I've been a lover of Dragon Ball Z for most of my life. Z was my obsession through childhood and I remained an avid fan even as an adult. I've been there through the quirky Ocean Dub, the poorly-translated VHS fansubs, the garish orange bricks...
Dragon Ball Kai isn't just the best version of Dragon Ball Z, it's the only version of Dragon Ball Z anyone should ever watch, for anything other than purely nostalgic reasons. DBZ was bogged down by a nearly unwatchable amount of filler. And I'm not even talking about filler story lines like Garlic Jr. or Goku fighting a star. What dragged Z down was the constant stalling: scenes of people powering up for two episodes straight, replaying the same scene of people staring at each other three times. Entire episodes pass with absolutely no progress on the primary storyline.
But Dragon Ball Kai fixes all of this. The great fighting and exciting story of Dragon Ball Z is finally, for the first time ever as an anime, brought to its due glory. This is the Dragon Ball Z that should have existed from the very start, the definitive, superior version.
Thankfully, the terrible new music turned out to be plagiarized, and Z's original soundtrack was restored. So truly the only thing that's better about Dragon Ball Z over Kai, are the opening and ending themes. Kai's new themes are cheesy and cliché', while Cha La and Zenkai Power were pretty cool.
Admittedly, it's not 100% without flaws. The Saiyan Saga cuts out a smidge too much, and feels ever so slightly rushed, while the Cell Saga kept a smidge too much filler, and it's noticeable. But the Freeza Saga is perfect down to the very frame.
To say that Dragon Ball Kai is better than Dragon Ball Z doesn't even do it justice. It's the only version of Dragon Ball Z that should exist. It makes me embarrassed to have held the original Z in such high regard. I used to take a blind eye to Z's innumerable flaws because I had such a history with it. But now that Kai has come out, and it is such a genuinely spectacular show, I'm proud to be a fan again.
