Dragon Ball Kai/YMMV


 * Alas, Poor Villain: Astoundingly, Ryusei Nakao manages to make Freeza's suffering as he laid dismembered and begging for Goku's help invoke the pity and sorrow that the latter felt from the audience this-time-round; living and breathing the character for the last twenty one years helped him to bring a genuinely pathetic vulnerability and sincere "humanity" to his performance. Kenji Yamamoto's choice to use a heartbreaking cello score during the recut made the scene a borderline Tear Jerker.
 * And the Fandom Rejoiced: Dameon Clarke coming back as Cell with an improved performance, an updated Dragon Ball adaptation with experienced and new cast members who arguably fit the roles better than their predecessors and lack of filler.
 * Broken Base / Nostalgia Filter / They Changed It, Now It Sucks:
 * Some hardcore Dragon Ball Z fans have denounced Kai as dishonoring the original series by removing much of the character inherent in the extended stories, while others enjoy the much faster-paced plot.
 * People who grew up watching FUNimation's original DBZ dub decry Kai's change of dialogue (even though Kai's dubbed English scripts are far more accurate), the changes in voices (even though Kai benefited from Sabat, Schemmel, and company gaining a decade of voice acting experience since the original dub), and the loss of Bruce Faulconer's music (which was intensely disliked by fans of the original Japanese DBZ back in the day).
 * The news that The Ocean Group is in the works for a Canadian broadcast release has threatened to start up the Ocean vs Funimation war once again.
 * Crowning Music of Awesome / Ear Worm: Dragon Soul and Sanjou!! Ginyu Tokusentai!!
 * Hilarious in Hindsight:
 * Colleen Clinkenbeard was often mistaken as the voice of Gohan due to her role as Monkey D. Luffy. No guesses as to who she voices in Kai.
 * Nappa at one point said he hates the media in the Abridged Series, he actually says this line in the show, making this a possible case of Ascended Fanon.
 * Narm: Sure, Gohan's screams are properly full of emotion... but some of them carry on so long that it loses the intended effect.
 * Superlative Dubbing: The English dub is close to flawless, since most of the actors have been voicing these characters for over a decade.