Dragon Boxes 23.99 @ Amazon +others

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Amazon apparently is having a massive sale in Movies & TV. I went through there anime & manga listing for the sale and found the DBZ Dragon Boxes numbers 1-6(with #6 coming out in a week or so) for 23.99 each. Which is freaking awesome. Cheapest I've seen, and I've been watching them for a while now. Needed to fill in my gap of boxset 4 which I haven't seen lower than 40 bucks or so. I also replace an order for boxset 6 and saved another 7 bucks on it, I know amazon would have most likely adjust my previous order for it but I needed to fill in that 1.01 for free shipping. :lol:

Anyhow here's a link for,
Just the Anime

thats on sale. Mostly just DBZ, Bleach, & Naruto. But there are a few other jems in it somewhere. Also some live action stuff.
 
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[quote name='Raye']While Kai has been remastered by the Japanese, they also cropped the image like what FUNi did with their remastering. Not sure if people out there are like me, but considering that I remember watching Dragon Ball in a 4:3 aspect ration on my huge CRT back in the day, I want to see it in that size and no other.[/QUOTE]
Um... The domestic Dragon Ball Kai release is in 4:3. It was only cropped to 16:9 for the Japanese television broadcast (and subsequent DVD release). The Japanese Blu-rays, as well as the English DVD and Blu-rays are in 4:3.

It is admittedly really confusing. Like a lot of the production side of Kai.

In case anyone doesn't know, Kai ends at the Cell arc, so you aren't going to get a complete "Kai-ification" of the entire story. I know a lot of people dislike the Buu arc, though, so that may not be a big deal.

Also, the background music switches over to the original Japanese Dragon Ball Z score in volume 5, due to shady-copyright infringement stuff on the part of the composer of Kai's score.

Just thought I would put that out there. I don't know how much that would bother anyone, but, I think it would be good to know if you're just jumping in blind.
 
[quote name='Hao']Um... The domestic Dragon Ball Kai release is in 4:3. It was only cropped to 16:9 for the Japanese television broadcast (and subsequent DVD release). The Japanese Blu-rays, as well as the English DVD and Blu-rays are in 4:3.

It is admittedly really confusing. Like a lot of the production side of Kai.

In case anyone doesn't know, Kai ends at the Cell arc, so you aren't going to get a complete "Kai-ification" of the entire story. I know a lot of people dislike the Buu arc, though, so that may not be a big deal.

Also, the background music switches over to the original Japanese Dragon Ball Z score in volume 5, due to shady-copyright infringement stuff on the part of the composer of Kai's score.

Just thought I would put that out there. I don't know how much that would bother anyone, but, I think it would be good to know if you're just jumping in blind.[/QUOTE]

I have to admit I like the new Kai score better than the original Z score so it'll be a little disappointing to hear that. Oh well as long as Gohan's SSJ2 transformation scene retains the original song I'm all good.
 
I was tempted to buy DB Kai but am waiting for a new release with more episodes per set. Waiting is no problem because I am getting all the Dragon Boxes.

I remember buying the orange boxes as well. Sadly, I bought them all before it was announced that the Dragon Box was coming to the US. I was able to get most of my money back when I sold them as soon as I heard the Dragon Box news at the time.

Before that I even bought some of the crappy individual releases as well. Although for most of them, I got them when they released them as boxsets.

I am so not getting the original DB sets though. They are so going to release the Dragon Boxes for them as soon as the DBZ ones are all released. For DBGT, I don't care because the series sucked.
 
Before the Dragon Box's were announced for a US release, I was still watching my 1995 vhs fansubs of DB to Z. That was the only way for me to enjoy both animated series at the time. Funi's lack of a proper Japanese release did not help either.
 
Wait... Kai ends at the Buu saga? Wasn't that all canon though? I know the Buu saga was crap, but still... damn. It's like if they released Bleach Kai then they stop it at the end of the Soul Society arc and were like LOL HUECO MUNDO SUCKED SO THE END. Actually, that isn't too far from the truth either.

