A very important 15-year anniversary just passed (and your opinion on it)

[ABED]

I was happy to have a release that took up much less shelf space and to finally have all the episodes

They're good in that aspect and being all episodes uncut, it's just too bad they messed up the aspect ratio and image quality in the process.

Oh no doubt. I'm not a techie at all, but simple proper aspect ratio is a big deal.

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

I was happy to have a release that took up much less shelf space and to finally have all the episodes

They're good in that aspect and being all episodes uncut, it's just too bad they messed up the aspect ratio and image quality in the process.

Oh no doubt. I'm not a techie at all, but simple proper aspect ratio is a big deal.

Indeed, and cropping off 20% or more of the image given the show was NEVER meant to be viewed that way (despite what FUNi's misleading trailers claimed) is by far the worst thing about the Orange Bricks. The digital noise reduction is runner up though for sure.

[MasenkoHA]

They're good in that aspect and being all episodes uncut, it's just too bad they messed up the aspect ratio and image quality in the process.

Oh no doubt. I'm not a techie at all, but simple proper aspect ratio is a big deal.

Indeed, and cropping off 20% or more of the image given the show was NEVER meant to be viewed that way (despite what FUNi's misleading trailers claimed) is by far the worst thing about the Orange Bricks. The digital noise reduction is runner up though for sure.

“Watch Dragon Ball Z the way it was meant to be seen”- Funimation on literally every release, including Kai

[eledoremassis02]

Oh no doubt. I'm not a techie at all, but simple proper aspect ratio is a big deal.

Indeed, and cropping off 20% or more of the image given the show was NEVER meant to be viewed that way (despite what FUNi's misleading trailers claimed) is by far the worst thing about the Orange Bricks. The digital noise reduction is runner up though for sure.

“Watch Dragon Ball Z the way it was meant to be seen”- Funimation on literally every release, including Kai

Yea, honestly, it doesnt even work with the level sets. This is really how Dragon Ball was meant to be seen

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Oh no doubt. I'm not a techie at all, but simple proper aspect ratio is a big deal.

Indeed, and cropping off 20% or more of the image given the show was NEVER meant to be viewed that way (despite what FUNi's misleading trailers claimed) is by far the worst thing about the Orange Bricks. The digital noise reduction is runner up though for sure.

“Watch Dragon Ball Z the way it was meant to be seen”- Funimation on literally every release, including Kai

My favorite part of the Orange Brick trailers is the line where it talks about them being the "ultimate and definitive editions of Dragon Ball Z" and i'm like yeeeeaaah...except for the top and bottom of the frame being cut off and the image being DNR'ed into oblivion and lines on characters breaking up whenever there's fast motion or shaking. How you could call that garbage quality ultimate and definitive is beyond me.

[ABED]

Goku's missing nose is one of the most obvious examples. There are some scenes where the skin color is so washed out, it reminds me of that joke from Arrested Development where Lucille wanted to look 48 in her drivers license so she had to be airbrushed "into oblivion".

[SuperSaiyaManZ94]

Goku's missing nose is one of the most obvious examples. There are some scenes where the skin color is so washed out, it reminds me of that joke from Arrested Development where Lucille wanted to look 48 in her drivers license so she had to be airbrushed "into oblivion".

The ones with Nappa and SSJ Goku stick out to me the most, it looks so god awful and shows how overdone their automated DNR process were in the eariler sets.

Here's some prime examples of the disappearing line issue.

Dragon Box




Orange Brick




Dragon Box




Orange Brick




Dragon Box




Orange Brick

[PurestEvil]

Damn, the orange bricks were so bad they whitewashed the characters...
even the white ones...

[90sDBZ]

They got better as they went on to be fair. Seasons 7-9 actually look good aside from the cropping.

[coola]

Was there any official reason why UUE were cancelled? Even if "3-4 episodes per DVD" model didnt worked anymore, they could still release them as Season Sets, it probably wasnt cost related, since with Orange Bricks all they did, was literally throw masters into crop and DNR programs and called it a day. And UUE didnt really recieve much of remaster treatment anyway...

[MasenkoHA]

Was there any official reason why UUE were cancelled? Even if "3-4 episodes per DVD" model didnt worked anymore, they could still release them as Season Sets, it probably wasnt cost related, since with Orange Bricks all they did, was literally throw masters into crop and DNR programs and called it a day. And UUE didnt really recieve much of remaster treatment anyway...

