Dragon Ball Z 

The adventures of Earth's martial arts defender Son Goku continue with a new family and the revelation of his alien origin. Now Goku and his allies must defend the planet from an onslaught of new extraterrestrial enemies.

Stars:

Jôji Yanami, Kyle Hebert, Masako Nozawa

Top Rated TV #79 | See the Top Rated TV as rated by our users.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Jôji Yanami	...	Narration / ... 291 episodes, 1989-1996
Kyle Hebert	...	Narrator / ... 291 episodes, 1989-1996
Masako Nozawa	...	Son Gohan / ... 291 episodes, 1989-1996
Christopher Sabat	...	Vegeta / ... 279 episodes, 1989-1996
Sean Schemmel	...	Goku / ... 267 episodes, 1989-1996
Mayumi Tanaka	...	Kuririn / ... 230 episodes, 1989-1996
Sonny Strait	...	Krillin / ... 227 episodes, 1989-1996
Stephanie Nadolny	...	Gohan / ... 212 episodes, 1989-1996
Toshio Furukawa	...	Piccolo / ... 194 episodes, 1989-1996
Ryô Horikawa	...	Vegeta / ... 196 episodes, 1989-1996
Hiromi Tsuru	...	Bulma / ... 179 episodes, 1989-1996
Tiffany Vollmer	...	Bulma / ... 179 episodes, 1989-1996
Mike McFarland	...	Master Roshi / ... 149 episodes, 1989-1996
Cynthia Cranz	...	Chi-Chi / ... 141 episodes, 1989-1996
Hirotaka Suzuoki	...	Tenshinhan / ... 132 episodes, 1989-1996
Daisuke Gôri	...	Mr. Satan / ... 131 episodes, 1989-1996
Takeshi Kusao	...	Trunks / ... 126 episodes, 1989-1996
Tôru Furuya	...	Yamcha / ... 117 episodes, 1989-1996

Storyline

Five years after the end of "Dragon Ball", Son Gokû reunites with his friends, bringing along his four-year old son, Gohan. Son Gohan is not like his father; he'd rather study than fight. Raditz, a warrior from space lands on earth searching for someone named "Kakarotto". He reveals himself as Raditz of the Saiyajin, the older brother of Kakarotto! And Kakarotto turns out to be Son Gokû! With two other Saiyajin coming to earth, can Gokû and the Z Warriors withstand the onslaught!?

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Plot Keywords:

anime | actor voicing multiple characters | actor playing multiple characters | cult favorite | friend | 

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Taglines:

Here & back again ! Goku goes on ...... .

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Fuji TV [Japan] Toei Animation [Japan]

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

12 April 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

DBZ

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toei Animation, Toei Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

24 min (291 episodes)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although the series' German dubbing was created based off the pre-edited and heavily censored French cut, the dialogue was not a re-translation of the infamously badly written French script like in several other countries such as Poland, Portugal or Hungary. Instead, it was based on the dialogue from the German release of the Dragon Ball manga series. Thus, while having some mis-translations of its own, it is several times more faithful to the original Japanese script than the French version (and as an extension all other European scripts that have been based on it). Notably, the German dialogue refers to the Saiyans as Saiya-jin (their original Japanese name) instead of "space warriors" or "star warriors", which were terms used in the other French-based European dubs.

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Goofs

French dubbed version: When first achieving the Super Saiyan stage, instead of saying "I am the Legendary Super Saiyan", Goku says "By the power of King Kaio, transformation!" It seems that the translator has confused the Super Saiyan stage with the Kaioken technique. This error was carried over into other foreign dubs based on the French dub.

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Quotes

Vegeta: [after killing Android 19] Too Bad! I only wish that there was a junkyard, so could give him a proper burial.

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Alternate Versions

The Hungarian dub, based on the infamous French version, renamed some characters even further. The Saiyans came to be called "Starfighters". Piccolo was called "Young Satan". King Kai was called "Kaito" and his Kaio-Ken technique became "Kaito, empower me!" or "Come forward, Kaito!". Frieza was originally called Dermesztina (Freeze-Tina), but was rechristened Dermesztö (Freezer) later when the translator found out that he's male. Dabura was called "Devla", after the God of the Romani people. Pui-Pui and Yacon were simplified to "Pipi" and "Yaco". The Kamehameha attack was always spoken as "Kamehame". Most of these changes were then carried over into the dub of Dragon Ball GT, which was based on the original Japanese version.

