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

[Metalwario64]

I don't think there is a Sailor Moon Bluray release in Japan actually.

There was a Ranma 1/2 Bluray in Japan that Viz used.

Yeah, its looking like Viz has done this one themselves.

[qjz123]

Apparently they're outsourcing it.

Charlene: In 2009, there was a restoration done. Those are the very best materials available for Sailor Moon, and it is a 90s shojo anime, so there are challenges there. But we've been working with some companies that are really great at what they do and they've developed a way to not just do the inverse telecine but to really remaster that video. It looks significantly better than any other DVD that's come out, lots of care was put into it. You don't have to worry about any fake-widescreen, it's in a fully uncropped pillarbox, all the original colors are preserved, and a lot of care was taken to go along with our official style guides and official materials to make sure all of the colors are the way they were intended to be. Everything looks nice and crisp and clear, but you still have to understand that season 1 is a 1992 TV Anime.

Well I stand corrected. This is actually a surprise coming from Viz they didn't do much in the way of Blu ray until recently.
Although it doesn't look much better than the uncropped season sets.

[kei17]

Isn't that Sailor Moon Blu-ray an upscaled release? Toei recently announced the Blu-ray boxes of Slam Dunk and it turned out to be just an upscaled crap. They didn't even bother to correct colors, too.

[Kid Buu]

Apparently it's slightly unscaled yeah, but I'd take that over a 16:9 release.

By the way Kei17, I sent you a PM the other day, did you ever get around to reading that?

[Gokuden]

On Twitter Viz says that the new voice actors for the dub are being picked by the creator of Sailor Moon herself.

Why can't DBZ have a working relationship with Akira that way? Nonetheless, this is very exciting, I will be the first in-line to get Sailor Moon complete sur Blu-ray.

Gotta hand it to Viz, they know how to treat the Sailor ladies.

#NoCropping

Let's send several tweets to Funimation with that hashtag, like Sony fans did to keep the PS4 region-free.

Why does everyone keep saying this… Viz is licensing an already existing Blu ray release from Japan and releasing it the way they got it. Well guess what? Funimations been doing that for YEARS long before Viz ever did. Yu Yu Hakusho and DBZ Kai just to name a couple. It just so happens that when it comes to DBZ there is no Blu ray release for it in Japan other than Kai oh yeah and guess what? Funimation brought Kai over and kept it in 4:3. Viz's release of Sailor Moon and Funimations cropped release of DBZ can't be compared. Its not like Funimation is bringing over a release that was already done and complete in 4:3 in Japan and taking it and cropping it to 16:9 which Viz's #NoCropping would lead you to believe. Funimation is creating this release themselves from scratch its a completely different situation. What Viz is doing with their #NoCropping is nothing special in fact Funimation did long before Viz ever even thought of it. Funimation has never changed the aspect ratio of a complete release that they licensed from Japan.

It's okay, besides that (even though there is no Japanese BRD release), there are several more reasons to rip on Funimation; change of script, cut episodes, censored episodes, starting releases of series, cancelling releases without notice; releasing the horrendous orange bricks in 16:9 cropped, then apologizing about the decision, then doing it again with the season sets; holding polls and suspiciously concealing results, remastering the DBZ seasons in uncropped fashion (which I do admit, look fine, nothing a good INPUT calibration can't do), then cropping said full remastered seasons because ''piss off fanbase mode'' kicked in. Not letting people know which boxsets were limited prints, these are just a few reasons as to why Funimation should be under new management.

[dbboxkaifan]

Whoa, Sailor Moon's another upscaled Blu-ray? Looks like it. Another one for the bucket which includes Naruto and Saint Seiya, as well as others.

I might get Sailor Moon Blu-rays if they're Region B compatible and considering the price on it.

[Super Kami Guru]

This is Ranma ½ on Blu-ray. Can anyone explain to me why we can't have an HD transfer and remastering/restoration of DBZ with this kind of detail and quality?

[Metalwario64]

The Level Sets were pretty damn close.

[KentalSSJ6]

The Level Sets were pretty damn close.

I'm starting to think they got cancelled was because they were released in 4:3 and people just wouldn't stop complaining about the black bars on the sides.

[dbboxkaifan]

The Level Sets were pretty damn close.

I'm starting to think they got cancelled was because they were released in 4:3 and people just wouldn't stop complaining about the black bars on the sides.

The process of the Level BDs might've been too much and FUNimation was charging a low price for each box that'd be released each time. If they had charged a higher price then might could've perhaps been different.

There's also the fact that they came out right after Dragon Box Z Vol. 7 which didn't help it at all.

