Funimation's 30th anniversary collectible home video release

[Scsigs]

But some of the apologism in this thread is getting a bit ridiculous.

A lot of the posts come off as sunk cost mentality. These people sank a lot of cash into this product, and bought into the hype. That's a really powerful thing.
Even then, I can't be too harsh. I remember being young, stupid, and being okay with the orange bricks when they were first released too, defending them on here at some points. I'm try to reserve my dissatisfaction for the company in this instance, and not for the people who are enjoying this release.

Some people are, unfortunately, playing right into FUNi's hands of, "well, we're not gonna get better, so this is good enough." This despite the fact that the problems are still numerous.

[KBABZ]

But some of the apologism in this thread is getting a bit ridiculous.

A lot of the posts come off as sunk cost mentality. These people sank a lot of cash into this product, and bought into the hype. That's a really powerful thing.
Even then, I can't be too harsh. I remember being young, stupid, and being okay with the orange bricks when they were first released too, defending them on here at some points. I'm try to reserve my dissatisfaction for the company in this instance, and not for the people who are enjoying this release.

I mean the things that get me are A) They added grain on top after already removing the grain, thus taking us back to 2005*, and B) This is a premium, limited edition anniversary release of Funimation's most profitable product, arguably the biggest anime on the planet, and they totally phoned it in by uncropping a previous release. The footage looks ...fine, but for the price and occasion it's very half-baked and almost comes off as a scam considering the amount of effort you'd expect for it.

*In particular, basically thinking we're stupid enough to not be able to tell the fucking difference

[Rory]

Well if it's a filter, they added fake grain in place of actual grain they removed, which is intentionally sabotaging the picture in order to fool a few fans. I made a pretty ranty post on the previous page but I agree with you, and find it real scummy.

[Tylerman29]

Some people are, unfortunately, playing right into FUNi's hands of, "well, we're not gonna get better, so this is good enough." This despite the fact that the problems are still numerous.

It's hard to not play into their hands when either way they win. They literally have all the power in the situation, and they will spin the narrative whichever way they need to. The releases have gradually been getting better, so that's somewhat of a positive.

The interesting conversation to have now is what is in store for the future. Is this the last release for 5 years? 10? forever? Will this impact other Dragon Ball properties going forward? FUNi likes money so they will find a way to milk this some more. Its just a question of how and when. The only DBZ release I see in the near future (1-2 years) is a standard release of this set. Past that, anything is game. I want soo bad to have re-releases of DB (blu ray), GT(blu ray), and the movies( new transfer).

[eledoremassis02]

They still haven't released the series in HD with Japanese title cards. So they got that option going for them lol

That's actually one thing that annoys me. The orange bricks got japanese title cards but GT and Dragon Ball didnt. And on FUNimation.com when you stream dragon ball in japanese you get Japanese title cards lol

Also, what are the chances this release gets used for FUNimations streaming, at least the Japanese audio (since that still uses Orange Bricks)

[simtek34]

They still haven't released the series in HD with Japanese title cards. So they got that option going for them lol

That's actually one thing that annoys me. The orange bricks got japanese title cards but GT and Dragon Ball didnt. And on FUNimation.com when you stream dragon ball in japanese you get Japanese title cards lol

Also, what are the chances this release gets used for FUNimations streaming, at least the Japanese audio (since that still uses Orange Bricks)

I’m pretty sure by now, there will NEVER be another release of Dragon Ball/Z, or any Anime from FUNimation with Japanese Title Cards. FUNi doesn’t do that anymore for any of their other properties, since they don’t use Alternate Angles anymore and haven’t since the Orange Bricks in 2007, outside the Dragon Boxes, since the whole point do those was to not touch any of the footage in any way at all. That ship sailed over a decade ago.
At least other anime that aren’t Dragon Ball/Z/GT have Episode title cards that are accurate translations of the originals and not made-up 3-5 word blurbs.
Same thing for Japanese OP/ED Credits. Never gonna happen from FUNimation ever again.

[KBABZ]

The interesting conversation to have now is what is in store for the future. Is this the last release for 5 years? 10? forever? Will this impact other Dragon Ball properties going forward? FUNi likes money so they will find a way to milk this some more. Its just a question of how and when. The only DBZ release I see in the near future (1-2 years) is a standard release of this set. Past that, anything is game. I want soo bad to have re-releases of DB (blu ray), GT(blu ray), and the movies( new transfer).

