Dragonbox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A "Dragonbox" is a large and elaborate DVD boxed set, containing a certain portion of episodes from one of the Dragonball anime series. They are well known for their seemingly high price and the amount of content in each boxed set.
6 Dragonboxes have been released, which, together, span the entire series, and all of the movies.
Contents |
[edit] Original release
[edit] Pricetag and region encoding
The first Dragonbox was released in Japan on March 19, 2003. It was NTSC region 2 encoded at a price of 100,000 yen, which according to XE.com[1], comes out to $869.92 or £460.85 (as of 8/3/06).
[edit] Content
The first Dragonbox spanned half of the Dragonball Z series, containing episodes 1 to 147. It also contained the first Dragonball Z TV special and a large amount of bonus features including comparisons of international versions of Dragonball Z and several commercials. Included with the DVDs was an exclusive Goku action figure, as well as a Dragonball Z reference book, or Dragonbook.
[edit] Second release
A second Dragonball Z Dragonbox was released on September 18, 2003 with the same price tag as the first one, and included the remainder of the Dragonball Z series including episodes 148 to 291 as well as the second TV special. This set also contained a large amount of DVD extras including more commercials and the entire "Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans" video game visual guide. Like the first set, the second came with a "Dragonbook" and an exclusive action figure, this time featuring Piccolo.
[edit] The Dragon Ball series
On July 7th, 2004, the original Dragon Ball anime series was released in the Dragonbox format. This included the entire series, spanning 153 episodes. This came with an exclusive Tenkaichi Budokai diorama designed by Toriyama.
[edit] The movies
2006 saw the release of the Dragonball and Dragonball Z movies in Dragonbox format. This set followed a similar format to the previous Dragonboxes, although DVD extras were organized by movie instead of being grouped all together. This set, following the Dragonbox tradition, included an exclusive toy and a "Dragonbook". The exclusive toys included in the Movies Dragonbox were two life size "transceivers", modeled after the "scouters" used in the Dragonball Z TV series. These were both two-way radios with attached microphones.
[edit] Criticism
[edit] Lack of subtitles
Many non-Japanese speaking fans were disappointed at the Dragonbox's lack of subtitles for other languages. However, it should be noted that it is not common for Japanese, region 2 encoded DVDs to contain subtitles for other languages.
[edit] Price
Another aspect of the Dragonbox that has earned a lot of criticism is the high price tag. The first Dragon Box on release cost around $900, and this price was used for every Dragonbox up to the GT series box. However, if compared to the retail price of the Funimation releases, the Dragonbox releases can range from slighty more to slightly less than the Funimation releases. It can also be argued that in situations in which the Dragonbox releases would be more expensive than the Funimation releases, the extra cost is made up in the enhanced quality and bonus content the boxes contain.
[edit] Aspect ratio
One large criticism from fans regarding the Movie Box set was the lack of the full, 4:3 aspect ratio versions of the movies. While these movies were originally presented in 16:9 in Japan, they had been animated in 4:3, and had been cropped to fit the 16:9 aspect ratio. This resulted in some loss of the image. Strangely, all of Funimation and Pioneer's releases of the movies were the 4:3 versions without the cropping, save some slight zooming in, which is common on Funimation's Dragonball DVDs. However, Toei or Pony Canyon decided not to include these full aspect ratio versions on the Dragonbox.
