The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

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DerekPadula
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The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by DerekPadula » Tue May 05, 2015 4:35 pm

While researching the history of Dragon Ball in different countries, I realized that there's no single place where you can go to read about the history of the series in every country on earth.

I've spent the last day and a half researching the history of each country where Dragon Ball has been published or broadcast, and despite my best efforts, some of the info just doesn't exist. For example, I can't find anything about Dragon Ball in India or Nicaragua. And what's available about each of these countries has been pieced together from disparate websites in different languages across the world, using google translate and my own effort. But it's not ideal, and many of them are incomplete.

We don't have a Wiki on this site yet, so I'd like this to be a living document, where people can add more info and then I'll update this first post. I'll post my own research here first, and then others can add to it with their own posts. I haven't done Japan or the United States yet, because they're kind of overwhelming, and because they're available online. But if you want to write a succinct history here, please do. It'd save me time.

So far I have these countries:
  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Belgium
  • Brazil
  • Canada
  • Chile
  • Columbia
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • El Salvador
  • Finland
  • France
  • Hong Kong
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • India
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Japan
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • Nicaragua
  • Norway
  • Paraguay
  • Peru
  • Philippines
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Russia
  • Spain
  • South Africa
  • Sweden
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • Venezuela
Thanks.

Argentina
Australia
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
Chile
Columbia
Czech Republic
Ecuador
Denmark
Dominican Republic
El Salvador
Finland
France
Hong Kong
Germany
Greece
India
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Mexico

Netherlands

Nicaragua
Norway
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Russia
Spain
South Africa
Sweden
United Kingdom
United States
Venezuela
Last edited by DerekPadula on Sun May 10, 2015 11:32 am, edited 11 times in total.
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by MCDaveG » Tue May 05, 2015 4:48 pm

Wow, this is really interesting Derek. Thanks for all of that. More so, that in my country, the history is non-existant and we as kids were watching Polish or German broadcast of it (Polish is partialy understandable for czech speakers with some training and thanks that German is the second language after english taught at school plus to having interconnected history, some cultural habits and being neighbours with Germany and Austria).
I am really amazed by how it wasn't that easy for a Dragon Ball to actually get into the countries you listed. I lived in this idea since childhood, that Dragon Ball simply went on air in all these countries and that was it,
not knowing about the difficulties and such. Wow! Remarkable effort, I am sorry that I can't actually contribute to it anyhow.

PS:
The first episode of Dragon Ball anime was broadcast in Germany on August 30, 1999, on channel RTL 2. There were two episodes that aired every Monday to Friday, from 1:15 to 1:55. They aired the edited French version of the program, with German dialog.
I remember this time vividly, as I came from school and watched it before Monster Rancher and Pokémon, I was a third grader on elementary school back then :lol:

PSPS:
Other changes included the famous “It’s Over 9,000!” line said by Vegeta being changed to “A più di 8000, accipicchia!” (“Gosh, it's over 8,000!”).
But this line is actually faithful to the original Japanese version and manga, as Goku's power really is over 8000!
Last edited by MCDaveG on Tue May 05, 2015 4:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by One_Instance » Tue May 05, 2015 4:54 pm

Thanks for posting this, I've always wanted to know more about Dragon Ball in foreign countries, but I never really had time to do good research on it. This helps a lot, thanks again!

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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by soulnova » Tue May 05, 2015 5:11 pm

I have to say that your info on the Mexican dub is not correct.

The first attempt to dub DB in Mexico was made by Video Doblajes SA. de CV on the early 90's. It failed miserably because they were using the Harmony Gold american version and changed most of the character's names arbitrarily. Goku became "Zero", Yamcha "Zedaki, Krillin "Cachito"... you get the idea. I watched this dub once, and I still cringe at the memory. No one wants to remember this first batch of episodes.

Cloverway got the rights in 1994 to redub the first 60 episodes, and Intertrack took over with the remaining 93 episodes (and the rest of Z and GT).

