Dragon Ball Z

**Original run** | April 26, 1989 – January 31, 1996
- September 13, 1999 - April 7, 2003 (Funimation dub) (Episodes 68 - 291)

***Dragon Ball Z*** (ドラゴンボールゼット '**Doragon Bōru Zetto'**, commonly abbreviated as ***DBZ***) is the sequel to the Dragon Ball anime. The series is a close adaptation of the second (and far longer) portion of the Dragon Ball manga series created by Akira Toriyama. The anime first premiered in Japan on April 26, 1989 (on Fuji TV) at 7:30 p.m. and ended on January 31, 1996. The series average rating was 20.5%, with its maximum being 27.5% (Episode 218) and its minimum being 12.1% (Episode 273).

## Overview

### **Story**

    Dragon Ball Z follows the adventures of the adult Goku who, along with his companions, defends the earth against an assortment of villains ranging from intergalactic space fighters and conquerors, unnaturally powerful androids and near indestructible magical creatures. While the original Dragon Ball anime followed Goku through childhood into adulthood, Dragon Ball Z is a continuation of his adulthood life, but at the same time parallels the maturation of his son, Gohan, as well as other characters from Dragon Ball and more. The separation between the series is also significant as the latter series takes on a more dramatic and serious tone. The anime also features characters, situations and back-stories not present in the original manga.

### Production history

The other names the production was considering for this second series before they settled on *Dragon Ball Z* were ***Dragon Ball: Gohan's Big Adventure***, ***New Dragon Ball***, ***Dragon Ball 2***, ***Dragon Ball Wonder Boy***, and ***Dragon Ball 90***.Like *Dragon Ball*, the music for *Dragon Ball Z* was composed by Shunsuke Kikuchi. The character designs for *Dragon Ball Z* were created by Minoru Maeda from the Raditz Saga to the Cell Games Saga and Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru from the Great Saiyaman Saga to the Peaceful World Saga.

After *Dragon Ball Z*, the story of Goku and friends continues in the anime-only series *Dragon Ball GT*, which is not based on a manga by Akira Toriyama, but is a project by Toei Animation using the same characters and storyline that serves as a sequel to *Dragon Ball Z*. 19 years after the end of *Dragon Ball Z* in Japan, a new sequel series titled *Dragon Ball Super* premiered with original concepts by Akira Toriyama, taking place after the death of Kid Buu but before *Dragon Ball Z'*s ending.

### English Version

    In the U.S., the series initially aired in first-run syndication from September 13, 1996 to May 23, 1998, and then aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami block from August 31, 1998 to April 7, 2003, though not always with the same continuity of dubbing.

### Censorship issues

*Dragon Ball Z* was marketed to appeal to a wide range of viewers from all ages, and contains crude humor and occasional excesses of violence which are commonly seen as inappropriate for younger audiences by American standards. When it was first marketed in the US, the distribution company Funimation alongside Saban decided to initially focus exclusively on the young children's market, because the anime market was still small compared to the much larger children's cartoon market. This censorship often had unintentionally humorous results, such as changing all references to death so the dead characters were merely going to "another dimension", and digitally altering two ogres' shirts to read "HFIL" instead of "HELL".

Starting with the Captain Ginyu Saga on Cartoon Network, censorship was reduced due to fewer restrictions on cable programming. Funimation did the dubbing on their own this time around with their own voice actors. In 2004, Funimation began to redub the first two sagas of *Dragon Ball Z*, to remove the problems that were caused from their previous partnership with Saban. They also redubbed the first three movies.

However, the show still retained some level of censorship, not out of FCC laws, but out of choice by Funimation, so as to cater to the possible sensitivity of western audiences. For example, Mr. Satan was renamed "Hercule" to avoid any religious slurs; his daughter, Videl, was a play on the word "Devil", but Funimation felt that the connection was obscure enough to not worry about.

### Filler and differences from the manga

Filler is used to pad out the series for many reasons; in the case of *Dragon Ball Z*, more often than not, it was because the anime was running alongside the manga, and there was no way for the anime to run ahead of the manga (since Toriyama was still writing it, at the same time).

