Dragon Ball Z-3.8: Imperfect Cell-Encounter (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Main Menu Audio & Animation Trailer-Imperfect Cell (0:50) Biographies-Character-(3) Trailer-History Of Trunks Featurette-Web Promo (0:14)
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	61:04 (Case: 60)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Daisuke Nishio
Studio Distributor	Toei Animation Madman Entertainment	Starring	Sean Schemmel Christopher Sabat
Case	DV-4
RPI	$24.95	Music	Shuusuke Kikuchi Chiho Kikuchi Takeshi Ike

    Seized With Fear (Episode 125): After being informed about the other time capsule; Buruma, Trunks and Gohan meet at the site of the machine. Trunks comes to realise that this is the same model he travelled in time in, even down to the inscription from Buruma in the future, yet it is not the one "he" was in. Someone else has come from the future. They soon find the outer shell of whatever it is, and also discover that the time capsule has been there for four years, meaning this thing (*hint* Cell *hint*) must have developed, but into what?

    The Reunion (Episode 126): Kami is still deciding whether to merge with Piccolo but his mind is made up when he watches the whole of Gingertown be decimated by Cell, who literally sucks the inhabitants dry to increase his power. With the decision made, Kami fuses with Piccolo making him a Super Namek (Namek-jin). With his new-found strength, Piccolo proceeds to fly to Gingertown to battle Cell.

    Borrowed Powers (Episode 127): The other Z fighters are having strange feelings, sensing the Ki of people that aren't actually there (Frieza for example). Where is this energy coming from? Cell. He has been created using the cells of the world's greatest fighters (hence the name). Piccolo arrives to fight him unaware of this fact and the implications of it. Cell fires a Makankosappo at Piccolo, which is Piccolo's own attack. Fending it off, Piccolo is surprised at what the monster is capable of. The episode ends as Cell is charging a Kamehameha, one of Goku's attacks.

    Finally we are getting into the deep end of this saga. The only problem is that there is still so much to go, that by the time the whole series is on DVD (roughly 500 episodes), there will be around one hundred and sixty episode discs!

Video

    The episodes of Dragonball Z present on this disc are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and are not 16x9 enhanced. From what I can decipher, all of Dragonball Z is presented at 1.33:1, except for some of the movies which were released theatrically and therefore were presented in a wider aspect ratio.

    This disc, along with all of the others in the series, is adequately presented visually, although it never reaches the same level of detail that something like The Iron Giant does. Unlike DBZ 3.7, which lacked in clarity as a result of lacking source materials, this disc is back to to the highest standards that the ageing episodes can provide. By no means stunning, the disc does show sufficient detail in its lines and edges, although at times it is too sharp, creating stair effects on the outlines of characters. Shadow detail was basically non-existent as all of the episodes take place during the day, although the shadows caused by smoke did seamlessly integrate into the rest of the action, implying shadow detail was accurately represented.

    Colour was excellent.

    Problems with the transfer not associated with age and cel condition were few and far between. As stated above, outlines of the characters and main frame features exhibited a staircase artefact. No major examples of aliasing were shown. Grain and marks on the print were as per usual, such as at 39:03 and during the opening sequence.

Audio

    There is only one soundtrack on this disc, that being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 effort.

    When English dialogue has only been directly recorded a year or so ago, what else can we expect but excellence in clarity and discernability?

    Besides the new inclusion of Cell's theme music, nothing too spectacular is to be noted in this area.

    Imaging effects were again at a bare minimum. This is somewhat disappointing considering that the last episode is quite action-packed. Overall, the mix was localized in the centre of the soundfield, creating a boring mix to this reviewer's way of thinking.

Menu

Trailer-Imperfect Cell (0:50)

Biographies-Character (3)

Trailer-History Of Trunks (1:07)

Featurette-Web Promo (:14)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall