Dragon Ball Kai Licensed/Announced By Funimation; May Release
Funimation has announced that it has licensed Dragon Ball Kai, the new version of Dragon Ball Z now airing in Japan on Fuji TV. Kai is a cut of the show touched up for HD, with some redrawn scenes and filler removed for a smoother pace that resembles Akira Toriyama's manga. A new musical score has been composed by Kenji Yamamoto, known for his work on Dragon Ball Z video games like the Budoukai series, Burst Limit, Infinite World, and Raging Blast. Most of the original Japanese cast, including Masako Nozawa (Son Goku/Gohan/Goten), Ryo Horikawa (Vegeta), Toshio Furukawa (Piccolo) have returned to their original roles, but some roles have been recast, such as Aya Hirano as Dende. According to The Fanboy Review, the Funimation English dub of Kai will include the same cast as Dragon Ball Z, but the script will be more accurate than Z's. The show had already been licensed some time ago and started being dubbed last year. The first DVD and Blu-Ray sets will be released in May. Now, for my commentary on this. I've been reviewing Dragon Ball Kai for some time, and I enjoy it. It breezes through Dragon Ball Z at a nice pace, removing a lot of unnecessary padding. No more Princess Snake, no more Fake Namek, no Bulma underwater on Namek getting in the way of the actual core plot. It's very convenient for somebody who hasn't watched the show for a long time and doesn't want to be hassled with all that extra crap. If somebody were to tell me that this is the version they prefer, I wouldn't blame them at all. I can understand it entirely. But, really, Dragon Ball Kai is not a great product. It's lazily cobbled together. Instead of using the opportunity they had to completely reanimate the material, Toei decided to touch it up slightly at times, with a few redrawn scenes spliced together with the old material. This clashes terribly most of the time, not to mention that some of the "new" stuff looks like garbage, even if it is a bit smoother. It sticks out like a sore thumb. The new music is fit for video games, but not television animation, and certainly not DBZ. Kikuchi's score was perfect for this material. Yamamoto's score rarely shines. I told myself a little while ago that when Funimation finally licensed this, I would probably not get it. I'm sold on the Dragon Boxes, a complete remaster of Z, complete with all the material in the show. I can enjoy Kikuchi's beautiful orchestral score, all the original voices without exception, and not be bothered with Toei's teasing new drawings. If I have trouble with the padding, I have a fast-forward button. If Funimation wants me to purchase Kai, they would have to do something big: they would have to finally do a good English dub for this story. Funimation has decided to use the same cast as before. Sean Schemmel's forced, unnatural sounding, tough guy Son Goku and marble-mouthed Kaio. Chris Sabat's painful Piccolo. Tiffany Vollmer's valley girl Bulma. Linda Young's transvestite Freeza. Jeremy Inman's emotionless Android 16. Mike McFarland's bland Roshi. Eric Vale's annoying Trunks. I could go on. These voice actors have proven time and time again incapable of capturing the personalities of these characters, in Dragon Ball Z, in the original Dragon Ball dub (produced after the DBZ dub), and in the video games. I'm supposed to be impressed because Funimation has said the script might be more accurate? Isn't Funimation the leading anime licensor in North America now? Haven't their dubs largely improved over time? Haven't they worked to a certain standard? Why would they do this, why return to the disaster of their Dragon Ball Z dub? To appease the twelve year olds they lied to years ago? Haven't those kids grown up and realized how awful that dub was? Are they still fooled into thinking Sean Schemmel is an appropriate Goku? I guess so. I see some of these numbskulls on YouTube whining about how "Goku shouldn't sound like a woman" when presented with a Japanese clip. Missing the point of the character. Funimation has been given a chance to step up for once and treat the show with some respect. They've opted not to. And I could be wrong, sure, perhaps this new dub will still be excellent, and I'm hoping it is. I have my doubts, though. So, given that Funimation has decided to use the same cast of "talents", there's even less motivation for me to collect any of Kai. The show has a lot of things working against it as it is, but if Funimation is going to continue fucking up the dub, too, I think I'll probably stick with the Dragon Boxes. I'll still review Kai as it airs, though (provided subbers don't drop it). (Also, I have to laugh at Funimation retitling it "Dragon Ball Z Kai", because that's how I titled my reviews for a long time.)
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Should have copywriten the title
Funi is just trying to pull an ADV with Evangelion. Keep releasing new and better copies and hope fans make repeated purchases of the same product.
They'd be stupid not to.
Funimation would be stupid not to this. It's a license to print money.
Wow
This is awesome, I seriously cant wait!
Oh hey, that's a good
Oh hey, that's a good streaming site.
I like DB Kai's new
I like DB Kai's new soundtrack, it's really good, especially the new Ginyu Force theme, which is epic.
I do agree about Funi's dub though, I mean, I'm all for a more accurate script (Which I wish Funi did the first time around), but alot of the characters in Funi's dub just doesn't compare to the original 1st and 2nd season dub back in the Saban days.
Do some people that review
Do some people that review DBZ, forget how much FUNimation has done for DBZ? Do they forget that FUNimation helped make DBZ one of the most popular shows of all time? Do they forget that because of FUNimations brilliant voice over work with this show, that it became more popular in the U.S. than Japan?
