Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods has arrived in Spain, courtesy of one DBZ fan with a dream. He is the Dragon Ball Dreamer, Antonio! Come, hear his story.

The Dream is Born

Dragon Ball Z is a success wherever it goes and it has millions of fans.

Ever since the Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods movie was released in Japan the fans in Spain have wanted to see it in theaters and hear it dubbed in their own language.

Some fans thought it was an impossible dream.

But one fan turned that dream into reality.

Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods just premiered in theaters on June 19, 2014, in Seville, Cuidad Real, and other major cities in Spain.

So who is the young man that made this possible?

Antonio – The Dragon Ball Dreamer

Antonio Sánchez-Migallón is the biggest Dragon Ball Z fan in Spain.

He fell in love with Dragon Ball at a young age, reading the manga distributed by Planeta de Agostini and Manchacómic. He’s now 23 and still loves DBZ.

Antonio has one of the biggest collections of Dragon Ball merchandise in the world and showcases it on his YouTube channel.

There you can listen to his in-depth discussions on his ZTV show and see behind the scenes footage of Dragon Ball Z events in Spain.

He also runs a website called Dragon Ball Dream, dedicated to the series.

He earned his Bachelors in the English language at a German university and now teaches at the ApruEva Academy in Carrión de Calatrava. He’s also the Spanish translator of my book, Dragon Ball Z “It’s Over 9,000!” Cosmovisiones en Colision.

And if that weren’t enough, he writes articles on the largest Spanish Japanese pop culture site Mision Tokyo, where he focuses on the latest releases and DBZ news.

In short, Antonio lives and breathes Dragon Ball Z.

Bringing Battle of Gods to Spain

Antonio had the vision of bringing the newest Dragon Ball Z movie in 17 years to Spain. He knew it was possible if he had the will, he just had to find the way.

He started working on this project in July, 2013, only a few months after the film premiered in Japan on March 30.

The first step was to create a signature drive on causes.org.

The signatures reached over 3,000 in less than a week. This showed that there was a serious interest.

Then he spent hours every day calling all the relevant companies involved, designing a social media plan, and creating a movement.

He attempted to convince the Spanish dubbing and distribution companies that investing in Battle of Gods was a good business decision.

Some companies said no.

But through his persistent efforts the two companies of Selecta Visión and Alfa Pictures listened to his words and invested in his dream.

The Original Cast Returns

Every Dragon Ball Z fan has their favorite dub.

If you live in a country that has a localized version of Dragon Ball Z, then that means you’ve watched your local dub and probably prefer that version.

Spain is no different. And there is an entire cast of voice actors and producers involved with the Dragon Ball series. So Antonio did his best to reach out to all of the original voice actors and get them involved with the project.

They said yes!

Then he was sent by Mision Tokyo and Selecta Visión to Noise Factory studios in Seville, where he met the entire cast and filmed their voice acting sessions.

The actors were polite and professional and showed that in some cases they were just as big of Dragon Ball Z fans as everyone else.

Antonio said,

“This was such a treat to meet these beautiful people, the heroes of my childhood.”

As a result of this breakthrough effort Antonio has brought Dragon Ball Z to the big screen for the first time in Spain’s history. It’s something that Spanish fans have dreamed of since they were children.

And now other DBZ fans in Spain have started crowdfunding campaigns to dub the movie into different Spanish dialects, including Valencian.

If one man can do it, then so can others!

Goku Arrives in Spain

The film premiered on June 19 across a dozen major cities of Spain.

Because this is such a landmark moment, fans came out to see the stars.

The most beautiful part of all is that it’s not just Dragon Ball Z fans who attended the film, but children, their parents, and whole families.

It’s a chance for a new generation to experience Dragon Ball Z for the first time, and for the older fans to meet the voices of their childhood.

A Dragon Ball Spirit

This isn’t about whether or not the Battle of Gods film is good or bad.

This is about recognizing a man’s hard work to bring something he loves into the lives of others in a positive and beautiful way.

Antonio didn’t make money off of this. He did it because he loves Dragon Ball Z and wants to share it with everyone.

He took this film all the way from Japan to Ciudad Real.

It required a vision and a consistent will to make it happen. And that’s the kind of lesson that we can learn from watching DBZ. That’s what Goku teaches us.

That’s the Dragon Ball spirit put into action.

And it’s worthy of respect.

A Big Thank You

If you’re in Spain and haven’t seen it yet, then what are you waiting for? Go to the theater and show your support!

And if you’re in another country and would like to see Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods dubbed in your language…

Well, now you know what to do!

Antonio led the charge. The rest is up to you.

He ended it by saying:

“Dragon Ball Dream is a platform created to fulfill our dreams. We have shown in this community that we can make the Genki Dama a real technique and materialize it in our world. My eternal gratitude to all those who have believed in this project for many months. Without the global union of the fans in Spain, Dragon Ball Z would not be in cinemas today, where we hear the voices of our childhood on the big screen.”

Thank you, Antonio. And congratulations to all the fans in Spain!

If you’d like to follow Antonio, please subscribe to his YouTube channel, on Twitter @MrKaytos, and Like Dragon Ball Dream on Facebook.