Dragon Ball Kai Internet Archive [work] -

Funimation, however, had a better idea. They commissioned a brand new, fully original score from composer Kenji Yamamoto (no relation) and unleashed what fans now call the "Kikuchi Replacement" or "Funi Kai"—a version that blended the crisp, filler-free pacing of Kai with a fresh, energetic rock-infused soundtrack.

But for the archivist, the purist, and the fan who remembers the summer of 2010 when Kai made DBZ feel urgent again, the Internet Archive is a digital Roshi’s island—a hidden, slightly dusty, but invaluable repository where a better version of the past refuses to die. dragon ball kai internet archive

Crunchyroll (which absorbed Funimation) currently streams Kai with the original, plagarism-tainted Yamamoto score in Japan or, in some regions, the awkwardly edited Kikuchi replacement. The definitive "Funi Kai"—the version with the dedicated American score—exists only on obsolete DVD and Blu-ray sets or… in the digital vaults of the Internet Archive. For the uninitiated, the Internet Archive is best known for the Wayback Machine. But its "Moving Image Archive" is a digital wild west—a library of Alexandria for out-of-print VHS tapes, obscure commercials, and crucially, media that has fallen into distribution limbo. Funimation, however, had a better idea

When Funimation dubbed Kai for North American audiences, they didn’t just translate it. They rescued the series from a creative identity crisis. The original Japanese version of Kai had replaced the iconic rock songs and synth scores of Shunsuke Kikuchi with a controversial, orchestral-but-generic soundtrack by Kenji Yamamoto. Then disaster struck: Yamamoto was fired mid-production for music plagiarism. Toei scrambled, awkwardly pasting Kikuchi’s old Z music back in. But its "Moving Image Archive" is a digital