[Kid Buu]

It's okay, besides that (even though there is no Japanese BRD release), there are several more reasons to rip on Funimation; change of script, cut episodes, censored episodes, starting releases of series, cancelling releases without notice; releasing the horrendous orange bricks in 16:9 cropped, then apologizing about the decision, then doing it again with the season sets; holding polls and suspiciously concealing results, remastering the DBZ seasons in uncropped fashion (which I do admit, look fine, nothing a good INPUT calibration can't do), then cropping said full remastered seasons because ''piss off fanbase mode'' kicked in. Not letting people know which boxsets were limited prints, these are just a few reasons as to why Funimation should be under new management.

Yeah, DBZ is the only FUNI series I'm really into it, and it's the only one that doesn't get the right treatment. Everything else I like is at Viz.

[Blade]

There's also the fact that they came out right after Dragon Box Z Vol. 7 which didn't help it at all.

The main problem caused by this was that the Level Sets were primarily catering for us guys - the 'collectors edition' demographic. The casual, Orange Brick owning fan, clearly didn't really buy into either the Dragonboxes or the Level Sets. So from Funimation's perspective, they were creating a product which was expensive to put out and was mostly consumed by a relatively limited audience.

All I will say, though, is that I doubt that Funimation were ever losing money on the Level Sets - just not making enough, otherwise they wouldn't have tried again with the Season Sets, especially so soon afterwards. The whole debacle is quite clearly an exercise whereby they're trying to optimise their income. They clearly saw more sales potential than they were hitting with the Level Sets, and were prepared to take the risk of shelving the entire release to glean as much income as possible from their venture into Dragonball on BluRay.

Having said that, it's possible that they may revisit the remaster process used for the Level Sets at a later date far down the line with a release primarily aimed at our demographic. The guys at Funimation aren't idiots, they know exactly what we want and why the Season Sets are falling short of that. They also know that we're probably going to buy the Season Sets regardless, from a business perspective they're playing the market very well - they want to release a highly profitable product for the everyman whilst the idea of Dragonball Z on BluRay is a fresh concept, but have the fail safe of knowing that the diehards will still be there when the buzz fades.

[theoriginalbilis]

My opinion on upscales: a 4:3 upscale for Blu-Ray is still better than a cropped HD master, and most of the time will still look better than the DVDs. So yeah, pretty happy about Viz's Sailor Moon announcement.

On a related note: I find it funny and pointless that FUNi had to use misleading terms and footage comparisons in the remastering featurette for the 4th Blu-Ray, when the sets have already been selling really well.

Can't we move past 2007?

[B]

Why can't DBZ have a working relationship with Toriyama that way?

Toriyama notoriously doesn't care about DB. Sailor Moon's author notoriously does care about that series.

[dbboxkaifan]

My opinion on upscales: a 4:3 upscale for Blu-ray is still better than a cropped HD master, and most of the time will still look better than the DVDs. So yeah, pretty happy about Viz's Sailor Moon announcement.

On a related note: I find it funny and pointless that FUNi had to use misleading terms and footage comparisons in the remastering featurette for the 4th Blu-ray, when the sets have already been selling really well.

Can't we move past 2007?

Viz lied about the R2J DVDs looking inferior, in fact they're not much different than Viz's remaster, aside that it has the intact grain included.

Comparison of R2J DVD Vs. Viz Blu-ray: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/74998

They just pulled a FUNimation and yet they mentioned on their Ranma 1/2 sets saying "giving fans the uncropped, original 4:3 aspect ratio" in what I think, as a response to FUNimation's Widescreen Dragon Ball Z Season Blu-rays.

I'd rather have the R2J or R2I DVDs with English subs than this to be honest.

Edit: Dragon Ball Z: Season Six [Blu-ray] now on Amazon for pre-orders! Only three more boxes and it's done!



http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Ball-Seaso ... 041&sr=1-6

Hopefully afterwards FUNimation releases an unDNR'd and uncropped version of Dragon Ball Z on Blu-ray.. in HD. Of course.

[bkev]

Do you honestly believe that those DVDs look better than what we've seen for the Sailor Moon upscale? I sure as hell don't. Granted, there appears to be a fair amount of grain scrubbing going on, but the seemingly more balanced color pallet makes it look far better to me - it lacks that muddy quality that early TOEi remasters have, unlike even parts of the Dragon Box. Plus, we haven't really seen the product yet; all we have is a trailer that is likely being meddled with by online video compression (YouTube is still pretty bad for HD video.)

Also, there's no intense sharpening going on with those unlike Z. Comparing those upscales to FUNimation's film remaster is apples to oranges. Seriously.

[AnimeMaakuo]

Hopefully afterwards FUNimation releases an unDNR'd and uncropped version of Dragon Ball Z on Blu-ray.. in HD. Of course.

People who hope for something that they never truly supported makes no sense to me. The level sets were cancelled because not enough people were buying them, yet fans expect FUNimation to release it again after supporting the season shit. Fans are too afraid of fighting for what they want. I've seen numerous people make threads about writing letters to FUNimation, but nobody cared. In fact, some of them even learned English so that folks here could understand, but nobody listened.

