FUNimation DBZ TV Blu-ray Official On-Going Thread

[Adamant]

I would still have to read the set to be 100% certain that the set is in fact the original series and not Kai.

Yeah, but you're not the casual customer. The casual customer would just go go "Oh, Deebeezee was that totally hard core rocking cartoon with blonde men punching each other that was the shit when I was 10." and then see five different releases that all claim to be "Dragon Ball Z" lined up next to each other. "Dragon Ball Z", "Dragon ball Z Ultimate Uncut Edition", "Dragon Ball Z Season x", "Dragon Ball Z Kai", "Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box"... what's what?

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

Problem is, when you do that what you'll find yourself reading is "The way it was meant to be seen!" and various buzzwords like "HD Transfer" and "Remastered." Is it the Dragon Box? Is it an HD version of the DVDs? Is it a fresh remaster? Is it widescreen? Is it DVNRed up the ass? Which language tracks does it have? Which English voice cast does it have? You could ask 100 questions and have very few of them answered on the back of the box.

There really isn't a whole lot of outright direction. It's not like buying a copy of Windows where on the back there's a checklist detailing the differences between Home, Premium, Ultimate, etc. I actually think we're at the point where we could use something like that. Having the orange spine act as a universal identifier for "Original DBZ, FUNi masters version" or simply "flagship Dragon Ball Z product line" to clearly distinguish it from every other DB product out there, of which there are many, is a simple solution. Grouping like products together with some identifying mark is marketing 101.

I still think the orange clashes horribly. But I don't think they put it there without just cause.

While I do see your point now on the whole color coding strategy, I still think FUNimation needs to also provide its customers with special keywords and descriptions to assure them that what they are getting is what they want. Words like "original 291 episodes" and "complete audio tracks" may interest the buyers of the original version. Give them that extra bit of assurance so that their money can be well spent. It's basically squeezing the Charmin for Dragon Ball Z.

Yeah, but you're not the casual customer. The casual customer would just go go "Oh, Deebeezee was that totally hard core rocking cartoon with blonde men punching each other that was the shit when I was 10." and then see five different releases that all claim to be "Dragon Ball Z" lined up next to each other. "Dragon Ball Z", "Dragon ball Z Ultimate Uncut Edition", "Dragon Ball Z Season x", "Dragon Ball Z Kai", "Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box"... what's what?

The casual customers I know squeeze the Charmin.

[jjgp1112]

I would still have to read the set to be 100% certain that the set is in fact the original series and not Kai.

Yeah, but you're not the casual customer. The casual customer would just go go "Oh, Deebeezee was that totally hard core rocking cartoon with blonde men punching each other that was the shit when I was 10." and then see five different releases that all claim to be "Dragon Ball Z" lined up next to each other. "Dragon Ball Z", "Dragon ball Z Ultimate Uncut Edition", "Dragon Ball Z Season x", "Dragon Ball Z Kai", "Dragon Ball Z Dragon Box"... what's what?

To be fair, the Singles and Ultimate Uncut stuff have been discontinued for the last four years.

[Son Satan]

To be fair, the Singles and Ultimate Uncut stuff have been discontinued for the last four years.

Yeah, but it'll still throw a lot of people for a loop
You'll still see "Dragon Ball Z: Level 1.1" and "Dragon Ball Z Kai" on BD, "Dragon Ball Z Kai", "Dragon Ball Z Season 1", and "Dragon Box Z" all on DVD. Not only do I now have the usual problem of them all being called "The way it was meant to be seen", but now I'm wondering what the hell a Kai is, why there's a yellow and orange boxset, and what in the world a 'Level' is as opposed to a 'season'. (And, if I'm a new customer, why two of these sets are orange, but called different things)

[Kendamu]

From personal experience, the "casual consumer" (i.e. the guy who saw it in the store and doesn't look up DBZ stuff online) doesn't get confused. Instead, it's more of a, "I don't really care. I saw these sets for cheap and thought that it'd be cool to own DBZ since I haven't seen it for like 6 or 7 years."

[MarcFBR]

Here's what I would rather have FUNimation do: I would rather have FUNimation work with the fanbase to ensure that the latest release of Dragon Ball Z is the best damn release money can buy. Get fan input on everything: video, audio, extras, the whole 9 yards. Have fellow FUNi reps work with fellow DaizEXers to ensure what works and what doesn't.

Little known secret.

Fans are jackasses. Fanbases are a mess.

Any company that purely 'listens to the fans' wouldn't be able to make a good product. Because there is not one type of fan, and fans tend to complain.

As for Mato, I believe he hung around on his own, and at best he could make suggestions on translations to people higher up. Funi higher ups, and Japanese higher ups still made the call, not him.

Any company that does full commercial releases and works with a 'fanbase' really has no idea what they are doing.

And since plenty of people seem to still sort of ignore this- We ("the fans") got our release that we asked for.

