Dragon Box Z 20th anniversary

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coola
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Dragon Box Z 20th anniversary

Post by coola » Mon Mar 06, 2023 12:27 pm

On 19th March 2003 Dragon Box Z Volume 1 was released in Japan. For lots of fans it was holy grail, the ultimate DBZ home release, especially considered quality of western releases. Nowadays, it's legend is little weaker (Color degradation from first broadcast, lack of broadcast audio) even still, it is go to way to watch original Dragon Ball, since other releases were more flawed or cancelled.
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Re: Dragon Box Z 20th anniversary

Post by Dragon Ball Ireland » Mon Mar 06, 2023 12:55 pm

It's still the best release in terms of presentation because it contains content other releases lack (all Japanese title cards and NEPs included, etc) but it's not the best when it comes to picture quality (level sets beat it there) or audio (no broadcast audio, as you mentioned).

If the AB Groupe keep up the good work they've done so far on original Dragon Ball for all three series their Blu-Rays will be the best in the western world, although sadly that will only be for French-speaking and fluent fans :(
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Re: Dragon Box Z 20th anniversary

Post by Jord » Thu Mar 09, 2023 5:57 am

I'm glad I bought them at the tail end of them being really affordable. That being said, I only watched the eps once, lol.
Still happy I got them when I could. Weird how we haven't seen similar releases since then.

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Re: Dragon Box Z 20th anniversary

Post by MCDaveG » Thu Mar 09, 2023 6:06 am

I remember being so sad to not have the means to import the US release back at the time, as the release was really limited in stock and not long after, when I was able, the prices skyrocketed...

But in the end, I am happy. It is undeniably the best official release of the series that ever came out considering all the niche nitpicks,
but in the age of Blu-ray and current TVs, watching the DVDs is simmilar to popping in VHS tapes when DVDs came out.
The low resolution in combination with low framerate is almost unwatchable on current systems and the artificial upscales do not do the series justice.

But for me, indeed this release is a holy grail and someday, I hope that there will be a great release of the whole series with proper timeless remaster in english that I can own at home finally! But I guess that I can dream on.

Also, the broadcast audio... I was wondering how come the series sounds worse than some of the 70s anime, even tho it was basically just 7 years after the last episode aired!

As popular as the series was and still is, it's probably cursed. Also the length is probably to blame, it is easier to release Zeta Gundam with 50ish episodes on Blu-Ray then one series out of the three with almost 300.
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