Kai Continues Outside Japan

[Fizzer]

This is brilliant. For me, Kai will never be complete if it doesn't cover Dragon Ball and Z, but this is the second best thing, because DB didn't have much of a filer problem. The Majin Buu saga however, has a huge filler problem. Kai Buu and the possibility of a second dub from Ocean? This is all too good. I wonder if they'll make a new version of the last episode of existing Kai, so it leads into the new arc better than "Big finish with flashbacks and stuff. New episode". Hopefully they will.

[ricecake]

I hope Funimation dubs and releases this consistent with their original run of Kai. I have Vol. 1 - 8 on Blu-ray, and I hope I can start getting future Buu volumes sooner rather than later!

I agree; it would bug me to have Parts 1-8 followed by Season 5 if they didn't continue to release the individual parts.

[MagicBox]

Still kind of trying to wrap my head around Toei pulling a "Sonic X." Let me just run through this for my own benefit. Okay, so...

- If they're recording the Mighty Mask stuff, that would logically mean that they've already completed the Saiyaman stuff, which would mean that they've already covered roughly 14 DBZ episodes (200-213, assuming they've skipped past the Other World Tournament material, which seems like a safe bet). This would also mean that we'll get to see whether or not Yūko Minaguchi reprised her role as Videl after her comments following Daisuke Gōri's death.

- It's far too early to be expecting answers, but I can't help but wonder what kind of production budget Toei's setting aside for a project that doesn't even have definite plans to air in its homeland. For example, how will the openings/endings be handled? I would guess that they'd just use "Dragon Soul" again, but to what extent is Toei willing to update the animation for the Boo arc? And what about the ending? Will they license a brand new J-Pop song or reuse "Y!B!C!B!" or "Kokoro No Hane" with slightly updated animation? Either option sounds pretty costly, especially considering Toei's probably spending a fair share of money towards getting Nozawa and company to reprise their roles. All of this costs money, and considering the first 98 episodes of Kai already had a reduced budget, what kind of money is being put toward a "hush-hush" project currently only intended for overseas exhibition?

- I wouldn't expect to hear any Kikuchi music that we haven't already heard in the replacement score for episodes 01-98. Whatever the budget is for this thing, I don't expect Toei to shell out any more money than they'd need to for music rights. Of course, the "underground" nature of this project might give the staff more time to improve the music placement. I'm definitely excited for that.

Regardless, this whole thing just seems... huh. How random. Kai continues to mess with our heads. I'm glad Toei's making a Japanese language track, though. I wouldn't be interested in this semi-revival without one.

[Cure Dragon 255]

At first I thought this made sense because the 2013 movie is set around the later part of the series. But it's not airing in Japan so, I don't know what's going on. Perhaps FUNimation is funding this? It seems a little out of their league though, right? Even if this was within the realm of their financial capabilities, it doesn't make sense for them to fund a show that just did OK.

Perhaps Toei is just creating this to sell overseas for some extra money? I mean, they did sell it to almost every contry that aired DBZ originally, I'm sure there's money to be made in that aspect....? ::shrugs::

Maybe Saban funded it. After all DBZKai is one of, if not the, highest rated shows on Vortexx with 1 million viewers!

...Just kidding. Toei probably did this because they dont have huge international hits. One Piece and Pretty Cure tanked over here.

[linkdude20002001]

Well, recording Japanese dialogue that won't be broadcast in Japan--while very rare--isn't unheard of. That happened with "Sonic X."

And some countries don't have a dub, and just use the Japanese audio with subtitles.

[CaBrPi]

I'm actually pretty excited to hear Kyle Hebert and Kara Edwards back again. I realize Mr. Hebert did have a few parts in Kai, but Gohan has always been his biggest role outside of the old Z narrator.

[MagicBox]

Toei probably did this because they dont have huge international hits. One Piece and Pretty Cure tanked over here.

Well maybe if Toei had the intelligence to give Digimon to an American company that would actually treat it with respect, they'd get better numbers...

I'd love to hear Kara Edwards again, but I feel weird talking about a possible English dub without even knowing the specifics of the show's production. I can't help but feel that any international versions are still a long ways off.

... Unless they're getting in touch with licensing companies and producing foreign language versions simultaneously, which would be revolutionary, but... that's getting way ahead of myself.

[CaBrPi]

I don't think it's that far off. Kai originally started in, what? 2009? Got here in 2010? I don't think it'll take very long.

