Dragon Ball 

Dragon Ball tells the tale of a young warrior by the name of Son Goku, a young peculiar boy with a tail who embarks on a quest to become stronger and learns of the Dragon Balls, when, once all 7 are gathered, grant any wish of choice.

Stars:

Brice Armstrong, Steve Olson, Stephanie Nadolny

Top Rated TV #162 | See the Top Rated TV as rated by our users.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Brice Armstrong	...	Narrator / ... 153 episodes, 1986-2003
Steve Olson	...	Narrator (Blue Water dub) / ... 153 episodes, 1986-2003
Stephanie Nadolny	...	Goku / ... 132 episodes, 1986-2003
Zoe Slusar	...	Goku (Blue Water dub) / ... 132 episodes, 1986-2003
Christopher Sabat	...	Yamcha / ... 131 episodes, 1986-2003
Tiffany Vollmer	...	Bulma 119 episodes, 1986-2003
Leda Davies	...	Bulma (Blue Water dub) / ... 115 episodes, 1986-2003
Mike McFarland	...	Master Roshi / ... 113 episodes, 1986-2003
Monika Antonelli	...	Puar / ... 105 episodes, 1986-2003
Victor Atelevich	...	Yamcha (Blue Water dub) / ... 102 episodes, 1986-2003
Chris Simms	...	Puar (Blue Water dub) 101 episodes, 1986-2003
Bradford Jackson	...	Oolong / ... 100 episodes, 1986-2003
Mike Thiessen	...	Krillin (Blue Water dub) / ... 88 episodes, 2001-2003
Laurie Steele	...	Krillin / ... 86 episodes, 1986-2003
Meredith McCoy	...	Launch 85 episodes, 2001-2003
John Burgmeier	...	Tien / ... 68 episodes, 1986-2003

Storyline

Follows the adventures of an extraordinarily strong young boy named Goku as he searches for the seven dragon balls. These balls, when combined, can grant the owner any one wish he desires. Along the way he makes many new friends, and enemies, and he trains to become the strongest fighter in the world.

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Plot Keywords:

anime | older actors younger roles | supernatural power | shounen | multiple english dubs | 

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Taglines:

The big showdown with Piccolo!

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Genres:

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

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Official Sites:

Official Website

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

9 September 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dragon Ball

Company Credits

Production Co:

FUNimation Entertainment,Harmony Gold,Ocean Group

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The theme song in the English dub is the same as the Japanese theme song with English lyrics

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Goofs

In the original English dub for the episode The Kamehameha wave, Kamehameha is misspelled as Kamehameah on the title screen.

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Quotes

General White: But if that's how you feel, I'll be glued to my monitor watching as you are reduced to nothing but a pile of those little chicken bones that you put in salt!

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Crazy Credits

The intro sequence that accompanied the 1995 dub was a hodgepodge of scenes from the first two movies, footage from the series itself, and footage from the intros/outros of the series. Curiously, much of the footage shown (particularly the movie footage) was never shown on TV at the time.

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Alternate Versions

There are four different distinct English dubbed versions of this series:

• a dub from Harmony Gold in 1989 that played very briefly in the US,
• a heavily edited dub from Kidmark in 1995 that played in several English-speaking countries,
• an uncut dub from Funimation in 2001 (played edited on US TV) that is shown in only in the US and Australia,
• and a slightly edited Canadian dub from 2003 that plays only in Canada and in the UK.

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Connections

Alternate-language version of Dragon Ball Z (1996)

User Reviews

Very good start for one of the best series ever

When the 1st episode of Dragon Ball kicks in, no one would even imagine where this is going to lead. That single episode led to near 500 episodes divided into 3 series, about 20 OAVs, real-life movies (one of them still being produced), hella-long mangas, mass hysteria when it ended, fan fictions all around, rumors about a new series that never arrived, several videogames and gadgets... did I forget something? Probably. Dragon Ball is what brought animes outside of Japan to the mainstream. And it did deservedly, as Dragon Ball, as a whole, is one of the best series ever made.

But let's focus on Dragon Ball, the famous prequel to the even more known Dragon Ball Z. Forget the extreme sci-fi from Z. Forget the huge muscles (well, do not, just imagine them smaller), put in loads of humor, and you get Dragon Ball, the first series. The story is funny, but smart and thrilling, and despite the obvious ending of all the parts, there's still some thrill to be had - mostly with the typical superhero scene where you wonder "How will they get out of this?" even if you know for sure they WILL get out of that. The characters are hilarious, but given the impressive amount of them, you'd better not start loving too many of them, because there could pass dozens of episodes without seeing certain people. This is quite a flaw in the Dragon Ball formula, in fact the power levels of the characters raise so fast that someone who appears to be the strongest person on the world, will be beaten by half of the cast about 50 episodes later.

The drawing style is very typical and good, although sometimes it's a little flawed - nothing bad though. Another flaw is that some sagas inside the story are quite boring - the last episodes are quite a filler that do not inflict the later storyline in any way, so it could have been avoided, and cut at the last fight. Otherwise, Dragon Ball all things considered is epic. You might watch it today and think "What's the fuss all about?" - you might not get it with today's eyes. But believe me, this thing was huge, and I could re-watch it anytime. And it leads to Dragon Ball Z, which is one of the best TV-shows ever made.