Dragon Ball Z "Seasons" On Blu-ray: News & Discussion

[Enigmo]

To be honest, other than the nonsensical blurriness, Kai is the best remaster of DBZ. With some sharpening, it is DEFINITELY the best quality of DBZ you'll get. Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv9-CBDW8eA

With the DBZ Levels 1.1 and 1.2 it makes your statement invalid because that's actually the definitive best HD quality for Dragon Ball Z.

Dragon Ball Kai has a clash between the original animation and new animation which is very obvious to anyone and at times it was annoying but also nice because it took away from that blurry old footage (Levels fixed it) which we've seen for more than 20 years.

I honestly don't get you people.... the only two good aspects of the level sets are the large frame size (not saying 1080p resolution, but as in more of the picture than we're used to seeing), and then the colours which were just to my liking for whatever reason. If you read all of my message, I say, with the exception of the blurriness and the new animated scenes, Kai had the best HD remaster. You're acting as if I'm saying Kai was the best HD release of DBZ..... no, that's not what I'm saying at all, I'm saying it had the best remastering process (which suggests I'm only talking about the old footage, not the new animation). The blurriness, it looks like it was a post process rather than to do with the actual remastering process, because if you watch the YouTube video in HD and fullscreen, you'll see, it can be undone and when it is undone, it is sharp and sharper than the level sets without being full of grain.

[kei17]

And I think that's what I'm getting at. Kai's underlying purpose WAS "made to look (and sound) like it's for the modern era". OK, that's great... except then you bring out another product whose purpose is also to do the same thing.

I was thinking about the same thing. The aim of the remaster of this release seems to be almost the same as what Toei did to Kai, and FUNi is already selling Kai. So then, what's the point of this? They've been selling an updated and modernized version of DBZ named Kai and they're likely to even release a new arc of it this year, which is going to compete with the later sets of this release for sure. They're going to butcher yet another release unless they clearly differentiate DBZ and Kai, and they could handle it when they released the Level sets except for the unthoughtful releasing schedules. They should market old DBZ for collectors and Kai for newcomers and those who want a refreshed version of the series that looks new. These new Season sets make no sense marketing wise.

I think that they should've released Kai in 16:9 and widely market it for non-hardcore fans like this time, and produce Dragon Box Blu-rays by cooperating with Toei. It's so simple as they say "if you run after two hares, you will catch neither".

[Big Momma]

That combination of Japanese audio and the new remaster is so jarring. It doesn't fit at all.

Yeah, there's a weird contrast between the over-madeup footage and the muffled audio.

It's more natural with the original broadcast audio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mciEHXzG_qk

That sounds amazing. The broadcast audio always blows me away whenever I hear it.

Some more footage but with the eyecatches this time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POsdoEr ... ata_player

To be honest, it doesn't look all that bad (considering what my expectations were). If I didn't have the DBox, I'd probably consider picking these up.

[samuraix123]

To be honest, other than the nonsensical blurriness, Kai is the best remaster of DBZ. With some sharpening, it is DEFINITELY the best quality of DBZ you'll get. Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv9-CBDW8eA

With the DBZ Levels 1.1 and 1.2 it makes your statement invalid because that's actually the definitive best HD quality for Dragon Ball Z.

Dragon Ball Kai has a clash between the original animation and new animation which is very obvious to anyone and at times it was annoying but also nice because it took away from that blurry old footage (Levels fixed it) which we've seen for more than 20 years.

While I wont say his opinion is invalid but I will say that I agree with you. In my opinion the Level Sets is the best release that I have seen. I even think they beat the Dragon-boxes! But that's just my opinion.

Could the home release of Kai have BEEN this HD master for the masses, either cropped or full 4:3?

I don't know about that, but I do know that Kai was definitely the version of the show "brought into the modern era", which makes FUNimation's attempt to do the same with Z look rather questionable.

