Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Box One DVD Review

By Jason Nimer

If you've read this site for any decent amount of time, you know I'm a huge Dragonball fan. As such, I was in a state of nerd giddiness when FUNimation, the company that owns the publishing rights to the Dragonball, Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT anime in America, started releasing the series on DVD in season box sets. Previously, the anime had only been available on single disc releases, which cost about $20 and only contained three episodes apiece. Finally! The series could be mine in its entirety for less than a dump truck full of money! As of May of 2009, all nine Dragonball Z and two Dragonball GT seasons were released, and I'd purchased and reviewed 'em all. As we speak, FUNimation is in the middle of releasing the original Dragonball series (check out the most recent review here). So why in God's name did FUNimation announce over the summer they'd be releasing new Dragonball Z DVDs, mere months after they finished up the series? Even more puzzling, why were so many fans beside themselves with excitement, despite having just purchased nine $40 sets? To explain that, I'm going to have to give you a little history.

In the early 2000's, Dragonball, Dragonball Z and Dragonball GT were released in Japan in a series of wildly expensive gigantic DVD sets called Dragon Boxes. Five of these were produced One for the original Dragonball, two for Dragonball Z, one for GT and one containing all 13 movies. Do the math if there are 291 episodes of Dragonball Z and only two Dragon Boxes that's a big set. A 26 disc set in fact. These monstrous sets were considered the gold standard of all Dragonball DVD releases. Their video track was taken directly from the original masters, the sound was crystal clear and the packages included a ton of special extras, from special action figures to walkie-talkie scouters to a Dragon Rader television remote. These sets were Japan-only releases and were produced in extremely limited numbers, making them even more coveted among the most hardcore of hardcore fans.

So it's no wonder that despite having just finished getting the entire DBZ series, it was big news when FUNimation came out of left field and announced they would be bringing these sets to the U.S., with only minor changes from their Japanese counterparts. These changes included splitting up DBZ into seven boxes, rather than the too big and prohibitively expensive two. The number of episodes per disc would also be bumped up from six to seven, and the physical extras would be left out. Other than that, the company claimed they "wouldn't change a damn thing." And now that I've got my copy, I can say that FUNimation's promise was dead-on. By duplicating the Japanese Dragon Boxes, they have released the best version of the series the U.S. has ever seen, and rendered every past release almost laughably insignificant.

Since I've already reviewed the episodes found in this set (1-42 if you're wondering), I'm going to stick with the overall package. While slightly smaller and containing less episodes, this IS the Dragon Box. The DVDs are packaged in two hardcover books, with a third hardcover serving as the set's guide the Dragon Book. This comprehensive guide covers EVERYTHING about these episodes, with character profiles and sketches, story summaries, original airdates, even a timeline that includes real world events and compares them with events in the anime. Is it a coincidence that Goku died for the first time merely a few days before the Tiananmen Square incident? Or that Dragon Ball Z began only a week after the release of the original Game Boy? Probably, but it is still a neat addition to the set.

The video and sound on the set is a far better reason to purchase this than just new packaging and a cool book. First off, when you put these DVDs in your player, the language track defaults to Japanese (with English subtitles), they way it was meant to be seen (or heard, I guess). You have the option of selecting a single English dub track, but if you're interested in that, this set isn't for you. Everything about this set screams "original Japanese fans only," and it doesn't stop with just the sound and voice tracks (which, incidentally, are better and clearer on these discs than they have ever been before).

The other main reason to grab this release over the season sets is the video. The show is presented in its original 4:3 aspect ratio (it was on TV, after all), and the picture is clearer than ever before. Even those of us who don't work at a home electronics store can easily tell the difference between this set created from the original masters and the seasons, which were 2nd or 3rd hand copies of the original. Also, in making the season sets widescreen, some of the top and bottom of the original picture was cut out to stretch things to 16:9. On top of that, during FUNimation's "remastering" process for the seasons, colors were washed out and too much clean-up lead to the disappearance of some black lines, subtle hues and even entire pieces of original artwork. The Dragon Box avoids all these problems and presents the show as it was meant to be seen, and the result is a DBZ that has never been prettier.

With the better sound and picture, that should be enough to warrant a purchase, right? Well, sports fans, there's more. Other omissions from the season sets are included here are the original episode lead-ins, next episode teasers and Japanese credits. If you're keeping score, that means every single thing about the original television show, and by extension the original Dragon Box, is included. There isn't a whole lot more I can say about how perfect this set is; the only way you're going to see the series look any better is to go to Japan, take the original master tapes out of cold storage and watch the original film reel. I can promise you, that ain't gonna happen.

I fully understand why some fans would be miffed by FUNimation's release of nine seasons of DBZ before turning around and re-releasing them in a much better format just months later. I get it. But here's the thing: Whether or not you knew about the Japanese Dragon Boxes, whether or not you bought all nine seasons, the Dragon Box is the must-own item for each and every Dragonball fan out there, no questions asked. I suppose the seasons are still slightly relevant to those who actually like the English dub track, but it's going to take a lot of convincing on your part to prove to me this extremely confused animal actually exists (Just make-believe, like unicorns, leprechauns or Eskimos). So even if you bought all the season sets, look on the bright side you'll probably get a few bucks off when you trade them in to get this one. Go get this set now. That's an order.

If it were possible, this would get a 10/5, but 5/5 is the score my constraints allow me to apply.

Final Rating: