Are they worth it?

[Conan the SSJ]

So comparing the best available version in the US to the best available version in Japan is apples to oranges?

When specifically talking of the treatment to the Season sets, yes, IMO. The movies merely have a "filtered" effect done, only slightly altering the colors to an extent that's only noticeable to those closely comparing it to fansubs or the legit Dragonbox release. However, the Season sets' colors are washed out to a much greater extent than simply being "filtered", bad enough that even one who's never seen the original Japanese airing can tell how bad it looks in detail loss and cropping just by comparing episodes to previous FUNi releases. While encoded and containing a frame-rate better than some of the movie releases, the detail lost in the attempt at blurring out the grain and whatnot else is far more significant than just slightly juicing up the color to look a bit darker or brighter than normal. Hence my "apple-and-oranges" comment; you were bringing up a comparison about the movies when I was assuming that you were talking specifically of the season sets.

Like all the evidence that you guys post supposedly showing that the set sucks, these are all.. not so good. It's one, or less than one second little glitches that you can't really tell are there unless you are looking for them, and many people here are looking for them. I honestly don't care if for a millisecond a frame gets sloppy. And a part of a head chopped off? Another thing I don't care about, it just doesn't bother me and I don't see why it should bother anyone else. Drastic cut offs with the widescreen barely ever happen, and although I am watching on a widescreen TV, I don't think it either adds or takes away from the DBZ experience.

Dude, it isn't just the cropping (which even I could live with); in addition to those tears/film artifacts/etc. etc. that pop up, despite FUNi's advertising that they did a true frame-by-frame remastering job, a preposterous amount of the original animation detail has been lost in the "remastering" process of blurring the grain out. Bulma's navel for one very small example. Peoples' heads being cut off and whatnot else, all this combined with the insane detail loss is NOT how the show was originally intended to be seen by either Toei or FUNimation themselves. Their entire hyping campaign of these season sets has been one huge false advertisement roller coaster, that's a bigger problem than you seem to realize and why some can't even stand to give these releases a shot (but believe me, almost everyone here - including MajinVegetaXV/Corey [who got the first two seasons] and VegettoEX/Mike have given the releases a fair go, both of whom are much more technically knowledgeable than most are on this matter). Continue with your barraging if you want about how "the season sets own and are the best w00t", I've been there and done that, but I at least now know better and hope you do in the future. I can't even stand to get Season 2 at the moment and don't know if I'll ever want to, much less the rest of the season sets, that's how much of an impact the ridiculous amount of negative consequences has had.

Funny how Chris Sabat brags "No compromises!", because all these sets literally have going for them are Daimao's subs for a decent price, even the potential-showing dub w/t Japanese BGM track is flawed more than it should be (even 4Kids' Uncut redub of YGO! and Shaman King makes it look inferior).

[Strongbad456]

Personally I enjoyed the first season set. I know there are problems with it but I didn't go looking for them and the wide-screen didn't bother me at all. Still, I wanna get the Dragon Box sets so I can see that for myself as well.

[Kula]

I don't get it. I still can't find them on YesAsia. I searched "dragon ball z vol" and all I got was DBZ cds.

Go to the 'videos' tab, select 'Japanese' and put "dragon ball z vol" in the search box.

[Strongbad456]

I don't get it. I still can't find them on YesAsia. I searched "dragon ball z vol" and all I got was DBZ cds.

Go to the 'videos' tab, select 'Japanese' and put "dragon ball z vol" in the search box.

Yeah, I got a PM about it and a link to them. They're cheaper at CD-Japan(Only $30).

[TripleRach]

Sorry, next time I will be more polite and control myself. And doing their own research by asking around on this forum isn't going to be that much different that reading that review thread here on the season box sets. Everyone seems to have the same opinion about them here, for some reason.

By do your own research, I mean read other reviews in other places. Amazon should be good, for example.

Not everyone here has the same opinion. There are plenty of people who defend the season sets. We had an 80 page thread on the Season One set full of arguing and differing opinions.

