History of Dragon Ball in Scandinavia and the Nordics

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Since there is a thread that mainly covers manga releases I decided to make one regarding the anime in Scandinavian and Nordic countries.

Here is the history of Dragon Ball in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Greenland so far:

DRAGON BALL

The 1986 Dragon Ball series has never been released in any form in Scandinavian or Nordic countries.

DRAGON BALL Z

2002-2004: Dragon Ball Z arrives in Denmark August 26, 2002 on DR1 with Danish dub, and January 15, 2003 in Finland on SubTV with the English dub and Finnish subtitles. The Danish dub was based on the French dub, but like the German dub made corrections based on a local edition of the manga, namely the Danish manga, which used direct transliterations of the Japanese names for each character. The dub was produced by Danmarks Radio and recorded at Adaptor D&D. In Denmark one new episode aired every Monday until October with no repeats, and for the week of October 11th-18th Dragon Ball Z was shown Monday-Friday, but then in late October DR1 began to show it on Mondays and Saturdays. From February-March 2003 DR1 aired the show on Mondays only once again and every Saturday with the exception of February 15th, 22nd, March 1st and March 8th. SubTV aired Dragon Ball Z Mondays-Fridays with repeats on weekends. The first 57 episodes of Dragon Ball Z aired between January and May 2003 in Finland and then had reruns from the first episode. In July 2003 Dragon Ball Z was shown on DR1 every day including Sundays. A Monday and Saturday pattern resumed in September 2003, although in mid-October Dragon Ball Z aired every day once again. Episodes 58-100 of Dragon Ball Z likely aired in Finland between August 20, 2003 and October 17, 2003 with another rerun from the start following on the day after. The Danish dub tended to restart after episode 27 every time that aired as DR were buying licenses for more episodes and dubbing them. Final episode of the Danish dub (episode 104) aired in April 2004* and the show left the channel on May 31, 2004, but returned September 4th and from then aired on Saturdays only. When DR was asked about only 104 episodes being dubbed, they said licensing new episodes was very hard, time-consuming and expensive. These episodes were rerun until DR lost the license to air them. Dragon Ball Z returned to SubTV with a third season on September 1, 2004 and the series remained in reruns until December 24, 2004 when it was taken off the air for nearly a year.
2005-2007: Dragon Ball Z was airing on DR1 from April 2005 on Tuesdays only but from June 28, 2005 until January 8, 2006 it was taken off the air again. The final time DR1 ever aired Dragon Ball Z was on February 26, 2006. SubTV aired Dragon Ball Z episodes 124-276 between September 18, 2005 and December 16, 2006. Initially the show aired on Sundays, but it was said in late December Saturdays would be added. Saturdays were added on January 7, 2006. Halfway through 2006 weekdays were added. Dragon Ball Z returned to weekdays on June 14, 2006. The entirety of this run was the Westwood dub with Finnish subtitles until the final episode, which aired with the German dub and no subtitles, although SubTV apologized for this, claiming the final episode was not available in English and that reruns would start the next weekend from episode 124 onwards. Dragon Ball Z remained in reruns on SubTV August 27, 2007, and to this day the series has never returned to Finland.
2011-2014: Dragon Ball Z returned to Denmark on DR Ramasjang starting January 17, 2011, and aired it until December 21, 2012. DR Ramasjang had the same airing pattern as DR1 but restarted after episode 104. Danmarks Radio then restructured their channels and began airing Dragon Ball Z on DR Ultra. DR Ultra aired the Danish dub of Dragon Ball Z on April 9, 2013, initially on Monday-Wednesday before reverting to a full weekday schedule. The show took a break between September 5th and October 14th and again from December 12th that year to January 6, 2014. On the 31st of that month Dragon Ball Z left Danish airwaves for the last time. Both channels reran the episodes previously shown on DR1 and aired no new episodes.

DRAGON BALL GT

To this day Dragon Ball GT has never been released in any form in Scandinavian or Nordic countries.

DRAGON BALL KAI

There was a fan petition for a Danish dub of Dragon Ball Kai, but it has since been unsuccessful.

DRAGON BALL SUPER

2016-2018: Dragon Ball Super arrives in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland through Daisuki in Japanese audio with English titles in October 2016. New episodes were simulcasted soon after the latest episodes aired on Fuji TV.
2024-2026: Dragon Ball Super Danish dub arrives in Denmark on DR Ultra app on October 18, 2024 with episodes 1-27. The next year a further 3 episodes per week were released on April 11th, 18th, 25th, May 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th, June 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th, July 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th and a final episode for that season dropping on August 1st. Danmarks Radio have said they hope to finish dubbing Super by Spring 2026. The Danish dub of Super was recorded at KM Studio.

