Dragon Ball Z

Toei's 1989-1996 anime of Goku's adult years.

Dragon Ball Z is the Toei Animation anime that follows the 1986 Dragon Ball series, adapting the remaining 325 chapters of Akira Toriyama's manga. It aired on Fuji Television from April 1989 to January 1996 and was dubbed for at least 81 countries.

Quick Facts

Genre

Adventure
Fantasy comedy
Martial arts

Based on

Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama

Developer

Takao Koyama

Director

Daisuke Nishio (#1–199)
Shigeyasu Yamauchi
ja
山内重保 (#200–291; de facto)

Voices

Masako Nozawa
Ryō Horikawa
Toshio Furukawa
Mayumi Tanaka
Hiromi Tsuru
Hirotaka Suzuoki

Narrator

Jōji Yanami

Music

Shunsuke Kikuchi

Opening theme

"Cha-La Head-Cha-La" by Hironobu Kageyama (#1–199), "We Gotta Power" by Hironobu Kageyama (#200–291)

Story

It picks up five years after Dragon Ball, with an adult Goku and his son Gohan, and pits them against the Saiyans, Frieza, the androids and Cell, and Majin Buu, while following Gohan's growth and the development of Piccolo and Vegeta. It opens with the arrival of Raditz, who reveals that he is Goku's older brother and that Goku, born Kakarot, is a Saiyan sent to Earth as a baby.

Legacy

Its US success led Viz to publish the matching manga chapters under the Z title, and it spawned films, games and merchandise that make up most of the franchise. A recut, remastered version, Dragon Ball Z Kai, aired from 2009 to 2015. It was followed by Dragon Ball GT, Super and Daima.