Dragon Ball Kai (2014)

The continuation of the Kai version that summarizes the DBZ episodes!

This continuation is a summary of the complete Buu saga, finally concluding DB Kai. The saga is well summarized yet relatively complete, retaining some filler episodes that actually contribute to the narrative and help provide more context to certain events. Furthermore, the ending presented is more coherent with the beginning of Dragon Ball Super, which greatly facilitates the transition between the two works. However, this version ends up discarding the classic DBZ ending to better fit its sequel, as a clear hook for Super was created, something that captivates the viewer and encourages them to ... continue following the franchise.

In short, there isn't much new beyond what has already been said above. That said, I maintain the same opinion I had regarding the previous DB Kai sagas: this version is useful and fun for Dragon Ball fans who want to revisit the Z saga without having to invest so much time in long episodes or an excessive amount of filler. For this specific purpose, DB Kai fulfills its role very well and delivers a more dynamic and direct experience.

Even so, personally I can't enjoy DB Kai as a whole as much, since I watched this version right after finishing the original DBZ. Because of this, the experience ended up being a bit boring for me, since the story was still very fresh in my memory and the differences weren't enough to keep my interest from beginning to end. The constant feeling is of revisiting something familiar, but in a more rushed way.

I conclude this review with a score of 6, because I can clearly see a reason for the existence of this version, and I also understand that my perception would be different if I had watched DB Kai after a long time without seeing Z. In those circumstances, the experience would probably have been more positive. Therefore, I recommend it mainly for older fans of the series who want to revisit the saga with a faster pace and without so many excesses.

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A continuação da versão Kai que resume os episódios de DBZ!

Essa continuação é um resumo da saga Buu completa, finalizando finalmente DB Kai. A saga fica bem resumida e ainda assim relativamente completa, mantendo alguns fillers que realmente contribuem para a narrativa e ajudam a dar mais contexto a certos acontecimentos. Além disso, o desfecho apresentado é mais coerente com o início de Dragon Ball Super, o que facilita bastante a transição entre as duas obras. De todo modo, essa versão acaba descartando o final clássico de DBZ para se encaixar melhor em sua sequência, já que foi criado um gancho claro para Super, algo que prende o espectador e incentiva a continuar acompanhando a franquia.

Enfim, não há muito de novo além do que já foi dito acima. Dito isso, continuo com a mesma opinião que tive em relação às sagas anteriores de DB Kai: essa versão é útil e divertida para o fã de Dragon Ball que deseja rever a saga Z sem precisar investir tanto tempo em episódios longos ou em uma quantidade excessiva de fillers. Para esse propósito específico, DB Kai cumpre muito bem o seu papel e entrega uma experiência mais dinâmica e direta.

Mesmo assim, pessoalmente não consigo gostar tanto de DB Kai como um todo, pois assisti essa versão logo após terminar o DBZ original. Por conta disso, a experiência acabou se tornando um pouco entediante para mim, já que a história ainda estava muito fresca na memória e as diferenças não foram suficientes para manter meu interesse do começo ao fim. A sensação constante é de estar revendo algo conhecido, porém de forma mais apressada.

Concluo essa review com uma nota 6, pois consigo enxergar claramente um motivo para a existência dessa versão, assim como também compreendo que minha percepção seria diferente caso eu tivesse assistido DB Kai depois de um bom tempo sem ver o Z. Nessas circunstâncias, provavelmente a experiência teria sido mais positiva. Recomendo, portanto, principalmente para fãs mais antigos da obra que desejam revisitar a saga com um ritmo mais ágil e sem tantos excessos.

Just an amazing story no matter how many times I've seen it.
Sadly this remake is even worse than the previous Kai series.

Reasons for it being worse (for me at least);

- The "HD" which is basically just a cropped version of the original Dragon Ball Z because they had to make it 16:9. - Also removing a lot of detail from the scenes which just makes some scenes look bad.
- The soundtrack and especially [Dragon ball Kai 2014 OST - 19. Effective Attack] it felt like I was watching some sort shitty action movie from the 80's / 90's.
Another one that got on my nerves ... was the intermission part, even though it's short it felt like I was watching a sitcom.
- I have no idea what happened to Chi-chi's VA but from the moment the 2014 Kai series started you could notice the raspy voice, especially when she starts shouting at people. - Didn't mind it as much after a while.
- The sound in general was overall bad from time to time, I have no idea how to explain it other than it sounding "tinny".

With that I just can't recommend the 2014 Kai series to anyone, if only for their "HD" marketing, at least the first Kai had redeeming qualities, especially for a newer viewer.

Dragon Ball Z Kai is an inferior version to Dragon Ball Z lacking what made it so great to begin with. The selling point over the original DBZ is that it is closer to the manga as Z has too much filler and suppose to have awful pacing. This has been all addressed in the a review of Dragon Ball Kai.
Dragon Ball Kai (2014) is adapting the Boo Saga which comes with two problems already. For many who liked Kai, the selling point was the lack of the Boo Saga adaptation as many wanted Dragon Ball to end with Cell's defeat. Now that the Boo ... saga is adapted, that positive is out of the window. Even with the faster pacing, the Boo Saga is the longest and most tedious Dragon Ball Saga moving at a snails pace meaning despite being a shorter watch, it still suffers from the same problem as its predecessor.

Another thing is the massive amount of censorship which is the cause of events happening during the run of Kai. So many scenes that were amazingly build up and show a display of power were cut down making them automatically inferior.
In addition the censorship removes other things like an entire scene from the manga building up the guys who wanted to kill Boo with guns. Thus rendering the point of a faithful adaptation pointless as not all manga content is viewable in animation form.

Overall, Dragon Ball Kai is already just a soulless cashgrab and barely worth calling decent, but the Boo Saga adaptation is in every way a lesser version of its manga counterpart.