Kai Episode 100 (13 April 2014)

[VegettoEX]

General Discussion for Dragon Ball Kai episode 100, aired 13 April 2014

バレちゃった！　新ヒーローは孫悟飯
Barechatta! Nyū Hīrō wa Son Gohan
Found Out! The New Hero is Son Gohan

PLEASE SAVE DISCUSSION FOR AFTER THE EPISODE HAS AIRED

[qjz123]

I enjoyed the episode the pacing was good and I don't mind the new musical score it's something different which is good. My only gripe would be the video quality the episode looked kinda soft and dark.

[Ajay]

Not entirely sure what I expected out of that episode. Obviously the altered Saiyaman reveal was always going to be an issue but I guess I kinda expected Toei to make some sort of effort by maybe cutting together a new scene or using some of their ugly replacement animation. Naïve of me, I guess. Unfortunately, nope, we get a nicely condensed version of the dinosaur filler. Sigh.

Colours seemed even greener than last time, too. Shapner’s hair was quite literally green rather than yellow in one of those earlier scenes and we were hitting Orange Brick levels of yellow faces towards the end there. Seriously, check this out! You’d have a hard time convincing me that wasn’t from the Orange Bricks.

To carry on with the disappointment…

What the hell is going on with this music?! I can let the chirpy synthesised garbage pass during the comedic Saiyaman sections but damn, we’re now getting even more glimpses at Sumitomo’s ‘dramatic score’ and holy shit, it’s awful! It’s Faulconer levels of trash! Horrible, generic, droning guitar riffs and booming drums. What the hell is this?! I know some people weren’t huge fans of his heavy use of strings and chants in BoG but damn, I’ll take that over what he’s giving us here.

The only redeeming part was the piece of music prior to the ED. It actually sounded like real instruments with some thought put into the composition. Why can’t we have more of that?!

I’m not happy at all. I am really not looking forward to hearing what his themes sound like for when Kaioshin turns up.

Perhaps my reaction is so extreme because I’m watching this alongside the original but man, this is not a scratch on Kai’s original run.

I hate you all for getting Yamamoto fired

Once again, here’s another album of screenshots from the episode

[TheBlackPaladin]

If I understand things correctly--and, as always, correct me if I'm wrong--the visual remastering process done for Kai was overseen by a company called Q-TEC, but starting with the Buu arc, Toei began doing it themselves. And the quality of the job they've done thus far is really making me miss Q-TEC.

[Gonstead]

They cut out WAY too much footage for this episode. The pacing is horrendous and just flies by without a care in the world.

The music is just terrible. Now that we've had a chance to listen to more tracks, it sounds even more like a generic 2000's anime score. Also, WAY too much music for this single episode alone, so much so it was almost wall-to-wall.

I thought I would never say this but I would rather have had Tokunaga score GT than Sumitomo if this is the kind of quality we are seriously getting.

I'm also now really noticing the "too cute sounding" issue some people have with the new Videl and I have to agree with them.

All in all, it just feels like no proper care is even being put into the Buu saga so far. So far, I'm still liking the original DBZ episodes better.

[penguintruth]

I don't really understand the bitching about the footage quality. It's sharper and cleaner looking than before, without losing any detail or completely screwing up the colors. Maybe my standards are set low, but I think it's a bit much to compare it to the DVD Season Sets.

I'm also satisfied with how they sped through that Saiyaman stuff, as fun as some of it could be. Though it is a little annoying that they had to keep the captured dinosaur part in instead of just making one or two new scenes or rewriting some dialogue so that Videl recognizes Gohan right away instead of going through the anime filler. Yeah, I guess it was too much to expect, since they kept Mr. Satan's students during the Cell arc instead of just redoing a few shots that would have cleared them out.

My only real issue was with how bland and lifeless the musical score is. When Bruce Faulconer can give you tips on livening up a comedic scene, you need to hang your head in shame. I seem to recall Sumitomo's BoG work being a bit more lively, even if he did ham it up with those big choral sounds. This score is just putting me to sleep. Does the OST come with a bag of coffee beans?

But hey, I didn't think much of the Yamamoto score for the first few episodes of Kai. Maybe it'll grow on me, but right now I have serious doubts.

Videl's new VA is beginning to grow on me a little. And Ishizuka's Mr. Satan is pretty good, though Gouri is still very much missed. Nozawa hits it out of the park. Hiromi Tsuru still sounds good as Bulma. Takeshi Kusao's little Trunks sounds better than ever.

[Black_Liger]

Just watched the episode and the pacing is great, I was really taken by surprise by the orchestral cue at the end when Goku told Gohan he was gonna enter the tournament, it's the bossa nova piece from the Baseball practice, but orchestrated in a heroical fashion, it was really great, the style of it all was better than anything yamamoto ever did so The orchestrated parts are nowhere near lifeless or cheap so I guess no one really paid attention to that part.... however, Kai needs some silence, Nagasiki really is a BAD sound director and I attribute that to all the pessimism on the new score, I hear really good pieces but the placement it's too much electronic music and it just can't shut up on any parts, I can notice Sumitomo HAS scored more orchestrated tracks, but Nagasaki just doesn't really use them. All in all, I think the Orchestral parts of the score are gonna be really awesome. Can't wait until we get more. But I believe Yukio nagasaki should be FIRED.

