DRAGON BALL
The 42 tankōbon have been adapted into three anime series produced by Toei Animation: Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT. Additionally, Toei has developed seventeen animated feature films and three television specials. During 2009, Toei started rebroadcasting Dragon Ball Z under the name of Dragon Ball Kai which changes the footage from the original anime. Several companies have developed various types of merchandising such as a collectible trading card game, and a large number of video games.
The series is licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media, in the United Kingdom by Gollancz Manga, and in Australia and New Zealand by Chuang Yi. Several companies have dubbed and aired the three anime series in North America. In China, it was produced a live-action film adaptation in 1989. In 2002, 20th Century Fox began production of the first American-made live-action film which was released on April 10, 2009.
Since its release, Dragon Ball has become one of the most popular manga series of its time in both Japan and North America. It enjoys a high readership, with over 150 million volumes of the series sold by 2007. Several manga artists have noted that the manga series was the inspiration for their own now popular works, including Naruto and One Piece. The anime is also highly popular, ranking number 12 among the best anime series of all time in 2006. Reviewers praise the art, characterization, and humor of the manga story. The anime series have had more mixed reviews, with the first also praised for its characterizations, but the second was criticized for its long, repetitive fights, and the third series considered repetitive with childish fights and "goofy" character designs.
A monkey-tailed boy named Goku is found by an old martial arts expert who raises him as his grandson. One day Goku meets a girl named Bulma and together they go on a quest to retrieve the seven Dragon Balls, mythical objects that can summon a dragon who will grant any wish. Along the way, they meet and befriend a plethora of martial artists. They also undergo rigorous training regimes and educational programs in order to fight in the World Martial Arts Tournament, a tournament in which the most powerful fighters in the world compete. Outside the tournaments, Goku faces diverse villains such as Emperor Pilaf, the Red Ribbon Army, a demon known as Piccolo Daimao and his offspring.
As a young adult, Goku meets his older brother, Raditz, who tells him that they come from a race of extraterrestrials called Saiyans. The Saiyans had sent Goku to Earth to destroy it, but his ship crashes upon arrival. Goku fell into a deep ravine and lost all memory of his mission. Goku refuses to help Raditz continue the mission, after which he begins to encounter others who want to battle him, such as the Saiyan prince Vegeta. He also encounters Frieza, who is considered to be one of the strongest beings in the universe, after which Goku begins training his first child, Son Gohan, to be his successor. Years later, a group of soldiers from the Red Ribbon army known as androids appear to kill Goku. Another android, Cell, absorbs Androids #17 and #18 from the Red Ribbon army to increase his power, then fights Goku and Gohan, resulting in the former's death. Goku decides to stay dead for seven years to train in the Other World. When he returns, he is drawn into a battle for the universe against an extraterrestrial named Majin Buu. Joined by Vegeta and Gohan, the evil half of Buu is destroyed and the Good Buu (Mr. Buu) settles down with them. Ten years later at a martial arts tournament, Goku meets evil Buu's human reincarnation, Uub. At the end of the series, Goku takes Uub away on a journey to train him as another successor.
Dragon Ball
Due to the high popularity of the Dragon Ball manga, Toei Animation produced two anime television series based on the manga chapters, and a third based on the series characters. The first series, also titled Dragon Ball, premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on February 26, 1986 and ran until April 12, 1989.[4]
Harmony Gold USA licensed the series for an English language release in North America in the late 1980s. In their voice dub of the series, Harmony renamed almost all of the characters, with some names appearing very odd, such as the central character Goku being renamed "Zero" and the character Korin's name changed to "Whiskers the Wonder Cat". This dub version was quickly canceled.[citation needed]
In 1995, Funimation Entertainment acquired the license for the series for broadcast and home video distribution in North America. Funimation contracted with BLT Productions to create an English voice track for the series at Dick & Roger's Sound Studio, and the dubbed episodes were edited for content.[20] Thirteen episodes aired in syndication before Funimation canceled the project due to low ratings, switching to working on the second anime series Dragon Ball Z.[4] In March 2001, Funimation announced the return of Dragon Ball to American television, featuring a new English audio track produced at their in-house dubbing Studio, Funimation Studios, and less editing.[20][21] The redubbed episodes aired on Cartoon Network from August 2001[22] to December 2003. Funimation also broadcast the series on Colours TV and their own FUNimation Channel starting in 2006.[23] Funimation began releasing the uncut episodes to Region 1 DVD box sets in March 18, 2003. Each box set, spanning an entire saga of the series, included the English dub track and the original Japanese audio track with optional English subtitles. These sets were released in Australia the following year. They were eventually discontinued and the series was re-released in 2008 as two box sets, the first containing 12 discs and the second containing 10 discs. In 2003, a new dub, produced by Blue Water Studios, was created and began to air in the United Kingdom and Canada. It used different episode titles and voice actors versus the Funimation version.
