DragonBall Kai Blu-ray Box Set Dissection!

Tanooki Kuribo · Post by **Tanooki Kuribo** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 1:54 pm

Forget the intro, no one ever reads this. Lets just get to the pretty pretty pictures!

The box front...

Two side panels...

The back...

The image on the disc book...

The disc book...

It's not even fully attached! Oh well, not really complaining, this doesn't really bother me, just pointing it out cause it's there...

The disc art seems odd. All the characters look a little off. Maybe it's just me, what do you think?

The booklet that comes with it is pretty cool. It has an interview with Nozawa Masako which is already translated over on Kanzentai.com. The book also includes an episode guide and what disc to find them on, how they remasterd Kai and the new bumpers...

Here are some images from the re mastering process blown up so you can see them better...

And that's pretty much as far as I can go without having a blu-ray drive in my computer. There are no extras or anything like that but I rather have taken a screen capture of the menu (which is the same on all the disc, except for the shots of the episode in those little squares) then put up a snapshot. Oh well, menu...

bkev · Post by **bkev** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:04 pm

OH GOD
IT'S THE RETURN OF TRIANGLE CRAP... in official art? o.o

Tanooki Kuribo · Post by **Tanooki Kuribo** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:05 pm

OH GOD
IT'S THE RETURN OF TRIANGLE CRAP... in official art? o.o

I was thinking that too!

bkev · Post by **bkev** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:07 pm

Seriously, it looks like they just vectored Studio Live art. That Vegeta looks like he was ripped outta the Freeza saga and they added his armor.

Castor Troy · Post by **Castor Troy** » Fri Dec 11, 2009 2:09 pm

Man, why show a remaster of the "Kamehameha Dump" scene when it was cut out of Kai?

theoriginalbilis · Post by **theoriginalbilis** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 2:57 am

I definitely like the remastering job done on Kai (not the redrawn/traced stuff, just the actual footage remastering job)... After watching Kai in HD and the Dragon Box, I have to say that the colors and brightness really stand out and look better. TO ME, at least.

Looking forward to us getting some kind of release here in the US hopefully by 2011 or sooner...

The Time Traveller · Post by **The Time Traveller** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 7:44 pm

Castor Troy wrote:Man, why show a remaster of the "Kamehameha Dump" scene when it was cut out of Kai?

Who knows, maybe they're going to do Dragon Ball/Z/GT blu-ray discs after this?

ShadowDude112 · Post by **ShadowDude112** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 8:23 pm

The Time Traveller wrote:
Castor Troy wrote:Man, why show a remaster of the "Kamehameha Dump" scene when it was cut out of Kai?
Who knows, maybe they're going to do Dragon Ball/Z/GT blu-ray discs after this?

Those are already on DVD there's no need for them to be on Blu-Ray.

IncompetentOverlord · Post by **IncompetentOverlord** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:06 pm

ShadowDude112 wrote:
The Time Traveller wrote:
Castor Troy wrote:Man, why show a remaster of the "Kamehameha Dump" scene when it was cut out of Kai?
Who knows, maybe they're going to do Dragon Ball/Z/GT blu-ray discs after this?
Those are already on DVD there's no need for them to be on Blu-Ray.

Ummm..... Yeah there is.

Would you be happy if just because DB was released on VHS they never released it on DVD?

Same deal here.

ShadowDude112 · Post by **ShadowDude112** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:09 pm

IncompetentOverlord wrote:
ShadowDude112 wrote:
The Time Traveller wrote: Who knows, maybe they're going to do Dragon Ball/Z/GT blu-ray discs after this?
Those are already on DVD there's no need for them to be on Blu-Ray.
Ummm..... Yeah there is.

Would you be happy if just because DB was released on VHS they never released it on DVD?

Same deal here.

So you want them to remaster a series meant for 420p? Those will look terrible on an HD TV.

IncompetentOverlord · Post by **IncompetentOverlord** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:14 pm

ShadowDude112 wrote:
IncompetentOverlord wrote:
ShadowDude112 wrote:Those are already on DVD there's no need for them to be on Blu-Ray.
Ummm..... Yeah there is.

Would you be happy if just because DB was released on VHS they never released it on DVD?

Same deal here.
So you want them to remaster a series meant for 420p? Those will look terrible on an HD TV.

My point was that Blu-Ray will at some point replace DVD as the dominant recorded media viewing device. At that point, having DB/Z/GT on Blu-Ray will become necessary. Toei is just being proactive.

How it looks will not be the issue at that point.

ShadowDude112 · Post by **ShadowDude112** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:20 pm

IncompetentOverlord wrote:
ShadowDude112 wrote:
IncompetentOverlord wrote: Ummm..... Yeah there is.

Would you be happy if just because DB was released on VHS they never released it on DVD?

Same deal here.
So you want them to remaster a series meant for 420p? Those will look terrible on an HD TV.
My point was that Blu-Ray will at some point replace DVD as the dominant recorded media viewing device. At that point, having DB/Z/GT on Blu-Ray will become necessary. Toei is just being proactive.

