The DBZ Season One Review: R.I.P.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 7:02 am

Guys, it's over. Deal. I agree that people should have standards, but I'm not gonna preach to people anymore.

And whoever said fans of the series know that DragonBall was animated 4:3 needs to look at FUNimation and Amazon's forums, since those are the prime examples of the demographic that FUNimation is courting.

-Corey

Jerseymilk · Post by **Jerseymilk** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 7:33 am

MajinVejitaXV wrote:And whoever said fans of the series know that DragonBall was animated 4:3 needs to look at FUNimation and Amazon's forums, since those are the prime examples of the demographic that FUNimation is courting.

-Corey

*finds herself snickering about a certain debate Majin had with a prime example of that "demographic" a while back on there* >>

Dayspring · Post by **Dayspring** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 12:14 pm

Oh sweet bejeebus...

ETC wrote:I'm also seeing cries of elitism- that's not the case here. I couldn't care less what you buy, so long as it isn't this release.

But you see, you have no say in what I am or am not allowed to buy. I acknowledge that this is a lemon purchase, I was just wondering -as I don't have the money to buy the Dragonboxes while I wait for something better- if this boxset were a car that won't start at all, or a car that simply needs a shtinload of work. Since the boxset seems to be the latter, I'm willing to purchase it seeing how the price matches the quality.

As stated in the review in the first post, it's a $1 an episode versus the usual $9 an episode, so you're getting what you pay for if you buy it. If I spend the measely $30 for an entire saga, I best be damned ready to put up with the crappy quality. I AM willing to put up with it, hence my decision to purchase. If you choose not to buy it for the opposite reason, then that makes just as much sense and is your right. However, I will be damned before I allow you to determine my devotion as a "true" fan over anything, let alone something as trivial as this.

Post by **desirecampbell** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:04 pm

I bought the boxset just for Steve's subs. Thirty bucks for 39 episodes worth of translated script? Well worth it. That there's any video at all is a bonus for me.

ETC123 · Post by **ETC123** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 4:36 pm

Dayspring wrote:But you see, you have no say in what I am or am not allowed to buy. I acknowledge that this is a lemon purchase, I was just wondering -as I don't have the money to buy the Dragonboxes while I wait for something better- if this boxset were a car that won't start at all, or a car that simply needs a shtinload of work. Since the boxset seems to be the latter, I'm willing to purchase it seeing how the price matches the quality.

Then read up. I'm all glad that people seem to make their own desicions despite how incredibly bad things are.

Same rhetoric about being a cheapskate

Forget this. It's plainly obvious that the entirety of this forum, down the the very regulars itself is activley ignorant. You don't NEED to buy it to see how bad it is- you can find out how bad it is, we've given countless reviews. Good riddance to (not entirely) the lot of you, you've completely dogged the future US/UK/AU releases of DBZ. Hope you feel better about yourselves because of this.

Post by **desirecampbell** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:03 pm

ETC123 wrote:Forget this. It's plainly obvious that the entirety of this forum, down the the very regulars itself is activley ignorant.

So ignorant that we see that everyone has the right to buy whatever they see fit to? So ignorant that everyone should have all the facts before purchasing something, but the choice of which release to buy is entirely up to them?

ETC123 wrote:You don't NEED to buy it to see how bad it is- you can find out how bad it is, we've given countless reviews.

Uh, what? What did I just say? Has anyone, and I mean anyone, here said it would be a good idea to buy it 'just to see how crappy it is'? Has anyone here said 'you shouldn't look into reviews of the boxset, you should just guess'?

ETC123 wrote: Good riddance to (not entirely) the lot of you,

Does that mean you're leaving? Don't tease me, now.

ETC123 wrote:you've completely dogged the future US/UK/AU releases of DBZ. Hope you feel better about yourselves because of this.

And you're possibly the best example of an anime-snob I've ever come in contact with. "You bought that release?! You're not a real fan! Durr!"

What you're saying is that everyone who wants Funi to see that this release isn't what we want, should refrain from buying it. Wow, that exactly what I, and everyone else, has been saying. But you go the one step further and say that anyone who doesn't want Funi to stop putting out these boxsets is a bad fan, and ignorant, and stupid.

