Has Funimation ever released DBZ properly?

[B]

And the colors and the brightness and that it looks like it was scrubbed with a wire brush.

And still manages to look better than it ever has.

No. I don't even know how to respond to this. The picture is right there; in your face.

[MarCas92]

And the colors and the brightness and that it looks like it was scrubbed with a wire brush.

And still manages to look better than it ever has.

The fact that the spine image isn't visible unless you remove the slipcase. The fact that its use of the term "season" is a lie.

Both frivolous things to complain about.

The fact that its advertising campaign lied its ass off.

About what?

The fact that "season 2's" opening theme is horribly out of synch in every single episode of the set.

Good thing I watch it in marathon format and skip the intro anyway. Besides, do you need to see the same minute and a half intro for each episode, really?

Need I go on...?

Nope. Got the entire series uncut with the original Japanese broadcast for cheap. Why the hell would I complain?

^Can't tell if troll or actually serious? :/

[VegettoEX]

About what?

See the "Season Sets" section of our giant feature.

They lied about the extent to which they were doing manual remastering, they made misleading statements about NTSC safe zones, they lied about leaving the colors "unaltered", they completely fabricated video noise in a feature on their remastering, and so on and so forth.

I'm glad the orange bricks worked out for you. They didn't for a good bunch of us that were looking for the same integrity in the product that the marketing statements and features led us to believe.

[Bussani]

And still manages to look better than it ever has.

Seriously? Wow. I put one in my DVD player the other day just to check something out, and I was blown away by how bad the picture was. I didn't remember it being as bad as it is. I mean, when it was the only way to own the whole series cheaply, I was okay with it, too, but man does it look bad to me now.

[Ringworm128]

And still manages to look better than it ever has.

I cannot take this statement seriously.

[Gaffer Tape]

By the way, I'm sorry if that came off snarkier than I intended. I hope the little winky face made it clear I was just having some fun. That is, I was having some fun with you. I know it's been six years, but I'm still bitter about those damned season sets. Now I kinda understand where George Lucas was coming from when he said he wanted to track down every VHS bootleg copy of the Star Wars Holiday Special and smash them with a hammer. I feel the exact same way about the season sets.

But while I absolutely detest them, I am glad you're able to enjoy them.

[Hellspawn28]

I thought the Dragon Ball Gt releases were good

Good? I remember hearing that Hero Legacy for the Green Bricks looked terrible.

[MarCas92]

I thought the Dragon Ball Gt releases were good

Good? I remember hearing that Hero Legacy for the Green Bricks looked terrible.

I don't think it's that bad.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

I thought the Dragon Ball Gt releases were good

Good? I remember hearing that Hero Legacy for the Green Bricks looked terrible.

The Special is the only thing that looked terrible.

[Kojiro Sasaki]

Dragon Ball GT releases for Japanese audio fans weren't good. They used optical track as source of audio, when original digital track still exist (it's mixed in stereo from episode 5).

About proper DBZ release: This was the only professional event that occurred in history of Dragon Ball releases: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAy02J2fd8

[Smochi]

With Kai being extended, maybe we'll get a nice boxed set or something.

[Saiyan Prince Vegeta]

Funi's Blu-rays were gorgeous! Oh how I wish they'd start those back up again.

[astarisborn94]

For all the flaws the Orange Brick has, things could be a lot worse for DBZ fans (and yes, there are anime fan bases that suffer more than DBZ). At least we can eventually expect a proper Blu-ray release which should fix the visual quality.

Not that I'm supporting the Orange Box. I plan to hold off of buying DBZ until we get a proper Blu-ray release.

[Beji]

With Kai being extended, maybe we'll get a nice boxed set or something.

Don't say that!!!
It means I'd have to get it on top of already having Kai parts 1-5 with the Yamamoto score. I was just about to get Kai parts 6-8.. Then with Kai being extended making more dvd/blu-ray releases. The combinations of what I'd need to do to have a whole matching set of the Kai release... It leads to double dipping

[Vice]

Seems to me most of you are just entirely too nit-picky, but whatever.

