8.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.2 |
Goku lies battered and nearly beaten, the Dragon Balls have been destroyed, and a new breed of evil looms on the horizon! Frieza, a violent galactic overlord, has discovered the source of the original Dragon Balls, and he’ll eagerly destroy anything to harness their wish-granting power. Meanwhile, Vegeta – fully recovered from his humiliating defeat – travels to planet Namek on a mission to intercept Frieza and seize the Dragon Balls for own devious desires. With Goku out of commission, courageous young Gohan must journey to the far reaches of space to defeat a foe far more fearsome than anything his father ever encountered. The future depends on it.
Starring: Masako Nozawa, Ryō Horikawa, Toshio Furukawa, Mayumi Tanaka, Hiromi TsuruAnime | 100% |
Foreign | 89% |
Action | 68% |
Fantasy | 51% |
Sci-Fi | 46% |
Adventure | 46% |
Comic book | 45% |
Martial arts | 38% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1, 1.33:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Despite the prominence of the Dragon Ball franchise among Japanese anime enthusiasts since its inception in 1984, the series received little exposure on western shores during the 80’s and early 90’s. However, as the new millennium approached, television entertainment focusing on younger viewers began undergoing a profound transition in the wake of the Pokemon craze, leaving the door wide open for the proliferation of anime entertainment in the Saturday morning cartoon block. Plenty of card-trading clones emerged to anxiously gobble up a piece of the pie, but other production studios recognized the potential for success in anime series that fit a different taste. With this in mind, the aging Dragon Ball franchise was introduced to America’s youth, offering a violent-but-campy storyline, and all manner of outlandish characters. Unfortunately, the first series never gained much traction with the young viewing audience and was soon replaced by the action-heavy Dragon Ball Z incarnation. When the second series met the same fate during its trial run, Funimation made the wise decision to rethink the target market of the series, and re-release it during the adult-oriented Toonami slot on Cartoon Network. As a result of that move, Dragon Ball Z became a breakaway success on television and home video, earning its designation at the top of the most recognizable anime series in history.
Sayians are a force to be reckoned with when exposed to the glow of a moon.
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 26Mbps), Dragon Ball Z Kai looks as good as I anticipated in the transition to Blu-ray. As mentioned earlier in the review, this isn't simply a remastered version of the series (as offered on prior DVD editions), it's a full-blown frame by frame digital clean-up, with newly created animation replacing entire segments. Identifying these new scenes is easy given the subtle stylistic differences (mainly in shadowing and the consistency of lines), but they blend well enough to avoid causing any major distractions. Aside from the new animation, the major difference in this newly-minted version is a complete lack of print flaws found in the original elements. Gone are the large burn-marks, dust blobs, and nicks that we've grown accustomed to finding throughout most episodes. In their place, we're given a clean image that accurately reflects the core intentions of the simplistic animation, but doesn't artificially enhance aspects of the hand-drawn style. You'll still notice byproducts of limitations in the source material, such as line breaks, slight image shift (from one frame to another), and a marginal level of detail, but considering the age and budget of the series, this is likely the best it will ever look.
To accompany the upgraded visuals, the Japanese and English audio tracks have been reworked from the ground up to include newly recorded voice-work from the original voice-actors. The Japanese version offered on the disc is a lossless 2.0 mix, which presents a clean, full sound despite the lack of true surround separation. On the English side, we're treated to a lossless 5.1 mix, which quickly earned its designation as my track of choice. I usually prefer the Japanese language track on other anime series, but given my extensive introduction to the dubbed version of Dragon Ball Z on Cartoon Network, I can easily associate the English cast with the characters in the show. Switching back and forth between the two tracks, it's clear the English offering incorporates a greater sense of immersion, separating sound effects across the surround stage to accompany the onscreen action. However, the differences in volume balance, clarity, and overall richness are negligible, allowing fans of either track ample reason to rejoice.
Unfortunately, as with the first volume of the series, the supplemental package is rather light, consisting of textless opening/closing songs, and a collection of trailers for other FUNimation titles.
Volume two of Dragon Ball Z Kai doesn't diverge far from the traditional Dragon Ball Z formula, but it continues with a stronger presentation than the original bloated series. For those who've sampled the previous incarnation and found it difficult to wade through, I'd recommend at least a cautious second chance to let the nostalgic charm rope you in. There will always be folks that downright hate the show regardless of how it's edited and reshuffled, but I'd wager longtime fans and open-minded newcomers will be pleasantly surprised with the effort put into the Kai series.
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Extended Edition
2013
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鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST
2009
Limited Edition
2015-2018
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