Is there anything I need to add to this?

What is Dragon Ball Kai?
Dragon Ball Kai is a reversioning of Dragon Ball Z, to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Kai premiered on April 5 2009 on Fuji TV in Japan in a morning block together with One Piece called Dream 9.

So is this a new series?
No, DBK is not a new series. It is, as said before, a reversioning. Footage from the old Z series has been taken and upscaled to HD. The only new material is the new opening, the endings and the eyecatches. A lot of the filler (scenes that are added in the anime to not come too close to where the manga is) has also been taken out, making this version as close to Toriyama’s classic as possible. A new music score has been composed by Kenji Yamaoto, known for his Budokai score. Certain scenes have been traced over and reanimated to fix some of the problems that were present in the old dub. Finally, the series has been completely revoiced by most of the old voice actors, but also some replacements (the Ginyu Force, for example).

Is this series in widescreen or in fullscreen?
The series is selectively cropped to widescreen. Meaning that Toei went scene by scene with how to crop, but keep the best of the picture still shown. This is different to FUNimation’s season set cropping, where it was an automated cropping. DBK’s Japanese DVD’s are also in widescreen, but the Blu-Ray edition is in fullscreen.

I heard this series stops at episode 99. Does this mean Buu won’t be included?
This is just a placeholder for the DVD and Blu-Ray releases. The Buu saga will be included, it’s part of Toriyama’s story, after all.

Is there a dub yet?
Yes. DBK is currently being dubbed by FUNimation under the name of Dragon Ball Z Kai (a decision made by Toei, the creators of the anime). DBZK saw its first release on May 18 2010 when FUNi released the first 13 episodes on DVD and Blu-Ray. Both the DVD and the Blu-Ray are in fullscreen.

From widescreen to fullscreen? Isn’t that a step back?
No, as said before, both FUNi and Toei cropped the show to widescreen, meaning 20% of the screen is lost. The show was always meant to be seen in fullscreen and if you really need to see it in widescreen, use the “Zoom” button on your remote.

13 episodes?! What a rip-off!
Not at all. It costs a lot of money to dub a series and unlike Toei’s DBK, FUNi’s version is most definitely not made on a budget. FUNi has completely rewritten the script and had all the voice actors return to reprise the roles they are known for. Since the original had a completely different script, you might as well say that this new version can be seen as a completely different series! Also, all of FUNi’s releases are 13 episode sets and it would be weird if DBZK wasn’t done like that. Lastly, the Japanese releases are only at episode 54 and there’s a zero change that Toei will let FUNi overtake their release.

Rewritten script? What?
Like said before, FUNi’s original run of DBZ had its fair share of changes made. In an attempt to fix most of these mistakes, a new script has been made to stay true to the original characters and plots. Vegeta no longer asks Goku to join him and Goku does not speak like your average superhero anymore. Some attack names have been fixed as well, such as Krillin and Piccolo’s attacks, as well as correcting the pronunciation of attacks such as the Kaio-Ken.

What about OVER 9000!!!!!?
Over 9000 has been removed from the uncut version, but remains in the broadcast version. More on that later.

Is Rock the Dragon in this? I love that opening!
Rock the Dragon is not in either. On the uncut version, the original opening song, Dragon Soul, has been dubbed by Sean Schemmel and the broadcast version has been dubbed by Vic Mignogna in a one minute rendition of Dragon Soul with a different beat.

What about Bruce Faulconer?
Bruce Faulconer is not in DBZK and won’t ever be. FUNi has decided to make this as faithful as possible and that includes keeping the original score.

What happened to Gohan’s voice?
Gohan’s voice actress, Stephanie Nadolny, has been replaced by Colleen Clinkenbeard. Since Nadolny has said on her Facebook that she’d love to reprise her role as Gohan, it’s assumed that FUNi went for a more age-appropriate voice of Gohan. However, this is not confirmed and it might as well be for completely different reasons. Other voices that have been repaced are Tiffany Volmer’s Bulma, who is now played by Monica Rial and Puar and Chaozu, who are now played by Brina Palencia (she already did Chaozu for the games). The series is now narrated by Doc Morgan, instead of Kyle Hebert.

When will the next set of episodes arrive?
The second set containing episode 14 to 26 is slated for a September release.

