Dragon Ball Kai

Next Time On Dragon ball Z...Oops I mean Kai.

Many like me who have seen the original and yet have seen this and thought well Kai is obviously the same isn't it?
Well Yeah thats because it is But there are differences here and there to mention but it isn't as major as a lot of people like to assume so I will be making some comparisons here that you'll expect to see in this review since this is based on my analysis of this show from watching it twice alongside Dragon ball Z.

Story - 9
The story is sped up much more better compared to the original ... for obvious reasons of course, It sticks to major characters along with the main plot, less over the top screaming (Though there is that occasionally at times) and less deviating to different locations with little going on in them. better direction of how the pacing is handled within the story to how it is in the manga though I would argue that some certain moments in this version like the original happened quite differently in the manga.

The short prologue to the beginning of what happened to Goku's father Bardock was a nice touch compared to how the original started off. It sets the story very nicely by showing bardock's assault on frieza's army and also the major difference was a removal of the fillers from the original which I like a lot about this.

Now for me I enjoyed some of the fillers from the original anime such as Gohan surviving out in the wilderness as part of his training or Goku and Piccolo amusing test driving episode or even seeing some of the characters trying to find the dragon balls or just randomly seeing some of the supporting characters in their own segments like Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, Chichi etc.

The fillers were also placed in some of the right spots in the story to give some fun easy going highlights towards characters and even progression for example gohan on his adventure out in the wilderness by piccolo to adapt to his surroundings and to not be afraid had a nice throwback to the original dragonball that in a way keeps it connected.

To me, Some of the Fillers like these are still a joy to watch personally unlike some certain animes that just shoehorn filler episodes to disrupt the flow of their story and action badly
(cough cough Bleach and Naruto)

The Filler from the original offered a nice casual distraction away from the main plot but also kept up in the right places as well as still offering the action, drama and humour to the show as a whole, I mean sure the negative to that is filler episode could tend to drag but they were also placed in convenient places that to me made sense and I wish a lot of shonen animes would do this. (I could go, But moving on)

But to note I also know from the original anime you have fillers that are just too slow and time wasting, For the love of god I totally did not like the whole fake Planet Namek filler and Goku when he fell off snake way when he met those 2 annoying Orges, including the fillers that stretch the length of certain episodes or just random added silly moments which I also wasn't a fan of.

Now with Kai most of these fillers are pretty much gone which really helps viewers to stick with the main plot which in term keeps it more direct and maintains that balance of content and at least help it to not completely drag on for very long which is a major improvement.

Art/Animation - 6
Honestly I am however disappointed with Toei animation.
A series that finished a long time ago, that was beloved by loads of fans all round the world gets this reboot in 2009 and did they improve on art and animation? honestly.. Not that much at all.

This very much annoys me to say this but Dbz kai in terms of its animation capturing the same dated 4:3 ratio like the original did with certain colour correction and contrast but with the very same style of animation which in today standards of art and animation is undeniably lazy from Toei Animation standards considering this reboot came out in 2009!! Just unacceptable.

I have no problem with the art/animation with the original series since it came out in the late 80s/Early 90s, but Come On Now!.. this is practically the same with little certain things that they kinda enhanced which look like anybody could do on PowerPoint!

What seems very good from the very opening of truly great animation that would of suited the series as whole for it in this era of animation only comes to slap people in the face when they see this and say where is the improvement on the animation?? (No way only in the opening!?....Really? Surely they had a lot more time right?)

The original recycled animation has been limited but still not showing enough of that change that should of been implemented with better quality in the first place and some of the uncut blood and violence is replace by bruises which looks silly and yes even though the manga isn't too violent it still looses some of its believability at times when something violent occurs
which does make me sympathies with those that did not warm up towards this series but again another thing is at least its not bad compared with the original in terms of missing features to the characters and what not.

As a really good example look at original JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders reboot. It got an updated look of the animation as well as other features in their new series to bring its source material of the manga to life so why not Dragon ball kai??

I get that the studio works on other different shows in Japan now and then but Is it really that much of a chore for them to do so for their most profitable franchise besides just animating the opening? They might as well just get Madhouse to work on it like they did for Hunter X Hunter 2011 if they aren't really up to the task.

Music - 6
Right Okay..I honestly feel pretty mixed about this one.
While Kenji Yamamoto was originally the music composer behind The music of this series but had to be replace because of some corporate music scandal he had done.

before this show was release on DVD/bluray to the public they had the music to be replace with the former composer from the original series in 2009 which yet again is a problem, like the animation the music score sounds too dated like I'm watching an old detective show that sounds like 1966 The Green Hornet, The Hell!? seriously its Dragon ball Z!!!

So Understand that the mixes of genres of this show falls under Battle Shounen, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Martial Arts,
Sci Fi, Super Power which adds a lot of variety for this show so It should feel and sound like it has its own uniqueness here especially to other music soundtracks nowadays but it unfortunately doesn't since this anime has more of an out of date feel to it now which does not make me feel invested towards the episodes as much at times.

I LOVE the music composer Kikuchi Shunsuke from the original series I've nothing against him, but his soundtracks for a reboot version/ Remastering of this series up to this point just doesn't really make me feel excited or engage to whats happening on scene especially since certain Iconic soundtracks are not present there like the original show and with this issue I feel, It just doesn't really resonate with me when something is taking place.

Of course I am aware that Kai added a few new music scores in place of the show and they sound good but are only once during different characters moments which makes it pretty pointless honestly.
It was more better in the original because it was more authentic and done so well for particularly in that time period of anime back then.

The Opening Is okay, not really topping the original in anyway since the original Opening sounded so Iconic and with this opening I just felt it was played too much that but could've added more instead of hearing the same opening song throughout 97 episodes and again In no way competes with the opening of Dragon ball Z CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA since its so Iconic from the previous installment.


Voice Acting - 9
The dub and sub on the other hand are probably the highlight of Kai itself especially the dub as it is well handled by funimation.
It adds a lot more verbal curses than the original from previous works of there own, Good thing about this show its that it sticks closer to the Japanese dialogue of its source material.

For me the stand out performance from the dub easily was Chris Ayres as Frieza, Sean Schemmel as Goku, Dameon Clarke as Cell and Chris Sabat as Vegeta and Piccolo. I was also very happy that I heard other different voices for a change too, Though I do however miss Kyle Hebert as the narrator for his charismatic energy for the intro but doc Morgan does do a good job also.

