Oh thank heavens, Dragon Ball Z finally goes to Blu-ray

by Nick Doerr { Jul 29th 2007 at 11:00PM }

Do you like spiky-haired Akira Toriyama male characters yelling at the top of their lungs while their shirts rip off, "powering up" for three episodes before having their attack blocked by another spiky-haired character who howls with power? Yes, Dragon Ball Z is the most intense action show to come out of Japan in the 90's and many people love it more than love itself. Possible? You decide, especially now that you can watch a few of the DBZ films on their new Blu-ray transfer. Yep -- anime is on Blu-ray.

The two films chosen to get the HD treatment involve Broly -- "Broly: The Legendary Super Saiyan" and "Broly: Second Coming" are both coming to Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation. We love anime, but for those who have more eclectic tastes will have to wait a long time until their animated friends come to HD. Seems the big hitters are coming first: DBZ, Full Metal Alchemist, and we anticipate the Miyazaki library will pave the way for other anime curious about HD animation. This may sound silly, but our anime is what seemed to benefit the most from the PS3's DVD upscaler. We're excited to see more on the lovely Blu-ray.

Tags: blu-ray, dragonballz

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Moe @ Jul 29th 2007 11:30PM

Hey Nick I'm on to you son. Where's my darn psfanboys fancast podcast. I didn't get one last week either.

Popfrogs @ Jul 29th 2007 11:58PM

Hahah..DBZ is the worst "anime" ever. Each episode is a build up for the next episode, and nothing ever happens. Terrible.

I'm waiting for some real gems like Grindhouse to hit Blu-Ray but I don't think the Weinsteins are wearing their asses for hats and are claiming a HD-DVD and DVD release only at this point.

Consolcwby @ Jul 30th 2007 12:27AM

@Popfrogs: I thought I was the only person in the world who hates DBZ and loved Grindhouse! (Especially since I never seem to agree much with what you usually say!) =O Freakin' Amazing!

Jldowning @ Jul 30th 2007 12:45AM

DBZ was great... when I was 13... and if you could watch a Season back to back. Not enough content per show to allow for comms.

Although I have a soft spot for any series that follows a multi-generation story. S.S.'s Taken anyone?

naruto007 @ Jul 30th 2007 1:09AM

i think Air TV its on bluray too

JJ @ Jul 30th 2007 1:27AM

WAKE UP, its NOT created for old people. Dragonball was created for KIDS. Im pretty sure some people here likes Transformers or Thundercats but watch it right now the story and dialog is so cheesy. Check out ANY kids anime/cartoon show and you'll find pretty much the same thing.

When youre young DBZ is good, fighting and everything a young kid will love. When your old, its cool to diss dragonball z.

Popfrogs @ Jul 30th 2007 1:53AM

@JJ: I realize what you're saying, but comparing DBZ to Thundercats? Blasphemy. One show has animation, the other has shivering still shots of grunting, sweating, energy-gathering characters. For the entire episode.

I know I'm one of the older guys here but I can still see some value in newer cartoons...but this isn't one of them.

Metin @ Jul 30th 2007 4:39AM

When will 65 nm production Ps3 release?

kingofwale @ Jul 30th 2007 5:24AM

>8. When will 65 nm production Ps3 release?

grossly off topic. and frankly, does it really matter? Is your PS3 dying of RROD? :)

synapse @ Jul 30th 2007 5:53AM

@Popfrogs: all of what you are saying is your "own opinion", dbz shouldnt be compared to thundercats. especialy if you only watched the american version of dbz where 1 episode was re-edited to fill about 5 episodes worth of time. dbz is a classic, like it or not , and also brought a new style of manga animation to the table.

Lesty @ Jul 30th 2007 6:40AM

I don't understand this though how are they going to make this hi-def? are they going to change the aspect ratio from 4:3 to 16:9 to make it 1080p? I thought animation was usually done in 4:3 but i could be wrong can someone explain this to me.

Kspraydad @ Jul 30th 2007 8:13AM

@lesty...

From a Nov 2006 Press Release:

The Dragonball Z series was digitally transferred from the original Japanese film frame by frame at 1080p. During the process, VPT utilized state-of-the-art digital noise reduction units to remove film grain and thousands of instances of dirt, scratches and debris. The transfer was performed by nationally-recognized colorist Franko and supervised by FUNimation.

http://www.press.animeinternational.com/press_desc.php?page=press-release/2006-11-13/dragon-ball-z-digitally-remastered-in-high-definition-and-restored

The1 @ Jul 30th 2007 8:18AM

I wish this site would STOP talking about Blu-Ray movies. I bought my PS3 (which collecting dust) for gaming, please stay focused. If you want to focus on the multi-use capabilities such as Blu-Ray then you need to go to your sister sites (Engadget or EngadgetHD). I WANTS INFO ON GAMES. If you really want to do what is needed; please give status on more games not regurgitated news. Give me some info on the AFRICA game Sony spoke about at E3, 2005.

satan666 @ Jul 30th 2007 12:49PM

ITS OVER 90000000000!!!

Laurens Holst @ Jul 30th 2007 9:27AM

@The1: I wish that guy The1 would STOP posting stupid comments. (But I guess I can’t have it all either!)

Or, er, yeah, you know what, you can just ignore the posts on Blu-ray. It’s that simple!

The Blu-ray drive is an integral part of the PS3 and Sony clearly does not limit their console to games only. This is a ‘PS3 fanboy’ blog, not a ‘PS3 games fanboy’ blog.

