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Rating:  -
Dragon Ball Z is the one greatest anime series ever created. With its action-packed universe and compelling storylines, Akira Toriyama's magnum opus has never failed to please. This is the latest season set FUNimation has released of the series.
This set picks up where the last one left off. The Z-Fighters pursue the strange warriors from the World Tournament to a remote location - and meet up with the new threat at hand. Babidi, an evil wizard, is trying to get energy so he can release Majin Buu, the ultimate evil. Our heroes have no trouble taking out Babidi's henchmen, but things take a turn for the worst when the evil wizard possesses Vegeta, restoring him to his former evil self. It isn't long before the strange new monster is released, and innocent as this new monster looks, he is going to be the Z-Fighters' greatest challenge.
The DVD set is divided amongst six discs, and contains the complete Babidi Saga, and the first half of the Buu Saga. The picture has been subjected to digital noise reduction, and the set includes a booklet of character profiles and episode listings.
Obviously, if you're new to Dragon Ball Z, you'll want to start with the Season One box set, but if you're already a fan, you'll enjoy these episodes. After the disappointing Saiyaman and World Tournament episodes, this is where things finally start to pick up. We get to see some great battles, and finally get to see the rematch of the century - Goku vs. Vegeta! The Majin Buu Saga (including what is featured in the next set) drags on far too long, but there are a ton of great fights and moments of brilliance. No fan of DBZ will want to be without these episodes.
One of my personal favorite features of the set is the Marathon feature. FUNimation includes a feature in these sets that allows you to view all of the episodes on each disc from start to end with no interruptions from intros/outros/recaps/etc. This is an extremely handy feature I wish more TV shows on DVD had.
Like earlier Dragon Ball Z season sets, the picture has been cropped at the top and bottom (this was done due to excessive grain and damage to the original source), and it has been subjected to the digital noise reduction process. Obviously a lot of fans, myself included, were disappointed to see the picture get cropped. While the digital noise reduction doesn't do as thorough a job cleaning up the image as you'd hope, it IS the best these episodes have ever looked. In other words, it's a "give and take" scenario. You lose some of the picture you could see on earlier full-frame DVDs, but on the good side, you gain some picture on the sides, and the image quality is superior to all earlier DVD releases.
Sound quality is similar to the earlier sets. English audio quality is fantastic, but the dub is still translated poorly and the voice cast is hit and miss. On the other hand, the Japanese audio quality is poor, showing its age, but it does feature a well-translated subtitle track from Steven J. Simmons that lets you experience the series as originally intended.
Additionally, like the earlier sets, you have the option of watching the English voice cast played against the original Japanese audio.
Disappointingly, the next episode previews aren't included. But they weren't in any earlier season set, so it's no big surprise.
No special features are included here unless you count the trailers and the same textless opening/closing sequence all other sets like this have had. On the good side, the set does include a booklet similar to the earlier sets, with character profiles and an episode guide, making it handy to go right where you need to go on the DVDs.
It's another good Dragon Ball Z season set, enough said. The Buu Saga is not my favorite saga, mostly due to the fact that it drags on for what seems like forever, but essential for completists all the same. If you're a fan of the series and don't already have these episodes, you can get them all here for one low price. Cropping issues aside, this is a great set, and a good value, especially compared to the older DVD releases.
Highly recommended to any fan of Dragon Ball Z.
Rating:  -
what more to say then dbz season eight is the epic introduction and beggining the battle of the z-fighters and majin boo. so all you dbz fans go out and get this one cause it's one of the best seasons so far released.
Rating: -
The eighth season of "DRAGON BALL Z" is here with 34-episodes of non-stop action and utter destruction of the planet Earth. This season now continues with the final leg of the popular "DRAGON BALL Z series".
At the end of the seventh season, the Z-Warriors gathered for the latest World's Martial Arts Tournament. But we learn that Babidi and his minions were there for one thing, to capture enough energy to revive the biggest threat that the universe had faced many, many years ago...that threat is known as Majin Buu.
Now the Z-Warriors do what they can to stop this new threat. Here is a brief summary of what to expect from Season Eight:
Disc 1:
* Episode 220 - The Wizard's Curse - The Z-fighters search for Babidi's minions who have managed to capture Gohan's energy.
* Episode 221 - King of the Demons - Piccolo and Krillin make their move against Dabura (The King of Demons) who is assisting Babidi. Meanwhile, Goku, Vegeta, Gohan and Supreme Kai enter Babidi's spaceship.
* Episode 222 - Vegeta Attacks - Babidi unleashes his first monster to take on Vegeta.
* Episode 223 - Next Up, Goku - Babidi unleashes his second monster to take on Goku.
* Episode 224 - Battle Supreme - As the Z-fighters have their work cutout for them against Babidi, at the World's Martial Arts tournament, Android No. 18 goes against Mighty Mask and Mr. Satan.
