FUNimation DBZ TV Blu-ray Official On-Going Thread

[Li'l Lemmy]

'Cuz no-one in their right mind will send me a review copy. Right...?

Lemmy sez to hit him up when we're a few months closer to release, 'cuz he's senile and forgets shit.


~Da Lemmy

[Big Boss]

The only thing that interests me is that we may get the chance to rip unreleased music from both the Japanese AND Faulconer score.

[TheMajinRedComet]

I will wait till they start compelling volumes , but I refuse to buy the series cropped again. Wonder what the price will be, it will probably be 20-25 like the YuYu release. I also wonder how Japan is going to feel having a DBZ release that can be reverse imported?

[jjgp1112]

I will wait till they start compelling volumes , but I refuse to buy the series cropped again. Wonder what the price will be, it will probably be 20-25 like the YuYu release. I also wonder how Japan is going to feel having a DBZ release that can be reverse imported?

Almost every US Z release besides the DBoxes, which aren't encoded for Region 2, can be reverse imported.

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

I'm not surprised by this news. We all saw this coming a mile away.

What I am surprised though is the fact that they're even re-releasing this series at 17 episodes a set and dividing the sets into two or even three parts. Doesn't this kind of move raise a stink with fans over shelf space?

Furthermore, FUNimation re-releasing the series again at too soon of a time is only reinforcing our suspicions that in their eyes, we, as Dragon Ball Z fans or even anime fans for that matter, are gluttons with deep pockets who will buy Dragon Ball Z because IT'S DRAGON BALL ZEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

FUNimation, we appreciate your efforts over the years to bring us good anime and even for saving One Piece. But, we're human beings and sometimes even human beings know when enough is enough. If you don't watch yourselves, that type of mindset will come back and bite you in the ass...hard!

[Gozar]

The following is an entry that I just finished about this for my Blog.

So I took a break from watching an All in the Family rerun on TV Land and decided to pop online and check my Twitter to see if there was anything of interest. Low and behold, FUNimation announced at San Diego Comic Con that it would be re-releasing the entirety of the DragonBall Z TV Series onto Blu-Ray starting November 8'th. Now, when I read this, I felt this was by no means a bad thing. That is of course until I read the article and saw a few key phrases that stuck out to me...

• FUNimation worked with Dallas-based ANDTRANSFER for the digital film transfer. FUNimation previously worked with the post-production house to remaster the series for the season set releases on DVD.
• As a result, the viewer will see brighter, clearer colors
• This restored edition also features the original U.S. voice actors as well as the original FUNimation soundtrack
• Dragon Ball Z Level 1.1 includes the first 17 episodes on two discs

...So let me get this straight here. FUNimation will be coming off releasing the 7'th and final Dragon Box on October 11'th. A release that contains at least 40 Episodes per set. A release that contains a beautiful high quality remaster done in Japan. They're going to come off of that and release DragonBall Z for the 4'th time (5'th if you count the cancelled Ultimate Uncuts) with a 17 Episode set that they're remastering themselves?

Now don't get me wrong here. No one has any proof as of right now that the Remastering process that DragonBall Z will be going through is going to be a poor one. However given FUNimation's previous track record with Remastering DBZ themselves, can you really blame me for being pessimistic? Let's be serious here. They're working with the exact same company that they did the Season Sets with. What are the odds that these sets wind up much better?

I highly doubt we'll still have the missing lines problem. I really don't think FUNimation is stupid enough to let that happen again. But with a key phrase like "brighter colors", it appears as though FUNimation is taking a step backwards from the Dragon Boxes. The added brightness was one of the reasons why the Season Sets looked so terrible. As if missing lines, blurred detail, and the footage cropped to 16:9 wasn't bad enough, they had to amp up the brightness to Taiyo-ken levels. Sometimes making footage brighter isn't always a good thing. Yet it seems that FUNimation is going back to those roots despite the Dragon Boxes currently coming out with their damn near perfect color and brightness balance.

In speaking of taking a step backwards; these sets will also include the "original FUNimation soundtrack", in other words the Nathan Johnson and Bruce Faulconer scores. I really thought FUNimation was finally treating DragonBall with the respect it deserves. It really seemed to me like that had phased that out of their DragonBall library. When the Season Sets came out, despite them having both the Original Japanese score and the FUNimation score available for the Dub, they continued to hype the fact that the Japanese score was on there. Which in my mind was the beginning of the phase out of the English Score. Once the Dragon Boxes hit the market in 2009, the English score was no where to be found. Yet here we are, in 2011, and Faulconer Productions is rearing its ugly head back onto fans Video shelves. I really thought FUNimation was proud of the fact that they removed something that should never have been there to begin with. But now I'm left guessing as to what exactly FUNimation hopes to accomplish by rehashing everything that they've gotten flack for since they started with DBZ back in 1996.

