FUNimation DBZ TV Blu-ray Official On-Going Thread

[laserkid]

I think the Anime Corner Store email newsletter said best whats going on here:

All that gobbledy-gock is just industry speak for "the first two BD's releases have been terrible sellers and we cannot continue to put resources into the restoration and release on BD at these sell through levels." One thing is for sure, a BD release of a 300 episode series 17 episodes at a time that is already in it's 9th or 10th retail iteration is no bargain, and given that the last iteration (the Dragon Boxes) was also a failure, I was pretty sure that there would be few fans willing to line up for yet another re-release of DBZ - even remastered in HD. The only place left to go for the DragonBall franchise is a Deluxe mega boxed set with ALL the episodes remastered on DVD and BD. Throw in a couple of cool extra's and slap an $80 MSRP on it for all 291 episodes and you have a winner. Anything else is just a waste of everyone's time at this point. I'm sorry Funi, but I think the DBZ gravy train has finally left the station...

[Gotham22]

Right now it seems dub fans will never have all 291 episodes uncut and in fullscreen with the option of the American music.

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

It's hard to say that these are cancelled more or less just postponed to another date, I just think it's something to do with "NEW" shows while they're still new or other projects they're working on.
It could also be that all their man power is going toward this. It's very likely that they'll release these in spurts or TOEI announces the Blu-ray Dragon Box!

I remember such similar optimism being fed to buyers when the Ultimate Uncuts were in limbo over the summer of '06. Why should I or anyone else here believe that kind of story again?

Sorry but I believe these releases have had it. Time to move on, people.

[Akumaito Beam]

The only place left to go for the DragonBall franchise is a Deluxe mega boxed set with ALL the episodes remastered on DVD and BD. Throw in a couple of cool extra's and slap an $80 MSRP on it for all 291 episodes and you have a winner.

A sort of...Dragonbox if you will.

[sangofe]

I think the Anime Corner Store email newsletter said best whats going on here:

All that gobbledy-gock is just industry speak for "the first two BD's releases have been terrible sellers and we cannot continue to put resources into the restoration and release on BD at these sell through levels." One thing is for sure, a BD release of a 300 episode series 17 episodes at a time that is already in it's 9th or 10th retail iteration is no bargain, and given that the last iteration (the Dragon Boxes) was also a failure, I was pretty sure that there would be few fans willing to line up for yet another re-release of DBZ - even remastered in HD. The only place left to go for the DragonBall franchise is a Deluxe mega boxed set with ALL the episodes remastered on DVD and BD. Throw in a couple of cool extra's and slap an $80 MSRP on it for all 291 episodes and you have a winner. Anything else is just a waste of everyone's time at this point. I'm sorry Funi, but I think the DBZ gravy train has finally left the station...

How do they even know about how well or bad the Dragonboxes or the BluRays have been selling?

[Pokewhiz7]

Probably because they're a store and they can tell how much of their stock is selling.

[penguintruth]

The only place left to go for the DragonBall franchise is a Deluxe mega boxed set with ALL the episodes remastered on DVD and BD. Throw in a couple of cool extra's and slap an $80 MSRP on it for all 291 episodes and you have a winner.

A sort of...Dragonbox if you will.

[samuraix123]

Why hasn't Funimation removed 2.1 & 2.2 listings on their forum? it's still in the March section.
Also when Funimation said ''The company added it will re-evaluate its process of creating these Blu-rays and will research more efficient methods of restoration.'' So Does that mean that they're still going to release these on Blu-rays, But they're just going to go about it differently right?
We can't go back to stuff like this


I laugh every-time I see those Images. I just wonder who at Funimation said ''Aight looks good''

[Spoofer]

Probably because they're a store and they can tell how much of their stock is selling.

How many people actually get lost on the internet and believe shopping at RACS is an intelligent decision, in order for those numbers to be statistically significant. ?_?

[Pokewhiz7]

Samurai, according to Franko, who may or may not be reliable about this, that was caused during the downscaling process, so if they do do HD orange bricks, they might not have that issue. They would still look like complete horseshit garbage, of course, but slightly better.

[BlazingFiddlesticks]

That, and more importantly, none of the other sets actually looked as bad as the first panel.

[Android 50]

I kind of saw this coming. People just don't have the extra money lying around to buy these. And how many times are they going to re-release the series? You have single dvds, Orange Bricks, DBoxes, Kai AND now the Blu-ray sets which are just 17 episodes! They should just split all 291 episodes up in 2 giant DBoxes and sell them each for 70 dollars.

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

Dragon Ball Z prints fricking money...provided that it satisfies both fans and FUNimation's standards.

[Innagadadavida]

Those Blu-Rays look amazing but I didn't buy them. I have already bought too many DBZ releases from FUNi thinking it would be my last. I get a twisted satisfaction knowing its not working out for them.

[bkev]

Hell, in regards to Franko's downconversion comments... I'd actually believe it to a certain extent. Even Star Wars somehow looks better on the commercial on blu-ray. And fans have been able to get back more detail from the crushed blacks than the HDTV rips from the Blus even though little color correction outside of the various saber shots was applied.

I just hope this doesn't mean Toei is doing their own and FUNi is just going to wait for that. I can't STAND the red push on the dragon box and doubt Toei would care enough to do color correction - and if they did it would probably look like Kai.

[Gotham22]

I don't think this has to do with money. I think it has to do with putting 291 episodes in 4 3 aspect ratio format on Blu-ray is probably killer work than FUNimation thought.

[samuraix123]

Why not make it full screen then? Is there a big difference between Full screen and 4x3? Because I always thought 4x3 was Full.

[Pokewhiz7]

Why not make it full screen then? Is there a big difference between Full screen and 4x3? Because I always thought 4x3 was Full.

For Dragon Ball Z? Yes.
For a 2.35:1 movie, 4:3 is certainly not full screen.

[samuraix123]

I figured you'd be the one to answer that question for me Pokewhiz I don't know about that stuff so it does feel good to get corrected Let's hope Funimation will release some more info on the fate of the Blu-rays.

[Metalwario64]

I can't STAND the red push on the dragon box and doubt Toei would care enough to do color correction - and if they did it would probably look like Kai.

Fist of the North Star had very similarly aged colors as the Dragon Box for it's initial DVD remaster, then a few years ago (2008 I believe) when Toei did the HD remaster they did extensive color correction on the footage.

If they do an HD remaster of Z, it would surely come out like the Fist of the North Star HD remaster. I think the HD remaster of FotNS is even supposed to have less jitter and film weave than the SD remaster, so they could also end up having the same benefits as FUNi's remaster if they do end up remastering it.