DRAGON BALL DAIMA

2024: Dragon Ball Daima arrived on Netflix in Denmark and Norway around October 2024.

DRAGON BALL MOVIES

2003-2006: All home releases for Scandinavian and Nordic territories were in association with AB Groupe. SF Studios produced Swedish, Norwegian and Danish dubs of Dragon Ball Z movies 1-9 and the two TV specials and distributed them throughout the Scandinavian and Nordic countries. Finland and Iceland didn't get dubs, but instead the former got Z movies 2 and 3 on VHS from Film Oy in 2003, and possibly more on DVD with the Big Green dub and Finnish subtitles. All the DVDs had Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and Icelandic subtitles. Release dates were as follows for Denmark (Swedish and Norwegian release dates may vary, I've asked SF Studios for confirmation of this):

• Movie 1 : September 28, 2004
• Movie 2 : October 14, 2003
• Movie 3 : October 14, 2003
• Movie 4 : September 28, 2004
• Movie 5 : March 8, 2005
• Movie 6 : April 5, 2005
• Movie 7 : April 19, 2005
• Movie 8 : April 19, 2005
• Movie 9 : June 5, 2005
• TV Special 1 : January 17, 2006
• TV Special 2 : January 17, 2006

2009: Dragonball: Evolution gets a theatrical release in Sweden on April 8, 2009, Iceland on April 10, 2009, Denmark and Finland on June 12, 2009. 20th Century Fox International handled distribution in Sweden and Iceland, while in Denmark it was Filmcompagniet.
2022: Dragon Ball Super Super Hero arrived in Iceland on August 18, 2022, Norway and Finland on August 19, 2022, Sweden on August 26, 2022 as well as Denmark and Greenland on September 8, 2022. Sena was in charge of distribution in Iceland, in Sweden it was Crunchyroll and Filmstaden, Denmark and Finland was Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures. Super Hero's Norwegian subtitles received criticism for being retranslations from English, including Funimation dubisms ("Shenron", "Krillin"), despite both translations of the Norwegian manga using more accurate names, and unnecessary use of swear words.
2025: Dragon Ball Z Battle of Gods was released in Norway, Denmark and Sweden on March 1, 2025 as well as Finland and Iceland on March 15, 2025.

* This is based on the recollection of one fan I asked in the Dragon Ball DK Facebook group.

[Kid Buu]

"To this day Dragon Ball GT has never been released in any form in Scandinavian or Nordic countries."

This is baffling to me. There are territories where GT isn't released? Is Scandi not into DB/anime as much as other European regions?

[Vegard Aune]

"To this day Dragon Ball GT has never been released in any form in Scandinavian or Nordic countries."

This is baffling to me. There are territories where GT isn't released? Is Scandi not into DB/anime as much as other European regions?

I'd say the manga/anime scene in general has been pretty small in Scandinavia for a long time. Like the top post mentions, the show has never been dubbed in Swedish or Norwegian, Denmark didn't get the original series or GT, and they're also the only ones to have gotten Super so far? And at least speaking for Norway... We pretty much only ever get merchandise-based children's shows and the really big movies, like, Ghibli and Shinkai and such. We've certainly been seeing a lot more movies come over in recent years, and Netflix and probably also other streaming services have a lot of shows subtitled... But the dubbing scene remains "Only stuff aimed at very young children", basically. I don't know that much about what the scene is like in Sweden, Denmark or Finland, but I can't imagine the situation being all that different. Denmark seems to be the only Scandinavian country that is actively trying to grow the anime scene at the moment.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

One thing I forgot to mention was Plus Licens, as they were TOEI's license broker in the early 2010s for select European territories and were able to get GT (and even Kai) on the air.

It's a shame they couldn't have got GT broadcast in the Nordic regions they managed like they did with eastern European countries, even ones that didn't get a full run of Z.

It's great that Denmark are trying to grow their anime dubbing industry. While I don't expect anything I did email DR asking about them dubbing more Dragon Ball content in Danish after Super finishes, they said they would pass on my request but couldn't make any guarantees. If anything they'll probably dub Daima because it's the newest series, although original Dragon Ball would be nice for the 40th anniversary of the anime. But hey, they did begin dubbing One Piece from the beginning so who knows what's around the corner.

[Vegard Aune]

One thing that might speak to a higher chance that the OG series could maybe get a Danish dub is that I just found out that the manga is currently midway through a re-release over there, so there is at least something else coming out that might lend some more relevance and potential demand for a dub of the show. Can't say much of anything about the quality of this release since I'm not Danish and I literally only just learned of it today, so all I can say is: Cover design clearly based off the original Japanese releases, volume titles matching the Japanese much closer than the old release, seemingly still using the same character names, and if the description on here is true they still have the same translator as the old version which indicates it might just be a reprint of the old translation from the early 2000s.

