What is DBZ?
FAQ's
Dragon Ball/Z one of the most popular anime shows ever in Japan. The original series Dragonball, based on the manga of the same name by Toriyama Akira, started about 10 years ago and was an adventure-type show with a little bit of martial arts. Once the main hero of the series grew up, after 153 episodes the show's name was changed to Dragonball Z, (still based on the manga although the name of the manga didn't change) and it became more martial-arts oriented.
Dragon Ball Movies and specials
In addition to the manga and TV series, 3 Dragon Ball movies, 13 Dragon Ball Z movies and 2 Dragon Ball Z TV specials were made. All of the movies but Dragon Ball Movie #3 pitted the heroes of the series against new enemies not in the manga or anime before. Unfortunately, virtually all of these movies have large continuity problems with the manga and TV series, and their quality is, in my opinion, somewhat worse as well. Basically, consider these movies to be in an "alternate Dragon Ball reality." There were 2 TV specials: The Bardock and the Trunks special. The Bardock Special takes place before the series starts; it deals with Goku's father and how Goku was sent to Earth. The Trunks special is a 45-minute adaptation of "Trunks The Story," a 19-page description of Future Trunks' origin.
Dragon Ball is over!
Yup, it's true, the Dragon Ball manga series ended in Japan last April, and the show ended very recently as well. However, since Dragon Ball is a huge moneymaker in Japan, they are continuing and creating a new Dragon Ball series, "Dragon Ball GT," which first started in February of 1996. Rather than Toriyama, the people in charge of the story and characters in DBGT are the people at Bandai, so he is less of a role in its production.
The premise of Dragon Ball
The original premise of the story dealt with the "Dragon Balls," 7 orange spheres with stars in the middle (1 star in one ball, 2 stars in another, 3 stars in...well, you get the point.) When one supposedly gathers all 7 of the balls, the dragon Shenlong appears and grants whoever summoned him a wish. After granting the wish, Shenlong disappears and the 7 balls shoot off to the four corners of the Earth, waiting to be collected again. A young boy, Goku, had one of the balls, and when a girl named Bulma came to find it, he joined her to find the rest and a whole series of adventures were spawned.
Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z in English
Finding Dragon Ball/Z in English is somewhat of a trick, as there is not much out there. The first few Dragon Ball episodes have come out dubbed in syndication on US TV. Except for Goku, Bulma, Mutenroshi, Oolong, Shu, Mai, and Yamucha, the voices aren't too bad, but the translations are lacking, and the plot/events/characters are heavily edited for US audiences. In fact the series is sterilized so much that it becomes, in my opinion, painful to watch, although I get a kick out of watching how the editors try and cover up what they did in the original episodes. There is a TV station in Hawaii that is broadcasting a subtitled version of Dragon Ball, and at the time of this writing has completed the first series just started the Nameck-sei storyline in DBZ. These episodes, for the most part, are very well done. As for the DB/DBZ movies, the only ones available to my knowledge are S. Baldric subs, which, like most of S. Baldric's subs, suffer from bad translations and a price tag. As for the manga, it has not been brought to America as of yet; however, you can find translations on some ftp sites, as well as some TV episode scripts.