Other voices like Colleen Clinkenbeard as Gohan in english is sort of okay but not that good, It can sometimes sound a little jarring and irritating at times especially when she forces her vocals too hard along with the screaming and I preferred her less as gohan as the show went on and I'm not a fan of when she has to voice Kid Goku since its basically the same as another character that she voices such as Luffy and to me it just does not fit for kid goku or gohan since all I'm hearing from her is her performance as luffy.

Not to mention she voices 18 who doesn't even sound like she's related to 17 as his twin sister who I felt the original sounded more close to it even in the Japanese, though her little kid version of gohan isn't too bad. There was also a few annoying script changes as well in certain scenes too. But overall a great dub.

Now also, to be fair In comparison to Nozawa's performance as Goku and Gohan I do think it would be unfair to compare voice performance here as some of the Japanese voice actors i feel don't always sound as right in their roles regardless if Akira had a hand in picking certain individuals, but that isn't my place to say because I do at times like their performance.

(P.s I'm Not trying to start a Dub Vs Sub debate here folks)

Also I like to mention the opening and closings is quite upbeat and laughably offer the best animation of the show by leaps and bounds.

but yet again, only having 1 opening can be repetitive for 97 episodes, honestly it would of been nice if they had done a few more openings each with a different song but Alas! Its only a minor nitpick.

As for the characters - 8
As Similar to the original, Cool heroes, Wicked villains, Memorable action, Plot as well as a great build up that follows through different stages of the narrative just like the manga counterpart now that the dialogue in this series expresses the show more better. Its demonstrates pretty much the same cast of colourful characters that still represents themselves in their colourful own way the more you watch you start to feel some sort of connection to one of these characters that define a lot of fun traits within the shonen genre and it's easy to see why.

The characters have their own drive about them that strive to be the best of themselves despite their flaws which will resonate sharply with the viewer but it also gives interesting context to prior events that happens within each Arc which becomes clearer even through my 2nd rewatch.

Personal Enjoyment - 8
I have to admit the first half I really enjoyed a lot but I felt by the second half it felt like it got a little bit tedious going into Cell's Arc even towards the final third of the show, it weirdly enough ends at Trunks going back to his own timeline to end the chaos without finishing off the rest of the series but It was pretty much a simple yet a decent conclusion until Dragon ball Kai 2014 pretty much wraps up the original series.

Final Verdict - 8
Now there could of been a much more improved version of this no doubt about that, but I feel Dbz kai did a decent job on its reboot to the original despite falling short in places where its production was very lazy which earns this series this rating

Its still a great series for anyone who want an introduction to watching battle shounen anime or just want to check out what the original series of Dragon Ball Z is.

It sticks close at hand to its source material even if you don't want to fully watch the original at least this is a more condense way to get through with ease and not too long to feel drawn out. Sorry if my review came off being serious but that is how I properly critic and say what I say with honesty.

Also PLEASE watch Dragon ball if you can, Its basically The prequel of Both Dragon ball Kai & Z since that doesn't get as much love as the sequel does in general. Or if it's not your thing than the Manga would likely be a better option. Until then Thanks for reading. ; )

I am writing this review with mostly one intent in mind: to get across the point of how much is being cut. I know that we were all excited to have the story condensed, but I think that this has gone a bit further than anyone expected. That does not make me upset, as we can all go back and watch the original againl if the original is what we want, but I think that it should be addressed fairly openly. I will also address art, since that is the other big change.

I hope no one minds the spoilers, as I am assuming that most ... people have seen Dragon Ball Z that are watching this series, and anyone who is not cannot be spoiled very much about what is not there.

Story:
First of all, some extraordinarily gratuitous events that needed to be cut, such as Krillin gathering up the gang again to train, have been left out and improved the series. Some cuts, however, have changed the story in an irrevocable manner. None of these are exactly necessary to the plot's core, which is fighting anyway, but they are all central to the development of the story and how the characters call out to us.

- Vegeta and Nappa's apparent saving of and then ruthless destruction of Arlia is left out entirely.
- Goku being captured by and tormented by Princess Snake is entirely left out (a hilarious episode before, I think).
- Goku battling the red and blue demons and taking their fruit, gaining massive strength, are completely left out, so Goku has no apparent power jump just from reaching Kai's planet, changing how important Kai is to him.

Again, none of these episodes being cut is necessarily awful nor great, but they all matter to how we felt about the characters and the story in the original, I think.

Furthermore, I think that what we have seen from the Nappa versus everyone fighting so far shows us that the fighting will feel enjoyable, and probably not be condensed quite as much (although I could be wrong). The pacing of that felt really proper to me, so I think we can really look forward to future fights being fleshed out better than in the original.

Art:
In talking about the art, there is not that much that needs to be pointed out, but there are definitely a few big problems. I think that they have done a great job of making it into a widescreen series from what was not widescreen. There are three big types of errors that I have noticed, sadly.

1) There are moment's like Nappa after he stopped flying above Piccolo in episode 10 (19:53 for me) where he looks incredibly blurred for a few seconds. This is not a one time occurrence, and it is really ugly when it happens. Sometimes this is due to original art, but this instance did not seem to be there in the original DVD to me (maybe the bold lines sometimes make it happen). Sometimes blurriness from the old version is cut out though, so this is not always badly done!
2) They somehow really ramped up the brightness for this show, but occasionally something comes out darker than it should be and jars the senses when it switches back to brightness.
3) The bold border lines of each character gets really thick then bulges to being thinner rather at random. This is the one that actually constantly bothers me and merited a 6 for an art rating. I almost hesitate to point this out because it seems to be one of those trends one cannot unnotice after noticing.

All in all, the devotion built up for the characters (or dislike of characters like Chi Chi) is still rather consistent with the original, and many of us watched Dragon Ball or the original Dragon Ball Z and already have our feelings set about each character anyway. Whatever may be, this is a good effort, and will make it at least slightly easier to share this show with casual fans, which is a major win for the franchise.

If anyone wants a final ruling or something, then I guess that my feeling is this: I would honestly prefer the original by a bit to this point because the original plot never particularly loses steam until the Ginyu Force saga is wrapping up. I am very excited to have Goku versus Freiza and beyond condensed, as there was so much unnecessary (Trunks powering up for a full episode, as good of a joke as it may have provided). I also think that the original art (or previous digitally remastered, less bright, less bold version) is fun in its own right, and probably actually more fun than this to look at when one considers it enough.

