Funi has Dragonball Kai (Confirmed)

If FUNI does a brand-new dub, I fully expect them to keep the same english voice actors we've heard for 10 years and the same english names and attacks.

I think the dialogue will be closer to the original and of course no dub music, but anyone who thinks they would get rid of the english DBZ dub cast for the major characters is fooling themselves.

Chris Sabat will be back, as will Sean Schemmel and the rest.
 
Well, Funi was interested from day 1, so it's no shock. However, as it's pre-editted for TV, I hope they can maybe run it some where as that's a great use for it. Yeah, the potential for a fresh dub is great too, but using it to get DragonBall Z to a new generation is where this would shine.
 
I can really tolerate anybody in the dub...except Freeza. Please switch Freeza. I can even handle Reacm no matter how much it sounRAB like Patrick but I can't stand Freeza at this point.
 
Well after realizing that he's supposed to sound....relatively normal yet demented and not [strike]boderline phallic[/strike] played by a woman, I'd really like him to sound normal and demented in my dub if possible.
 
I think Linda Young does a great job as Frieza, and I'm definitely used to her as the character, but I still think her voice is horribly unfitting.
 
I vonder if the Blu-ray release will be the 4:3 masters from Japan...



Nope. Linda Young is one of the many reasons I switched over to watching the original version of the show. Ry
 
I would've waited until the Dragon Boxes were fully released, but ah well. Good to see it at least finalized to put all the speculation to rest.

Now to wonder how they're going to handle it's release.
 
Probably 12-14 episodes a set. The series has to iron-clad confirmed ending so we'll have to see how that stacks up.


In the Japan the DVD release is in 16:9 and cropped, the Blu-ray release is 4:3, uncropped and in HD. The episode count is very...odd, however. The DVRAB are planned up to volume 17, all of them having three episodes each--two for #17.

The Blu-ray release is planned for four volumes. Volume #1 has the first three episodes, episodes 4-15 are on 'Box #1', 16-27 are on Box #2, 28-29 for Box #3, and for Box #4 episodes 40-50.
 
To this day I'm baffled why they didn't include Z in the title in Japan but does it really matter?

You're just worried that because they call it Z that it'll be like their other DBZ dub. Well I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case but I'm rather hoping they don't botch this.
 
Well, it's a name change, not to mention for the past year American fans have called the series Dragon Ball Kai. That's like changing Ta[r]ble's name to Vegetable for their dub.



You mean completely devoid of its martial arts and Asian roots to make the show as American as possible? Nah, with the use of Yamamoto's score in place of a return of Kikuchi's score we sort of 'lost' it for this fourth weekly Dragon Ball series.


Aye, jaded eleven years as a Dragon Ball fan I has been made.


Now to await the arrival of my second Dragon Box and it's beautiful superiority to Dragon Ball Kai...!!


And to likely think about pre-ordering Dragon Ball Kai DVRAB from FUNimation. Maybe...
 
Well, I'll be damn.
But, here's a question: Will FUNi dub it like the DragonBall Way or DragonBall Z way?
Ok, we all know they will dub it like the DB way.

Though, I really don't know if I should be happy about this or not. I really don't like DBKai that much. Because its nothing but photoshop edits. But, they did get rid of all of the unnecessary stuff. But the animation is nothing new. But the color is ok. But the music doesn't fit at all. But they fix up the old footage at least. But it nothing new to see.

Hmmmmm, I really don't know if I should get it.
 
And your point is....?
Anyways, I just want to see the hardcore fans () reaction about the "Z" in it. If you think about it, it does make since. DBKai is like "Z". Because its taking the old "Z" footage and making its own series. So yeah, Leave the "Z".
 
Crapsicles, I just realized a name change means a new logo, a new logo means altering the footage. FUNimation doesn't put out alternate angles anymore...


Is Dragon Ball ever going to be good enough as-is FUNimation?
 
