FUNimation Announces U.S. Dragon Box!
FUNimation announced today their plans to release a U.S. version of the popular Japanese “Dragon Boxes” this November, which use the original film masters. Perhaps the most notable detail is the boxes will remain in their original 4:3 aspect ratio instead of the faux 16:9 that FUNimation released their own DBZ box sets in. So fans that were upset by FUNimation in the past should be very pleased. The first set will contain the first 42 episodes of DBZ (spanning 6 discs) for a price of $79.99 on November 10th.
Flower Mound, TX – July 18, 2009 — FUNimation Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation, today announces that it has acquired the original masters for the entire Dragon Ball Z anime series, episodes and films, and will release all as the Dragon Box for the first time in the U.S. The first of seven Dragon Boxes will be available at major retailers nationwide this Fall.
The Dragon Box will be produced from the original Dragon Box masters after a frame by frame restoration and will span the entire 291 episode television series and all 13 of its movies.
This definitive DVD box release begins with Dragon Box One which includes the first 42 episodes, uncut, on 6 discs.The Dragon Box releases will feature an aspect ratio of 4:3, the original Japanese audio (with options for an English track or English subtitles), the original episode previews, complete opening and closing credits and a collector’s booklet.
Dragon Box One will be available at major retailers nationwide on November 10, 2009 and will have an SRP of $79.98.
UPDATE: Watch the announcement on FUNimation’s YouTube channel.
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That’s awesome (I THINK)
They did this because people were whining and bitching about the 16:9 aspect ratio in funimations season sets, 16:9 is not a faux ratio, it’s actually, by many, an hd preffered ratio, that perfectly fits our hdtv’s!!!! Let me just tell you that the visual and audio presentation on the funimation dvd’s are absolutely stunning, i’ve never experienced dbz like that before, it’s really intense and it brings you into the series even more because of the way it’s presented. I really don’t see the big deal of it being in 16:9, I lose myself in the animation and totally forget what ratio it’s in. Well I have a 16:9 television, so why the hell would I want to watch something in 4:3 with fuking black bars, either that or stretch the 4:3 and then it’ll look distorted, or even better if you zoom into a 4:3 picture you lose more of the top and bottom than funimation’s set, yes i’ve checked, so it ends up being in 16:9 anyways. And when you really come to think of it, almost everyone has a 16:9 tv already, and people want 4:3?? Why the hell would people choose a 4:3 aspect ratio over a 16:9 hd aspect ratio, yes yes I know you lose some picture on the top and the bottom, so what!! the core of the story and everything in the series, guess what, IT’S STILL THERE!!! it didn’t go anywhere and it is being presented in 16:9 high definition!!!!! what more can you ask for!!! People should really stop complaining so much and just enjoy it, I love DBZ and will watch it in any way, shape, or form!!! But yea 4:3 is being outdated quickly, 16:9 is the way to go now. And watching dbz in 16:9 is like watching a really long epic journey, cuz that’s what dbz is, a legendary epic series.
Well Now that we got that out of the way, Funimation is an amazing company, look at the lengths they are going to, to please all their fans, even the bitchers and whiners that have been talking sh!t about them this whole time, so there you go you whiners and bitchers, now is when you’re going to take back all the bad things you said about Funimation, are you pleased now, probably not, cuz you’ll probably find something else to bitch about, and then when they come out with something to stop your bitching, you’ll probably find something else to bitch about, and the cycle continues, why can’t you all just be happy and enjoy dbz, like me. db4life!!!
“Life is more pleasent when you can appreciate the positive rather than focus on the negative, for those that do are truly miserable beings and make for truly undesireable company.”
“When someone truly loves someone or something else, they love the whole… perfections and imperfections alike, and when that type of love is achieved, any imperfections will cease to exist.”
DBZ4ever!!!
Is there any difference between this and their previous releases besides the aspect ratio?
Anyways come to think of it, Dragonball Z’s fanbase has been wanting this for a long time, so I am extremely happy for anyone who has been waiting for this. I will probably buy this myself, if I financially can, it would be neat to have the series in 16:9 and 4:3, I mean they’re the Dragon Box sets, c’mon their legendary lol. I’m glad Funimation decided to bring these to America for whatever reasons. Everything does happen for a reason, so I’m glad it did
@J
Probably the bonus features and the 80 page booklet, take a look here http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Box
this basicly made my day. Eh 7 box sets for the DBZ series alone…
*looks at dbzwiki page*
DBZ Dragonbox sets – 2 box sets for the entire DBZ series in japan
hmm though this makes some sense it’s more price tag friendly this way.