Quite frankly, I couldn't care less about Kai...DBZ was made into the anime it is for a reason, theres no reason to piss and moan about it "not being true to the manga" or complain about how long it is....if it wasn't meant to be that way, then we wouldn't have 291 episode of pure amazing. So i'll stick to the remastered version of this show. (Remastered Orange Brick > Craptastic Dragonbox)
Anyways, my point is that this review is sitting here knocking on FUNimation for being terrible...yet he seems to forget what else is out there:
Japanese version: Lets face it, the japanese version of this show is horrible. The squeaky voice acting, unsuspenceful music, and in some cases, having yo read sub titles instead of just relaxing and enjoying the show.
Oceans Group DUB: Arguably worse than the Japanese version. When DBZ came to the U.S. it was told to be dubbed in a manner so that the show can be catered to 8 year olds, and thats just what Oceans did....made it sound like you were watching a more exciting version of Teletubbies.
Then you have FUNimation: I honestly wasnt trying to come off as a FUNi fanboy but I just cant agree with anything you say. Because of FUNi, we have the most popular version of DBZ to watch. FUNimation took horrible standards that Oceans set and made DBZ sound believable. All the characters sounded like what I would imagine them sounding like.
So all in all you are sitting here knocking a group of people who helped make this show amazing....if it wasn't for them we would be stuck with Goku sounding like a little kid or watching a show made for kids.
So seriously....next time you review...remember that FUNimation actually did something worth talking about when it comes to this show. No other version compares.
I have to laugh at you for
I have to laugh at you for thinking that Funimation's version of DBZ is "the most popular version to watch".
First of all, the "Ocean dub"? That was Funimation. Funimation was behind every aspect of that dub.
Second, their own in-house dub? Most of the voices were just as bad as in the Ocean seasons, if not worse. A lot of characters have never had a decent voice.
As far as the Japanese version being "horrible" because you have to read subtitles, that pretty much invalidates any legitmate point you might have had. And I'll take Shunsuke Kikuchi's intense, natural orchestral pieces over generic action music like in the Faulconer and Menza scores.
The Japanese voices are all perfect for their roles. The English version is mostly actors doing bad impressions of the Ocean cast or being cartoonishly exaggerated.
Also, Funimation didn't help make DBZ a popular show. DBZ is popular because it was an edgy action cartoon for its time. Any company that licensed it would have had just as much success. DBZ has had success everywhere it's landed in the world because it's a fun action show, not because Funimation decided it should be even easier to understand.
Enjoy your bad taste.
Japanese DBZ voice acting sucks
It's true that any company could have made DBZ popular because it's that good of a show. But it's also true that Funimation is the one that actually did. When they first aired it on Kids WB, it got terrible ratings and was canceled. Most other companies would have thrown in the towl after that. Not many people care about quality anime :(
But Funimation tried it again on a new network: Cartoon Network, and that's when it became popular (still having the Ocean dub). You might say CN is the actual one to thank for DBZ popularity. But I think it helped alot that they changed to the in-house cast and new music.
The fact that you LIKE the Japanese soundtrack just proves you're either in your 50's or you have a mental disability. I've heard more compelling orchestras in black and white films. The action level of DBZ is way too intense for the Japanese music it was given.
And the fact that you like the Japanese voice actors is astounding. They suck balls!!! The only reason people say things like: (Goku sounds like a girl, or the words aren't in sink with their mouths) is because it's true! Have you even seen the new Kai episode 47? Every other sillable out of Goku's mouth is some sort of choking, flem-coughing gurgle. Goku doesn't grunt or yell. He clears his throat!
As for the Japanese dialogue being a direct translation: that's a load of crap. Even THAT differs from the original manga to an extent. If you want the Japanese translation so badly, Try putting on english dialogue WITH original subtitles. I wouldn't listen to Japanese DBZ Voice actors if my life depended on it. About the only thing you're right about is that Freiza definitely sounds like a transvestite. I never understood their choice for the english Freiza.
Other than that my friend, you have about the worst taste in everything that I've ever seen. I'm surprised you even LIKE Dragon Ball, having such a distorted opinion >:)
Feel free to send me hate mail on Facebook. I'll accept your 'friend' request so you can talk to me.
I know this might be news to
I know this might be news to you, but Goku is intended to sound like a pure-hearted child, because he is one, even as an adult. And Masako Nozawa brings a charm and naivete to the role that none of the English VAs have even been able to touch.
Goku aside, all of the Japanese voice talents excel in their roles, from Ryo Horikawa's arrogant sounding Vegeta to the regal-sounding Ryūsei Nakao. And they sound natural in their roles, instead of being a bunch of generic, postering tough guy voices and over-the-top Merry Melodies-inspired accents.
There's nothing "intense" about the dub music. It's a bunch of Casio-esque, mindless, soulless mid-nineties action beds and rock guitar riffs that don't integrate themselves into the scenes at all. Kikuchi's score takes its influence from old martial arts films and classical operatics, working itself into a force of nature. It has an intensity Bruce Faulconer and his porn score talent could never understand.
English dub DBZ just isn't DBZ. It's some hackenied, dumbed down, insult to the viewer's intelligence. But I guess you need to have some to be insulted.
We americans are stupid
haha no wonder we americans are idiots xD we pretty much act like 5 graders fighting about a show for kids lol
Ah, being American has
Ah, being American has nothing to do with it. There are probably rubes somewhere in Europe arguing about the same bullshit.
I'd argue 5th graders
I'd argue 5th graders actually had more civil arguments. At least their shit got solved on the playground.
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