Can someone go from being one of the weakest to one of the strongest? In this case, yes! Join Son Gokou has he trains to be the strongest warrior in the universe while he and his friends protect earth from destruction!

Review :

Dragon Ball Z is the kind of anime you'll either love or hate. From my synopsis you may think I lean to the latter. But, actually, I'm part of the former. DBZ is what first got me interested in anime. And to this day I still love it. It's a great action series and is probably the king of it's genre and a classic among anime.

The plot may not be much to speak of and the show is worthy of it's nickname Drag-on Ball Z (even more-so in the Japanese version). The characters are what make the story, really. With over 200 characters in the DBZ universe, many main characters pasts intertwine with the current plot to give the show a solid backing. And, sometimes, the show has very interesting and/or amusing stories. The characters themselves are a very high point of DBZ. It takes quite awhile before we get a peak at the character developement that made Dragon Ball Z famous, but it is well worth the wait. New characters appear, old ones leave and stay and bad guys become good. Characters like Vegeta are almost universally liked by DBZ fans for his inner conflict with the life he was forced in, and the new one he can't get used to. Great stuff. The drama is also worth noting. It's quite well done in the Japanese version. Even though it's a fictional series and unrealistic in some parts, there is one down-to-earth subject that's often represented well. Death. Dispite being a fighting anime, death is never glorified, and rightly so. It's sad, it's tragic, but it happens. This is totally butchered in the english version, but I'll talk about that later.

Technically, DBZ is old but doesn't really show it. The animation is on the poor side for awhile, but improves gradually. And throughout, DBZ has some of the greatest, most insanely well-choreographed fights. People are beaten rather brutally sometimes and they look it. Infact, the injuries look fairly realistic. Blood streaming down, cuts, bruises and welts. These people go through tough fights and it shows. The backrounds are good, giving us a futuristic-like world, but they aren't exactly mind-blowing either. And then there's the character designs. Both the manga and the anime were done by Akira Toriyama and it shows. Everyone has a distinct and original look to them that you won't find anywhere else.

In terms of acting, the Japanese version is very distinctly casted, with lots of varied voices and outstanding performances. The casting will probably seem odd to many people. A lot of characters have high-pitched voices, Gokou being one of them. In one aspect, the casting seems totally out there but in other aspect it's dead on. Every character that was in the original Dragon Ball has the same voice in Z. It may be changed a bit, but the vocal cast is the exact same. This is probably the most unique Japanese voice casts I've ever heard. The music is definately worth mentioning. It's very original and very good. It can range from tragic to intense depending on what's happening. And the element of having no music at times really adds to the effect of Dragon Ball Z and overall creates a certain feel.

Now, I haven't really touched on the english version realeased by FUNimation Inc. I'll do that now. To start, there are two versions of Dragon Ball Z. Eps 1-53 were all done at Ocean Group Studio in Vancouver Canada, which is pretty much the top of Canada before it becomes way too cold. Eps 54+ were moved to a studio in Texas, which is at the bottom of the US. Obviously, none of the voice actors from eps. 1-53 could paticipate in Dragon Ball Z any longer. However, more then the voices were changed. The handling of the series varied greatly. I'll refer to the first version as the Ocean Group version and the second as the FUNimation version, for lack of a better name.

It started out great, and then a great, epic show was taken and tortured. You can probably spot where there were sceans omitted but unless you've watched the Japanese version first you won't be able to spot almost all the editing. Due to content and length, many episodes of Dragon Ball Z were blended together. And I must admit, this was done flawlessly. If I hadn't read about it, I never would have known. This isn't the most terrible loss in the world if you think about it. This is Drag-on Ball Z and if you thought the english version dragged on you'd probably tear your hair out over the Japanese version. Not only does the Japanese version drag on more then the english one, but it had ten times more filler episodes. The filler episodes were usually the ones blended together, so the plot was not effected greatly. Then there's the digital paint. Once again, flawless. You can see where it's used but you really gotta be looking for it. I still can't see any 'bounce' on the screan for the HELL/HFIL incident(s). I know it's there, but I can't see it no matter how hard I try. Personally, I can tolerate editing if there's an uncut version available. Episodes 1-53 have no uncut versions and they suffered the most in omitted and changed frames. Eps. 54+ have Uncut versions on dubbed VHS (Bilingual DVD coming soon) but they weren't edited anywheres near as much. I guess I'm sort of half and half on the changes in the actual animation.