[Kid Buu]

"To this day Dragon Ball GT has never been released in any form in Scandinavian or Nordic countries."

This is baffling to me. There are territories where GT isn't released? Is Scandi not into DB/anime as much as other European regions?

I'd say the manga/anime scene in general has been pretty small in Scandinavia for a long time. Like the top post mentions, the show has never been dubbed in Swedish or Norwegian, Denmark didn't get the original series or GT, and they're also the only ones to have gotten Super so far? And at least speaking for Norway... We pretty much only ever get merchandise-based children's shows and the really big movies, like, Ghibli and Shinkai and such. We've certainly been seeing a lot more movies come over in recent years, and Netflix and probably also other streaming services have a lot of shows subtitled... But the dubbing scene remains "Only stuff aimed at very young children", basically. I don't know that much about what the scene is like in Sweden, Denmark or Finland, but I can't imagine the situation being all that different. Denmark seems to be the only Scandinavian country that is actively trying to grow the anime scene at the moment.

Damn. What children franchises are big there? Both domestic and international.

[sangofe]

"To this day Dragon Ball GT has never been released in any form in Scandinavian or Nordic countries."

This is baffling to me. There are territories where GT isn't released? Is Scandi not into DB/anime as much as other European regions?

If you would have read the post you'd not be baffled. At least I wouldn't.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

One thing that might speak to a higher chance that the OG series could maybe get a Danish dub is that I just found out that the manga is currently midway through a re-release over there, so there is at least something else coming out that might lend some more relevance and potential demand for a dub of the show. Can't say much of anything about the quality of this release since I'm not Danish and I literally only just learned of it today, so all I can say is: Cover design clearly based off the original Japanese releases, volume titles matching the Japanese much closer than the old release, seemingly still using the same character names, and if the description on here is true they still have the same translator as the old version which indicates it might just be a reprint of the old translation from the early 2000s.

Oh, I wasn't aware of this, and while I don't speak Danish either this is great news, especially if it's more affordable than the old release (can't speak to that either).

I wonder if the Swedish manga will get a new edition? As you know the Norwegian manga got a newer translation a few years ago, and the Finnish manga got re-released uncensored in 2014, although I don't know if that was the same translation as the one from 2003.

[Kid Buu]

"To this day Dragon Ball GT has never been released in any form in Scandinavian or Nordic countries."

This is baffling to me. There are territories where GT isn't released? Is Scandi not into DB/anime as much as other European regions?

If you would have read the post you'd not be baffled. At least I wouldn't.

I did read the post. My question was broader than GT alone I was asking about Dragon Ball and anime fandom in Scandinavia in general, since GT never being released there stood out to me. I’m aware the post also mentions the original DB not airing there.

[sangofe]

"To this day Dragon Ball GT has never been released in any form in Scandinavian or Nordic countries."

This is baffling to me. There are territories where GT isn't released? Is Scandi not into DB/anime as much as other European regions?

If you would have read the post you'd not be baffled. At least I wouldn't.

I did read the post. My question was broader than GT alone I was asking about Dragon Ball and anime fandom in Scandinavia in general, since GT never being released there stood out to me. I’m aware the post also mentions the original DB not airing there.

I invite you to read the questions Plus Licens gave me that give a bit of insight :
viewtopic.php?t=19385

[Kid Buu]

If you would have read the post you'd not be baffled. At least I wouldn't.

I did read the post. My question was broader than GT alone I was asking about Dragon Ball and anime fandom in Scandinavia in general, since GT never being released there stood out to me. I’m aware the post also mentions the original DB not airing there.

I invite you to read the questions Plus Licens gave me that give a bit of insight :
viewtopic.php?t=19385

Thanks for sharing the reference. I’ll check it out.

[Adamant]

Cover design clearly based off the original Japanese releases, volume titles matching the Japanese much closer than the old release, seemingly still using the same character names, and if the description on here is true they still have the same translator as the old version which indicates it might just be a reprint of the old translation from the early 2000s.

Based on the descriptions, it seems like a new translation; it uses some different names. I'm spotting "Yamcha" vs the old translation's Yamchu, "Vegeta" vs the old Vejita, and "Spåkonen Baba" vs the old "Sandsigersken Uranai Baba", as well as a couple styling differences like "Kame-Sen'nin" vs Kame-Sennin and "Chaozu" vs Chao-Zu. Daimao is translated as "Dæmonkongen" (Demon king) rather than "Ærkedjævlen" (Archdevil). It also seems like they're using "Goku" and "Gohan" on their own when appropriate rather than constantly using "Son-Goku" and "Son-Gohan".

Karin is STILL mistranslated as "Kvæde" though, while "Mester Kaio" is now "Kong Kai". Come on.