DragonBall

Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Box One
$79.98
first off let me say im very pleased with the Dragon Box its a real treat finally seeing DBZ in its original uncut form.. the box is truly a very well put together piece of art, from the front cover of goku down to the small facts found in the dragon box about characters. funimation has really hit the gold mine with this feature set, and finally pleased many long time DBZ fans. im a huge fan of dbz, but like many casual fans in the US, i grew up on the cut american dub and loved every min off it, and i do own all seasons of the remastered bricks.. ive become so used to the funi score that anything else sounds weird and outta place. BUT, i must say watching dbz with the japanese score is very pleasing and gives me a whole new outtake on the series. Now as i mentioned early in this review i do own the remastered bricks and their 16:9 ratio and image has spoiled me somewhat. so when i had a chance to watch the box on a SD TV, the grain seen on the video left a sour taste in my mouth and i was somewhat put off by what i was seeing .. SD TV does this box no justice, it must be seen on a HDTV with a dvd player that can upscale. i have a ps3 and with its upscale and image filters, the image is 100% better in 1080p.. With 5.1 surround sound i can now enjoy DBZ the way it was meant to be seen without cropping and over saturation its sure is a beauty.. i look forward to future sets from funimation and the Dragon Box, it truly is OVER 9000!! on my awesome scale

Dragonball Z: Burst Limit
$29.99
Graphics and style wise this game takes everything good about the PS2 Budokai games and takes them to the next level. The combat is very fun.
The problem comes in the removal of the world tournament. Once you beat the story mode there just really isn't much to do.

Dragon Ball: Season Two
$49.98
It's the series that started it all... "Dragon Ball". Originally, a manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama for "Shonen Jump", the manga series lasted from 1984 through 1995 and since the manga series has produced several anime series which include "Dragon Ball", "Dragon Ball Z", "Dragon Ball GT" and currently in Japan, a new HD broadcasting of "Dragon Ball Kai" and in 2009, an American live action film titled "Dragonball Evolution" was released worldwide.

"Dragon Ball" is the first arc of the series which aired in Japan from 1986 through 1989 and lasted for 153 episodes. The series was released by Harmony Gold USA in the late 80's and then by FUNimation Entertainment in 1995 and uncut episodes were released on DVD in 2003.

And now the episodes have been released in the USA with the awesome first season of "Dragon Ball" and now the second season is now released for the first time uncut, remastered and digitally restored.

"Dragon Ball" focuses on Son Goku, a boy who is not familiar with any humans but begins to make new friends and fight for them. As the first volume featured the adventures of Goku, Bulma, Krilin, Oolong, Yamcha, Pilar looking for the dragon balls, the second season of "Dragon Ball" are more focused on Goku.

Goku is now looking for his grandfather's dragon balls (and others if he comes across them) but as Emperor Pilaf and his group are searching for them, the evil Red Ribbon Army is also pursuing them and unlike Emperor Pilaf and his crew, the Red Ribbon Army will not hesitate to kill anyone.

So, in this latest season, young Goku is in the fight of his life as he encounters Colonel Silver, more Red Ribbon Army generals who are intent in destroying anything and anyone that gets in their way, androids and the biggest nemesis Goku has faced so far....Mercenary Tao!

"Dragon Ball - Season Two" features a total of 30 episodes on five DVD's. Here is a spoiler-less summary of each episode:

DISC 1:

* EPISODE 32 - The Flying Fortress - Vanished! - Emperor Pilaf escapes with a dragon ball and Goku tries to get it back.
* EPISODE 33 - The Legend of a Dragon - Colonel Silver tracks a dragon ball to Pilaf, meanwhile Master Roshi tells Krillin and Launch about the origin of the dragon balls.
* EPISODE 34 - Cruel General Red - Goku vs. Colonel Silver.
* EPISODE 35 - Cold Reception - Goku takes on the Red Ribbon Army.
* EPISODE 36 - Major Metallitron - Goku vs. Major Metallitron.
* EPISODE 37 - Ninja Murasaki is Coming! - Goku is now on the fourth level of muscle tower and encounters Murasaki.
* EPISODE 38 - Five Murasakis - Goku vs. five Murasaki's.

DISC 2:

* EPISODE 39 - Mysterious Android No. 8 - Goku meets an android that is against violence.
* EPISODE 40 - Horrifying Buyon - Goku vs. a monster that is impervious to Goku's punches. How can Goku beat him?
* EPISODE 41 - The Fall of Muscle Tower - Goku vs. General White
* EPISODE 42 - The Secret of Dr. Flappe - Android 8 has a bomb inside him and only Dr. Flappe can remove it.
* EPISODE 43 - A Trip to the City - A friend of Goku makes a return.
* EPISODE 44 - Master Thief, Hasky - The Red Army hires a master thief to track down the dragon balls.
* EPISODE 45 - Danger in the Air - Master thief Hasky tries to steal Goku's dragon balls.

DISC 3:

* EPISODE 46 - Bulma's Bad Day - Bulma and Goku try to find a dragon ball hidden underneath the waves near Turtle Island.
* EPISODE 47 - Kame House - Found! - Genral Blue tries to find Master Roshi's house in Turtle Island.
* EPISODE 48 - Deep Blue Sea - The Red Ribbon Army try to invade Turtle Island.
* EPISODE 49 - Roshi Surprise - The Red Ribbon Army try to take on Master Roshi.
* EPISODE 50 - The Trap is Sprung - Goku and his friends get caught in booby traps.
* EPISODE 51 - Beware of Robot - Goku and Krillin fight against a pirate android.
* EPISODE 52 - The Pirate Treasure - General Blue vs. Krillin.