But as for Amazon, I went and looked through some of their reviews. This was one that 4 of 5 people found helpful:

Firstly this is a awesome set and i was a bit curious wether i should buy it because of the widescreen thing well let me tell u I'm glad i did u cant even notic its widescreen and the image previews on this page is a lie the guys said they put the colur up to a rediculus extend I've got the set and hes ling he edited it himself to make it look bad so plz dont take the picture littaral

Oh, okay. Must be those rabid DBZOA guys trying to rag on FUNimation again. It couldn't possibly be a concerned fan who really cares about the series and wants a better Region 1 release that's trying to inform people of the errors in these sets. ...Seriously, though, what would an average fan have to gain from doctoring images in this case?

And here are some excerpts from what is considered to be the "most helpful" review of the Season 2 set:

-REMASTERED PICTURE QUALITY. As far as what can be seen on the screen goes, the picture has never looked sharper. FUNimation remastered the picture quality from the original film prints, and it does look better than earlier transfers.

Well, this helpful guy claims the video quality is great, so he must be right, right? But, here are some other things he has to say:

-FINALLY, EYECATCHERS! The eyecatchers (which are the "we'll be right back" messages that were shown on TV with the shows before and after the commercial breaks) have FINALLY been included in a FUNimation release of the series! About time! I'd been pissed off for years that FUNimation put these on their original DB and DBGT DVDs and not the Z ones, but they've redeemed themselves.

- ISSUES WITH THE SUBTITLES. The subtitles themselves usually fall on the line that separates the edge of the picture with the "black space" left in by widescreen. Wouldn't it have made more sense to stick "single lines" of quotes down there, and not obscure the picture? Another huge issue is that in the subtitles for the original Japanese version, Goku's Saiyan name is spelled as "Kakarrot", and not the original Japanese Kakarotto! How they could screw this up is beyond me, as Steven J. Simmons accurately translated Kakarotto numerous times in other DVDs (and don't go telling me this isn't a big deal, because calling him Kakarrot creates a plot hole later in the series!)

Well, Mr. Helpful apparently didn't know that nearly all of FUNimation's DBZ releases as of Summer 2001 had the eyecatches. (The exception being the Freeza volumes, which had already been timed without the eyecatches.)

He also doesn't seem to know that these DVDs are anamorphic 16:9, not letterboxed. Or perhaps he just doesn't understand the concept of anamorphic widescreen. The "black bars" are digitally added for 4:3 displays, not part of the picture, sir!

Furthermore! He doesn't seem to know that Steve Simmons had been using "Kakarrot" all along. I'm not even going to get into how fanboyish it is to claim that "Kakarotto" is the "proper translation," or how ridiculous it is to say it creates a plot hole just because of Vegetto. (Unless he's referring to the subs for Broli's yelling, which is even less of a plot hole.) I can provide much worse examples of plot holes created by "translations" than that.

...So, in reality, these reviewers, and the people who are voting them as helpful, are the ones that should be doing their own research. Not us.

(And I apologize for sounding arrogant, but Amazon really is a cesspool of misinformation. Most of them have very little technical knowledge as well.)

[Vegard Aune]

Furthermore! He doesn't seem to know that Steve Simmons had been using "Kakarrot" all along. I'm not even going to get into how fanboyish it is to claim that "Kakarotto" is the "proper translation," or how ridiculous it is to say it creates a plot hole just because of Vegetto. (Unless he's referring to the subs for Broli's yelling, which is even less of a plot hole.) I can provide much worse examples of plot holes created by "translations" than that.

I also noticed someone complaining about "Saiyan" instead of "Saiyajin", even though Saiyan is the proper translation, and "Great Ape" instead of "Oozaru". For Vegeta, saying Oozaru might make sense, but for the others, it would just seem wrong, and make it look like it was a technique-name which they knew for some reason...

[balrog]

Okay, Triple, show me the link where you are getting those reviews. Either you were getting them from some crap location, or more likely you just skipped all of the good reviews to help make your point. I mean, why are you even argueing about this? Are you seriously saying that for some one who is thinking about buying the season box sets, daizex is all of the research you need? It isn't. I just used amazon as an example.

[TripleRach]

Like I said, I got them from the reviews of the Season 2 set. And of course I didn't talk about every single review. Yes, there are some that really are informative and discuss all the facts. But most people vote those as unhelpful, or flame them in the comments. (But of course, that one's not even written by the person who posted it.) I wanted to point out the ones that the Amazon buyers thought were good.