Afaik they just canceled them because of the outdated 3-4 per episode model. As far as Funimation was concerned if fans wanted to see the rest of the show uncut they were going to have to buy their new season boxsets. Fans buying the dvds in hopes of owning the complete series uncut or/in Japanese that got screwed over were incidental.

[TVfan721]

But not when they started releasing the show with subtitles with translations done by a well known online fan?

Sure! What they did there was definitely a cool move for the hardcore fans! As a Canadian, I can't speak much on that because the releases you're talking about were incredibly expensive over here and hence, difficult to obtain. The subs were only available on DVD, not the VHS tapes, and with only 3 episodes, all while being 30 to 40 dollars. The barriers to obtaining these well-done translated subs were quite real.

I imagine in the US, the DVD singles were significantly cheaper.

[KentMan]

I don’t feel anything about this really or why it’s so important. It really hasn’t affected me but that’s because I stuck with the manga than anime.

[MasenkoHA]

But not when they started releasing the show with subtitles with translations done by a well known online fan?

Sure! What they did there was definitely a cool move for the hardcore fans! As a Canadian, I can't speak much on that because the releases you're talking about were incredibly expensive over here and hence, difficult to obtain. The subs were only available on DVD, not the VHS tapes, and with only 3 episodes, all while being 30 to 40 dollars. The barriers to obtaining these well-done translated subs were quite real.

I imagine in the US, the DVD singles were significantly cheaper.

Right, but this was in response to your claim that the dub with Kikuchi music was the first time Funimation listened to the fans and that’s not really true. Funimation has made a point to listen to fans since at least 2000. It’s just Funimation isn’t always the best at applying fan feedback. And by not always the best I mean usually pretty terrible.

[TVfan721]

But not when they started releasing the show with subtitles with translations done by a well known online fan?

Sure! What they did there was definitely a cool move for the hardcore fans! As a Canadian, I can't speak much on that because the releases you're talking about were incredibly expensive over here and hence, difficult to obtain. The subs were only available on DVD, not the VHS tapes, and with only 3 episodes, all while being 30 to 40 dollars. The barriers to obtaining these well-done translated subs were quite real.

I imagine in the US, the DVD singles were significantly cheaper.

Right, but this was in response to your claim that the dub with Kikuchi music was the first time Funimation listened to the fans and that’s not really true. Funimation has made a point to listen to fans since at least 2000. It’s just Funimation isn’t always the best at applying fan feedback. And by not always the best I mean usually pretty terrible.

This is tough for me to word properly so I hope I do an okay job at it.

Yeah, the subtitled DVD's were technically Funimation listening to fans to some degree but I don't look at that and the Kikuchi/Orange Brick thing on the same level. To me, they're not at all.

The attitude from Funimation at the time, and the way it all looked to me was, the sub DVD's were done to throw the hardcore fans a small bone to make them happy and an attempt to shut them up. Funimation was still heavily pushing their Faulconer version of DBZ as the right and definite version in North America.

And I genuinely don't think that in a majority of our community at that time, subtitled DBZ was the #1 thing that people wanted. Majority of our community wanted a proper and respectable dub without unnecessary changes. They wanted Kikuchi's music intact because there was nothing wrong with it and we all KNEW that if Cartoon Network aired DBZ with it, it still would've done just fine. All the dubs around the world prove that.

The orange bricks was the first time the Kikuchi was readily and easily available to the mass market with the English dub attached to it. Hell, when you put the DVDs in, the "English dub with Japanese music" is the default option. The Orange Bricks introduced millions of English speaking fans to original Japanese music for the first time. It sold millions and every additional set sold well too. It helped to change the mainstream perception of dubs replacing soundtracks when dubbed. To me, it was a huge moment, even with all the issues the Orange Bricks still had.

[Majin Buu]

I know Psaros voiced his sentiment that having the Japanese music was what he wanted most from the dub and he thought it was at least interesting hearing the dub actors over it.

I don’t think Mike ever asked for it or cared because he doesn’t care about the dub.

It was something he and many sub fans wanted at one point- 10 years prior when the dub was still new, going by Mike's own statements on the orange brick review podcast (and the existence of websites like DBZ Uncensored and the DBZOA). He simply stopped caring about the dub long before Funimation delivered.