Finally, there's that one other little thing that I couldn't help but notice. 17 EPISODES?!?! They're already releasing DBZ in the 40+ Episode Dragon Boxes. Kai's getting a re-release onto DVD and Blu-Ray at 26 Episodes per set. Not to mention Yu Yu Hakusho's getting it's first ever Blu-Ray release in America at 28 Episodes per set for a 112 Episode series. Yet FUNimation has the nerve, no, the BALLS to re-re-re-release a 291 Episode TV series with a 17 Episode opening set? ARE YOU INSANE?!?! With this economy and the way the Anime Market has been swaying the past few years, how get FUNimation expect anyone to afford these? While still buying Kai and looking forward to the Dragon Box Movies no less.

How many DragonBall related products can they have on the market at the same time? The Dragon Boxes will have just finished their run a mere month prior. The Dragon Box Movies are still on the table somewhere. Kai won't be finished with its initial run until mid-2012. They've got the 26 Episode Kai re-releases running alongside the 13 Episode Kai Sets. Not to mention they're still hyping the old Season Sets for their new low price (Gee, I wonder why they're so low!). Oh, and let's not forget that we're still hoping for Dragon Boxes for both DragonBall and DragonBall GT (Especially DB). Could they possibly flood the market any more with DragonBall? Truth be told, I would have preferred FUNimation let things die down with the Z-Era TV Series for a few years before trying DragonBall Z on Blu-Ray. Focus on getting "Heya! Son Goku and his Friends Return" out on DVD instead. Or even "The Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiya-jin" onto DVD with a Dub.

I honestly don't think this release is going to turn out well. It will either be completely re-hauled midway through or cancelled completely a couple of sets in. But I do know one thing for certain...In my almost 10 year DragonBall Fandom, I can honestly say that this is the first time that I don't give a flying fuck about a DragonBall release. No thank you FUNimation, I'll be passing on these.

[theoriginalbilis]

It's cool for those who want want it (this sounds like it will have the definitive dub/sub soundtracks for those fans: definitely a plus), but I'm perfectly content with my Dragon Boxes.

Wake me when the two newer features (Heya! and PTETSS) are licensed...

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

In speaking of taking a step backwards; these sets will also include the "original FUNimation soundtrack", in other words the Nathan Johnson and Bruce Faulconer scores. I really thought FUNimation was finally treating DragonBall with the respect it deserves. It really seemed to me like that had phased that out of their DragonBall library. When the Season Sets came out, despite them having both the Original Japanese score and the FUNimation score available for the Dub, they continued to hype the fact that the Japanese score was on there. Which in my mind was the beginning of the phase out of the English Score. Once the Dragon Boxes hit the market in 2009, the English score was no where to be found. Yet here we are, in 2011, and Faulconer Productions is rearing its ugly head back onto fans Video shelves. I really thought FUNimation was proud of the fact that they removed something that should never have been there to begin with. But now I'm left guessing as to what exactly FUNimation hopes to accomplish by rehashing everything that they've gotten flack for since they started with DBZ back in 1996.

I don't post on these forums very often but I was pretty active here during release news of the Dragon Boxes. Everyone was happy at the time that the DBoxes were getting released. However, the biggest gripe that was spewing on these forums were the fact that the Faulconer and Menza scores not being on the DBoxes. It was a gripe that turned into a heated flamefest between Faulconer and Menza fans and non-fans alike that spanned for dozens of pages. Eventually, it boiled to essay long posts about CN fans needing to be respected for what they like. Ergo, it was a bad idea in the end for FUNimation to NOT put the Faulconer and Menza scores on the DBoxes if the scores had no effect on the picture quality. Do we really need to see another flamefest like this? I know I don't.

Finally, there's that one other little thing that I couldn't help but notice. 17 EPISODES?!?! They're already releasing DBZ in the 40+ Episode Dragon Boxes. Kai's getting a re-release onto DVD and Blu-Ray at 26 Episodes per set. Not to mention Yu Yu Hakusho's getting it's first ever Blu-Ray release in America at 28 Episodes per set for a 112 Episode series. Yet FUNimation has the nerve, no, the BALLS to re-re-re-release a 291 Episode TV series with a 17 Episode opening set? ARE YOU INSANE?!?! With this economy and the way the Anime Market has been swaying the past few years, how get FUNimation expect anyone to afford these? While still buying Kai and looking forward to the Dragon Box Movies no less.

I can't help but feel that this is going to be the Ultimate Uncut situation all over again. FUNimation releases Dragon Ball Z up to a certain volume, fans don't buy, release gets (quietly) canceled and then the series is re-released AGAIN with MORE episodes with no apology to the fans who DID buy the previous release. The icing on the cake being FUNimation doesn't acknowledge the existence of the previous release.

[Gozar]

I don't post on these forums very often but I was pretty active here during release news of the Dragon Boxes. Everyone was happy at the time that the DBoxes were getting released. However, the biggest gripe that was spewing on these forums were the fact that the Faulconer and Menza scores not being on the DBoxes. It was a gripe that turned into a heated flamefest between Faulconer and Menza fans and non-fans alike that spanned for dozens of pages. Eventually, it boiled to essay long posts about fans CN fans needing to respected for what they like. Ergo, it was a bad idea in the end for FUNimation to NOT put the Faulconer and Menza scores on the DBoxes if the scores had no effect on the picture quality. Do we really need to see another flamefest like this? I know I don't.

