Customer Ratings & Reviews

From my experience with the first dragon ball kai release from japan this series is absolutely awesome. This set will not be released until may 18th but it should definitely be an awesome buy. I cannot somment on the english audio as I have only heard the japanese that came with my dvd. They did an absolutely amazing job with filtering out the filler from the original series. If you have ever watched dragon ball z you therefore know that they extended fights for episodes sometimes saying five minutes were left and having 5 episodes after that 3 minutes being left... in this series withing 3 episodes goku is dead and vegeta and nappa are on their way. besides it moving so fast they also fill in the story from dragon ball a bit at the beginning. They did an absolutely amazing job with the first three episodes that I have seen and I cannot wait to get this set. I can only hope that they did as good of a job with the english audio track as they did with the japanese. Also about the apsect ratio. Many people have a way of thinking that widescreen means you see more. with current day tv shows and movies this is true. but with older shows and movies that were filmed or made using 4:3 slides or tape this is impossible. The only thing that happens when this show is put into 16:9 widescreen is that you lose either the top, bottom or a combination of the two. they chop off a section of the video. This is why I would above all recommend the BluRay release above the dvd set.

Having watched some of this with the english dub here are my thoughts: Whats great about this series is that they went and re-animated every episode in HD and in 16:9 aspect ratio, They did NOT just upscale the frames to fit like the above poster said, since the original cel frames were discarded. So the art and animation looks fantastic and 100% true to the original. Also they added in new sound effects and re-recorded all the dialogue using the ORIGINAL voice actors from the US version of the show. Having said that, here's what I don't like. The original voice actors just don't have it anymore. Most of the voices sound radically different than they originally were recorded but you can tell that they tried to make it similar. Save for a few characters that hit the mark, Goku and Krillin for example are spot on, if you've ever heard the original voices, this is very distracting. It sounds like your friends doing their best-worst impression of these characters. not good. They also re-wrote much of that dialogue to streamline the pace of the show but now it is very campy and annoying. It is also very simplified so you almost had to have seen the show before to know the whole story. All in all this series is still great but I recommend it for those who have never seen the original. As a die hard fan of DBZ i can appreciate the fan service of re-doing the show but i think it is just too different and was made for a new generation of viewers who need dumbed down dialogue and story lines with HD graphics to even appreciate it for what it is.

With Funimation's experience in dubbing and editing on such series as Fullmetal Alchemist in the years since they first landed the Dragonball license, they've really learned a lot, and it shows. Christopher Sabat can act a little better than I previously believed... but what stands out the most is the central villain, Frieza's new voice. These episodes were first translated and dubbed in the mid-90's, and the voices were very good (think "over 9 THOUSAAAAND!"). Frieza's was eariest of all, and it sounds like they've either brought that same actor/ress back or replicated it wonderfully. Either way, the tyrant (a combination in design of an Egyptian Pharoah and a Lizard-Man) returns as the most feared being in the cosmos, and his regal yet slimy voice supports his role all too well. So until the final DVD set in the Namek chapter... HAIL FRIEZA.

It's great. But to the review above.... The orginal DBZ was made in 4:3..as it was made for television from the gate. It's the DVD version that they crop to fit the 16:9 widescreen format. You are actually missing some of the picture. The BLUE RAY version has this original 4:3. Yeah I know..it's backwards..but true. A quick google can confirm

The picture is amazing clear, the down part is that the scenes added has a poor detail and can easily tell that is not from original series. Looks like a children drawing. I love the fast pace story so I dont have to take a whole week to watch 1 season. Is great to watch the show with 1080p quality picture even in 4:3 screen size. Just try to get from the store insted online. My box came all smashed in the corners from shipping, as a hardcore DBZ colector, I returned.

This is by far the best series I have ever seen, I do not like filler so taking that out of the series makes it close to perfect. The voice actors did an amazing job re-dubbing the dialogue and the script is awesome, really builds up tension between the characters. The only thing I do not like is the fact that there are not many extras that come with the bluray. All you get is textless opening and ending songs.

I'll start off by saying, I was really looking forward to this release. Like most other anime fans, Dragon Ball Z holds a special place in my childhood memories. Unfortunately, some memories are better left as just that, memories. This release is the first in what is to be called the "Kai" collection. The creators of the series have decided to remove all of the "filler" from the series and cut it down from 291 episodes to about 100 in this collection. Not only that, but the series has been remastered in both high definition video and audio with an all new English dub track to more closely follow the original Japanese. Sadly, that's where the positive comments end. For some reason, I could never understand, the creators of this series have decided to release the DVD version in 16:9 widescreen format, which is fantastic for all of us with our HD TV's that are built for 16:9 picture. Here's the kicker though. The Bluray release isn't in 16:9, but is instead cropped for 4:3 fullscreen format. Now, last I checked, the big deal with Bluray is that it's HD. And, if you're going to play your HD Bluray on your HD TV, which all come in 16:9, why in the world would you want your Bluray to only display a 4:3 image? Besides the technical issues, is the story. Like I previously mentioned, they have majorly cut the number of episodes from the original release. Don't get me wrong here, I'm pleased that they cut out the filler. Here's the problem though. The series moves so fast now, that certain characters that are killed off fairly early are never truly introduced. This greatly detracts from the connections and personalization one would have if certain filler episodes had been left in. All in all, I can't recommend this release. Old fans will be disappointed, and new fans will be confused. If you must buy this, do yourself a favor and stick to the DVD release. There's no point in paying more for the Bluray version and getting less. Hope this was helpful!