ff27914a

Big-budget live-action remakes of anime and manga are tricky business. One one hand, you’ve got to please the fans, who you know will be sitting in the theater with pen and paper scrutinizing every scene. But you also have to make money, which often means watering down the source material to make it digestible for regular movie-goers. As a result, live-action remakes are usually denounced by fans (and critics), but still manage to turn a profit in the box office.

This is why we love DragonBall Z: Saiyan Saga, a live-action non-profit Dragon Ball Z trailer made by fans not because they want to make a buck, but because they love the series so damn much.

The 5 minute 44 second trailer was finally released on YouTube yesterday after months of production, and looks absolutely amazing. Check it out below!

Wait, no, first watch the teaser trailer to get yourself powered up for the real trailer (which is, remember, a fake trailer).

And now watch the full trailer, which is, incidentally, completely separate from the teaser trailer.

If this is your first time hearing of this fan trailer, it was started in May 2012 by UK-based video production studio, K and K Productions. The guys at K and K are huge DragonBall Z fans and were understandably horrified by Hollywood’s attempt at a live-action movie.

The trailer is completely non-profit and was made with a budget of nearly $20,000, three-quarters of which was raised by followers on Indiegogo.

The trailer covers the Vegeta Saga arc, in which Goku first learns about his Saiyan heritage and battles Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta. The final production is incredibly faithful to the anime, however K and K refused to give in to fan demands to put in the infamous “over 9000″ scene in order to maintain the “serious tone” of the trailer.

An honorable decision, to be sure, but after raising all that money from fans you’d think they could at least give us some bloopers… Ah well, here’s to hoping for a Freeza Saga in the future!

Source: YouTube, Facebook