You're a self-righteous, self-important, repugnant asshole. You put your values above all others. And you go about insulting others instead of using any kind of logical argument. Fuck you. Fuck you again.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:38 pm

desirecampbell wrote:And you're possibly the best example of an anime-snob I've ever come in contact with. "You bought that release?! You're not a real fan! Durr!"

Actually, to be fully honest and fair, it's the opposite side that is lobbing this argument at people like me who have fought against this release. Hell, I've been told by no less than a dozen people that I'm not a fan because I don't swallow whatever FUNimation feeds the masses.

Anyway, let's drop the personal attacks. Yes, people are going to buy this set because it's cheap. FUNimation is dumb in terms of production decisions, but they aren't stupid from a marketing standpoint. Do I think people who buy this set and take a general apathetic stance should get a pat on the back and a cold Guinness from the fridge? No. Do I think they should be chained to a rally car and dragged around the course? No.

Face it, most of the people who matter in this instance are too damned stupid to understand what people are even angry/upset about and too young to kick the crap out of (unless you wanna be charged with assault against a minor) ;p

We tried, we didn't stand a chance and we (predictably) lost. DragonBall Z fans who've been around for the past decade (or even less, really) are used to the concept.

-Corey

SSJmole · Post by **SSJmole** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 12:12 pm

I'm going to buy this dvd soon when a few more boxsets come out.

reasons -

-I like the idea of english voices but with the Japanese music.
- Some of the remastering looks great
- episodes not shown on tv in english
- i like the box art
- dvds are region 2 as well as 1 (I live in uk) so that's a big plus i loved it when they started doing that I got all their dragonball and GT dvds and the movies just not the Z series

Dayspring · Post by **Dayspring** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:01 pm

SSJmole wrote:I'm going to buy this dvd soon when a few more boxsets come out.

reasons -

-I like the idea of english voices but with the Japanese music.
- Some of the remastering looks great
- episodes not shown on tv in english
- i like the box art
- dvds are region 2 as well as 1 (I live in uk) so that's a big plus i loved it when they started doing that I got all their dragonball and GT dvds and the movies just not the Z series

Plus I'm sure they'll fix the widescreen ratio by the time set 3 or 4 comes out.

BlueSky · Post by **Kaboom** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:08 pm

Dayspring wrote: Plus I'm sure they'll fix the widescreen ratio by the time set 3 or 4 comes out.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if they did. As it is, the widescreen doesn't bother me, but I might even end up rebuying the first set or two if they rerelease them in fullscreen.

SSJmole · Post by **SSJmole** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:10 pm

Dayspring wrote:Plus I'm sure they'll fix the widescreen ratio by the time set 3 or 4 comes out.

I think so too

look at star wars. the 1997 remastered version was good but not perfect. the dvds they brought out before episode III the picture has been perfectly fixed

(ignore the fact star wars remasters also add stuff e.g young anakin's ghost WFT!!!)

but yeah assuming the remastering has not been finshed they might of seen complaints about aspect ratio and fixed it.

I'm waiting till they bring out frieza saga then i'll get it. buting it now and then namek I would be dying to watch the rest of namek

laserkid · Post by **laserkid** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 2:28 pm

MajinVejitaXV wrote:
desirecampbell wrote:And you're possibly the best example of an anime-snob I've ever come in contact with. "You bought that release?! You're not a real fan! Durr!"
Actually, to be fully honest and fair, it's the opposite side that is lobbing this argument at people like me who have fought against this release. Hell, I've been told by no less than a dozen people that I'm not a fan because I don't swallow whatever FUNimation feeds the masses.

Anyway, let's drop the personal attacks. Yes, people are going to buy this set because it's cheap. FUNimation is dumb in terms of production decisions, but they aren't stupid from a marketing standpoint. Do I think people who buy this set and take a general apathetic stance should get a pat on the back and a cold Guinness from the fridge? No. Do I think they should be chained to a rally car and dragged around the course? No.

Face it, most of the people who matter in this instance are too damned stupid to understand what people are even angry/upset about and too young to kick the crap out of (unless you wanna be charged with assault against a minor) ;p

We tried, we didn't stand a chance and we (predictably) lost. DragonBall Z fans who've been around for the past decade (or even less, really) are used to the concept.