The company behind the anime, Toei Animation, would occasionally make up their own side stories to either further explain things, or simply to extend the series. Filler does not come only in the form of side stories, though; sometimes it is as simple as adding some extra attacks into a fight. One of the more infamous examples of filler is the Frieza Saga. After Frieza had set the planet Namek to blow up in five minutes, the final fight between Goku and Frieza still lasted well over five episodes, much less five minutes, although this can be attributed to the fact that Namek simply took longer to explode than Frieza expected. Also, there were many numerous filler scenes that took place while the battle with Frieza was in motion, which accounts for much of the footage during the planet's explosion.

As the anime series was forced to expand 12 pages of manga text into 25 minutes of animation footage, these changes were introduced to kill time or to allow the (anime) writers to explore some other aspect of the series' universe.

### Reception and impact

The impact of *Dragon Ball Z* is enormous. For more than 20 years, the series has stood the test of time and has reached out to many children and adults alike across the globe. This is mainly due to the series' very clear representations of good overpowering evil, love overpowering hate, the importance of family and friends, and an unyielding passion toward achieving goals. The series also featured heavy sci-fi overtones, and a greater emphasis on fighting - making it extremely popular among adolescent boys who had grown up alongside the original series.

*Dragon Ball Z* has also played a large part in contributing to the popularity of anime in western culture. Though the first two seasons of the series were played on various networks in the U.S. in 1996, it would not take off for two more years until August 31, 1998, when Cartoon Network featured the show in its action-oriented Toonami lineup. Toonami heralded the show as "The Greatest Action Cartoon Ever Made," and it greatly boosted the popularity of Toonami, but unknowingly did so much more. *Dragon Ball Z'*s newfound popularity helped to bring about a greater interest in Japanese cartoons in the eyes of western youth, which in turn fueled the western anime industry to new heights. Because of its success on Toonami, *Dragon Ball Z* was the first anime that made its way to the Wall Street Journal, who declared it "A Huge Cartoon Hit."

Many items such as apparel, backpacks, lunch boxes, writing utensils, candies, drinks, foods and more feature *Dragon Ball Z*, in both Japan and North America. Action figures, collectible figurines, plush toys, bobble heads, and character model kits were also made. The fast food chain *Burger King* featured *Dragon Ball Z* toys twice in the early 2000's. Despite the TV series officially ending in Japan in 1996, and in 2003 in North America, *Dragon Ball Z* video games are created nearly every year for almost every console on the market, helping to introduce the *Dragon Ball Z* series to younger generations that never got a chance to see it air on television. These games usually do very well in the market. Popular sites such as *YouTube* have attracted large *Dragon Ball Z* fan communities over the course of the last few years, and *Dragon Ball* related videos receive many views. All of these examples showcase the incredible popularity of *Dragon Ball Z* in many countries of the world.

Original author of the manga, Akira Toriyama, held a great deal of respect for the *Dragon Ball* and *Dragon Ball Z* animes and those that developed them. Toriyama also admired the fact that the anime managed possessed original stories created by the animation team and stated that he considered the *Dragon Ball* anime to be equal in importance to the *Dragon Ball* manga.

## Sagas:

* Raditz Saga (Episodes 1–6)

* Vegeta Saga (Episodes 7–35)

* Namek Saga (Episodes 36–67)

* Captain Ginyu Saga (Episodes 68–74)

* Frieza Saga (Episodes 75–107)

* Garlic Jr. Saga (Episodes 108–117)

* Trunks Saga (Episodes 118–125)

* Androids Saga (Episodes 126–139)

* Imperfect Cell Saga (Episodes 140–152)

* Perfect Cell Saga (Episodes 153–165)

* Cell Games Saga (Episodes 166–194)

* Other World Saga (Episodes 195-199)

* Great Saiyaman Saga (Episodes 200–209)

* World Tournament Saga (Episodes 210–219)

* Babidi Saga (Episodes 220–231)

* Majin Buu Saga (Episodes 232–253)

* Fusion Saga (Episodes 254–275)

* Kid Buu Saga (Episodes 276–288)

* Peaceful World Saga (Episodes 289–291)

## Movies, Tv Specials and OVA:

### Movies

* Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone
* Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest
* Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might
* Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug
* Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge
* Dragon Ball Z: The Return of Cooler
* Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!
* Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan
* Dragon Ball Z: Bojack Unbound
* Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming
* Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly
* Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn
* Dragon Ball Z: Wrath of the Dragon
* Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods
* Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’

### TV specials

* Dragon Ball Z: Bardock - The Father of Goku
* Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks

### OVA:

* Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans
* Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!
* Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans
* Episode of Bardock

### Funimation Remastered Box Sets

November 2005, Funimation announced they would release a remastered form of *Dragon Ball* Z on DVD beginning in 2007. All *DBZ* episodes were to be digitally remastered and released in boxset form.

