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Dragon
Ball Z - The TV Animation |
| As the storyline of
the manga slept from comedy to action, the animators at Toei decided to rename the anime,
to mark the change of era, style, pace and public! The second TV Animation based on
Toriyama-sensei's manga, Dragon Ball Z began two weeks after the end of Dragon Ball on
April 26 1989 and lasted until early 1996, after 291 episodes (A very high number,
something rare in japanese animation). Following the story of the Dragon Ball manga books
17 to 42, it success was tremendous.
The first TV Series ran from February 26, 1986 to April 19, 1989, and lasted 153 episodes.
It was broadcasted in Japan on Fuji Terebi. Following the story of the first 17 books of
the manga, the anime was very succesful. |
 DB was aimed at kids, and now 5 years later, both
the audience and the character have grown. The initial fans of DB are now teens, and
that's why the new show, DBZ, is aimed at teens. But DB was also loved by people of all
ages, and the adults fan of DB where a little turned off by the change of focus of the
serie - it didn't hurt much, though, because DBZ became tremendously popular among
teenagers.
Personaly, I like both series almost
equally, since I consider both of them as an evolution of the same masterpiece. I like as
much DB for it's comedy-action content as DBZ for his action content!
What
does the "Z" in Dragon Ball means? |
There is not a definitive answer for now on this question, but here is some theories.
First, the letter "Z" is used in anime titles as "Zeta", the way we
write in capital letter the letter Dzeta, sixth letter of the greek alphabet. It is used
for example in Zeta Gundam, where it's clearly stated that it's "Zeta".
According to the most reliable sources,
the Z in DBZ doesn't mean Zeta, but is rather the initial of the word "Zenkai",
which is in the title of the first ending song of DBZ, "Tobikkiri Zenkai Power".
"Zenkai" means "Full Thottle", of course applied to the power level of
the character. It makes sense, since compared to DB, DBZ is indeed full throttle!!! (Information
from Cyber Namida site - in French)
 There is now evidence that
Dragon Ball Z will be shown this fall on UPN in the USA! For more details, go to the news
of Saiyajin's Pride page, the place for the most current rumors and facts. The fate of the
original DB series is unknown. It will proably disseapear to let place to DBZ, and the
american audience will miss 140 episodes, leaving a huge gap in the continuity.
Also, there is now a subtitled version
of the serie still running in Hawaii, as a sequel to DB that was also shown there. The
subbed is also done by Nippon Golden Network (NGN), and the same comment as DB apply. The
fonts are still the same and some strange translation have appeared (I know Bejeeta is
almost literal translation, but common, it looks bad!) The serie is currently in the
Nameck era. Go to Shenlon DBZ listing to know where they are now!
I have read recently about the DBZ
series beign shown in the Phillipines subbed in english. I have yet to see this version.
Dragon
Ball Z In The World |
Dragon Ball Z is
available in many countries, particularly in Asia, and translated versions (either subbed
or dubbed) can be found in any Chinatown in America. In Europe, it is extremely popular in
France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain and other countries. r
Dragon Ball Z - French Version
 I have more knowledge of the french version.
Dragon Ball is known in France for a long time where the original serie ran only 1 year or
2 late. Currently they are in the Majin-Buu era, almost toward the end. DBZ should end
next year there, and it's still unknown if DBGT will take it's place.
DBZ is shown as a part of a Children TV
Show named "Club Dorothée", despised by all the fans of DBZ. To the dismay of
most fans, the show is horribly censored. It seems the latest replay of the Cell Games was
cut at 50% !!! Personaly I also find most of the dubbing voices to be bad, but that's
something usual for most anime dubbed by AB Production, those who own the rights in
France.
Most of the character names were kept,
but some were changed. Here is a list of some of the changes :
| Japanese Names |
French Names |
English Meaning (if any) |
| Kamesennin |
Tortue-Géniale |
Genius Turtle |
| Piccolo |
Satan Petit Coeur |
Satan Little Heart |
| Mr.Satan |
Hercule |
|
The reason behind these changes are
nebulous. Piccolo was probably named Satan because he is the evil counterpart of God, thus
the Devil, but the "Petit Coeur" part is of unknown origin. Mr.Satan was named
Hercules to avoid confusion with Piccolo. Also, Vejiita's name is pronounced
"Vey-jey-ta" instead of "Vey-ji-ta". That's why I'm SVegeta and not
SVejiita.
There is a very high amount of DBZ
merchandising in France. The who reached such a high status that it's sometime seen as a
fashion, and for that reason there is some French anime fans who now dislike DBZ. DBZ is
too popular maybe! :)
Dragon Ball Z - Spanish
Version
This version is faithfull from the Japonese one. In
Spain, Dragon Ball earn a great amount of money with cards.
Dragon Ball Z - Portuguese
Version
I have great knowledge of the portuguese
version. Dragon Ball is known in Portugal since 1996. The episodes were gave 5 times a
week. Soon, it was a success! DBZ and DBGT have already finished!
Most of the character names were kept,
but some were changed. The changes are exactly like the French ones.:
| Japanese Names |
Portuguese Names |
English Meaning (if any) |
| Kamesennin |
Tartaruga Genial |
Genius Turtle |
| Piccolo |
Coraçãozinho de Satã |
Satan's Little Heart |
| Mr.Satan |
Hercules |
|
The reason behind these changes are
because these episodes were bought by a Portuguese channel from a french one and so, the
changes are the same. Vejiita's name is also pronounced "Vey-jey-ta" instead of
"Vey-ji-ta".
There is a very high amount of DBZ
merchandising in Portugal like France.
More Dragon Ball Z Info :
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