Toriko Takes DBK's Slot On April 3 (Kai Ends with Cell)

[Gozar]

Well, what I'm saying is sales are probably down because people have less disposable income these days. People aren't even spending as much on all of the new series out there. So I don't know if a new Dragon Ball series would solve the problem.

True enough. But it's a step in the right direction.

[Chibi Mystic Gohan]

Hey, I definitely wouldn't mind it.

[painfuldeath]

Hmm... Considering that they pegged Kai as being more faithful to the manga I wonder what Toriyama has to say about it getting canned/being planed for only up to the Cell arc. They definetely spent some cash to get this thing redone but it isn't something astronomical considering the scale of the project. From my experience as an audio engineer, rerecording the characters and new music would be the most costly part of the audio in the show. Since there are a lot of characters to do I would peg about 3 or 4 hours per episode per character, maybe less considering the experience of the voice actors. That might cost a little if you are outsourcing the studio facility which I seriously doubt Toei would be doing as it wouldn't take that much gear to make a studio to record ADR. Editing the show would be a piece of cake considering it is only a 20 min show. It wouldn't take me more than 10 hours to do that and I haven't done much dialog editing. An experienced dialog editor would probably take about 6 to 8 hours. That's not a whole lot of hours for something that could potentially rake in a lot of money. Even if they are "meticulously" cleaning up the image (which we know they are not, they are just using better technology to capture the original and tweaking them digitally) it is not something that would be that expensive.

In my opinion I don't think Toei is cancelling this because of financial reasons, there has to be another reason. That is IF they are really cancelling it and not just planned to show it up the end of the Cell arc.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

Well, what I'm saying is sales are probably down because people have less disposable income these days. People aren't even spending as much on all of the new series out there. So I don't know if a new Dragon Ball series would solve the problem.

I would argue the lack of creativity and the overall laziness in Japanese animation over lack of disposable income. It's the same on the video game front too. Japanese games aren't really up to snuff these days and it's because no one is trying to push any boundaries. We are seeing clone after clone after clone and I think the Japanese market is getting tired of it, I know I am. All of this is a topic for another site(or perhaps PM) so I'm sorry I brought it up but it's just the way I feel.

I'm with Gozar to some extent. A small break might do Dragonball some good. It needs a break, it's no longer the cash cow it use to be. Maybe in a couple of years they could sell a game or do another TV special but for now I think a break would be a good thing.

[jpdbzrulz4sure]

I certainly agree that Dragon Ball needs a break. A good long break.

[TripleRach]

You're still assuming that DBKai was actually canceled, and not actually planned for 98 episodes. Aside from one vague quote that kei17 dug up, did any other source claim that DBKai would be covering the Boo arc? Remember, there was a rumor that the show would be about 100 episodes from the get-go. While a rumor is sometimes just a rumor, there are inside sources on the Internet (remember Wasted Wisher?), especially on 2ch.

From what I remember, until about this time last year, there was no confirmation that the series was going past Freeza. Happinet had estimated the DVD/Blu-ray releases to end around episode 50. Before that, it seemed unlikely that Kai would end, but there wasn't really any hard proof otherwise until the late Freeza arc.

When we did have firm confirmation of a Cell arc, Happinet upped the estimated episode count to 98. And everyone seemed to assume history would repeat itself when we got closer to the Boo arc (we'd see some casting news/episode titles in the spring, Happinet would update their episode count, etc).

Based on all that, along with Yuuji Mitsuya's comments at Otakon, I've had the impression that Toei never had any long term plans for the series, production-wise. If the Freeza arc had done any worse, I believe we wouldn't have seen a Cell arc at all. But it seems like they thought they could salvage the series with the help of AKB48 and more of the original cast.

That's all just my personal speculation, of course.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Meh. I wasn't a big fan of the Boo arc in DBZ. I would probably hate it in Kai.

[penguintruth]

I certainly agree that Dragon Ball needs a break. A good long break.

It can have a break after it does the Kai version of the Buu arc.

[Mewzard]

I certainly agree that Dragon Ball needs a break. A good long break.

