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Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ, Doragon Bōru Zetto) is the award-winning adaptation of the second portion of the immensely popular Dragon Ball manga written and drawn by Akira Toriyama, this makes it the sequel to the Dragon Ball anime. It was initially released in Japan and Hong Kong, and later elsewhere in the world including the United States. The 'Z' was originally added to the title by Toriyama to signify it as being the ending portion of the Dragon Ball series.

The series follows the adventures of the adult version of Goku who, along with his companions, defend the Earth and many other planets against various villains. 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. The separation between the series is also significant as the latter series takes on a more dramatic and serious tone.

The anime first premiered in Japan and Hong Kong on April 18, 1989 (on Fuji TV) at 7:00 p.m. and ended on January 31, 1996. It was also later broadcast across Japan by the anime television network, Animax. In Hong Kong, it was the second country to release the full seasons of Dragon Ball Z, due to close ties between Bird Studios Hong Kong and Japan. In the U.S., the series ran between 1996 and 2003, though not always on the same networks or with continuity of dubbing. It aired in the UK, albeit with the same dubbing problem, on Cartoon Network, premiering on March 6, 2000 and running until 2002, with the final few episodes being shown on CNX starting from October 14, 2002 and finishing on February 28 2003. The channel then relaunched as Toonami, on which it was repeated daily. In the Philippines, it aired on RPN 9 first then IBC 13, both state-controlled, it was popular and became more popular when it aired on GMA Network, the show was cancelled and was returned many times due to its popularity. Currently, it airs on GMA Network weekends at 8:00am with double episodes on Sunday.

After Dragon Ball Z, the story of Goku and his friends continues in the anime-only series Dragon Ball GT. This series is not based on a manga by Akira Toriyama.

Toriyama's humor/self-parody manga Neko Majin Z features several concepts introduced in Dragon Ball Z (several Dragon Ball Z characters even make various appearances), but that manga is designed as a parody and not a true continuation of the series.

Themes

Throughout the series, there is a strong theme that young people can achieve great things, despite their inherent drawbacks. One example is during the Cell Games Saga, in which Gohan (at age nine in the Japanese version, eleven in the Funimation version) is given the responsibility of defeating the villainous Cell, which he does after unlocking his inner strength. In addition, Gohan starts out young in the series, and accomplishes much despite his young age.

Another theme is the turning of fortunes in a battle through desperation or righteous anger. Many battles proceed almost to defeat for the heroes, finally to be reversed through a desperate act to defend their home or loved ones. Characters who have used this to their advantage include Goku, Gohan and even Vegeta. This theme is found in almost every battle.

One of the main and deepest of themes is fatherhood. Not only is it seen in the obvious example of Goku and his sons, but also Vegeta, who has a hard time at first, but eventually learns what it means to be a father as seen in the Cell Games,and Buu Sagas, and most of Dragon Ball GT. Other signs of this being a theme are the lesser characters all having a father or being the father of a main character such as Mr. Satan, Gyū-Maō, Dr. Briefs, or Bardock. Even the villains show fatherhood as a theme, through Freeza and King Cold, Babidi and Bibidi, Broly and Paragus, and Piccolo Daimaō and Piccolo Jr.

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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 includes cartoon blood), which are commonly seen as inappropriate for younger audiences by American standards. When it was marketed in the US, the distribution company FUNimation alongside with 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.

Beginning with the Ginyu arc (3rd US season) on Cartoon Network, severe restrictions were put in place for a cable program. From this saga onwards, FUNimation dubbed the show themselves with their own in-house voice actors. In 2003, FUNimation began to redub the first two sagas (Saiyan and Freeza) to remove the problems that were caused from their previous partnership with Saban. They also redubbed the first three Pioneer-distributed movies that were dubbed by the Ocean Group voice actors. The distribution of the redubs on DVD, under the Ultimate Uncut Edition title, began in April 2005.

Creative changes

To an equal extent, people have taken issue with changes in the English edition that are not seen as necessary, such as extraneous dialogue not found in the original, dubbing that sways the English version in its own creative direction, the replacement of the entire original musical score, and renaming of many characters, terminology, and locations. Combined with criticized voice acting, many feel that the English version of Dragon Ball Z almost seems like an entirely different show than the original, and this has led many familiar with the Japanese series to dislike FUNimation's English dub.

Uncut version

In 2005, Cartoon Network started showing the uncut version of the first two seasons of Dragon Ball Z. This version used the original Japanese footage, with the exception of the Japanese opening and closing themes, and has an entirely new score of music. The uncut version also featured many scenes with large amounts of blood, mild profanity and language, as well as mild sexual humor and slapstick male nudity. Generally, while some lines were maintained from the original dub, several mistranslations were also corrected. Although only the first two uncut seasons have been released more are expected soon.