Where can I watch the dub on TV?
The dub is currently broadcast on Nicktoons Network. It premiered on May 24 2010 and airs in the evening. During fall, 4Kids Entertainment will broadcast DBZK on their new action block Toonzai.

Are there any changes between the TV dub and the uncut dub?
Yes. The first one was mentioned earlier: a different rendition of Dragon Soul. Other changes are removal of profanity (the uncut dub uses some minor swear words), a script that at parts is more true to FUNi’s original DBZ script (over 9000) and the English attack names, such as Special Beam Cannon (which was still called Makankosappo in a flashback for some reason). Finally, violence, blood, alcohol and sexual jokes have been edited away mostly. The use of death is also kept to a minimum, but the next dimension is never used.

I just saw Goku and Raditz’ uncut death and it was censored! I want my money back!
The censoring of Goku and Raditz’ brutal death has been done by Toei themselves. Because DBK airs in a morning block, some editing needed to be done to make it appropriate for audiences. Goku and Raditz’ death is one of the few violent scenes censored, another one being Vegeta being blasted by Krillin. Other brutal scenes, such as Vegeta’s numerous kills on Namek, as well as Freeza being cut by his own attacks are left completely untouched. Other editing that’s been done is covering up Goku and Gohan’s penis and Vegeta’s middle finger.

Make it explicit that those censored scenes will be exactly the same on the uncut home releases, in every country, and there's nothing that can be done about it.

Also, just say the series is full screen. Because it is. It's airing in the US full screen. The DVDs and Blurays in the US are full screen. Just say it's full screen. Mention that the Japanese DVDs and broadcast versions are wide screen, but mainly it's full screen.

Why are you writing this?

Oh, and there's a topic on Daizex that's chronicling the changes between the broadcast and home release version. Link to that.

I posted the edited version on GFs.

Kaede wrote:

Why are you writing this?

Because I got tired of the questions on the DBG and I promised I would make one.

This won;t stop the questions.

I just want a sticky.

I requested that it be stickied.

Where's my prize.

good work kai

i'll request a sticky to

I've got a sticky.

A_Nonny_Moose wrote:

I've got a sticky.

????
what does that mean

anyway stickied the topic here and requested there

A_Nonny_Moose wrote:

I've got a sticky.

It doesn't count if it has a spelling error.

Never noticed that before.

Frequenly. Lol.

Waoo~~~it's so comprehensive

In Kai you don't get to see Krillin absolutely impaled by Freeza then blown up.
You just get to see some smoke and fire.

Those two things happen at entirely different points in time.

I guess.

SneakySunday wrote:

In Kai you don't get to see Krillin absolutely impaled by Freeza then blown up.
You just get to see some smoke and fire.

Those are sixteen episodes apart. What are you talking about?

Kai was a morning show and Z was an evening show. It's understandable. The problem is Japan was too lazy and/or cheap to produce an uncut version as well as a TV version. They just made it for TV and put that version out for home release.

Kaede wrote:

SneakySunday wrote:

In Kai you don't get to see Krillin absolutely impaled by Freeza then blown up.
You just get to see some smoke and fire.

Those are sixteen episodes apart. What are you talking about?

I don't understand. Is it because I said then implying it happened soon after?

SneakySunday wrote:

Kaede wrote:

SneakySunday wrote:

In Kai you don't get to see Krillin absolutely impaled by Freeza then blown up.
You just get to see some smoke and fire.

Those are sixteen episodes apart. What are you talking about?

I don't understand. Is it because I said then implying it happened soon after?

Yeah, it makes it sound like they're two consecutive events.

Like, "I went to a café, and then I bought a crêpe"
instead of, "Like the time where I went to a café, or the time I bought a crêpe"

Kaede wrote:

SneakySunday wrote:

Kaede wrote:

SneakySunday wrote:

In Kai you don't get to see Krillin absolutely impaled by Freeza then blown up.
You just get to see some smoke and fire.

Those are sixteen episodes apart. What are you talking about?

I don't understand. Is it because I said then implying it happened soon after?

Yeah, it makes it sound like they're two consecutive events.

Like, "I went to a café, and then I bought a crêpe"
instead of, "Like the time where I went to a café, or the time I bought a crêpe"

Exactly.