[linkdude20002001]

I'm actually pretty excited to hear Kyle Hebert and Kara Edwards back again. I realize Mr. Hebert did have a few parts in Kai, but Gohan has always been his biggest role outside of the old Z narrator.

...I hope they get someone else to play Gohan. I don't want to hear Hebert's Gohan anymore.

[Travis Touchdown]

The only other adult Gohan I'd wanna hear is Dameon Clarke.

[batistabus]

Kyle Herbert's a great guy...but I really don't want him to come back as Gohan. I'd be really interested to hear Clinkenbeard's take on the character at that age. At the very least, we need someone younger sounding.

[Gyt Kaliba]

...*throws arms up into the air both out of joy and out of defeat*

I give up! Nothing is impossible with this franchise. I really should know to stop doubting ANYTHING out of the Dragon Ball franchise, as long as I've been into it and seen all the different releases and other such things come out of the woodworks here.

On the one hand, I'm thrilled, because now Kai will actually be 'complete', and we'll most likely get more 'better dubbed' DBZ material. On the other hand though, this is even MORE for me to buy, when I was all happy thinking all I had left to nab was Season 4 when it finally got put out.

I'm beside myself with joy and rage both. Yup, that's Dragon Ball all right.

[Chuquita]

While Kai isn't really my thing atm, I'm happy they're going to finish, even if they're going about it home-release only. The Buu arc's one of my favorites so I'll be interested to see how this goes. Very happy they're doing a Japanese dub; I know I wouldn't have any interest at all if it was Funi-dub only. Curious as to if they'll be new opening/ending animation, and what they'll do for music.

I guess this does make more sense than my preferred hope of a movie-prologue TV special ala OP's "Episode" special. Works out I guess since it allows Kai to be complete and saves animators for the movie instead.

[dbboxkaifan]

I wonder if FUNimation will release this on Blu-ray, though, it might be a "Special" edition.

Parts collection are eventually going to phase the production as the Season sets are almost all out.

[Pokewhiz7]

WHAT THE FUCKING SHIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTT!!!
This is awesome!

[samuraix123]

Thanks very much for the info! I will definitely be watching this & hopefully buying it When it's released over here in the states. It's a good year to be a dragonball fan right guys?

[Toadster]

Amazing news. Here's hoping they don't cut out much of the Vegetto fight! I loved that fight so much, even if most of it was filler!

[Drabaz]

Kyle Herbert's a great guy...but I really don't want him to come back as Gohan. I'd be really interested to hear Clinkenbeard's take on the character at that age. At the very least, we need someone younger sounding.

Hmm, I think it would be interesting if they got Sean Schemmel to voice Gohan. I would love to see if it would work as nicely as it does for the Japanese dub during these sagas.

[xXInfinite026Xx]

Kyle Herbert's a great guy...but I really don't want him to come back as Gohan. I'd be really interested to hear Clinkenbeard's take on the character at that age. At the very least, we need someone younger sounding.

Hmm, I think it would be interesting if they got Sean Schemmel to voice Gohan. I would love to see if it would work as nicely as it does for the Japanese dub during these sagas.

When the (hopefully) inevitable FUNimation dub comes along of this new Kai arc, Kyle Hebert will be reprising his role. Chris Sabat ultimately confirmed this at one of the conventions when they were first promoting Kai; saying that while Kyle might not be the narrator in the Kai dub, he reassured him the role of Gohan when Kai had gotten to that point.

But back to the original subject: This news really had me trippin' bawls!! I would love to see a much more condensed Buu arc with the possibility of Takaki contributing to the music. My biggest fear is how badly the final product might be (again) especially considering that it's only meant for the overseas market. Might it be an even bigger disaster than how the first Kai? I seriously hope not, but realistically we can't expect a huge improvement.

[KaiserNeko]

The television run of Kai in Japan was bringing in unbelievable ratings, but unfortunately those don't exactly mean much on Japanese television. Merchandise sales (including DVDs/Blu-Rays) are where companies make their money. As such, I can see Toei skipping a TV release altogether and relying entirely on a DVD/Blu-Ray release. They've proven that there's an audience for Kai. They want to see it? Then they have to buy it. It's ingenious, if not a little disappointing considering how expensive those releases are.

Let's hope that they'll put a little more money into it. A new opening/closing and songs, as well as continuing their remastering process, would be much appreciated. Also, music from Takaki.