Looks like Kai had promise but isn't worth buying now in my opinion. Why would you switch the music back to the original music? And make the series incomplete? This is just reeking of yet another release of Kai with either a newer soundtrack or having it replaced with all the old music. And maybe whenever Toei feels like, they will properly finish it.
 
Wow, I had no idea that Kai ended after the Cell saga. So it wraps up on the note that Goku is dead and Gohan is the strongest? Hrm... Even if they do say that Toriyama did force himself to make the Buu saga, it still had a more satisfying ending with Goku destroying him with the Genkidama with everyone's help.
 
The Buu saga sucked?! What are you all smoking??

I will concede that it kinda did go off the rails at times, but its easily one of the best arcs in the series that houses not only the best fights, but perhaps the best character development in the entire franchise.

Vegeta finally admitting that Goku was number one was not only a decade in the making, but was so powerful and had such a profound effect on me, it catapulted DB as a franchise into levels so high, that I think will be impossible for another series to ever come close to.
 
Yeah, the last few weeks of Kai in Japan were pretty crazy. Apparently, Toei found that what little work was actually put into producing the series wasn't cost effective (it would seem that the ratings were there, but that the merchandise just wasn't bringing in the money they were expecting).

There was never even really an official cancellation notice, either. Toriko just replaced its timeslot. And due to the earthquakes in Japan, the last episode (where Trunks returns to his time to defeat the Androids and Cell) never actually aired.

As for the music replacement, the composer of Kai's soundtrack, Kenji Yamamoto (who had been doing videogame music for the series for quite sometime, as well as a few songs for the original Z portion of the series) admitted to copyright infringement... Something that the Dragon Ball community has joked about for a while (for instance, Cell's theme song in one of the old Super Famicom fighting games is almost exactly Pink Floyd's "One of these Days").

As you can read here, there are numerous instances of this. The popular theory is that there could be many more infringing pieces, and that Yamamoto himself may not even be able to list them all (many have given him the benefit of the doubt, and assume that he simply took a little too much inspiration from certain pieces, rather than just copying them intentionally). As a result, Toei chose to toss the whole thing out.

This actually happened when there were only two or three episodes of the series left to air, though the remaining home releases had their background music replaced.

Though, with the way these releases were tiered, it has resulted in some episodes having different background music for certain episodes in the Japanese Blu-Ray release and the Japanese DVD release and the US domestic releases (there's a handy chart on the link I provided that illustrates this).

The replacement with the original score also wasn't handled super well, with some piece selections not fitting particularly well with the scenes they're paired with. I suppose they had to rush to replace the soundtrack, since the series was running in repeats on Japanese satellite stations as all of this was going on. I have to assume that FUNimation was simply given versions of the episodes with the new-old soundtrack for volume five and onward.

It's all very weird. I'm actually not a big fan of Kai. I was interested in the initial idea, but thought it was executed pretty poorly. That said, I found all of the end-game stuff surrounding it to be really interesting.
 
[quote name='ryushe']The Buu saga sucked?! What are you all smoking??

I will concede that it kinda did go off the rails at times, but its easily one of the best arcs in the series that houses not only the best fights, but perhaps the best character development in the entire franchise.

Vegeta finally admitting that Goku was number one was not only a decade in the making, but was so powerful and had such a profound effect on me, it catapulted DB as a franchise into levels so high, that I think will be impossible for another series to ever come close to.[/QUOTE]

Smoking nothing. :D The whole Buu arc felt so unnecessary at that point. Before that Gohan had defeated Cell and Goku gave his life to protect the Earth. The torch had been passed from father to son for being the hero. Plus the Cell arc was really the last time Tien or Piccolo did anything useful. As for the Buu arc you have a big freaking pink blob as a supervillian who constantly gets destroyed and regenerates all that freaking time. You may have found the fights good, but at that time Buu's regeneration was so freaking ridiculous that fights were extended far more than it had to be. Plus Piccolo and the humans were just so far behind in power that they couldn't do anything useful and it was all about the Saiyans. So no I do not think the Buu arc is a good story and I am glad Kai decided to end at Cell. I have always liked the Cell ending better anyway.
 
