Related media[edit]
Home releases[edit]
In Japan, Dragon Ball Z did not receive a home video release until 2003, seven years after its broadcast. This was a remastering of the series in two 26-disc DVD box sets, that were made-to-order only, released on March 19 and September 18 and referred to as "Dragon Boxes." The content of these sets began being released on mass-produced individual 6-episode DVDs on November 2, 2005 and finished with the 49th volume released on February 7, 2007.[37][38]
The international home release structure of Dragon Ball Z is complicated by the licensing and release of the companies involved in producing and distributing the work. Releases of the media occurred on both VHS and DVD with separate edited and uncut versions being released simultaneously. Both versions of the edited and uncut material are treated as different entries and would frequently make Billboard rankings as separate entries. Home release sales were featured prominently on the Nielsen VideoScan charts.[8] Further complicating the release of the material was Funimation itself; which was known to release "DVDs out of sequence in order to get them out as fast as possible"; as in the case of their third season.[39]Pioneer Entertainment distributed the Funimation/Saban edited-only dub of 53 episodes on seventeen VHS between 1997 and 1999,[40][41] and seventeen DVDs throughout 1999.[42][43] Two box sets separating them into the Saiyan and Namek arcs were also released on VHS in 1999,[44][45] and on DVD in 2001.[46][47] Funimation's own distribution of their initial in-house dub, which began with episode 54, in edited or uncut VHS ran between 2000 and 2003.[48][49][50] A DVD version was produced alongside these, although they were only produced uncut and contained the option to watch the original Japanese with subtitles.[51][52]
In 2005, Funimation began releasing their in-house dub of the beginning of Dragon Ball Z on DVD, marking the first time the episodes were seen uncut in North America.[53] However, only nine volumes were released, leaving it incomplete.[54]Instead, Funimation remastered and cropped the entire series into 16:9 widescreen format and began re-releasing it to DVD in nine individual "season" box sets; the first set released on February 6, 2007 and the final on May 19, 2009.[55][56] In July 2009, Funimation announced that they would be releasing the Japanese frame-by-frame "Dragon Box" restoration ofDragon Ball Z in North America. These seven limited edition DVD box sets were released uncut in the show's original 4:3 fullscreen format between November 10, 2009 and October 11, 2011.[57]
In July 2011, Funimation announced plans to release Dragon Ball Z in Blu-ray Disc format, with the first set released on November 8, 2011.[58][59][60] However, production of these 4:3 sets was suspended after the second volume, citing concerns over restoring the original film material frame by frame.[61] Only a year later, the company began producing a cropped 16:9 remastered Blu-ray release in 2013, with nine sets released in total.[62] On August 13, 2013, Funimation released all 53 episodes and the three movies from their first Dragon Ball Z dub created with Saban and Ocean Studios in a collector's DVD box set.[63]
Kai[edit]
In Japan, Dragon Ball Kai was released in wide-screen on 33 DVDs and in fullscreen on a single Blu-ray and eight four-disc Blu-ray sets from September 18, 2009 to August 2, 2011.
Funimation released eight DVD and Blu-ray box sets of Dragon Ball Z Kai from May 18, 2010 to June 5, 2012.[64][65] These sets contain the original Japanese audio track with English subtitles, as well as the uncut version of the English dub, which does not contain any of the edits made for the TV airings. Before the final volume was even published, Funimation began re-releasing the series in four DVD and Blu-ray "season" sets between May 22, 2012 and March 12, 2013.[66][67]
Manga[edit]
Main articles: Dragon Ball and List of Dragon Ball Z chapters
While the manga was all titled Dragon Ball in Japan, due to the popularity of the Dragon Ball Z anime in the west, Viz Mediachanged the title of the last 26 volumes of the manga to "Dragon Ball Z" to avoid confusion. The volumes were originally published in Japan between 1989 and 1995. It began serialization in the American Shonen Jump, beginning in the middle of the series with the Cyborg Saga; the tankōbon volumes of both Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball were released simultaneously by Viz Media in the United States.[68][69] In March 2001, Viz continued this separation by re-shipping theDragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z titles starting with the first volumes of each work.[70] Viz's marketing for the manga made distinct the differences between Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z tone. Viz billed Dragon Ball Z: "More action-packed than the stories of Goku's youth, Dragon Ball Z is pure adrenaline, with battles of truly Earth-shaking proportions!"[71]
Films[edit]
Further information: List of Dragon Ball Z films
The Dragon Ball Z films will comprise a total of 15 entries by 2015. The films are typically released in March and July in accordance with the spring and summer vacations of Japanese schools. They were typically double features paired up with other anime films, and were thus, usually an hour or less in length. The films themselves offer contradictions in both chronology and design that make them incompatible with a single continuity. All 14 films were licensed in North America by Funimation, and all have received in-house dubs by the company. Prior to Funimation, the third film was a part of the short-lived Saban syndication, being split into three episodes, and the first three films received uncut English dubs in 1998 produced by Funimation with Ocean Studios and released by Pioneer. Several of the films have been broadcast on Cartoon Network and Nicktoons in the United States, Toonami UK in the United Kingdom (some featuring alternate English dubs produced with an unknown cast by AB Groupe), and Cartoon Network in Australia.
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