Dragon Ball Z Refreshed ("Dragon Ball Kai")

[Iyouboushi]

Ossu! Ora Son Gokuu!

It turns out that there's a page of Shounen Jump that has some big news in Japan this month.

On April 5th, 2009, at 9:00 A.M. Japan time, the first episode of Dragon Ball Z Refreshed will be aired. According to the article there will be 100 refreshed episodes (down from 291 originally) and they will cover these three exciting points:

1. More exciting by re-editing!!
2. New opening and ending!!
2. Superb seiyus will gather for the show!!


The first point mentions that it'll be in HD widescreen and all the footage will be touched up. I thought this meant that it was being redone completely but I was slightly wrong. It says only some parts will be digitally enhanced. Still, it WILL be touched up and made true widescreen (unlike FUNimation's faux widescreen that ended up chopping off half the video).

The second point is pointing out that both opening and ending will be redone. I don't know if this means it'll be the same songs just in modern animation, or if it'll be something completely different. It doesn't say.

The last point mentions that all of the original voice cast (well, the ones that are still alive) are coming back together to redub the show. I don't know if this means that the episodes will be changed so new dialog needs to be recorded or if they're just trying to clean it up along side the animation.


Who would have thought that DBZ is still so popular in Japan that it deserves to be refreshed and re-aired (something that seems to be rather uncommon from my understanding). This is such great news and came out pretty quick after the release of the new special ("Yo! The Return of Son Gokuu and Friends!!").

I'll post more information come April 5th when I have a chance to see it. Until then, speculate, talk about DBZ, or comment on this crazy news.

[Iyouboushi]

Some more Major News

First off, they're calling it Dragon Ball Kai.

Second: Here's a commercial for it.

Third: Official Website

Fourth:
Some more news has been posted about the music.

Neither the opening and ending themes will be performed by Hironobu Kageyama (who did the original openings, most of the game songs, etc). Instead both will be performed by Takayoshi Tanimoto. The new opening is called Dragon Soul and the new ending is called Yeah! Break! Care Break!.

I'm a bit disappointed, really. Kageyama has some awesome music and I always felt that DBZ was the better for it. It won't be the same without it.


Fifth:
TenShinHan is not listed as a character at all. As many people will know, his voice actor (Hirotaka Suzuoki, same VA as Saitou in Kenshin) passed away recently. So far it looks like they won't be replacing him and will be writing TenShinHan completely out of the show. How that will work is beyond me, since he plays a part in the Cell saga as well as the fight against Nappa towards the beginning of the show.

Kamesennin/Roshi is also missing from the roster despite being shown in the commercial. Hmm.

It's possible that they just haven't found voice actors that sound enough like them to be listed yet and that their roles will still be there. We'll know more soon enough.


Sixth: First episode airs 4/5/2009 at 9:00. I expect the raw video to be available online within an hour of it going off.



More news to come.

[Iyouboushi]

Hooray information!


Dragon Ball Kai will contain:
- A brief look at the last moments of Bardock and Planet Vegeta
- An overview of young Gokuu's growing up years (Dragonball, the pre-Z period) up until his triumph over Piccolo at the Tenkaichi Budokai.
- The all-too-brief and yet still somewhat triumphant return of FARMER WITH A SHOTGUN!

And sadly (although that really all depends on how you look at things...)
- Gokuu's winky has disappeared!

That's right, through the miracle of "we're just not gonna draw it anymore", Li'l Gokuu is no longer going to be allowed to show off "Even Littler Gokuu" on TV. But don't worry, they won't do anything so blatant as to digitize tighty-whiteys on him.



And somewhat related, I guess, there's already going to be a video game based on the Kai version of the show:

[Iyouboushi]

The first four episode titles have been released along with their air dates.

Episode 01 - 04/05/2009 - Tatakai no makuake! Kaette kita zo Son Gokuu [The curtain opens on battle! Son Gokuu's back]

Episode 02 - 04/12/2009 - Teki wa Gokuu no ani!? Saikyou senshi Saiya-jin no himitsu [The enemy is Gokuu's (older) brother?! The secret of the Saiya-jin, the mightiest warriors]

Episode 03 - 04/19/2009 - Goku to Pikkoro saikyou taggu! Gekitou Radittsu sen* [Gokuu and Piccolo, the ultimate tag-team! The fierce battle against Raditz]

Episode 04 - 04/26/2009 - Son Gokuu wa shinjatta... Ano yo to kono yo no kibishii shugyou* [Son Gokuu's dead... Arduous training in both this world and the next!]

* Tentative title


For what it's worth, the original airing of the series (Z) Gokuu's death was in episode 5. This is with the show not having flashbacks to the previous series, like it will with Kai. It sounds like (from the title) that the first ep of Kai will be mostly flashbacks. Hmm.

[Iyouboushi]

The replacement for TenShinHan's voice actor has been announced. In DB:Kai, TenShinHan will now be played by Hikaru Midorikawa.

Midorikawa previously played the roles of #16 and Paikuhan in Z. He was also the voice of Kaiba in Yugiou. Here's a list of stuff he's done.

It'll be interesting to see how well he can do TenShinHan.

[Iyouboushi]

Episode one aired yesterday [April 5, 2009]! Woo! Having obtained a raw copy I can tell you a little bit about it.

First up: the opening

The opening animation is amazingly nice. I mean, think modern anime with awesome DBZ scenes. They're also widescreen.

Watch the opening in HD on Youtube


Now while the animation is nice, the music (to me) sucks. Maybe it just hasn't grown on me yet but I find myself wishing they had stuck to Cha-La Head Cha-La. I miss that song so much and it would have been great to hear that song with this kind of animation.


Next we have.. The Show

The first episode starts with a flashback to the Bardock special that shows how Gokuu arrived on Earth. It then follows a bit of Dragon Ball to show him as a kid up to the point where he marries Chi Chi. Then we're tossed back into Z.

The episode cuts out quite a bit of filler. There's no Gohan running through the forest with the sabertooth tiger. They also cut some stuff that was actually in the manga, such as Radditz talking about the Saiyajin, which I thought was kinda weird. Overall, the episode ran about two chapters worth of the manga.

The animation wasn't nearly as cleaned up as all the press/hype led me to believe. I suppose I shouldn't be disappointed, after all this is a 20 year old show, but I was expecting a bit more. I think these two screen caps kind of sum it up:

In motion, the colors are saturated and the footage is OLD. But, like I said, I can't complain too much because it's 20 year old footage. I still wish they could have improved it a bit more.


And finally.. the Ending

Basically more of the same from the opening. Great art work, a subpar song (but still better than the opening song). I miss Hironobu Kageyama.

Watch the ending in HD on Youtube