Dragon Ball Z
With the ending of Dragon Ball, Toei Animation quickly released a second anime television series, Dragon Ball Z (ドラゴンボールZ(ゼット) Doragon Bōru Zetto, commonly abbreviated DBZ). Picking up where the first left off, Dragon Ball Z is adapted from the final twenty-six volumes of the manga series. It premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on April 26, 1989, taking over its predecessor's time slot, and ran for 291 episodes until its conclusion on January 31, 1996.[4]
Following the canceled dub of Dragon Ball, Funimation licensed Dragon Ball Z for an English language release in North America. For the dubbing of the series, the Ocean Group was contracted to produce an English dub track. Like the original dub of Dragon Ball, the Ocean Group's dub of Dragon Ball Z was heavily edited for content, reducing the first 67 episodes into 53. The dubbed episodes of the first saga premiered in the United States on Fox in September 1996 and ended in May 1997. The second saga premiered on the The WB in September 1997, though it was eventually canceled in May 1998, once again due to low ratings. Three months later, the dub began airing on Cartoon Network as part of the channel's new Toonami programming block. Soon after, Funimation continued dubbing the series from where the cancelled dub left off, now using its own in-house voice actors, a new musical score, and less editing. The new dub of Dragon Ball Z ran on Cartoon Network from September 1999 to April 2003. In August 2004, Geneon Entertainment lost its licensing rights to the old Ocean Group dubbed episodes of Dragon Ball Z, allowing Funimation to re-dub the first 67 episodes, restore the removed content and replace the old dubbing with its in-house voice cast. These re-dubbed episodes aired on Cartoon Network throughout the summer of 2005. The Funimation dubbed episodes also aired in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Republic of Ireland.[24][25] Beginning with the Garlic Jr. Saga, another dub produced by the Ocean Group was used instead of the Funimation dub. This new dub was edited for content, and was broadcast in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland. The Funimation dubbed episodes are still used in the United States, Australia, and New Zealand.
In 2006, Funimation Entertainment remastered the episodes then began re-releasing the series in nine individual season boxsets. The first set was released on February 6, 2007; the final season on May 19, 2009. In June 2009, Funimation announced that they would be re-releasing Dragon Ball Z and the movies in a new seven volume set called the "Dragon Boxes". Based on the original series masters with frame-by-frame restoration, the first set is due to be released November 10, 2009.[26]
Dragon Ball GT
Produced by Toei Animation, Dragon Ball GT (ドラゴンボールGT(ジーティー) Doragon Bōru Jī Tī, G(rand) T(our)[4]) premiered on Fuji TV on February 2, 1996, and ran until November 19, 1997. Unlike the first two series, it was not based on the original Dragon Ball manga.[27] The series lasted 64 episodes.[4] In Dragon Ball GT, Goku is turned back into a child by the Black Star Dragon Balls and is forced to travel across the universe to retrieve them.
Funimation Entertainment licensed the series for an English language Region 1 DVD release and broadcast in North America. Funimation's English dub of the series aired on Cartoon Network from November 2003 to January 2005. The television broadcast skipped the first 16 episodes of the series. Instead, Funimation created a composition episode entitled "A Grand Problem", which used scenes from the skipped episodes to summarize the story. The skipped episodes were later aired after the remaining episodes of the series had been broadcast. The dubbed episodes also aired in Canada on YTV, which divided the episodes into two seasons instead of sagas.[28][29]
Specials
Four anime specials based on the series were released in Japan. The first, Bardock - The Father of Goku, was released on October 17, 1990. A prequel, it is set years before the start of the manga and details how Goku's father, Bardock, discovers that Frieza is planning to kill all the other Saiyans, and his efforts to stop him. The second special, The History of Trunks was released on March 24, 1993. Based on an extra chapter of the original manga, it is set in a parallel universe where most of the series characters are killed by a group of soldiers known as androids. A two-episode original video animation (OVA) series titled Dragon Ball Z Gaiden: Saiyan Zetsumetsu Keikaku and based on the Famicom video game of the same name, was released in 1993 and was set during Dragon Ball Z.[30] A Hero's Legacy, released on March 26, 1997, is set 100 years after the end of Dragon Ball GT. It features one of Goku's descendants who begins looking for the Dragon Balls in order to help his sick grandmother. The newest special, Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, premiered at the Jump Super Anime Tour in November 24, 2008. The special is set two years after the defeat of the Kid Buu and has Goku and his friends facing against new enemies, Avo and Kado, and meeting Vegeta's younger brother, Tarble.
Dragon Ball Kai
In February 2009, Toei announced that it would begin rebroadcasting Dragon Ball Z as part of the series' 20th anniversary celebrations. The series premiered on April 5, 2009, under the name Dragon Ball Kai, with the episodes remastered for HDTV, featuring updated opening and ending sequences, and a rerecording of the vocal tracks by most of the original cast.[31][32] The footage was also re-edited to more closely follow the manga, resulting in a faster moving story, and damaged frames removed.[33] As such, it is a "new" series created from the original Dragon Ball Z footage.
No comments:
Post a Comment