On the main menu for the first five discs, you can choose to watch all the episodes, watch the disc with the marathon feature, choose which episode you want to watch, and set up your language and subtitle options. One of the best things about this DVD set is the marathon feature. The marathon feature allows you to watch all of the episodes back-to-back, but you only see the opening credits once; the ending credits are not shown when watching with the marathon feature. This feature really helps when you’re trying to watch all the episodes on a single disc in one night. The story in the second season is definitely stronger than in the first season, which meant that there was less stretching going on.In the setup menu, you can choose between the English audio from when the series originally aired on television, the English dialogue with the original Japanese music, and Japanese dialogue and music. In this menu, you can also choose to turn the subtitles on and off.
The menu on the sixth DVD adds in a link for the special features. However, there is actually very little in the way of special features in this set. All you get are the textless versions of the opening and ending credits (which were previously included on the box set for the first season), and trailers. Personally, I was rather disappointed by this, and didn’t think the features were quite so “special.” The trailers included on this box set are for animeOnline, Shin Dudokai–Another Road on PSP, Kiddy Grade, Yu Yu Hakusho, Case Closed, and the Z-Store.
Another problem I had with this set was with the audio mastering levels. FUNimation’s opening splash screen and the trailer at the beginning of each DVD were mastered at a high audio level, but then the menu and the actual episodes were mastered with a rather soft audio level. It became rather frustrating to have to turn down the volume when the DVD would first start to play, but then having to turn it back up quite a ways in order to hear the audio for the episodes.
While I was disappointed with the audio levels and the lack of special features, this set is still a “must get” for any Dragon Ball Z fan that wants all the episodes on DVD. This 35-episode set is selling for between $30 and $40. It’s not too bad of a price, considering you’re getting 35 episodes in the set. It would have been a little more worth the price if FUNimation had gone to a little more effort with the special features.
In order to write this review, I checked out a copy of this DVD box set through the King County Library System.
| Held Captive Friends Or Foes The Search Continues A Friendly Surprise Brood Of Evil Frieza Strikes | Defying Orders Namek's Defense The Hunted The Prince Fights Back Unexpected Problem Vegeta Has a Ball | The Past and Future Zarbon's Surprise Guru's Gift Piccolo vs. Everyone Zarbon's Mission Gohan The Hunted |
| Unknown Enemies Destination Guru Bulma's Big Day Hidden Power New Ally New Problem Guldo's Mind Binds | Recoome Unleashed Let the Battle Begin Goku's New Power A Legend Revealed Ginyu Assault Incredible Force | Frieza Approaches Goku Is Ginyu-Ginyu Is Goku Calling the Eternal Dragon Gohan Defeat Your Dad Captain Ginyu the Frog Bonus Features |
