Dragon Ball (anime)
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Dragon Ball (ドラゴンボール Doragon Bōru?) is a Japanese animated television series that was produced in the late 1980s by Toei Doga (now Toei Animation), being an adaptation of the first sixteen volumes of the Dragon Ball manga created by Akira Toriyama and published in Japan in the Weekly Shōnen Jump manga anthology comic. Volumes 17-42 of the manga were adapted as Dragon Ball Z in the United States.
The anime is composed of 153 half-hour episodes and ran in Japan from February 26, 1986, to April 12, 1989.
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[edit] History
The series follows the early adventures of Son Goku as he and his friends search the world for the seven magic Dragon Balls. The series is known as being a much less serious anime than its successor, Dragon Ball Z, though later sagas blur the lines a bit.
[edit] American releases
Two early attempts at releasing Dragon Ball to American audiences failed. The first attempt was in the late 1980s by Harmony Gold. It featured strange name changes for nearly all the characters, such as changing Son Goku to "Zero" and Karin to "Whiskers the Wonder Cat". It is not well-known, and has been referred to as "The Lost Dub" by fans.[1]
The second and more well known was in 1995, when FUNimation first attempted to launch the Dragon Ball franchise in the United States. Hiring BLT Productions[2] to produce the dub, they had the first 13 aired in syndication in edited form. However due to disappointing ratings, FUNimation chose to abandon this dub, moving on to the newer and more action filled Dragon Ball Z. The home video rights for this version were acquired by Vidmark Entertainment for their KidMark label. As they and their current owner has continued to renew the license, FUNimation has been unable release their newer unedited dub of these episodes on DVD, and only the old version remains available (as the The Saga of Goku DVD set).
After Dragon Ball Z became popular[citation needed] on Cartoon Network, the entire series was translated by FUNimation and released in the same scheduling block as its successor; Toonami. The complete series ran in the US from August 2001 to December 2002. Unlike the theme songs for Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT, FUNimation made English versions of the original Japanese opening and ending themes for these episodes and left in the original BGM, which was met with delight by most fans. However, some insert (IN) songs were removed or have dialogue dubbed over them.
The US version of Dragon Ball was aired on Cartoon Network (before that, it was aired in syndication) with excessive editing.[citation needed] Most of the edits were digital cosmetic changes, which were done to remove nudity and blood, and dialogue edits, such as when Pu-erh says why Oolong was expelled from shapeshifting school, instead of saying that he stole the teacher's panties, it was changed to him stealing the teacher's papers.[citation needed] Some scenes were deleted altogether, either to save time or remove strong violence. For example, when Goku dives into the water unclothed to catch a fish for dinner, a digital water splash was added on his groin; on other occasions when he is nude, he has some digital underwear added.[citation needed] Also, references to alcohol and drugs were removed, for example, when Jackie Chun (Muten Roshi) uses Drunken Fist Kung Fu in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai, FUNimation called it the "Mad Cow Attack." Also, the famous "No Balls!" scene was deleted from episode 2, and when Bulma places panties on the fishing hook to get Oolong (in fish form), they digitally painted away the panties and replaced it with some money.[citation needed]
While implied throughout the General Blue Saga, the character Blue is finally revealed to be a homosexual during a scene in which he recoils at Bulma's seductive advances as she tries to distract him. Blue is further revealed to be a pedophile upon displaying sexual interest towards a young boy who stops to repair Blue's damaged car. All references to General Blue's sexual orientation were eliminated in the American TV release; the scene involving Bulma was changed to make it seem as if he was simply afraid of women and the scene involving the boy was redubbed to suggest that Blue believes to have found his long-lost younger brother.[citation needed]
Many of the changes were ill-received by long-time fans of the series, who believed the cable networks' censorship destroyed or diminished the original humor, however, the DVDs do not contain these edits.[citation needed]
A note on inconsistency in censorship that a scene in Dragon Ball where Goku charges completely through Piccolo Daimao, putting a hole in the behemoth's chest, was edited so that the hole wasn't shown for the American broadcast, but the same scene was shown uncensored on American TV, in a flashback in a Dragon Ball Z episode, with the hole in Piccolo Daimao's chest clearly visible.[citation needed]
[edit] Unofficial Chinese live-action movie
New Dragon Ball: The Legend of Shenlong is a live-action version of the popular Japanese animated series. An evil king has been stealing the mystical "Dragonballs" in an attempt to possess them all. When all but one of the balls has been stolen, the former guardians of the magic balls decide to band together and take action. Led by a pig-headed wizard and a half-turtle martial arts master, the team takes on the king's army in a desperate bid to stop him from gaining control of the balls.
[edit] Theme songs
- Opening
- "Makafushigi Adobenchā!" (摩訶不思議アドベンチャー！ Mystical Adventure!?)
- Lyrics: Yuriko Mori, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kohei Tanaka, Performance: Hiroki Takashashi; he is not to be confused with the seiyū Hiroki Takahashi)
- Version 1: episodes 1~101
- Version 2: episodes 102~153 (not on FUNimation's DVDs)
- Lyrics: Yuriko Mori, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kohei Tanaka, Performance: Hiroki Takashashi; he is not to be confused with the seiyū Hiroki Takahashi)
- "Makafushigi Adobenchā!" (摩訶不思議アドベンチャー！ Mystical Adventure!?)
