Dragon Ball Kai vs Dragon Box

[AnimeMaakuo]

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[Dark Vegeta-Sama]

I choose the Dragon Box, it's what I grew up with.

Unless you're 9 years old, you most definitely did not grow up with the Dragon Boxes.

I know what he meant, but that was funny.

[SovietJedi]

Am I the only one who thinks the Dragon Boxes look a little rough and grainy? Maybe it's just me, but Kai's looking really, really smooth. Especially the colors.

[Drayenko]

Nope, I agree with you a 100%. The only bad thing about Kai are the redrawn scenes. Everything else I love it! (The drawing of course.)

[SovietJedi]

Ugh God yes. The new redrawn scenes look awful, and they stick out like a sore thumb. The film grain and character designs don't match at all. It reminds me of when George Lucas went back into the original three Star Wars movies and added in all that crappy CGI. It's an obvious and unwelcome addition.

[Gaffer Tape]

Indeed. Anyone who hates the Star Wars Special Editions is okay in my book.

Although I do give Kai quite a bit more leeway in that than Star Wars because at least Kai is clearly trying to be its own product. It's not trying to be Z or replace Z, unlike the SEs, which are just pretending to be the ACTUAL Star Wars trilogy when they're not.

[Ashura]

Kai would be the Star Wars Special Editions if Toei decided the original Z never existed and refused to re-release it in its original, unmarred form. But that's obviously not the case.

[Pokewhiz7]

Am I the only one who thinks the Dragon Boxes look a little rough and grainy? Maybe it's just me, but Kai's looking really, really smooth. Especially the colors.

That's because they didn't do any grain removal, which I'm glad they didn't. When you do, you get shat like this happening:

[kemuri07]

Am I the only one who thinks the Dragon Boxes look a little rough and grainy? Maybe it's just me, but Kai's looking really, really smooth. Especially the colors.

That's kind of the point. Whilst Kai is "NEW AND IMPROVED" (in before snarky comments), Dragon Box is made specifically to recreate the original DBZ, hence all the grain. It actually looks pretty nice, and in some cases much better than Kai (especially in regards to the horrid redrawn scenes).

With that said: I have both the first vol of the DragonBox, as well as the first two volumes of Kai, and I think I might prefer Kai. Like everyone else, I grew up watching DB anyway I can (either from toonami or scouring the internet for japanese episodes), but the funimation voices are who I hear when I think of these characters. So the basis of my decision is on the dub, and Kai wins it hands down. Sure, the re-done dub for those uncut dvds are fine, but the kai version is just so much better. So when I start watching the Dragon Box, I'll probably just stick to the original japanese voicework.

[SovietJedi]

Indeed. Anyone who hates the Star Wars Special Editions is okay in my book.

Ah, well thank you kindly

That's because they didn't do any grain removal, which I'm glad they didn't. When you do, you get shat like this happening

Well maybe if DBZ didn't use that frameshake effect every damn episode, that wouldn't happen all the time!

Just kidding, of course. Yes, that loss of detail from the grain removal bugged the crap out of me with the Remastered box sets. Leaving it as is for the Dragon Boxes is definitely a plus in my book. Did they do anything to brighten the colors for the Dragon Boxes? It looks a little brighter than the original Japanese, but I don't think I looked into it well enough.

Like everyone else, I grew up watching DB anyway I can (either from toonami or scouring the internet for japanese episodes), but the funimation voices are who I hear when I think of these characters. So the basis of my decision is on the dub, and Kai wins it hands down. Sure, the re-done dub for those uncut dvds are fine, but the kai version is just so much better. So when I start watching the Dragon Box, I'll probably just stick to the original japanese voicework.

Agreed wholeheartedly. Funimation's Kai dub is easily the most professional dub the entire franchise has received so far (not to say that Funimation's previous work on the show wasn't professional at all, Kai is just even better). The crappy roles have all been recast and the good ones have gotten even better. It's great to hear the voice actors I grew up with sound even better.

Wow. I said a mouthful for only my fourth post.

[Dark Vegeta-Sama]

Agreed wholeheartedly. Funimation's Kai dub is easily the most professional dub the entire franchise has received so far (not to say that Funimation's previous work on the show wasn't professional at all, Kai is just even better).

You're forgetting about FUNimation and Pioneer's dubs of DBZ movies 1-3 back in the late '90s. Up until Kai, anyway, those have always been the most professionally-done and accurate dubs of the franchise.

[SovietJedi]

Ah, you mean the ones that they released on VHS and used Ocean's voice actors? Those were really great, now that I think about it. Used the original Japanese music, too. I'm having a hard time deciding which I like more now.

[Pokewhiz7]

Did they do anything to brighten the colors for the Dragon Boxes? It looks a little brighter than the original Japanese, but I don't think I looked into it well enough.

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but the R1 release is very slightly brighter. I don't even notice it.

R1

R2

There's a site, too.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

Did they do anything to brighten the colors for the Dragon Boxes? It looks a little brighter than the original Japanese, but I don't think I looked into it well enough.

To my understanding, it's because of a roughly 10% brightness difference between American and Japanese NTSC signals.

[SovietJedi]

Oh, yes those both look really nice. Thanks for getting them for me.

[DemonRin]

Did they do anything to brighten the colors for the Dragon Boxes? It looks a little brighter than the original Japanese, but I don't think I looked into it well enough.

To my understanding, it's because of a roughly 10% brightness difference between American and Japanese NTSC signals.

Yeah, everyone in the world uses a particular type of television system to display the picture. Right now, the US uses ATSC which is all-digital, but SD signals still use NTSC and ALL TVs used to back in the Analog days, which is when Dragonball was created, used NTSC.

Forgetting Europe who uses a completely different signal than us (PAL), Japan uses a VERY similar signal to us, so much so that theirs is called "NTSC-J" (The J Stands for Japan, duh)

The ONLY difference is that the black level is slightly different between the two. And this translates to a slightly different brightness level, of about 10%. Therefore, when watching the Dragon Boxes, all you need to do is turn the brightness down a bit and you're solid. All of my TVs have the option, and my DVD playing programs on my computer (VLC, MPC) do.