Dragon Ball Z Kai

Dragon Ball Z Kai
ドラゴンボール改
Genre
Based onDragon Ball
by Akira Toriyama
Directed by
  • Yasuhiro Nowatari
  • Naohiro Terazaki
Music by
Country of originJapan
Original languageJapanese
No. of episodes
  • 159 (Japan)
  • 167 (International)[1]
(list of episodes)
Production
Production companies
Original release
NetworkFuji Television
ReleaseApril 5, 2009 (2009-04-05) –
March 27, 2011 (2011-03-27)
ReleaseApril 6, 2014 (2014-04-06) –
June 28, 2015 (2015-06-28)

Dragon Ball Z Kai, known in Japan as Dragon Ball Kai (ドラゴンボール改, Doragon Bōru Kai), is a Japanese anime television series based on the manga Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama, part of its media franchise and produced by Toei Animation, serving as a remastered version of Dragon Ball Z that aired on Fuji Television from April 5, 2009, to March 27, 2011. A second season, titled internationally as Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters aired from April 2014 to June 2016.

Production

See also: List of Dragon Ball Z Kai episodes

In February 2009, Toei Animation announced that it would begin broadcasting a remastered version of Dragon Ball Z as part of the series's 20th anniversary celebrations.[2] The series premiered on Fuji TV in Japan on April 5, 2009, under the title Dragon Ball Kai. The ending suffix Kai (改(かい)) in the name means "updated" or "altered" and reflects the improvements and corrections of the original work.[3] The original footage was remastered for HDTV, featuring updated opening and ending sequences, new music, and a re-recording of the vocal tracks.[3][4] The original material and any damaged frames were removed, along with the majority of the filler episodes to more closely follow the manga, resulting in a faster-moving story.[5] According to Torishima, Kai was conceived when Bandai asked if a new Dragon Ball anime could be made to increase the franchise's merchandise sales. As Toriyama refused to create a new story, it was decided to release a remastered version of the Dragon Ball Z anime that more closely follows the manga instead. He said the reception to Kai was positive, "so it all worked out".[6]

The series initially concluded on its 97th episode in Japan on March 27, 2011, with the finale of the Cell saga. It was originally planned to run 98 episodes; however, due to the Tōhoku offshore earthquake and tsunami, the final episode was not aired and was later released direct-to-video in Japan on August 2, 2011.[7]

In November 2012, Mayumi Tanaka, the Japanese voice actor of Krillin, announced that she and the rest of the cast were recording more episodes of Dragon Ball Kai.[8] In February 2014, the Kai adaptation of the Majin Buu saga was officially confirmed. The new run of the series, which is titled Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters internationally, began airing in Japan on Fuji TV on April 6, 2014, and ended its run on June 28, 2015.[9] The final arc of Kai was originally produced to last 69 episodes (as most of the international versions run),[10] but the Japanese broadcast cut it down to 61 episodes.

English dub production and broadcasting

Funimation licensed Kai for an English-language release in February 2010 from Toei Animation Inc. The series was initially broadcast in the U.S. on Nicktoons from May 24, 2010, to January 1, 2012, continuing in re-runs until April 2013.[11][12] In addition to Nicktoons, the series also began airing on the 4Kids-owned Saturday morning programming block Toonzai on The CW in August 2010,[13] then on its successor, the Saban-owned Vortexx, beginning in August 2012 until the block ended in September 2014.[9] Both the Nicktoons and CW airings were edited for content. Kai began airing uncut on Adult Swim's Toonami block on November 8, 2014,[14] and re-runs of the previous weeks' episodes aired at the beginning of Adult Swim from February 2015 to June 2016.[15] In the United Kingdom, CSC Media Group acquired the broadcast rights to Kai and began airing it on Kix! in early 2013.[16][17][18]

Despite Kai's continuation not being officially confirmed at the time even in Japan, Funimation voice actors Sean Schemmel (Goku) and Kyle Hebert (Gohan), announced in April 2013 that they had started recording an English dub for new episodes.[19] In November 2013, Kai's Australasian distributor Madman Entertainment revealed that the Majin Buu arc of Kai would be released in 2014 and that they were waiting on dubs to be finished.[20] In February 2014, Funimation officially stated that they had not yet started recording a dub for the final arc of Kai.[21] On December 6, 2016, Funimation announced the continuation of Kai would begin airing on Adult Swim's Toonami block. The series aired from January 7, 2017, to June 23, 2018, alongside Dragon Ball Super.[22]

An alternate English dub of Kai by Ocean Productions was recorded for the original 98 episodes, featuring many of the original Vancouver cast reprising their roles, but it has yet to air.[23][24][25][26]

Editing

During the original Japanese TV airing of Dragon Ball Kai, scenes involving blood and brief nudity were removed. Nicktoons would also alter Kai for its broadcast; it released a preview showcasing these changes which included removing the blood and cheek scar from Bardock and altering the color of Master Roshi's alcohol.[27] The show was further edited for its broadcast on The CW's Toonzai block; most notoriously, the character Mr. Popo was tinted blue. The show's DVD and Blu-ray releases only contained the edits present in the original Japanese version. A rumor that Cartoon Network would be airing Kai uncut was met with an official statement to debunk the rumor in June 2010.[28] However, it would later air uncut on the channel as part of Adult Swim's Toonami block.

