A sneak peek at an upcoming Disney Retrospective
Thursday, February 23, 2017
Friday, February 10, 2017
Dragonball Z vs. Dragonball Z Kai!
As is the case with many of my previous opinions, I understand this will be an unpopular one. However, I would like to note that one of my favorite anime series is Dragonball Z. The only aspect of the series I do not enjoy is the sluggish pacing and obscene amounts of filler material. I do not have anything against the filler material in the series, as one of my favorite episodes is a filler (Memories of Gohan). However, there are moments where I wish to watch certain moments of Dragonball Z without groaning over how long the battles are. The remaster/reboot known as Dragonball Z Kai thankfully improves upon the pacing as well as removing ninety percent of filler material. The remastered version of the series is edited for the purpose of being more faithful to Akira Toriyama's original manga. As an added bonus, a majority of the English and Japanese cast reprise their roles such as Masako Nozawa and Sean Schemmel as Son Goku.
As a child, I would collect and read various volumes of the manga and I actually thought they were better than the anime. Even at the age of twelve, I wanted a reboot of the anime that handled the source material more faithfully like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. My wish was finally granted on April 5th of 2009. I was watching my younger brother who was five years old at the time. (He is thirteen at the time of this post being written, hey little brother!) After seeing the premiere episode, I was hooked! They brilliantly handled the combination of Z's first two episodes, and cut out unnecessary scenes such as Gohan being lost in the forest. I understand those scenes in the first episode were to introduce Gohan to the casual viewer. However, the manga and Kai handled his introduction perfectly.
Kai also brings the casual viewer up to the current point by summarizing the tale of Dragonball's protagonist. The first scene of the series shows the end of Planet Vegeta (using remastered footage from Bardock: The Father of Goku) and the beginning of the tale of Son Goku (using remastered footage from the original Dragonball series).
The Saiyan Invasion story arc has also been thankfully reduced from 36 episodes to 16. This is due to the removal of unnecessary filler episodes in order to retain accuracy to the manga. The filler episodes in the original version destroyed the pacing as a result to create ample spacing between the anime and manga. As a result, many iconic battles would last an excessive amount of episodes. In Kai, many of these battles have been significantly reduced to a reasonable amount. For example, the battle between Goku and Vegeta spans three episodes; in the original, the same battle spanned twice as long at six episodes. While I believe Kai is the better adaptation of Dragonball Z, it does have a flaw that will hinder the viewing experience.
Some scenes have been re-animated from the original using digital animation traced over the original. However, these re-drawn portions do not blend in with the original scene; causing moments where the animation looks poorly traced over.
Overall, the decision between Z and Kai is entirely up to the viewer. If one is wanting a quick summation of Dragonball Z with little to no filler, then Kai would be the best viewing option. If not, then one would still enjoy the original iteration.
As a child, I would collect and read various volumes of the manga and I actually thought they were better than the anime. Even at the age of twelve, I wanted a reboot of the anime that handled the source material more faithfully like Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. My wish was finally granted on April 5th of 2009. I was watching my younger brother who was five years old at the time. (He is thirteen at the time of this post being written, hey little brother!) After seeing the premiere episode, I was hooked! They brilliantly handled the combination of Z's first two episodes, and cut out unnecessary scenes such as Gohan being lost in the forest. I understand those scenes in the first episode were to introduce Gohan to the casual viewer. However, the manga and Kai handled his introduction perfectly.
Kai also brings the casual viewer up to the current point by summarizing the tale of Dragonball's protagonist. The first scene of the series shows the end of Planet Vegeta (using remastered footage from Bardock: The Father of Goku) and the beginning of the tale of Son Goku (using remastered footage from the original Dragonball series).
The Saiyan Invasion story arc has also been thankfully reduced from 36 episodes to 16. This is due to the removal of unnecessary filler episodes in order to retain accuracy to the manga. The filler episodes in the original version destroyed the pacing as a result to create ample spacing between the anime and manga. As a result, many iconic battles would last an excessive amount of episodes. In Kai, many of these battles have been significantly reduced to a reasonable amount. For example, the battle between Goku and Vegeta spans three episodes; in the original, the same battle spanned twice as long at six episodes. While I believe Kai is the better adaptation of Dragonball Z, it does have a flaw that will hinder the viewing experience.
Some scenes have been re-animated from the original using digital animation traced over the original. However, these re-drawn portions do not blend in with the original scene; causing moments where the animation looks poorly traced over.
Overall, the decision between Z and Kai is entirely up to the viewer. If one is wanting a quick summation of Dragonball Z with little to no filler, then Kai would be the best viewing option. If not, then one would still enjoy the original iteration.
Friday, February 3, 2017
"Spinoff" Art Blog!
Good Evening,
For a while, I have wanted to showcase my artwork. However, I feel it would not fit the purpose of Reviews and Retrospectives if I were to showcase my work on here. To alleviate the problem, I have created an art blog, http://ausartwork.reviewsandretrospectives.com/. Feel free to follow this blog for future updates.
For a while, I have wanted to showcase my artwork. However, I feel it would not fit the purpose of Reviews and Retrospectives if I were to showcase my work on here. To alleviate the problem, I have created an art blog, http://ausartwork.reviewsandretrospectives.com/. Feel free to follow this blog for future updates.
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