But also looking at this asuming all the releases will be around this price your still paying alot less then what the the 2 original Z box sets alone costed.
¥100,000 ($841.15 US) for a single box set
while curently im just going with the a loose asumption that each set will cost about 79.98 in total of collecting all 7 sets it’s comming out to $559.86(not including any taxes… eh im to lazy to figure out that much) thats less the one box set over there… so it seems were getting a good deal then if were getting the same quality video that the original Dragonbox’s came with.
Umm… im really tired so if i goofed on anything i said sorry but im pretty sure what i said is correct… anyways good night…
THE COVER CAN BE SEEN HERE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uidM2PlXmuk
cool hopfully it’s uncut dbz kicks @$$
I take this as good news. What would be awesome is if they release the special only to be introduced from Japanese Dragon Boxes:Plan to Eradicate the Saiya-Jin, along with future U.S. Dragon Boxes.
@Albert: Pretty Cool. I wonder if it has that interview with Toriyama where he explains the Dragon Ball universe and characters’ names like Mr. Satan’s name is really just Mark.
I’ll still probably wait for Dragon Ball Kai, though as it’ll probably be cheaper overall (hopefully) and all that filler always made me impatient, lol.
@J (亀)
It’ll most probably have stuff like that but what I think you’re referring to are the daizenshuu books, take a look here, they’re pretty neat: http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Daizenshuu
Yeah I can’t wait for Funimation to acquire the Dragonball Kai rights and if they dub it with the same cast and air it on tv (and then of course release it on dvd/bluray), that would be inexplicably amazing!!!
@mendozis
Yes, it’s uncut.
@J
The difference is that Pony Canyon (the company Toei hired to make the Dragon Boxes) went to much greater care in their remastering. Plus, while FUNimation started off with a film reel copy of the series, Toei let Pony Canyon use the first generation masters (which as about as high quality as you can get). So, essentially, they took the highest quality master possible and cleaned it up even further.
More info can be found at:
http://www.kanzentai.com/dvd.php?id=dbox_z1
http://www.kanzentai.com/dvd.php?id=dbox_z2
The two boxes that are the subject of the links I gave you will be split into seven boxes and distributed here with the Japanese audio track, English subs, and an English audio track for a much cheaper price than the Japanese release.
Speaking of… Kai’s Blu-Rays are going to be in 4:3. The reason it broadcasts in 16:9 is because of Japanese broadcast standards in their push for more HD programming.
hey adam you should think about doing more blogs about the new up coming dbz games, like raging blast, and dragonball online that should rally more people, its worth a shot dont you think? anyway,have you heard anthing on about a sequal to dragonball fagolution?
@Albert Fernandez I used to know a lot more about resolution stuff, (and even then I never knew much about digital stuff
) so sorry if I sound a little dumb, but 4:3 in simpler terms is widescreen right? Why wouldn’t you want to watch the show as it was originally intended? When movies or shows are broadcast in full screen it just ticks me off because you’re loosing so much from the sides, and you’re not seeing the scene as its supposed to be seen. The composition of one scene or shot can make or break a moment, but when they do this cutting stuff you loose so much aand you’re missing out.
As I said I really don’t know technical stuff, soo if this wasn’t even what you were talking about theen just ignore me lol
@Zgirl
No. 4:3 is “standard” or “full screen.” 16:9 is “widescreen.” Movies are generally in 16:9 or something similar and the sides are cut off to make 4:3. Dragonball Z was made in 4:3 so FUNimation cut off the top and bottom to make the 16:9 Season Sets. The Dragon Boxes will be in 4:3 like it was originally intended.
@Kendamu Oh ok…soo thats confusing an odd. lol Thanks for the clarification though
@Zgirl
Yep 16:9 is widescreen, and dbz actually looks really good in widescreen, have you watched the season sets yet??
@Albert Fernandez No, I can’t say that I have. I used to have some of the DB seasons on dvd and those were fullscreen anyway, aand I got rid of them
But if the top and bottom were cut off to make it widescreen, that would look so odd I would think. But as I said I’ve never seen any episode of DBZ on dvd.
Don’t get your panties in a bunch… what they mean by faux 16:9, is they fact that it was probably stretched from the original 4:3, so it looks like everything is wider than it’s suppose to be. It’s just like buying a Fullscreen version of a widescreen movie that they just bunched together to fit the picture in the screen… it looks terrible. As a collector, it’s a nice move buy Funimation to release these.
Wow, people got upset because I stated a fact? DBZ is a 4:3 show. FACT. Therefore, in order for FUNimation to convert it to 16:9, they had to CUT image, making it FAKE 16:9, not TRUE 16:9. True 16:9 is if the show was created or filmed with 16:9 in mind, like most new movies.
