To convert the 4:3 animation to 16:9 widescreen, some shots were selectively cropped while others feature new hand drawn portions an uncropped 4:3 version was made available on home video and international releases for the first 98 episodes. This reduced visible damage to the original animation. As most of the series' sketches and animation cels had been discarded since the final episode of Dragon Ball Z in 1996, new frames were produced by digitally tracing over still frames from existing footage and filling them with softer colors. Kai features remastered high definition picture, sound, and special effects as well as a re-recorded voice track by most of the original cast. A follow-up series, which adapts the remaining story arcs from the original manga, was aired in Japan from April 6, 2014, to June 28, 2015. Produced by Toei Animation, the series was originally broadcast in Japan on Fuji TV from Ap to March 27, 2011.

For more background on this announcement and music shift, please view our “ Kenji Yamamoto Retrospective” feature.įor more detailed information on the production and history of Dragon Ball Kai, be sure to visit our “ Episode Guide”.Japanese promotional poster for Dragon Ball Z Kaiĭragon Ball Z Kai (known in Japan as Dragon Ball Kai) is a revised version of the anime series Dragon Ball Z, produced in commemoration of its 20th and 25th anniversaries. As listed on this page, FUNimation will be releasing the series under the title of Dragon Ball Z Kai, which adds a “Z” that is not present in its Japanese incarnation.Īfter the announcement of possible music composition infringement in Japan by Toei, FUNimation switched to the Shunsuke Kikuchi replacement score for “Kai” starting with the fifth volume onward.

Through at least the fourth volume, Kenji Yamamoto’s musical score was initially preserved in both the Japanese and English language tracks, the first time since the original TV series that FUNimation has kept the original musical score in the English track as the exclusive option. It has been stated that the newly-produced English dub will be more faithful to the original version, and several cast members have had their roles replaced. In early February 2010, FUNimation’s then-parent company (Navarre) revealed the license acquisition of Dragon Ball Kai during a quarterly earnings conference call, and was confirmed by FUNimation later that same day.įUNimation representatives stated that there would be “consistent” aspect ratios - both the DVD and Blu-ray released are indeed the full-frame 4:3 aspect ratio (slightly different from the Japanese release, where the DVD was a zoomed-in and cropped 16:9 aspect ratio).

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