Do Toei no longer license Z to broadcasters in favour of Kai?

[90sDBZ]

I was on reddit today reading through the reactions to Toonami Rewind, and I came across an interesting comment made by 2 separate people.

Supposedly Toei no longer offer the license to broadcast original Z, and now only offer the license for Kai. Neither of these people provided a source, but one did claim that some of Funimation's voice actors have said as much.

I've always assumed Toonami airing Kai in recent years was their own choice, as it's the newer/more fast paced version of the show which suits their one episode per week schedule. This most likely is the case, but I also wonder if Toei have their own preference on the matter.

Does anyone know if original Z still currently airs in any country outside of streaming?

I'm just grasping at straws, but maybe they want Z kept exclusive to streaming/physical releases for the older fans to spend money on. And maybe they want to push Kai for TV broadcasts due to its faster pacing, which allows it to show more characters faster, thus being a more effective toy commercial?

Even if there is no truth to it, I must admit it's hard to imagine OG Z being pushed as the version of choice for TV broadcast over Kai, especially when introducing the show to a new generation. People are used to faster paced shows these days, and Z just isn't that, even if it is technically better.

[Cure Dragon 255]

I was on reddit today reading through the reactions to Toonami Rewind, and I came across an interesting comment made by 2 separate people.

Supposedly Toei no longer offer the license to broadcast original Z, and now only offer the license for Kai. Neither of these people provided a source, but one did claim that some of Funimation's voice actors have said as much.

I've always assumed Toonami airing Kai in recent years was their own choice, as it's the newer/more fast paced version of the show which suits their one episode per week schedule. This most likely is the case, but I also wonder if Toei have their own preference on the matter.

Does anyone know if original Z still currently airs in any country outside of streaming?

I'm just grasping at straws, but maybe they want Z kept exclusive to streaming/physical releases for the older fans to spend money on. And maybe they want to push Kai for TV broadcasts due to its faster pacing, which allows it to show more characters faster, thus being a more effective toy commercial?

Even if there is no truth to it, I must admit it's hard to imagine OG Z being pushed as the version of choice for TV broadcast over Kai, especially when introducing the show to a new generation.

I know this is really mean of me because NOT EVERYONE is mega familiar with every dub but the Latin American dub has been selling DBZ for decades now, even after DBZKai because the DBZ cast is so beloved. TV Azteca airs it, Telefuturo airs it, Adult Swim Latin America airs it.

This is a very English Centric view.

[MasenkoHA]

Isn't it more on the licensees than Toei when it comes to Dragon Ball content getting broadcast on television?

Nicktoons had no problem getting Dragon Ball GT and some Z movies from Funimation while Kai was hot. I know Toonami aired the remasted Cooler's Revenge and Broly the Legendary Super Saiyan while running Kai.

And Cure has made multiple post about Dragon Ball Z airing in Latin American countries recently

Sounds like redditors trying to make up explanations to me.

I think keeping Dragon Ball Z as a physical media/streaming exclusive probably does have a lot to do with it. You can watch Dragon Ball, GT, and Super on Hulu (subbed for the first two and dubbed for Super) but you can only watch Z on Crunchyroll or buy their blu ray release online.

Crunchymation has a weird relationship with Kai. You can tell they're more proud of it than Z but they're also aware Z sells better. It took stupidly recent for Kai to finally make it to streaming (and we know how badly Crunchyroll managed to fuck that up by giving Hulu a mix of uncut and edited masters for no reason). Kai is probably just easier to sell to broadcasters than Kai "It's Z but half as long, the wide screen transfer isn't as controversial, nudity has been removed, and less gore"

[Hellspawn28]

Kai is in HD and is shorter. While DBZ is super long and does not have the best HD versions that exist.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

And Cure has made multiple post about Dragon Ball Z airing in Latin American countries recently

Not only that, there's also still dubs of Dragon Ball Z being made to this day, like the 2019-2021 Kurdish dub, which aired on 4Anime in Iraq.

Also keep an eye on Anibox in South Korea, they've been airing a redub of original Dragon Ball and are currently on episode 64, don't be surprised if that's followed up by a fourth Korean dub of Dragon Ball Z (and us English fans thought we had it bad ).

Hell even when Kai was the new hotness you has territories like Russia dubbing Z back in 2011, and allegedly Cambodia sometime that decade too.

I don't think TOEI has any prejudice against Kai, not internationally at any rate. They've probably realized some territories would prefer to have Z, whereas others will want Kai, and TOEI are probably more than happy they're able to offer both options.

[Joujou]

I was on reddit today reading through the reactions to Toonami Rewind, and I came across an interesting comment made by 2 separate people.

Supposedly Toei no longer offer the license to broadcast original Z, and now only offer the license for Kai. Neither of these people provided a source, but one did claim that some of Funimation's voice actors have said as much.

I've always assumed Toonami airing Kai in recent years was their own choice, as it's the newer/more fast paced version of the show which suits their one episode per week schedule. This most likely is the case, but I also wonder if Toei have their own preference on the matter.