Source http://es.doblaje.wikia.com/wiki/Dragon_Ball
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by StrawHatPatriot » Tue May 05, 2015 5:55 pm

Dragon Ball Z first aired in the US around the mid 90's on Saturday Mornings, where it's ratings weren't that great but it developed a dedicated fandom. The company that got the episodes was Funimation, but they assigned the Ocean Group to do the dub voices. It got eventually cancelled, but because of its popularity, Cartoon Network picked it up around 1997-1998, where its ratings were good and the popularity increased. (It aired on a specific programming bloc on Cartoon Network called "Toonami", which usually aired action cartoons, many of which were anime.) But they were only able to show the first 53 episodes, since those were the only ones dubbed.

As they only aired first 53 episodes on loop, fans were waiting. Because of the popularity, Funimation decided to do their own in-house dub acting, and new episodes were on there way by late 1999, which led to excitement. The day that new episodes would return was hyped up by Cartoon Network as "Z-Day", as seen in these ads:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ7cyB-eYsQ (As you see, the announcer says "it's been a while since we gave you a present" and "the wait is over".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKib7mJLdT4

-
That can be a brief opener for the DBZ US section, with some edits at the beginning of course.

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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by DerekPadula » Tue May 05, 2015 6:17 pm

Thanks. I updated the Mexico section to be more accurate. That dubbing site was a useful resource. It also gave me info on Ecuador, Chile, and the Dominican Republic. So I added those to the list, along with Czech Republic, as mentioned above. Haven't done the US yet.
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by DerekPadula » Tue May 05, 2015 6:26 pm

MCDaveG wrote:Wow! Remarkable effort, I am sorry that I can't actually contribute to it anyhow.
You just did contribute, as I've added a Czech Republic section. Do you know anything about the manga publication there? Who published it, what language, when was the first volume published, etc.?
But this line is actually faithful to the original Japanese version and manga, as Goku's power really is over 8000!
I think the important thing about this is the "accipicchia!" in the front. It's like saying, "Golly gee!" or, "Oh shucks, It's Over 8,000!"
Last edited by DerekPadula on Tue May 05, 2015 6:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by TheBlackPaladin » Tue May 05, 2015 6:26 pm

You, Derek, need to be nominated for some kind of award. I've always wanted an "international database" of sorts on how Dragon Ball was adapted in various countries. You rock, sir!
A "rather haggard" translation of a line from Future Gohan in DBZ, provided to FUNimation by Toei:
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by DerekPadula » Tue May 05, 2015 6:36 pm

TheBlackPaladin wrote:You, Derek, need to be nominated for some kind of award. I've always wanted an "international database" of sorts on how Dragon Ball was adapted in various countries. You rock, sir!
Thanks for saying so.

One day I want to publish a book on the topic. Something like "The History of Dragon Ball," and then have a chapter for every country where it has appeared, in chronological order, with all of the anime, manga, and merchandise history for each location. But for now a paragraph or two on each will suffice.

I'd like fans from across the world to fact check this info for their own country, or add info for any country that's missing.
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by MCDaveG » Tue May 05, 2015 7:13 pm

DerekPadula wrote:
MCDaveG wrote:Wow! Remarkable effort, I am sorry that I can't actually contribute to it anyhow.
You just did contribute, as I've added a Czech Republic section. Do you know anything about the manga publication there? Who published it, what language, when was the first volume published, etc.?
But this line is actually faithful to the original Japanese version and manga, as Goku's power really is over 8000!
I think the important thing about this is the "accipicchia!" in the front. It's like saying, "Golly gee!" or, "Oh shucks, It's Over 8,000!"
Ah yes, the German dub has the infamous Oh shit! line from Cell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCeQzvVz4Ck.
Well, here in CZ, aside from fansites - the manga was imported in english from Gollancz in UK and selled in foreign section of publishing houses about 8 years ago.
Those are the red Viz volumes od Dragon Ball. That was complete without a Z. Anime aired here actually, it was Dragon Ball GT on Animax in 2011. It was in Japanese with czech subtitles and you could switch over to Hungarian dub track.
Image quality was better than the French run on Polish TV with recap and preview + the advertising still images. Sound was mono in Japanese.
Dragon Ball Evolution came out direct to video with czech dubbing.
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by Basaku » Tue May 05, 2015 8:14 pm

