Why would no one know about Uncut DVDs?

[matt0044]

If anyone knows FUNimation, then they know that their Anime DVD releases are unedited and UNCUT and that TV airing might result in edits for content like with the DBZ Anime years ago (though this time it's to a MUCH lesser extent and it's dubbed uncut first, then edited) and Naruto on CN as well. Why would DBZ Kai be any different? How would a TV-Y7 version of Dragon Ball Z not be edited from the original?

Honestly, I understand why FUNi hasn't emphasized the "uncut" aspect of the DVDs. They believe their consumers are smart enough to know that they are based on their other Anime releases. Like it went without saying. Quite frankly, it's the idiotic haters' own faults.

[dbboxkaifan]

The trailers of FUNimation Kai Blu-rays and DVDs do not say anywhere that they're "Uncut" or "Uncensored", they did however mention on the BD/DVD with those stickers.

Example:

I personally hate these stickers but I won't try to remove them from my Kai BD slipcovers or they may ruin the slipcovers.

[TheBlackPaladin]

If anyone knows FUNimation, then they know that their Anime DVD releases are unedited and UNCUT and that TV airing might result in edits for content like with the DBZ Anime years ago (though this time it's to a MUCH lesser extent and it's dubbed uncut first, then edited) and Naruto on CN as well. Why would DBZ Kai be any different? How would a TV-Y7 version of Dragon Ball Z not be edited from the original?

Honestly, I understand why FUNi hasn't emphasized the "uncut" aspect of the DVDs. They believe their consumers are smart enough to know that they are based on their other Anime releases. Like it went without saying. Quite frankly, it's the idiotic haters' own faults.

That's the thing though, a lot of people don't know FUNimation. DBZ is one of the few animes that continues to have "mainstream" appeal even for people who aren't normally anime fans. Many of the more casual consumers don't even know that DBZ was edited when it aired on Toonami. I'd like to blame the consumers for not knowing this, but marketing today demands that consumers know the important facts very, very quickly. We live in what I call the "Twitter Age"--an age where people just want the bullet points, and fast. So unless there's a quick-but-prominent mention of Kai being uncut, most people will think it's not.

The trailers of FUNimation Kai Blu-rays and DVDs do not say anywhere that they're "Uncut" or "Uncensored", they did however mention on the BD/DVD with those stickers

And that, from my perspective, was the biggest problem. Trailers are what most people will see. Anime is not sold that prominently in stores anymore. I mean, sure, it's not like it's completely absent from the shelves, but almost all anime nowadays is either watched online or ordered online. So what are the chances that somebody's going to look that closely for the word "uncut" on the sticker? I've said it before, but FUNimation seriously dropped the ball with the marketing of Kai. That's so sad, too, because the dub for Kai is so much better than their dub for Z. It was a real bummer for me that the better dub was dismissed by so many fans because they thought the edited TV version was the actual version. I think I've told this story before, but so many people were shocked when I told them there was an uncut version of Kai, and one person thought I was making it up.

[matt0044]

I still don't blame FUNi for this oversight. To them, they believe it goes without saying that they're DVDs contain Uncut content. Plus, I think they ignore the haters on Kai being "edited" because they're not fully aware of all this and, well, haters gonna hate and whatnot. They put the Uncut label as a sort of afterthought.

Plus, DBZ was released Uncut on DVD since the US TV version was EDITED. Why couldn't people put two and two together for Kai? And what about regular Anime fans who are aware of this process?

[SaiyaJedi]

Don't forget that FUNimation makes its home in the United States of Frivolous Lawsuits. It wouldn't be long before some irate parents sued over "objectionable" content corrupting their latchkey kids. The warnings give them something to point to in order to say that the parents were at fault for not reading the damned label.

[Jackal puFF]

Plus you never see any dragonball z commercials for this kind of stuff anywhere besides youtube.

[penguintruth]

I blame the fans. It's a consumer's responsibility to stay abreast of what's available. And yet dozens of halfwits insist there's no uncut release of Kai. They're all over YouTube. Many of them have even expressed the believe that Nicktoons censors more than Toonami did.

The problem is, many DBZ fans are JUST DBZ fans and not anime fans. They aren't aware that, generally speaking, anime DVD releases are uncut.

[Travis Touchdown]

I personally hate these stickers but I won't try to remove them from my Kai BD slipcovers or they may ruin the slipcovers.