[quote name='Zero Kyori']Looks like there transfeing the orange box versions to blu-ray.[/QUOTE]
The way the press release reads, it sounds like they've done some sort of new remaster. They reference the remastering job done for the orange bricks in the past tense, while saying they're using the same studio for this job.

I honestly don't think Dragon Ball Z is going to look great on Blu-ray... At least not any better than the Dragon Boxes do, and especially if they're using the same studio for the remastering. As far as anyone knows, FUNimation isn't in the position to actually perform any remastering that will actually benefit from the format (at best, they've got the Dragon Box footage, at worst, they've got something similar to the generational masters they used back in 2006).

These sets are also going to have a relatively low episode count (this first set has 17 episodes), so it's going to take a while for this release to wrap up.
 
I missed out on dragon box 4, however, I found it on overstock today for a little under $26 shipped. Id post the link if weren't on my phone. Point is dragon box 4, for $26 is only $2 above amazons price.

(Also anyone know the best price for box 2? So far rightstuf seems to be cheapest)
 
[quote name='Hao']The way the press release reads, it sounds like they've done some sort of new remaster. They reference the remastering job done for the orange bricks in the past tense, while saying they're using the same studio for this job.

I honestly don't think Dragon Ball Z is going to look great on Blu-ray... At least not any better than the Dragon Boxes do, and especially if they're using the same studio for the remastering. As far as anyone knows, FUNimation isn't in the position to actually perform any remastering that will actually benefit from the format (at best, they've got the Dragon Box footage, at worst, they've got something similar to the generational masters they used back in 2006).

These sets are also going to have a relatively low episode count (this first set has 17 episodes), so it's going to take a while for this release to wrap up.[/QUOTE]

Only 17 episodes, seriously? Hell no.

Also, I'm already re-buying the series via the Dragon Boxes, not doing it a third time for Kai, and definitely not doing it for Blu Rays.
 
For those interested, I noticed that Walmart has DB Kai Season 1 Part 1 & 2 DVD for $29.99. I read the back of it and it says that the original music is in it. I guessing this means that they put back the DBZ music in it. Does anyone know if that is the case?

The last time I buy DBZ is going to be the Dragon Boxes. I hope the DBZ remastered blu-rays completely fail.
 
[quote name='Squall_L_FF8']For those interested, I noticed that Walmart has DB Kai Season 1 Part 1 & 2 DVD for $29.99. I read the back of it and it says that the original music is in it. I guessing this means that they put back the DBZ music in it. Does anyone know if that is the case?[/QUOTE]
As far as I know, the releases you're referring to are just old copies of Part 1 & 2 with a new slipcover, rather than a new release. They (Walmart) have done the same thing with the orange bricks and the Dragon Ball blue bricks. I don't think FUNimation has printed any copies of these discs with the replacement score.

However, they have a "Season One" box set coming out this fall, which could possibly have the score replaced, since it's a new release.
 
[quote name='ProtoEXE88']Only 17 episodes, seriously? Hell no.

Also, I'm already re-buying the series via the Dragon Boxes, not doing it a third time for Kai, and definitely not doing it for Blu Rays.[/QUOTE]

Ditto. The Dragon Boxes are the verison I always wanted, they're what I'm sticking with. I was considering maybe getting kai on blu ray but after I found out that it ends at the cell saga, no way. Now if my two sets will just arrive already, I know I choose free super slow shipping but I figured they at least have shipped them out by now.
 
I have all the orange boxes, and just missing Volume 7 for the Dragon Boxes thanks to this sale, I'll probably pick up Kai eventually if I can get it all in the 60-90 range. But for now the half season sets are ridiculous.
 
