FUNimation season sets of Dragon Ball

[FreezaSama]

Should I buy the season sets of Dragon Ball (the ones with the zoomed in picture), or wait & hope for a Dragon Box release of the series? Even if a Dragon Box for Dragon Ball is released, what's the earliest that it could possibly come out?

Also, is it true that a Dragon Box for DBZ movies 1-13 will be released?

[Puto]

We don't know. FUNimation stated they had the DBox masters for the DBZ movies, which hints at a possible release, but we don't know for certain.

[emperor pilaf]

It depends, are you willing to wait for 2 to 4 years for DB Dragon Boxes that might not even come out, or are you kind of like me who loves DB more than DBZ and could not wait to own all of DB, yes I own all 5 seasons and I just got the DB movie 4 pack. So yeah, if you are a perfectionist support the DBZ Dragon Boxes to increase the likelihood of the release of DB Dragon Boxes.

[Kaboom]

Don't hold off and miss out for the sake of a release that may never exist. I have no doubt that a big part of the reason we got Dragon Boxes for DBZ was that FUNi recognized how incredibly bad the orange Season Sets for it were, and so gave us the DBoxes as a "collectors' edition" to make up for it. But the season sets for DB (and almost to the same extent, GT), are very good and respectable releases. There's no real reason to put out anything better, nor any big niche that needs to be filled. At least not anytime soon.

[Chibi Gohan]

There's nothing indicating that there will be a Dragon Ball Dragon Box release anytime soon, so your best bet is buying the blue bricks for now. You can pick up all the blue bricks for around $120, which is pretty cheap...

As for the movies, who knows, there's mixed messages regarding those.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

...But the season sets for DB (and almost to the same extent, GT), are very good and respectable releases. There's no real reason to put out anything better, nor any big niche that needs to be filled. At least not anytime soon.

Right. They aren't that bad. The DragonBall Z sets were almost unwatchable. The only reason I'd want a DB DragonBox is for the Japanese title screens, openings and closings and for the whole presentation of a DragonBox. The DB season sets transfers aren't perfect, no, but it's watchable. There are some shots where the reds look orange, and it's zoomed in a bit, but other than that...

Here are some examples of what I mean. (Photobucket would keep shrinking my images so, I uploaded it on Twitpic)

Orange\Red example - http://twitpic.com/452fwl/full

Zoom in example. The flowers on the right in the window and side of the house on the left should give you a good idea of how zoomed in it is. - http://twitpic.com/452gjg/full

Also, this oddity. Check out the placement of the DragonBall's in each shot - http://twitpic.com/452nvh/full

[Cipher]

Orange\Red example - http://twitpic.com/452fwl/full

I think that's actually an example of the Dragon Box making oranges look red. Hasn't it been well documented that the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z Dragon Boxes feature some notable fading to red?

Also, this oddity. Check out the placement of the DragonBall's in each shot - http://twitpic.com/452nvh/full

You know, I've always wondered about this. I know on the Z season sets, the English title cards featured different Dragonballs as well (with the stars not even painted in). Those were different from the Dragonballs on the title cards on the singles and original Toonami airings as well. Has anyone checked to see if the Dragonballs are consistently placed on the GT season sets?

What causes all of this? Does FUNimation receive different elements for both the title card backgrounds and the Dragonballs? Did Toei switch up some of the Dragonball overlays when they were re-framing for the Dragon Boxes? And none of that sheds light on the weirdness of the Z season sets.

Anyway, on topic. You either have the choice of waiting for a possibly non-existent release years down the road, or you can pick up a perfectly decent (good even; the noise reduction was used pretty well on these sets) and cost-effective release right now. The only thing truly egregious about the sets is the cropping, but that's nothing new to international releases of the series, and if you didn't know, you'd never notice.

Also, is it true that a Dragon Box for DBZ movies 1-13 will be released?

Unlike Dragon Ball or Dragon Ball GT Dragon Boxes, this is actually fairly likely. FUNimation has apparently already bought them. And with certain double-feature releases skyrocketing in price, it's not a bad call to wait and see what happens with this.

[mister yummy]

I picked up the first blue brick, then I noticed how cheap the old Saga sets had gotten, even the ones that used to be ridiculously expensive. I had most of these anyways, so I just finished out the series. The Saga of Goku is PAL only, and the Tournement Saga is still hundreds of dollars, but I picked up all the rest I was missing for less than $10 each. Even the Red Ribbon Army Saga which used to frequently go for upwards of $75 on Ebay, I picked it up for $8. With the first brick covering the practically unavailable ones, the only one I'm missing is Piccolo Jr. part 2.

So, if you don't mind an older release, I say get the Saga Sets. The video's got a slightly lower bitrate than the season sets, but it's hardly noticible. There's a few times it gets blurry or blocky, but only a few.

As for a US Dragonbox release, don't hold your breath. If they do one at all, it'll be 3 or 4 years from now after they've finished Z, GT, and all the movies. Apparently, the origional anime is the least popular portion of the series. A shame, because it's the best part, IMO.

[CODii]

So, if you don't mind an older release, I say get the Saga Sets. The video's got a slightly lower bitrate than the season sets, but it's hardly noticible. There's a few times it gets blurry or blocky, but only a few.

You didn't think it was very noticeable? I remember the macroblocking being terrible. Just too many episodes crammed onto a single disc.

I'll be buying the Blue Bricks. If DB Dragonboxes ever do come out, I'll buy those.

[Choice195]

We don't know. FUNimation stated they had the DBox masters for the DBZ movies, which hints at a possible release, but we don't know for certain.

Can someone post a confirmation of this statement?

[Tanooki Kuribo]

It was said they have "all 13 of its movies" in their press release...

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-r ... dragon-box