Funimation recast some of the roles for its new dub (Colleen Clinkenbeard plays Gohan now, as an example, replacing Stephanie Nadolny from the previous cast), but the new actors settle into their roles without any evident problems. (If you listen closely, you can tell that a couple of characters have new voice actors, but there aren't any glaring or annoying examples.) This DVD set offers the Japanese dialogue in stereo and Funimation's new English dub in 5.1 channel Dolby Digital surround sound, both of which sound first-rate. Score: 8 out of 10 Languages and Audio Since so many scenes were re-cut or re-created for this new version of the series, all of the original dialogue had to be scrapped and re-recorded for this production.
If you didn't know you were watching a remake, it would just seem like an unusually well-done transfer job. The overall impression, though, is simply of a very clean, very sharp presentation of old-fashioned animation. There are differences, of course – you'll notice bits of dust and scratches when watching the Dragon Box that obviously won't crop up here, for instance, and the makers of Dragon Ball Kai chose to adjust the colors in some re-drawn scenes to make them slightly softer.
#DRAGON BALL Z KAI SEASON 5 EPISODE 22 SERIES#
In fact, the picture looks an awful lot like the remastered version of the original series presented on the Dragon Box sets. Score: 8 out of 10 Presentation and Video Although it's at least in part a new production, Dragon Ball Kai still looks more or less like a late-'80s creation, with a 4:3 aspect ratio and animation reminiscent of the hand-drawn era. DBZ does what it does about as well as any show like this ever has, though, and trimming out all of the fat the way Kai does just makes it that much better. It still isn't necessarily everyone's kind of anime – it's goofy power fantasy for pre-teenage boys, overloaded with animated macho and not the least bit ashamed to say so. If you've never seen Dragon Ball Z before, then, this is probably the best way to give it a taste. Kai doesn't cut out so much of that stuff that there isn't any buildup to the big fights anymore, but neither do you have to invest hour after hour into waiting for the buildup to finally reach a payoff. Between Gohan's studies with Piccolo and Goku's meanderings on the Snake Way, the first two dozen episodes of the original series spend a lot of time on special training scenes.
There's a lot to be said for the way that this version cruises straight to the meat of the series, though. The Dragon Box sets Funimation has been releasing should suit that corner of the audience perfectly. Some long-time fans, of course, would probably rather watch the uncut original, and there's nothing wrong with that. The re-created scenes in Kai were deliberately made to match the style of the original, so except for the fancy new eyecatches and theme sequences, it all looks like late-'80s-vintage animation, whether or not it was made then or now. You'd have to know the original series pretty well to pick out all the differences, though, or watch the two shows side by side. Kai actually features a lot of brand-new footage to make the whole work seem of a piece – some scenes were re-created out of whole cloth, others were traced over images from the old film masters. Luckily, Toei did a fine job of taking the series apart and putting it back together again. Here, they're on Earth and raising hell by episode 8, barely halfway through this box set. As an example, in the original series' version of the opening Saiyan Saga, Nappa and Vegeta show up in episode 22.
#DRAGON BALL Z KAI SEASON 5 EPISODE 22 TV#
Kai moves much faster than the original DBZ TV show.
The idea, apparently, was to re-release the show in a form that more closely followed Akira Toriyama's manga series – which, in practical terms, amounted to chopping out lots and lots of filler. You could call this a remake of Dragon Ball Z, but "re-edit" might be the most effective way of putting it. Kai, on the other hand, is geared more towards viewers who haven't been Dragon Ball fans for 20-odd years already. Typically, the idea behind bringing back a classic anime is to squeeze a little more interest out of viewers that're already hooked. As anime revivals go, though, it's not bad at all, especially since it takes a different tack compared to a lot of similar projects. Kai isn't any kind of brand-new series, certainly – it's a spruced-up re-release of the original DBZ TV show. This has been your regularly scheduled "One Step Closer to Death, Fanboy" moment you are welcome.īut let's look on the bright side a bit, too. Do some arithmetic and an eight-year-old kid watching back then is 29 years old now, which means he could conceivably have his own eight-year-old kid in front of the tube watching Dragon Ball Z Kai today. Dragon Ball Z first hit the Japanese airwaves in 1989, so 21 years ago, give or take a month or two.
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