- Ending
- "Romatikku Ageru Yo" (ロマンティックあげるよ I'll Give You Romance?)
- Lyrics: Takemi Yoshida, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kohei Tanaka, Performance: Ushio Hashimoto)
- Version 1: episodes 1~21 (not on FUNimation's DVDs)
- Version 2: episodes 22~101
- Version 3: episodes 102~132 (not on FUNimation's DVDs)
- Version 4: episodes 133~153) (not on FUNimation's DVDs)
- Lyrics: Takemi Yoshida, Music: Takeshi Ike, Arrangement: Kohei Tanaka, Performance: Ushio Hashimoto)
- "Romatikku Ageru Yo" (ロマンティックあげるよ I'll Give You Romance?)
[edit] Cast list
| Character Name | Voice Actor (Japanese) | V.A. (FUNimation English) | V.A. (Blue Water English) | V.A. (Ocean Group English) | V.A. (Harmony Gold English) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Son Goku | Masako Nozawa | Stephanie Nadolny (child) Sean Schemmel (adult) |
Zoe Slusar Jeffrey Watson |
Saffron Henderson | Barbara Goodson |
| Bulma | Hiromi Tsuru | Tiffany Vollmer | Leda Davies | Lalainia Lindbjerg | Wendee Lee |
| Muten Roshi | Kōhei Miyauchi | Mike McFarland | Dean Galloway | Michael Donovan | Greg Snegoff |
| Umigame | Daisuke Ghori | Christopher Sabat | Dave Pettitt | Alec Willows | ??? |
| Oolong | Naoki Tatsuta | Bradford Jackson | Corby Proctor | Alec Willows | Dave Mallow |
| Yamucha | Tōru Furuya | Christopher Sabat | Victor Atelevich | Ted Cole | ??? |
| Pu-erh | Naoko Watanabe | Monika Antonelli | Chris Simms | Kathy Morse | Cheryl Chase |
| Chichi | Mayumi Shō | Laura Bailey (child) Cynthia Cranz (adult) |
Katie Rowan | Andrea Libman | N/A |
| Kuririn | Mayumi Tanaka | Lori Steele (child) Sonny Strait (adult) |
Mike Thiessen | N/A | ??? |
| Lunch | Mami Koyama | Monika Antonelli (nice-self) Meredith McCoy (angry-self) |
Kris Rundle | N/A | Edie Mirman |
| Tenshinhan | Hirotaka Suzuoki | John Burgmeier | Jonathan Love | N/A | Eddie Frierson |
| Chaozu | Hiroko Emori | Monika Antonelli | ??? | N/A | Rebecca Forstadt |
| Gyumao | Daisuke Gori | Kyle Hebert | Dave Pettitt | Dave Ward | N/A |
| Uranai Baba | Junpei Takiguchi | Linda Young | Corby Proctor | N/A | N/A |
| Pilaf | Shigeru Chiba | Chuck Huber | Dean Galloway | Don Brown | ??? |
| Shu | Tessho Genda | Chris Cason | Jonathan Love | Doug Parker | ??? |
| Mai | Eiko Yamada | Julie Franklin | Debbie Munro | Teryl Rothery | ??? |
| Mr. Popo | Toku Nishio | Christopher Sabat | Dave Pettitt | N/A | N/A |
| Karin | Ichirō Nagai | Christopher Sabat | Ethan Cole | N/A | ??? |
| Kami | Takeshi Aono | Christopher Sabat | Mike Shepherd | N/A | N/A |
| Yajirobe | Mayumi Tanaka | Mike McFarland | Lucas Gilbertson | N/A | N/A |
| Piccolo Daimao | Takeshi Aono | Christopher Sabat | Ethan Cole | N/A | N/A |
| Piccolo | Toshio Furukawa | Christopher Sabat | Ethan Cole | N/A | N/A |
| Dr. Briefs | Joji Yanami | Chris Forbis | ??? | N/A | N/A |
| Mrs. Briefs | Mariko Mukai | Cynthia Cranz | Jennifer Bain | N/A | N/A |
| Grandpa Son Gohan | Osamu Saka | Christopher Sabat | Jonathan Love | N/A | N/A |
| Shenlong | Kenji Utsumi | Christopher Sabat | Dave Pettitt | ??? | Michael Reynolds |
| Narrator | Joji Yanami | Brice Armstrong | Steve Olson | Jim Conrad | ??? |
[edit] Episode lists
[edit] See also
- List of Dragon Ball characters
- Dragon Ball (franchise)
- List of Dragon Ball films
- List of Dragon Ball video games
- Journey to the West - the classic Chinese novel on which Dragon Ball is loosely based
[edit] References
- ^ The Lost 80s Dragonball Dub. Temple O' Trunks. Retrieved on 2008-05-23.
- ^ BLT Productions at CrystalAcids.com
[edit] External links
- Toei Dragon Ball website
- English Dragon Ball website
- Dragon Ball (anime) at the Dragon Ball wiki
- Dragon Ball (anime) (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
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