International English version

Until 2001, other English speaking countries including the UK, Canada, Australia and Republic of Ireland received FUNimation's English version of Dragon Ball Z, both the Saban and In-house incarnations. Until, surprisingly, when Episode 108 aired in the UK (also in The Netherlands) the English Dub switched to a version produced in Canada; which appeared to have been licensed out by FUNimation to produce a version of the show (It is thought it was recorded at either Airwaves or Westwood Studios in Vancouver). However, this version regained the original voice cast by the Ocean Group instead of the FUNimation actors. This version began airing in Canada in the fall of 2001 from Episode 168, and ran through to the end of the series. It used FUNimation's own videotracks and its scripts, albeit with some notable changes to fit the actors better. This version used music recycled from the Mega Man and Monster Rancher cartoons, as well as a few original pieces for the series by Jon Mitchell, Tom Keenlyside and David Iris. This version, albeit with the original actors lacks due to its clearly low production values, and in the speed it was produced - for example many voices did not stay consistent through the series, and by the end few remained from the original 1996 cast. See Below for a complete cast listing.

Filler

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.

The company behind the anime, Toei Animation, would occasionally create 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. For instance, many scenes in the anime appear quite protracted, featuring long shots of the characters faces and stand-offs lasting an entire episode. As the anime series was forced to expand 12 pages of manga image and text into 20-22 minutes of animation footage, these changes were introduced to fill the complete television timeslot or to allow the anime writers to explore some other aspects of the series' universe. The Garlic Jr. arc, between the Freeza Saga and Trunks arc (pre-Cell Saga) and the Afterlife Tournament arc between the Cell and Buu Sagas are examples of this. However, most changes such as these have been known to sometimes contradict the manga and create plot holes.

VHS/DVD Releases

Japanese releases

Originally, only the Dragon Ball Z movies, and the Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans footage were available for home viewing in Japan. The movies were released on both VHS, and Laserdisc format. The Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans footage was released both on VHS, as a visual guide to the Nintendo Famicom game with the same name, and on the PlayDia, as an interactive FMV.

Dragonbox releases

In 2003, all of the Dragon Ball Z TV series was finally released for home viewing in Japan, on two large DVD boxed sets, following the release of a similar set for Dragon Ball. Each Dragon Ball Z Dragonbox had a large amount of DVD extras, as well as an action figure and a book.

The video and audio transfers of the show used on these DVDs came off of the Fuji TV master tapes of the show, as this allowed Toei to put out a far superior and completely accurate version of the show on DVD which was helpful since the entire plot of a season could be summed up in about ten minutes. This allowed all episodes to have their original openings, endings, eyecatches, next episode previews, etc., compared to what was available in the US.

In late 2005 the Dragon Box Z DVDs were re-released in single volumes with six episodes per disc. While the packaging and DVD menus are different from the 2003 release, and so far no plans have been announced for the two TV specials and the Playdia footage released with the 2003 versions, the Audio and Visual quality is the exact same as those discs found in the 2003 Dragonbox release.

At the end of March, 2006, a Dragon box: The Movies DVD-BOX was released. This release contained all 17 Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z theatrical features, along with a book, and two scouters in the form of walkie-talkies. The video and audio are remastered, however the video is cropped and contains less picture than the full-screen versions, a common occurrence for films from Toei, based on long-running and popular TV series (See Saint Seiya, Fist of the North Star, and One Piece).

All Dragon box releases contain Japanese language audio only (with exceptions to foreign-language bonus clips), and no subtitles.

Pioneer DVDs

During the late 90's/early 00's, The first 53 (Saban/FUNimation version numbers, originally uncut as 67) TV episodes were released on to DVD by Geneon Entertainment USA (then Pioneer Entertainment). These contained only the edited, US-TV broadcast versions, and totalled 17 volumes. At a later date, the first 8 DVDs were released as the 'Saiyan Saga', while the final 9 were released as the 'Namek Saga'. As of August the 31st, 2004, Geneon's license for video distribution of these episodes ended, allowing FUNimation to re-release these episodes.

Along with these episodes, Pioneer Ent. also produced bilingual, uncut DVDs of the first three Dragon Ball Z theatrical features. These DVDs retained the original Ocean cast for the English track, as well as being one of the first uncut and bilingual releases in the U.S. The English versions of these films were also subject to a different treatment, rather than replacing the original music, the original OP and ED themes, as well as background music, were retained. The only noticeable differences besides languages are the inclusion of a few different sound effects which are not present on the original Japanese version.