On another side, You're a good composer if you can make a melody sound good as a bossa nova and as an orchestrated heroic piece. Sumi-chan just needs more orchestra...

[Ajay]

I don't really understand the bitching about the footage quality. It's sharper and cleaner looking than before, without losing any detail or completely screwing up the colors. Maybe my standards are set low, but I think it's a bit much to compare it to the DVD Season Sets.

I'd argue the cleanliness is simply the Boo arc as a whole. It's easily the most modern looking of the series and you'd struggle to find any of the 'sketchiness' present in the other arcs.

It's certainly sharper but it feels artificial, if that makes sense. It lacks the clarity of Q-TEC's work and feels very cheap. The Season Set Blu-rays are sharper than Kai but they certainly lack the clarity it has. I feel this is a similar circumstance. Perhaps it's simply the encodes but it doesn't look like the work you'd exact from a professional remaster at all.

The inconsistent colours and brightness seem to be becoming ever more clear. Some scenes look perfect while others have me cringing. I'll be sure to post some examples in the morning.

[ChibiGoku]

If you guys are wondering about the sharpness of the video, you can blame Toei for actually applying a sharpen filter to the footage, which by doing so, introduced haloing on the characters.

[KentalSSJ6]

Had to watch a raw version, but again, I liked the episode. It still looks fine to my eyes, and better than nearly any other version/release of the franchise besides the Level sets, even the cropping is acceptable (even though I detest cropping).

Music wise, I don't mind it THAT much. Id very much prefer Yamamoto doing the score as he did with up to the end of the Freeza saga, but its still better than the same 5-6 Kikuchi tracks that plagued the Android and Cell sagas. Seeing as we are only two episodes in i'll hold my judgement on the score until we see more of it implemented.

Other than that, I liked it as much as the previous episode. Still looks good despite the cropping, but again its the broadcast version. Music is fine for me so far, and the pacing and removal of filler is being done quite well. Looking forward to the next episode.

[Valerius Dover]

Hmmm, this sounds interesting.
So, do you think us few fans who actually like the US scores would like Sumitomo's work?

[kei17]

Just as I expected, the music placement is beyond terrible. I can't stand this pile of shit.

[TheRed259]

I am shocked! The music was so weird...
It's so unfitting but on the other hand if you look at it from another perspective, it kinda works with some scenes...

[Metalwario64]

Just as I expected, the music placement is beyond terrible. I can't stand this pile of shit.

Eh, I thought the track that was used when Goku announced he was returning was pretty well done and fit the scene decently at least.

[kei17]

Just as I expected, the music placement is beyond terrible. I can't stand this pile of shit.

Eh, I thought the track that was used when Goku announced he was returning was pretty well done and fit the scene decently at least.

That was unfitting as hell to me. The beginning part sounds too serious. It sounds like the music is making the scene overly emotional. Also, the track should start playing a little later.

Not to brag or anything, but I'm sure I can handle this 100 times better.

[IAmTheMilkMan]

These posts make me worry for future episodes. When I heard they were giving the Buu saga the Kai treatment, there were two instances of filler in the earlier episodes that I really hoped would be cut out: The first was as much of the Saiyaman filler as humanly possible, specifically the Dinosaur filler. I feel that it would have been possible, but they seem to have let me down. The second is the Shapner-trying-to-expose-Saiyaman filler at the beginning of the tournament; it could easily be cut out, Toei just needs to go the extra mile by painting Shapner out of a shot or two. However, if this handling of the Saiyaman filler is any indication, things don't look good for losing the Shapner crapola at the tournament.

I'm also saddened to hear that the music hasn't really improved. I wasn't feeling it in the first episode, but I'm saving my judgement for when I watch a few more episodes. I don't doubt that placement has a lot to do with it. On the other hand, I enjoyed Yamamoto's score from the start.

[ShinGaijin]

I am shocked! The music was so weird...
It's so unfitting but on the other hand if you look at it from another perspective, it kinda works with some scenes...

I had the strange impression of watching a mix between Funi's DBZ and the 1987 version of TMNT. WEIRD.WEIRD.WEIRD.
I've listened to the whole Norihito Sumitomo's discography... it's really bad, compared to his previous works.

BUT...there's nothing specially epic in the Great Saiyaman period, so I'll wait a bit before making a petition "Give us back Kenji Copymoto."

[El Diabeetus]

Just as I expected, the music placement is beyond terrible. I can't stand this pile of shit.

Eh, I thought the track that was used when Goku announced he was returning was pretty well done and fit the scene decently at least.

That was unfitting as hell to me. The beginning part sounds too serious. It sounds like the music is making the scene overly emotional. Also, the track should start playing a little later.

Not to brag or anything, but I'm sure I can handle this 100 times better.

Would not doubt it. Your fan made videos even with Sumitomo's score were really fitting. I've said before and will again that you're a much better 'audio director' than Nagasaki (and his assistant this time around). You care more about the technical aspects than the people actually involved with the show.

I liked Sumitomo's music from BoG, so a shame to see that the work for Kai is a bit iffy.

[dan2026]

I really enjoyed the music, it felt like I was travelling back to the time of old school 80s anime.
It felt quaint almost, like a piece out of time. A perfect fit for Dragonball.

[JackyBoi99]

Glad I'm not the only who thought the music wasn't that good.


Still better than any Funimation soundtrack though.