If I got anything drastically wrong, then please let me know and I will attempt to deal with it.

I won't waste time reviewing Dragonball because it think that by now most people know it and already have their own opinion about it.
I'll just focus on Kai and the changes it has


Story 10/10.
Ok, so the story in dragonball has never been really complex or deep, but it's still fun to watch.
In my opinion, the biggest improovement Kai has over DBZ is that all the anoying fillers are gone and now the story goes, mostly, acording to the manga. No more eternal power charging, no more eternal "he is so strong" internal monologues a no more feeling that nothing really happened in the last 10 ... chapters. Yeah there are some fun filler missing, like when goku and picolo go to the driving school, but in the end what is gained with the exclusion of the filler is far more than what is lost.
I've read here that the story got cut out, that's not true, they just cut out all the filler that made the original Dragonball anime a pain to whatch for the poeple that have read the original manga.

Art 5/10.
The art in dragonball has allways been decent considering the times when it was released. But just as the new opening makes you believe at first, this could have been a real remake but the only thing we get here are the exact same animation but on a higher resolution, that's all.


Sound 9/10.
The audio has been remade and sounds great. After finishing KAI I watched some episodes of the original anime and the difference was clear.
I also liked some of the aditions to the soundtrack, though not all of them.


Enjoyment 10/10.
At least to this date, this is the best way to watch dragonball.
If you are a newcomer to the world of dragonball you will be able to see the story and fights just as Toriyama made them in the original manga.
If you already saw the original anime or manga you will be able to go throught this all time classic once again without having to be tortured by the neverending fillers.


Overall 8/10.

It's good, but it could have been so much more.
I really would have loved to see a real remake with the kind of animation that we get in the opening of kai.

Normally I'm not one for reviewing shit so damned early, however since this is Dragonball, it deserves a fairly decent, semi-thought out review.


Story:

10/10 because it's Dragonball Z, minus fillers.

Art:

6/10 because of the fact the art is not new(it's completely remastered into an HD 1080p format), the OP and EN is misleading and proves they could have re-animated it. You can easily tell you're watching an old over-animated remake of a series.
...
Sound:

7/10 because the sound is crisp, new and better than the Dub sound, however it gets no more because eveyone fucking knows Dragonball Z would have been great with an entire Rock/Metal soundtrack, not this crap.

Character:

10/10 because who doesn't think Goku is an awesome guy, (sorry being cliche and typical here, everyone who grew up watching Dragonball and liked it, loved Goku, and wanted to be just like him).

Enjoyment:

9/10 because I liked Dragonball Z and GT(Yea I did sorry). If you don't like the Dragonball series, read the review and move on. If you like it, you probably share my sentiments that even though the animation is not new you're enjoying it, and if not enjoying it a lot like I am, then slightly, more or less.

Overall:

8/10
Because.

I should have trusted my instincts when I decided to give Dragonball Kai a watch. It does sound quite intriguing to watch Dragonball Z again, only this time minus the filler episodes that really didn't add much or anything to the storyline; but with one change though, must come many, because for some reason writers always must omit something else that can feel almost equally important as the thing they wanted changed originally. I guess this is just one of those cases where you simply can't satisfy everyone, because DB Kai left me with a very bitter taste, and I actually prefer the original series ... by Funimation than this.

The story to DB Kai is no different from the original series. The Earth is paid a visit by a being named Raditz whom claims to be Goku's brother; Raditz reveals to him that he's not even of Earth, instead he comes from a different race called the Saiyians whom lived on Planet Vegeta. They eventually battle, and Goku as well as his allies learn that Raditz isn't the only one out there from that race, nor is he even close to the strongest. They then prepare themselves to battle against the last two warriors of the Saiyan race.

I will mention now that the removal of various filler such as Snake Way, Garlic Jr., and various other things was definitely a plus. The show moves quite better without the constant distractions; but the truth is, even without the filler, DB Kai can still be a chore at times with situations dragging along for too much time, and the outcome simply not being a good enough pay off for some of the waiting. In any case, the overall story is fun, and DB Kai works its way up to the final battle against Cell.

DB Kai manages to keep the action well paced enough, and character personalities are fleshed out. However, things could have been so much better had the only change to the show been the various filler. One thing DBZ did well was its voice acting for the English dub and character interactions. Some serious fans will catch the removal of some dialog and it may bother them, it sure as hell bothered me because Vegeta especially had some good lines, like his threat to beat on Yamcha for practically no reason. The changing of voice actors got on my nerves as well; Colleen Clinkenbeard is annoying as hell as Gohan, and had I never seen this before I would have been wishing for his brutal death at the hands of Frieza. Now speaking of Frieza, they have Chris Ayres playing him. I hate everyone Ayres, Chris and Greg Ayres have a very annoying, whining, saccharine feel that gets on my nerves quick. Colleen Clinkenbeard also voices Android 18, and she just feels all types of wrong here. Meredith McCoy is by far the best to play her; she brought a sinister yet sexy appeal to 18 that carried over to her facial expressions and even fighting.

Another thing DBZ always did amazingly well was introduce intense music scores. Funimation's BGM is probably this anime's best quality and they know it, yet for some reason they use boring elevator music, with no variation or anything new through out the entire duration of the show. Vegeta and Piccolo's addictive themes that described their characters so well? Gone. The terrifying BGM of death when Frieza goes off to kill Vegeta while King Kai narrates this is the evil Prince's last stand? Jettisoned... for some irritating trash that doesn't enhance the scene at all. I can list plenty more examples, but this proves to me that not everyone understands the effect music can have during some scenes.

The animation and artwork appears to be remastered, but the only thing actually new is the opening. I don't have much of a problem with this, still this could have been better updated. At least DB Kai delivers the action well enough and there's plenty going on that can turn a new comer into a fan. There's loads of fisticuffs and brutal beatings to go around.

As I look around there are plenty of people that really enjoyed Kai more than DBZ. I can honestly say that I understand that because it does trim a lot of the fat and focuses more on character and story development, along with action which is the main selling point. Unfortunately for me, I look for other things in my anime and music means a lot to me; a great soundtrack can actually mask flaws in a work, and DBZ was full of them yet the BGM smoothed things out making it more tolerable. In addition, there are things that seems changed for the sake of it. None of the voice actors from the original died while this was in production, so I see no reason for the change in cast, nor the removal of some lines.