The name is just a distinction without a difference. Kai is the DBZ series heavily abridged, that is plain, so the presence of the Z is certainly not without merit. In fact, to me, it always should have been there simply out of principle--in my judgment Kai is DBZ in the sense that it's basically the literal story that Toriyama wrote. All that padding in classic DBZ we'd mostly call superfluous if it were happening in the present day. And we do--many fans dislike parts of Naruto Shippuden and Bleach.

In sum:

DBZ = Classic series adaptation
DBZ Kai = Originalist DBZ

Fair enough, no?

Karl raises a good point about TV. I wonder if Cartoon Network cares anymore? If not, well, Shippuden could always use a companion on Disney XD...

On the release timing, I make no assumptions whatsoever that it's at all problematic. Dragon Ball sells, there are fans that likely prefer (or can afford) one or the other, and there are people that will actually buy both. Not to mention that if Kai eventually adapts beyond Namek, Funi will be well into its work on the series already.



16:9 is the broadcast version, correct? In any case, this I still do not understand. Why put out different aspect ratios for different format releases? Why didn't they just broadcast in 4:3 if they considered it the best video for the Blu-Ray? Were I Funi, I wouldn't be sure what to pick. I suppose 4:3, since a Blu-Ray release of this is probably a sure bet? Assuming they actually choose and don't just emulate what the Japanese did, that is.
 
Wow, because FUNi put "Z" in it? Look, I see your point of view. I mean, at this point, FUNi been dubing anime like the JP dubs, why change? But, little bit over reacting over one simple change?
At least be happy your (maybe) getting it. Change it to the JP dubs, and everything will be good.
 
Why does a licensor get to decide these things? Toei felt Dragon Ball Kai was a perfectly suitable title for their fourth Dragon Ball series, it is the name fans have called it for a year now.

'Originalist DBZ'? Dragon Ball Z is the first adaptation of chapters 195-519 of Dragon Ball. If fans wanted 'Originalist DBZ' they'd be reading the comic. 'Originalist DBZ' is Dragon Ball Z, the behomoth 291 episode series created as the sequel to Dragon Ball, the anime adaptation of the Dragon Ball comic's first 194 chapters.

Dragon Ball Kai may recut the footage of Dragon Ball Z (because it's cheaply thrown together and is a celebration of Dragon Ball Z's 20th anniversary), but otherwise they're completely different entities all together, with completely different feels.



In Japan Dragon Ball Kai airs cropped in 16:9 because of TV regulations demanding it. The cropping was done carefully, but being sourced from Dragon Ball Z footage, it is for all intents and purposes a 4:3 series. The opening and ending animation was even animated to be viewable in either 4:3 or 16:9. Toei said the decision was made to release the TV version cropped and the Blu-ray 4:3 so that fans could have both editions, or whathaveyou.

FUNimation confirmed to me their Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Blu-rays would use HD masters straight from Japan, so I assume FUNimation might get those very masters for their Blu-ray release. Now, we I them I'd look into get getting those and if possible creating a standard definition master from those, however it is likely their standard definition masters will be the cropped masters for the DVD release.



Changing the language on the DVD to the original version isn't going to change the altered footage for their renamed series logo.
 
That's what's troubling me about Jacob's comments about the DVD/Blu-ray releases. If Kai was supposed to be the true hi-def widescreen presentation of the DBZ saga, wouldn't it be smart to release the 16:9 version on Blu-ray? Heck, you could technically cram both the 16:9 and 4:3 version on the same Blu-ray disc since there's only like 2-3 episodes per disc anyway for Japan. It's making me think that Funi would be better off releasing their widescreen DBZ transfer on Blu-ray instead of Kai.

And, Jacob, I read your post explaining about Toei's 4:3/16:9 decision. I still would want the 16:9 version on Blu-ray. Heck, I would still go for Funi's 16:9 supposedly high-def transfer of DBZ instead of Kai's bad color edits and toned-down-due-to-seizures violence.
 
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