Many people don't like any dubbing for Dragon Ball Z. I'm not one of them, however. I liked the Ocean Group cast. The acting could definately be called acting and there were no real sub-par performances in the minor characters. The casting wasn't very faithful to the Japanese casting. Gokou's voice was deeper, as were other characters. I thought most of it was appropriate. Except maybe Vegeta. Brian Drummond gave a great performance, but his voice didn't quite suit Vegeta. Although when in battle, I don't find much difference between the English and Japanese Vegeta. A lot of fans seem to agree that Scott McNeil makes an excellent Piccolo. I know many fans who prefer him to the original Japanese Piccolo. There were some unfortunate voice changes. Ian Corlett made for an excellent Gokou and while Peter Kelamis isn't bad, he's not as good either. The writing, however, is particularly awful. The dialouge took a plunge from age 13 to age 6 with cliches galore and a generally bad translation. It was still acted well enough, but there were many noticeable moments where characters shouldn't have been saying anything but they did anyway to fill what FUNimation felt was 'dead air'.

Then there was the dreaded 'another dimension' that was created to cover up any significant deaths. Fans are generally outraged with this, which is quite understandable. The way death was handled in the Japanese version was quite good, and this dimension stuff is pitiful. The dialouge was also severely altered to cover up more death that the other dimension couldn't field. In terms of casting and acting this is about as good as syndication dubs get and compared with dubbing in general, I have little quarrel with DBZ. It's the writing that really bothers me.

The music is terrible, plain and simple. There's little variety to it. It's mostly a long medley based on the very unintelligent opening theme "Rock the Dragon". Any music that coveyed tragedy or sadness due to death was replaced by the poor US track, taking most of the tragedy, sadness and drama out of the series.

And all that was mostly the Ocean Group version.

The FUNimation version showed promise. In my opinion, however, I almost feel it's worse then the Ocean Group version. As far as omitting and changing the frames in the animation, FUNimation is handing it very well. Blood is shown and even graphic sceans like arms being ripped off and beams blasting right through someone remain intact, though the color of the blood is sometimes changed. The HELL/HFIL situation remains, and Dr. Brief's cigarette is still painted away (though they actually call him Dr. Briefs now). There are also fully uncut versions available on dubbed VHS and, soon to come, Bilingual DVD for eps. 54+. This new strategy pleases me. To a point.

And here is the point. The new cast. Poor. Very, very poor. What I was expecting was a all new cast that fit the Japanese voices better, since that was a big complaint from fans. As a matter of fact, I heard FUNimation wasn't happy with the original dubbed voices. I assumed they weren't talking about their performance, since it wasn't bad at all. I assumed it was their voices and how they didn't quite fit. Maybe I was misinformed. The new cast is casted to sound like the original dub cast. What is the result? In my opinion, it's like dubbing a dub. This isn't common, but I've seen it before and the result is always poor. Mainly because they aren't fooling anyone. Any kid can tell the voices are different. They sound terrible, forced and uninspired and generally flat. It's really hard to listen to. The acting is also bad, which takes away what the Ocean Group had. Not only is this the worst syndication dub I've heard, but it's one of the worst anime dubs I've ever heard, period.

The writing is even worse. I'll admit, it's great to hear them say kill, death and die along with reffering to someone dying instead of being sent to another dimension. A little bit of the tragedy, drama and sadness are being shown but the death isn't handled anywhere near as well. At least it's not being dumbed down for the children anymore. It's a start. And while the dialouge isn't covering up death either, it's just plain awful. Every cliche known to man is used, and other's are seemingly made up. There doesn't seem to be one coherent line in this new dub. So, now the casting, acting and writing are all bad. In all fairness, the uncut dubbed VHS tapes have been rescripted. I haven't seen them yet, so I'll comment on them at a later date.

