When the Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Boxes were released in Japan, they only released two boxes that each contained roughly half of the series. When FUNimation released the Dragon Boxes in North America, they broke the set up into seven boxes. Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Box Three was released by FUNimation on May 4, 2010, and it contains episodes 85 through 126 of the series. These episodes cover the remainder of the Freiza saga, the Garlic Jr. saga, the Trunks Saga, and the early Androids saga. However, it should be noted that in the booklet, the Trunks saga and the early Androids saga are lumped together into the Artificial Humans saga.
The Dragon Boxes were being marketed to the "hardcore" Dragon Ball fans, which was evident through some of the decisions made by the company when these sets were put together: the default language for viewing is set to Japanese language with English subtitles, the title cards for the episodes use the Japanese titles for the episodes instead of the titles for the English dub, only the original Japanese music score is included, and the packaging and booklets use the original Japanese spelling for the characters' names instead of the alternate spellings that were used in the English dub. In addition, the episodes are presented in a 4:3 aspect ratio, instead of the 16:9 cropping that was done for the nine "orange brick" season sets.Dragon Box Three comes with a 47-page hardcover book that has a right-to-left orientation. The book begins with character profiles, which is followed by an "Ultimate Character Relationship Chart." The bulk of the book, however, is a section talking about the episodes that are included in the set. The episode section of the book includes the Japanese titles for the episodes, a description for each episode, the original airdate for each episode, still images from the episodes, trivia, and a brief overview of the story that appears on each disc in the set. There is also a section showing the years that these episodes were released, which includes not only episode milestones, but historical events that took place both in Japan and abroad. There is a "Fashion Check" section, an "Overlooked Moments" section, and line art of some of the Dragon Ball Z characters.
A drawback to this set is the fact that there are no special features included on any of the discs; FUNimation didn't even bother to put on the textless opening and closing or any trailers. I would guess that the company felt that since the book was included, that there really wasn't a need for special features on the discs. Also, I was disappointed to see that the "Marathon Feature" from the "orange brick" season sets wasn’t included, because it made it easier to watch the episodes back-to-back on each disc. On the plus side, if you watch the Japanese language versions of the episodes, you get to see the next episode previews at the end of each episode; these had not been included in the original "orange brick" season box sets that FUNimation had released.
I would recommend Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Box Three to fans of Dragon Ball Z who want to have a better version of the episodes than what appears on the "orange bricks."
I wrote this review after watching a copy of this DVD box set that my husband and I purchased.
| The Renewed Goku The End of Vegeta The Ultimate Battle Clash of the Superpowers Frieza's Boast Bold And Fearless Embodiment Of Fire | Trump Card Keep the Chance Alive!! Power of the Spirit Transformed At Last Explosion Of Anger Namek's Destruction A Final Attack | Approaching Destruction Gohan Returns The Last Wish Duel on a Vanishing Planet Pathos Of Frieza Frieza Defeated!! Mighty Blast of Rage |
| Namek's Explosion... Goku's End? Goku's Alive! The Heavens Tremble Black Fog of Terror Battle on Kami's Lookout Fight With Piccolo Call For Restoration | Suicidal Course Extreme Measures The World Awakens Brief Chance for Victory Krillin's Proposal Frieza's Counterattack The Mysterious Youth | Another Super Saiyan? Welcome Back Goku Mystery Revealed Goku's Special Technique Z Warriors Prepare Goku's Ordeal The Androids Appear |
