Cheap Dragon Ball Z - Season Three - Frieza Saga (DVD) (Daisuke Nishio) Price

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Customer Reviews of Dragon Ball Z - Season Three - Frieza Saga

I think we all know what to expect from these sets by now...
Dragon Ball Z Season Three: Frieza Saga <
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>INTRODUCTION: <
>The Dragon Ball series needs no introduction. Akira Toriyama's legendary franchise has won audiences over all the world round, and remains popular long after the series has ended its initial run. Unfortunately, the series has received poor treatment on DVD - despite uncensored episodes in all their original Japanese glory, fans have been screwed over for a long time - twenty-five bucks for a measly three episodes. And to make things worse, fans got stiffed once again when FUNimation stopped doing the Ultimate Uncut Editions of the early episodes. They aimed to redeem themselves through the Season boxes, but these have met with a mixed reaction. <
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>OVERVIEW: <
>The Dragon Ball Z Season Three Box Set is slated for release on September 18, 2007 (though some retailers will probably get the set early, as they did for the earlier sets.) The set consists of six discs comprising over eight hundred minutes worth of episodes, supposedly remastered in a widescreen, high-definition format from the original master tapes. There are two English audio tracks (the broadcast one and a revised one), as well as the original Japanese with English subtitles. A booklet of character profiles and episodes is included. The set also includes some modest bonus features. <
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>REVIEW: <
>Did FUNimation correct the problems of earlier sets that caused so much debate and disappointment? To put it bluntly, NO. I'm glad to see FUNimation releasing these cheap sets, but it's clear they aren't reading the reviews people are writing for these sets. If something was wrong with an earlier set, it's a problem here too. Read on and see. <
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>-THE GOOD- <
>-FINALLY, DRAGON BALL Z AT A DECENT PRICE! It took FUNimation long enough on this one. The whole "twenty-five bucks for three episodes" thing had gotten on my nerves long enough. My hat goes off to FUNimation for finally following the example of companies who release the American TV show DVD sets, and offering them at a price any fan can afford. <
>-REMASTERED PICTURE QUALITY. As far as what can be seen on the screen goes, the picture has never looked sharper. FUNimation remastered the picture quality from the original film prints, and it does look marginally better than earlier transfers (the whole "widescreen" issue is not forgotten, I'll cover that in the "THE BAD" section of my review.) <
>-THE BOOKLET IS A NICE ADDITION. The character profiles are great, definitely for fans who are just getting into the series and need a more elaborate idea of what the characters are like. It's nice to have a brief summary of what happens in each episode, too, so I can pick out right what episode I want to watch. <
>-SEVERAL HUNDRED MINUTES OF DBZ! For the low price, this is a hell of a deal, and it definitely beats buying the series separately if you haven't already started doing that. <
>-TWO DIFFERENT "PLAY ALL" MODES - STANDARD AND MARATHON. If you absolutely must watch every episode from start to finish, starting/ending credits and all, the standard play all mode works well. But if you just want to watch the episodes and nothing else (uninterrupted by credits and the like), the marathon mode cuts them out so you can watch episodes only. An awesome feature I wish more TV shows on DVD have. <
>-FINALLY, EYECATCHERS! The eyecatchers (which are the "we'll be right back" messages that were shown on TV with the shows before and after the commercial breaks) have FINALLY been included in a FUNimation release of the series! About time! I'd been pissed off for years that FUNimation put these on their original DB and DBGT DVDs and not the Z ones, but they've redeemed themselves. <
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>-THE BAD- <
>-THE "WIDESCREEN" ISSUE. This is the thing that's causing the big controversy about the sets, and rightfully so. I don't care what FUNimation, the remastering crew, or the loyalists may say, THESE SETS ARE CROPPED. END OF DISCUSSION. The featurette on the Season One DVD regarding remastering implies that you're getting more of the picture and a more cinematic experience on the DVD. NO WAY. Look at the comparison screen caps people are posting and you'll see right away what's wrong. After the fiasco earlier sets' cropping sparked, I can't believe FUNimation did it again! Supposedly, this was due to the tops and bottoms of the film frames being damaged, and those sections being tougher to fix, but come on! Any fan of the series will tell you the picture quality on older DVDs was just fine. Why couldn't FUNimation just use the same transfers they used for the Ultimate Uncut Edition DVDs? <