* Episode 225 - Eighteen Unmasks - Android No. 18 finds out the true identities of who is behind Mighty Mask. Meanwhile, Babidi unleashes his third opponent...Dabura.
DISC 2:
* Episode 226 - Pay to Win - Android No. 18 now advances against the final match against Mr. Satan. Mr. Satan knows he is no match for No. 18 but the android is willing to cut a deal with him.
* Episodes 227 - Heart of a Villain - Gohan must now go against Dabura
* Episode 228 - The Dark Prince Returns - Babidi manages to use Vegeta's hatred and negative energy against him and turn him into a Majin, fueling his anger against Goku and making him more powerful.
* Episode 229 - Vegeta's Pride - Vegeta now a Majin wants a battle against Goku but Supreme Kai says that in order to fight Vegeta, Goku must battle him first.
* Episode 230 - The Long Awaited Fight - The Saiyan battle between Vegeta and Goku.
* Episode 231 - Magic Ball of Buu - While Vegeta and Goku are fighting each other, Gohan and Supreme Kai must do what they can to stop Babidi.
Disc 3:
* Episode 232 - Buu is Hatched - While Gohan tries to destroy the nesting area of Majin Buu, he ends up making it hatch.
* Episode 233 - The Losses Begin - When Buu comes out of his shell, he is revealed to be an overweight pink being that likes to have its share of fun. Dabura is not thrilled about Buu and thus provokes him. Gohan then tries to fight Buu.
* Episode 234 - The Terror of Mr. Buu - Goten and Trunks find out that Piccolo and Krillin have been turned into stone. Dabura returns to fight Buu!
* Episode 235 - Meal Time - Vegeta takes a cheap shot against Goku, knocking him out. Now Vegeta has his attention on Buu.
* Episode 236 - The Warrior's Decision - Vegeta fights Buu with all he can!
* Episode 237 - Final Atonement - With Vegeta trying to do all he can to defeat Buu, Buu seems unstoppable. Vegeta decides the only way to put an end to him is to sacrifice himself.
Disc 4:
* Episode 238 - Evil Lives On - The aftermath of Vegeta's sacrifice
* Episode 239 - Find the Dragon Balls - Due to the aftermath, Bulma and others decide to go on a search for the Dragon Balls.
* Episode 240 - Revival - Goku knows that the only way to defeat Buu is if he uses the Art of Fusion but with Vegeta gone, the only two capable of possibly fusing are Gotenks and Trunks.
* Episode 241 - Global Announcement - Babidi is not thrilled that Piccolo, Goten and Trunks have left the battlefield and because they did, he has threatened the world that Buu will kill everyone until the three come back to face him and Buu.
* Episode 242 - Learn to Fuse! - Goku begins his training of Gotenks and Trunks to learn the Art of Fusion.
* Episode 243 - The Z-Sword - Gohan continues his training from the Supreme Kai to learn the legendary Z-Sword.
Disc 5:
* Episode 244 - Race to Capsule Corp. - A mother whose sons lost in the Jr. World's Martial Arts Tournament gives information to Babidi about Capsule Corp.
* Episode 245 - Super Saiyan 3 - As Trunks hurries to find the Dragon Ball radar at Capsule Corp., Goku must stall Babidi and Majin Buu and thus begins his transformation to Super Saiyan 3.
* Episode 246 - Buu's Mutiny - Super Saiyan 3 Goku goes against Majin Buu.
* Episode 247 - The Fusion Dance - With Trunks successful in obtaining the Dragon Ball Radar, Goku goes back to train Gotenks and Trunks the Fusion Dance.
* Episode 248 - Goku's Time is Up - With Goku now preparing Gotenks and Trunks, Buu decides to build himself a home and cause more destruction and death.
Disc 6:
* Episode 249 - Return to the Other World - With Goku's time on Earth now over, he must go back to Heaven. Meanwhile Gohan continues his training.
* Episode 250 - Out from the Broken Sword - Goku joins the Supreme Kai to observe Gohan's training. But while Gohan goes through his final test, something happens to the Z-Sword.
* Episode 251 - Gotenks is Born - With Piccolo now training Gotenks and Trunks, the two must now fuse!
* Episode 252 - Unlikely Friendship - As Mr. Satan becomes the Earth's last defense against Majin Buu, the two develop a friendship. And Buu has a new pet dog.
* Episode 253 - I Kill No More - Majin Buu starts to listen to Mr. Satan about no killing, while a pair of thugs aim to kill Buu but end up killing something else instead.
VIDEO & AUDIO:
"DRAGON BALL Z" season eight was aired in Japan during the mid-90's. For these episodes to be nearly 15 years old, FUNimation did the picture quality some justice by remastering the series. By working with Video Post & Transfer, they used the original Japanese film masters and transferred them using a Spirit DataCine and passing through a Digital Vision DVNR1000 to remove film grain and then using a Teranex VC6000 video computer for DNR (digital noise reduction) to remove thousands of instances of dirt, scratches and debris.