Me too. My Part 1 doesn't have that sticker and it makes it look off when compared to the other 7. I want SO badly to remove them, but I'd be so pissed if they ruined the slip covers somehow. I almost want to find someone with a stickered Part 1 slip cover who doesn't want it and trade them so my set can be consistent from 1 to 8.

[matt0044]

I personally hate these stickers but I won't try to remove them from my Kai BD slipcovers or they may ruin the slipcovers.

Me too. My Part 1 doesn't have that sticker and it makes it look off when compared to the other 7. I want SO badly to remove them, but I'd be so pissed if they ruined the slip covers somehow. I almost want to find someone with a stickered Part 1 slip cover who doesn't want it and trade them so my set can be consistent from 1 to 8.

That's... awfully dedicated. I myself just cut my losses if the DVD itself can be preserved.

[dbboxkaifan]

The problem is, many DBZ fans are JUST DBZ fans and not anime fans. They aren't aware that, generally speaking, anime DVD releases are uncut.

It doesn't help that the American DBZ (YouTube) fans only see the DBZ anime as the "original" with all authenticity, yep, with the "original" script (Example: Ally to good, nightmare to you!!). Then again, it's their choice whether they want DBZ or Kai, no one's going to force them.

Despite the bashing they do towards the original Dragon Ball Z music, I do agree Faulconer Productions' music would have suited Dragon Ball Kai better.

Lowering to their level won't do any good so replying with an appropriate helpful comment might be useful if they're not such twats and call a "weeaboo" for no reason. Hm, I keep reminding myself that "weeaboo" is related to Majin Boo, We At Boo?

[ssgOverlord]

You'd be surprised how many people think Mr.Popo is actually blue in Kai overall, and not just in broadcast television.

[Gonstead]

Youtube comments alone are what made me give up on the Dragon Ball community in general on that site.

[MetroidJunkie]

Don't forget that FUNimation makes its home in the United States of Frivolous Lawsuits. It wouldn't be long before some irate parents sued over "objectionable" content corrupting their latchkey kids. The warnings give them something to point to in order to say that the parents were at fault for not reading the damned label.

Funimation can still point to the back of the box where it clearly says it's PG rated.

[dbboxkaifan]

You'd be surprised how many people think Mr.Popo is actually blue in Kai overall, and not just in broadcast television.

Youtube comments alone are what made me give up on the Dragon Ball community in general on that site.

Do they promote the Dragon Ball Z Kai home release Blu-rays and DVDs in US TV? If not, it's also FUNimation's fault for not advertising the Kai home releases properly to everyone.

But really, if any of those viewers are much into Kai they'd probably figure to search it on Amazon, RightStuf or eBay to see if Blu-rays or DVDs exist.

The trailers don't mention "uncut" so forget them.

[TheBlackPaladin]

Do they promote the Dragon Ball Z Kai home release Blu-rays and DVDs in US TV? If not, it's also FUNimation's fault for not advertising the Kai home releases properly to everyone.

No, they don't advertise it on TV. Which, again, is why they dropped the ball in the marketing department. The fact that they do include the word "uncut" in the trailers for their DBZ DVDs only adds to the misconception among casual fans that DBZ is uncut and that the censored TV edits of Kai are how the show actually is.

Sure, fans could research this on their own, and good for them, but we're talking about marketing. If we're going to evaluate marketing, then the point of marketing is to tell people all the information that customers need to know in an attractive, creative, and quick manner. FUNimation's trailers, though--which is what most people will see--left out the critical detail that the home release was uncut. That's bad marketing...in my opinion, of course.

[MetroidJunkie]

FUNimation's trailers, though--which is what most people will see--left out the critical detail that the home release was uncut. That's bad marketing...in my opinion, of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTW16UZuzYo

If this is any indication, it should be a given that they're uncut because it quite clearly shows red blood on them. You can also see Gero choking a guy, which was cut out of the TV airing.

[matt0044]

Do they promote the Dragon Ball Z Kai home release Blu-rays and DVDs in US TV? If not, it's also FUNimation's fault for not advertising the Kai home releases properly to everyone.

No, they don't advertise it on TV. Which, again, is why they dropped the ball in the marketing department. The fact that they do include the word "uncut" in the trailers for their DBZ DVDs only adds to the misconception among casual fans that DBZ is uncut and that the censored TV edits of Kai are how the show actually is.

Sure, fans could research this on their own, and good for them, but we're talking about marketing. If we're going to evaluate marketing, then the point of marketing is to tell people all the information that customers need to know in an attractive, creative, and quick manner. FUNimation's trailers, though--which is what most people will see--left out the critical detail that the home release was uncut. That's bad marketing...in my opinion, of course.

