I'd say for about every scene I enjoyed more in Z, I'd enjoy at least 5 more in Kai or something like that. However, I still prefer some aspects of Z's pacing even if Kai is clearly the better when it comes to an overall experience. Kai overall is much faster paced and is half the length of where the Cell saga ended in Z and a majority of the cut content I am fine with leaving off.
Most of Z isn't like this but the Frieza fight was probably the worst case of pacing. The Frieza fight is clearly better in Kai than in Z, it was fine on a first viewing and I was hooked to see what happens but on a second viewing its very slow and dragged out even for me. That's not to say every minute of Z was great because it definitely wasn't. I can defend Z despite accepting its flaws and I can say that I usually didn't mind the slow pacing, and in some instances the slower pace or inclusion of scenes usually weren't bad or at least I didn't mind their inclusion. This leads to the biggest change coming from Z which is the pacing which everyone knows is typically slow. Out of the 291 episodes, about 40 episodes (14%~) are filler/not canon so a good amount of the fat comes from the filler in the canon episodes themselves. Unlike other big shounens with filler such as Naruto and Bleach, DBZ didn't have TOO much filler episodes. This is a mix of cutting out filler episodes entirely and trimming a lot of the fat and filler in the canon episodes which could easily be condensed to a shorter time. Kai is an edited version of the original DBZ which ran for a total of 291 episodes where Kai cuts it down to 167 episodes. review that once I complete it in the coming weeks since my score will most likely be different from this one's.Īs for the story, Kai is basically the exact same in terms of plot when compared to Z and the manga with some very minor differences. Just know that this does not include 2014 Kai (Buu Saga) as I will I've been a fan of Dragon Ball for 6 years now and I finally decided to sit down and watch Kai to see how it would compare to Z and the manga.Īlso this is a review for the first season (97 or 98), 2009 Kai, or whatever you want to call it. If you'd rather watch it in video format instead of reading it, then you can check it out here EDIT: I recently made a video review of Kai on my Youtube channel which is heavily based off this review.