Does anyone know if original Z still currently airs in any country outside of streaming?

I'm just grasping at straws, but maybe they want Z kept exclusive to streaming/physical releases for the older fans to spend money on. And maybe they want to push Kai for TV broadcasts due to its faster pacing, which allows it to show more characters faster, thus being a more effective toy commercial?

Even if there is no truth to it, I must admit it's hard to imagine OG Z being pushed as the version of choice for TV broadcast over Kai, especially when introducing the show to a new generation. People are used to faster paced shows these days, and Z just isn't that, even if it is technically better.

France will rerun Dragon Ball Z next week on mangas channel so not at all, i am sure that France is not the only country to rerun it
Kai is HD unlike dbz and is around half the episode count, i only think that's the main reason why lot of country choose kai instead of dbz

[Banduck]

Oh, that's interesting. I've read exactly the same thing in german forums about DBZ. In germany it's also the case that only Kai is shown on TV, even though everyone here hates Kai dub. (They replaced almost all the voice actors.)
I also thought it was because of the license, but now after reading the comments here, I'm not sure.

[Tian]

I don't think TOEI has any prejudice against Kai, not internationally at any rate. They've probably realized some territories would prefer to have Z, whereas others will want Kai, and TOEI are probably more than happy they're able to offer both options.

I believe that one of the reasons why some broadcasters prefer Kai over Z is that outside Japan, Kai isn't distributed as a whole series but as two separate products: Z Kai and The Final Chapters.

This give those broadcasters a more definite and viable option than they would have with the original Z series in terms of costs and ratings' performance, because they can either choose to buy Z Kai's 98 episodes or The Final Chapters' 69 episodes rather than being forced to buy all the 291 episodes of the original Z series in one go.

[Hellspawn28]

I still think it's easier to air Kai because it's shorter.

[Dragon Ball Ireland]

I don't think TOEI has any prejudice against Kai, not internationally at any rate. They've probably realized some territories would prefer to have Z, whereas others will want Kai, and TOEI are probably more than happy they're able to offer both options.

I believe that one of the reasons why some broadcasters prefer Kai over Z is that outside Japan, Kai isn't distributed as a whole series but as two separate products: Z Kai and The Final Chapters.

This give those broadcasters a more definite and viable option than they would have with the original Z series in terms of costs and ratings' performance, because they can either choose to buy Z Kai's 98 episodes or The Final Chapters' 69 episodes rather than being forced to buy all the 291 episodes of the original Z series in one go.

That's a good point, while we can debate whether Kai 1.0 and Final Chapters should be treated as a single show or two separate shows (oddly enough Funimation couldn't even decide as the home releases for Final Chapters are labelled Parts 1, 2 and 3 but starting from episode 99) there's no way Z can be packaged as anything other than one show that's 291 episodes long.

I also think the Sima Studio Kurdish dub of Dragon Ball Z may be illegal, so licensing the show was probably not a concern for them as they likely just bought the Blu-Rays or dubbed over torrented copies of the season sets. Not to mention their dub has echoes of Funimation's dub despite being otherwise quite faithful.

And as you explained before the reason Russia dubbed Z instead of Kai was likely because Planet DeAgostini only offered 2x2 Z or GT. Hell maybe Plus Licens already had the rights to Z and sold them to Planet DeAgostini before Kai was announced or they ever heard about it.

[Saiya6Cit]

I know this is really mean of me because NOT EVERYONE is mega familiar with every dub but the Latin American dub has been selling DBZ for decades now, even after DBZKai because the DBZ cast is so beloved. TV Azteca airs it, Telefuturo airs it, Adult Swim Latin America airs it.

As a mexican, I can confirm that.

Believe it or not, DB's copyright in general is something that has been on my head lately, since Toriyama's passing.

Thankfully, I have always moved myself within the areas of fanart and parody, getting only a few comissions here and there, never monetizing content views or getting a monthly deposit at all, but I imagine for those who do it, it is a sensitive topic as well.

Going back to the original question which titles this post: I think they want to get rid of DB and the original DBZ broadcasted versions and DBGT because they all have very questionable "scenes" that are no suitable for today's audience. Kai, as far as I know (Sorry I have not watched it myself), has cut through slow scenes and 18+ rated scenes and therefore it makes it a safe product, from a marketing perspective.

It is also HD and shorter as many others have accurately pointed out here.

Do I agree with it? Hfil no! I do not prefer it but I think it is ok because at least it attracks new generations and it is always good that DB is on TV so it makes it current. However a part of me is scared that I will never get my hands on a collectable, original, HD decent version of my favorite anime of all times: DBZ

Peace!

[MasenkoHA]

[ (Sorry I have not watched it myself), has cut through slow scenes and 18+ rated scenes and therefore it makes it a safe product, from a marketing perspective.

It's surprisingly easy to cut through 18+ rated scenes when there are none to begin with.