Dragon Ball Z Uncut: Namek Saga 2: Box Set (1990) |
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Dragon Ball Z Uncut: Namek Saga 2: Box Set (1990) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Anime |
Featurette-Clean Opening and Closing Trailer-Bonus Trailers Booklet-24-page booklet with episode summaries / character |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1990 | ||
| Running Time | 875 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper |
No/No Multi Disc Set (6) |
Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Daisuke Nishio |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Madman Entertainment |
Starring | None Given |
| Case | Amaray Variant | ||
| RPI | $59.95 | Music | None Given |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s) Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | English | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
As I discussed in the first Dragon Ball Z box review, this aspect ratio is very controversial - to reiterate, the original anime was broadcast in 1.33:1, not widescreen. In creating this new version of the show for release, FUNimation went through a lengthy expensive remastering process in which the Japanese masters were converted to digital 1080p video and then cleaned up and cropped to create the transfer seen here, removing a part of the top and bottom and re-adding footage to the sides to create widescreen.
As with the first set, this is a solid transfer; although there are still a lot of film artefacts in these releases, there is very little grain and the colours themselves are bright and powerful. The widescreen looks very good on a HD set, giving the show a more cinematic feel (which is particularly nifty during the large-scale epic fight sequences), but occasionally feels a bit off when it is clear that the cinematography is wrong for this aspect ratio, like when the tops of heads are cut off. This is, fortunately, rare, and overall I am satisfied with the look of this set. There are some other minor issues, such as small lines appearing briefly due to the process used to clean up the sets, but this is rare and isn't going to drag anyone out of the viewing experience.
This is an unusual case, I feel, in that reaction to the set will ultimately come down to personal opinion rather than actual quality - although I am well aware that there are cleaner releases of the series available elsewhere, the set does look very good like this. Whether or not you will take to this is really personal preference, and the FUNimation site has plenty of previews showing off the new footage vs. the old footage to help you make up your mind.
I wasn't impressed with the English subtitles in the first set, but fortunately they're much better here, capturing the tone and clarity of the original Japanese dialogue accurately. Watching with the English subtitles and Japanese audio really draws attention to the watered-down translation that, although reasonably accurate to the source, is very child-like and draws away from the general menace and cruelty of many of the characters.| Sharpness |  |
| Shadow Detail | |
| Colour | |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall |  |
Let's go over this bit by bit - to begin with, this is the very best English audio of the series that has been released. The 5.1 sound is very atmospheric, utilizing the full surround in the majority of scenes and then going crazy with the subwoofer during the fights and explosions (of which there are many). Fans who grew up with the original FUNimation dub will be pleased that all the original voice actors are here, and a lot of the dialogue has been redubbed to fit the newly uncensored cut of the show, and the addition of the Japanese soundtrack gives the show a more pure form. The mix is very well done, with all the lines syncing and everything perfectly audible.
The second soundtrack is the original FUNimation dubbing, complete with the awful soundtrack that the show was first broadcast in English with. For completion sake, it's nice to have it here, and it's a pretty decent stereo mix, but it pales in both quality and depth to the new 5.1 soundtrack. Fans who listen to the 5.1 with the far superior Japanese music will never ever want to go back to this.
Finally we have the Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, which is a vast improvement on the first set - there's more depth, detail and clarity here than was in the first box, with the characters and battles much more audible. Although not as engaging or atmospheric as the English 5.1 (switching between the two will blow you away) this makes the show much more fun to watch for its original soundtrack, especially if you've already seen this saga before in English.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use | |
| Subwoofer | |
| Overall | |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The video and audio are both controversial, due to the big changes converting the original 1.33:1 to widescreen, and the quality of the different audio choices - it is entirely personal preference as to how fans will feel about these.
There are pitifully few extras.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras |  |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Sony Playstation 3 (HDMI 1.3) with Upscaling, using Component output |
| Display | Philips 47PFL9732D 47-inch LCD . Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
| Audio Decoder | Logitech 5500 THX. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). |
| Amplification | Logitech 5500 THX |
| Speakers | Logitech 5500 THX |