If the fans wanted the show to be more like it was made today... then Kai would be more successful, though I suppose you could argue its lack of success is mostly due to FUNimation's terrible marketing for Kai... or lack thereof. Just to clarify, by "success" I refer to the admittedly lackluster home video sales.

Not to sound like I'm attacking you because I'm not. But I haven't seen any Funi fan say they want the show to look like new or it was made today? But then again I don't use the internet much unless it's for here and a few other things haha

[samuraix123]

Also not to go off topic but Why won't Toei use Kei's audio? Do they just not care?

[VegettoEX]

Also not to go off topic but Why won't Toei use Kei's audio? Do they just not care?

It's mostly a case of "Who knows?" Part of it could be pride ("we refuse to acknowledge our stuff isn't the best"), and I'd have to let either kei himself or other folks more embedded in the Japanese culture speak to how businesses approach that. Part of it could be that they're not convinced it is what kei says it is, or have proof that it is not actually what kei says it is (I personally haven't gotten involved in any comparisons and really have no opinion on it). They might also think they could just do a better job themselves in the future.

[Enigmo]

I think people are misunderstanding my point about Kai being better than the level sets.... I'm not saying it's a better release, but talking about the remastering process only. Kai, when sharpened, is the best quality of DBZ...."in my opinion". I don't get why it should be that big of a surprise, any good Bluray remaster of an old anime is done in Japan, not America. For example, Cowboy Bebeop and Berserk, both done in Japan and FUNimation can't even touch them when it comes to HD remastering. Kai is very close to their quality, it's just that they decided to blur it in the end.

[kei17]

Also not to go off topic but Why won't Toei use Kei's audio? Do they just not care?

They won't do something new because of a lack of precedent. No one does it for the same reason, so it's not gonna happen forever unless the West does. A typical logic of Japanese companies.

[PhoenixEX]

Why is it that no single release can seem to satisfy the fans?

The Ultimate Uncut DVD's - never finished
The Orange Bricks - cropped, over-saturated
The Level Sets - too grainy, never finished
The Dragon Boxes - too pink
The Bluray Season Sets - cropped, over-saturated

I'm curious, what would be the perfect release for you?

[samuraix123]

I think people are misunderstanding my point about Kai being better than the level sets.... I'm not saying it's a better release, but talking about the remastering process only. Kai, when sharpened, is the best quality of DBZ...."in my opinion". I don't get why it should be that big of a surprise, any good Bluray remaster of an old anime is done in Japan, not America. For example, Cowboy Bebeop and Berserk, both done in Japan and FUNimation can't even touch them when it comes to HD remastering. Kai is very close to their quality, it's just that they decided to blur it in the end.

Nah I understand ya bud. And I agree Kai does look pretty dang good man.

[Ajay]

Why is it that no single release can seem to satisfy the fans?

The Ultimate Uncut DVD's - never finished
The Orange Bricks - cropped, over-saturated
The Level Sets - too grainy, never finished
The Dragon Boxes - too pink
The Bluray Season Sets - cropped, over-saturated

I'm curious, what would be the perfect release for you?

Level sets but with no crushed blacks, a little less contrast and the broadcast audio. I have no issues with grain. That's 16mm for you and the Level sets grain is no different to the Dragon Boxes, it's just the resolution and bitrate making it more pronounced.
I'd love to have all the previews and credits in the correct order too.
A marathon mode that skips over the intro/credits and previously/NEP would be a nice but not necessary edition.

[samuraix123]

Why is it that no single release can seem to satisfy the fans?

The Ultimate Uncut DVD's - never finished
The Orange Bricks - cropped, over-saturated
The Level Sets - too grainy, never finished
The Dragon Boxes - too pink
The Bluray Season Sets - cropped, over-saturated

I'm curious, what would be the perfect release for you?

Dude I've said that a thousand times!! Haha I don't understand why some people hate the Pink of the Dragon-boxes. I personally love them! It's hard for me to say what would be perfect release. It's all Frankensteined to death haha Honestly...if everything keeps going good with this release I'll buy all of the new Blu-rays. but after this as I said a few posts back. I'm gonna take a break from buying Z. I didn't buy the Rock the Dragon sets because I already own the original release and the 3 movies uncut so no point in investing in it.
Were Dragonball fans..If we couldn't find something to complain about it wouldn't be us would it? lol

[ect5150]

Some more footage but with the eyecatches this time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POsdoEr ... ata_player

It looks better than I thought it would (and that's got to be one of my personal favorite Top 5 DBZ moments).

But keep in mind, this is footage that was already hand restored for the Levels Sets. Every blemish was hand removed. You know they took that footage and just applied the new image processing on top of that. The question is going to wind up being "Will that still be the case when we get to the Cell Saga?"

[Kuwabara]

But keep in mind, this is footage that was already hand restored for the Levels Sets. Every blemish was hand removed. You know they took that footage and just applied the new image processing on top of that. The question is going to wind up being "Will that still be the case when we get to the Cell Saga?"

Also, how long are they going to keep up the old footage/new footage shtick for the Blu-ray menus? They only remastered so much footage for the Levels. It'd be pretty funny if they kept doing the same thing but started using upscaled footage from the singles.

[kei17]

But keep in mind, this is footage that was already hand restored for the Level Sets.

Is that confirmed?

[Fizzer]

Why is it that no single release can seem to satisfy the fans?

The Ultimate Uncut DVD's - never finished
The Orange Bricks - cropped, over-saturated
The Level Sets - too grainy, never finished
The Dragon Boxes - too pink
The Bluray Season Sets - cropped, over-saturated

I'm curious, what would be the perfect release for you?

The Levels sets, complete and covering DB, DBZ and DBGT. If I got that, I'd be satisfied with my Dragon Ball video collection, and never have to buy anything else, except new stuff like Kai. To be honest, I actually believe this is why we'll never get a perfect release. Every release has to have some major flaw, or too many people will simply stop buying new ones.

Ideally, I'd like all of the opening and closing animations, the Japanese opening/closing themes on all of the audio tracks (Or maybe dub versions), the Japanese broadcast audio, and Japanese title cards and maybe credits while watching in Japanese, and I guess it doesn't hurt to throw in NEPs, but honestly, I'd be fully satisfied with the Levels. I would be complete.

Some more footage but with the eyecatches this time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POsdoEr ... ata_player

It looks better than I thought it would (and that's got to be one of my personal favorite Top 5 DBZ moments).

But keep in mind, this is footage that was already hand restored for the Levels Sets. Every blemish was hand removed. You know they took that footage and just applied the new image processing on top of that. The question is going to wind up being "Will that still be the case when we get to the Cell Saga?"

There's a small chance they're still restoring episodes by hand, but only releasing them with filters applied. right? RIGHT? Maybe they couldn't afford to keep it up unless the sets sold well, and they had to crop and apply filters to make that happen. Yeah? THERE'S A CHANCE ISN'T THERE? And then after, they'll release the Levels sets, because the remaster is already done. Please? Pleaaaaase?

[eledoremassis02]

The japanese audio sounds great!! Can someone do level vs season sets for japanese audio? I might get it fir just that

[Haseowolf]

I'm interested to see, if they're still working with the original tape masters they used for the OBs, how their second season release will turn out. Will it look just as washed out? Or can they work some sort of processing/remastering magic there?

While I'm opposed to the cropping, I am happy to see a little bit of selective framing going on. That at least softens the wound a little. The filtering and grain removal is WAY over excessive, but if I was at a point where this was the only release I could get I could survive it. Hell, I bought all the Orange Bricks since I thought that was all we were going to get. These sets seem to be a step above those, which is good. Certainly not what I want in the market, but if it's what we've got, then meh. Long story short: bad release, but not the worst I've seen.

[Fizzer]

I've just been looking on the Amazon page again, and it's really sad to see this with a significantly lower score than the orange bricks, when it's actually a better product.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

Found the Upcoming specials, sneak peak, if anyone is interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcXPptA ... ata_player