Early DVD Review: World Tournament - Junior Division
The Super Saiya-jin Jedi
I don't know why, exactly, but for some reason, the Electronics
Boutique at the local mall got these discs in at least a week ahead of
time... they also had the second uncut Dragon Ball series tape, but
what's been said of the first one also goes for the second. Original
music, good dialogue, etc., etc. But... on to the topic at hand.
Let's see... the disc uses the same "FBI Warning" that the new DB tapes
and the Freeza DVDs have. The menu itself is not in the style of the
Freeza discs, but is animated, and is kind of a throwback to the Trunks
ones... not bad though. It also contains dialogue and shouting between
Chibi-Trunks and Goten. Not obnoxious, but loud. It caught me off-
guard.
When I watched the disc, I used the Japanese audio, and then spot-
checked it in English. For the Japanese version, everything goes
smoothly. It starts out with "We Gotta Power," translated superbly by
DB fan and AFD regular Steve "Daimao" Simmons. The translations of
the subtitles are great, as usual, and there are no errors to speak of.
However, the font used is like the one on the Bardock, Mystical
Adventure, and Androids DVDs. It's okay, but the Freeza one looked
better.
The video on this disc is clean, and I only noticed several areas of minor
artifacting. If only Toei kept their masters in better condition... the
scratches and dirt make it kind of annoying, especially on a DVD.
Though they still use separate video tracks for the themes and recaps,
the transition between them is much smoother. I barely even noticed
it, because I wasn't paying attention, so I backtracked to make sure. It
took less than a second. Spiffy. Since the DVDs are uncut, there are
no censors, and we see all of the various "Satan"s in their full glory.
The English version doesn't seem to have the crowd shouting his name,
but everyone calls him Mr. Satan. No "Hercule" here.
...But that's not all, folks!! Yessiree, just as the great prophet Jon Allen
predicted on Daizenshuu EX, THIS DISC HAS EYECATCHES!!!!!! They're
short little pieces that happen about halfway into each episode. The
first shows Gohan and Videl driving, until Goten lifts the car up. The
second one shows Goku standing, and Kaio-sama drives into him with his
car. The music is various instrumentals of "We Gotta Power." The
music used for them in the dub is quite amusing, as well. Well, this is
what we all wanted... now what do we do?
Well, anyways... the humor in these episodes is priceless (although at
times it seems to drag on... and on...). I liked the filler movie that
showed what supposedly happened to Cell... but actually, I think the
English version made it funnier. You see, they took the Toei-logo
parody (which no dub fan would get unless they have the tapes/DVDs of
movies 1, 2, or 3) and dubbed it over as "This presentation brought to
you by waves and rocks!" <singing>"Waves and Rocks!"</singing>
And, instead of it being just a parody of the actual events in the
timeline, they make it like a very badly-dubbed anime, kinda like Speed
Racer or something. Almost like they're making fun of themselves, in a
distant sort of way...
Other than the movie-thing, this DVD is more action... but sadly, the
dub screwed up Goten's attack. Or rather... they "un-screwed" it.
Instead of him messing it up as "Kame-Kame-Ha," and having Trunks
berate him for it, he says it correctly, with Trunks hastily replying,
"Wait! Do you know how to control it?" Yep... the humor falls flat on its
face. Most of the English dialogue is not a direct translation, but it
usually gets the point across. Not always, though.
Let's see...Music: For the Japanese, it's fine, and audible. Though the
Japanese is mono, and a little fuzzy, it's clear enough to hear decently.
Both "We Gotta Power" and "Bokutachi wa Tenshi Datta" are faithfully
translated by Steve Simmons, which is a plus. I didn't go anywhere near
the dub themes. The English version's music is... well, okay. It's
probably the best Faulconer's ever done, but if you've heard the
Japanese music, you won't want to bother hearing it...the dub music is
mediocre, but at least now it's consistantly so. I was really tired of it
being just plain bad, with occasional spurts of okay-ness.
And... there's no extras, save a bunch of commercials that most of us
have already seen. Isn't there anything wortwhile they can give us?
I think that pretty much covers it. I'm pretty tired, and I'm not sure if
what I'm writing makes any sense right now. With that, I bid you all
farewell... good night, and have a pleasant tomorrow.
--The Super Saiya-jin Jedi. Did I mention I was watching a rerun of
Saturday Night Live? I thought not. Need... sleep.....
VegettoEX
make :P.
- VegettoEX
http://vegex.pokeball.net