Despite my dislike for this remake, if that's what it is, I still recommend it to fans so they can see it for themselves; but I highly advise to be prepared for these various changes. I already know plenty of individuals who had the same issues with this as I did.


Highs: Some of the removal of filler does work, enjoyable action

Lows: Altering of cast and BGM is a huge blow for me

Overview:

I mentioned in my review of DBZ that the series had some serious flaws and wasn't a perfect adaptation of Toriyama's original manga. Today I look at Dragon Ball Kai, which actually tries to be much closer to the source material. Does it do well or did DBZ classic do it better? Let's analyze further.

Story and Characters: 8/10

I already reviewed the story of DBZ, so this will largely focus on the differences between Kai and the original DBZ. A massive improvement is the removal of the obnoxious filler that bogged down DBZ. How much filler was in DBZ? An illustrative example would be that 7 ... of the first 16 episodes were entirely filler and not part of the official canon. In Kai it no longer takes 20 episodes for a planet to explode in supposedly 5 minutes. There are no episodes where characters power up pointlessly for nearly the entire episode. The use of recycled animation simply to take up time is also mercifully decreased. Kai cut out the fat while leaving in all the action, character development, and everything that made the story great in the first place! Other than that, no substantial changes were made to story and characters.

Art and animation: 5/10

Unfortunately the entire series didn't look like the opening theme animation like many fans hoped it would. The art is slightly improved from DBZ in terms of definition and quality, but the animation is still that classic, cheap and sloppy animation that we saw in the early 1990s. The art obviously looks much worse relative to other popular series in the 2010s than it did in the early 1990s when it was being compared against Yu Yu Hakusho and Sailor Moon. One major complaint from some fans was Kai's removal of much of the grit and gore from the original series. Although I also feel it is missing in some scenes, the original manga was NOT a bloodbath and this was in fact more faithful to the original.

Sound: 9/10

The original OST from DBZ (Japanese version anyways) was great and didn't really need much improvement. Having said that, Kai added some nice tracks of its own and did a good job in the music department.

Overall: 7/10

Dragonall Kai is indeed more faithful to Toriyama's manga and is in my opinion an improvement. Why it is rated an 8.0 on MAL compared to DBZ's 8.3 is honestly a bit confusing to me. Maybe hours of filler is acceptable as long as a tiny bit more blood is added? I have no idea what our voters were thinking. Obviously this new generation of kids didn't embrace Dragonball to the degree that my generation did, but I don't blame Kai for that. Anime is no longer an oddity and something that kids will watch just because it looks different. Very little anime is currently on American TV and young anime fans watch entirely online, which wasn't an option when I was growing up. If the internet existed in 1998 with the speed to stream videos rather than take 15 minutes of loud dial up sounds just to get on the internet, my 10 year old self probably would have watched something darker and more violent to make myself feel like a badass. I watched DBZ and enjoyed it at least partially because it was the best thing available at that timeslot for a 10 year old boy. Everyone got out of school and rushed home to watch DBZ, because honestly there was nothing better on. I didn't have the option of watching Black Lagoon on my laptop. If I did, than I likely would have made the same choice that the 10 year old punks of 2014 are making.

This show is great. And before we start they announced a Buu Saga so yes it follows the manga. This review comes from someone who watched a lot of the Cell and Buu Saga EPs as a kid.

The only complaint people have that I have talk to is that "oh no they took out the Rock music that FUNimation put in the original, which I could care less about because they kept the Japanese music this time which never would piss me off.

The story follows manga much better than the original with less AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, but with more fighting and no filler episodes. Now you can ... watch the story quicker than you did before, 194EPs to 98EPs.

It was very enjoyable and characters are as great as they were in the original.

The only thing I could give to the Kai haters is the lack of new animation (there are some redone scenes for a variety of reasons, but not the whole show), but I like that because the animation reminds me of the older anime like Yu Yu Hakusho, Original Series of Pokemon, and early One Piece and Case Closed/Detective Conan.

Voice acting is better, but that's only an opinion on both sides.

I really love the Dragon ball series, hell I"m watching the new series right now n.n

It's great to see that the original DBZ is back in action. Though I have a minor problem, the edits they put in is kinda annoying but it was really expected to be quite frank ^^

When this was first aired, you didn't really see all the blood from the characters, so this edit is very similar to the old version. Either way though, Everyone loves this series ^^ because of the amazing plots, characters and action!

Dragon Ball Z (or for short DBZ) sure made the merchandise called Dragon Ball (or for short DB) the most popular anime merchandise in the word. It starts from manga, 2 anime adaption (DB and DBZ), couple spin-offs (DBGT, DBS), lots of movies and lots of games, and it seems that this merchandise that exist for over 30 years now doesn’t going to fade soon, with every other year new item in this merchandise is appearing even though the story is so old and in fact so unuqdated that even the general opinion seems divided by two major opinion (by my eyes at least) - ... The first, the fans who are still loving the story no matter how much time will go, it’s still will be saved in their hearts as their childhood series or rather great anime of all times. But the second opinion is realistic, and sees that though the anime had made his move in the world, the world has advanced, and there’s much better anime that had been released since the world has know DBZ who are much better.

Though there’s clear answer for that opinion - DBZ is what actually made most of the anime those days, it was what made the shounen battle anime so popular and mainstream, sure it doesn’t have so much of a story and not that deep characters than most of new anime, but since in the time DBZ was masterpiece, it’s not relevant to compare it to newest shounen anime. But that answer is actually the words of a fan, in true face of the critic that opinion is right, doesn’t matter how much DBZ effected the anime world ‘till those days, the lack of story except for “fight the strong guy”, lack of character development except for few, and a lot of plot holes and plot convinces and plot armours, doesn’t does good to DBZ.

But those critic points is actually what makes the truth on the other face of the truth - Enjoyment. What actually makes the so old anime, is not some complicated story, strong ideology characters, but actually the simpleness of the those points is what makes the anime so damn addictive, with good tense and characters with simple dilemmas your can recognise with, and not some deep narrative with three dimension characters. The simpleness of the story and the characters are what making DBZ so great so the watcher doesn’t need much to just enjoy Toriyama’s ideas and nothing more, so the story is just running ahead without need to understand big and complicated staff, in critic eye it’s bad, in enjoyment eye it’s what makes DBZ rolls.

