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->''"The following is a fan-based parody. Manga/DragonBall, Anime/DragonBallZ, Anime/DragonBallGT, and Anime/DragonBallSuper are all owned by Creator/{{Funimation}}, Creator/ToeiAnimation, [[Creator/VIZMedia Shueisha]],''[[note]]This part read "[[Creator/FujiTelevision Fuji TV]]" before the release of ''Super''[[/note]]'' and Creator/AkiraToriyama. Please support the official release."''
-->-- OnceAnEpisode [[IDoNotOwn disclaimer.]][[note]](Usually, but not always) read by someone who [[TonightSomeoneDies dies]] in that episode[[/note]]

''[[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6EC7B047181AD013 Dragon Ball Z Abridged]]'' is an [[TheAbridgedSeries Abridged Series]] of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' created by Creator/TeamFourStar, which ran from 2008 to 2019. The series quickly set itself apart from others of its kind for featuring a SuperGroup of Abridged Series [[AllStarCast content creators]] and is far and away one of the most popular on the internet.

Compared to most of its counterparts, ''DBZA'' is notable for having very character-driven, CallBack heavy humor, making a genuine effort at faithfully adapting ''Dragon Ball Z'''s plot, and containing almost no [[BreakingTheFourthWall Fourth Wall breaking]] (well, [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness after the first season, anyway]]). That said, it does still have plenty of LampshadeHanging and in-jokes relating to the franchise as a whole, and some of the jokes in question are obscure enough that they would probably go over the heads of even the most die-hard ''Franchise/DragonBall'' fans. Essentially, ''[=DragonBall=] Z Abridged'' is what would happen if you put ''Dragon Ball Z'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' in a [[JustForFun/XMeetsY blender]].

The series is also notable for its voice acting, which audiences compared favorably to the official dub. Notably, the late Creator/ChrisAyres praised Creator/LittleKuriboh's performance as Freeza, and several members of Team Four Star were hired to do voice work in the ''VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse'' series.

Although the episodes persist on Website/YouTube, continued issues with Creator/ToeiAnimation claiming the content included has resulted in them uploading the series to Website/{{Twitch}}. Since the Cell saga, episodes premiered on Twitch at Team Four Star's video game streaming channel.

The series lasted three seasons, each one covering the Saiyan Saga, the Namek/Freeza Saga, and the Android/Cell Saga, respectively, along with several specials, a majority of the movies, and a sub-series based around ''Anime/DragonBallZKai'' that served as a way of comically recapping each season. Initially, Team Four Star stated they intended to continue with a fourth season that would cover the Buu Saga (the final arc of ''Dragon Ball Z'') and included a [[TheStinger stinger]] promising such at the end of the third season's finale in 2018. However, on February 1, 2020, [=KaiserNeko=] announced that [[https://twitter.com/KaiserNeko/status/1223509688932880384 Episode 60 would indeed be the ending]] of ''[=DragonBall=] Z Abridged'': the team decided it was no longer worth it to continue the abridged style (in part due to struggles with various copyright claims as well as with longstanding creative burnout that had hit a tipping point with the cancellation of the show's adaptation of ''Anime/DragonBallZBojackUnbound''), and any future content would instead be purely original.[[note]]The now-outdated stinger was subsequently excised from the Season 3 finale by way of [=YouTube's=] editing tool.[[/note]] Thus, episode 3.5 of ''Dragon Ball Z KAI Abridged'', released on Jul 24, 2019, ended up being the final piece of ''DBZA'' content to be officially released.

Afterwards, Team Four Star started producing an original animated series called ''WebAnimation/DragonShortZ'', which presents new stories set in the ''DBZA'' continuity, beginning in the immediate aftermath of the Cell Saga. When the series began TFS planned to make season 4 of ''DBZA'' in that style, but the February 1 announcement walked that back, stating that such an effort would be untenable and take too much time to produce, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZy8D4B8LLs confirming once again]] that the abridged series was indeed over.

Another original animated series, ''WebAnimation/{{HFIL}}'', was released in March 2021, focusing on Cell's time in the afterlife stuck in the titular [=HFIL=] alongside other various ''DBZA'' villains. The first episode can be [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_1VrZNFpuo seen here.]]

In 2023, as part of WebVideo/TotallyNotMark's review/retrospective series on ''Dragon Ball'', TFS would collaborate with Mark on the video covering the Buu Saga, producing DBZA-style scenes which they called "Buu Bits" interspersed throughout the review. While not a full fourth season, Team Four Star announced that these "Buu Bits" are as close as they're ever going to get to doing one, eventually releasing a full compilation of them on their own channel.

Team Four Star also has a spinoff channel, where notably, [[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLowPV6LoP6fpF418zj3L8hjnSXth2DdZr commentaries]] for DBZ Abridged are located.

The series has [[Recap/DragonBallZAbridged a recap page]]. For a similar concept executed differently, see ''WebVideo/AlternateRealityDBZ''.

For convenience's sake, this list includes tropes from videos of two ''Dragon Ball'' movies that predate the formation of Team Four Star but include much of their cast.
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!!This work provides examples of:
[[index]]
* DBZAbridged/TropesAToC
** [[CallBack/DragonBallZAbridged Call Back]]
* DBZAbridged/TropesDToK
** [[FamousLastWords/DragonBallZAbridged Famous Last Words]]
** [[Foreshadowing/DragonBallZAbridged Foreshadowing]]
* DBZAbridged/TropesLToR
** [[MythologyGag/DragonBallZAbridged Mythology Gag]]
* DBZAbridged/TropesSToZ
** [[ShoutOut/DragonBallZAbridged Shout-Out]]
[[/index]]
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