These films were released as a three-disc boxset by Pioneer, however much like the 53 TV episodes Pioneer had license to, the first three Z film's home video rights now belong to FUNimation.

FUNimation DVDs

As of 2000, FUNimation has released uncut versions of their Texas-based English dub on to DVD, uncut and with Japanese language track, and English-translation subtitles. Beginning with the Captain Ginyu saga, which took place directly after the Saban/FUNimation-produced episodes, FUNimation has released bilingual, uncut DVDs for every episode covering (Japanese numbers) 68 till 291. Boxsets for the Garlic Jr., Androids, Imperfect Cell, Perfect Cell, World Tournament, Majin Buu, Evil Buu, Fusion, and Kid Buu U.S. sagas have also been released. However, in order to maximize profits, the DVDs were released out of continuity (certain amounts of one section of the series were released, and then FUNimation would go back and release others). With no noticeable numbering visible, this caused frustration to those trying to follow the series from start to finish.

After acquiring the video rights to the first 53 (67) episodes from Pioneer, FUNimation announced that they would release these episodes uncut, with a new 5.1 English language track and uncut footage. The Ultimate Uncut Edition line was born. The release would be 22 volumes, Bilingual, and with extras. The Saiyan Saga was renamed the 'Vegeta' Saga (Parts I and II, covering 12 DVDs), probably to avoid confusion with the Pioneer volumes. No one is sure what the Namek saga would have been called. This was the same version shown on Cartoon Network. However, as of DVD volume 9, FUNimation has cancelled these box sets and are planning to re-re-release them in the new DVD sets they are currently working on. This has greatly upset fans who have purchased the expensive Ultimate Uncut DVDs, as the Vegeta Saga Part II will never be completed.

FUNimation has also released Dragon Ball Z movies 4-13, finishing the release of the movies with 'Wrath of the Dragon', the 13th movie. These are all bilingual and subtitled, but do not follow the trend set by Ocean's first three movies. Music has been changed and altered, including the insertion of songs from rock bands such as Pantera and Deftones. The movies utilize the TV series Texas cast, though they also include the original Japanese version with subtitling by Steve Simmons.

FUNimation re-released the first movie under the Ultimate Uncut line, but movie 2 and 3 were not named 'Ultimate Uncut' even though they had they same cover style as movie 1. All of these movies had a 5.1 English track, new subtitles, different DVD extras and come in a boxset titled 'First Strike'. However, they do not retain the original Ocean dub, and contain a new English dub produced by FUNimation's Texas cast. This version contains different music to the original dub or Japanese version.

FUNimation has officially dropped the 'Ultimate Uncut' line and are working on their season boxsets.

FUNimation Season Box Sets

In November 2005, FUNimation announced they would release a remastered form of Dragon Ball Z on DVD beginning in 2007. It was later announced that "Season 1" (the entire Vegeta Saga) would be re-released on February 6, 2007. The first 39 episodes of Season 1 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). 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. It was reported from FUNimation's online trailer that the series would be presented in widescreen format (1.78:1, cropped from the original full frame) for the first time. This 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 lauched a letter-writing campaign against the release. 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. All other 291 episodes are to be remastered and released in boxset form as well. FUNimation released a trailer for the new set on the Dragon Ball Z official website.

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. In response to 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 admit that though the video is cropped, this release will eliminate the grain that would be 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.

FUNimation has announced that the Second Season Set is set for release in May 22, 2007. It is to contain both the Namek Saga and Ginyu Saga. This means there should be a total of 35 episodes included. The set will once again be in widescreen (1:78:1). It has also been confirmed by voice actor Kyle Hebert that the Ginyu Saga will be re-dubbed by most of the voice actors to keep consistency with the dub.

Movies, TV specials, and other

Movies

Toei Titles

1. Return my Gohan!! (1989)
2. The World's Strongest (1990)
3. Super Deciding Battle for the Entire Planet Earth (1990)
4. Super Saiyan Goku (1991)
5. The Incredible Mightiest vs. Mightiest (1991)
6. Clash!! 10,000,000,000 Powerful Warriors (1992)
7. Extreme Battle!! The Three Great Super Saiyans (1992)
8. Burn Up!! A Close, Intense, Super-Fierce Battle (1993)
9. The Galaxy at the Brink!! The Super Incredible Guy (1993)
10. The Dangerous Duo! Super-Warriors Can't Rest (1994)
11. Super-Warrior Defeat!! I'm the One who'll Win (1994)
12. The Rebirth of Fusion!! Gokū and Vegeta (1995)
13. Dragon Fist Explosion!! If Gokū Won't Do It, Who Will? (1995)