To be fair, they've release many Anime on DVD UNCUT and rarely for TV (to be edited for a TV Y7, that is) so I guess they were banking on their regular consumers and maybe overall DBZ fans to know that the Kai DVDs are uncut in content and didn't account for these haters to occur because of it. Like it went without saying that DBZ on TV would be edited and Anime released by them would be always uncut. Why do they think the uncut DVDs on the Orange Bricks for DBZ are called UNCUT? Gee, maybe it was edited for TV or something in the past.

Hell, where would they get the idea that Kai on TV would be unedited? Are they unfamiliar with the censorship back then like "The Next Dimension" or how little to no blood was shown on air and how the UNCUT DVDs were made to undo said censorship? Are they that super desperate to hate Kai that it never occurred to them?

I guess FUNi could've emphasized the "Uncut" aspect of the DVDs. I'll say that. However, to be fair, they likely weren't expecting something like this. At least, something this immensely controversial.

[VegettoEX]

To be fair, the entire point of Kai was that it was "edited"... in this case, "edited down" for time. As in, contains less material.

It's a pretty easy jump to go from that to "clearly this is not uncut like DBZ used to be" unless you live on this forum.

[Gaffer Tape]

And for that matter, there was plenty of material in Kai that was censored compared to its counterpart in Z. Had the situation swung the other way, you'd hear fans complaining that FUNimation lied about the series being uncut because Goku and Raditz clearly spew blood in Z while they don't in Kai. There really is no fast, bullet-point style to explain in an ad that it is really the uncut version of Kai, but Kai is still censored compared to Z, but not as much as it was on television. I would assume this would probably be the reason they just swept it under the rug. I honestly don't believe bragging about the uncutness of it would have helped them all that much, and it probably would have just made things worse. The only thing it would have helped are those parents who picked up the home release expecting it to be the same thing their kids were gleefully watching on TV only to hear, to their horror, all the characters swearing up a storm.

[TheBlackPaladin]

And for that matter, there was plenty of material in Kai that was censored compared to its counterpart in Z. Had the situation swung the other way, you'd hear fans complaining that FUNimation lied about the series being uncut because Goku and Raditz clearly spew blood in Z while they don't in Kai. There really is no fast, bullet-point style to explain in an ad that it is really the uncut version of Kai, but Kai is still censored compared to Z, but not as much as it was on television. I would assume this would probably be the reason they just swept it under the rug. I honestly don't believe bragging about the uncutness of it would have helped them all that much, and it probably would have just made things worse. The only thing it would have helped are those parents who picked up the home release expecting it to be the same thing their kids were gleefully watching on TV only to hear, to their horror, all the characters swearing up a storm.

Great points as always, Gaffer Tape. The thought occurred to me too that perhaps FUNimation wasn't including the word "uncut" in the trailers so as not to confuse customers about Kai's relationship to DBZ. My issue with that, though, is if that's the case, why bother to put the word "uncut" on the sticker that's placed on top of the cover? In my mind, including the word "uncut" in a smaller capacity, but not in a larger capacity, has only served to create more confusion.

Clearly FUNimation didn't have an easy situation on their hands because Kai is...a little odd. It's odd because it's debatable whether or not Kai is a "new" show (which contains a new opening, new closing, some new animation, Yamamoto's new score, and--to the dub audience--a completely different experience with regard to the voice acting), or a re-edit of an existing show (same basic story, completely unaltered dialogue on the Japanese end, the re-insertion of Kikuchi's score, and most of the original Japanese cast returning). So in that sense, I'm not sure it's fair to say that Kai "censored" some things. I would think that, from a company standpoint, the best thing to do in marketing Kai would be to treat Kai as a new show with strong similarities to another one, rather than an "alternative cut" of DBZ. Of course, then we're back at the debate over how much Kai can be considered a "new" show. Kai is a very odd case in that it sort of lies in the gray area, and can lean towards "new" or "old" depending on which set of vocal performances you're watching and which musical score you're listening to.

Still, I still think FUNimation could have justified the use of the word "uncut" in their trailers because the home release is uncut in that there are no visual differences in how the show aired on TV in Japan. Clearly there is no perfect solution to this marketing dilemma, but I think they should have erred on the side of emphasizing the uncut nature of the home release, if only because many people have refused to watch Kai because they believe the TV version is the real version. I've talked to many people who, after informing them of the uncut home release and encouraging them to purchase it, have come back to me and said, "You were right, this dub is so much better than DBZ!"