I was going to use a more appropriate screenshot, but this one was too funny not to use.
I wasn’t exactly jumping for joy when I first heard Dragon Ball Z was getting a remake, but I was still moderately interested nonetheless. “Revamped” 16:9 HD visuals and new music and voice work sounded interesting, but the key selling point was the promise to remove all of Z’s unnecessary filler and follow the manga’s pacing more faithfully.
Now this all sounds well and good on paper, but it’s kind of weird watching Kai. I don’t mean the new animation, music, or voice work though. All of those are fine and neither add nor detract from the show in my opinion, but it’s the lack of any filler whatsoever that makes Kai feel strange. Even though Kai is following the original manga’s pacing, somehow everything feels very rushed.
For instance, just as soon as Raditz arrived, he was defeated by the middle of the third episode, which comparably took up to episode six in DBZ if my memory is correct. There just wasn’t any build up before or during the fight. While I’m not a fan of Z’s drawn out filler sequences such as powering up for half an episode and then waiting for the smoke to clear after a powerful blast for the second half. I can’t believe I’m saying this… But sometimes filler is good. Z really drew the initial battle with Raditz out, and you could really feel just how much stronger he was compared to Goku and Piccolo, as well as the desperation of the latter fighters in the face of such adversity. Yes, some of the original battle was drawn out, but I think it was justified. There were occasions way back in the very original DB that Goku was outclassed in a match, but this was really felt like the first time Goku was hopelessly outclassed by an opponent.
I suppose there’s a fine line between adequately drawing a battle out and having it drag on forever, case in point SSJ Goku fighting Frieza at the end of the Frieza saga. I actually had to look this up on Wikipedia because I don’t remember offhand how long that battle went, but it was about 20 episodes from start to finish (episodes 86-106). That’s utterly ridiculous now that I look at it in retrospect. 20 friggin episodes. In modern shounen, four or five episodes is considered a long fight by Bleach, Naruto and OP standards. DBZ’s “Namek will explode in five minutes” line will forever live in infamy when five minutes takes 9 episodes (episodes 97-106).
Going back to Kai now, it’s been blazing along at light speed compared to DBZ. Kai has forgone almost the entirety of Goku on Snake Road and the Earth warriors training, which were almost mini-arcs in themselves, and at episode 7 is where DBZ was at episode 20. That’s a lot of filler to skip. The majority of the filler during this time was stupid, but one episode really stands out to me as something that actually added to the story, that being the episode where Yamcha, Ten, Kuririn and Chiaotzu “travel back in time” in the Pendulum Room to be utterly demolished by two nameless Saiyajins and realize their weaknesses.
Most filler sucks, but sometimes there are diamonds in the rough. If I was asked to name two of DBZ’s most prominent moments right now, one would be a no brainer — The first time Goku turned SSJ. The other is on the completely opposite end of the spectrum though. You probably guessed by now that it’s a filler episode. Yes, the infamous filler episode where Goku and Piccolo had to get their driver’s licenses. For some reason that filler in particular really stuck with me, and I recall it more readily than many of the show’s epic fights with equally epic villains.
Long story short, while I still feel DB Kai is rushed, it’s still good. If I had to pick between recommending DBZ and DB Kai to someone, I’d pick Kai in a heartbeat. Omitting most of the pointless filler helps the show immensely, but a small portion of that filler was actually helpful to the show as well. If you haven’t seen DBZ before or if you dropped DBZ because it was too slow, you may like how Kai has changed things for the better.
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that being the episode where Yamcha, Ten, Kuririn and Chiaotzu “travel back in time” in the Pendulum Room to be utterly demolished by two nameless Saiyajins and realize their weaknesses.
I don’t remember that at all. Then again I watched the dubbed Cartoon Network version…
Anyway, I wished they would have remade Toaru Index rather than DBZ. Are you listening, KyoAni?
@Roy: It was in the CN dub version. A lot of the filler is pretty forgettable though, so I don’t blame you. And wut, Index just aired last fall. If KyoAni picked up Index, the only change would be all the girls getting KyoAni’s trademark huge, glassy eyes.
Nah, Index already has huge KyoAni eyes. What KyoAni would do would be to get rid of the male characters and just have Index play the castanets for 20 minutes. Come on, Kyoani, you know you want to…
I’m watching some of DBZ Kai right now. I disagree with you. It is still too slow paced. But I’m glad they took the time to fix Vegeta’s unfortunate brown hair situation.
You still think it’s too slow, even at Kai’s blazing pace that’s basically omitted all the filler episodes and filler bits during the fights? I’ll kindly steer you towards Bleach and Naruto which are much slower than this, at least at the time I dropped those two.
I agree with Noirsword,the dragon ball z kai is too fast paced.
you really need a good anima that knows when to stop making them.
but on the upper hand Goku still has a kind,playful,and gentle spirit.