Ocean Studios' "Dragon Ball Kai" Dub Turns 16; Still Unreleased

[M0nsoon07]

Unfortunately Adult Swim isn't active in UK/Europe anymore, as their TV deal with Channel 4 has ended. I believe it's because HBO MAX is launching in early 2026, and all their stuff will go straight on there- hopefully they'll have a variety of anime on there... maybe even the Ocean dub!

Going to focus fully on university now- doing a degree in Game Design, my other passion. I've also taken up voice acting as a hobby, although that's not as good LOL. Over the last couple of weeks, I've also become interested in moving to Vancouver/Canada, once my degree ends in 2027/28, as I have heard about a visa which allows you to stay in Canada for up to 2 years.

Hey everyone- i had my meeting!

Key takeaways from it were: no plans currently to bring back toonami to uk via adult swim uk/europe, however they were very impressed with my pitch and stuff so they said keep an eye out in the future. Then, just general stuff like how to get into tv industry etc etc.

Big thing was when I mentioned about ocean kai being a big selling point for if they ever do it, the main guy wrote something down on his paper... although tbh it could have been anything tho haha.

Anyway i'm happy they were impressed and just a great meeting all round.

Cool initiative, man!

Thanks!

Hey everyone- i had my meeting!

Key takeaways from it were: no plans currently to bring back toonami to uk via adult swim uk/europe, however they were very impressed with my pitch and stuff so they said keep an eye out in the future. Then, just general stuff like how to get into tv industry etc etc.

Big thing was when I mentioned about ocean kai being a big selling point for if they ever do it, the main guy wrote something down on his paper... although tbh it could have been anything tho haha.

Anyway i'm happy they were impressed and just a great meeting all round.

That is fantastic news! Whatever happens now is out of our hands, but seriously well done with this. Where they surprised that there are two English dubs or what?

Haha, I can't quite remember, however both of them had a prior knowledge of anime, so potentially!

[madged1]

Hey everyone- i had my meeting!

Key takeaways from it were: no plans currently to bring back toonami to uk via adult swim uk/europe, however they were very impressed with my pitch and stuff so they said keep an eye out in the future. Then, just general stuff like how to get into tv industry etc etc.

Big thing was when I mentioned about ocean kai being a big selling point for if they ever do it, the main guy wrote something down on his paper... although tbh it could have been anything tho haha.

Anyway i'm happy they were impressed and just a great meeting all round.

Little late to this as I rarely login, but I have been following this thread since...2010

It's cool that you've had a pitch regarding Toonami UK and Ocean Kai, thanks for organising that! It would be amazing to see Toonami return in some capacity, whether that would be on TV or perhaps as a part of HBO Max when it launches next year. And of course it would be amazing to see Ocean Kai officially release as part of that.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I think Max would be a great platform for the Ocean dub of Kai to be released on, especially if they could also grab the library of classic Cartoon Network originals. Throw the Westwood and Blue Water dubs on and you'd have a service for 90s/ early 2000s Cartoon Network/CNX/Toonami nostalgia.

[M0nsoon07]

Yes HBO max would be a good fit!

In terms of anime on TV, TLC (owned by WBD, who own HBO Max) are reportedly becoming free to air/on Freeview- and changing into a general entertainment channel so perhaps Adult Swim will go on there.

I had a weird dream last night (probs from scrolling this forum), where back in 2003 when CNX rebranded to Toonami, they kept the name Toonami but rather than moving to kids section, they stayed in the general entertainment section but just removed all of the live action adult stuff (as that was the deciding factor I believe to rebrand). It then became basically what US Toonami was back then but keeping the 24/7 model. (Showing Rurouni Kenshin, Zatch bell, MAR, YYH, Inuyasha etc).

[Yellow Flower King]

You know... Pluto TV still works with edited footage. Maybe if Canada or the UK have it...

[M0nsoon07]

Yeah Pluto TV is in the UK! I contacted them too and they said they’d think about having more anime on their service, only just a few weeks later they started a Pokemon FAST channel so maybe I did something haha!

When HBO Max launches next year, I may message the adult swim people again to reaffirm them about how massive getting the ocean Kai dub would be!!

[M0nsoon07]

Will have to change the title next year- it’ll have to be ‘Ocean Kai turns 16, and FINALLY RELEASED’ hopefully lol!

Next year will also be 26 years since Dragon Ball Z first aired in UK, surely it’s gotta happen soon!

Unrelated but thinking I’m gonna go through a chronological order journey of Ocean DB in the UK (Saban/Ocean dub, original funimation eps 54-107, Westwood dub, Blue Water GT, Blue Water OG). Also the Ocean pioneer movies and maybe the Big Green movies (okay, I know they’re not technically Ocean but would be funny for laughs) next year starting in January.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

Will have to change the title next year- it’ll have to be ‘Ocean Kai turns 16, and FINALLY RELEASED’ hopefully lol!

Next year will also be 26 years since Dragon Ball Z first aired in UK, surely it’s gotta happen soon!

Unrelated but thinking I’m gonna go through a chronological order journey of Ocean DB in the UK (Saban/Ocean dub, original funimation eps 54-107, Westwood dub, Blue Water GT, Blue Water OG). Also the Ocean pioneer movies and maybe the Big Green movies (okay, I know they’re not technically Ocean but would be funny for laughs) next year starting in January.

Yes, March 6th is indeed an exciting time every year and a major milestone for this franchise in my opinion.

