Previously, I wrote about the history of the Dragon Ball franchise in Japan. This post will take a look at the franchise’s history in the United States.

While the Dragon Ball anime was an instant hit in Japan, the story was very different in the United States. It ended up taking several attempts before the Dragon Ball franchise became a success in America.

The first attempt to import the anime happened in 1989. Harmony Gold tried to market a dubbed version of the Dragon Ball episodes, as well as edited versions of the first and third films. Harmony Gold test marketed the property in several markets. Unfortunately, this version did not fare well, and it was withdrawn from the marketplace without a full season ever being produced. This version of Dragon Ball has become known as the “Lost Dub.”

FUNimation acquired the rights for all the U.S. releases of the Dragon Ball series in 1996. The company didn’t have enough capital at the time to handle the show by themselves, so FUNimation teamed up with KidMark Entertainment for distribution. FUNimation also hired voice actors from the Ocean Group to provide the voices for the English dub of the episodes and the first movie. Dragon Ball ended up having poor ratings on television and was canceled after 13 out of the 28 episodes in the first season had aired.

FUNimation dissolved their distribution partnership with KidMark and switched to Saban. They created a dub of Dragon Ball Z, using voice actors from the Ocean Group again. Since this series was being aimed at young children and being shown on broadcast network television, quite a few edits were made to the series (the removal of all blood, language, nudity, and references to character death). This cutting came out to be the equivalent of 14 episodes being cut from the first 67 episodes. Dragon Ball Z made its debut on the WB network in September 1996. However, it was only a modest success, and it was canceled in May 1998.

In August 1998, Dragon Ball Z was added to Cartoon Network’s Toonami programming block. The exposure on Cartoon Network gave the series a new life, and Dragon Ball Z achieved new heights in popularity. FUNimation then dissolved their partnership with Saban and continued dubbing the series on their own with their own in-house voice actors. At the same time, FUNimation also eased up on their content restrictions a bit, with the major change being that there was now some small inclusions of blood included in the episodes. The success of Dragon Ball Z also allowed FUNimation to go back and make a new dub of the original Dragon Ball anime.  These new dubs began airing on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block.

In 2003, FUNimation began the process of dubbing Dragon Ball GT. However, since the company was afraid of the series experiencing the same kind of viewer drop-off that the Japanese version did, the decision was made to cut the lighter episodes that started the series originally, and jump right into the first major villain of the series. A special episode was produced that explained what happened in the episodes that had been cut.

After Dragon Ball GT, FUNimation decided to re-dub the first 53 episodes and three movies of Dragon Ball Z that had been heavily edited for the original dub. These versions were released on DVD under the title Ultimate Uncut Special Edition. Cartoon Network began airing these new dub versions of Dragon Ball Z in 2005.

FUNimation also licensed Dragon Ball Kai (which was re-titled Dragon Ball Z Kai for the English dub), a re-worked version of 194 episodes of the original Dragon Ball Z anime series. The series was aired on Nicktoons from May 24, 2010 to January 1, 2012. It also aired on The CW’s Saturday morning block, Toonzai, as well as on its successor, Vortexx. Both the Nicktoons and CW airings were edited for content. The series then began airing uncut on Adult Swim’s Toonami block on November 8, 2014. When Dragon Ball Z Kai was originally produced, it ended right before the Majin Buu arc. A continuation of the series was later produced, and the English dub of this continuation began airing on Adult Swim’s Toonami block on January 7, 2017.

In 2015, a new anime series, Dragon Ball Super, began airing on Japanese television on July 5, 2015. On November 4, 2016, FUNimation announced that the company had acquired the rights to the series and would be producing an English dub. It was also announced that FUNimation would begin simulcasting the series on their streaming platform, FunimationNow. Crunchyroll and Daisuki also offered English-subtitled simulcasts for Dragon Ball Super. The English dub began airing on Adult Swim’s Toonami block on January 7, 2017.

It’s amazing that after having such a rough time getting going in the United States, that the Dragon Ball franchise became such a hit with the Dragon Ball Z anime.