How it looks will not be the issue at that point.

Yes it will if a show is made for 420p it will look bad at 1080p, it just won't work.

IncompetentOverlord · Post by **IncompetentOverlord** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:32 pm

ShadowDude112 wrote:
IncompetentOverlord wrote:
ShadowDude112 wrote:So you want them to remaster a series meant for 420p? Those will look terrible on an HD TV.
My point was that Blu-Ray will at some point replace DVD as the dominant recorded media viewing device. At that point, having DB/Z/GT on Blu-Ray will become necessary. Toei is just being proactive.

How it looks will not be the issue at that point.
Yes it will if a show is made for 420p it will look bad at 1080p, it just won't work.

I concur, but the fact remains that when people don't own DVD players anymore they will still want to watch Dragonball.

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Sun Dec 13, 2009 9:40 pm

ShadowDude112 wrote:
IncompetentOverlord wrote: My point was that Blu-Ray will at some point replace DVD as the dominant recorded media viewing device. At that point, having DB/Z/GT on Blu-Ray will become necessary. Toei is just being proactive.

How it looks will not be the issue at that point.
Yes it will if a show is made for 420p it will look bad at 1080p, it just won't work.

Well, let's make one thing clear:

Digitally animated shows are limited to the resolution they were animated in and if they were animated at 480p (Death Note, Samurai Champloo, etc) they can only be upscaled to 1080p or whatever the desired HD resolution is. They can never be native HD presentations and will always lack the clarity of a true HD master. These types of shows appear to be what you're referring to.

A show animated on film, however, is only made for a specific aspect ratio in terms of framing and such and not a target resolution, so it can easily have an HD master made by telecining the film. The only limitation here is that DragonBall/Z/GT series were animated on 16mm stock, which has more visible film grain than the 35mm stock used for the films. So, while detail to an extent would be gained, the grain would also become more pronounced. If handled properly though, that is to say not DVNR'd to death to tame the grain, I think it wouldn't look any worse than the DragonBox releases in SD. It would just be the same as it is now, albeit clearer for HD setups.

Sadly, unless Toei is being very secretive, all the DragonBox restorative work was performed on a 480p telecine. Still, we'll see in time I suppose.

I concur, but the fact remains that when people don't own DVD players anymore they will still want to watch Dragonball.

While I don't believe it's part of the specification, all BD players can play DVD's.

-Corey

ShadowDude112 · Post by **ShadowDude112** » Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:55 pm

You know I was looking at this box set on Play Asia and it's over $100. Now I know there's a lot of content here and it's Blu-Ray but I think that's a tad over priced. Although that's just me. I'm aiming if I get a PS3 for Christmas I might get the first one but that all depends. Although this box set is tempting especially because it has the Goku vs. Vegeta fight and basically the whole Saiyan Arc with the exception of a few episodes after this and before it. So do you think it's worth the $100+ price tag?

bkev · Post by **bkev** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:08 am

ShadowDude112 wrote:You know I was looking at this box set on Play Asia and it's over $100. Now I know there's a lot of content here and it's Blu-Ray but I think that's a tad over priced. Although that's just me. I'm aiming if I get a PS3 for Christmas I might get the first one but that all depends. Although this box set is tempting especially because it has the Goku vs. Vegeta fight and basically the whole Saiyan Arc with the exception of a few episodes after this and before it. So do you think it's worth the $100+ price tag?

Dude... it's at least $90 for one Tenchi movie. I wouldn't complain.

ShadowDude112 · Post by **ShadowDude112** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:10 am

bkev wrote:
ShadowDude112 wrote:You know I was looking at this box set on Play Asia and it's over $100. Now I know there's a lot of content here and it's Blu-Ray but I think that's a tad over priced. Although that's just me. I'm aiming if I get a PS3 for Christmas I might get the first one but that all depends. Although this box set is tempting especially because it has the Goku vs. Vegeta fight and basically the whole Saiyan Arc with the exception of a few episodes after this and before it. So do you think it's worth the $100+ price tag?
Dude... it's at least $90 for one Tenchi movie. I wouldn't complain.

Well I don't have a Blu-Ray player so I don't know the default price. I'm sorry I'm just not a follower of the Blu-Ray prices.

bkev · Post by **bkev** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:14 am

No no, what I mean to say is don't complain as that's the standard. It's absolutely ridiculous in general, I think.

ShadowDude112 · Post by **ShadowDude112** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:15 am

bkev wrote:No no, what I mean to say is don't complain as that's the standard. It's absolutely ridiculous in general, I think.

Ah, ok thank you.

Post by **TripleRach** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 12:26 am

ShadowDude112 wrote:Well I don't have a Blu-Ray player so I don't know the default price. I'm sorry I'm just not a follower of the Blu-Ray prices.

It's pretty cheap compared to most Japanese Blu-Rays, and even cheaper than a lot of Japanese DVDs as well. Compared to American Blu-Rays, it's pretty expensive, but they're two completely different markets and economies, so it's not really fair to compare them in most cases. Japanese media is just expensive as hell, especially while the exchange rate is this bad.