Now in the era of HDTV, Funimation has released the uncut, uncensored Dragon Ball Z in new HD Blu Ray season sets. Altogether there are about 9 seasons.
Season 1 contains episodes 1-39 on 4 Blu Ray discs, which is allot of episodes for a season. Usually these day's companies would split a season this big into part 1 and part 2 or something. This season goes through the fight with Goku's brother Raditz and all the way to the end of the fight with Vegeta, which would be called as the 'Saiyan Saga.'
The Story:
The entire series follows the hero named Goku and his fight to save the Earth from various villains.
The story itself is character driven with many characters interactions. It is also a heavy action oriented anime. The story can also feel like it is stretching a long time before the big fights come up. Also the fight between Goku and the villains can get extremely long and over bloated. This is not so much in season 1, but in season 3 when Goku fights Frieza. Then the fight last pretty much the entire season!
Pros:
- Great Characters
- Character driven story draws the viewer into watching more of the show.
- Great dialog between characters.
- Like allot of Japanese anime, there are allot of extremely silly and funny moments.
- The fights scenes are well and thoughtfully played out.
- Pacing of the story is better then other seasons.
Cons:
- Like most first seasons the story is slow paced and can take a little while to get to the action and the fight scenes.
- The action can be suddenly interrupted by sudden dialog, which can be a sudden break to an intense fight.
Video Quality:
The original Dragon Ball Z aired in 4x3 Pan & Scan to fit the older CRT TVs of the time. Funimation in this new Blu Ray HD version has cropped it to fit in a 16x9 widescreen HDTV. This means that the picture will be cropped off at the top and bottom of the screen to fit a 16x9 widescreen format. Funimation framed the picture in the middle to ensure that what's most important is centered on the screen, and when it is required will pan up and down.
This will get some 'die hard fans' very upset, but I personally do not mind it. Watching season 1, the 16x9 widescreen gives Dragon Ball Z a movie cinematic feel, However, I do understand how the neigh sayers feel. As a fan I wouldn't mind having Dragon Ball Z in it's original 4x3 ratio. Blu Ray format has a large capacity which would have allowed for both 4x3 and 16x9 ratios and it would have been nice if Funimation put both format ratio on the Blu Ray disc.
Funimation also did a frame by frame restoration ensuring the cleanest picture quality.
For an anime this old, I am surprised how sharp and clean the picture is. It is one of the best restoration done to an anime I've seen to date. Color's pop out vibrantly, and it's easier to see detail during the fast fight scenes.
Pros:
- Best frame by frame restoration I've seen in an anime this old.
- Vibrant enhanced color.
Cons:
- Only in 16x9 widescreen ratio. Blu Ray disc storage capacity would have allowed for both 4x3 and 16x9 ratios.
- Some DBZ fans will completely reject this version just for lacking the original 4x3 ratio,
Audio Quality:
This new Dragon Ball Z has the new Funimation English dub, and over all it sounds good. There are 2 English tracks on the Blu Ray discs. One English with Japanese music and the other English 2.0. It also contains the original Japanese dub, but only in mano sound.
My only grip is more like nitpicking that Chris Sabat is the voice of Vegeta. I am not a fan of Chris Sabat at all, but I am trying to keep an open mind.
When DBZ came out in the early 1990's the Pioneer Dub had Brian Drummond be the english voice of Vegeta, and I found that Brian did a much better voice acting of Vegeta.
Other then that, the voice acting overall is well done and clear.
Pros:
- Clear well done voice acting.
- Clear restoration of music, and background sounds.
Cons:
- Again with being on Blu Ray format. I wished they could also have included the original Pioneer English Dub with Brian Drummond as Vegeta.
- Japanese Dub only in mono.
Blu Ray Extras:
The fourth disc contains all the extras, documentaries, interviews, trailers etc. Season 1 does not have much extras. There are a few documentaries and interviews but that is about it. There are also textless intro and endings and trailers, but I felt the extras was lacking in season 1.
In the end, this Blu Ray edition is a no brainer for any DBZ fan. It has the best picture quality even though it's now in the new 16x9 widescreen format. The quality of the audio and sounds have also been enhanced for the better, However, some DBZ fans will be turned off by some of the choices that Funimation did with not including the original 4x3 ratio.
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