The first season set (the entire Vegeta Saga) was re-released on February 6, 2007. The first 39 episodes of this season are spread across 6 discs, and cost $30–$50 USD (the original intention was for 5 discs, but there was a risk of quality reduction). Funimation released a trailer for the new set on the *Dragon Ball Z* official website.

Funimation released the second season set, containing both the Namek and Captain Ginyu sagas, on May 22, 2007. Beginning with this release, several of the in-house voice actors re-dubbed their characters' lines to keep consistency with the remainder of the dub. The third season set, containing the Frieza Saga, was released on September 18, 2007. The fourth season, containing both the Garlic Jr., Trunks and Android sagas, was released on February 11, 2008. Season five, containing both the Imperfect and Perfect Cell sagas, was released May 27, 2008. Season six, containing the Cell Games Saga, was released September 16, 2008. Season seven, containing both the Great Saiyaman and World Tournament sagas, was released November 11, 2008. Season eight, containing both the Babidi and Majin Buu sagas, was released February 10, 2009. Season nine, containing both the Fusion and Kid Buu sagas, was released May 19, 2009.

The series has been re-transferred at 1080p resolution with digital restoration technology removing all grain and scratches from Funimation's original prints of the series. It is important to note however, that like many late 80's-early 90's Toei productions (for example, *Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon, Marmalade Boy, Ghost Sweeper Mikami* and *Slam Dunk*), the series was produced on 16 millimeter film which tends to be fairly grainy and soft. The new restoration was supervised by colorist Steve Franko.

The series is presented in widescreen format (1.78:1, cropped from the original full frame) for the first time. Comparison images from the new set show that while there is missing footage on the top and bottom, there is at least additional footage on the right and left that has not appeared in any prior release, having been taken straight from the original Japanese film master recording.

This format change was highly controversial among fans, as this is not how the T.V. episodes were intended to be seen and this substantially alters them. Many fans launched a letter-writing campaign against the release. In response to the negative fan outcry regarding the release's apparent cropping of the source video, a Funimation representative has released a document from the team remastering the video, which explains the logistics of the new release. This document details how certain areas of the original film are damaged, and admits that though the video is cropped, this release eliminates the grain that was present on prior 4:3 releases. It has also been theorized that it is ultimately more inexpensive to transfer the series in 16:9 and thereby remove the damaged portions of the frame than to repair 291 episodes' worth of damaged film.

The boxset contains a revised English track in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (it contains the original Japanese score by Shunsuke Kikuchi, although it is unknown just how the English dialogue is revised). For the first time ever, there is a choice between having the Japanese dialogue with Toei's original Japanese music, or English dialogue with either Funimation's dub music or Toei's original Japanese music.

Special features include a featurette on the remastering of the original Japanese print and a 24-page booklet with episode summaries, character descriptions and a *DBZ* timeline.

Dragon Ball Z: Season 1Dragon Ball Z Season 2Dragon Ball Z: Season 3Dragon Ball Z: Season 4Dragon Ball Z: Season 5Dragon Ball Z: Season 6Dragon Ball Z: Season 7Dragon Ball Z Season 8Dragon Ball Z: Season 9

### Funimation Dragon Box Sets

Funimation Dragon Box sets were confirmed for release by Funimation Entertainment on July 19, 2009. The Dragon Box was produced from the original Dragon Box masters after a frame by frame restoration, and spans the entire 291 episodes of *Dragon Ball Z*.

This definitive DVD box release begins with Dragon Box One which includes the first 42 episodes, uncut, on 6 discs.

The Dragon Box releases feature an aspect ratio of 4:3, the original Japanese audio (with options for an English track or English subtitles), the original episode previews, complete opening and closing credits and a collector's booklet.