For Poland:

Anime - October 1999 debut* on RTL7 channel (rebranded TVN7 after ITI Corporation boy-out in 2002) from the very first Dragon Ball episode. French dubbing, opening & ending with Polish lector reading clunky translation. Weekdays airing in post-school afternoon slot. Switched to 2 episodes per-weekday during DBZ period, rest remained the same. GT followed directly after but it had original Japenese voices, opening & ending (once again with Polish lector reading the translation). GT ended in early 2001. The series was re-aired twice after until 2003.

Meanwhile in late 2002 at the height of show's popularity ITI Cinema released DBZ Movies 12/13 in cinemas with an actual Polish dubbing (albeit not very good one). This is the only existing release fully in Polish language. Additionally, DBZ Movies 1-3 were realeased directly-to-video by Planet Manga (french dubbing with Polish lector).

The license for the show ITI Corporation held eventually expired (it was never re-aired after 2003) and was later purchased by Sony instead. GT was then first re-aired on AXN Spin in early 2012 followed shortly by DBZ Kai (both with original Japanese voices this time) and continues to air to this day.

*the show was originally scheduled to debut on Polsat channel directly after first hugely-succesful Sailor Moon airing ended in 1995 but the decision was changed due to concerns about the violence in the show.

Manga - J.P.Fantastica (biggest Polish manga distributor) released all 42 volumes with faithful quality Polish translation from 2001 to 2003, using the original Tankobon format and covers. You can view them all here.
Last edited by Basaku on Wed May 06, 2015 8:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by DB1984 » Tue May 05, 2015 10:58 pm

It is my understanding that either France or Hong Kong was the first to get Dragon Ball outside of its native Japan. And that it was in 1988.

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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by bubibartra » Wed May 06, 2015 6:23 am

DerekPadula wrote: Spain

The catalan (catalonian) is not a dialect, It is a official and own language from one region of Spain, not a variant of Spanish o any other lenguague.,,,
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by MCDaveG » Wed May 06, 2015 6:38 am

Basaku wrote:For Poland:

Anime - September 1999 debut* on RTL7 channel (rebranded TVN7 after ITI Corporation boy-out in 2002) from the very first Dragon Ball episode. French dubbing, opening & ending with Polish lector reading clunky translation. Weekdays airing in post-school afternoon slot. Switched to 2 episodes per-weekday during DBZ period, rest remained the same. GT followed directly after but it had original Japenese voices, opening & ending (once again with Polish lector reading the translation). GT ended in 2003.

Meanwhile in late 2002 at the height of show's popularity ITI Cinema released DBZ Movies 12/13 in cinemas with an actual Polish dubbing (albeit not very good one). This is the only existing release fully in Polish language. Additionally, DBZ Movies 1-3 were realeased directly-to-video by Planet Manga (french dubbing with Polish lector).

The license for the show ITI Corporation held eventually expired (it was never re-aired after 2003) and was later purchased by Sony instead. GT was then first re-aired on AXN Spin in early 2012 followed shortly by DBZ Kai (both with original Japanese voices this time) and continues to air to this day.

*the show was originally scheduled to debut on Polsat channel directly after first hugely-succesful Sailor Moon airing ended in 1995 but the decision was changed due to concerns about the violence in the show.