>-MAJOR ISSUES WITH THE SO-CALLED "REVISED" ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRACK. Supposedly they were gonna go back and correct inconsistencies and make a more accurate dub. Yeah, right! It's identical to the "aired" English track, from what I can tell. There's still stupid dialogue galore and plenty of "dimension" talk, which gets annoying. Revised? I think not. Why can FUNimation do great dubs of other animes like Full Metal Alchemist, but their dubs of DBZ are always horrible? <
>- ISSUES WITH THE SUBTITLES. Kakarotto is spelled "Kakarrot" in the subtitles. This is my big issue with the subtitles, since it creates a plot hole come the Fusion era. Saiya-Jin is Saiyan. These are just a few of the annoying issues in the Jap translation. <
>-BAD PACKAGING FOR THE DISCS. Since there are six discs, they overlap, and this gets very annoying at times. Couldn't they have done individual slim-cases instead, like most TV shows on DVD do? <
>-WEAK BONUS FEATURES. Speaks for itself. To be expected. <
>-STILL MISSING THE "NEXT EPISODE" PREVIEWS. Why the hell can't FUNimation put these on a DVD!? They could do it for GT, so why not Z? And don't tell me not having these isn't a big deal. Goku and the other characters narrate them, so they're as vital to the episodes as anything else. It's not uncut without these. <
>-VERY BAD ENDING POINT. The DVD ends when the Z-Fighters return to Earth following the Frieza battle. It does NOT include the Garlic Jr. episodes and the return of Frieza/Trunks debut. In other words, THERE IS NO CLOSURE TO THE FRIEZA STORYLINE IN THIS SET. I would gladly have paid more for a set that wrapped up the story, and I'm sure plenty of fans will agree. <
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>OVERALL: <
>My overall reaction to this set, just like previous releases, is a mixed bag. As much as I like FUNimation offering so many episodes for so cheap a price, the whole "widescreen" issue is just too much of a pain. I'm a firm believer of "if it ain't broke don't fix it", and I wish they'd used the "Ultimate Uncut Edition transfers instead of these travesties. Final verdict? A mixed bag. Only get it if the cropping issue doesn't bother you. <
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>EDITION NOTES: <
>Expect it to be readily availale at your favorite anime retailer come release date. <
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>A FINAL NOTE (READ THIS BEFORE YOU PLAN ON POSTING RESPONSES TO THIS REVIEW!) <
>If you're going to post messages in response to this review, DO NOT post any of the following. <
>-Anything along the lines of "this review is the same as your old ones." NO IT ISN'T. I revise the general review for each season. <
>-Anything along the lines of "Calling Goku Kakarrot instead of Kakarotto isnt a big deal" or "who cares about the next episode previews." Read the review to see why these are important. <
>-Any comments along the lines of "you're being too anal." THAT'S THE POINT OF THIS REVIEW! <
>-Anything along the lines of "the cropping isn't a big deal." <
>-Constructive criticism is welcome if you're going to post reponses, insults and degrading comments are NOT.

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A Perfect Set
For those who have a problem with widescreen, I understand. I hated the idea at first, but doesn't the action of Goku battling Vegeta with Kaio-ken seem to take the idea away and seem unoticeable? It hardly matters. The battle with Freeza will be great Widescreen or no Widescreen. ( Besides, if the colors seem dull, you can change the contrast,color, and brightness of your T.V. or Portable DVD player ( get one of those) and it will be perfect). I am going to find this DVD set the best I've ever had. Guaranteed your going to love it, what's better than the battle against Freeza? The Battle of Freeza in the best Quality possible.

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Best Saga!
Season 3 of Dragonballz features the whole Frieza Saga. Although I love most of the DBZ Sagas, this is my favorite saga out of all the others. <
>I remember I alway wanted to get this saga but it was 10 tapes or DVD'S and the cost was around $80-$100, and I could not afford that. But thanks to the new DBZ season sets I could get this for 30 bucks instead. <
>I'm going to buy this the first day it comes out.