Techincally Kai is completely pointless.

[Zephyr]

Want to see DBZ without filler? READ THE MANGA!!!

What if we want to see it animated without filler?

[DBZGTKOSDH]

Want to see DBZ without filler? READ THE MANGA!!!

What if we want to see it animated without filler?

Unfortunately, it's not possibe.

[Son Gohan Daimao]

This would be true, if Kai's only point was to remove filler. From what they were saying when Kai first came around, Kai is a refreshed version of Dragon Ball Z with MUCH (not all) of the material not present in the manga omitted.

Is it refreshed? Yes. Scanned in HD, rerecorded voices, rerecorded SFX and new music. I think this can explain the remastering: http://kanzentai.com/production.php?id=kai_remaster

Was much of the material not present in the manga omitted? Yes. The Saiyan arc went from 35 episodes to 16. The Namek arc went from 39 episodes to 14. The Freeza arc was went from 33 episodes to 24. The Garlic Jr. arc went from 10 episodes to absolutely nothing. The Artificial Humans arc went from 22 episodes to 13. The Cell arc went from 55 episodes to 30.

Kai wasn't the best they could have done, but it was certainly not pointless.

[Zephyr]

Want to see DBZ without filler? READ THE MANGA!!!

What if we want to see it animated without filler?

Unfortunately, it's not possibe.

......unless you watch Kai. I know it still retains some filler, but it took major chunks of it out.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

......unless you watch Kai. I know it still retains some filler, but it took major chunks of it out.

I like Kai, I don't mind the remained fillers, since they are not many or big.

[Hero 004]

It's a shame, I am so behind the concept of Kai as a filler-free adaptation with enhanced and re-animated sequences. However, I was underwhelmed by the re-animation and thought the editing wasn't all that effective. Since I haven't purchased it yet, I'd rather just invest in the Z blu-ray sets. I wish they would have taken more time with it and started with Dragon Ball and not the Z era. I really hope that eventually the entire story gets rebooted completely in some regard.

[DemonRin]

Kai is now my preferred method of watching that period of the series.

I just wish there was a Boo arc produced. Better pacing and a Kai-Level dubbed Boo Arc? Yes please.

[MCDaveG]

What pisses me off on Kai most is not incorporating of Trunks' TV special like Bardock was and ending it with Cell arc amd redrawn scenes. If the art was consistent, it could be a lot better. I never was fan of the ''from scratch'' (well, kinda was before, because of the ugly redrawn scenes), because I really don't like the new computer generated art in anime and I'm happy that one of favorite series was made in 80's and 90's.
Still, I like Z the most.

PS: The new Arale anime was the first Toriyama's adaptation made on computer without cells. Why is it looking 100% better than the 2008, PTETS and Episode of Bardock???

[Pokewhiz7]

I have yet to get Kai. However, after watching through the Freeza saga, I can safely say that I will get Kai. I watched through the whole thing in Z, and seriously, that was unbearable. I'll never be able to do that again. The other sagas weren't exactly blazing fast either. The second reason I'll get Kai is...
good dub! I've been very impressed with the dub, enough to watch the series pretty much only in English.

[Aoi]

I have yet to get Kai. However, after watching through the Freeza saga, I can safely say that I will get Kai. I watched through the whole thing in Z, and seriously, that was unbearable. I'll never be able to do that again. The other sagas weren't exactly blazing fast either. The second reason I'll get Kai is...
good dub! I've been very impressed with the dub, enough to watch the series pretty much only in English.

I'm always pretty selective when it comes to "Z", like I'll actually not watch many of the filler episodes (Arlia, etc), while keeping the ones I like (Goku in Hell and Princess Snake are hilarious). But yeah, the Frieza saga is tough to be selective with. There's a key Vegeta on that Frieza planet scene during one of the 4-5 pointless "search for Namek" episodes.
What I do is this, I'm selective about the Frieza saga stuff (so I'll basically just skip those eps + 1-2 of the Bulma ones) and then for when the Dub turns to crap (Season 3), I stick in Kai to finish up the arc.

Even for the Japanese original, I'd put on Kai for the entire Frieza fight at least.
But after that , the show is golden for me (Z). The Cell and Buu arcs are terrifically well paced. Even the filler episodes are a hell of a lot of fun.

[dbboxkaifan]

Even the filler episodes are a hell of a lot of fun.

If you mean fun = sleep, then yes, fillers are fun.

[Pokewhiz7]

Even the filler episodes are a hell of a lot of fun.

If you mean fun = sleep, then yes, fillers are fun.

I think filler episodes are fun. The ones that are original, self-contained plots, that is. Not the filler that's just power-up, reaction shot, fight shortly, power-up, reaction shot, repeat.

[kei17]

So many scenes badly redrawn just to delete flashing and shaking and slow down the animation are unbearable to me. They look terrible as still images, but what bugs me most is that they really spoil superbly drawn key animation that originally looked awesome in Z. In addition, I get annoyed by some sloppy video editing that looks very odd in motion. For example, in the end of episode 42, Goku says "I will beat you!" with his fist clenched, then in the next shot, he suddenly changes his posture. At least, they should have throw in a shot of Freeza between these shots. Of course, I am not a fan of the super slow pacing in Z. It's pure horrible. Actually I like Kai's pacing, but while watching Kai, I always think that I must be missing some greatly handled animation or nice renderings that were cut or spoiled in Kai. It disturbs my enjoyment.

[Innagadadavida]

I think we can all agree that if Kei17 had edited Kai and it's music, it would have been a masterpiece.

[kei17]

I think we can all agree that if Kei17 had edited Kai and it's music, it would have been a masterpiece.

I'm glad that you thought so, but being a masterpiece just for nitpicky die hard fans doesn't mean it would be successful in a commercial way. What Toei did to Kai basically is pretty logical for a low budget show aimed at new-generation children.

[dbboxkaifan]

I think we can all agree that if Kei17 had edited Kai and it's music, it would have been a masterpiece.

Not sure I agree, but dragonballmchange77 did a brilliant job with the custom music placements of Z in Kai.

[Turtle bits]

Kai ushered in a new wave of merchandise and sales in japan, and a mild resurgence of popularity in the US. Pointless? Nah.

I get what the topic creator is saying, i didnt even know they stopped kai at the buu saga...that to me, makes it less appealing than before. I simply prefer the original anime. It has things the manga doesnt, bad and good, i enjoy both myself.

[AgitoZ]

Kai ushered in a new wave of merchandise and sales in japan...

No it didn't.

[Innagadadavida]

Kai ushered in a new wave of merchandise and sales in japan...

No it didn't.

It did. It just wasn't a very big wave.

[AgitoZ]

It did. It just wasn't a very big wave.

Well, no. The merchandise that most bought were usually repackaged merchandise, nothing new. Even then, the "new" stuff for Kai was still old ideas since it was still DBZ.

The sales for the franchise were still declining with Kai. The "wave" was barely a ripple.