Full Review

Dragon Ball Z is the kind of anime you will either love or hate. From my synopsis you may think I lean towards the latter. Yet, I'm actually part of the former. DBZ is the show that got me interested in anime and to this day I still love it. It's a great action series, one of the kings of its genre and a classic among anime.

The plot may not be much to speak of, at first glance. The show is worthy of its nickname Drag-On Ball Z (even more-so in the Japanese version). However, the characters are what make the story. With more than 200 characters in the Dragon Ball/Z universe, many main characters' pasts intertwine with the current plot to give the show a solid backing. At some point I'll go into the four main sagas (Saiyan, Freeza, Cell and Boo sagas) but that won't be until I've seen all 291 DBZ episodes and I feel I have a good understanding of them. For now, all I feel comfortable writing about in terms of the plot is the meagre explanation above. Sorry!

As I just mentioned the characters themselves are a very high point in DBZ. It takes awhile before we get a peak at the character development 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's accustomed to and the new one he can't get used to. The drama is also worth noting. It's quite well done in the Japanese version. Although this is a fictional series and it can be very implausible at times, one subject is often represented well. Death. Despite being a fighting anime, death is never glorified, and rightly so.

At this point I'd like to digress slightly from the main review. If you're not interested in my rumblings, just skip the next four paragraphs. I know Dragon Ball Z isn't everyone's favourite series. For those of you who aren't fans, yet are reading this review and wondering, "how can this guy, and so many others, actually like this show?" allow me to try and explain why I think DBZ has gained its fan base. On top of the reasons mentioned above, there are two words that make this series really special: character growth. I don't specifically mean character development?--I covered that already. The Dragon Ball anime (if you include GT, which some don't) spans around 400 episodes. The manga (which doesn't include GT of course) spans many, many volumes. In Dragon Ball, we saw Goku as a four year old boy. At the end of Dragon Ball, we see him as a young man. Before the end of Z, he's a grandfather. Gohan is similar. At the end of Dragon Ball, we see his birth. When Z starts up, he's only four. Before the end of Z, he a college man. Supporting characters like Buruma (Bulma), Yamucha, and Tenshinhan (Tien) also grow from young men and women into adults. My point is, watching Goku, Gohan and, to a lesser extent, the supporting characters grow and develop through life as well as their facing their ordeals really gets you attached to them. This kind of scope is rarely used in any fictional entertainment medium (understandably so) and it is why I think Dragon Ball/Z is so revered by its longtime fans.

Another thing that lots of fans like is the inspiration of the Dragon Ball universe. There's the Chinese legend for starters, which I think most people know. However, it's no secret that Akira Toriyama was inspired by Superman. The premise of Goku's origin is similar to Superman's. Both Goku and Superman are sent away from a far off planet (which soon explodes) to earth. Both are found by strangers, who take them as their own and raise them into caring, responsible youths. Both also have amazing abilities, yet they chose to use their abilities to help others. Hardly a coincidence.

Non-fans also have no idea just how odd this show is. On the surface people may see a bunch of muscle-heads who spend their time grunting, yelling and beating the snot out of each other. Those who are more familiar with the show will know what I mean when I say there's more to Dragon Ball Z then that. Allow me to elaborate. Some anime fans may say that Z is totally different from it's previous, original incarnation, Dragon Ball. In a way, they are right. The surface of this show is a 180 degree turn from Dragon Ball. But the core of Dragon Ball Z is the exact same as Dragon Ball. That's what makes Z especially odd. Akira Toriyama, the shows creator, is an exceedingly odd man with an odd sense of humour. If you look at Mr. Popo, a minor character in this series, you will note lots of stereotypes. Mr. Popo looks like he was ripped right from a stereotypical 1930s cartoon. This isn't done to be racist at all, as Mr. Popo demonstrates character traits that are anything but stereotypical. It's only done because Toriyama has an odd sense of humour.

