DVD Corner

Dragon Ball Z Kai Season 1 Part 4 Blu-ray Review

While the episodes themselves are entertaining, this volume of ‘Kai’ feels like it has filler.

In episodes 40-52, the main event involves Krillin, Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta, and eventually Goku continuing their battle against Frieza. Viewers can also expect to see stories involving Frieza transforming into a fourth form, character deaths (althogh no one REALLY dies in this series), Bulma and Ginyu swapping bodies, Goku creating a Spirit Bomb, Goku turning Super Saiyan, Frieza attacking Namek, and two game changing wishes.

While I have been a big fan of the first three “Dragon Ball Z Kai” Blu-ray sets, I have to say that this is the first time where I felt ‘Kai’ had actual filler. To me, the Frieza battle still goes on for far too long in these new edited down episodes. In fact, by the time episode 52 finishes, the Frieza story is still not completely over! Granted, it’s a minor complaint, but I really do think the arc could have been cut down even more.

On the plus side, there’s plenty of high flying action to grab your attention here. The Frieza battles are downright epic and they become even more exciting when Goku goes Super Saiyan.

Summary: “Dragon Ball Z Kai” is still a fun-filled series, but this is the weakest batch of episodes that have been released so far as it feels like there is some real filler here.

Video/Audio:

The widescreen 1080p picture quality is as good as it gets. The colors just look flat out phenomenal. Some shots look so good that you’d never know the show wasn’t new. The only flaws I noticed were some slight dirt specs and some shakey frame issues.

This set includes English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 audio tracks. The English track is my personal favorite. The dialogue is full of life and the action sounds crystal clear. The Japanese track also impresses and it might be the prefered track for DBZ purists.

Extras:

* Trailers for “Evangelion 2.22,” “Eden Of The East: The King Of Eden,” “Hero Tales,” “Kenichi,” “Yu Yu Hakusho,” “Dragon Ball Z Kai,” “Soul Eater,” “Heroic Age,” “Spice And Wolf,” and “D.Gray-Man”.
* Textless opening an closing songs.

March 13, 2011 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | Dragon Ball Z Kai Part 4 Blu-ray Review, Dragon Ball Z Kai Season 1 Part 4 Blu-ray Review, Frieza, Funimation, Gohan, Goku, Vegeta