The production aspect of the Dragon Ball anime series’ and movies is something that many fans aren’t too familiar with due to the numerous people and companies that were involved. This is especially true for the late-80s and early-90s when Dragon Ball was produced, as computers were not yet being utilized by animation artists and studios. As you’ll see, the amount of work that went into making a single episode is simply mind boggling. So as a tribute, we’ve created this guide to acknowledge the hard work of all these fine individuals and companies.

Before diving straight into the numerous credit listings we have, it is highly recommended that you read through the first two “mini-guides” below. The first gives an overview of how we’ll be presenting the credits and how to interpret what they actually mean; somewhat of a reference as to how the guide works. It will also present you with a list of common credits found throughout the Dragon Ball series’ and what it is they’re responsible for doing. Secondly, we have a rough overview of the animation process itself, and how a typical episode of Dragon Ball was animated.

• General Credits Overview
  A general overview of what all these credits really mean and how this guide works.
• The Animation Process
  A look at what all goes into the making of a typical episode of Dragon Ball.
• Toriyama’s Contributions to the Anime
  A short guide to all of the officially confirmed contributions Toriyama made to the anime.
• Dragon Ball Kai Remastering Process
  Take a look at the remastering process used to bring Dragon Ball Z into the digital age.

Once you’ve given these “mini-guides” a thorough reading, it’s time to move on to the real meat of the guide. Below we have broken up all of the credits between the series’ (incl. TV specials) and movies. This division is due to the varying credit structures both utilize, which would otherwise be rather confusing. The three main series credits are very similar, but even between the three they were still somewhat varried. For example, starting in episode 200 of Dragon Ball Z the “Chief Animator” credit was replaced by the “Character Design” credit, which was previously uncredited throughout Dragon Ball and the majority of Dragon Ball Z, but continued to be used throughout all 64 episodes of Dragon Ball GT. Finally we have Dragon Ball Kai, which you’ll find has the fewest credits of all. This is mostly due to the fact that it was a “refreshed” broadcast of Dragon Ball Z, so the majority of the original credits are not listed.

The final section of the guide provides detailed biographies of some of the main production staff. However, with the hundreds of staff members involved, you may find that we don’t have the biography you’re looking for. Over time we’ll be filling it in with more and more biographies, but for the time being we’ll be sticking with the most essential staff members. Some staff biographies contain no profile photographs, so if you have any that we don’t, please contact us.

Staff Credit Lists

Follow the links below to view the staff credit list from that specific entity. Each section will present you with the full credits of that entity, organized as they originally appeared and under each credit title (i.e. Animation Supervisor, Director, etc.) by the order of appearance. Please remember that we currently list staff names in the proper Japanese order (family name, given name) and use the full Romanized spellings (i.e. Tohru = Touru, etc.).

Main Staff Biographies

Follow the link below to view biographies of some of the main production staff for both the manga and anime adaptation. Each biography will present you with personal information, notes, Dragon Ball credits, and any notable anime credits. Please remember that this section is organized with respect to the fully Romanized spellings of the Japanese staff.