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The Dragon Ball franchise has been around for nearly
30 years now. Akira Toriyama, also known for his work on
numerous video games and other series, created a classic
for the ages when he put the first volume of the Dragon
Ball manga into Shonen Jump magazine in 1984. Like many
manga series, it inspired an anime adaptation. ***
Dragon Ball Z is an anime adaptation of the second
half of Toriyama's manga series, and it serves as the sequel
series to the original Dragon Ball. It was followed by an
anime-exclusive series called Dragon Ball GT, which met
with a mixed reaction from fans. ***
Essentially, Dragon Ball Z picks up 5 years after the
original Dragon Ball left off. Son Goku, the martial artist
the original series revolved around, has married and now
has a child of his own. Of course, periods of peace don't
last long in the Dragon Ball world. It isn't long before
an extraterrestrial villain lands on Earth and tells Goku
of his less-than-favorable origin. As the series progresses,
newer and stranger villains enter the picture - far more
deadly and dangerous than anything our hero has ever faced
before, but his friends are still around to lend a helping
hand. ***
The Z series is generally revered as the best of the
Dragon Ball Trilogy of Series. And it isn't any surprise
why. The battles are at their most intense, the characters
continue to develop, and Toriyama throws in just enough
interesting twists and turns to keep things interesting.
Yes, it gets bogged down in clichés and redundancies at
times, but that doesn't keep fans from loving the series
less - myself included. ***
Prior to 2007, the release history of the Dragon Ball
Franchise in America had been a hit-and-miss one. The first
VHS tapes and DVDs were edited versions. Eventually, FUNimation
began releasing uncut DVDs (including a Japanese audio track),
but these were released in no particular order, and were
insanely overpriced - not to mention they didn't include
every episode, including the first 2 seasons worth. Eventually,
they started releasing those episodes too - but aborted
their plans as quickly as they had started. Does your head
hurt yet? It ought to. ***
In early 2007, FUNimation finally started releasing
affordable Season Sets of the Z series. And these have met
with a mixed reception, especially considering that the
Dragon Boxes are now being released stateside (but that's
a story for another day.) ---
Image And Sound: These Season Sets of Dragon Ball Z
contain several things I hate: Cropping. Noise reduction.
Dirt and print damage galore. An unremastered Japanese audio
track. The list goes on, but I'll leave it at that. FUNimation,
rather than doing a substantial restoration effort to get
rid of the excessive dirt and debris at the top and bottom
of the image, just straight-up CROPPED the picture, claiming
it has now been “enhanced for widescreen viewing.” They
claim a big-time remastering effort has been done, but instead
they just slathered the picture in DNR. Dirt and print damage
are as visible as ever. The Japanese audio track has clearly
not been remastered, whereas the dub version gets a new
mix that sounds better than ever. Disappointingly, the dub,
while supposedly revised, is as inaccurate and juvenile
as ever. ***
There are lots of people out there that say things
like “the cropping isn't that bad!” or “it's the best the
show has ever looked.” Truth be told, I may be complaining
too much - but with the Dragon Boxes out there, why bother
experiencing the show this way?
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