Line #620 Anime/DRAGONBALLZ


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7	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dbz02.jpg]]
8	[[caption-width-right:350:''[[AnimeThemeSong CHA-LA HEAD CHA-LA!\
9	Keep shining ULTRA-Z on everything!\
10	It got me AYE-YI-YI-YI-YI!\
11	SPARKING!!]]]]''
12	->''"Stand by for'' Dragon Ball Z! ''Coming next..."''
13	-->-- '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jCwEAqJkgY English narrator,]]''' introductory bumper.
14
15	%%Unsure of which particular dub(s) and/or which English narrator said this line, although I'm guessing Kyle Hebert and either the Ocean or Funimation dub..?
16
17	''Dragon Ball Z'' is Creator/{{Toei\|Company}}'s anime adaptation of the latter two thirds of Creator/AkiraToriyama's ''Manga/DragonBall'' manga, originally broadcast from 1989 to 1996. While the manga kept its original name throughout its run everywhere in the world ([[MarketBasedTitle except in English]]), the anime's title [[LetteredSequel was changed]] from ''Dragon Ball'' to ''Dragon Ball Z'', which Toriyama suggested [[WordOfGod because he felt he would be ending the story soon]], with the last letter of the Latin alphabet meaning to indicate this. While ''Z'' is often considered a separate anime from [[Manga/DragonBall the preceding one]], in reality it's more of a marketing rebrand, since the production team was almost identical and it aired on the same schedule without missing a beat. However ''Z'' represents ''Dragon Ball'' at its most popular, and so is often treated as its own entire sub-franchise due to the relative obscurity of the first third of the story in America ( Creator/{{ViZ}} branded all the manga volumes adapted by this anime with the ''Dragon Ball Z'' name).
18
19	While [[Manga/DragonBall the original manga and anime]] started out as a SupernaturalMartialArts {{comedy}} series inspired by ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'', by the Demon King Piccolo Arc it had become [[CerebusSyndrome more serious]] and featured [[DarkerAndEdgier violent and sometimes bloody battles]], and this continued throughout ''Z'' ([[MoodWhiplash with the partial exception of the Buu Arc]]). And since ''Z'' is easily one of, if not ''the'' most popular anime of all time, for better or worse it's [[PublicMediumIgnorance become associated with every anime stereotype in the west]] - [[ScreamingWarrior absurd levels of screaming]], constant SerialEscalation, BeamOWar battles and [[{{Padding}} a whole lot of standing around doing nothing]] are all prominent tropes in this series that have practically become synonymous with anime as a whole (at least, when they're not referencing ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Pokémon]]'' or {{hentai}}).
20
21	The anime is also notorious for [[OvertookTheManga running up against the manga at essentially all times by the second arc]]. This forced Creator/ToeiAnimation to create loads and loads of {{Filler}} in an effort to allow the manga to forge ahead. At best, this allowed for [[BreatherEpisode zany, ridiculous episodes]] like Goku and Piccolo trying to learn how to drive. At worst, it led to some of the most dragged out fights and storylines in anime history, the absolute low point being when a supposed five-minute countdown for a planet to explode [[MagicCountdown took over ten 26-minute episodes]][[note]]the series readily establishes that the "five minutes" thing was a face-saving lie on the part of the villain who revealed it, though that hasn't stopped fans from taking jabs at it[[/note]].
22
23	After defeating Piccolo Jr. and [[TimeSkip a five year period of peace]], it's revealed that Goku was not simply a strange boy with a tail but one of [[LastOfHisKind the last of an alien race called the Saiyans]], sent into space shortly before the Saiyan planet was destroyed (with shades of ''Anime/GoldenBat'', ''[[https://web.archive.org/web/20130627154545/http://www.animevice.com:80/prince-of-gamma/18-31482/ Prince of Gamma,]]'' and ''Franchise/{{Superman}}''). Goku and his friends, reinforced by former enemies (a recurring theme) had to fight [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil progressively more powerful]] villains. Although Goku and his martial arts skills (which let him and his friends fly, throw energy blasts and read minds) dominated the battles, the story also focuses on his son Gohan as he grew up. [[LongRunners Running seven years and nearly 300 episodes]], the series can be broken down into the four primary {{big bad}}s of the series: Vegeta, Frieza, Cell, and Majin Buu. Both ''Dragon Ball'' the manga and ''Dragon Ball Z'' the anime came to a triumphant conclusion where [[DistantFinale Gohan's daughter, Pan, enters the "Strongest Under the Heavens" tournament]].
24
25	''Dragon Ball Z'' was followed by ''Anime/DragonBallGT'' in the same manner as ''Z'' did to ''Dragon Ball''[[labelnote:*]]same cast, same crew, same timeslot, no stopping[[/labelnote]], which was an original story not based on the manga and with minor involvement from Toriyama, which facilitated a lukewarm response.