[dbboxkaifan]

Don't say that!!!
It means I'd have to get it on top of already having Kai parts 1-5 with the Yamamoto score. I was just about to get Kai parts 6-8.. Then with Kai being extended making more dvd/blu-ray releases. The combinations of what I'd need to do to have a whole matching set of the Kai release... It leads to double dipping

Unfortunately only DB Kai Parts 1-4 had the original Kai music, Parts 5-8 with the replacement limited soundtrack.

DBZ's original music wouldn't have sucked in Kai if Toei Animation had used all of it and then I'd probably wouldn't mind the change because I love DBZ's authentic soundtrack.

Seems to me most of you are just entirely too nit-picky, but whatever.

You can call it that. I personally don't like when a cover doesn't blend in with the others, so to me details like these are somewhat important.

I've also not bought Crank 1 on Blu-ray because the European covers don't look good enough or "standard", or else I'd have import it because there's no UK BD yet. Waiting for Crank 1 and Wreck It Ralph.

[Gaffer Tape]

Seems to me most of you are just entirely too nit-picky, but whatever.

In regards to the orange bricks or Kai? I'm not going to deny that maybe I am too nitpicky about some things. As in, I've never bought Kai because I don't want a release that only has the English credits and title cards and the Dragon Ball "Z" Kai logo. The Dragon Boxes spoiled me, to be sure, and I now refuse to spend good money on anything that's not as good as they are. But as far as the orange bricks go, I'm sorry, but I consider them to be complete garbage, and I always have, and I don't think that's nitpicking at all. They really are the worst release (from a quality control standpoint) FUNimation has ever put out. And I certainly hope they continue to be for all time because I'm hard pressed to imagine how they could possibly do any worse.

[DBZ Mick]

This is not nitpicking this is the truth...

[ABED]

The dragon boxes are perfect for me. I got what I want, the original japanese with great subtitles and all the NEPs. The picture quality is great and so is the sound. I know that many techno-enthusiasts can say how I'm wrong, but I grew up with VHS, so anything more than that is a plus. As long as I can hear it clearly and see it well, that's all I ask.

The season sets were attrocious. They cut off a significan part of the picture, which often includes characters heads. Anyone who thinks that's nitpicky clearly has no idea what that word means because I have no idea what they could possibly consider important if cutting the frame is nitpicky.

[DinoChow]

Horrible orange brick flashbacks aside, in answer to the basic question of this topic, I think the answer is a pretty undeniable 'yes.' It's easy to get caught up in the unfinished releases and marketing lies and such, but the fact is, if the question here is 'properly,' then Funimation had been doing a good job even before putting out the Dragon Boxes, which are far more than just 'proper' for this series. The original dub/sub DVD singles were perfectly adequate. Not the best presentation of all time, and NEPs/eyecatches were missing, of course, but the episodes were there, the original Japanese audio was there, Steve's subtitles were there, etc. Perfectly watchable. Tough to collect, given they were 3-4 episode volumes, but that was the norm back then. Only undeniable stumbling block was the out-of-order release, but that does not make the individual releases themselves 'improper.'

Same goes for DB and GT, both of which have had multiple 'proper' releases. The season sets for both are more than acceptable; they may be missing certain elements, but that doesn't make them 'bad' releases. And I think the same goes for the singles (or in DB's case, saga sets) both had in the past. Dragon Box level quality? No, but a fine way to experience the shows in North America nevertheless.

And the same goes for all the movies and specials as well (though it IS a shame the specials are not currently in print in their original 4x3).

And apart from the Japanese title cards being omitted, I don't see what possible complaints there could be for their Kai releases, which actually trumped the equivalent Japanese releases soundly where DVD was concerned.

I just think it's counterproductive at this point to question whether or not Funi has ever released the series 'properly.' Obviously they have. They have also released it 'improperly' in the extreme with the orange bricks, but I personally don't feel like that should invalidate what quality work they have done making the franchise available to fans. There is more work to be done, and Funi should put another easily accessible 4x3 version of DBZ into print as an alternative to the bricks. But as Baggie_Saiyan noted on the last page, their ONLY option in the UK is those atrocious Bricks, and I think we in North America have little right to complain when that is a possible alternative.