A Request for the Availability on DVD of an English Dual-Soundtrack option for future DBZ and DBGT releases

To whom it may concern:

We the fans of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT enjoy the work of Akira Toriyama and appreciate the work FUNimation has done in bringing it to America and many other English-speaking countries. Beforehand, very people knew or had heard of it and now it's done extremely well and has been introduced to many new people thanks to your hard work. Things were not perfect at first, but over time after leaving Saban, FUNimation has consistently gotten better and better and the dubbing of the series has improved dramatically.

However, there is still one problem with the dub we feel needs to be addressed- the music. Many fans consider the original soundtracks of DBZ and DBGT to be very excellent and have grown to be very fond of them. But on the other hand, FUNimation's new soundtracks have done very well and have grown to have their own very large audiences of fans who greatly enjoy them as well. Regardless of what one may argue, the shows have been very popular and done extraordinarily well in America with new soundtracks in them. One could even make the argument that the series have done better in America with new soundtracks than it might have done with the original soundtracks.

However, the replacing of the music creates a dilemma. Although a minority of all those out there, a sizeable number of fans still feel that the original soundtracks are the best for the shows and are simply irreplaceable. Whether the new music introduced to them they feel is either good or bad, many feel that the original music is a large part of the heart and soul of the show and they therefore simply don't want to have it replaced at all. Then there are other fans, who make up the majority, who feel that the new soundtracks are better and who prefer them over the original soundtracks.

What's the logical solution for such a problem? Pick the best path which will make the largest number of people as happy and content as possible. And that path would appear to mean that replacing the original soundtracks with new ones is the best bet. However, that's not to say that the original music is necessarily impossible for fans to accept and enjoy. The first 3 DBZ movies included all of the original music and were very popular, sold well, and helped make DBZ popular back during it's early stages. Also, the PS2 videogame "DBZ Budokai" has a soundtrack based almost exclusively off of the original Japanese DBZ soundtrack and so far it's sold over 3.2 million copies worldwide. So while the dubbed soundtrack is indeed more popular, the original soundtrack has definitely proven to be quite good and capable of holding it's own.

In any case, the dillemma still remains- having to pick one soundtrack over the other. And regardless of which option is chosen, one of the two groups of fans will be unhappy and will wish that the other soundtrack had been picked instead. But instead of having to choose one soundtrack and alienate one of the two groups of fans- why not pick both soundtracks and make all of the groups happy? A solution to this would be to include a dual-soundtrack option on DVD releases. The DVD's could include the new American soundtracks and also allow viewers to select the original soundtracks. This way, no DBZ fan watching at all whatsoever would have to feel even so much as remotely alienated by the music they have available. Those who dislike the original soundtrack and prefer the new American soundtracks would still be able to have them. And those who like the original soundtracks and would like to be able to hear it while they watch the dub will also be able to have them. That way everyone, regardless of which soundtrack they prefer, could be able to enjoy the dub while listening to whichever soundtrack they feel is best. In a way, it'd be like everyone could have their cake... and eat it too.

The way it would go could be like this- the VHS's could all include the new American soundtracks on them which the majority of all fans like. And those who prefer the original soundtracks would have the option of being able to view them on DVD, along with the new America soundtracks. They could switch to an option on the DVD's which would then leave the dubbed episodes the exact same way they were, only with the original soundtracks over them instead.

And with the anime market becoming increasingly more competitive, and the DVD market rapidly outgrowing the VHS market, this would seem like a very logical and good decision for your company to make. You paid extra to have the option of a voice-over on the first Blue Gender dubbed episode on DVD- so why not pay extra to include an English dual-soundtrack option on future DBZ and DBGT episodes and movies as well?

We're not asking you to go back and change every single DBZ and DBGT DVD ever made just to make new ones with dual-options on them. Instead, we would like for them to be included on future DVD releases, such as the rest of the DBZ movies and the DBZ redub. Doing this would only require for the rights to the original soundtracks to be purchased and for the original soundtracks to then be incorporated on DVD's over the new English voice acting, which shouldn't be too difficult to make happen. However, rather than viewing the purchase and inclusion of the original soundtracks as an expense that simply wouldn't be worth it, we encourage you to view them rather as investments that could easily pay off the costs of including them and help encourage more fans to purchase more DVD's. And who knows? If the inclusion of the original soundtrack were to prove popular, profitable and successful enough then perhaps someday you could even consider going back and including them on DVD episodes already released. (Or, perhaps, on DVD episodes which are will be re-released on new DVD boxed-sets.)

Finally, perhaps the best result of a dual-soundtrack option would be that with it 100\% of all DBZ and DBGT fans could be 100\% happy and satisfied with the music available in the English version- which, musically, would mean complete and total customer satisfaction with all groups. It'd be a completely win-win situation for both FUNimation and every single DBZ and DBGT fan out there. And we sincerely hope and would greatly appreciate it if you could make this happen.