Android17 wrote:So I've got a few questions for those who have had the opportunity to watch a few episodes of the International Version. I apologize if some of these have been answered already.
As a whole, how is the music placement compared to the Japanese version? Is it still wall-to-wall, or do we get more silent moments and breathing room? And have there been any particularly offensive examples of music placement so far?
Also, what are your thoughts on the pacing as a whole? Does it feel too slow? How is it compared to the rest of Kai?
And finally, is the green tint actually gone, less noticeable, or is it still there in it's entirety?
Thanks
I can answer pretty much all of it. The placement is marginally better at least - the Goku scene where he returns is the same, but the music changes when Goten meets him for the first time (making the scene much more appropriate music wise).
Thanks to
kei17 for the footage:
International:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmsXopCeKcM
Japanese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7CkNiOw-Uk#t=526
There is a lot more silence throughout the episodes, so the wall - to wall is gone. There is plenty of breathing room between scenes, as the "weird editing" that is present in the Japanese broadcast isn't there (hence more "padding" in the International version).
In regards to "offensive examples" of placement, for me, I felt this scene where Trunks' 1st opponent notices him backstage at the Budokai was a little too "serious" and I felt the Japanese Broadcast did it better (wow lol) though in all fairness, I prefer the silence at the start, but when his opponent approaches him, the music feels out of place.
International:
http://tinypic.com/player.php?v=ru8oi0% ... 9_9PfldWa-
Japanese:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTfAkDcnWxk#t=204
But that currently is the only gripe I have, and on the whole, the entire production seems well thought out in almost every way.
I can only give you my opinion in regards to the pacing - which has been a huge topic of discussion. For the most part, "The Final Chapters" covers around a chapter and a half per episode, some cover around 22 pages. This week's episode covered 40 pages, so it really depends on the content and how it was created originally.
The pacing feels natural to me, and much more entertaining than it's Japanese counterpart. In comparison to the rest of
Kai, it feels the same, and here's how I reached that conclusion:
The Majin Buu Arc was written very differently to the previous Arcs of Dragon Ball, in that the Manga moved very, very quickly between scenes, things weren't as drawn out as the previous Sagas, so much so that a lot of people seemed to think Toriyama lacked enthusiasm for the Arc at that time.
Now, when you take that, and attempt to adapt it into an Anime which at that time, was being shown alongside the manga's production on a weekly basis - it is very difficult to stretch that content out enough to give the Manga a chance to get ahead enough.
So, more padding was required between scenes - as if you were to simply have a straight adaptation of the Manga literally frame by frame, it would look odd to say the least (and due to time restrictions imposed on Toei by Fuji TV, this is the end result of how the Japanese broadcast has turned out).
The 69 was produced because Toei recognized that if they were to cut this Arc like they did the previous 3 - it would look odd, so they decided to remove all of the story contradicting stuff (at least so far, from what I have seen).
In our version, for the large part, they don't seem to have edited the footage to match the manga exactly, they have left it where it was originally, if it was within the same chapter, they just leave it, by doing it this way, they retain the scenes the way they were originally, so the editing doesn't look weird, and it gives smooth transitions between each one.
Because the Japanese Broadcast version have had to (due to Fuji TV's restrictions) remove a lot of the padding, which has resulted in weird editing, and because they don't have the time to leave breathing room, have had to replicate the manga to the "nth" degree - frame by frame at times, otherwise, it would be incredibly confusing to watch.
Our version may not be 100% to the letter, but it is by far the better one, and much more entertaining. From what I could gather, there was more of the Goten Vs. Trunks fight content left in than the Japanese one.
The bottom line is,
Kai is doing what it was meant to in the first place - be more faithful to the original manga. The footage has been edited as much as possible whilst it is acceptable editing wise to do so, the dialogue has been altered, also.
The mess that removing the padding has caused is what you're seeing in the Japanese version for the most part - I have actually enjoyed some of those episodes, but there have been times where the editing has caused some major issues, cutting from footage that clearly wasn't made to be cut in this way is the problem, and the only way around it is to either keep the padding the way they have for the International Version, or re-animate (a ship in which I think sailed long ago).