What’s all that gotta do with the remake Dragon Ball Kai? It’s all directed to one big question when one watching Toei so-called “remake” of DBZ alone ‘till cell arc (the 2nd part DBK14 will get a little treat later on), why they called this remake at all?

And I will explain. Usually remake (at least in my eyes, but I’m sure others will agree) is taking the manga that had been done for it one anime series in the past and adapting it from the start, the likely reason to do that, is the old anime had reached some point and ended, because it reached the manga and the producers decide to end it, or doing original anime end, and because the manga finally reached it end, the producers decided to come back and do justice to the manga again. Usually, those remakes are redrawn, and not just being retold without any change, but taking the direction of the anime in some new way to entertain the watcher in new way of direction even though it’s the same old story. The famous examples for this kind of remakes we saw in FMA03 that got FMA09 (or in the more famous name FMA: Brotherhood / FMAB) and HxH99 that got HxH12.

Dragon Ball Kai on the other hand is kinda far from being such remake. What Toei had done is basically taking the old 1989 DBZ, cut the filler scenes (and there’s a lot of them), reformatting them to HD scales, and presented it as “Remake” in new name “DBK”, new opening, new ending, recorded again all the voices, renew the OST, damaged frames were redrawn, needed frames were drawn, and that’s it. Something new from old DBZ? Not at all, on the surface it’s presented as “Remake” but in reality it’s maybe looks newer and sharp (due the HD reformat) but apart from that we just got again the DBZ, only in shorter version.

Though all that, there’s still kind of Remake here, that the non-fillers idea, and the shorting of the episodes due the fillers, do makes a feel of remake here. Who watched the old DBZ would know what I mean when I will say, that DBZ though to be great and exciting anime, had it’s own very much problems, either from fillers and either from longevity, and that sure effected the experience of Dragon Ball story, for best or worse. Exciting moments, felt much more exciting in the anime, but some battles and situations, got too much length, some of them are the famous “5 min” battles. While in DBK, all those are changed. Remembered what I said about DB simpleness? Well, those are magnified in DBK, mostly due those samples I talked about. The “5 min” battles though to be still long got improved a lot, and the dragged story in DBZ is more more directed and connected to the events. On the other hand, some of the exciting moments in DBZ that were magnified by long moments, felt much less exciting but directed. So yeah, though DBK isn’t real remake in term of retelling the story but cutting the fillers scene, but it’s still remake in term of how to present the story, rather it would be for good - because that’s how Toriyama wrote the story, or bad - because it removed the more exciting moments DBZ managed to make, the simpleness I talked about earlier have much better impact, so DBZ never had been more exciting and enjoying to watch.

But with all that being said about DBK remake being “free fillers” isn’t that accurate. In fact, there are still some fillers in the series, some of them are true needed, where Toei filled some materials that fills Toriyama’s world with more spice. But while those are showing there are still some fillers who felt untouched, some of them even non-manga readers can observe them immediately for the long moments of characters doing nothing and feeling of dragging, and some that manga readers can notice them without a problem, some of them are additions to the battle where Toei inserted useless extra fighting, true that some people love the extra violence in DBZ, but in true eyes it’s dragging. For those fillers, there might be true reasons for Toei to keep them, some because if you delete them the original story material will be damaged (mostly the dragged content), and some for filling hole for the episodes minutes (mostly the extra violence). All what I said right now might seems petty, but in some point it seems that Toei didn’t care anymore but left entire episodes without cutting, maybe some here and there extra fillers stories, but when seeing extra useless dragging in version claiming to be “free fillers” it’s makes bad impression, especially after they cut some fillers dragging that actually made good impact in original DBZ (as I mentioned above) those full dragged episode untouched felt really unnecessary.

So yeah, though Toei shortened long 199 episodes (Frieza-Cell sagas) to 98 episodes is sure impressive, and make it worth to rewatch DBZ again (and I will talk later for who it’s worth), it’s not perfect “free spoiler” version.

Story: 8/10

All that “what they cut and what they didn’t kinda made me headache, so let’s talk about something that sure make our mind much busier than minuteness - the HD converting.

In that area Toei sure made great job, especially since DBZ is old anime, the year 1998 isn’t that close and the animation back there had lot of good things but also bad things, but animation unlike movies, since they are animation it’s easy to make good quality of them when you have the source, and Toei made great use of the HD. In my version I have at last - BlueRay 1080p - the colours are looking sharp and colourful, the fact that in the BlueRay version that scale is 4:3 and not upscaled is making good effort for them for the HD conversion.

The problems start - at least for me - in the redrawn or fixed framed. As stated earlier, Toei didn’t made new computer animation but used the old hand drawn one, and one of the good parts about the hand drawn animation is it’s for deep colours and shapes quality, true it’s have disadvantages but the deepen hand drawn factors making the animation much deeper than the new computer drawing, and at the most cases Toei made new frames with that system the comparison between them are noticeable. True that some of them are might be good though the comparison, and some even only by double checking I noticed it’s redrawn scene, but most of them seemed to be drawn so fast and unprofessional in all areas in animation - starting with the lines to the colours and movements, there might be more excuses than reasons for Toei to do that, DBZ is one of popular merchandise in the world, money shouldn’t be in short. Time is pressing - but a second ago there was great redrawn scenes. The most acceptable excuse is maybe for me to say that I watched this in great quality and the 1080p made the huge different between those.

Animation/Art - 9/10

Now, for the OST, it’s hard for me to say from obvious reason, that DBZ I watched as little kid and it was almost 20 years from now, and apart from that it’s known for the DBZ community that the OST is changed from dub to dub. But what there is to say is about the renewing, Toei took some old OST and made it sound great on modern speakers without old noise and great quality of sound.

The opening, though being replacement of the good old cha la head cha la, doesn’t try much being replacement but have good rhythm of it’s own and very addictive as well, living the same hype as cha la was. My problem starting actually with the English dub which choose to make every couple of episodes (like 10+) a different singer from the vary cast, the idea is fascinating as it’s not allowing the song getting old (though when watching the Japanese dub it didn’t happened to me, but it’s still good idea), the problem start as they bring new singers which just doesn’t seems to get the excitement in the song or too much excitement, that all this “changing singer” thing only made me get old of the idea itself.