Honestly, outside of a Peasant's release of this set, never again. Streaming is only going to become more ubiquitous, especially since the entry cost is so low and physical storage is never a problem. GT and maybe DB could happen, and Super will keep coming as that's much easier to do, but for the classic stuff... I honestly think this is it, the last hurrah, the full stop regarding US DBZ releases, and it's sad. They had 20 whole years to get this right and, outside of the UUEs, Dragon Box and the all too brief Level sets, they screwed it up every single time.

[Tylerman29]

I wouldn't be surprised if they leave the old stuff alone and 100% focus on the releases of Super2.0 and future movies. Depends how long we go without new content. DB is a money cow for them so they won't go too long without putting SOMETHING out.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

The interesting conversation to have now is what is in store for the future. Is this the last release for 5 years? 10? forever? Will this impact other Dragon Ball properties going forward? FUNi likes money so they will find a way to milk this some more. Its just a question of how and when. The only DBZ release I see in the near future (1-2 years) is a standard release of this set. Past that, anything is game. I want soo bad to have re-releases of DB (blu ray), GT(blu ray), and the movies( new transfer).

Yeah I can definitely see a standard release of the 30th anniversary master. If Super doesn't come back next year they may also release OG DB on Blu-Ray with Selecta Vision's remaster, maybe TOEI's movie remasters too. Time will tell I suppose. I only wish they would licence the Canadian dubs because they have never had a home release.

[coola]

Maybe Toei will release their own BD set? With will probably similar case to Sailor Mon, Viz release was crappy, and sadly Toei one was only slightly better http://sailormoonnews.com/2017/07/03/th ... eat-in-hd/

[TheGreatness25]

I honestly don't trust Toei to release something better, to be completely honest. I don't trust them to release anything at all. If they did, I'd expect censorship (goodbye middle fingers), but that's a small thing. I didn't spend any time with their movie Blu-rays since I got them, but isn't Toei releasing things with that crappy green tint that they used for Kai 2.0? Also there's that rumor that their Dragon Ball film masters might be gone (I doubt it, but who knows?).

I wouldn't even know how a fan could go about this. On one hand, it doesn't seem so hard to take the Dragon Box and run it through a filter that corrects the colors a bit and upscale it, but on the other, I wouldn't know how to do it and assuming that if it were possible, it would've already been done.

[Jesta']

I honestly don't trust Toei to release something better, to be completely honest. I don't trust them to release anything at all. If they did, I'd expect censorship (goodbye middle fingers), but that's a small thing. I didn't spend any time with their movie Blu-rays since I got them, but isn't Toei releasing things with that crappy green tint that they used for Kai 2.0?

Yes, these are the most pressing issues here, middle fingers and the green tint. The latter of which can easily be removed

[ect5150]

I think someone asked for this image earlier--

Spoiler:

Is the set as good as the Level Sets? Not a chance. Is it as bad as everyone is bemoaning? Not really.

[Rory]

Is the set as good as the Level Sets? Not a chance. Is it as bad as everyone is bemoaning? Not really.

Hate to ask but can you at least say why it's not that bad? I'm only asking for variety sake, as I've found people on this thread who aren't 'bemoaning' generally aren't saying much to back up their stance.

[Tylerman29]

Is the set as good as the Level Sets? Not a chance. Is it as bad as everyone is bemoaning? Not really.

Hate to ask but can you at least say why it's not that bad? I'm only asking for variety sake, as I've found people on this thread who aren't 'bemoaning' generally aren't saying much to back up their stance.

I think it depends on the context. Like in isolation this remaster isn’t “good” in any sense really. If we look at it in the context of the other releases ( orange bricks being downright trash, and the other end of the spectrum being levels/dboxes), It sorta falls in the middle. Then you bring up the fact that they had 20 years to get it right and this is as good as we will likely get. Their are lots of baggage and ways to look at it depending on expectations and relativity to the circumstance surrounding the release.

The only defense is that its better than we have gotten in other releases, and for some people that is good enough. I don’t blame them as I sympathize with that perspective. You can understand the problems and still enjoy it. And you can also say that it’s unacceptable and choose not to support it. Both are valid..its a personal choice. Neither side should demean the other. We all want the same thing; a better release.

[ect5150]

Is the set as good as the Level Sets? Not a chance. Is it as bad as everyone is bemoaning? Not really.

Hate to ask but can you at least say why it's not that bad? I'm only asking for variety sake, as I've found people on this thread who aren't 'bemoaning' generally aren't saying much to back up their stance.