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Connections

Spin-off Looking Back at It All: The Dragon Ball Z Year-End Show! (1993)

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Soundtracks

Detekoi tobikiri ZENKAI pawâ!
Ending theme
Lyrics by Toshihisa Arakawa
Music by Takeshi Ike
Arranged by Kenji Yamamoto
Performed by MANNA
(Columbia Records)

User Reviews

What Can Be Said about This Show?

I mean it is awesome.

This anime is based on the later part of the Dragon Ball manga written by the insanely talented Akira Toriyama. It is the follow on from the incredible Dragon Ball anime. (see review on my comments page)Set 5 years after the battle against Piccolo, Son Goku is living peacefully. But in the Dragon Ball universe peace is never lasting. Pretty soon the past he didn't even know he had escaped from catches up from him leading to a series of epic battles.

The series goes across four main sagas- Saiyan, Freeza, Cell and Majin Boo. It takes place over a time span of about 27 years, which is pretty cool, and something you rarely get to see in a show like this. You get to see the characters grow up and change. Some character you will like a lot more by the time the series is finished. It contains some of the most likable characters of all time. I don't see how anyone could not like Son Goku. Or Son Gohan. Of course almost all of the old characters return in this series, although most have smaller roles. But most of them still get a chance at some action in at least one part. Piccolo and Kuririn still have fairly large roles, in the first half of the series at least. Yamucha and Tenshinhan have a lot less to do in the series, and Chaozu doesn't play much of a role at all. The villains are awesome. Vegeta is an awesome and well rounded character, Freeza may be one of the most memorable villains around, Cell is awesome just because of the basis of his character, and Boo.... well Boo is just the ultimate killing machine.

The series is really different from the first series. Dragon Ball focused more on humour and martial arts, this focuses more on powerful ki blasts, hardcore action and ridiculously powerful character. It will never be the most challenging series around, but it is still a whole lot of fun. Great action scenes, really cool transformations, and a bunch of alien races. What more can you really ask for? The show spans for 291 Episodes, 13 movies and 2 TV specials. And you will still be sad when it ends.

The Dragon Ball Z movies can be seen as separate stories, as most do not fit into the timeline of the series well. Also, you will find some of the material in the anime doesn't fit in very well. For the most part, this is because it is filler material that wasn't in the original manga. An example of filler is the Garlic Jr. Saga, which was put in after the Freeza saga and is a sequel of sorts to the first movie. The movies and filler are sometimes not as good as the stuff taken from the original manga, but that's not to say it isn't enjoyable. Some of the movies are pretty cool with villains like Brolli and Cooler. So I would recommend you check them out.

As with Dragon Ball, there is not much to say about the animation, although by the end it had improved a fair bit. It is drawn well, and is nice to watch. The characters all have their charms in terms of the way they are designed. The music of the series is nothing spectacular either, although I like the theme songs to the series a whole lot.

This is the show that, along with Evangelion: Neon Genesis, helped me get into anime, way back when I was just a dumb kid. Now I've grown up and become a dumb adult and I still love it. I watch it differently now than I did all those years ago. I grew up with the edited and dubbed version, which is great for kids, but if you are looking for the true series, try and get your hands on some DVDs with Japanese language options. I find them much better. But that's just me. No matter how you want to watch it, I would just advise you to sit down, switch off, and enjoy.

With the upcoming Dragon Ball live action movie, I can only hope that it is successful enough to warrant a few sequels, as a Dragon Ball Z movie would be awesome. I would not expect it to quality cinema, just a whole lot of fun.

There is also a sequel to the series, known as Dragon Ball GT, which is not based on the work of Akira Toriyama. Worth a look if you're a fan, but don't expect it to be as good as Dragon Ball Z

10/10