26
27	Easily the most famous dub of ''Z'' is by Texas-based Creator/{{Funimation}}, starting in 1996. Since Texas lacked a voice recording industry they hired actors and writers in Vancouver, Canada, since they were cheaper than L.A.[[note]]This cast would be hired by Creator/TheOceanGroup again to produce their own dub for Canada and Europe after Funimation dropped them, hence why they're often called "the Ocean dub"[[/note]], while TV distribution was handled by Creator/SabanEntertainment for syndication. It was incredibly popular right off the bat, however Saban cancelled further distribution in favour of their own productions. After continued success in reruns on Creator/CartoonNetwork's Creator/{{Toonami}} block, Funimation dropped the Vancouver cast and set up their own local studio to pick up where they left off with their very first in-house cast, with the show continuing the remainder of its English broadcast run on Toonami. This in turn originated much of the Funimation [[ProductionPosse voice acting cast]]. Their dub would eventually complete all ''Z'' episodes by 2003 in about the same amount of time as its original run in Japan, and reruns would continue on the block all the way until its initial termination in 2008. Funimation would later go back and redub the portion covered by the Vancouver cast for their own home video releases.
28
29	The globally enduring popularity of the series eventually led to ''Anime/DragonBallZKai'' in 2009, a streamlined edit that not only removes much of the {{filler}} but also [[AdaptationDistillation compresses the story beats]] (a three-episode fight would instead take just one) and cleans up [[DubInducedPlotHole various dialogue mistakes]]. Following in the footsteps of the original ''Z'', the English dub and broadcast of ''Kai'' quickly became a cornerstone of the revived Toonami, and airings of Funimation's dub of both it and ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'' would continue on the network up to the present day.
30
31	This sub-series spawned an [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMORPG]] continuation known as ''VideoGame/DragonBallOnline'' for a time, but also spanned fifteen theatrical movies and two TV Specials. The first thirteen movies are NonSerialMovie[=s=] that primarily reflected the concurrent story of the show [[RuleOfCool without much regard for how they'd slot into it]]. The fourteenth movie, ''Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods'', made ''years'' later under the direct involvement with Toriyama, is a modern continuation of the manga and set some time after the Buu Saga. ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'' was a direct sequel, and the wild success of both films led to ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', a whole new series set between the Buu arc and ''Z's'' DistantFinale.
32
33	----
34	!!The work contains examples of:
35
36	[[index]]
37	* DragonBallZ/TropesAToG
38	** [[AdaptationInducedPlotHole/DragonBall Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole]]
39	** [[ArcVillain/DragonBall Arc Villain]]
40	** [[AwesomeButImpractical/DragonBall Awesome But Impractical]]
41	** [[BigBad/DragonBall Big Bad]]
42	** [[BigBrotherInstinct/DragonBall Big Brother Instinct]]
43	** [[Bowdlerise/DragonBall Bowdlerise]]
44	** [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass/DragonBall Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]]
45	** [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype/DragonBall Deconstructed Character Archetype]]
46	** [[DeconstructedTrope/DragonBall Deconstructed Trope]]
47	** [[DubInducedPlotHole/DragonBall Dub-Induced Plot Hole]]
48	** [[EdibleThemeNaming/DragonBall Edible Theme Naming]]
49	** [[Expy/DragonBall Expy]]
50	** [[GodzillaThreshold/DragonBall Godzilla Threshold]]
51	* DragonBallZ/TropesHToP
52	** [[HateSink/DragonBall Hate Sink]]
53	** [[Hypocrite/DragonBall Hypocrite]]
54	** [[JerkassHasAPoint/DragonBall Jerkass Has a Point]]
55	** [[MoralMyopia/DragonBall Moral Myopia]]
56	** [[NiceJobBreakingItHero/DragonBall Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]
57	** [[OhCrap/DragonBall Oh, Crap!]]
58	** [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness/DragonBall O.O.C. Is Serious Business]]
59	* DragonBallZ/TropesQToZ
60	** [[SeriesContinuityError/DragonBall Series Continuity Error]]
61	** [[TheSociopath/DragonBall The Sociopath]]
62	** [[StoryBreakerPower/DragonBall Story-Breaker Power]]
63	** [[TookALevelInKindness/DragonBall Took A Level In Kindness]]
64	** [[UnbuiltTrope/DragonBall Unbuilt Trope]]
65	** [[VoodooShark/DragonBall Voodoo Shark]]
66	** [[WhamEpisode/DragonBall Wham Episode]]
67	** [[WhamLine/DragonBall Wham Line]]
68	** [[TheWorfEffect/DragonBall The Worf Effect]]
69	[[/index]]
70

Context Anime / DRAGONBALLZ