Toei Officially Acknowledges Yamamoto's Kai Rip-Offs

[Gaffer Tape]

It's kind of funny. I complained for so long that one of the big flaws of Kai was its lack of Kikuchi, but I got to like the Yamamoto score so much, I'm not nearly as excited as I thought I'd be to hear Kikuchi's score playing in Kai.

Not that I'm complaining, as I think Kikuchi's score is better, but Yamamoto's score was good and a little different and made the show seem newer. Now I have all these mixed feelings and it irritates the hell out of me.

The Kikuchi score is better, but is it better for Kai?

I have mixed feelings too, but mine are mostly centered around the fact that the original version of Kai is probably going to be buried forever. So even though I'm not a huge fan of Kai to begin with, and even though I prefer Kikuchi's score, I am a bit distressed by this and am almost considered scooping up some DVDs before it's too late.

[SSVegetto]

It's kind of ironic Yamamoto, or whoever this guy is. Ripped off music from our movies in the United States. Yet, apparently, animes should never change their original background music to foreign background music. According to some people. Because of the originality. Yet, the Japanese background music of DBZ is the true original. Just because of a name change doesn't mean it's not the same show. Yamamoto's piece is not even original in the slightest now. And even rips off our music from our movies.

This is probably why they are so quick to change the background music in our country on air. Because it's actually from us, copyrighted, and they don't want to get in trouble. So Japan gave us the replacements quickly. It may have been a rushed job of picking what songs to put in where.

Now all we need to do to make Kai perfect is to keep all the blood in. Unfortunately, that not is not going to happen. It's still slightly not a perfect release. When it comes to censorship. At least they didn't censor Gohan's arm, with all that blood. I'm not sure why they can do that, but not have Trunks spit out blood.

[TonyTheTiger]

I am a bit distressed by this and am almost considered scooping up some DVDs before it's too late.

Given that FUNi only got through half of the series with Yamamoto, that does prove to be annoying. How far did the Japanese DVDs/Blu-rays get into Yamamoto before this went down? I'm curious at what point the original version of Kai ends up being unattainable outside of TV recordings. Not counting the last three episodes which more likely than not will never appear with Yamamoto's score.

I guess that's what annoys me most. The lack of consistency. If there were two versions, 98 episodes of Yamamoto's Kai vs. 98 episodes of Kikuchi's Kai, then fine. Two different sets to get for people who care enough about that or a "pick your poison" situation. But here it's like chaotic randomness. Which given how the series turned out, I guess is ironically befitting...

[penguintruth]

The problem now seems to be the entire episode is filled with music all the time.

[TonyTheTiger]

So they took Kikuchi's music and applied Faulconer's scoring. Awesome.

[Tsukento]

I am a bit distressed by this and am almost considered scooping up some DVDs before it's too late.

Given that FUNi only got through half of the series with Yamamoto, that does prove to be annoying. How far did the Japanese DVDs/Blu-rays get into Yamamoto before this went down? I'm curious at what point the original version of Kai ends up being unattainable outside of TV recordings. Not counting the last three episodes which more likely than not will never appear with Yamamoto's score.

The Japanese releases are just about a little further ahead of us, where they're at the Cell portion, with Tenshinhan firing his Shin Kikoho at Cell being the last episode on the most recent Blu-ray set.

The way this is is all over the place.

-Toonzai started using Kikuchi music a little past the middle of the Freeza saga
-Nicktoons still hasn't had any Kikuchi music
-Regular broadcasts of Kai in Japan haven't used Kikuchi's score yet, though we haven't heard from the most recent due to current events
-Later broadcasts show Kikuchi's score starting with the episode Gohan turns Super Saiyan 2
-No home releases confirmed to have his score as of yet, with a possibility of US DVD/Blu-ray Vol. 5 being delayed to use it

Y'know, it just isn't Dragon Ball if there isn't something kind of ridiculous amount of changes and different releases.

[penguintruth]

-Regular broadcasts of Kai in Japan haven't used Kikuchi's score yet, though we haven't heard from the most recent due to current events

They used Kikuchi's score in the broadcast of episode 96.

[GotenDaisuki]

Yes, episode 96 had just a bit too much music.

[TonyTheTiger]

I am a bit distressed by this and am almost considered scooping up some DVDs before it's too late.

Given that FUNi only got through half of the series with Yamamoto, that does prove to be annoying. How far did the Japanese DVDs/Blu-rays get into Yamamoto before this went down? I'm curious at what point the original version of Kai ends up being unattainable outside of TV recordings. Not counting the last three episodes which more likely than not will never appear with Yamamoto's score.

The Japanese releases are just about a little further ahead of us, where they're at the Cell portion, with Tenshinhan firing his Shin Kikoho at Cell being the last episode on the most recent Blu-ray set.

The way this is is all over the place.