The ending songs are pretty good themselves. But in term of comparison I must say I liked the first one much more, it had really catchy words and music, while the second ending felt too much generic and unexciting for me.

I won’t start talking about the English or Japanese dub, mainly because it’s depend on opinion and matter of choice of the watcher what to choose, and since I watched DBZ as a kid in the local country dubbing, I don’t have much to contribute. But I will do say something as a matter of fact as manga reader, and that though the Japanese dub is considered unlikeable among DBZ fans, as knowing Goku character from the manga, it’s Japanese dub is much fitting his characteristic and personality, than the heroic voice in the English dub. But as I stated, it’s really matter of opinion and preferences.

OST - 8/10

Talking about character and story are needless, you can find those in DBZ own page, also about the original animation check it there. (Characters: 7/10)
So let’s start finish long review, with final notes:

First final note:

So in fact, what rises above all is for whom DBK had been presented - for the old fans or new ones? And I will explain.

On the surface, DBK is marketed and referred as “remake”, be a remake or not as we said, the way it presented is seems targeting new fans as they can just start and watch DBK with it’s shortened length and won’t have to watch the old 199 episodes anime. Problem start where Toei showing signs it’s not for new fans by putting big-main spoilers in the opening, old fans might love it to anticipate what Toei will do when the “so-called battle” gonna come, but new fans might be annoyed by big stuff revealed as it’s something they should know long time ago. The profit for old fans are may be better than new fans - they wants once again watch their good old childhood anime and DBK saves lots of effort by making that easy to them, though not saving some of the excitement of some moments as I say earlier, they still be watching DBK than watching DBZ all over again. New fans however, might be suggested because of those moments to watch DBZ, and even if they would say they don’t care old fans might be annoyed the new generation of people won’t know the old DBZ. However, even new fans have lot of room to seeing this first in the simple claiming DBZ is just too long and DBK supposed to be remake to be for them.

The conclusion is, though DBK seems to be perfect for new fans to get into the series, and if they would start the series they might even watch the old one as well. Toei intentions aren’t clear either, as old fans will be annoyed by this so called “remake” for obvious reasons I stated, but will enjoy short version of DBZ. So it’s unclear for which audience to recommend this series.

As an old fan I really enjoyed DBK, it get me back to one of my childhood favourite anime and in the dragged part of DBZ they did great and justified work. DBZ may not be the best anime around those days, but even without it’s importance it’s simpleness of story and characters still addicting. So thinking on new fans might be hard for me, and anyone would do what they think best. I myself cannot recommend anyone DBZ because I remember dark times in my childhood frustrating about the famous “5-min battle”, full episode about one of the evils transformation for almost whole episode seeing lightning and hurricanes, as a child it was very frustrating though the tense some of those make, and DBK makes great work on saving those frustrations.

So maybe the conclusion to this question is indeed let newcomers watch DBK and let them see some of the spoilers Toei putted in the opening and endings, the experience might be worth it after all.

Enjoyment: 9/10

Second final note:

Here I will talk about the sequel DBK14, the simple reason not wanting to write a review for that series itself because I don’t waste my time on that, it was big FAIL that’s what that is, and I will explain it very shortly.

First thing first, beyond the reason for the international release to add more 10 episodes to the series, it failed seriously being “free fillers”. Lot of episodes felt untouched, sure there are couple of fillers that “needed” they let exactly like first DBK, but lots of episodes felt really untouched of filler cut, dragged all over the place, they let out big plot-holes that the manga didn’t even had. In general it’s seems they didn’t even cared to make this one good as DBK, and the long skip in the years between them proving. For comparison, the Frieza-Cell arc ended in ep199 in DBZ and in DBK they made 97 episodes, the Buu arc that DBK14 is adapting, is for 91 episodes and got shorted to 61 (74 in international count) episodes, only this comparison can tell you much about how this is “free fillers” cut.

The HD converting isn’t that good either, not because the converting itself but the fact that even the BlueRay version had upscaled the original 4:3 ratio to 16:9, which means the ratio not only natural but part of the screen is cut and the picture itself is bigger, so even the HD converting isn’t good.

Remember what I said about Toei giving spoilers in DBK? In DBK14 all sort kind of spoilers is in the opening, revealing too much to the watcher that even older fans will be annoyed by scenes from the last anime battle (!!) is showing already in the opening. Even in the transition scene there’s big spoilers, like Toei didn’t even care anymore. Those spoilers making DBK14 even less clear for whom this series is for, new fans will be spoiled the whole series, and old fans will be annoyed by the fillers and spoilers as well.

The only good thing to say about DBK14 is the songs, the opening might be little downgrade from DBK opening, but the ending is addicting as hell. But that’s only the songs, the OST and effect sounds itself in the episodes often sounds like the old DBZ OST that adding to the frustrating enjoyment from DBK14.

DBK14 - 6/10
Because though the all annoying stuff, it’s still DBZ. Though I really hate the Buu saga…

Final note:

And really final, about the English dub.
I will make it short. Maybe it’s because I’m not that a fan of English dubs of anime so I’m not experienced well with it, but I noticed a very annoyed thing about the dub being in much lower voice than the OST what made me raise the volume very high to the point where there’s effect sounds or OST sounds much more higher than the dub itself. The reason for that as I guessed is because they recorded the voices on the OST and effect sounds already there, but it’s still not excuse to annoy the neighbourhood with high volume.

The first part of Dragon Ball Z covered in DBZ Kai is, in my opinion, a masterpiece.

While initially the show starts off a little slow, it very quickly picks up the pace, most significantly due to the fact that this show cuts out most of the filler content from the original version of the anime.

Gone are the days of watching Goku run on Snakeway for 16 episodes, and meaningless development of Gohan that is instantly revoked as soon as the saiyans arrive because... that development didn't happen in the manga. No, instead we get a shorter, more true telling of ... the Dragon Ball Z story, as if you were reading the manga.

Now that isn't to say that all of the filler is cut out, It really isn't. There are some things that the anime did that would be impossible to cut out in order to make Kai. But what was there was perfectly fine and it felt like everything flowed really well.

I love Dragon Ball Z. I think that from beginning to end it is an engaging story with extremely well-written and likeable characters. My favorite of which being Vegeta. Vegeta may get a lot of development later on in the series, that being the Buu Saga, or the second part of Kai. However I think that the first part of Kai here shows plenty of character development for our favorite Prince of all Saiyans.

