Buu Saga Kai

[Hujio]

I think Hujio is onto something here. A number of weeks ago, (after I saw the pacing for the first few episodes were lightning fast, with very little room to breathe between scenes) I contacted Ryuji Kochi San, who is Vice President of Toei Animation Europe.
I asked him if the episode count of 69 was accurate, and he told me the following:

There is a difference between international version and japan market version. internation is 69 eps. For japan is still not it confirm, that is what I know.

Yeah, I independently confirmed that myself tonight thru a friendly anonymous source. The international version will be different than the Japanese version. So, from my end, this will be super fun to keep track of...

[sangofe]

I think Hujio is onto something here. A number of weeks ago, (after I saw the pacing for the first few episodes were lightning fast, with very little room to breathe between scenes) I contacted Ryuji Kochi San, who is Vice President of Toei Animation Europe.
I asked him if the episode count of 69 was accurate, and he told me the following:

There is a difference between international version and japan market version. internation is 69 eps. For japan is still not it confirm, that is what I know.

Yeah, I independently confirmed that myself tonight thru a friendly anonymous source. The international version will be different than the Japanese version. So, from my end, this will be super fun to keep track of...

W-What? That doesn't make sense >_> I wonder though, will the japanese sub voice both versions?

[SSJ Electric Fury]

So it's looks like we'll have to go from the average editing style of two episode of Z= one episode of Kai, to one and a half episodes of Z= the rest of the Kai Buu arc? Disappointing to say the least but I'll hope for the best.

Assuming episode 112 largely covers Z episode 229, sixty-two episodes of Z are left to adapt. Dividing that number by one point five yields forty-one and one third. Add that to the fourteen listed episodes of Buu Kai, and that makes fifty-five (rounded down). Plus, I presume the approximate 2:1 story coverage ratio will reappear from time to time. There is still hope we will see a merciful episode count.

[sintzu]

Well, that just gave us more questions rather than answer anything.

How is the Japanese version going to be shorter? It's the original, so it has to be either longer or the same length as international versions, right?

I think the japanese version will be closer to the manga while the international version will be closer to Z in terms of having more filler and longer fights

There is still hope we will see a merciful episode count.

Maby for the japanese version but not the international one

The international version will be different than the Japanese version. So, from my end, this will be super fun to keep track of...

Why not give evryone the same version ? The only thing i can think of is Funimation asked for a longer cut so whenever they are done releasing it they can release the japanese cut for more $$$

[MR.Mark]

If this alternate international cut ends up being true, than it looks like the Japanese cut for me. As much as I enjoy the English dub for Kai, I'm not liking this alternative, we'll see how it plays out.

[sintzu]

If this alternate international cut ends up being true, than it looks like the Japanese cut for me. As much as I enjoy the English dub for Kai, I'm not liking this alternative, we'll see how it plays out.

We can hope it's a mistake on his part and both are the same

[Valerius Dover]

But did the Japanese version at least record the international footage? Will we at least get Japanese voices for the rest of the series? This is beyond messed up...

[B]

I don't understand. Is this "international version" longer than the Japanese version? What will be the difference; that one simply moves faster and cuts more filler?

[sintzu]

I don't understand. Is this "international version" longer than the Japanese version? What will be the difference; that one simply moves faster and cuts more filler?

If there are 2 then yes to both your questions,I just hope the international version doesn't keep the boring filler and stick with longer fights insted

[Valerius Dover]

I hope this doesn't lead to the DVDs being dub only.

[Hujio]

At the moment all I can say is that the international version will be longer than the Japanese version. By how much? I honestly have no idea. At this point it seems clear Toei themselves haven't decided exactly how long their version will be, so it's hard telling.

[Puto]

I hope this doesn't lead to the DVDs being dub only. :(

The Japanese actors started recording in 2012, so they probably recorded the long version and it's now being trimmed further for the Japanese airing.

[Valerius Dover]

I hope this doesn't lead to the DVDs being dub only.

The Japanese actors started recording in 2012, so they probably recorded the long version and it's now being trimmed further for the Japanese airing.

That's what I'm hoping. Maybe the version they're airing on TV is a severely edited version, like the old 1996 Dub of DBZ. How ironic. They made 69 Episodes, originally meant for the international market, but now they're airing a shortened version in Japan. Presumably, the Home Video release in Japan will be the full version. The Home Video release in the US will also be the full version, which will correspond to the one aired on TV minus censorship.

If so, it doesn't sound so bad. Getting a new dub and new music is still a plus. I wonder how the music will be affected by this change, though.

[JulieYBM]

This would confuse JoJo, it's so bizarre. I hope the Japanese version is much shorter than the international version because anywhere near even fifty episodes is too long for so few chapters.

[sintzu]

This would confuse JoJo, it's so bizarre. I hope the Japanese version is much shorter than the international version because anywhere near even fifty episodes is too long for so few chapters.

I'd like it short as well but not if it means getting short fights like in the manga

[Gyt Kaliba]

Wait...do...what now? The version we get overseas is going to be longer than the version airing in Japan, or something like that? That's...just...confusing. I guess it might explain some of the music placement snafus though, if they're just having to slap things back together, and maybe the pacing will be better in the international version.

Still though, that's just...yeesh.

Yeah, I independently confirmed that myself tonight thru a friendly anonymous source. The international version will be different than the Japanese version. So, from my end, this will be super fun to keep track of...

Yeah, I can't say I envy you at all. ^_^; Do your best man.

[MagicBox]

The Japanese actors started recording in 2012, so they probably recorded the long version and it's now being trimmed further for the Japanese airing.

Crossing my fingers for this. The alternative (getting a longer version that the actors never recorded for) would probably stop me from buying the episodes when they hit North America. I need my Japanese audio.

I'll be so glad when Kai's over...

[JEFFMAN219]

Wait a minute now I'm confused. Why did Toei make two versions of the boo saga of Kai?

[Freeza Soldier #156]

Wait a minute now I'm confused. Why did Toei make two versions of the boo saga of Kai?

From what I've gathered, it's possible that Toei initially created a version of Buu Kai that was just intended to be sent to international markets and they had no plans of doing anything with the show in Japan. When they decided that they were going to air the show, they went back and reworked it in an effort to shorten it up even more. This would explain why Masako Nozawa mentioned the show running for a year and the episode count being halved (which would put it around the 48 episodes currently scheduled for home release in Japan) and Toei's European branch stating that there were 69 episodes. Long story short: this whole thing is a mess and no-one, apparently not even Toei, really knows anything for sure. Dragon Ball Kai has always seemed to me to be a "let's just make it up as we go along" kind of project. It doesn't seem like much initial planning really went into it. Funny that the manga was created in the same fashion.

[UltimateHammerBro]

Some people have complained about the fact that the 'international' version may not be in Japanese, but I'm going to throw a theory here: what if some lines have simply been redubbed or sped up?

I've read some comments about how a few lines are said too fast, so it's possible that the Japanese cast recorded the longer international version (if I remember well, Mayumi Tanaka's comments about them dubbing Kai were made well before it was announced that it would air in Japan), and then this version has been edited for time, and a few lines may have been sped up.

That way, we would have two Japanese versions, and only one in other languages. In fact, maybe the Japanese version is 16:9 only because it's only intended for Japan, and the other one is in 4:3, but this seems a bit less likely to me.