Should I Buy Dragon Box or Kai DVDs?

[MASTERMARIOMAN]

I'm having trouble deciding which DVDs I should buy for Dragonball Z. While the Dragon Box has 42 episodes on it and comes with a hard cover book, The Dub is somewhat mediocre, the Japanese audio is mono, and I can only find it online. While Dragonball Z Kai has an awesome dub, and the Japanese audio is Surround, and can be found in stores easily, the HD doesn't apply to me because I don't have a Bluray player, the filler is cut out and those are some scenes I want to see, and each volume has only 13 episodes. Which DVDs should I buy?

[linkdude20002001]

The Japanese audio in Kai is stereo, not surround. Also, the Dragon Box Z volumes ARE in stores; I've seen them. So, look harder, I guess. Though, online deals tend to be much better anyways, from what I've seen.

Well...it's really up to what you want out of it. If watching the show in Japanese is what you want, then perhaps you should stick to the Dragon Box Z sets. But if watching the show in English is what you want, then perhaps you should stick to Kai.

[theoriginalbilis]

The Dragon Box release is overall a much better value for your money in terms in content. Even with the flawed audio on both languages (The Japanese dub is old school mono, while the English dub has voiceover and accuracy problems.) More eps. per set, better packaging/extras.)

But if you really can't stand filler or really want the English voice cast at their very best or want DBZ in HD, go for the Kai sets. Just be aware that it looks like Kai won't be going past the Cell arc, so it might end up as an incomplete series (no Buu arc.)

[KKZ]

Just get them both, they're both more than worth the money.

[the_abberration]

@MASTERMARIOMAN

If you have to choose one or the other, think about this. Twenty years down the line when you pull them out to watch again, you can always skip the filler with the D-boxes. But you can't add episodes or filler to the Kai sets.

[penguintruth]

For longtime fans of Z who have little problem with filler and are either fans of the English dub or the original Kikuchi score, the Dragon Boxes might be the best bet.

For fans who've not seen Z in a long time, prefer less filler, and/or would like a better English dub, Kai is for you.

My personal preference is to collect the Dragon Boxes and watch them with the Japanese track only, but then supplement the experience with a few volumes of Kai here and there where Kai offers a shortcut through dense material, and watch Kai in either Japanese or English, because it's about as good in both. Kai is more of an ingredient than a meal in itself.

[DinoChow]

I collect both. Personally, I think Kai is an improvement on the original series in many, many ways, but I just couldn't bear not to buy the dragon boxes. They're so...cool! I think the Dragon Boxes are the definitive releases - they have perfect video and audio (it's mono, but it's damn good mono), it defaults to Japanese, it feels and looks authentic, you get a cool book...it's just great. Gun to my head, I'd say own those. But I do love Kai, the Blu-Rays are absolutely excellent and I think it is a great version of the story. But for newbies, I think the original series might be the way to go.

No comment on the English stuff. I watch in Japanese. It's true, the Kai dub is much better....but it still sounds like crap to me. To each their own.

[GotenDaisuki]

But for newbies, I think the original series might be the way to go.

Honestly, I think Kai would be better for new fans. It has a great English dub and a great Japanese dub, the Blu-ray quality is great, and the sound quality on both dubs are good too. Kai is marketed as "the way Toriyama-sensei originally intended the series to be", and unless newbies are interested in filler or the original Japanese dub (no comment on Dragon Ball Z's English Dub), then I think Kai would be the better choice, regardless of the overpriced boxsets.

[penguintruth]

Yeah, definitely, I reccomend Kai to newbies. Because they'll probably watch it in English, so you might as well expose them to an English version that's faithful.

[TheGreatness25]

If you have no sentimental attachment to the classic Dragon Ball Z series, then get Kai. But I personally think that even if Kai was so much better (which I don't think it is), it still wouldn't be worth anywhere near as much for fans as the Dragon Box.