Dragon Ball Z Kai Parts 7 and 8 Blu-ray Reviews
“Dragon Ball Z Kai” comes to an end with parts 7 and 8.
In part 7 (which contains episodes 78-88), the battle against Cell continues. Other key plots include Goku training Gohan, Cell reaching perfect form, Vegeta and Trunks battling Cell, Dragon Balls, and Cell holding a tournament (what else?) in which he fights Earth’s greatest warriors. The set ends with Goku FINALLY taking on Cell.
Over on part 8 (comprised of episodes 89-98), the battle between Goku and Cell rages on until a drained Goku announces that Gohan will fight Cell in his place. Basically, Goku passes the torch to Gohan (who eventually becomes a Super Saiyan 2). The only problem? Gohan doesn’t want to lose control because he fears his own power. However, in order to save his friends and family he has to unleash his full power as Cell unleashes HIS full power. Will everyone come out alive?
Early on, the Funimation marketing department touted the fact that ‘Kai’ cut out the filler and they certainly were true to their word for the first 6 volumes. With the last few releases, however, that claim seems to be a bit false. The Part 7 set is essentially one long teaser for the climactic battle with Cell. The rest of the episodes just focus on training and waiting around for a tournament. Thankfully, part 8 gives the fans what they want.
As absurd as the power leveling is in the final batch of episodes, it’s a pretty satisfying fond farewell for ‘Kai.’ While the Cell Saga is not my favorite, there’s no denying that it goes out with a bang. On top of that, there are several rewarding character moments with Goku and Trunks, but I won’t spoil those for you.
Summary: It’s a bummer that this is the last ‘Kai’ release as there are still 3 seasons of “Dragon Ball Z” that haven’t been kai-ified (although none of those seasons are exactly high quality DBZ). Still, it would have been interesting to see those episodes remastered and edited. Perhaps that will happen in the near future?
Video/Audio:
The series, which is presented in fullscreen 1080p, looks as superb as the previous ‘Kai’ releases. Despite some jumpy frame issues, the colors are astonishingly clear here (see the power blasts and Saiyan glows for reference). For anyone wondering if ‘Kai’ is worth the upgrade, it truly is just for the video and audio quality alone.
Speaking of the audio quality, these sets contain English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 audio tracks. The English track has always been one of my favs in terms of anime dubs. The voice cast is spot-on and the action rocks the house (literally) with the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. The Japanese track is also a classic, but it lacks the punch action wise (pun intended).
Part 7 Extras:
* Trailers for “Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star Of Milos,” “The Legend Of The Legendary Heroes,” “Fairy Tail,” “.hack//Quantum,” “Sengoku Basara,” “Black Butler,” “Okami-san and Her Seven Companions,” “Jyu-Oh-Sei,” “Dragon Ball Z Kai,” and Funimation.com.
* Textless opening and closing songs.
Part 8 Extras:
* Trailers for “Tales Of Vesperia,” “Kenichi,” “One Piece,” “Fractale,” “Armitage III,” “Hero Tales,” “D.Gray-man,” “Black Cat,” Funimation.com and “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood.”
* Textless opening and closing songs.
* Online Interviews with ADR director/voice actor Chris Sabat and voice actor Sean Schemmel. A solid interview session that gives viewers a look at the English dub process. A nice departure from the commentaries. I’d like to see more of these.
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