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A lot of people don't seem to understand DBZ Kai, and I'm here to explain it. But first, let me say I've been watching Dragonball (in general) since about 1987-1988, when I was completely hooked on it. I actually thought Gohan was Goku (because he was drawn the same as Goku in the DB) when I first watched DBZ.
For some reason, I picked DBZ up when Goku was training with King Kai, rather than starting from the beginning. I watched it through to the start of the Buu arc (after skipping a good portion of the Cell arc because it was JUST SO LONG) and gave up because the pace was just so slow I couldn't take it anymore.
Having said that, here's the reason why DBZ was paced so slowly: DBZ aired year round in Japan. It didn't have seasons or repeats. Every week (barring interruptions for special events, which happened a few times a year) for 7 years. DBZ was being produced faster than the manga was. They didn't want to deviate from the source, so they had to pad out what little they had until they could get new material from the manga. This is why they talked so much and brought a lot of the episodes to a painful halt. This is why inconsequential subplots were introduced, so they had more filler. I remember the Freiza battle being particularly painful, where Frieza and Goku would talk for the entire episode about how much they wanted to kill each other while only doing 2 or 3 moves that entire episode. I almost abandoned the series then honestly, but managed to hold on.
So, enter Dragon Ball Z Kai. This has been recut to fit the pace of the original manga. This is what DBZ _should have been_. This matches the manga. This is how Akira Toriyama wanted it to be. The subplots eliminated were not part of canon, so to speak. Read the manga and see that it moves just as fast as Kai. (I know because I have.) Gohan always fought very reluctantly as, as mentioned early on, he wanted to be a scholar, not a fighter. DBZ made him look like some kind of gung ho fighting machine, which he wasn't.
Overall, this is probably a better series. Recommended highly.
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Ok so I'll list my likes and dislikes about this, starting with dislikesDislikes
1. Starting with the box set before we get to the anime. Funimation, would you please care about your product as much as we the consumer does. I mean come on! You screwed up by putting vegeta on the cover of disc 1 and raditz on disc 2; he's not even in disc 2. Gez.
2. The opening sequences, "commercial" breaks, closing sequences are amazing animation. I wish they would of done it that way, I didn't even know what to expect, I thought it was going to be that type of animation like the 1 for that dbz movie with vegetas little brother table. But oh well I guess they didn't want to. It would've put a whole new feel to it and would of been like watching a brand new dbz.
3. it's Watching dbz in fast forward. Which is fine and all but its kinda weird from watching the original so many times to this.
Likes
1. If you don't have time to watch all of the episodes normally, this is a great way to get your fill and fix.
2. Dying for a dbz fix, want to watch that amazing fight sequence, you won't have to look far and skip through scenes and episodes just to get to the beef of the action, it's pretty much here.
3. Feels like the manga is being flip booked for me with dialogue and action nd everything.
So all in all ill take the good with the bad, its dbz there's not much to ever hate about it. (Except for you gohan who decides to turn ink saiyaman and not be a major bad ass like we know you could of been.) Anyways, lol in the end dbz is dbz an ill take all I can get from the 20 + old series.
Best Deals for Dragon Ball Z Kai: Part One (2011)
Let's face it. As fun and nostalgic as Dragon Ball Z is, it's always had a bad habit of dragging on forever, to the point where even the most patient among us get fed up and yearn to see the villains' defeat and the start of the next saga. The series aired year round in Japan and Toei had to use filler so it wouldn't get ahead of the manga, which was still being published alongside it. So they inserted many side stories and diversions to keep the episodes going until there were more manga chapters to adapt, resulting in a very bloated, drawn out series.I was a big fan of DBZ back in high school, when it aired on Toonami in the afternoons. I became an even bigger fan when FUNimation started releasing DVDs with original Japanese audio and subtitles. But somewhere along the way (I think it was when the first `orange brick' season sets were being released, where the picture was cropped to the point of distraction) I lost interest and moved on.
Then Dragon Ball Z `Kai' came along, and renewed my interest in the series. Here was DBZ with a new approach: all of that extra filler (like Princess Snake, Hell, the robot, the dinosaur, Fake Namek, the orphan children, the Ginyu Force on King Kai's planet (*shudder*) Garlic Jr. (*vomit*) etc. etc.) was removed, leaving behind only what was originally in the manga (well, I say `only' but there are a few exceptionsGregory, for example). Now I could watch the series without it taking forever to get to the good parts. Some people miss the extra material, but I think the series is better off without it. The old filler scenes are not only pointless and tedious, they sometimes create huge plotholes (like Goku's old spacepod being destroyed but being intact later to take him to Namek, or again, the Garlic bloody Jr. saga, which creates a movie/series continuity problem).
And in that aspect, Kai delivers. It covers a lot of ground very quickly. It starts off slow, with the arrival, fight with, and defeat of Raditz taking three episodes, but that's understandable. By episode 13, the last episode in this set, Goku has already started fighting Vegeta; in the original version he hadn't even made it to King Kai at that point. The story moves much faster, and it really feels more like an animated adaptation of the manga.
DBZ Kai also has a brand new English dub, which is far more accurate than the old FUNimation `Z' dub. Although I prefer Japanese with English subtitles, I'm glad I can finally watch the dub without feeling embarrassed. FUNimation no longer turns every character into a goofy comedian with lame jokey lines and puns, and the voices and acting are actually tolerable! Granted, King Kai still sounds like he is full of blubber, and the dub does kind of veer off in its own direction at times. Like when Kami is telling Mr. Popo that he knows Piccolo is no longer a demon. In the original manga and Japanese version (you can see it in the subtitles) he can tell because after Piccolo killed Raditz, his soul went to the afterlife instead of hanging in limbo forever. In the English version, Kami says Piccolo is obviously no longer a demon because he was a swell enough guy to train his archenemy's son. Um, what? Too supernatural for English audiences? They could have just changed that for the Nicktoons, or (God help us) 4kids versions. But it's a minor inconvenience. I'll take a few small changes over the entirety of the old Toonami dub and especially the old Saban era dub.
And in another first for a FUNimation Dragon Ball dub, there is actually mild swearing! Okay, so overall it doesn't make a difference to me either way whether there is swearing or not, but it certainly moves the dub away from American afternoon animation block territory, and makes it a little more grown up and realistic besides. A fight with invincible intergalactic supervillains that have the power to blow up entire cities would naturally include a lot of "Damns," "Hells," and "Bastards," don't you think?
The episodes in this set are uncut, meaning they haven't been edited for American audiences. However, because of new television broadcast standards in Japan, Toei already had to make its own (mild) edits to this new version before it was even brought over here. There's a little bit of blood and (male) nudity missing that was in the original Z. It's no big loss, because the show's violence and action are still intact. Punches still connect, bones are still broken, and limbs are still lost. And that's good enough for me!
The new music is enjoyable. It's not the original Japanese soundtrack from the old `Z', but it will do. I'm just glad that the English dub track no longer has a synthpop soundtrack blaring the entire time, including over moments that are supposed to be silent. Of course, there's the whole matter of Kai's composer being fired for plagiarism and all of Kai having the original Japanese `Z' score reinstated in Japan. FUNimation's newer Kai releases have episodes with the old `Z' music, but there's no word yet whether previous American DVD/Blu-Ray releases will be revised in the same manner.
Overall, `Kai' on DVD/Blu-Ray is worth checking out. It's a fresh revision of an old franchise, and a good way to introduce newcomers and younger viewers alike to the series.
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