Blair Loveday
Dragon Ball Z is truly one of the anime epics with almost 300 episodes, so as with many other long time series like Naruto, it is terrifying for a newbie to even consider jumping into.
Fortunately Dragon Ball Z did a thing to help people enjoy this amazing series, they cut a lot of the fat in a new series called Dragon Ball Z Kai down to…. well still 167 episodes.
Watching Dragon Ball Z Kai was interesting given I haven’t watched the original series in years. There is a lot I forgot and a lot I remembered that the show has cut. So despite knowing a lot of the story beats there are a lot of details that were either new, or I completely forgot which made the watch good.
Old viewers who haven’t encountered Dragon Ball Z Kai yet will likely have a mixed set of emotions. Anytime fake Namek isn’t involved I am certainly a happier person.
I swear fake Namek replayed more than any other stretch of episodes on TV2 back in the days, and I hated it more every time it replayed. But there was some dumb filler that I enjoyed like Goku and Piccolo getting their drivers licences which I definitely missed. Though on the scale of things, if I have to miss out on the driving test to remove any time with Fake Namek, I am happy to make that sacrifice.
For new viewers this is certainly an easier way to watch the series as 100ish episodes is a significant amount of time to cut out. The main story beats we loved are there, like seeing Super Saiyan for the first time, the epic battles, Gohan becoming the best character then the lamest one, and Saiyan ape battles.
It’s a cracking watch and well worth it for newbies to the series. Sure they spent time cutting some of the things like blood, but it wasn’t an overly graphic show in the first place so that’s hardly why you are watching.
The DVD collection itself isn’t overly built with special features and the sort. This is because it is an absolute blitz of discs filled with Dragon Ball Z Kai episodes. Seriously with this much content, do you need more? If so I would recommend watching Dragon Ball Z as there is even more content there, though you will have to watch fake Namek.
Seriously guys, I hate Fake Namek.
If you are wanting to watch Dragon Ball Z for the first time, or revisit it many years later, I highly recommend checking out this DVD collection. It has the important bits of the show and is a lot easier to watch. With those saved 100 episodes worth of time you can check out some more shows.
Can I recommend The Promised Neverland? It is good.