There are plenty of scenes that look nice (I could probably make a comparison video or two later in the week if people really wanted to look at some examples). To be fair to others' arguments, yes I could nitpick details out of many of the scenes. The biggest valid complaint is the grain removal. Yes, it does destroy detail, this isn't debatable. But It doesn't appear to be as heavily used as the widescreen bluray release. The biggest issue is that is appears to make line definition blurry at times. There have been scenes where I'm just sitting watching the show and I forget that fact altogether. Also, the colors are nice (specifically the hues). The DragonBox colors are wrong in many episodes (the famous green sky Vegeta battle example). Based on this, I can't put the video quality in the "trash" category. I might rank the video quality as 7/10.

I can't speak to the English version of the show as I don't watch it. Japanese + Subtitles for me. No one was expecting some major breakthru on the audio side of things. The Japanese audio is no different than previous releases.

[LettuceJUMP]

Is the set as good as the Level Sets? Not a chance. Is it as bad as everyone is bemoaning? Not really.

Hate to ask but can you at least say why it's not that bad? I'm only asking for variety sake, as I've found people on this thread who aren't 'bemoaning' generally aren't saying much to back up their stance.

Thank you for being open minded. For me, this release is below dragon box / level sets.

But for a 4:3 HD release is it light years above orange bricks and blu-ray season sets and anything prior. Even Kai.

It might only be a 7.5/10, but it is the full release, in 4:3 and the brightness is not blown out and cropped as poorly as the season sets prior. It might not be the perfect release we all deserve but on my big screen 75” the dragon box dvd’s are low res and the level sets were cancelled. So by default, it is my now current favorite release. Sorry if this insults someone but I’m very happy. Especially after selling the book/figure for $200.

[Taku128]

I think someone asked for this image earlier--

Spoiler:

Is the set as good as the Level Sets? Not a chance. Is it as bad as everyone is bemoaning? Not really.

idk this smeary watercolory mess looks abysmal to me. It's not (as) cropped and the colors don't burn my eyes, but it barely looks better than the season blu-rays.

[Spoofer]

It's not like streaming and piracy haven't been the go-to for the average anime "consumer" for about a decade now (or longer, for piracy), and aside from the bubble burst quite a ways back, the physical US industry has reoriented itself and currently enjoys sustainability among the hardcore physical collectors. I don't foresee that changing anytime soon since it's still in a strong position, so long as gaming consoles still come equipped with optical drives (which at least the next generation will) and so long as at least a few other companies are still manufacturing conventional players.

So while it's certainly possible that Funi could be content to simply re-release what they already have for another decade, I wouldn't discount the possibility that they'll once again find a new way to screw DBZ up with a new release another 5 or 10 years from now. It's tradition.

Japan's due for another release of the original series though, so I imagine we'll see something from them at some point down the line, and then maybe Funi can just co-opt their release to once again set up a limited-time offer for a special domestic offering, especially since they know they always leave the most hardcore fans/collectors craving that perfect release.

But it is indeed sad that we have to rationalize the possibility that we'll ever see a good HD offering from Funi, right on the heels of their latest release.

[SqueakyBoots]

My set came in yesterday and I just want to rant about the packaging for a bit because these things are horrible. The box the cases are kept in is awkward and bulky. They're larger than standard blu-ray/dvd cases so they can't sit on a shelf with them. The first book of discs came out of the box with scratches on its cover and some glue (I'm assuming it's glue. It's black and sticky.) stuck to the spine. It is literally impossible to remove a disc from the case without touching the underside of the disc. Some discs get stuck inside the case easily which require gripping them to remove which obviously leads to higher risk of damage. I can tell whoever designed this box wasn't thinking about long term usage and storage which I find unacceptable, especially for a limited run set. The few discs I sampled so far seem to have survived without getting scratched but I haven't checked all of them yet. Going to buy some standard cases to put these discs in asap and then send Funi an email telling them why this is bad.

On a more positive note, I love the Goku figure that came with the set.

I honestly don't trust Toei to release something better, to be completely honest. I don't trust them to release anything at all. If they did, I'd expect censorship (goodbye middle fingers), but that's a small thing. I didn't spend any time with their movie Blu-rays since I got them, but isn't Toei releasing things with that crappy green tint that they used for Kai 2.0? Also there's that rumor that their Dragon Ball film masters might be gone (I doubt it, but who knows?).

Would not surprise me at all if they did a release next year and it was just these masters but with Japanese title cards. They probably think this looks good enough and it'd save them the time and money of doing their own remaster.