As I mentioned, the core of Dragon Ball and Z is the same. Quirks from the original Dragon Ball are present here, like humans and walking, talking animals who stroll along the streets and don't paying any mind to each other. Another quirk from the DB universe is Buruma's family being named after underwear. If you're wondering, Buruma isn't named after underwear specifically, at least I don't think so. Her name roughly means Bloomer. Try to figure that out on your own. Quirky characters like Oolong are still around in the Z sagas. While his role is dwindled down, simply having him around creates an odd contrast with other characters. Then there are new quirks. All Saiyans are named after vegetables. Kakarott/Carrot, Brolli/Broccoli and the prince of the Saiyans, Vegeta (i.e.: the word Vegetable itself). Other naming quirks are used as well, like the Ginyu Special Corps all being named after dairy products. I can point out about a million different quirks, but that would waste a lot of space. Suffice to say that DBZ isn't as serious as one may think. That's not to say that the entire Dragon Ball Z universe is a complete farce. However, there's an underlying core that's very true to the comedic days of Dragon Ball and, to me, it makes Z very distinctive in the anime universe.

Technically, DBZ is old but very distinct. The animation is on the poor side for a while, but improves gradually (try comparing an episode from the Boo saga to an episode from the Saiyan saga and you'll see what I mean). Also, DBZ has some of the greatest, most insanely well-choreographed fights ever throughout its run. People are beaten brutally and they look it. Faces caked with blood, cuts, bruises and welts. These people go through tough fights and it shows. The backgrounds are good, giving us a futuristic-like alternative world, but they aren't exactly mind-blowing either and even a tad bland (particularly with Planet Namek). Then there's the character designs. Akira Toriyama did character designs for both the manga and the anime, giving everyone a distinct and original look 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 seem odd to many people. Some characters have high-pitched voices, Goku 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 actor in Z. The vocal pitch may be changed a little, but the vocal cast is the exact same. This was done so fans wouldn't have to get used to a "new" Goku or a "new" Kuririn. That explanation may not satisfy some people and I'll admit it's not the only reason to give. Goku's high-pitched voice can be attributed to what I wrote before: Dragon Ball Z is a really odd show. Who would expect a big guy like Goku to have that kind of voice?

As for standout performances, nearly any character that's given a good amount of screen time has a voice actor that infuses him or her with a distinctive, memorable performance. Masako Nozowa's triple-duty as Goku, Gohan and Goten is extremely impressive. She's able to give each character a slightly different voice for all stages of their lives. It takes a lot of talent to be able to pull that off. It really makes me wonder why I haven't heard her in any newer shows. My other personal favourite in the Japanese cast is Ryo Horikawa as Vegeta. Horikawa's deep voice is distinctive and his performance is downright brilliant. I daresay no other actor could have done anywhere near as good as he did. Vegeta's pride, arrogance, frustration and pain are all brought forth with such energy it makes me wonder why Ryo Horikawa isn't used more often. He's not unheard of in the Japanese voice acting business but I personally feel he is sorely underused. All in all, Dragon Ball Z contains one of the most unique and memorable Japanese voice casts I've ever heard. The music is definitely worth mentioning. It's very original and very good even if it is dated. It can range from tragic to intense depending on what's happening. it's hard to describe. You need a decent amount of exposure to it in order to fully appreciate it. Also, the element of having no music really adds to the effect of Dragon Ball Z and, overall, creates a certain feel.

Now, I haven't really touched on the English versions released by FUNimation. I'll do that now. To start, there are two versions of Dragon Ball Z. Eps 1-53 were all recorded at Ocean Group Studios in Vancouver Canada, with the help (read: total domination) of Saban Entertainment. Eps 54+ were moved to FUNimation studios in Texas. Obviously, none of the voice actors from eps. 1-53 could participate 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 the Ocean Group version and the second as the FUNimation version, for lack of a better name.

It started with promise, but then a great, epic show was tortured. You can probably spot where there were scenes omitted, but unless you're familiar with the Japanese version you'll have trouble spotting a lot of the editing. Due to content and length, many episodes of Dragon Ball Z were blended together. I must admit that this was done flawlessly. 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 has even more filler episodes. The filler episodes were usually the ones blended, so the plot was not affected greatly. Then there's the digital paint. While not flawless, some parts looked very natural. 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 and bilingual DVD, but they weren't edited nearly 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. As for me? Well, yes and no. To be fair, Dragon Ball Z is not an ideal show to be dubbed in any language. There are many odd characters with odd speech patterns and odd mannerisms. it's certainly not impossible to dub this show, but it's not as easy as one might think. That said, I liked the Ocean Group cast. The acting was fairly good and there were only a few sub-par performances in the minor characters (in fact, some of them were really great). The casting wasn't very faithful to the Japanese casting. Goku's voice was deeper, as were other characters. I thought most of it was appropriate. A lot of fans seem to agree that Scott McNeil made an excellent Piccolo. His rough, somewhat demonic voice fit the character splendidly. I know many fans who prefer him to Toshio Furukawa. There were some unfortunate voice changes throughout the run of the show. Ian Corlett made for an excellent Goku and while Peter Kelamis isn't bad, he's not as good either. The writing, however, is particularly awful. This is where I think "yes" to the question a the beginning of this paragraph. The dubbing process involves casting, acting, directing and writing/translation. The Ocean Group cast is made up of many diverse and talented Canadian actors, but if ever a professional actor's talent has been challenged, it's in this show. The dialogue took a plunge from it's original target age to age 6 with cliches galore and a generally bad translation. Thankfully, they were able work with it as well as possible. However, FUNimation felt that characters had to almost always say something, even when the original version was completely silent. On the flip side, despite all the negative factors, the original plot was mostly preserved.

