Months ago I was sent a copy of Dragon Ball Z for review. Not knowing what it was, and Dragon Ball Z Kai having recently been released, I went to Funimation.com and watched the first few episodes of the show in anticipation. What I got was Blood Rubies, which I loved, but since then my experience with DBZ has been down to that one feature film and a handful of episodes from Kai, and a viewing of Dragon Box Five (The Cell Games Saga Arc).

This week I was shipped a copy of Dragon Ball Z Kai Season One on Blu-Ray, which consists of volumes 1 and 2 of the previously released individual volumes combined into one. Same features, same picture and audio quality, just repackaged into one case and sold just a bit cheaper then if you bought the titles individually. In any case I sat down and began my experience with Dragon Ball Z from the recently revised beginning.

For those that do not know, Dragon Ball Z Kai is a shortened version of the DBZ universe. The original series ran a whopping 291 episodes, but this newly revised version contains only 100 (or so I read). The show has been condensed, given a proper clean up, even had scenes redone and slotted in where film was too badly damaged (I started to notice them when the characters color became more vibrant and the way they were drawn suggested they had a light source coming up from below them). To go along with the revamped picture quality there is an all new voice over reworking from the original cast to replace the somewhat wimpy 2.0 mono soundtrack form the original release.

PICTURE AND AUDIO QUALITY:
If your familiar with the series you can expect the animation to look dated, but the picture is seemingly flawless with only one hiccup I took notice of (in one scene the screen jumps a bit as it’s panning across the strewn battleground where Goku and crew take on Vegeta and Nappa). I didn’t take note of any scratches, hairlines or damaged area’s of film. The picture alternates at random between original cleaned up film and revised sections which are more defined and vibrantly colored. All in all though it is a vast improvement over what I saw of the show on youtube from its original quality. Not that I need to say, because my opinion of Funimation’s audio presentations is usually stated in my reviews for their releases, but, yeah, it’s spot on.

BONUS FEATURES:
Opening and Closing songs as well as trailers. Really not much but considering the entire set is a special feature amongst itself you pretty much get what you pay for.