The1 @ Jul 30th 2007 9:41AM

Laurens-

Trivial name calling does what but show your lack of intelligence and common sense. Furthermore, the facts remain, the PS3 is and will always be thought of as a gaming console and the majority of the the SO CALLED FANYBOYS would rather game on the PS3 than watch a MOVIE that is not that much better in QUALITY than a regular DVD. And yes, I have 2 HD-TV's, so I can see what the minor difference is. Maybe if Sony had thought about games first and not Movies the PS3 would be fairing better: and we would have more first rate games. I am no FANBOY, I am a realist. I do belong to the PS Gaming Console as well, so do not think I am hating.

NickB @ Jul 30th 2007 1:33PM

At the bottom of the article it says Fullmetal Alchemist seems to be coming to Bluray first too. Did I miss an announcement somewhere? Do you guys have an inside track to Funimation? Or were you just guessing?

Bangbang... @ Jul 30th 2007 12:22PM

Did you just double post under two different names.lol

But as we all know, not caring about blu ray movies is my soap box, but it's good to see other people feel that way as well. Long live gaming, screw movies(except "300", that movie is awesome ;)

Andy @ Jul 30th 2007 12:27PM

I would rather have my favourite Disney cartoons like Recess, Kim Possible and The Weekenders.

Anime is too low quality to even bother on Blu-Ray.

Figboy @ Jul 30th 2007 1:21PM

The 1: see, that's where me and you have a problem.

i didn't buy my PS3 *JUST for gaming. if i wanted just a games console. i would have bought a 360 or Wii.

i love movies almost as much as i love gaming, and after seeing movies in HD, i'm hooked.

while i don't like Dragonball Z, i *DO like to hear news about Blu Ray, since, unlike you, i use all the features of my PS3.

when are people going to get over it, and realize that Blu Ray is built into the PS3's DNA. it'd be like stripping the EE from the PS2, or the XENON from the 360.

my opinion, The 1, is that you wasted your money on a PS3, if you don't want to use what it's offering. you should have got a 360 or Wii instead.

Naaiif @ Jul 30th 2007 1:29PM

Please, please, please put Cowboy Bebop on blu-ray. My crappy VHS quality files on my computer don't do the anime justice.

Dahk @ Jul 30th 2007 1:42PM

I disagree with everyone haha.

I agree with Figboy (thus disagreeing with everyone else) that:
I think of the PS3 as a full-out multimedia station. While it's probably difficult for most people to get the most out of it, especially with converting or streaming video and whatnot, I've been super pleased with what I've been able to get out of it. And Sony has continually brought these kinds of things to the table recently with their firmware updates including upscaling, DLNA streaming, continued support for XMB.

Now I DISAGREE with Figboy in that.
The games line up for this holiday season are immense and DOES give a good fight to the 360 folks. I WANT the PS3 for its games, because frankly I'm not too impressed with what 360 has to offer ME that the PS3 doesn't. Obviously many disagree, but this is MY opinion.

In any case, the westernized dragonball z is nothing compared to what actually happens especially in the Broly movies and whatnot. So this is always a good score for Blu-Ray.

This is separate from SCE anyway, so its not like its taking extra effort from their gaming division. So really, there shouldn't be much complaint.

And about Nick's article itself. If he didn't post it, its not like it would be REPLACED with more relevent news. Its all on here. Just skip the damn article if you don't want Blu-Ray news. I love it.

And... I... NEED... 300 ON BLU-RAY NOW.

gullum @ Jul 30th 2007 5:43PM

Nick, don't listen to the people who can's seem to do anything other than complain. Those of us who enjoy the Blu-Ray features of our machine appreciate your posts on the best HD format.

Srsly moar Bloo Rey pleeze!!!!

Consolcwby @ Jul 30th 2007 7:34PM

Okay first off: I love to watch Blu-Ray movies. in fact, I own 4 of them (soon to be 5!) And I use my PS3 as my primary HD device. I also play games. Alot of them. I have tried my entire PS2 and PS1 collection (over 100 games) and almost all of them work great! (2-3 have video display issues... but that's what the firmware updates are for!) Now, with THAT SAID:

I love anime and animation. Some of my favorite all time movies are: Wizards, Fritz the Cat, Heavy Metal, Akira, Naussica, Macross, Capt. Harlock (My life in Arcadia), Mazinger Z, Speed Racer, Yamato, and Neon Genesis Evangelion, Starzinger, Mazinkaiser (to name a few!) And it is my opinion, as a devoted anime (and Gojira) fan of nearly 35 years, that DBZ is tepid at best. Hell, I liked Sailor Moon and Pokemon better! (Although the Americanized versions of those ARE WORSE than the Americanized version of DBZ...) But, that's MY opinion. I guess Nagai Go-san might've warped my mind when I was a kid, but I find the OLDER children's based anime MUCH more violent and exciting than the newer stuff. But, that's just an old man's opinion. If you love it and own a PS3 - then grab this sucker! If you hate it - don't get it. But it's my right to say "Meh!" to this one. So, Meh! =D

Oh, and as for...
@The1: Quoted about Blu-Ray - **...than watch a MOVIE that is not that much better in QUALITY than a regular DVD. And yes, I have 2 HD-TV's, so I can see what the minor difference is.**
Obviously, you know nothing about high quality HD, or else you have really bad 480p equiptment. (Which is not HD, btw!) If your picture quality on BD is THAT piss poor, than might I suggest selling those two tvs on Ebay and getting a high quality HDTV.

...you can see what the minor difference is! Bah! It's like going from day to night, like going from fuzzy to sharp, like going from opaque to transparent. That's the most ignorant thing I have EVER heard on this site. Even more ignorant than the Xbots. Minor difference... >=S