The video footage signal was then ran through a da Vinci 2K Plus color system to make sure the color is very close to the original Japanese film prints. After color correction, the final media was then transferred via Sony's HDCAM (high definition digital tape) and created in 1080p HD at 24 frames per second.
So, what we get is a very clean transfer (note: A transfer that would make it even much more cleaner and colorful if presented in Blu-ray) on DVD and the best looking transfer of the episodes in the US thus far.
Audio is presented in three audio tracks. English voice track with original Japanese music via 5.1 surround, English voice track with TV broadcast music stereo and Japanese voice track with original music and in mono.
As mentioned in my previous reviews, I have watched "Dragon Ball Z" when it was first aired in Japan and have rented every episode and have watched it in Japanese. But until I started reviewing the FUNimation Entertainment box set releases of the series, I have really enjoyed the English dubwork. I felt the series was well-cast and truthfully, with the original series in mono and hearing it in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, it's hard to go back and listen to the series in mono.
But the great news is that you get the three different audio tracks to suit those with different audio preferences.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
No special features are included but the FUNimation Entertainment trailers.
JUDGMENT CALL:
With over 200+ episodes, here we are with the beginning of the final chapter of the "DRAGON BALL Z" series and if you thought the Frieza and Cell sagas were fantastic, the Majin Buu saga and where it will go from here is quite amazing.
No villain in "DRAGON BALL Z" has looked as cute and nonthreatening as Majin Buu but yet has managed to slaughter a millions of people and really put the Z-Warriors in a position that they have never been in before.
The high points of this season is the fact that you get a long awaited battle between Goku vs. Vegeta, you get the Super Saiyan level 3 transformation of Goku but then we get to see the fusion technique.
Each episode has a very good storyline that it's quite easy to watch episode after episode and find yourself watching a marathon of 2-3 discs because the episodes were quite enjoyable and action-packed. I also, have to say that there are no filler episodes and each episode, you're going to get hardcore battles and just non-stop action. It's what you would expect from a series such as "DRAGON BALL Z" and nothing less.
Vegeta fans will definitely enjoy his character transformation but most of all his redemption. The first half is very Vegeta intensive and in Japan, many people wanted more of him and they got it. So, to see a powerful Vegeta going against Goku was awesome.
The series manages to weave in every character close to the Z-warriors that we have known from the series in this eighth season, which is very cool. And also, for Hercule/Mr. Satan fans, you will actually get to see him in action as well.
But it's the instability of Majin Buu's character which is quite interesting. Because of the way this being is made, unlike Frieza and Cell, the ability to continually regenerate, makes him nearly an unstoppable character. His look and demeanor is nothing like we have seen in the first 200-episodes and to see him kill people for the sake of hunger or for enjoyment to hear things go "boom", makes Majin Buu an interesting but moreso, a deadlier villain than any villain that has appeared on "DRAGON BALL Z" thus far.
"DRAGON BALL Z" fans will definitely not be disappointed with this latest box set. Again, every episode is full of action and also, six discs with 34-episodes all for a great price. Again, the price of this box set was the nearly the same cost of two or three DBZ DVD's with only two episodes several years ago. You definitely get your money's worth.
"DRAGON BALL Z - SEASON EIGHT" is highly recommended for the DBZ fan!
Rating: -
This season basically summarizes why DBZ had to die. In the end, there were just a little too many similarities to the previous sagas involving Freiza and Cell.
Majin Buu is an unstoppable monster, but then we've all heard this one before. They try to introduce the Fusion technique and some new characters to keep things fresh, but in the end I felt like I was watching the same old stuff from before. It's not as grueling as the Frieza saga was, but it's still a chore to watch through at some stages of the story, where things just drag on and on for what seems like an eternity.
The best part of the saga isn't even Majin Boo, it's Majin Vegeta, and his duel with Goku that I enjoyed more than the actual fight with Majin Boo. That duel is pretty epic, and I wish it would've lasted longer than most of the rest of the story.
Despite this, it's still DBZ and if you love DBZ, you'll still enjoy this on some level, but I kind of wish at this point, brute force wouldn't be applied so heavily and that the villains would differ from each other more.
Rating: -
Dragon Ball Z Season 8 was great.Watching the smack down by all of the Z fighters was very exciting and at times intence.Plus seeing Trunks and Gothen as kids working together as one was not only funny but cool to watch they were a pretty tuff team to beat.And seeing Vegete going back to his ruthless bad a** self was Awsome.So to complete this Review.You've got to get this series if you own any of the other series like me. IT'S A MUST MUST MUST!!! Plus inpatiently eger to get Season 9 Now. DragonBall Z RULEZZZ... Fan For Life David
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