My advice is this: If you are too lazy to do something, you do not deserve to have anything better.

[dbboxkaifan]

People who hope for something that they never truly supported makes no sense to me. The level sets were cancelled because not enough people were buying them, yet they expect FUNimation to release it again after supporting the season shit. Fans are too afraid of fighting for what they want. I've seen numerous people make threads about writing letters to FUNimation, but nobody cared. In fact, some of them even learned English so that folks here could understand, but nobody listened.

My advice to all the fans: Just shut the fuck up and eat this. This is EXACTLY what you all want. If you are too lazy to do something, you do not deserve to have anything better.

How did they expect fans that just bought the Dragon Boxes Z 1-7 for about $210 to start buying Dragon Ball Z again without any room to breath or consider it? It was just really bad timing of FUNimation to release it right after Dragon Box Z Vol. 7.

They can't blame the fans, if they're gonna blame someone, it's themselves.

I saw Level 1.1 on pre-order way back and was like.. "Why?! I just got the entire Dragon Box Z collection.", then there's the fact that people aren't made of money or just rebuy the same series over and over again.

Anyway, the Level BDs weren't that great in regard to lacking the Japanese credits and NEPs.

[qjz123]

My opinion on upscales: a 4:3 upscale for Blu-ray is still better than a cropped HD master, and most of the time will still look better than the DVDs. So yeah, pretty happy about Viz's Sailor Moon announcement.

On a related note: I find it funny and pointless that FUNi had to use misleading terms and footage comparisons in the remastering featurette for the 4th Blu-ray, when the sets have already been selling really well.

Can't we move past 2007?

Viz lied about the R2J DVDs looking inferior, in fact they're not much different than Viz's remaster, aside that it has the intact grain included.

Comparison of R2J DVD Vs. Viz Blu-ray: http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/74998

They just pulled a FUNimation and yet they mentioned on their Ranma 1/2 sets saying "giving fans the uncropped, original 4:3 aspect ratio" in what I think, as a response to FUNimation's Widescreen Dragon Ball Z Season Blu-rays.

I'd rather have the R2J or R2I DVDs with English subs than this to be honest.

Edit: Dragon Ball Z: Season Six [Blu-ray] now on Amazon for pre-orders! Only three more boxes and it's done!



http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Ball-Seaso ... 041&sr=1-6

Hopefully afterwards FUNimation releases an unDNR'd and uncropped version of Dragon Ball Z on Blu-ray.. in HD. Of course.

So they're taking the 2009 R2J dvd release and upscaling it and applying dnr? In what universe is this considered to be a good thing, I agree with you I'd also rather have the R2J dvd release.

[Kojiro Sasaki]

How did they expect fans that just bought the Dragon Boxes Z 1-7 for about $210 to start buying Dragon Ball Z again without any room to breath or consider it? It was just really bad timing of FUNimation to release it right after Dragon Box Z Vol. 7.

That's one of the few points I agree with. The only thing that bothers me is the fact that FUNimation is a business company, not some private eBay seller. All this "Level sets project" seems strange to me... It's hard to believe that people at FUNimation could not properly count the costs of remastering process and set the proper release date.

They can't blame the fans, if they're gonna blame someone, it's themselves.

Should they blame themselves for coming up with a good strategy to make money? Let's face the facts: There is no market for professionally restored Dragon Ball. People don't want such a thing. Crying here and there does not mean that you are against something. The hardcore part of the entire Dragon Ball fanbase is marginally small and 90% of it just complain while supporting what they claim to be against. Aren't you people tired with all this discussion? I fully understand complains when the case is fresh, but do you really have any interest or pleasure in discussing this after all this time? We got a pile of shit and we will not get anything better, especially when our 100% effort = writing a few posts. We cannot blame FUNimation for providing a product that we all want or accept. That's how capitalism works.

My advice: Let's do something serious or forget about the release we want. As long as people are active, complaining makes sense but when it becomes complaining for complaining it starts to be boring and even annoying in some parts. Due to the fact that we are 1% of the fanbase (including 0% of people who are willing to fight for what they want) we cannot achieve anything, but any attempt would back our complains and prove that we are not a bunch of sissies who can only cry. A true man should back his words with deeds.

As long as you don't want to do anything, I completely agree with Anime Maakuo's advice (the one before and the one after the post was edited ). Season sets are exact representation of your effort and as long as you are just sitting and crying, you have no right to complain.

Anyway, the Level BDs weren't that great in regard to lacking the Japanese credits and NEPs.

That's a funny tendency I often come across. When something is a total and absolute piece of pure shit, people are desperately trying to find something good in it, but when the product is quite good, they all become extremely nitpicky art dealers and experts who pay attention to every single detail This is not a pure example of what I'm trying to say, but it reminds me of many discussions in this topic.