Manga - J.P.Fantastica (biggest Polish manga distributor) released all 42 volumes with faithful quality Polish translation from 2001 to 2003, using the original Tankobon format and covers. You can view them all here.
Correction - I don't remember when exactly, but Z and GT were also aired by three episodes a day (after Dr. Slump, Magic Knights Rayearth and Slayers). DBGT aired in French up to Baby Saga and somewhen at the end of the arc switched to Japanese.
Openings and endings were in Japanese even with the french dub and only the first version and Hitorijanai for the whole 63 episodes, 64th episode had the Dan Dan montage.
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by JEFFMAN219 » Wed May 06, 2015 7:08 am

Dragon ball Z use to come on ytv at 5:30 with the funimation dub then they switched the timeslot to 8 pm. Also we had the funimation dub with Bruce foulconers music until the middle of the cell games saga but then for some odd reason ytv switched it back to that awful ocean dub with the mega man music right until the end of the series.

Edit:

Does any Canadian fan here remember when Dragon Ball Z first came on air on YTV? I only started watching it back in March of 2000.

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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by dbboxkaifan » Wed May 06, 2015 7:58 am

Portugal

The first episode of Dragon Ball anime was broadcast in 1996 on SIC. It was followed by Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT in succession until 1999. The shows were then rebroadcast on SIC Gold on June 29, 2000, a cable channel. This channel evolved into SIC Sempre Gold (SIC Always Gold), which aired Dragon Ball Z. It then folded on October 18, 2004.
Can someone confirm if this is true?

It's just because 1996 feels too late and I recall by 96' that I had seen Dragon Ball Z (+ Movies) on SIC and they were advertising the black boxes of GT.

About the GT black boxes here's the ad of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrN2jR5zfd8
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by UltimateHammerBro » Wed May 06, 2015 10:02 am

Kudos for starting this! It's nice to see such a big project being tackled, and people from all over the world collaborating!

There are a few mistakes I've noticed:
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by Lozjudai » Wed May 06, 2015 10:03 am

Finland:
Manga was released around 2003 in Finland by Kolibri. Shortly after it was taken off the shelves because there was an scandal about it having child nudity. So that meant that the first four numbers of the manga were released before taken off the shelves. A bit later Sangatsu Manga (which still releases manga in Finland like Attack on Titan) started to release the manga for once a month. Later they even re released volumes 1-4 but censored (like covering Bulmas breasts in the shower). After the manga was over a couple of years later we got some movies in manga form (can`t remember the offical name of those). A year ago DB was re released with volumes 1-4 uncensored.

Anime was show in SubTV at Sunday mornings. If I remember correctly it ran for couple of years using the English dub but strangely the final episode was in German. We also got some DVD`s like the Bardock movie and The Tree of Might. They had the Japanese voices included with them but the English dub that was included was the Big Green Dub :sick: . This also meant that in the DVD`s Piccolo was reverenced in the subtitles as "Iso Vihreä" (Big Green in English).

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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by Eire » Wed May 06, 2015 11:11 am

. The episodes were broadcast in French with Polish subtitles, and the translation was poor. It aired every weekday in an after school timeslot. When Dragon Ball Z premiered it aired 2 episodes per weekday. Upon completion of DBZ, it continued into Dragon Ball GT, but with the original Japanese voices, intro, and outro, with Polish subtitles. GT completed its broadcast in 2003.
(...)
ITI held the rights to the show, but it was never rebroadcast after 2003. These rights expired, and were purchased by Sony, who rebroadcast Dragon Ball GT on AXN Spin in early 2012, followed by Dragon Ball Z Kai, both with original Japanese voices and Polish subtitles.

The Polish version doesn't have subtitles, but a voice-over translation.
AXN broadcast was certainly with subs.
Also Polish dub for Movie 12/13 was very good, both in terms of translation and voices per se.
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Re: The History of Dragon Ball in Every Country

Post by UltimateHammerBro » Wed May 06, 2015 12:20 pm

Eire wrote:
The Polish version doesn't have subtitles, but a voice-over translation.
AXN broadcast was certainly with subs.
Also Polish dub for Movie 12/13 was very good, both in terms of translation and voices per se.
There are rips of the AXN broadcast, and they have a lektor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN3SCl_OcOk
Did they air it dual-audio with optional subtitles? That's pretty common nowadays.
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