Has anyone else warmed up a bit to Kai?

[Cipher]

I kind of have. At least a little bit.

I was a huge detractor of the series as it was first airing in Japan. I hated the awkward cuts, the generic soundtrack, the general offensiveness of simply splicing together a new product and embracing all the problems that go along with it rather than animating a new show.

But recently, I've been coming around to it. I've been watching the Dragon Ball series from start to finish with my girlfriend over the past year and a half, and when we got to the Ginyu material in Z, it was grinding to a screeching halt. I'd learned to forgive it over the years, but going through it like that, yikes. Jokes were falling flat, action was falling flat and it was genuinely difficult to continue due to how decompressed the pacing was.

So the other night I tried an episode of Kai around the same portion of the series. Episode 31. What an infinitely more watchable product it was. Things clipped along at a normal pace. While I could pinpoint a lot of the cuts and sped up shots, I was surprised at how well it flowed; if I wasn't looking for them, I'd never have noticed. The humor between Butta, Jheese and Goku worked far better with the quickened timing. Even Yamamoto's score didn't offend me, and with a choice between his work or the limited Kikuchi score, I'm good to go either way. (And actually, some of the later Kikuchi themes really do liven up the Namek arc, limited or not.)

I still think it's kind of inexcusable as a product; there are still moments when it has awkward timing it just shouldn't have, by virtue of being a hasty recut. But it is objectively more watchable than a good portion of Z, and aside from maybe going back to the original for a few brilliant filler stories, it is what I'd show to new fans.

It's not ideal, but I've warmed up to it as, essentially, the lesser of two awkward pacings in a lot of places. I look forward to purchasing the series for the first time once they get everything straightened out with the season set Blu-Rays.

[dbboxkaifan]

What I most like about Dragon Ball Kai / Z Kai English dub are these things:

Eng Z Kai:
- Gohan's new brilliant voice
- Freeza's perfect fitting voice
- Clarke has perfected his voice for Cell
- English FUNimation dub is no longer cheesy like their Z one was
- The script is actually accurate (better voices also as stated above!)

The rest:
- Replacement DBZ BGM (for the early sagas just on DBK, I'd have to choose Yamamoto, because the DBZ BGM here that they use is Cell's BGM collection the big majority of the tracks that I've seen being used)
- Quickly gets to the action
- HD 1080p Blu-rays quality

"Dragon Ball Z Kai" with the Dragon Ball Z BGM really does feel like Dragon Ball Z (I know DBK is Z Revised without Majin Boo's arc).

[Pokewhiz7]

Not at all.

[funrush]

I always loved Kai and still do. Can't watch Z without it anymore. Not only that, but now there is an English version of Z that's not laughable.

[TheBlackPaladin]

I've loved the English dub of Kai from the start. Prior to that I found the idea of Kai laughable. I found it to be a cheap re-packaging of something that was already done well in Japan. It never crossed my mind that it might be dubbed. As soon as I heard that, my brain went...

"Kai SUCKS, it's just a cheap repackaging of th.......oh........wait a minute......hmmmmmmm......a new dub......"

Now I prefer it over Z.

[SRB2Unleashed]

I never even heard of Kai until the day before it was supposed to come out on Nicktoons. Then the day it came on:

2 minutes into the episode: I thought everything was supposed to be redrawn and stuff, it's just regular DBZ!
5 Minutes into the episode: WTF why isn't the music Faulconer?
10 Minutes into the episode: WHAT'S WRONG WITH GOHAN'S VOICE?
15 Minutes into the episode: Hey I kinda like the music!
20 Minutes into the episode: That was faster than DBZ, the redrawn scenes are nice, too.
End of the episode: I WANT MOAR!

[VegettoEX]

Let's try to keep in mind that the original poster isn't asking if you like the version or not in a flat sense, but rather, over a period of time since its debut if your feelings have changed (and more specifically, if you weren't into it at first, if you warmed up to it).

[Cipher]

Thanks, VegettoEX. Although obviously anyone who liked it from the start has no warming up to do, and they're welcome to express that as well.

And I guess I'd just like to say that, while you can talk about the dub if you want, it's really the only aspect of the show that's an objective improvement. Even when I completely loathed it, I was thankful it presented the opportunity for a better English dub. This is really more to ask if anyone else has come around to appreciating, at least a bit, how Kai functions as a series. That essentially requires looking at the original Japanese version; international dubs being better or worse than what came before is really neither here nor there.

[Gonstead]

Honestly, the only reason I actually considered Kai was for the English dub. Before that, I just did not give a damn about it since I've already seen the series many times and did not need to see a cut 'n' paste of a great product.

What do I think of it now? Not much really. I just think of it as "That shorter version of DBZ"

What do I think of the English dub? I was actually pretty excited for it. Sure, I was sad to see some people were not returning but I'm a fan of it now.

[DBZ Mick]

Yes, I didn't like it for the reasons you posted, TC. Apart from the opening and the next time music I hated the score and thought it almost seemed like a Japanese Falconer score. I also didn't really see the point of the whole show.

Decided to give it a proper try and randomly decided to watch the dub. I was surprised how accurate it was, BUT while I do like the pacing, I thought it was too fast paced at times. I flipped on an episode of DBZ afterwards and still appreciated the pacing more (although I do cut out certain filler from DB and DBZ).

