PsyLiam** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:04 am

This argument has been done on several other threads which I can't be bothered to link to, but one thing did stick out...

MajinVejitaXV wrote:[and screen captures for covers. When numerous amateurs (fans) have beaten FUNi into the ground with their own designs...and FUNi has *how* much money and how many resources?

And some sort of deal with TOEI which states that they HAVE to use screencaps for the episodes. When they can get around that (like with the movies, or the DB and DB GT DVDs), they do. Shouting at them for having screencaps on the DBZ DVDs is like shouting at them for not having next episode previews.

At the end of the day though, it doesn't matter. I can't understand Japanese. Buying the Dragonboxes would result in several hundred hours of TV that I can only understand from the manga. And if I wanted that...I'd read the manga.

MajinVejitaXV wrote:Come on, I'm not starting anything, but you've got to admit FUNi's discs (for DBZ, I completely skipped their DB releases after my ass got sore from buying the few DBZ discs I owned)

And that's just silly. You didn't buy the one series FUNi got right simply because they got the others wrong? FUNi's release of Dragon Ball is almost perfect...good number of episodes per set, released at a good price; excellent subtitles; excellent (especially for them) dub, complete with original music and translated opening and ending themes; nicely designed boxes; eyecatchers...what more do you want? The only things missing are the different opening and ending animations (not their fault), and no previews (also not their fault, and not something I care about in the slightest, to be honest).

Tenken · Post by **Tenken** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:15 am

Looks like TOEI was holding out on us... XD

I will say this though. At least you are willing to buy something official. Many of the anime fans I have met would use those petty things to resort to downloading or buying bootlegs or something.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 12:40 am

PsyLiam wrote:This argument has been done on several other threads which I can't be bothered to link to, but one thing did stick out...

MajinVejitaXV wrote:[and screen captures for covers. When numerous amateurs (fans) have beaten FUNi into the ground with their own designs...and FUNi has *how* much money and how many resources?
And some sort of deal with TOEI which states that they HAVE to use screencaps for the episodes. When they can get around that (like with the movies, or the DB and DB GT DVDs), they do. Shouting at them for having screencaps on the DBZ DVDs is like shouting at them for not having next episode previews.

Wow, flashback to Planet Namek...

Okay, I don't believe this for an instant. Yes, Toei apparently wasn't giving any of the companies licensing their titles the next episode previews. FUNi doesn't have them, neither does Pioneer. I can accept that, it's relatively minor.

But cover art? You've gotta be kidding me. First of all, the first 17 volumes completely contradict that (which, surprise, Pioneer authored and released if I'm not mistaken) with great cover art. Second of all, I'm willing to bet that Toei receives royalties for each disc sold...so why the hell would they want to turn customers *off* by messing up their first impression, in other words the appearance of the product? Not to mention, I remember the french DVDs having some really nice covers, and being advertised as bilingual releases.

Assuming this ridiculous theory was correct, why would FUNi pick the screen shots that they have? Some are decent, but others...just suck, to be blatant.

PsyLiam wrote:
MajinVejitaXV wrote:Come on, I'm not starting anything, but you've got to admit FUNi's discs (for DBZ, I completely skipped their DB releases after my ass got sore from buying the few DBZ discs I owned)
And that's just silly. You didn't buy the one series FUNi got right simply because they got the others wrong? FUNi's release of Dragon Ball is almost perfect...good number of episodes per set, released at a good price; excellent subtitles; excellent (especially for them) dub, complete with original music and translated opening and ending themes; nicely designed boxes; eyecatchers...what more do you want? The only things missing are the different opening and ending animations (not their fault), and no previews (also not their fault, and not something I care about in the slightest, to be honest).

If you buy an RX-7, and it explodes, are you going to go right back to the Mazda dealership and buy another of their cars?

If FUNi acquires a property I'm interested in, and word of mouth gives me reason to give them another chance, I will. For the entire Dragonball trilogy though, they screwed themselves out of my business and forced me to go directly to Toei. Ah well, I'm sure they're crying about it anyhow. They had legions of gullible kids buying their products like wildfire, I just wonder if it had been even more successful had they done a quality job...y'know, like every other country. Where it was a huge success.

-Corey

PsyLiam · Post by **PsyLiam** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 4:20 pm

MajinVejitaXV wrote:Second of all, I'm willing to bet that Toei receives royalties for each disc sold...so why the hell would they want to turn customers *off* by messing up their first impression, in other words the appearance of the product?

I dunno. Perhaps for the same reason that they won't give out next episode previews, or all the opening/ending titles for DragonBall.

As for the actual reason, I don't think it's a case of TOEI not letting them do it (which, er, contradicts my previous argument). Rather, I think it's a case of FUNi having to pay for each and every piece of artwork they license. Doing that over the whole series would cost a lot.

Now, the logical answer would be to, say, put 13 or so episodes in one box. That way they could afford better art. But that would obviously be crazy.

I just wonder if it had been even more successful had they done a quality job...y'know, like every other country. Where it was a huge success.

Every other country has a quality dub and dual language DVDs with excellent subtitles and presentation? Since when?

Tenken · Post by **Tenken** » Sun Aug 08, 2004 6:06 pm

So, to sum it all up:

The idea that the FUNimation discs are inferior is highly subjective. However, IF they are indeed inferior, it is because of TOEI. I think they just wanted to make sure people bought their Dragon Boxes (Since most, if not all, Dragon Ball discs by FUNimation are Regions 1 (North America), 2 (Japan, and Europe), and 4 (Australia), but that's just me.