The music is now horrible. While it's not a medley of the theme it's totally inappropriate. I don't see what the problem is with keeping the original score.

Similar Anime: There's a lot of anime that share a similar genre as Dragon Ball Z, but surprisingly few have the blend of action, drama and character developement DBZ has. There are a few, though. Fatal Fury (the Motion picture more specifically), while totally different in plot, has good character developement, drama and very slick action. The same can be said about Yu Yu Hakusho, although it's more character driven. If you'd like to see more then the Yu Yu Hakusho movies released in the US, you can vote for AnimEigo to release it on their survey at http://www.animeigo.com/.

Rates :

Both english versions of Dragon Ball Z get a (3.5 rating) . They have their strong point, but there's simply too many weaknesses. As for the Japanese Dragon Ball Z, all my ratings are based on that. Summing up, Dragon Ball Z can be said like a famous beer slogan "Those who like it like it a lot".

So total I give DBZ a (5.0)

Genre :

Semi-Futuristic Fighting (action)

In It :

Watch it find out.

Break Down :

Age Appropriateness: 3 (parental discression a good idea; appropriate for teens)

Violence:
2--Dispite what you may hear, Dragon Ball Z had death but it isn't a 24/7 splatterblood/gore fest.

Nudity:
2--The worst of it is maybe a shot of a behind, and it's usually a males no less.

Sex:
1--Characters get married and have kids, like in any Disney movie.

Language:
2--Even though some fansub groups (AnimeLabs) may fool you, Dragon Ball Z doesn't have much swearing.

Availability :

AnimeNation and RightStuf probably both have this video if you want to buy it.

Cast :

On TV, dubed VHS, and some dubbed DVD; fansubs are also reviewed above.

Japanese Cast:

Son Gokou/Son Gohan/Son Goten: Masako Nozawa
Kuririn/Yajirobe: Mayumi Tanaka
Buruma (Bloomer): Hiromi Tsuru
Piccolo Daimaou: Toshio Furukawa
Vegeta: Ryo Horikawa
Freeza: Ryusei Nakao
Yamucha: Toru Furuya
Tenshinhan: Suzuoki Hirotaka
Chaozu: Hiroko Emori
Chichi: Mayumi Sho (1-88), Naoko Watanabe (88-291)
Kaiou/Narrator: Joji Yanami
Kame Sennin Mutenroshi: Kohei Miyauchi
Oolong: Naoki Tatsuta
Puar: Naoko Watanabe

Note: There are name changes in both DBZ dubs. To avoid confusion, I'm using the changed names for the dub casts.

English Dub Cast (Ocean Group):

Gokou: Ian Corlett (1-37), Peter Kelamis (38-53)
Gohan: Saffron Henderson
Krillin: Terry Klassen
Bulma: Lalainia Lindbjerg
Piccolo: Scott McNeil
Vegeta/Yajirobe: Brian Drummond
Frieza: Pauline Newstone
Yamcha: Ted Cole
Tien: Matthew Smith
Chiaotzu/Puar: Cathy Weseluck
Chichi: Lisa Ann Beley
King Kai: Dave Ward
Master Roshi: Ian Corlett (1-37), Dave Ward (38-53)
Oolong: Alec Willows
Narrator: Doc Harris

English Dub Cast (FUNimation):

Goku: Sean Schemmel
Gohan: Stephanie Nadolny
Krillin: Sonny Strait
Bulma: Tiffany Vollmer
Piccolo/Vegeta/Yamcha: Christopher Sabat
Frieza: Linda Chambers
Chiaotzu/Puar: Monica Antonelli
Chichi: Cynthia Cranz
Oolong: Mark Britten