-Toonzai started using Kikuchi music a little past the middle of the Freeza saga
-Nicktoons still hasn't had any Kikuchi music
-Regular broadcasts of Kai in Japan haven't used Kikuchi's score yet, though we haven't heard from the most recent due to current events
-Later broadcasts show Kikuchi's score starting with the episode Gohan turns Super Saiyan 2
-No home releases confirmed to have his score as of yet, with a possibility of US DVD/Blu-ray Vol. 5 being delayed to use it

Y'know, it just isn't Dragon Ball if there isn't something kind of ridiculous amount of changes and different releases.

Yeah, seriously. So right now we have Yamamoto up until episode 52 in North America and up until episode 76 in Japan. After that we're not sure. That's a huge portion of the series to lose in terms of official releases.

I'm still not quite at the point where I'm about to run out to buy the first four sets from unfounded (as of right now) fear they'll disappear but...this does complicate my original plan, to buy the inevitable consolidated box set(s) once the individual sets ran their course. I suppose if we get a full 98 episode release of Kikuchi I'll pick it up but my immediate concern is obtaining the full TV broadcast run I've been watching weekly over the last 2 years. I'd hate for that to mean archiving 30-40 something fansubbed episodes. What is this? 1995? Shit comes full circle!

[GotenDaisuki]

I think that Toonzai started using Kikuchi's score early, and before Nicktoons, because 4Kids doesn't want any legal issues, so they are kind of smart to take action early. Plus, we get to see more episodes with Kikuchi's score.

[Tsukento]

I think that Toonzai started using Kikuchi's score early, and before Nicktoons, because 4Kids doesn't want any legal issues, so they are kind of smart to take action early. Plus, we get to see more episodes with Kikuchi's score.

Think it may just have to do with the fact that the Toonzai versions are worked on after the Nicktoons ones, which is why they started earlier on Toonzai than they did on Nicktoons. I imagine within the next episode or two we'll hear Kikuchi on Nicktoons.

[DB_Fan1991]

We may hear Kikuchi on Nicktoons during their marathon tomorrow or when repeats start back up from episode 1 Monday.

[GotenDaisuki]

We may hear Kikuchi on Nicktoons during their marathon tomorrow or when repeats start back up from episode 1 Monday.

But what will Nicktoons do with the episodes uploaded on their website...?

[DB_Fan1991]

We may hear Kikuchi on Nicktoons during their marathon tomorrow or when repeats start back up from episode 1 Monday.

But what will Nicktoons do with the episodes uploaded on their website...?

Likely take them down and replace them with the new versions.

[GotenDaisuki]

We may hear Kikuchi on Nicktoons during their marathon tomorrow or when repeats start back up from episode 1 Monday.

But what will Nicktoons do with the episodes uploaded on their website...?

Likely take them down and replace them with the new versions.

I don't know if they care about Kai enough to actually replace the episode with the BGM-edited ones. We'll just have to wait and see.

[MagicBox]

I don't know if they care about Kai enough to actually replace the episode with the BGM-edited ones. We'll just have to wait and see.

I don't think it really matters if NickToons "cares" or not. Toei seems to want Yamamoto's music gone as quickly as possible. Ultimately, they have the final say, so FUNi and therefore NickToons would have to cooperate. I mean, it's unsure if NickToons will bother re-uploading the episodes with Kikuchi's music, but I'm pretty sure they'll at least take the Yamamoto-scored episodes off their streaming site.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Shit, what does this mean for the Madman release? Dammnit!!! Amazon here I come. There has been no official word on a recall, yet, right? If so I still have time to place an order in.

The American release of Part Four has kept Yamamoto's score, so I assume the Australian release will follow suit. Part 5 will most likely contain Kikuchi's score in both regions, however. Which is a shame, because it means Kai will have inconsistent music (just another reason why Z is better). The current Japanese releases only go up to episode 76, so not even importation will rectify this.

[GotenDaisuki]

I don't think it really matters if NickToons "cares" or not. Toei seems to want Yamamoto's music gone as quickly as possible. Ultimately, they have the final say, so FUNi and therefore NickToons would have to cooperate.

Actually, this is strange on Toei's part. Of course, they want Yamamoto out of the picture, and are making the other dubs take out the music, but... this is the first instance of them ever giving a damn to foreign dubs. If they didn't care about the dubs regarding the incident, they wouldn't care what the other dubs did, and ultimately, Toei would have gotten in trouble.

[Arique]

We may hear Kikuchi on Nicktoons during their marathon tomorrow or when repeats start back up from episode 1 Monday.

So judging by how long it will take to show every episode from start to finish, we won't get to see any new episodes of Kai until early June. That's kind of stupid, as I was really hoping for Funimation to get 63-65 out and airing before they go into rerun mode to work on the episodes for Kai Part 6. We'll just have to see what happens.
I just don't want to wait until the end of the Summer for Cell's first appearance on Kai due to the Kikuchi score change. >_<

[GotenDaisuki]

I just don't want to wait until the end of the Summer for Cell's first appearance on Kai due to the Kikuchi score change. >_<

This would be a good break for FUNimation to change the BGM of every episode so far, and get the DVDs ahead of the TV run, like at the start. Plus, it would be interesting to see for ourselves what changes Nagasaki made to the Kikuchi score.