Can we talk about how DBZ Kai actually holds up better than the original?

I always said the original Dragon Ball Z with the filler and Bruce Faulconer score was the only way to watch it. Then I visited my buddy's place last month and he had Kai playing on his TV. I sat through the whole Frieza arc in like 12 episodes instead of 40. The pacing is just way tighter. No staring contests or driving around Namek for 3 episodes straight. I still miss the old music but the voice acting fixes and cutting out the padding actually made me enjoy the story more. Has anyone else gone back and changed their mind on which version is better?

3 comments

3 Comments

perez.patricia16d ago

Did you catch that episode of the Team Four Star podcast where they talked about this? They made a good point about how Kai's script is way closer to the original manga's dialogue, which fixes a lot of the weird translation errors from the old dub.

terrybennett16d ago

Three Kais in and I still mispronounce half the names, so yeah the script can only help me so much.

grace_knight7016d ago

Honestly the Team Four Star guys hit on something real about the script accuracy. Watching Kai made me realize how much of the original dub just made up lines that changed character personalities. Tbh once I got used to the new voices, the cleaner translation actually made Vegeta way more consistent as a character.