elevision specials and original video animations[edit]
Three TV specials based on
Dragon Ball Z were produced and broadcast on Fuji TV. The first two were
Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku in 1990 and
Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks in 1993, the later being based on a special chapter of the original manga. Both were licensed by Funimation in North America and AB Groupe in Europe. In 2013, a two-part hour-long crossover with
One Piece and
Toriko, titled
Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Chō Collaboration Special!!, was created and aired.
Video games[edit]
In North America, licensing rights had been given to both
Namco Bandai and
Atari. In 1999, Atari acquired exclusive rights to the video games through
Funimation, a deal which was extended for five more years in 2005.
[72] A 2007 dispute would end with Atari paying Funimation $3.5 million.
[73] In July 2009, Namco Bandai was reported to have obtained exclusive rights to release the games for a period of five years.
[74] This presumably would have taken effect after Atari's licensing rights expired at the end of January 2010.
[73]
Soundtracks[edit]
Dragon Ball Z has been host to numerous soundtrack releases with works like "
Cha-La Head-Cha-La" and a series of 21 soundtracks released as part of the
Dragon Ball Z Hit Song Collection Series. In total, dozens of releases exist for
Dragon Ball Z which includes Japanese and foreign adapted releases of the anime themes and video game soundtracks.
Reception[edit]
Cultural impact and legacy[edit]
Dragon Ball Z was listed as the 78th best animated show in
IGN's "Top 100 Animated Series",
[75] and was also listed as the 50th greatest cartoon in
Wizard magazine's "Top 100 Greatest Cartoons" list.
[76] The film ranked #5 on
Wizard's AnimeMagazine on their "Top 50 Anime released in North America".
[77]
Dragon Ball Z 's popularity is reflected through a variety of data through online interactions which show the popularity of the media. In 2001, it was reported that the official website of
Dragon Ball Z records 4.7 million hits per day and included 500,000+ registered fans.
[78] The term "Dragonball Z", ranked 4th in 1999 and 2nd in 2000 by Lycos' web search engine.
[79][80] For 2001, "Dragonball" was the most popular search on
Lycos and "Dragonball Z" was fifth on
Yahoo!.
[81]
Ratings[edit]
Dragon Ball Z's Japanese run was very popular with an average viewer ratings of 20.5% across the series.
Dragon Ball Zalso proved to be a rating success in the United States, as the premiere of Season Three of
Dragon Ball Z in 1999, done by
Funimation's in-house dub, was the highest-rated program ever at the time on Cartoon Network.
[82] In 2002, in the week ending September 22nd,
Dragon Ball Z was the #1 program of the week on all of television with tweens 9-14, boys 9-14 and men 12-24, with the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday telecasts of
Dragon Ball Z ranked as the top three programs in all of television, broadcast or cable, for delivery of boys 9-14.
[83] In 2001, Cartoon Network obtained licensing to run 96 more episodes and air the original
Dragon Ball anime and was the top rated show in the Toonami block of Cartoon network.
[84] Beginning March 26, 2001, Cartoon Network ran a 12-week special promotion "Toonami Reactor" which included a focus on
Dragon Ball Z, which would stream episodes online to high-speed internet users.
[85] Many home video releases were met with both the edited and unedited versions placing on in the top 10 video charts of
Billboard. For example, "The Dark Prince Returns" (containing episodes 226-228) and "Rivals" (containing episodes 229-231) edited and unedited, made the
Billboard magazine top video list for October 20, 2001.
[86][Note 3]
The first episode of
Dragon Ball Kai earned a viewer ratings percentage of 11.3, ahead of
One Piece and behind
Crayon Shin-chan.
[87] Although following episodes had lower ratings,
Kai was among the top 10 anime in viewer ratings every week in Japan for most of its run.
[88][89] Towards the end of the original run the ratings hovered around 9%-10%.
[90][91] Dragon Ball Z Kai premiered on
Nicktoons in May 2010 and set the record for the highest-rated premiere in total viewers, and in
tweens and boys ages 9–14.
[92] Nielsen Mega Manila viewer ratings ranked
Dragon Ball Kai with a viewer ratings with a high of 18.4% for October 30 – November 4 in 2012.
[93] At the end of April 2013,
Dragon Ball Kai would trail just behind
One Piece at 14.2%.
[94] Broadcasters' Audience Research Board ranked
Dragon Ball Z Kai as the second most viewed show in the week it debuted on
Kix.
[95] On its debut on
Vortexx,
Dragon Ball Z Kai was the third highest rated show on the Saturday morning block with 841,000 viewers and a 0.5 household rating.
[96]