| ♥ | This article is dedicated to Akira Toriyama (April 5, 1955-March 1, 2024 due to acute subdural hematoma), the creator of this amazing franchise alongside Dr.Slump, and Chris Ayres (May 16, 1965-October 18, 2021). |
Dragon Ball Z Kai, known in Japan as Dragon Ball Kai (ドラゴンボール改「カイ」Doragon Boru Kai, lit. Dragon Ball Revised), is an anime series that is a high-definition remastered recut of Dragon Ball Z, done for its 20th anniversary. It premiered on Fuji TV on April 5, 2009 and officially ended at June 28, 2015.
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Why It Rocks
- Unlike the original Dragon Ball Z, there is very little filler and padding. As a result, the pacing is much quicker and comparable to that of the original Dragon Ball anime. It is also much more faithful to the original manga by Akira Toriyama.
- The animation errors present in the original footage of the anime were cleaned up, alongside scratches, dirt and other nuisances, and many of the original scenes of the old show were digitally restored. This results in a modern-looking, clean, and fresh re-do of the first three Dragon Ball Z arcs.
- The English dub by Funimation is a massive step-up from the original Funimation dubs of the old series. Due to focusing on being more faithful to the Japanese dialogue, there are more mature language and proper synchronization with the characters' expressions. This is also due to the Funimation cast already being seasoned veterans as time went by. The replacements, like Chris Ayres as Frieza, are wonderfully cast and fit the characters very well.
- Great intros and endings with newly-animated footage that are just as explosive and action-packed as the episodes themselves.
- The music from Kenji Yamamoto, known for the Budokai 3 soundtrack, is astonishing and has the feel of the franchise's themes. Norihito Sumitumo's version from the Buu saga is also amazing, and some of his music is even heard in Dragon Ball Super.
- Shunsuke Kikuchi's score returning for this series also invokes nostalgia for the old fans of the original show.
- Despite the trimming of multiple scenes from various episodes, it still retains the feel, impact, and tension of the old anime.
- Literally all the reasons of Dragon Ball Z.
- Paved the way for Dragon Ball Super.
Bad Qualities
- The CW4Kids Toonzai and CW Vortexx versions are terrible. Although the English dub aired on Adult Swim and was uncut, these versions had heavy and often nonsensical censorship.
- A lot of the music was removed after evidence of Kenji Yamamoto plagiarizing other works surfaced.
- While Sean Schemmel did a decent job on "Dragon Soul", it's not the best since he's heavily Auto-Tuned.
- Justin Cook's version, on the other hand, is just flat-out horrible.
- Even Brina Palencia's version, while better, sounds a bit too quiet.
- The Canadian dub, while interesting, was left unreleased after failed attempts at selling it to other Canadian channels for airing. To add insult to injury, the dub itself is completely lost. Thankfully, fans of the Canadian dubs of the Dragon Ball franchise are trying to help out in getting this dub aired on Canadian television.
- The remastered Majin Buu Saga episodes were done on a lower budget than the Saiyan Saga/Frieza Saga/Cell Saga episodes - and it shows.
- Even putting that aside, the episodes redraw some scenes in cel-shaded CGI and constantly shift between them and the traditionally animated ones, likely due to an update in Japanese law regarding animation; the second the CGI ones come on, one can quickly notice the difference.
- The international "Final Chapters" version has a very mediocre intro and outro compared to the Japanese version, composed of "Fight it Out!" and "Never Give Up!" playing all the way to the end of the series. Plus, their animation is a step-down from the Japanese airing. Meanwhile, the Japanese version's end titles are varied with different songs corresponding to each saga.
- Some of the filler scenes were never removed in this version, such as the villains in Hell watching Goku's fight with Buu, creating major plot-holes that affected the continuities of both this arc and Dragon Ball Super. In the "Final Chapters" cut, the Cell Games re-enactment was never removed, causing what was said below.
- The infamous "Cell Games Reenactment" incident that got Team Four Star (the creators of the Dragon Ball Z Abridged web series) blackballed from working with Funimation.
- While the voice acting is good, Stephanie Nadolny didn't reprise her role as Gohan. The only character she's voiced since then is the titular character from OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes and, even then, she only voiced him in the pilot and a selection of episodes.
- Chris Sabat also didn't reprise his roles as Jeice and Burter.
- Linda Young only voiced Frieza in his debut episode before being replaced by Chris Ayres for the rest of the series.
- The Latin American dub was heavily criticized due to rampant censorship and the voice actors from the original show not reprising their roles.
- It should be noted that the Majin Buu Saga (The Final Chapters) saw most of the original actors return to reprise their roles (most notably Mario Castañeda as Goku and René Garcia as Vegeta).
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