Dragon Ball Z "Seasons" On Blu-ray: News & Discussion

[Kendamu]

I created a crop (with slight color enhancement) to the previously-posted Goku vs Raditz image and provided the equivalent manga panel as my reference to how I chose to crop the shot.

- Original image
- Cropped version
- Manga panel

I would rather have kept it untouched, but if it's going to be cropped I might as well start speculating on how it's going to be cropped.

[Ajay]

Great crop!

I'd say it's perhaps just a teeny bit too green. I think throwing some more blue into the mix gives it a nice neutral colour - http://i.imgur.com/6yVuh4r.jpg

[Super Sayian Prime]

I created a crop (with slight color enhancement) to the previously-posted Goku vs Raditz image and provided the equivalent manga panel as my reference to how I chose to crop the shot.

- Original image
- Cropped version
- Manga panel

I would rather have kept it untouched, but if it's going to be cropped I might as well start speculating on how it's going to be cropped.

I can see the trailer now ... "THE MANGA COMES TO LIVE IN DRAGON BALL Z SEASON ONE WITH SELECTIVE CROPPING ENHANCING THE IMPACT OF ANIME'S ACTION CLASSIC. WATCH DRAGON BALL Z AS IT WAS MEANT TO BE READ".

[Kendamu]

Ouch! That's not exactly how I meant it. I just used the manga as a reference because it's my favorite version of Dragon Ball overall and I felt that using it as a reference would help me choose what I could sacrifice while trying to keep the most important aspects of the shot on-screen. Here's another that I did for this post. I didn't do any color alterations this time.

- Full-color manga shot
- 4:3 DBZ anime shot
- Center-cropped 16:9 shot
- Manga-referenced 16:9 shot

The manga panel helped me understand the exact moment that Toei was adapting for TV and helped me choose what the most important part of the picture was. In this instance, Toriyama never even drew as much of Nappa's legs in the manga as what's seen in the anime screenshot. So, I felt that it would be okay to sacrifice the legs. Still, on my own, I probably would've made a similar shot because it just looks better with Nappa's face not being so close to the very top of the shot. The shot also feels less "crowded" that way while still allowing Nappa to look huge and imposing. Having those shoulder and back muscles showing actually makes him look even more threatening than if he were just a blob of torso taking up the whole screen as he tries desperately to duck low enough to get his face in the shot.

I'm not saying that FUNimation might not come up with some weird "the way it was meant to be seen" sort of tagline for this. However, that's not exactly what I was going for. I'm mostly just trying to make the best of a situation that, at this point, I feel pretty neutral about as we actually haven't seen the results of FUNi's attempt to minimize the amount of vital footage from being cropped (which is Step 4 of what Toei did for Kai) .

EDIT: I know that there would be a lot of moments where trying to match the manga panels would be next to impossible. That would simply be a time of using your best judgement and getting as much vital picture in as possible and trying to avoid making it look too crowded. DBZ will never truly fit in 16:9 without a complete re-draw, but with a little bit of effort it can be at least serviceable in modern TV framing.

[eledoremassis02]

I like the idea of using the manga as a reference for some of the shots!

I will say I am against the cropping. However, I can understand why it's being done (though I think zooming in 4x3 would be better though that has it's draw backs too).

Take this shot. Not much could be done to fix the bottom part. They can't use the frame before it, since the lighting is in a different position, and they can't use the frame after. They'd have to modify something. This was done in the level sets and I remember people noticing the action lines were wrong and some were mad about it.



So I think with DBZ across the fan base, people will always be annoyed at what is out. Some love the Dragon Boxes, some love the season DVDs, some love level sets.

[Kendamu]

Th interesting thing with damage like that is that it could still be easily cropped into a decent 4:3 picture that would lose a lot less than cropping it to 16:9, but it seems that he fans have spoken.

[eledoremassis02]

Th interesting thing with damage like that is that it could still be easily cropped into a decent 4:3 picture that would lose a lot less than cropping it to 16:9, but it seems that he fans have spoken.

I was thinking the same thing. Then we'd have 16x9 is not hd.
Things like this is apart of the film. and the film process. Even the dragon box had it to some extent. Even the nicks and dust don't bother me. But i can understand why you'd want to touch things up for HD though.