-Corey

Anyone who has questioned your fandom over NOT wanting to buy this set needs a good kick in the ass. Just like those who question the fandom of those who did buy it need one.

The sets quality is crap. Some people (I'll admitt, I'm one of them), can get over that. Others cannot. Neither way is "wrong" - just diffrences in ability to cope (neither good or ill in either side). Hell this set was the FIRST TIME I've EVER seen the Goku Vs. Vegeta fight in Japanese. That ALONE was worth the $30 to me. Because honestly, I cannot afford the Dragon Boxes, and even if I COULD, while I did study Japanese for a year, my skills are nowhere near good enough to understand it spoken on a TV show.

And yes, ultimatly I've gotten tired of getting my ass beaten to shit by FUNimations DBZ treatment that I honeslty lost the will to fight, back in 1999 or 2000 or so.

Ultimatly when it comes down to it both sides of this argument, when coming to the point of wanting to assault the character of the other: Uh guys stop trying to be DBZ politicians. We have enough of them in the real world already, we don't need them in fandom.

ect5150 · Post by **ect5150** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:18 pm

laserkid wrote:Hell this set was the FIRST TIME I've EVER seen the Goku Vs. Vegeta fight in Japanese. That ALONE was worth the $30 to me.

That, along with the price, is the number one reason to buy it in my mind. I've seen the fight in Japanese years ago sometime in 1995 I think, but not with subtitles.

Anonymous Friend · Post by **Anonymous Friend** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 3:32 pm

laserkid wrote:
MajinVejitaXV wrote:
desirecampbell wrote:And you're possibly the best example of an anime-snob I've ever come in contact with. "You bought that release?! You're not a real fan! Durr!"
Actually, to be fully honest and fair, it's the opposite side that is lobbing this argument at people like me who have fought against this release. Hell, I've been told by no less than a dozen people that I'm not a fan because I don't swallow whatever FUNimation feeds the masses.

Anyway, let's drop the personal attacks. Yes, people are going to buy this set because it's cheap. FUNimation is dumb in terms of production decisions, but they aren't stupid from a marketing standpoint. Do I think people who buy this set and take a general apathetic stance should get a pat on the back and a cold Guinness from the fridge? No. Do I think they should be chained to a rally car and dragged around the course? No.

Face it, most of the people who matter in this instance are too damned stupid to understand what people are even angry/upset about and too young to kick the crap out of (unless you wanna be charged with assault against a minor) ;p

We tried, we didn't stand a chance and we (predictably) lost. DragonBall Z fans who've been around for the past decade (or even less, really) are used to the concept.

-Corey
Anyone who has questioned your fandom over NOT wanting to buy this set needs a good kick in the ass. Just like those who question the fandom of those who did buy it need one.

The sets quality is crap. Some people (I'll admitt, I'm one of them), can get over that. Others cannot. Neither way is "wrong" - just diffrences in ability to cope (neither good or ill in either side). Hell this set was the FIRST TIME I've EVER seen the Goku Vs. Vegeta fight in Japanese. That ALONE was worth the $30 to me. Because honestly, I cannot afford the Dragon Boxes, and even if I COULD, while I did study Japanese for a year, my skills are nowhere near good enough to understand it spoken on a TV show.

And yes, ultimatly I've gotten tired of getting my ass beaten to shit by FUNimations DBZ treatment that I honeslty lost the will to fight, back in 1999 or 2000 or so.

Ultimatly when it comes down to it both sides of this argument, when coming to the point of wanting to assault the character of the other: Uh guys stop trying to be DBZ politicians. We have enough of them in the real world already, we don't need them in fandom.

The main thing we need to get it that we shouldn't critisize people and make them feel bad on how they spend their money. That's just plain wrong. People who bought it had a reason for buying it and we need to be respectful of them.

Majority rules here. Either people don't care about the flaws and/or really like some aspects of the release.

laserkid · Post by **laserkid** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:04 pm

You just said more consicely what I was trying to say, thank you for that. Honestly what someone else does with their own money really isnt something that needs to be criticized by anyone else, it's pretentuous and downright rude to do so. The same is true of what people DON'T spend their money on though.