Personally, I don’t mind FUNimation’s season sets. But I do know the negatives about them.
@SleihStrifeVII
It’s a great move by funimation to release them, and now that they’re all out, i’m in the process of buying them and watching them, i’m collecting all of them.
@adam, I know you were just stating a fact, I just had to vent a little that’s all. People make such a big deal about it being in widescreen, I honestly don’t mind dbz in widescreen, it actually looks really good. Most of the people who hate on the funimation season sets have probably never even seen it before, and correct me if i’m wrong but in these season sets, since there in 16:9 where seeing parts on the sides that have never been seen before because the show has always been broadcast in 4:3. So it’s really all the same thing, dbz is dbz.
People should really stop complaining so much and just enjoy Dragonball Z, I love DBZ and will watch it in any way, shape, or form!!! db4life!!!
This doesn’t excite me at all. I’m so much more exited about the orignal dragonball series uncut comming to dvd on september 15th. That’s gonna kick ass!
And while I was thinking the cow has been milked dry, they milk it even more…
They would’ve come out with this a couple years ago instead of those Season Sets had Toei let them have the Dragon Box footage back then.
Im a hardcore dbz fan but the releases of the db boxes and dragon ball don’t excite me in the least. I think its time to stop milking it. The only thing that excites me about this is the possibility that the lost ova The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans may be dubbed and released sense it was originally a dvd extra on dragon box 2. To be honest id jut like to see funi release this ova and Yo The Return of Son Goku and Friends ova. And finally complete the dubbing of the series. I can understand how some people may be excited about getting the original 13 eps of db uncut finally but if you were like me you could have bought them years ago if you just purchased the box sets from Australia back in 03.
Now I’m annoyed only because I’m trying very hard to get a complete and perfect set of all of dragon ball/z/gt and the movies and I’m confused by all the multiple releases of everything!
I’ve already bought all the hd remastered releases and now I’m worried I’m missing out as a fan if I do not own these box sets because nothing is cut out of it!
This is how they get me to spend more money isnt’t it? LOL.
Lucky for FUNimation I love their dub…
And what are these single movie releases I’m hearing about? I thought they were already remastered and released at their best. Confusion.
It makes me mad that now they are saying that this is the definitive version to get, because they were saying the same about the Seasons, and they even made GT in the Season format and are going to bring Dragonball to the Season format, so everything would have been perfect if they were all three in Season sets, but now they ruined it by making the definitive version different from Dragonball and GT.
Although I am glad that Z is going to be full screen, so that it fits in with GT and Dragonball, but it should have been that way from the beginning. Instead of making the Seasons, they should have just made the Dragon Boxes.
@Gokenshadow I was confused when i first saw they were comming out with dragon ball z again this cleared it up some! I agree with gokenshado im way more exsited about dragon ball comming out… im a girl and only 19 so i never got to see the origonals! I cant wait to watch the end of the storie line! and dose anybody know if there going to redo “The Return of Son Goku and Friends” im really confused by the way they released everything… its all out of order… dose anyone have the list for every season and movie?
I can’t wait to get my copy of the DragonBox! I’ve been looking forward to this for a little while now. I’m not sure why people are so upset. It’s about time FUNimation do Dragon Ball Z right. People are upset with them because the set is coming out, but people should have been upset when the “remastered” sets came out. The remastered sets weren’t actually remastered. The color was heavily saturated, the top and bottom was cut, and the whole feel of the show was still different. Plus, Toei knows DBZ better than FUNimation so I’d trust them before I trust FUNi. Like a lot of DBZ fans, I grew up watching the FUNi dub Toonami version. I’ve become used to that version. After ten years, I want to see DBZ the way it was meant to be. That’s why I’m getting the DragonBox.
Also, let me add that you are getting more value for your buck. With the remastered sets, there were an uneven amount of episodes on each set. Sometimes you might get 30 episodes, sometimes you might get more or less. With the DragonBox’s, there are no less that 40 episodes a set.
@Kendamu
You’re exactly right. FUNimation’s remastered sets are their answer to Toei’s DragonBox sets.
I have a few questions, for those who know. Even though I do understand the picture ratio and the frame by frame clean. Im confused on: Will they also clean frame by frame dragon ball and DBGT ( or has it been done). Another; is the actual word by word going to be used in the english version. Because when I watch it on my PS2, and put it on subtitles. The subtitles do not match the voice. Just asking, thanks
What is better? This, or Dragonball Kai?
Waaaaaaayyy too expensive. But i’m getting it anyways.