Additional posts about Dragon Ball:

• Anime Spotlight: Dragon Ball (Updated)
• Dragon Ball History in Japan

Dragon Ball started out in Japan in 1984 as a manga created by Akira Toriyama. As of this writing, the franchise now includes five different anime series, 20 animated feature films, a collectible trading card game, video games, and a live-action film. Dragon Ball’s protagonist is Son Goku, who is based off the Monkey King from a folk legend called Sun Wukong. The Dragon Ball franchise follows Son Goku from childhood into old age.

The first Dragon Ball anime series debuted in Japan in February 1986 on Fuji Television. The series closely followed the manga that it is based on, but there is also some filler included. The filler was added when the anime started catching up too closely to the manga, and this gave the manga enough time to progress before the anime continued to follow it again. The original Dragon Ball anime had a strong emphasis on comedy.

December 1986 saw the first animated film, Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenlong, being released to Japanese theaters. This film basically retold the events from the first several episodes of the series. Two more Dragon Ball films were also released: The Sleeping Princess in the Devil’s Castle in July 1987 and Mystical Great Adventure in July 1988.

The Dragon Ball anime series ended in Japan in April 1989 after 153 episodes. However, a week later, the sequel series Dragon Ball Z made its debut in Japan. A new series name was given to this series to help emphasize the fact that this series had reduced its emphasis on comedy and its increase in science fiction themes. The first Dragon Ball Z film, Dead Zone, was released in Japanese theaters in July 1989. There ended up being a total of 13 animated films produced and released for Dragon Ball Z. Akira Toriyama brought the Dragon Ball manga to an end in May 1995, and the Dragon Ball Z anime ended its run with 291 episodes in January 1996.

February 1996 saw the premiere of Dragon Ball GT, the next sequel anime in the Dragon Ball series. Unlike the earlier anime, however, this series consisted solely of original storylines written exclusively for the series.

Unfortunately, interest in Dragon Ball was waning in Japan, so the producers felt they had to tweak with the show to regenerate interest. It was decided to return to the original comedy style of Dragon Ball, reintroduce some villains that had not been seen since the original series, a return to a “Dragon Ball quest” storyline, and even a mysterious de-aging of Son Goku. These creative changes did not improve ratings, so the focus of Dragon Ball GT was changed after 16 episodes. The remaining episodes returned to the more action-oriented style of Dragon Ball Z.

In the end, only 64 episodes of Dragon Ball GT were produced. With the continued decline in interest, Dragon Ball GT was canceled. The final first-run episode aired in November 1997.

To commemorate the series’ 20th anniversary, a re-working of the first 194 episodes of Dragon Ball Z, known as Dragon Ball Kai in Japan, was produced. This re-worked version removed much of the content in the original Dragon Ball Z anime that wasn’t in the original manga, as well as a remastered high definition picture, sound, special effects, and a re-recorded voice track with most of the original voice actors.

But that wasn’t the end of the Dragon Ball franchise. The feature film, Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods was released in Japanese theaters on March 30, 2013. This film introduced two new characters: Beerus (the God of Destruction) and his assistant, Whis. This was followed by another feature film, Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F,’ which premiered in Japanese theaters on April 11, 2015. This film saw the return of the villain Frieza, who has achieved a new form and is out for revenge against Goku.

Both of these films performed well, and they were followed by a new anime series, Dragon Ball Super, which premiered on Japanese television on July 5, 2015. The series is set four years after Majin Buu was defeated. The first two arcs are a re-telling of Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F,’ and then new story arcs are introduced into the Dragon Ball story. This series lasted for 131 episodes, and the final episode aired on Japanese television on March 25, 2018.

2018 also saw the release of the feature film, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, on December 14. The film features a reworked iteration of Broly into the main Dragon Ball continuity. Broly had been a villain in three of the Dragon Ball Z films, which basically have their own continuity that doesn’t necessarily line up with the anime series. The Dragon Ball franchise has had quite the history in Japan. I’m sure in 1997, as Dragon Ball GT was winding down, no one could have anticipated that the franchise would end up having a second lease on life nearly a decade later. As of this writing, it appears the franchise is done for now, but who knows? Perhaps another Dragon Ball series or film could be announced and/or released in the next few years. The franchise came back once, and it could easily come back again at some point in the future.