The dreaded 'another dimension' deserves a paragraph all its own. It was created to cover up any significant deaths. Fans were generally outraged with this, and rightfully so. The way death was handled in the Japanese version was quite good, and the dimension stuff was pitiful. The dialogue 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. When compared with dubbing in general, I had little quarrel with eps. 1-53 of DBZ. It's the writing that really bothered me.

The music was terrible, plain and simple. There was little variety to it. It was mostly a long medley based on the very unintelligent US opening theme "Rock the Dragon." The poor US track (composed by Shuki Levi) replaced any music that conveyed tragedy or sadness due to death, which took away almost all the impact those scenes had originally. If that wasn't enough, the music never stopped. There were no scenes that relied solely on dialogue. Maybe it's just me, but this aspect of the Levi soundtrack bothered me the most.

And all that was mostly the Ocean Group version.

The FUNimation version is an interesting beast. it's lasted much longer then the Ocean Group version and has rapidly evolved since the beginning of Season four. Thus, I'll write about this evolution to the best of my ability.

FUNimation, from ep. 54+, handled the entire show themselves. It showed promise. In my opinion, however, it started off worse then the Ocean Group version was. As far as omitting and changing the frames in the animation, FUNimation is handing it very well. Blood is shown and even graphic scenes like arms being ripped off and beams blasting right through someone remain intact. However, the line is drawn at spurting blood. Apparently, it's now okay for characters to be shown caked in blood, but any blood shooting from the wounds is painted away. Strange, though I can understand it.

There are also two uncut versions available on dubbed VHS and bilingual DVD for eps. 54+. Reportedly, FUNimation still feels it necessary to take a snip here and there at the uncut VHS tapes. Thankfully, it's been assured that the DVDs are completely and totally uncut and unaltered (well, in a way... see the DVD Notes).

The voice direction for Season 3 was sloppy at best, but in general it was very poor. The cast seemed to be thrown into the show without a very good handle on their characters. I do have to give them the benefit of the doubt, though. These actors, to the best of my knowledge, weren't as professional and/or experienced as the Ocean Group cast. As mentioned above, the script the Ocean Group cast was given was very bad and obviously caused them trouble. Here we have actors who aren't as experienced and are given a script that is even worse. This caused the actual acting to come off very forced, uninspired and overall poor. As for the casting, I wasn't too impressed. The new voices were casted to sound like the original dubbed voices. It's pretty obvious that they aren't the same. This means that any voices I didn't feel fit in the first dub, likewise, didn't fit here. But there were new voices, such as Krillen, Bulma, Ox-King, etc. that no longer fit the characters at all. On the flip side, there were some voices I was able to get used to quickly. Goku contrasted with the original dubbed Goku, Ian Corlett, very well. More so then Peter Kelamis. Then there's Gohan. I must admit, this is a dead-on impression of Saffron Henderson. I honestly can't tell the difference between them unless I listen closely.

Another unfortunate fault was the lack of actors. Many actors were forced to take on several roles. The main contender for this would be Chris Sabat. If you include all the minor and main characters he's voiced in the third season, he makes up around 1/3 of the cast. I'll admit, Mr. Sabat has a decent vocal range. Hiring him to play a few roles would have been fine, but he simply voiced too many characters. On the plus side, as the season progressed, I noticed some of the acting was improving. Vegeta's crying scene was surprisingly well acted.