DISC 4:

* EPISODE 53 - Blue, Black and Blue - Goku vs. General Blue
* EPISODE 54 - Escape from Pirate Cave - Goku uses a trick to help him and his friends escape the Pirate Cave.
* EPISODE 55 - Penguin Village - Goku and General Blue compete for the dragon balls.
* EPISODE 56 - Strange Visitor - Goku chases after General Blue and crashes into the Penguin Village and meets a girl named Arale.
* EPISODE 57 - Arale vs. Blue - General Blue kidnaps Arale.
* EPISODE 58 - The Land of Korin - Goku saves a boy from Captain Yellow and returns him back to his father and learns about the tower of Korin.

DISC 5:

* EPISODE 59 - The Notorious Mercenary - Commander Red hires services of Mercenary Tao to kill Goku.
* EPISODE 60 - Tao Attacks! - Goku vs. Mercenary Tao
* EPISODE 61 - Korin Tower - Goku makes an attempt to climb the Korin Tower

VIDEO & AUDIO:

When I first saw "Dragon Ball", it was probably back in 1992 and the quality of this raw Japanese video was so rough and hard to watch, it was just bad. Several years later, I was able to catch the first few episodes that aired on television but the problem was that the schedule was inconsistent and our television network was quite bad.

So, it is great to see this uncut, remastered and digitally restored version on DVD. Presented in its original format of 4:3, one thing I noticed is how good this anime series looked on DVD. The series is nearly 25 years old and just watching it, FUNimation Entertainment did a great job in bringing this series out and making it look very good with only a hint of dust particles and scratches but for the most part, this remastered version definitely looked very good on DVD.

As for the audio, similar to the recent FUNimation Entertainment "Dragon Ball Z" and "Dragon Ball GT" releases, the English voice track with original Japanese music comes in 5.1 Surround, while the Japanese voice track is in its original Japanese mono. I watched both English and Japanese and of course, there are some changes in the English dialogue (ie. Master Roshi and in the Japanese track, Kamesama Sennen) and grew up watching the original Japanese version but for the most part, I have enjoyed the "Dragon Ball Z" and "Dragon Ball GT" dubwork and similar to those two series, I found th English dubwork for "Dragon Ball" to be quite solid. Dialogue is clear and understandable and for audio settings, for both audio tracks, I found the best setting for me was to select on my receiver "Stereo on all Channels".

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Dragon Ball - Season Two" comes with the textless opening and closing theme songs and FUNimation Entertainment trailers.

JUDGMENT CALL:

Another action packed volume of "Dragon Ball" and this time around, the battles become more prevalent as Goku takes on the Red Ribbon Army and Mercenary Tao. But my favorite episodes feature characters such as Android 8 and Arale but things are definitely getting more interesting with the arrival of Mercenary Tao and an opponent that actually is much more powerful than Goku (at that moment). Also, to watch this series once again, not only was it a nostalgic time for me, it was just great to see the episodes and watching how fun, humorous and action-packed they were. Although, "Dragon Ball" is not as intense as "Dragon Ball Z", the series still manages to capture a lot of action. Bare in mind that Goku is a young boy in this series but even so, he still has enormous power including his recently learned "kamehameha".

For parents wondering about the TV 14 rating, although the first volume featured some risque situations (ie. Goku putting his hand on crotches to see if they are male or female), if anything, there's nothing like that in this second volume although there is much more violence in this volume and characters are getting killed off.

As for the DVD, as mentioned, this is the best I have seen "Dragon Ball" look and 3o episodes for the first volume is pretty much a bargain for what it's sold for. Granted, I wish there were some special features included outside of textless theme songs but overall, you're getting your money's worth with these box set releases.

Granted, if I had to find a negative and wanted to be nitpicky, I can easily complain that the fifth disc only contains three episodes and that the Japanese audio track was not in Dolby Digital 5.1 but truthfully, 30 episodes is still plentiful and for purists, you do get the Japanese audio track in its original mono format and its in 4:3 and not made to be widescreen. Really, there is nothing I can really complain about this release. It's a very solid release that is affordable and just worth it!

Overall, "Dragon Ball - Season Two" is another wonderful release from FUNimation Entertainment. Fans of any of the "Dragon Ball" series will definitely want to make sure this one is in their collection. Definitely recommended!

DragonBall: Ultimate Edition
$14.95
After watching the 2009 Dragonball movie and thought wow that was the worst thing I've ever saw. I watch the 1989 movie. It may be bad cheesy and horribley done....but it was 20 years previously. 1989 had ET quality movies or Gremilins. I watched this movie and laughed out loud (LOL) and almost rolled on the floor while laughing (ROFL). The one thing this movie did Kao Ken x10 better then the 2009 Dragonball movie was actually follow the story line of the First Season of Dragonball.

Given it didn't follow it exact it was still along the lines I could tell who the charecters were supposed to be. Hollywood did it and did not touch it close other than the names.