FUNimation titles

1. Dead Zone (1997) (Re-released separately in 2005 under 'Ultimate Uncut Edition' line and then included in a boxset titled 'First Strike' containing Z movies 1, 2 and 3 in 2006)
2. The World's Strongest (1998) (Re-released in 2006, in a boxset titled 'First Strike' containing Z movies 1, 2 and 3)
3. The Tree of Might (1998) (Re-released in 2006, in a boxset titled 'First Strike' containing Z movies 1, 2 and 3)
4. Lord Slug (2001)
5. Cooler's Revenge (2001)
6. Return of Cooler (2002)
7. Super Android 13! (2003)
8. Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan (2003)
9. Bojack Unbound (2004)
10. Broly's Second Coming (2005)
11. Bio:Broly (2005)
12. Fusion Reborn (2006)
13. Wrath of the Dragon (2006)

TV specials

Toei Titles

1. A Lonesome, Final Battle: The Father of Z-Warrior Kakarrot, who Challenged Freeza (1990)
2. Resistance to Despair!! The Remaining Super-Warriors, Gohan and Trunks (1993)

FUNimation Titles

1. Bardock: The Father of Goku (2000)
2. The History of Trunks (2000)

Other

OVA

1. Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans (1993)

Theme songs

Japanese themes

• Openings
  1. "CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA"
     • Lyrics: Yukinojo Mori, Music: Chiho Kiyooka, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama
       • Episodes 1~21 (version 1)
       • Episodes 22~117 (version 2)
       • Episodes 118~199 (version 3)
       • Movies 1-9
  2. "WE GOTTA POWER"
     • Lyrics: Yukinojo Mori, Music: Keiju Ishikawa, Arrangement: Keiju Ishikawa, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama
       • Episodes 200~291
       • Movies 10-12
• Closings
  1. "Detekoi Tobikiri ZENKAI Pawā!"; でてこいとびきりZENKAIパワー! (Come Out, Incredible ZENKAI Power!)
     • Lyrics: Naruhisa Arakawa, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kenji Yamamoto, Vocals: MANNA
       • Episodes 1~194
  2. "Boku-tachi wa Tenshi Datta"; 僕達は天使だった (We Were Angels)
     • Lyrics: Yukinojo Mori, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Osamu Totsuka, Vocals: Hironobu Kageyama
       • Episodes 195~291

Cast list

Japanese Staff

• Original author: Akira Toriyama
• Producers (Planning): Kōzō Morishita, Kenji Shimizu (Fuji TV)
• Series composition: Takao Koyama
• Script writers: Takao Koyama, Aya Matsui, Katsuyuki Sumizawa, Toshiki Inoue, and others
• Production managers: Matsuji Kishimoto -> Takeshi Torimoto -> Akihiko Yamaguchi -> Yūichi Suenaga
• Chief animator (Character design): Minoru Maeda -> Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru
• Chief designer: Yūji Ikeda
• Music: Shunsuke Kikuchi
• Music Production: Columbia Music Entertainment
• Editing: Shinichi Fukumitsu (TAVAC)
• Recording: Kenji Ninomiya (TAVAC)
• Sound effects: Hidenori Arai (Fizz Sound Creation)
• Music selection: Shigeru Miyashita (TAVAC)
• Recording Studio: TAVAC
• Series director: Daisuke Nishio
• Production: Fuji TV, Toei Animation

Episode list

Video games

See also

• List of Dragon Ball characters
• Kamehameha (Dragon Ball)
• Z Fighters
• CHA-LA HEAD-CHA-LA (The 1st opening theme song)
• WE GOTTA POWER (The 2nd opening theme song)
• List of Dragon Ball special abilities
• Dragon Ball (franchise)
• Dragon Ball Movies
• Dragonballs

References

1. FunHack. "FunHack post". FunHack. Retrieved December 20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); External link in |work= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

• English Dragon Ball Z website
• Dragon Ball Z World Map
• Toei Dragon Ball Z website
• Atari, publisher of Dragon Ball Z games
• Dragon Ball Z ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• A DBZ fan forum

• 1989 television program debuts
• 1990s American television series
• 2000s American television series
• Action anime
• Action manga
• Adventure anime
• Adventure manga
• Martial arts anime
• Martial arts manga
• Science fiction anime
• Science fiction manga
• Dragon Ball
• Japanese television series
• Shows on Toonami
• Shunsuke Kikuchi
• Viz Media manga
• Anime of the 1990s
• Anime of the 1980s