[penguintruth]

The new, accurate English dub helped my interest in Kai in a big way, but I always liked that there was an alternative way to watch DBZ.

Like I've said, Kai is more of an ingredient than a meal.

[Mewzard]

The new, accurate English dub helped my interest in Kai in a big way, but I always liked that there was an alternative way to watch DBZ.

Like I've said, Kai is more of an ingredient than a meal.

Well, I'd say Kai's more like a low calorie meal. Same great taste, less filling.

I was down for Kai from the start. I didn't like that they avoided redoing the whole anime, and some song choices, I kinda wanted to hear the classic music in place of (which we're getting now, interestingly enough)...but the dub is the saving grace. Good writing and acting that I've wanted from the show for years. It's not perfect, and there are occasional questionable moments, but it's more than I could have ever hoped for before Kai.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I've definitely warmed up to Kai compared to my initial thoughts on it, and even quite enjoy it, but there's certain weaknesses that I don't think I'll ever get over.

The idea of just re-using the same footage rather than entirely re-animating it is my major problem with it. There's no way around that this is a cheap shortcut for making a 'new' show, no matter how nicely they cleaned it up. The other issue that continues to dog me is starting with Z rather than the original series, and ending without going to the Boo arc - at least on both of these though, there's a valid enough reason (technically for the anniversary of Z; bad ratings).

What I do like about Kai is pretty much what's already been stated though. It really is nice to get through certain story arcs faster. I can definitely vouch for the Namek stuff as well. It never used to get to me that bad back when I first watched it for some reason, but when I got to that stuff in my sub-watching, oh dear god...I was happy when Freeza started the whole place exploding just to get rid of that green background. The dub of Kai is definitely what's kept my interest the most though, and it's just worked out nicely that I've somewhat been able to watch Kai's dub around the same time I was at those story points in the original Z's subbed format.

So yeah, I've definitely warmed up to Kai. I'll probably go back and watch the original version sometimes too (and yes, even the dub), but after I get done with the sub reviewing, I'll be so burnt out on the original version that I won't wanna look at it for a while.

[masterz13]

It beats the original to pieces, sans the music. If it were in widescreen and had the Yamamoto score, it'd be perfect.

[dbboxkaifan]

It beats the original to pieces, sans the music. If it were in widescreen and had the Yamamoto score, it'd be perfect.

But it is available in widescreen, it does crop the picture though, it's at least a much better cropping than FUNimation did with the orange bricks.

The Blu-rays feature the original AR which is 4:3, and the DVD's too, i.e, FUNimation Dragon Ball Z Kai BD's/DVD's.

My preference: 4:3 > 16:9 for Dragon Ball Kai

[DBZGTKOSDH]

For Kai, I prefer 16:9. It seems more modern to me, it's cropped nicely and it seems more modern. And I also prefer to Yamamoto score, it makes Kai feel more unique, more new. With the Kikuchi score, it feels more like watching Z than Kai.

[Kendamu]

Never having been extremely attached to the Z anime after discovering the manga, a lot of the awkward cuts and sped up animation actually caught my eye as being different from the original when watching Kai. Of course, I noticed the reanimated stuff, but it didn't bother me too much. When Kai came about, I absolutely loved it to death and never had any problems with it. The awesome dub made me love it even more!

Then, the music thing happened.

Then, it ended with Cell instead of going into the Boo arc.

Because of those things, I was really turned off to it for awhile. I was looking for my perfect version of DBZ and I was so close to having it before the issues started coming up. However, now that some time's passed I'm starting to come back around to it again. Yamamoto or Kikuchi I'll still love watching it a lot.

In the meantime, I've learned to appreciate the original Z for what it is, too.

[sangofe]

I liked it in the start, until the end of the Vegeta saga, but after that I kinda stopped watching it. And the more I noticed how lazy with it, the more I disliked it. The random Kikuchi score is not changing my feelings at all. All in all, with the current score and the lazy product Kai is, I'd much rather go back to watch DBZ, or read the Dragonball manga.

[thedarkuniter]

Originally, I didn't care much for Kai, however when Funimation announced that they're releasing Kai in North America, I started to regain some interest in it. Like most of you guys, I was really hoping that they would redub Kai with more accuratey to the original Japanese version and sure enough, they did, even adding Japanese terms to the mix. I can't possibility find myself watching Z anymore except for the Majin Boo saga. I like how Kai is straight to the point and doesn't beat around the bush. Despite it not having the Majin Boo saga and the music scandal, I'll still take it over Z.

[SaiyamanMS]

I was interested when Kai first started in Japan and watched most of the Saiyan arc, before stopping around the time Vegeta became an Oozaru. This wasn't due to any dislike, but I was simply getting bored. As much as I enjoyed the idea of taking out the oodles of filler to get through the story faster, watching it as a weekly series kinda killed the point for me since I could stick in my DVDs and marathon the show without waiting a week for each new episode. I always had hope for Funimation picking it up and making a better dub out of it, which they did.

Honestly, Funi's dub is probably the main draw, because it allows me to watch the certain parts of the show in English without cringing. Having less filler is also a major plus too though.