When first introduced Vegeta is shown as a ruthless, heartless villain whos willing to kill his own comrade just for messing up in battle. Him and Goku have their famous fight and Vegeta retreats until the day they can fight again. However, this is when we start to see a different side of Vegeta. As soon as Vegeta arrives back at his outpost he is instantly berated by one of his co-workers. The viewer gets the sense that Vegeta is actually not at the top, not even close really.

This all cumulates later during the conversation between Goku and Vegeta on Planet Namek when you see Vegeta finally say what he truly feels. Looking back, it's a powerful scene. I think that a lot of the early arcs in DBZ are much better than I first took them for and have really grown on me over time. What they did for the characters and what they meant for the story as a whole really echos through the rest of the franchise in a way I think I did not fully appreciate at first.

For example, the first time Goku goes Super Saiyan. I thought it was ok. I mean... we've all seen a Super Saiyan, it was no surprise anymore. But, looking back on it now. I think the first Super Saiyan transformations is one of the best moments in the entire show, and a very powerful moment for Goku. Especially in the Kai version. Sean Schemmel did a very good job expressing the raw emotions that Goku felt in that moment, voice cracks in all.

So as I said before, the characters are very well written and enjoyable. And the show really knows how to keep picking up the pace.
The first part of Kai ends at the end of the Cell Arc, and must I say, what an incredible place to end it.

From Cell's first time on screen to Episode 97, the whole thing is extremely enjoyable and Cell is shown as a serious threat that the Z Fighters must stop at all costs.
If the first part of the Cell Arc wasn't good enough, it gets EVEN BETTER once the Cell Games begin. If you thought the moments early on in the show were powerful, you haven't even seen the half of it.

The Cell Games deliver on some emotional, highly impactful moments that effect all the characters and cumulate into an amazing climax that really wraps everything up in a nice little bow. Long story short, it's an incredible ending to the story.

Much like earlier how I talked about Vegeta, it is undeniable that the character with the most development in Dragon Ball Z, not just up to the Cell Arc but probably for the entire series as a whole, is Gohan. When you watch DBZ you get to see Gohan grow up into a competent fighter who is willing to do what he must to protect those he cares about. He may not like fighting like his father, but he knows that it's important to protect those you care about.

That's what I love about Dragon Ball as a whole. From Volume 1 to Volume 42 it feels like an ever changing, growing world. The characters age and have kids of their own, and then their kids age too. The world feels alive and meaningful, like it exists beyond the confines of the episodes we watch. I think this is most highlighted in the Buu Arc when we get the 7 year time skip. 7 years pass by and when we're reintroduced to the characters they aren't just the exact same people we said goodbye to in the Cell Arc, they've changed. And they've changed because... it's been 7 long years. But I think I'll talk more about that when I write my review of the Buu Arc.

My Childhood's favorite Anime has returned ! I watched the whole series quite a while ago, but I heard that they were recording the voices for the rest of Dragon Ball (We're going up against Buu!) Yeay ! If you loved Dragon Ball Z once before, but haven't seen it in a while, I strongly suggest that you rewatch it with through Kai ! It is just better quality and improved removing most of the bullcrap.I simply can't wait to continue with Buu !

Another of the DBZ's series I tried to watch but could not stand.
Sorry, but I honestly hoped they improved something.

Same interchangeable character drawn style. Incert Monocle and you suddenly have another dude. Shave him bald, another toon.... Add dots to that same forhead... suddenly again another toon.... How about something distinctive other then these simplistic art styles.

Another problem is EVERYONE is on steroids....

The plots again are overly simplistic compared to other thought filled Anime.
I am sorry if its the art style that really ruins it for me and others.

But for those who are attentive to having a more thought filled anime ... story to follow I suggest passing on this and anything DBZ related....

Doing this to help save people's sanity and intellect.

I really have to say i hate this version of the series. I just can't see why its even reasonable to replace the voice actors from DragonBallZ, its just ridiculous. It ruins the anime as far as im concerned. Not having Christopher Sabat as Vegeta, Piccolo, etc just completely takes away those character's personalities. To me the voices of those characters really matched up well in DBZ. But im really just ranting, For pros, i can say the animation is significantly better and more detailed. If you didn't watch the original DBZ then you will probably be able to enjoy this re-make. But for all ... of us who enjoyed the original i don't recommend watching this anime.

This review is short and bitter sweet. t
The original show i LOVE! but Kai was over hyped. it gave out more promises then results. i was excited to see DBZ in HD newly drawn and colored images(much like the intros colors). however what i got was slightly enhanced picture with new voices, episodes being cut, and altering dialogue(see I AM speech on youtube).

to sum things up, this is a fine alteration of the series for new audiences but for old fans. do not waste your tijme.

text written in English

Before you speak anything I chose to talk about Kai Z inves for the reasons that Kai has no fillers and the animation is a bit prettier.
The history of anime is simple (I copy the super-man sauhsahusa Zoas), the plot is not very nice, the characters also I did not like the anime comes down to one thing FIGHTS, the struggles of DB KAI are fantastic, but the other things in the stories are very bad and is far from the WORLD OF ANIME BEST.
The author offspring random characters, making them more expensive Monster possible powers are greatly exaggerated, and do not ... understand why everybody like him.
The characters do not have any characteristics only are people with powers fuckers who want to become stronger to protect the Earth, and alias until the villains are different and such, one is an alien, another is an inexpensive and another is a fat ( I know he is the most vo Z considers it as the Kai too), plus the same objetivosdestruir the land, annihilation of terraquios ... Not counting the clichés of the villains to have changes.
The animation and voice acting are very good (for that time) and openigs and endigs are more or less
Overall DB Kai is an anime for children damn story, just have struggles, it is very rare to see an adult assitindo DB (unless his childhood was marked by DBZ).