Additional posts about Dragon Ball:

• Anime Spotlight: Dragon Ball (Updated)
• Dragon Ball History in the United States

Dragon Ball Super Part 3 includes episodes 27-39 of the Dragon Ball Super anime series. Audio options for this release include the original Japanese audio with English subtitles and the English dub.

Dragon Ball Super Part 3
English Publisher: FUNimation Entertainment
Format: Blu-ray
Release Date: February 20, 2018

The first episode in this set finishes off the retelling of the Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ anime film. Like with the last set, I wonder why FUNimation bump the first episode of Part 2 onto Part 1 in order to complete that arc in one set. By doing that, this arc could have concluded in Part 2.

But after that first episode, everything else in this set is a completely new story arc that has never been seen in any form before. While we had hints to a couple of characters previously, they are formally introduced in this new story arc. One is Champa, Beers’ fat twin brother, and Whis’ older sister, Vados. They make an unannounced appearance on Beerus’ planet while Goku and Vegeta are training there. We learn that there are a total of 12 universes in this world, and that Goku and the others are in the 7th universe. Champa is the God of Destruction in the 6th universe. After fighting over which universe has better food and discovering that the Earth in Universe Six has been destroyed, Champa proposes a tournament where the winner will be allowed to swap Earths. Oh, and there’s also the introduction of the Super Dragon Balls, which are literally planet-sized Dragon Balls.

And thus begins the Universe 6 saga, where each universe brings forth five fighters for a Tenkaichi Tournament style contest on a vacated, nameless planet located between Universe 6 and Universe 7. Beerus insists on choosing one of the contestants but tells Goku and Vegeta they are free to choose two others. They choose Piccolo and Majin Boo, but Universe 7 loses Majin Boo when he falls asleep during the written portion of the contest and is disqualified.

The contestants from Universe 6 are interesting. One is a Saiyan, and his people’s history and attitude are vastly different from the Saiyans that we know in Universe 7. In a lot of ways, Caba (the Saiyan from Universe 6) almost comes across as what Vegeta might have been like if history had taken a different course in Universe 7. There’s also Frost, who is Universe 6’s version of Freeza. Botamo is a bear-like creature, while Magetta is a robot-like alien. The final contestant from Universe 6 is an assassin named Hit, and his face reminds me of Cell in his “Perfect Form.” There’s also a secret about Monaka, the fighter Beerus picked and claimed to be the strongest in the universe, that’s revealed near the end of this set. With the way the matches go, it would be bad news is Goku is knocked out of the fight he’s in at the end of the set. Unfortunately, we don’t see the resolution of Goku’s fight with Hit at the end of this set, so the viewer is left with a major cliffhanger.

My favorite part of the Universe 6 saga is at the beginning of the tournament, with the performance of “The Anthem of the Universe.” It was hysterical, and I was cracking up when I saw it. If I had to choose a “moment in show” for the episode it appeared in, this would have won hands down.

Another favorite moment was during Vegeta’s fight with Caba, and how he was ultimately giving Caba a lesson on turning into a Super Saiyan, but not making it obvious to those watching what he was up to.

So this new arc gives us another Tenkaichi Tournament, although there are definitely some differences that start popping up as the fights progress. So far, it seems like Dragon Ball Super has been working at trying to recapture the humor and light-heartedness from the first Dragon Ball series, and this Universe 6 arc is doing a good job at achieving this goal. At first, this shift in tone took a little getting used to when I started Dragon Ball Super, but I’ve gotten used to it at this point. I’m enjoying Dragon Ball Super at this point, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the Universe 6 saga will continue in the next set.

The Blu-ray video is 1080p High Definition 16:9 (HD Native), and the audio is Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1 and Dolby TrueHD: Japanese 2.0. I have no complaints with the video or audio quality of this release.