It can have a break after it does the Kai version of the Buu arc.

Seconded, with the fury of an ancient god punching through an entire solar system.

Kai needs to continue, whether Toei does a Japanese version or not (though, that is preferable).

[Cipher]

From my experience as an audio engineer, rerecording the characters and new music would be the most costly part of the audio in the show. Since there are a lot of characters to do I would peg about 3 or 4 hours per episode per character, maybe less considering the experience of the voice actors. That might cost a little if you are outsourcing the studio facility which I seriously doubt Toei would be doing as it wouldn't take that much gear to make a studio to record ADR. Editing the show would be a piece of cake considering it is only a 20 min show.

You're forgetting the extensive remastering they have to do on all the footage as well. I imagine that's actually fairly expensive, considering how good it looks and how grainy and faded the original material is.

My guess is that, for however cheap it looks to us now, Kai is actually fairly expensive to produce, and simply not making as much as they feel another property might. It's funny though. I wonder if, had Toei bit the bullet and produced a truly new series, they might have seen a merchandise boom, enough to offset the costs of animation. Maybe not.

[DNA]

SparkyPantsMcGee I was expecting a full video of you eating shorts on a plate with a knife and fork. I am disappoint >:\

[JulieYBM]

Sort of tangentally related...but could I ask for more info on what Kusao says about working on the series over the years?

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

SparkyPantsMcGee I was expecting a full video of you eating shorts on a plate with a knife and fork. I am disappoint >:\

I actually planned on doing that too, but I had to go to work and my webcam wasn't working properly. I did a picture just to keep my word. I was also thinking about playing Head-cha-la on the drums with a mouthful of boxers but I think that would have been overkill.

[Rukura]

You're forgetting the extensive remastering they have to do on all the footage as well. I imagine that's actually fairly expensive, considering how good it looks and how grainy and faded the original material is.

My guess is that, for however cheap it looks to us now, Kai is actually fairly expensive to produce, and simply not making as much as they feel another property might. It's funny though. I wonder if, had Toei bit the bullet and produced a truly new series, they might have seen a merchandise boom, enough to offset the costs of animation. Maybe not.

Still, wouldn't that image of Gotenks in the scan that kei17 posted tell us that the footage has already treated for Kai? If they're not doing anything with it, it seems like even more of a loss for Toei.

If Toei really wants to do something with Dragon Ball they need to actually do something new from the ground up, and the Jump Special and "Plan to Erradicate the Super Saiyans" still seem to prove that (hell, i know i'm not the only one who bought Raging Blast 2 for that...besides Tarble and Hachihyack)

I said it on Twitter and I'll say it again here...

KAI GOT CANCELED BECAUSE HIRONOBU KAGEYAMA DIDN'T SING DRAGON SOUL!!!

=P

I second that

(Am i the only one picturing Toriyama going "Wait...wasn't there a pink thing at the end? Why isn't it here?")

[Cipher]

Still, wouldn't that image of Gotenks in the scan that kei17 posted tell us that the footage has already treated for Kai?

I don't know why you would assume that at all. Because it's a clean-looking shot? They do have production and cel art, etc.

[Mosaic]

I kind of like that it's ending with Cell. I'm curious to see how they handle the final episode.

[MetalMadness]

Why is there a picture of Gotenks there anyway?

[VegettoEX]

Why is there a picture of Gotenks there anyway?

In addition to some minor tidbits about how he went about doing the synchronized voices with Masako Nozawa for Gotenks in the past and how much he learned from her (such as ad-libbing breathing that was not in the script)...

He's talking about playing Gotenks alongside Nozawa in the past when they did DBZ.

Thus, Gotenks.

[Ringworm128]

One thing I'm worried about is that this will boost the ego of all the people who think that the Cell Saga is the real ending to DB.

[Rukura]

One thing I'm worried about is that this will boost the ego of all the people who think that the Cell Saga is the real ending to DB.

The fact that, when it started, it was claimed to be the "Toriyama cut" of the anime isn't gonna help at all...

I'm surprised Gohan didn't kill 9 Cell Jrs this time, in protest to not hooking up with Videl in Kai