- In the version that is shown on YTV in Canada, the story begins mid-way through the Dragon Ball Z series. Raditz, Gokuus brother has traveled to Earth to find out why Gokuu has not yet destroyed the planet as he was supposed to do. But while as a baby, Gokuu was dropped (down a huge cliff) and forgot his real mission. Kakarot, Gokuus real name battles his brother Raditzs along with former enemy Pi
Description
“You won’t believe how powerful it is now!” — NewTypeHaving suffered heavy losses in the battle with the Saiyans, and with Goku still recovering from his injuries, the remaining Z-Fighters must embark on a perilous journey to Planet Namek in search of the Namekian Dragon Balls. Unbeknownst to them, however, a powerful new enemy has set his sights on the same prize—the ruthless tyrant Frieza!Beset on all sides by danger, Gohan, Krillin, and Bulma must fight for their li… More >>
#1 by Prince Vegeta on March 22, 2010 - 12:18 pm
FUNimation’s latest release acts as a slap in the face to fans of the series. After 6 years of DVD releases, which consisted of 79 discs at approximately $2,000 retail, FUNimation has pulled the rug out from underneath the very fans that helped them establish their position as a respected anime company. Now, fans who had 251 episodes out of 291 will never be able to complete their collections legally.
The release itself consists of 39 episodes which have been cropped, losing 20% of their original vertical resolution. While this is often minor details such as hair and so forth, during high-octane fight scenes entire characters can lose the majority of their bodies and half of their heads. This is most definitely NOT the way the series was intended to be seen.
As DragonBall/Z/GT is being mastered from 16mm film, it is essentially a 4:3 presentation (it is slightly larger, but nowhere near a widescreen aspect ratio). FUNimation, in conjunction with Video Post & Transfer, have destroyed the original framing of the series by carelessly cropping it to widescreen. While people seem to mock those who are angry about this, proclaiming the details lost to be only “hair and feet,” in truth the detail gained is usually even less (5% which tends to consist of rocks, clouds, etc.). In addition, the cropping makes the action scenes very claustrophobic.
In addition to the above, FUNimation and VP&T have destroyed a great deal of detail in the digital print by applying Digital Video Noise Reduction (DVNR) by way of an automated process. This results in the series looking like a pastel painting and even causes some lines in the animation to disappear completely in certain scenes (such as Nappa’s teeth, Goku’s face and more). This completely eliminates the point in doing an HD transfer, as the purpose is to capture more detail not to destroy it. Add to this the obvious changes to contrast and color balance, which cause humorous problems such as Gohan flashing blue when bursting out of Raditz’s spacepod, and you have a release that is truly worthy of laughter.
The worst part, however, is FUNimation’s advertising techniques and the very documentary on this disc. FUNimation has tried desperately to sell this set on lies and insults, such as trying to insinuate that overscan has anything to do with why the show should be cropped. In truth, my television (which is a Pioneer Elite PRO-910HD widescreen plasma) has 2.5% overscan on all sides, meaning I lose 25% of the vertical picture and gain *nothing* horizontally. My television is also fairly high end, as you can verify by looking online. Also, the fact that FUNimation and VP&T felt the need to fabricate the scenes with grain (the framerates of the ‘clean’ footage and the grain don’t match, see for yourself) serves only to insult our intelligence more.
This release embarasses me and it should embarass FUNimation. I’ve been a fan of the series for 12 years now. I own all the DragonBoxes from Japan because I wanted the series *truly* remastered and not just automatically filtered. I truly had hope that FUNimation would produce a set that was worthy of those who helped them become a force in the world of anime production, however after 7 years FUNimation still hasn’t learned.
This release is insulting to the original animators of DragonBall Z, the fans of DragonBall Z and to FUNimation themselves, who have proven they are capable of much more than this. If you want to be respected as a fan and as a consumer, don’t buy this set. Don’t send FUNimation the message that we like being lied to and will accept whatever they toss us. Just remember, whatever they may say, numbers don’t lie. We’re losing a net 15% of DBZ. And seriously, who wants that?
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by Mystic Moon on March 22, 2010 - 2:13 pm
I’ll give Funimation credit on one thing, and that is the restoration and preservation of this series. Since I’m an anime purist, this goes against everything that the series has come to be. That’s the same as cropping a series like Neon Genesis Evangelion. I mean who would do that? It’s one of those ideas that wasn’t thought out too well. I mean they should’ve just released it in 4:3 and let the watcher decide if they want to see it cut off because that is possible with the proper settings, but no choice was given so I’m highly disappointed with this release as I am glad that I at least got a chance to enjoy it for what it was; a chopped classic. I will also agree that it is very claustraphobic which means it wasn’t what the artist indended in the first place.
Rating: 3 / 5
#3 by A. Castillo on March 22, 2010 - 3:57 pm
I still don’t have the DVD I purchased. I have waited since November 29th. This is ridiculous. I will not buy from this person again because he stole from me. I wan’t my money back or the DVD N0W!!!!!
Rating: 1 / 5
#4 by hughes on March 22, 2010 - 6:14 pm
I can not wait for this set to be released as I have not seen any of the revoiced Namek saga and being a season sets saves having to buy every individual DVD. Any DBZ fan would be mad not to get it. You can really tell the difference in the season 1 set with the quality of the image and I am sure this level of quality will be in the second installment as well. A must buy!
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Tv watcher on March 22, 2010 - 8:07 pm
I can’t believe they would not add the spanish (Intertrack Mexico) audio track. The ultimate uncut series did have it, why would they leave it out this time. In you tube comparisons, it has been voted the best after the original. I will not buy any of this series unless they re-release them with the proper languages.
Rating: 1 / 5