Great to hear, I rewatched all the Ocean and Blue Water dubs earlier in the year, and it was great to relive those memories of the UK broadcast of Dragon Ball. Sadly the Pioneer movies are the only content with the Ocean cast, aside from the BLT dub, Kai and the Vendar dub (test dub of Dragon Ball Z movie 1) that we never got (wish Toonami UK licensed them back in 2005 for fans of the Vancouver cast), but they still hold up today and are well worth watching.

[Yellow Flower King]

A whole bunch of Toei Animation Anime has been sold to Canada, including Dragon Ball Z Kai.


https://imissbionix.wordpress.com/2025/ ... QeE1ewn_Sg

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

A whole bunch of Toei Animation Anime has been sold to Canada, including Dragon Ball Z Kai.

https://imissbionix.wordpress.com/2025/ ... QeE1ewn_Sg

At long last Kai is finally coming to Canada.

Little disappointed it will be on Disney+ and not Crave as I remember the latter worked with WOW Unlimited.

I really hope we will be pleasantly surprised this time and it's the Ocean dub, but if not hopefully fans can enquire about it being added, I mean its not like Disney won't be able to afford both dubs right?

[OmegaRockman]

A whole bunch of Toei Animation Anime has been sold to Canada, including Dragon Ball Z Kai.

https://imissbionix.wordpress.com/2025/ ... QeE1ewn_Sg

At long last Kai is finally coming to Canada.

Little disappointed it will be on Disney+ and not Crave as I remember the latter worked with WOW Unlimited.

I really hope we will be pleasantly surprised this time and it's the Ocean dub, but if not hopefully fans can enquire about it being added, I mean its not like Disney won't be able to afford both dubs right?

My guess is that it'll be exactly what's on Hulu in the US. I hope to be pleasantly surprised though, like you said.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

A whole bunch of Toei Animation Anime has been sold to Canada, including Dragon Ball Z Kai.

https://imissbionix.wordpress.com/2025/ ... QeE1ewn_Sg

At long last Kai is finally coming to Canada.

Little disappointed it will be on Disney+ and not Crave as I remember the latter worked with WOW Unlimited.

I really hope we will be pleasantly surprised this time and it's the Ocean dub, but if not hopefully fans can enquire about it being added, I mean its not like Disney won't be able to afford both dubs right?

My guess is that it'll be exactly what's on Hulu in the US. I hope to be pleasantly surprised though, like you said.

I'm going to really try raise awareness of this. I've posted on X/Twitter, Bluesky and Facebook. If anyone wants to like, share, retweet, etc these posts please do so.

Apparently parents complained about the original Canadian version of some Paw Patrol episodes being on Netflix UK and not the British dub, but Netflix apologised and said the UK dub would be added. I can't confirm if this happened, but if it did at least there's a precedent for streaming platforms changing versions even after a show is released.

[Tian]

I really hope we will be pleasantly surprised this time and it's the Ocean dub, but if not hopefully fans can enquire about it being added, I mean its not like Disney won't be able to afford both dubs right?

In a normal situation? Unlikely.

In a emergency situation? Only if the FUNimation dub happens to be partially available (missing episodes) and Disney is forced to fill in them with the Ocean dub.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I really hope we will be pleasantly surprised this time and it's the Ocean dub, but if not hopefully fans can enquire about it being added, I mean its not like Disney won't be able to afford both dubs right?

In a normal situation? Unlikely.

In a emergency situation? Only if the FUNimation dub happens to be partially available (missing episodes) and Disney is forced to fill in them with the Ocean dub.

Anything would be better than nothing at this stage. I'd happily settle for random episodes in the very slim chance that happened.

[M0nsoon07]

already on it- drafted a message to my ocean connection and will send later.

hopefully if it's the ocean dub, someone can record all eps and upload them somewhere for non-Canadians to watch...

[LostTimeLord]

Bear in mind that Disney is migrating Hulu's content to Disney+, and plans to shut down the US-only standalone Hulu app in 2026. This is probably part of the same licensing deal that just saw the 'newly remastered' original Dragon Ball appear on Hulu in the US, and both regions will probably stream the exact same files (although D+ is localised when applicable, e.g. Zootopia being Zootropolis in some regions).

[Scsigs]

I doubt it's gonna be the Canadian dub, tbh. Unless it's an alternate audio option, don't expect the Canadia dub of the first 98 episodes on the service unless they actually say anything beforehand.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I just emailed Diana Gage and got a response, turns out she doesn't know what dub will be used but she guesses we'll find out on December 17th.

[MasenkoHA]

A whole bunch of Toei Animation Anime has been sold to Canada, including Dragon Ball Z Kai.

https://imissbionix.wordpress.com/2025/ ... QeE1ewn_Sg

At long last Kai is finally coming to Canada.

Little disappointed it will be on Disney+ and not Crave as I remember the latter worked with WOW Unlimited.

I really hope we will be pleasantly surprised this time and it's the Ocean dub, but if not hopefully fans can enquire about it being added, I mean its not like Disney won't be able to afford both dubs right?

My guess is that it'll be exactly what's on Hulu in the US. I hope to be pleasantly surprised though, like you said.

The fact that Toei Animation is apparently handling distribution themselves is Ocean Kai Optimist best chance of it being Ocean Kai and even then it would probably be an accident. You’re probably right it will just be the same version Hulu USA got. Idiotic mix up of uncut and edited episodes and all

[JulieYBM]

Toei Animation seems to want to settle on just using the Crunchyroll cast, so I doubt that we'll see the Ocean dub used.

Oh wow, I get to change the thread title again text month lol