There are a total of four bonus features included on this release. The first is an interview with Sean Schemmel (the English voice of Goku) and Jason Douglas (the English voice of Beerus) that took place during Anime Expo 2017. This feature ran for about 18 minutes, and to me, it was one of the better interview bonus features that I’ve seen. Sean and Jason had a good chemistry during the interview, and I liked what they had to say about their roles and about Dragon Ball Super.

The only other bonus features are textless opening songs, textless closing songs, and trailers for other releases from FUNimation Entertainment.

If you’re a fan of the Dragon Ball franchise and want to own all the episodes and films, then you’ll need to add Dragon Ball Super Part 3 to your anime home video library.

Additional posts about Dragon Ball:

• Anime Blu-ray Review: Dragon Ball Super Part 1
• Anime Blu-ray Review: Dragon Ball Super Part 2

Dragon Ball Super Part 2 includes episodes 14-26 of the Dragon Ball Super anime series. Audio options for this release include the original Japanese audio with English subtitles and the English dub.

Dragon Ball Super Part 2
English Publisher: FUNimation Entertainment
Format: Blu-ray
Release Date: October 3, 2017

The first episode of the set finishes off the retelling of the Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods anime film. After seeing that there was only one episode left for that arc, I wondered why FUNimation didn’t make the first set 14 episodes in length in order to have all the story in one set. It just seems ridiculous to start the second disc with the final episode of the first arc.

The second episode on the set was something that was never seen before, which was a nice change of pace since I was already familiar with the basic story of the first arc from Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods. It’s an episode that focused on Mr. Satan (Hercule in the English dub) admitting the existence of Beerus and claiming to be the one who defeated him. Surprising visitors from outer space nearly expose his hoax, though! While the episode is a little on the ridiculous side, it fits right in with Mr. Satan’s character.

The next three episodes serve as a bridge between the Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods and Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ anime films. It shows the audience how Vegeta and Goku ended up going to Beerus’ world to train with Whis, which is one of the first things that it seen in the Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ film. I’m glad that Dragon Ball Super took the opportunity to fill in that gap. One of the memorable things in this section is seeing Vegeta trying to cook in order to impress Whis, because it was amusing. Another amusing thing here is seeing Gohan being the overprotective expectant father. He means well by trying to cook dinner one night, but he obviously hasn’t done it very much because he gets flustered easily by it. Wow, two humorous scenes of men trying to cook… who ever would have expected that from the Dragon Ball franchise?

The remaining eight episodes are a retelling of the Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection ‘F’ anime film. While there has been some minor tweaking with the events and story, it’s nowhere near as major or as blatant as Dragon Ball Super’s retelling of the Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods anime film. Unfortunately, this story arc doesn’t conclude in this episode, so you have to watch Dragon Ball Super Part 3 in order to see the ending.

While I nitpicked at the character designs and animation quality of Dragon Ball Super in my review of the first set, I found that it didn’t bother me nearly as much as I watched Dragon Ball Super Set 2. I guess after watching the first set and having some time in between watching this set, I became adjusted to the different style. I also warmed up more to the opening and closing themes. A new ending theme was also introduced right near the end of this set.

The Blu-ray video is 1080p High Definition 16:9 (HD Native), and the audio is Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1 and Dolby True HD: Japanese 2.0. I have no complaints with the video or audio quality.

The first bonus feature included in this set is a roughly 12-minute piece that includes Jason Douglas (English voice actor for Beerus) watching two episodes of Dragon Ball Super with three of his kids, and they are joined by Ian Sinclair (English voice actor for Whis). To be honest, I thought the kids were one of the best parts of this bonus feature. Jason and Ian were entertaining, to be sure, but I liked the kids just a little more. Overall, I found this to be much more enjoyable than the parents explaining Dragon Ball to their kids, which was the major bonus feature of the previous set. There are also textless versions of the openings and closings, as well as trailers for other FUNimation Entertainment releases.

If you’re a fan of the Dragon Ball franchise and want to own all the episodes and films, then you’ll need to add Dragon Ball Super Part 2 to your anime home video library.

Additional posts about Dragon Ball:

• Anime Blu-ray Review: Dragon Ball Super Part 1
• Anime Blu-ray Review: Dragon Ball Super Part 3