Steven Simmons, who did the subtitling for Funimation's home video releases, offered commentary on the subtitling from a project and technical standpoint, addressing several concerns.[29] Simmons said that Gen Fukunaga did not want any swearing on the discs, but because there was no taboo word list, Simmons would substitute a variation in the strength of the words by situation with the changes starting in episode 21.[30] The typographical errors in the script were caused by dashes (—) and double-quotes (") failing to appear, which resulted in confusing dialogue.[30]

Music

Kenji Yamamoto composed the score for Dragon Ball Kai. The opening theme, "Dragon Soul", and the first ending theme used for the first 54 episodes, "Yeah! Break! Care! Break!", are both performed by Takayoshi Tanimoto of the unit, Dragon Soul, in Japanese. Sean Schemmel, Justin Cook, Vic Mignogna, Greg Ayres, Sonny Strait and Brina Palencia performed the English version of the opening theme, while Jerry Jewell performed the English version of the ending theme.[31] The second ending theme, used from episodes 55–98, is "Kokoro no Hane" (心の羽根; "Wings of the Heart") performed by Team Dragon, a unit of the idol girl group AKB48, in Japanese and Leah Clark in English.[32] On March 9, 2011, Toei announced that due to Yamamoto's score infringing on the rights of an unknown third party or parties, the music for remaining episodes and reruns of previous episodes would be replaced.[33] Later reports from Toei stated that except for the series' opening and closing songs, as well as eyecatch music, Yamamoto's score was replaced with Shunsuke Kikuchi's score from Dragon Ball Z.

The music for The Final Chapters is composed by Norihito Sumitomo.[34] The opening theme is "Kuu Zen Zetsu Go" (空•前•絶•後) by Takayoshi Tanimoto of Dragon Soul, while the first ending song is "Haikei, Tsuratsusutora" (拝啓、ツラツストラ; "Dear Zarathustra") by Japanese rock band Good Morning America,[35] and the second "Junjō" (純情; "Pure Heart") by Leo Ieiri from episode 112 to 123.[36] The third ending song is "Oh Yeah!!!!!!!" by Czecho No Republic from episode 124 to 136,[37] the fourth "Galaxy" by Kyūso Nekokami from 137 to 146, and the fifth is "Don't Let Me Down" by Gacharic Spin from 147 to 159.[38] The international broadcast features two pieces of theme music. The opening theme, titled "Fight It Out", is performed by rock singer Masatoshi Ono, while the ending theme is "Never Give Up!!!", performed by rhythm and blues vocalist Junear.

Home media

In Japan, Dragon Ball Kai was released on wide-screen on 33 DVDs and fullscreen on a single Blu-ray and eight four-disc Blu-ray sets from September 18, 2009, to August 2, 2011.

Funimation released eight DVD and Blu-ray box sets of Dragon Ball Z Kai from May 18, 2010, to June 5, 2012.[39][40] These sets contain the original Japanese audio track with English subtitles, as well as the uncut version of the English dub, which does not contain any of the edits made for the TV airings. Before the final volume was even published, Funimation began re-releasing the series in four DVD and Blu-ray "season" sets between May 22, 2012, and March 12, 2013.[41][42] Funimation released The Final Chapters in three DVD and Blu-ray volumes from April 25 to June 20, 2017.[43][44][45]

Reception

The first episode of Dragon Ball Kai earned a viewer ratings percentage of 11.3, ahead of One Piece and behind Crayon Shin-chan.[46] Although following episodes had lower ratings, Kai was among the top 10 anime in viewer ratings every week in Japan for most of its run.[47][48] Towards the end of the original run the ratings hovered around 9%-10%.[49][50] Dragon Ball Z Kai premiered on Nicktoons in May 2010 and set the record for the highest-rated premiere in total viewers, and in tweens and boys ages 9–14.[51] Nielsen Mega Manila viewer ratings ranked Dragon Ball Kai with a viewer ratings with a high of 18.4% for October 30 – November 4 in 2012.[52] At the end of April 2013, Dragon Ball Kai would trail just behind One Piece at 14.2%.[53] Broadcasters' Audience Research Board ranked Dragon Ball Z Kai as the second most viewed show in the week it debuted on Kix.[54] On its debut on Vortexx, Dragon Ball Z Kai was the third highest rated show on the Saturday morning block with 841,000 viewers and a 0.5 household rating.[55]

References

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