What are the differences between the orange boxes and these Dragon Boxes?

I already know of the aspect ratio change, and that the orange boxes feature more audio options (Japanese or American music, as well as different language dubs) while an Amazon customer review said this option was not in Dragon Boxes.

In terms of censorship and content, is there any difference?
 
[quote name='boylover']What are the differences between the orange boxes and these Dragon Boxes?

I already know of the aspect ratio change, and that the orange boxes feature more audio options (Japanese or American music, as well as different language dubs) while an Amazon customer review said this option was not in Dragon Boxes.

In terms of censorship and content, is there any difference?[/QUOTE]

I'm pretty sure they aren't censored at all. Main difference is mainly the crappy "Cropping" aspect ratio & it includes the American dubbed music. By including 2 English Dubs (American Music + Japanese music), the Japanese dub suffers in terms of sound quality. Also note that the orange box includes the remastered Vegeta voice and not the original Vegata voice from the first 2 Seasons of the show when it first aired in the US.n Also Dragon boxes have episode previous of the next episode. So it adds a bit more.

If you want the American music, get the Orange bricks. But I would just get the Dragon Boxes due to it's PQ. I love the Japanese music more than the US. It's the way watch it. Highly recommended.
 
[quote name='boylover']What are the differences between the orange boxes and these Dragon Boxes?

I already know of the aspect ratio change, and that the orange boxes feature more audio options (Japanese or American music, as well as different language dubs) while an Amazon customer review said this option was not in Dragon Boxes.

In terms of censorship and content, is there any difference?[/QUOTE]

Mainly the picture quality

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a238/YBM/DragonBox-OrangeBrickComparison.jpg
 
The Dragon Boxes are full, frame-by-frame restorations of the show with better audio quality (as far as the Japanese soundtrack is concerned). These are the episodes exactly as they originally aired in Japan, so there's no editing whatsoever. The original Japanese soundtrack is included, as well as English with the original Japanese background music.

Bottom line, if you absolutely love the Bruce Falconer music, this isn't really for you. If you like the original music though, and actually like the dub, then I'd say go with this.
 
[quote name='Drahken']Mainly the picture quality

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a238/YBM/DragonBox-OrangeBrickComparison.jpg[/QUOTE]

Either that shot is cherry picked or there's something wrong with their display/system because shots from my Orange brick sets don't look like that. Yes the colors are screwed up here and there and there are some cropping issues, but I still don't think it's as bad as some here have gone on about them though I still would prefer the Dragon Boxes
 
Since I have the seasons I decided just to see how accurate that screenshot was compared to what it looked like for me. That particular shot still doesn't look good, but it sure as hell isn't as bad as how it's been portrayed or manipulated in that comparison. Most of the sharpness, details and lines are gone, yet are still present in mine:

my screenshot:

cap001r.jpg



their screenshot:

cap002.jpg


Why the discrepancy?


Here's a shot I had in my photobucket that I screenshot before. The colors and image quality really aren't that bad imo

cap002.jpg
 
For the most part, the remastered sets aren't THAT bad.. yes there are a few scenes where there's absolutely no detail in the shot and it looks like crap. Yes... cropping issue sucks ass but they aren't too detracting to the point of being a huge problem.

I will say remastered sets are okay.. but if you want the complete DBZ experience the way it was meant to be seen, pick up the DBZ Boxes. It'll mainly come down to whether you like the Falconer score --> Remastered sets. If you don't care for the US score, pick the DBZ Boxes.
 
The first few Orange Bricks are absolute trash. Especially Season Two.

They became more conservative with their use of DVNR as time goes on, and the footage in the later Orange Bricks look relatively fine (about as good as the double feature movie sets), aside from the cropping.

If you need the Falconer score, then the Orange Bricks are - and probably will be - your only option. FUNi and Falconer are apparently having some legal disputes, which makes it unlikely that his score will be on the upcoming Blu-ray release, or any later releases.
 
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