While Toei's *DBZ* Dragon Boxes consists of only two volumes, Funimation's divides the series into seven; Dragon Box One was released on November 10, 2009 with an SRP of $79.98, while Dragon Box Two was released on February 16, 2010, Dragon Box Three was released on May 4, 2010, Dragon Box Four was released on September 21, 2010, Dragon Box Five was released on April 26, 2011, Dragon Box Six was released on July 5, 2011, and Dragon Box Seven was released on October 11, 2011.

## Sets

Dragon Box Z Vol. 1Dragon Box Z Vol. 2Dragon Box Z Vol. 3Dragon Box Z Vol. 4Dragon Box Z Vol. 5Dragon Box Z Vol. 6Dragon Box Z Vol. 7

### Funimation Rock the Dragon Edition Box Set

    It is the release of the original Funimation/Saban dub of *Dragon Ball Z* in a box set. The set consists of the 53 episodes (which were edited from the first 67 Japanese episodes of *DBZ*) and includes the first three *Dragon Ball Z* movies (*Dead Zone*, *The World's Strongest*, *The Tree of Might*). It was released on August 20, 2013. The collector's edition features the Ocean voice cast and opening theme song "Rock the Dragon". It also features a hardbound full color 48 page book which showcases the character's history, and tropes that helped elevate *DBZ* to the pop culture it is today.

### Funimation Season Blu-ray Sets

Funimation confirmed in June 2013 that the Blu-ray season box sets of *DBZ* would take place once again. The first set, "Dragon Ball Z Season 1", was released on December 31, 2013 and the final set, "Dragon Ball Z Season 9", was released on December 9, 2014. The episodes are presented in the cropped 16:9 widescreen format. However, unlike the "Orange Brick" DVD sets which were a "straight crop", these ones use pan and scan so that important information in the frame is not lost.

Dragon Ball Z: Season 1Dragon Ball Z: Season 2Dragon Ball Z: Season 3Dragon Ball Z: Season 4Dragon Ball Z: Season 5Dragon Ball Z: Season 6Dragon Ball Z: Season 7Dragon Ball Z: Season 8Dragon Ball Z: Season 9

## *Dragon Ball Z* Movie Steelbook Sets

All the movie double feature steelbook sets have been released both on DVD and Blu-ray

Dragon Ball Z: Double Feature 1Dragon Ball Z: Double Feature 2Dragon Ball Z: Double Feature 3Dragon Ball Z: Double Feature 4Dragon Ball Z: Double Feature 5Dragon Ball Z: Triple FeatureDragon Ball Z: Double Feature 6Dragon Ball Z: Double Feature 7
## Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z Movie Collection Box Sets

All 17 movies were re-released in collection box sets containing 4-5 movies each. Each boxset is a thinpack with each movie separated on individual discs. The individual thin cases feature new artwork based on the original Japanese poster artwork on the front, and the clean artwork from the previous American release on the back. These releases generally contain no extras with the exception of Dragon Ball Z Movie 1's commentary track. Each movie contains English 5.1 and Japanese 1.0 (sometimes 2.0) soundtracks. These are the same discs as the "Double Feature" releases.

 *Dragon Ball Z: Movie Collection 2*
 *Dragon Ball Z: Movie Collection 3*

Dragon Ball Z: Movie Collection 1Dragon Ball Z: Movie Collection 2Dragon Ball Z: Movie Collection 3

## Theme songs

### Japanese themes

* Version 1: episodes 1~21
* Version 2: episodes 22~117
* Version 3: episodes 118~199

* "We Gotta Power": episodes 200~291

* Endings:

* "Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Power!": episodes 1~199
* "We Were Angels": episodes 200~291

### English anime themes

* Openings:
	+ "Main Title" (AKA "Rock the Dragon")
	+ "Dragon Ball Z" (AKA "DBZ Theme")
	+ "Dragonball Z" (Ocean Dub episodes 108-276)
	+ "Dragon Ball Z Uncut Theme"
	+ "Dragon Ball Z Movie Theme"
	+ "DBZ Movie Theme"
	+ "Eternal Sacrifice" (*Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan* theme song)
	+ "Summon Up the Dragon"

## External links

* Official Toei Animation's website
* Official FUNimation's website
* Official Manga UK's website
* Official Madman's website