[Adamant]

From personal experience, the "casual consumer" (i.e. the guy who saw it in the store and doesn't look up DBZ stuff online) doesn't get confused. Instead, it's more of a, "I don't really care. I saw these sets for cheap and thought that it'd be cool to own DBZ since I haven't seen it for like 6 or 7 years."

That doesn't make him "not confused". That makes him a non-discerning person that doesn't give two shits what he gets as long as it has blonde men punching each other.

To use a different example, imagine if a guy wanted to buy Guitar Hero, came into a store and saw 5 different games titled "Super Guitar Hero", "Guitar Hero Deluxe", "Guitar Hero X", "Totally Guitar Hero" and "Guitar Hero Ultra Edition", all with generic packages and a bunch of rambling nonsense on the back. Sure, the guy might have just shrugged and said "Eh, guess they all have rock songs in them, let's just flip a coin", but he would've still been confused like hell upon looking at those packages. He could've also thought "Eh, I'll have to ask someone what's what, or look it up on the internet", then forgot about it. That's not ideal when you try running a business.

[Kendamu]

From personal experience, the "casual consumer" (i.e. the guy who saw it in the store and doesn't look up DBZ stuff online) doesn't get confused. Instead, it's more of a, "I don't really care. I saw these sets for cheap and thought that it'd be cool to own DBZ since I haven't seen it for like 6 or 7 years."

That doesn't make him "not confused". That makes him a non-discerning person that doesn't give two shits what he gets as long as it has blonde men punching each other.

No. He was completely not confused. He has me for a friend. He legitimately does not give a crap and there are plenty of other people who don't give a crap just like he does.

Amazing, I know.

[Adamant]

He didn't know what he was buying apart from "something that's DBZ", and he had no clue what separated the "something that's DBZ" thing he bought from the other "something that's DBZ" things he didn't buy. That makes him confused, whether he cared about these differences or not.

[jjgp1112]

No, he wasn't confused, he just didn't particularly give a crap which edition he was buying, really. Not caring doesn't mean you're confused. it just means...you don't care. If some casual fan saw a orange box and a big ass yellow box both advertising the same set of episodes he'd probably just be like "I'll get the less expensive one." People aren't that dumb.

[DragonBoxZTheMovies]

I really hope 'Funimation' finally decides to put some proper extras on this release, eg. old promos, episode commentary, etc.

[Rory]

He didn't know what he was buying apart from "something that's DBZ", and he had no clue what separated the "something that's DBZ" thing he bought from the other "something that's DBZ" things he didn't buy. That makes him confused, whether he cared about these differences or not.

I like how you seem to know Kendamu's friend more than he does.

[Castor Troy]

old promos

Morris Bros, Chuck E Cheese, and the old zstore promos in HD?!

[Raykugen]

Doragon Boru Zetto?
Man, put the bad japanese pronuntiation it's too much pathetic. It's like be proud of talk bad.
In that way, let's put the people of Spain, Drágon Bol Zeta, god...

[Haseowolf]

Not sure if anyone's done this yet, but I thought I'd just throw it out there.

All we have is some cam footage and it can't be completely trustworthy what with the lighting and the camera's settings, but I thought I'd just throw this up there for fun. It's a quick and dirty comparison shot. DBox on the left, Blu-Ray announcement trailer footage on the right. Color descrepancies on Vegeta aside, it's interesting how blue the sky is in this footage (Kei17 must be pretty pleased =D). And make no mistake, it's that blue in all of the blu-ray footage they've shown. I just had this DBox screencap from when I first posted up DBox screens, so I was lucky there was a corresponding shot in the announcement trailer.

I'm excited to see what this release will be like. I love my Dragon Boxes very very very much; it's the release I always wanted, but I am still open to possibility of FUNi doing a better remaster this time around and seeing what they can do.

[Nex Carnifex]

I just want a completely uncut DBkai, like all the blood that was in Z in the same scenes they used. I think that would be perfect in terms of anime. Then I'd want a perfect translation of the manga, that was competely uncut, that would be the perfect manga.

[AgitoZ]

I just want a completely uncut DBkai, like all the blood that was in Z in the same scenes they used. I think that would be perfect in terms of anime. Then I'd want a perfect translation of the manga, that was competely uncut, that would be the perfect manga.

It's called Dragon Ball Z.

Besides, what does ANY of that have to do with the Blu-Ray sets?

[Kuwabara]

I just want a completely uncut DBkai, like all the blood that was in Z in the same scenes they used.

It's called Dragon Ball Z.

No it's not...? Kai and Z are different entities, Carnifex wants something that doesn't exist in any form.

[AgitoZ]

No it's not...? Kai and Z are different entities, Carnifex wants something that doesn't exist in any form.

Kai is just a repackaged Z. As much as Toei wants to treat as separate it really isn't. It's like saying the Richard Donner cut of Superman 2 is a separate entity. If Carnifex wants all the blood that was prevalent in Z, then just watch Dragon Ball Z.

[DanielGClapp]

Once they get done releasing these, or get near the end, what are the chances that these will be released in whole "levels"? Sort of like what kai is going through right now. Also, what soundracks/BGM is going to be included in this release?