2007-09-03T03:58:00.001-07:00

Dragon Ball Z is the title of an anime series that continues the adaptation of the Dragon Ball manga written, drawn and created by Akira Toriyama, making it the sequel to the original anime series. It was first released in Japan and Hong Kong, and later elsewhere in the world, first in European countries such as France, Italy and Spain, and later in the United States.

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 first child, Gohan, and to a lesser extent, his second child Goten. The separation between the series is also significant as the later series takes on a more dramatic and serious tone.

History

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

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.

The show started in the US in 1996 on Cartoon Network. Beginning with the Saiyan Saga, severe restrictions were put in place for a cable program. In 1997, the show was moved to the network's new Toonami block, but was cancelled in 1998, after completing the Namek Saga. In 1999 however, the show was brought back and FUNimation cut their partnership with Saban. From the Ginyu Saga onwards, FUNimation dubbed the show themselves with their own in-house voice actors and also cut some of their previous restrictions, such as the inclusion of blood. The series ended its US run in 2003. Altogether, the show was rated TV-Y7 for fantasy violence. The FUNimation dub became very popular and it also greatly helped expand the anime market in the US

Creative changes

The FUNimation version is noted for featuring dialogue not found in the original, dubbing that results in minor changes to the original story, the replacement of the entire original musical score written by Shunsuke Kikuchi, and renaming many characters, terminology, and locations.

Uncut version

In 2003, FUNimation began to redub the first two sagas (Saiyan and Namek). 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 Special Edition title, began in April 2005.

In the summer of 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 nudity. Generally, while some lines were maintained from the original dub, several mistranslations were also corrected. The uncut episodes were given a TV-PG rating unlike the original dub's episodes which were given a TV-Y7 rating. For the Season DVD release of Season 2, the Ginyu Saga was also re-dubbed to keep consistency. Frieza saga will be released September 2007. It is unknown if the rest of the sagas will be re-dubbed for their Season DVD releases also.

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. This changed when Episode 108 aired in the UK (also in The Netherlands); the English Dub switched to a version produced in Canada. This version regained the original voice cast by the Ocean Group instead of the FUNimation actors. This version began airing in Canada in the autumn 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 changes. 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 suffered from low production values and a rushed schedule. 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 or even spanning multiple episodes for a single fight. 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 Frieza Saga and Trunks arc (pre-Cell Saga) and the Afterlife Tournament arc between the Cell and Buu Sagas are examples of this.

Sagas

Saiyan Saga
Namek Saga
Ginyu Saga
Frieza Saga
Garlic Jr. Saga
Trunks Saga
Android Saga
Imperfect Cell Saga
Perfect Cell Saga
Cell Games Saga
Great Saiyaman Saga
World Tournament Saga
Babidi Saga
Majin Buu Saga
Fusion Saga
Kid Buu Saga

Cast list

Character Name	Voice Actor (Japanese)	V.A. (U.S. English)	V.A. (Int'l English) Ep 108/123+ Only
Goku	Masako Nozawa	Ian James Corlett Peter Kelamis Sean Schemmel	Peter Kelamis Kirby Morrow
Gohan	Masako Nozawa	Saffron Henderson Stephanie Nadolny Kyle Hebert	Saffron Henderson Jillian Michaels Brad Swaile
Goten	Masako Nozawa	Kara Edwards	Jillian Michaels
Piccolo	Toshio Furukawa	Scott McNeil Christopher Sabat	Scott McNeil
Vegeta	Ryō Horikawa	Brian Drummond Christopher Sabat	Brian Drummond
Bulma	Hiromi Tsuru	Lalainia Lindbjerg Tiffany Vollmer	Maggie Blue O'Hara
Future Trunks	Takeshi Kusao	Eric Vale	Alistair Abell
Trunks	Takeshi Kusao	Laura Bailey	Cathy Weseluck
Krillin	Mayumi Tanaka	Terry Klassen Sonny Strait	Terry Klassen
Yajirobe	Mayumi Tanaka	Brian Drummond Mike McFarland	Brian Drummond
Yamcha	Toru Furuya	Ted Cole Christopher Sabat	Ted Cole
Tien	Hirotaka Suzuoki	Matt Smith Chris Cason John Burgmeier	Matt Smith
Chiaotzu	Hiroko Emori	Cathy Weseluck Monika Antonelli	Cathy Weseluck
Chi-Chi	Mayumi Sho (1-66) Naoko Watanabe (88-291)	Laara Sadiq Cynthia Cranz	Laara Sadiq
Master Roshi	Kōhei Miyauchi (2-260) Hiroshi Masuoka (288-291)	Ian James Corlett Don Brown Mike McFarland	Terry Klassen
Oolong	Naoki Tatsuta	Doug Parker Mark Britten Bradford Jackson	Doug Parker
Puar	Naoko Watanabe	Cathy Weseluck Monika Antonelli	Cathy Weseluck
Hercule	Daisuke Gōri	Chris Rager	Don Brown
Videl	Yuko Minaguchi	Kara Edwards	Moneca Stori
Android 18	Miki Itō	Meredith McCoy	Enuka Okuma
Baba	Junpei Takiguchi (9-34) Mayumi Tanaka (207-271)	Ellen Kennedy Linda Young	Brian Drummond
Dende	Tomiko Suzuki (49-288) Hiro Yūki (290-291)	Paulina Gillis Ceyil Dellgadillo Laura Bailey Justin Cook	Andrew Francis
Ox King	Daisuke Gōri	Dave Ward Mark Britten Kyle Hebert	Dave Ward
Mr. Popo	Toku Nishio	French Tickner Chris Cason Christopher Sabat	French Tickner
Korin	Ichirō Nagai (26-192) Naoki Tatsuta (238-285)	Doug Parker Mark Britten Christopher Sabat	Ted Cole
Kami	Takeshi Aono	Michael Dobson Christopher Sabat	Dale Wilson
King Kai	Jōji Yanami	Don Brown Sean Schemmel	Don Brown
Nappa	Shōzō Iizuka	Michael Dobson Christopher Sabat Phil Parsons
Raditz	Shigeru Chiba	Jason Gray-Stanford Justin Cook
Frieza	Ryūsei Nakao	Pauline Newstone Linda Young	Pauline Newstone
Cell	Norio Wakamoto	Dameon Clarke	Dale Wilson
Majin Buu	Kōzō Shioya	Josh Martin Justin Cook	Scott McNeil Brian Dobson
Shenron	Kenji Utsumi Masaharu Satō (193)	Don Brown Christopher Sabat	Don Brown
Narrator	Jōji Yanami	Doc Harris Dale Kelly Kyle Hebert	Doc Harris