Texto escrito em Pt-Br(Minha lingua)

Antes de falarem qualquer coisa eu escolhi falar do Kai ao inves do Z,pelos motivos que o Kai não tem fillers e a animação é um pouco mais bonita.
A história do anime é simples(copio do super-man sauhsahusa zoas),o enredo não é muito legal,os personagens também eu não gostei,o anime se resume em uma coisa LUTAS,as lutas de DB KAI são fantásticas,mas as outras coisas na histórias são muito ruins e está longe de ser o MELHOR ANIME DO MUNDO.
O autor crias personagens aleatórios,fazendo os caras mais monstro possível,os poderes são muito exagerados,e não entendo o por que de todo mundo gostar dele.
Os personagens não tem caracteristicas nenhuma,só são pessoas com poderes fodões que querem se torna mais fortes para proteger a Terra,e alias os vilões até que são diferentes e tal,um é um alien,outra é uma barata e outro é um gordo(eu sei que ele é do Z mais vo considera ele como no Kai também),mais os mesmo objetivosdestruir a terra,aniquilação dos terraquios...Sem contar dos clichês dos vilões de ter transformações.
A animação e a dublagem são muito boas(para época)e as openigs e endigs são mais ou menos
Em geral o DB Kai é um anime para crianças que dane-se a história,só tem lutas,é muito raro ver um adulto assitindo DB(a menos que a infância dele foi marcada pelo DBZ).

*NO SPOILERS*

Recently, i came across an internet post of someone saying Dragon Ball Z may be the greatest anime of all time. I replied with something validating and someone responded with, "There's a hell of a lot of anime better than Dragon Ball, dude." This really got me thinking, Dragon Ball isn't even my favorite series, so why did i think that statement could be valid?

Well, It's about objectivity. I've always thought there was something to be said about media that's easy to digest, stuff with relatively simple plots and a good mix of action and nonaction (example:"The Princess Bride"), I think Dragon Ball ... easily fits within this category. You'd know it for it's fights and it's yelling, but those fights wouldn't be nearly as iconic without all of the emotion behind them, without each character having their own reason to fight, without the enemies willing to play by a set of rules - leaving the stakes high but the mood not too dark; Dragon Ball is about a hell of a lot more than fighting.

I honestly believe that anyone could enjoy it on some level if they just gave it a tiny chance. It may not be your favorite anime, It's not even mine, But how many people will enjoy your Loli Romance Magic robot fighting anime? How many people will enjoy your absurdist existential novel written from the perspective of god? Maybe a lot, if they really wanted to give it a chance, but maybe not, probably not. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it doesn't fit into a specific niche, it just "is Dragon Ball", which is a good thing. Watching it is an experience in itself even if you're only thinking about the fact that you're finally enjoying a piece of history and culture that spread across the globe like wildfire. You may think I sound like a crazy mega-weeb talking about it like that, but who in the world doesn't know Goku?

Dragon Ball Z Kai brought back my love of DBZ where before it was left in my childhood as a anime I loved when I was younger. The only other thing I could say would be would have loved redone art but I still loved it so it is a solid 10 for me.

Long time fan, new Kai viewer.
I did not watch Kai when it initially aired, rather just recently watched the blu ray releases from Funimation. Kai is definitely my preferred method for subsequent rewatches. Pacing is outstanding, although some scenes do lose a little suspense due to the increased pacing. While I didn't miss most of the filler, I do enjoy the driving test episode. Unlike most I find the Garlic Jr Saga somewhat enjoyable also. Other than that the filler isn't missed. Music is OK, Bruce Falconer's OST would have came in clutch in this for sure.
The initial run of Kai only included up ... to the end of the Cell Saga, which is a solid conclusion to the series. But watch The Final Chapters also. Enough rambling, if you've seen Dragon Ball Z before, give this a watch. If not.. Honestly watching the OG DBZ or Kai isn't a bad choice.

Dragon Ball Z, I guess, is one of those animes you really need to have the patience for. Even though it was the first anime I ever saw and got me hooked on other stuff, it was unbearably long and the fights dragged on for dozens of episodes at a time. After browsing through some of Funimation's works however, I came across what was basically 'DBZ without the filler'. So naturally, I gave Kai a shot. And I tell you, it actually does give a new outlook on the DBZ story.

Granted, the fights can and do drag on still for some time, but the ... amount of filler that's reduced the first six seasons to only 98 episodes is astounding! By episode 13, Goku and Vegeta have already begun their first battle, while in the original dub, that didn't commence until episode 30! For someone who's also read the DBZ manga, Kai is practically a live-saver with its fast-pacing and dialogue that's closer to the manga.

The voice cast Funimation provides for Kai is, like most of their projects, top-notch. With more then 100 voice actors at their disposal unlike the late 80s and 90s, the voice actors have much more experience not just with voice acting alone, but with these characters, and it practically feels like a whole new experience. (Especially now that there aren't ten characters all voiced by Chris Sabat.)

The art for the show wasn't what I had expected, I had figured that the show would be done from scratch like other anime reboots. Unfortunately, the only thing really noticeable about Kai's art from the original's is that the colors have been heightened and sharpened.

Also, for those willing to give Kai a chance, make sure you find it uncut. I see too many people turn Kai away purely for the fact that they viewed the Nicktoons edit which removes the blood and most of the action. Go out and buy Part 1, experience Kai in uncut-glory! In my opinion, it's defiantly worth it!

The dragonball series (Despite Dragonball GT) has always had an outstanding story, even if it didn't make since sometimes. The story is told in Sagas; the saiyan saga, the namek saga, captain ginyu saga, freezia saga, garlic jr. saga, trunks saga, android saga, imperfect cell saga, perfect cell saga, cell games saga, great saiyanman saga, world tournament saga, babdi saga, majin buu saga, fusion saga, and kid buu saga. These sagas are within what are called arcs; saiyan arc, freezia arc, cell arc, and buu arc. However, this is just a knock-off of the original in my point of view, since it takes away the ... filler which made it longer and more satisfying (at least to me). Yet, I cannot bring myself to give the story a bad score since it is the dragonball Z that I've known and love, so it has to be given a ten.

The art in the dragonball series was also special. Over hundreds of characters with such detail to boot, no one character is the exact same. The different environment and animals is also great art that the series has going for it. The wind moves the characters clothing and picks up dirt, such detail! If not a ten I don't know what is! The shear number of characters also earns a ten for character. Although, if I were to rate character development, it would be around a eight or seven since the development is only for few main characters.

The sound is given a great score because although it is awesome and it feels like that your hearing what it would sound like, it could be given a few improvements. Then again, sound is only one thing that makes up an anime and in my opinion that's not even a big part of it.

The enjoyment anyone will have by finishing and re-watching this series is outstanding to say the least! I will give it an ten!

Overall this particular version of the series earns a 6, since it doesn't last as long as the original by taking away filler. However, for fans of the series I have to say that if you want to watch dragonball z without the filler you have to watch this!