[qjz123]

Th interesting thing with damage like that is that it could still be easily cropped into a decent 4:3 picture that would lose a lot less than cropping it to 16:9, but it seems that he fans have spoken.

What do you prefer?
original
http://imageshack.us/a/img818/9137/onzi.png
4:3 crop
http://imageshack.us/a/img850/2571/hr4d.jpg
16:9 crop
http://imageshack.us/a/img29/6952/0qcg.png

[KentalSSJ6]

Anyone have any comparisons of these against the Kai blu-rays? From what I've seen they remain the best quality product.

[qjz123]

Anyone have any comparisons of these against the Kai blu-rays? From what I've seen they remain the best quality product.

I don't think Kai looks good at all. Kai looks way to soft.
Raw film scan
http://imageshack.us/a/img841/48/kyo1.png
Vs Kai
http://imageshack.us/a/img198/8821/ih5y.png
Raw film scan
http://imageshack.us/a/img69/5716/pw9f.png
Vs Kai
http://imageshack.us/a/img542/5382/8wsm.png

[KentalSSJ6]

What TV do you have? I got a 40 inch 1080p Westinghouse. I have 3 Dragon Boxes, Level 1.1 of the Z sets, and all of Kai on Blu Ray (the eight part set) and for me Kai looks best on my tv.

[qjz123]

What TV do you have? I got a 40 inch 1080p Westinghouse. I have 3 Dragon Boxes, Level 1.1 of the Z sets, and all of Kai on Blu Ray (the eight part set) and for me Kai looks best on my tv.

I have a 40 inch samsung led 1080p tv. What I showed you was a raw film scan completely unremastered look how soft kai looks in comparison to it. If you like the soft Dnr'ed to hell look of kai then good for you.

[Saago]

Just wondering, are Funimation's Blu-Rays usually compatible with Region B? I know the Kai Blu-Rays are, but are those a rare case? I wonder what are the odds of these Z Blu-Rays being Region B compatible as well.

[BluezaBladeNZ]

Just wondering, are Funimation's Blu-Rays usually compatible with Region B? I know the Kai Blu-Rays are, but are those a rare case? I wonder what are the odds of these Z Blu-Rays being Region B compatible as well.

The Level sets are Region B also, so the upcoming sets should be too. But for some reason, they didn't do the same for the Double Features (except the 2007 release of Broly Double Feature which was Region Free).

[Kendamu]

Th interesting thing with damage like that is that it could still be easily cropped into a decent 4:3 picture that would lose a lot less than cropping it to 16:9, but it seems that he fans have spoken.

What do you prefer?
original
http://imageshack.us/a/img818/9137/onzi.png
4:3 crop
http://imageshack.us/a/img850/2571/hr4d.jpg
16:9 crop
http://imageshack.us/a/img29/6952/0qcg.png

I like how I can still see more on the 4:3 shot. However, I don't exactly hate the 16:9 shot.

[KingofWisdom]

What do you prefer?

The less cropping, the better. The 4:3 cropping is pretty harmless.

[Puto]

Th interesting thing with damage like that is that it could still be easily cropped into a decent 4:3 picture that would lose a lot less than cropping it to 16:9, but it seems that he fans have spoken.

What do you prefer?
original
http://imageshack.us/a/img818/9137/onzi.png
4:3 crop
http://imageshack.us/a/img850/2571/hr4d.jpg
16:9 crop
http://imageshack.us/a/img29/6952/0qcg.png

Other frames have similar problems at the top though, so you need to take that into account too. Typically the last frame of a shot has problems at the bottom, and the first frame of a shot has a ton of glue at the top.

[Ajay]

I really want to see frames that will be troublesome to crop.

Splitscenes, wide shots etc.

If you guys find the best way to not destroy the composition with those scenes, I might be sold on this said.

Everything cropped so far has not been problematic at all.

[ect5150]

I really want to see frames that will be troublesome to crop.

Splitscenes, wide shots etc.

If you guys find the best way to not destroy the composition with those scenes, I might be sold on this said.

Everything cropped so far has not been problematic at all.

What about stuff like this...



Also, how did Kai handle this shot?

[Metalwario64]

I'm pretty sure it wasn't even in Kai.