The thing for me is that the Dub Score should have NEVER existed. While I do admit that it would have kept people quiet, I really feel that FUNimation's exclusion of the Dub Score as well as amazing Dub of Kai/Recasting Linda Young was them taking a step forward and saying that they're done having that "yeah but" on their resume. The "yeah but" being a sorely low quality, 4KIDS Level Dub of one of the greatest and beloved Anime of all-time.

[TheMajinRedComet]

Crap, that's roughly 17 volumes. That is just silly.

[Castor Troy]

I present my prediction of what the rendition of DBZ will be on Blu Ray....

[Choujin Daizenshuu]

Gozar, the fact of the matter is that the dub score does exist and the Toonami generation is still relevant whether we as true fans like it or not. Personally, I would rather see a faithful dub and faithful casting of all 291 episodes with the original Kikuchi score but in FUNimation's eyes, I'm not considered relevant for that.

Crap, that's roughly 17 volumes. That is just silly.

Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Uncut Special Edition II: This time, it's personal!

[AgitoZ]

As vocal as Faulconer and Menza fans may be, like us, they are also a minority. The season sets would've sold well regardless of them. The majority who bought them, let's face it, didn't and most likely still don't care. FUNi should just try to keep it as true to the original as possible, even with that atrocity of a dub.

[jjgp1112]

The thing is, I don't think they excluded the dub score from the DBox to "move forward." They said that the DBox was intended for the "super hardcore fans" (Read: fans of the Japanese version) and that the English dub was tacked on. They probably just didn't see a point in putting it there, even though they unwittingly pissed some fans off. But now this release seems to be something aimed at a wider audience, and thus they're putting in the dub that everybody already knows very well.

[AgitoZ]

But now this release seems to be something aimed at a wider audience, and thus they're putting in the dub that everybody already knows very well.

I think you're confusing that with "vaguely remembers".

[jjgp1112]

But now this release seems to be something aimed at a wider audience, and thus they're putting in the dub that everybody already knows very well.

I think you're confusing that with "vaguely remembers".

Uh...you'd actually be surprised. Everybody I know in my area, who probably haven't watched Z since the Toonami days, have all watched Kai at some point in the past year and have all had the same reaction: "What the fuck is this shit?" "What's up with Gohan's voice?!" "This music sucks, where's that song from when Goku went Super Saiyan, that shit was dope!" and so on.

The point is, the US Dub with the dub music was probably the most prominent form of Z in America and left the biggest impression on the wide audience, so of course in a release intended for them, that's what's there. I don't think Funi really cares what the average Daizexer thinks in terms of these releases and how "damaging" it'd be to the franchise.

[AgitoZ]

Uh...you'd actually be surprised. Everybody I know in my area, who probably haven't watched Z since the Toonami days, have all watched Kai at some point in the past year and have all had the same reaction: "What the fuck is this shit?" "What's up with Gohan's voice?!" "This music sucks, where's that song from when Goku went Super Saiyan, that shit was dope!" and so on.

Yeah some will remember a couple of things. They'll remember a couple a tunes, maybe, the voices, and maybe a few more things. But really most don't remember when that music played, who Faulconer is, what lines were said, etc. Hell if we go with the dub everybody remembers argument, it fails. The dub for those episodes most remember is the one with outsourced to Ocean. And the later episodes are also different, with redone performances, etc. Their main audience isn't as picky as the internet is.

[Gozar]

Gozar, the fact of the matter is that the dub score does exist

And it exists on on the Season Sets. Which all of the common run of the mill fans bought and are happy with. The kind of people who can't have DragonBall Z without Faulconer are not the type of people to re-buy DBZ when they already have it on their Season Sets.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

I just realized that Goku wouldn't have even made it to Kaio in the first set! That's a little disappointing.

[jjgp1112]

Uh...you'd actually be surprised. Everybody I know in my area, who probably haven't watched Z since the Toonami days, have all watched Kai at some point in the past year and have all had the same reaction: "What the fuck is this shit?" "What's up with Gohan's voice?!" "This music sucks, where's that song from when Goku went Super Saiyan, that shit was dope!" and so on.

Yeah some will remember a couple of things. They'll remember a couple a tunes, maybe, the voices, and maybe a few more things. But really most don't remember when that music played, who Faulconer is, what lines were said, etc. Hell if we go with the dub everybody remembers argument, it fails. The dub for those episodes most remember is the one with outsourced to Ocean. And the later episodes are also different, with redone performances, etc. Their main audience isn't as picky as the internet is.

All of the Android, Cell, and Buu episodes are untouched (save for a couple of additional and omitted lines and Buu having a higher pitched voice due to them using an unrevised audio tape).