SSJmole · Post by **SSJmole** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:43 pm

laserkid wrote:You just said more consicely what I was trying to say, thank you for that. Honestly what someone else does with their own money really isnt something that needs to be criticized by anyone else, it's pretentuous and downright rude to do so. The same is true of what people DON'T spend their money on though.

agreed.

I will buy dvds and don't expect to be ridiculed for it just like i wont care if people don't buy it.

I don't buy dvds to look cool to people over the net i buy them beacuse I like them

Anonymous Friend · Post by **Anonymous Friend** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:05 pm

I was never upset about being lied to about remastering and widescreen and what not. The one thing I was expecting from the release was given: The Saiyan Saga. I would be very surprised to learn that I'm the only one who wanted just this one thing. I'm looking forward to investing 200 dollars to try to own the entire Z series and even more for Original and GT and the movies. As long as they can tell me that I can have entire seasons without any missing episodes, I'll be happy.

And even if they do for ever reason stop the sets at some point, I'll be okay with having every episode up to season X, instead of owning a bunch of episodes with 5 or 10 episodes missing in the middle. Which is why I never bothered with the discs before.

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 5:10 pm

I also think it's pretty dumb to insult eachother over a DVD purchase. That's why around the time the videos and the review podcast came out I stopped reading threads like these until just a few days ago.

If you buy it, I hope you're happy.

If you didn't buy it, then I hope your money went toward something 1000 times better.

If they put this stuff out in 4:3 I'll start buying into it. Until then, my money will go toward other things.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 9:54 pm

Anonymous Friend wrote: The main thing we need to get it that we shouldn't criticize people and make them feel bad on how they spend their money. That's just plain wrong. People who bought it had a reason for buying it and we need to be respectful of them.

I never, at least on purpose, questioned people's right to purchase what they want. My whole thing was that I've worked with marketing teams before and I've worked retail. Both have a tendency to play on the ignorance and/or apathy about learning the facts that a lot of people possess.

Think about it. Walk into a showroom at a Best Buy/Circuit City/etc. Look at the televisions. Now, if you know anything about settings, you'll notice the damned things are *glowing* because the contrast and color are set to pop out at you (moreso on the more expensive models). Why? People like bright things. Does that mean it's the proper way to display the televisions? Hell no, the tubes/phosphors will burn out prematurely because the settings are so high (which is why you should never buy a floor model).

FUNimation's logic is the same as the above. They brightened up the show, played with the contrast and brightness and ran some automated filters over the footage while cutting off a noticeable amount. Why? My money is on trying to capture the younger demographic who would see the original footage as "old and bland," as evidenced by some people even here. I didn't really care until they started throwing around $5 words, bending the truth if not outright lying, and people started getting excited. I don't wanna shit on people, I just don't want them to feel wronged while Gen Fukunaga, or any other CEO, laughs his way to the bank.

My whole intent, throughout all of this, was to simply put facts out there so people could make informed decisions and in doing so I learned a valuable lesson: People would rather remain ignorant, for the most part. I gave people facts and supported them, and a decent number said "you're making too much of things/not a real fan/pretentious/lying/etc."

It bothered me for a bit, but then I realized it's the way of the world. I worked in health care for years and saw people with the same attitude in much more dire situations. A DVD release won't cause me to lose sleep, I just wish people had a real desire to demand a quality product and know what their money was getting them. That'd be a lesser wish of mine though, given the general apathy people tend to have about politics (hence the ability of politicians to lie through their teeth and face no ramifications, but that's a post for another forum).

The real question is, does that make me apathetic? I'd like to think not, but maybe it does. Still, the fruitless arguments wore thin and my findings are still widely available for anyone to read on this forum and others.

Majority rules here. Either people don't care about the flaws and/or really like some aspects of the release.

Majority rules, but that doesn't always mean it's right. After all, at one point the majority of men thought the world was flat

-Corey

Kendamu · Post by **Kendamu** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 10:33 pm

Like you said, your information is out there. Let people take it for what it is. If they would rather buy into FUNimation's hype, let them. It's not your money and, like you said, there are much more important things for you to lose sleep over.

Just remember that there are also people like myself who read your information, waited for your review without fail, and listened to every detail of your information as is was presented on the podcast and let it all soak in.