That's all in Season 3 though. The general quality improved in season 4. The cast is still the same, but there was an improvement in the acting and voice direction. The FUNimation cast appeared to be getting comfortable with their roles, making things flow smoother. There are still a lot voices that I don't care for no matter what season they're in. However, I started getting used to some of the voices I didn't like at first, such as Krillen. Plus I started to actually like the voices I got used to quickly, such as Goku and Gohan. The new cast members I've heard still vary. I like Future Trunks voice, and the Androids (#17 and #18) were nicely contrasted with their Japanese counterparts. I also ended up liking the voice used for Cell's perfect form. However, Android #16's voice and Cell's early stages were not to my liking. These are only a few examples, of course. I am glad that FUNimation expanded their pool of actors. Things were overall improved a little and, in a few places, a lot. Compared to season 3, season 4 was a giant leap forward.

Season 5, the current season, is actually starting to win me over on the casting and acting side of things. I've gotten used to almost all the voices. Vegeta and Piccolo, two voices I never cared for at first, are actually acceptable to me now. New actors such as adult Gohan, Videl, Babidi, Dabura, etc. are all fine with me. I like their voices, plain and simple. The acting is generally pretty passable now, save for some awful background voices. The greatest accomplishment in the acting is not the actual speech, but the noises. In Season 3, sounds of pain or powering up were embarrassing to listen to. They were so exaggerated I found myself not being able to take the scenes seriously. But now that's all changed. All the embarrassing sounds from Season 3 are a thing of the past. I wouldn't call them realistic because that's not the nature of Dragon Ball Z. However, the actors are much more convincing and I find myself not cringing anymore. The pool of actors is also expanding nicely.

As for the writing, it was abysmal during Season 3. I'll admit that it was great to hear the characters say kill, death and die along with referring to someone dying instead of being sent to another dimension. A little bit of the tragedy, drama and sadness from the original version were being shown. Unfortunately, the death was still handled poorly. While the dialogue wasn't covering up death, it was just plain awful. Every cliche known to man was used and other's were seemingly made up. There didn't seem to be one coherent line in the new dub. Another flaw was that parts of the dub made outright plot changes. While the Ocean Group version preserved the original plot for the most part, key scenes in the Freeza saga were changed.

But like the acting, the writing made its improvements over time. The chattiness (i.e., talking where there was no talking in the original) was reduced and the script has become a lot more accurate. it's still not perfect. A lame one-liner still finds it's way in there. But when you compare Season 5 to Season 3 it's like comparing two different shows. I can certainly appreciate the effort put into improving this new dub, but I still have one problem with it. The music. it's horrible. While it's not a medley of the new theme song, it's totally inappropriate. Basically, it's too loud when it should be soft (or silent) and too soft when the original score is loud and intense. Granted the music is a little more distinctive now then it was at the beginning. However, like the Ocean Group version, it doesn't stop. Not one moment of silence has ever been used in the English version of the Dragon Ball Z TV series. Still, for Season 5, that's the only major complaint I have. Compared to all the complaints I had with Season 3, it's nice that a lot of them were fixed up. Do I think FUNimation's dub is the best dub ever? No. But I respect all the improvements made.

Now if all THAT junk wasn't confusing enough there's ANOTHER English version of Dragon Ball Z. This version is released in Holland by a company called Kid Biz (I think). The Holland version has begun to air on YTV in Canada, because YTV is tired of waiting for new episodes from FUNimation. Kid Biz's version did one thing right (perhaps): they hired the main Ocean Group cast. However, this has got to be the laziest English dub I've ever seen. The censoring harkens back to the first Ocean Group version, which is very unfortunate. As for the acting, it's not that good. it's improved over time, but the performances are often too stilted. This is because the English script is almost copied word-for-word from FUNimation's script, and directed like FUNimation's version. If you listen to two scenes from the two versions back-to-back you'll realize the director had the cast members put the same emphasis on words or syllables that the FUNimation actors did. In other words, it's a total copy. Also, the entire cast is mostly made up of the main cast members only. They also changed the music. What's worse is that the score is ripped right from the Megaman cartoon from several years back. See what I mean when I say it's lazy? I'm not going to say much more because I haven't watched much of it. However, this dub is much, much worse than FUNimation's. That's a shame, because some of the voices, like Vegeta and Piccolo, are very nostalgic to hear. But Kid Biz really missed the mark. They had the opportunity to leap-frog FUNimation's dub, but they appear to be too lazy.

I'm really not sure how to rate the English versions anymore, so I'll leave that to you. As for the Japanese Dragon Ball Z, all my ratings are based on that. Dragon Ball Z can be summed up like a famous Canadian beer slogan, "Those who like it like it a lot."

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