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FUNimation licenses Dragon Ball Kai, to release this year
by Brad Rice, 02/02/2010
FUNimation licenses Dragon Ball Kai, to release this year photo

This should come as no surprise, but the company who became famous on the back of the Dragon Ball franchise has licensed Dragon Ball Kai, the infamous reboot of the Dragon Ball Z franchise that cut out all the fillers in order to follow the manga's story more closely.

Daizenshuu EX caught word of the announcement after listening in on Navarre (FUNimation's parent company) report on their 3rd quarter fiscal earnings. In the course of things, Navarre announced that they had acquired the rights to Dragon Ball Kai and would be releasing it this fiscal year. Assuming they mean Fiscal Year 2010, that runs up until September of this year. I know, they're screwy calendars.

FUNimation themselves confirmed the news, although we'll have to wait until con season starts to hear Adam Sheehan's Powerpoint presentation on the matter. Details will come down the pipeline soon, I'm sure, but I wouldn't expect anything too revolutionary. Same cast, Blu-ray release, perhaps a nice box set.

Whatever the case may be, this is the Dragon Ball box set I'm actually going to spend money on.





(23) COMMENTS



gwjunkie

Yeah, as far as Dragon Ball goes, this I might actually buy. Hardly anything else would be worth the time.

 
THE KING OF HEARTS

The question that comes to mind is: WHY?!!!!
I tried to watch it under the impression that new animation was done. But no they just cut the series up and threw anew op and ed on.
 
janoDX

But the original dvd's... Not Kai...
 
thatguyukno

I attempted to watch this, but, I didn't see any point, as it's just the same thing, as the original DBZ with a new opening and ending. Why would they waste the money ?_?'
 
lyfeforce

I may also pick this up too, but in a few years from now when there's no dragonball related media on the horizon.

Does it sound like I'm setting myself up for a long wait? All part of the plan.
 
HoodedMiracle

So now instead of a five episode wait of a planet to explode in five minutes, it'll be two or three?
 
JDavis

Guys, it's not just DBZ with a new op and ed. It's DBZ with all the bullshit screaming at each other that everyone makes fun of the series for cut out, making it about half as long.

Also retransferred into HD with the saturation turned up so the colors aren't as washed out looking anymore. Yes, they also cropped it to 16:9, but they did it intelligently unlike Funimation's attempt, which left peoples' heads cut out of frame much of the time.

They also rerecorded all the Japanese audio.

This isn't a purist's version of DBZ. That would be the series in 4:3 SD with no cuts or edits, as it originally aired in Japan. Long and boring.

This is a more watchable version, with all the important story stuff, and none of the powering up for a week. Also prettied up a little.
 
THE KING OF HEARTS

Then I should just buy the dvds that are out already and skip the episodes/ seasons of characters screaming and clip shows. That way i can save my money for series I haven't seen.
 
Brad Rice

JDavis is correct. This is worth buying.
 
Jon Snyder

I've been watching Dragonball Kai... it's quite good. Taking out all the filler drastically improved the show.
 
Vanacloud

Kai is awesome... a reedited cut of the original. BUT the only thing i dont like is the Music! they cut out all of the awesome subtle music and replaced it with not so great ones. Could be just Nostalgia

 
Setre

I'll be buying this. Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon are what got me into anime and I have neither of them on DVD/Blu-ray.
 
Lunacy

There's probably no reason for people who watched every single episode of DBZ religiously to get this, but for someone who watched a random jumble of episodes without ever bothering to catch them all... I'm kinda interested.

Maybe a want.
 
Shiro Shishi

Maybe I can get my friend to actually watch this now. He always said he didnt want to watch over 200 episodes just to see a show everyone else has.

With cut out filler he just may cave in now! Great news!
 
Digishade

I'm probably going to get this since, well, DBZ was (and pretty much still is) the penultimate show based totally and utterly around people beating the godawful shit out of eachother, and I'm ALL for that. Now they've subtracted all the lame BS that I had to literally wade through and boiled it down to just the main storyline, and people/cities/planets/universes getting completely owned.

Now if only Brolly and Mecha-Kooler were actually TV canon and included in DB Kai, I'd be completely happy. *sigh* I can dream. :p
 
Digishade

ALSO,

The only thing more satisfying than this for someone like me would be a SHAMO anime. YES PLEASE. NOW PLEASE. o_o
 
Getsuyoubi10

A whittled-down version of DBZ is better than near 300 episodes of overstretched brawl!
 
The-Excel

Why would cutting filter make a show infamous?
 
THE KING OF HEARTS

@Digishade
I thought that was Hokuto no Ken.
 
ittoujuu

DBZ was alive and well and running on syndicated Sunday-morning TV back when I first discovered anime. It was amidst the battle between Goku and Vegeta, and I was all over that, admittedly - super-fast punches, near-teleportation, and crazy energy blasts were pretty rad, in and of themselves. It was as the story dragged into Namek territory that my viewing willpower began to wane.

When I first heard about Dragonball Kai, my instant reaction was, "Well, that's a really good idea." And when I think about it, I wonder if, with all the fat cut out, I'd find the anime steak that whet my chops way back when. I'm sorta tempted to give DB:Kai a try...
 
Snukastyle

I've really been hoping for this. I sold off my "orange" sets a few weeks after getting the final season. I don't think I could stand watching the show again with all the slow-down filler clogging it all up.
 
atunderdogk

Naruto Kai in 2020. I'm calling it!
 
Moon Jump

After watching some of it, I would get DVD's of it if the price is right. It makes the show much more watchable after seeing it so many years ago. I'm sick of all the hate Dragon Ball Z gets. For me it was one of the major shows I watched growing up that got me into other, better shows. It just seems like the cool thing to do is make fun of it.

Having the fight last only a few minutes then dragging on with flashbacks of what happened an episode before makes it so much better to watch.

 

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