I can’t say the Japanese music made the English voices better. They just weren’t being drowned out by an obnoxious score begging for your attention as it actively fought against what the show was.

It doesn't make the English voices better (not by a long shot), but it does make the experience of watching the dub a bit more tolerable.

[MasenkoHA]

Yeah, the subtitled DVD's were technically Funimation listening to fans to some degree but I don't look at that and the Kikuchi/Orange Brick thing on the same level. To me, they're not at all.

They kind of are though.

Releasing the show in Japanese with subtitles was Funimation trying to get hardcore fans off their back without having to fix dub. “Purist can’t get too mad at us for what we do to the dub because we gave them the Japanese version!!”



Re-releasing the dub with the Shunsuke Kikuchi score was an easy way to say they’re giving hardcore fans a bone without having to fix their dub in anyway that involved effort.

And I genuinely don't think that in a majority of our community at that time, subtitled DBZ was the #1 thing that people wanted. Majority of our community wanted a proper and respectable dub without unnecessary changes. They wanted Kikuchi's music intact because there was nothing wrong with it and we all KNEW that if Cartoon Network aired DBZ with it, it still would've done just fine. All the dubs around the world prove that.

Right, but at the end of the day, placing their dub over the Japanese score was a minor band-aid. They polished a turd.

It helped to change the mainstream perception of dubs replacing soundtracks when dubbed

Not really. By 2007 having a replacement soundtrack was a pretty dated concept . Pokemon USA and 4kids were pretty much the only companies still pulling that crap. Z and GT were the only Funimation properties that even had a replacement score. It wasn’t exactly groundbreaking for Funimation to have Z and GT use their Japanese score when all of their other properties have always done that even in 2007.

I’m glad Funimation included the Kikuchi score for their dub. It’s something they should have done since at least 1999. But it was more of a “About time” thing

It doesn't make the English voices better (not by a long shot), but it does make the experience of watching the dub a bit more tolerable.

I agree with that. I’ll only watch the Z dub with the Shunsuke Kikuchi music. Not only because I can’t stand the ear bleeding try hard Optimus Prime fucking a washing machine score but because the Kikuchi score at least presents the dub a bit more faithfully. No matter how many jokes Funimation puts in or how much they rewrite Goku’s dialog to make him more Western Super Hero esque or how they direct the actors to sound like they’re taking a massive dump when they’re performing their attacks or how they de-emphasize eastern religion in favor of secularization or straight up imposing Abrahamic religion on the show at the end of the day Dragon Ball Z is still a kitschy martial arts cartoon inspired by 70s Jackie Chan movies and the Kikuchi score properly reflects that

[TheGreatness25]

I always suspected that the orange bricks raised money for Funimation to acquire the Dragon Box. Maybe it was just a coincidence or strange timing, but that's how I always saw it.

Until that point, I had the "Android Saga," "Imperfect Cell Saga," "Perfect Cell Saga," Fusion Saga," and "Kid Buu Saga" boxsets on DVD. And my love for the series was slowly winding down. In 2005, I sort of watched the Ultimate Uncut redub as it aired on TV, but I was definitely on the outs with the series.

But then, in February, 2007 (I'm pretty sure), I came across the first orange brick at Virgin in Times Square after work. I was with my friend and we both thought it looked pretty cool. I actually got pretty hyped and bought it.

I'll be honest: I didn't even notice anything wrong with it until I came across a review from this site.

And then after "Season 3," I figured I'd buy the rest of the singles, Dragon Ball, and GT.

So in some weird, bizarre way, this thing got me back into the series.

[DBZAOTA482]

As shit as the orange bricks are, they at least came at an affordable price which is why they sold so well.

[TVfan721]

Right, but at the end of the day, placing their dub over the Japanese score was a minor band-aid. They polished a turd.

And that's where we have to agree to disagree I guess because I think it was a major upgrade.

Also, I was honestly satisfied with the redub of Season 1 and 2.

I was also mostly satisfied with the partial redub of Season 3 which got rid of the worst aspects for me.

With Season 4, I'm not a fan of the Android Saga in any capacity even in Japanese so I don't care for that. From Cell Saga onwards, I think that's where Funimation finally found their footing VA wise and started doing a solid job in the original dub so it was fine IMO from that point onwards.

I already know you don't agree and you and I have had some indepth discussions on this topic over the last 5 years that you've been here. That's totally cool I respect your POV.