But I never said that DaizEX should be the only place people get their information. I just mean that people here are doing their own research, and apparently much more so than the Amazon reviewers which you cited as a much better example than here.

Honestly, though, if I wanted information on a subject, I'd look to a site full of long time, hardcore enthusiasts of said subject over a general site full of predominantly casual fans.

[Jerseymilk]

I mean, why are you even argueing about this?

Well why are *you* even arguing about all this? I can ask you the same question. What an asinine retort.... -_-

[theoriginalbilis]

I'll say it again, if you're serious about getting FUNi's DBZ DVDs in their 4:3 ratio, definitely try and snag up as many of the singles as you can off of Amazon.com (used, or course.) ...

The singles are really inexpensive in used condition, and the ones I've bought used from Amazon are all in near-perfect condition. Most of them sell for about $3.00-$10.00 used. That's how I got the majority of the Buu saga discs, and some of the Androids-early Cell stuff. I think they're getting harder to find since they're already going OOP. Last time I looked, most of the Cell Games discs are already unavailable on the site. But seriously, the older FUNI discs are NOT WORTH the $25 MSRP. Try to get them used for less than $10 if you're going to go for them.

As for my opinions regarding the Season sets: I know they're not the best quality, but at the prices I paid for the first 2 sets (around $20 each), I'm cool with it. (Especially with all eps. subtitled, and w./ the 5.1 English dub, I feel those two features of the sets are worth my $20)... But then again, Season Two is probably the last of the sets I'll buy from FUNi brand new; since I already own all the older FUNi discs from episode 75 & onward.

I will more than likely get the future Season releases from my used bookstore, since they get used anime DVDs in frequently, and that way, I can get/enjoy the sets without giving FUNimation more money for the lower quality video.

- Bilis

[balrog]

Like I said, I got them from the reviews of the Season 2 set. And of course I didn't talk about every single review. Yes, there are some that really are informative and discuss all the facts. But most people vote those as unhelpful, or flame them in the comments. (But of course, that one's not even written by the person who posted it.) I wanted to point out the ones that the Amazon buyers thought were good.

But I never said that DaizEX should be the only place people get their information. I just mean that people here are doing their own research, and apparently much more so than the Amazon reviewers which you cited as a much better example than here.

Honestly, though, if I wanted information on a subject, I'd look to a site full of long time, hardcore enthusiasts of said subject over a general site full of predominantly casual fans.

Who really cares if flamers vote unhelpful for good reviews, or vote helpful for bad ones? What difference does that make? And the problem with getting all your info from “hardcore enthusiasts” is sometimes their radical views about things distort the truth. But yeah, Daizex is a good source, but can't be your only source. But we both know that huh.

Well why are *you* even arguing about all this? I can ask you the same question. What an asinine retort.... -_-

I asked that because there was no sense in trying to make an argument about how Daizex is the best source of info on the planet.

[desirecampbell]

Well why are *you* even arguing about all this? I can ask you the same question. What an asinine retort.... -_-

I asked that because there was no sense in trying to make an argument about how Daizex is the best source of info on the planet.

What the blue bloody hell are you talking about?

[Jerseymilk]

I asked that because there was no sense in trying to make an argument about how Daizex is the best source of info on the planet.

Uh, yes there was since *you* brought that subject up as an argument in the first place when you made the inferred that Amazon was a better source. She's making a counterpoint to your point. Also known as "Debating 101".

[balrog]

I asked that because there was no sense in trying to make an argument about how Daizex is the best source of info on the planet.

Uh, yes there was since *you* brought that subject up as an argument in the first place when you made the inferred that Amazon was a better source. She's making a counterpoint to your point. Also known as "Debating 101".

Hmm, no not really. When some one makes an idiotic point (I said that before I realized what Triple was really trying to say. Not calling him an idiot..) some people ask why they are even trying to argue about it in the first place, if it is so stupid. Hence why I said it! Do you get it now?

[VegettoEX]

Do you get it now?

Honestly, I'm reading your posts, and have absolutely no idea what the Hell you're trying to say.

[balrog]

Do you get it now?

Honestly, I'm reading your posts, and have absolutely no idea what the Hell you're trying to say.

The last two posts directed at Jersey are off topic and have absolutely nothing to do with what I've been saying.