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Dragon Ball American Release Chronology

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Date Event
1989
December 1989 Harmony Gold (known for the 1985 Macross-to-Robotech adaptation) attempts the franchise with a cut of Dragon Ball movies 1 and 3 (which air as a special feature on certain local networks) and the first five episodes[1][2]
1992
January 1992 Nippon Golden Network, a channel out of Hawaii, begins playing the Dragon Ball television series with their own original subtitle translation[3][4], running through to completion in 1994[5]
1994
December 1994 After completing the original series, Nippon Golden Network moves on to the Dragon Ball Z television series with their own original subtitle translation[6][7]; the subtitled broadcast gets through about 100 episodes subtitles before FUNimation's license kicks in and interrupts things
(Unknown) 1994 A small, brand new Texas company called FUNimation gets the Dragon Ball license through a connection with co-founder Gen Fukunaga's uncle Nagafumi Hori, a producer at Toei; they produce a pilot version of of the first Dragon Ball movie titled "Curse of the Blood Rubie" (which never goes into wide distribution) and which uses the Harmony Gold character names (e.g., "Zero" for Goku)[8]
1995
September 1995 FUNimation produces a different English dub version of the first Dragon Ball movie titled "Curse of the Blood Rubies" (this time redone with the new/original names) for home video release, as well as the original television series' first 13 episodes which air in syndication that fall/winter; the company seemed to have plans to go beyond this (in particular at least up through the 21st Tenka'ichi Budokai), but these plans never came to be contemporary with their original 1995 attempt
1996
September 1996 FUNimation shifts to the 1989 sequel series Dragon Ball Z, and through early 1998 they produce two seasons (covering roughly 68 episodes edited down to 53, plus a three-episode-cut of [[Dragon Ball Z Movie 3|the third Dragon Ball Z movie) that air in syndication
1997
Early 1997 The International Channel begins playing the Dragon Ball Z television series in raw Japanese, running through to completion in 2002
December 1997 FUNimation and Pioneer begin releasing uncut/bilingual versions of Dragon Ball Z movies 1, 3, and 2 (out of order as such) on VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD
1998
January 1998 After two seasons of Dragon Ball Z broadcast in syndication (the latter of which is still actively airing at this time), Saban (the company handling the actual network distribution for FUNimation) announces their upcoming exit from the children's programming syndication business[9]
March 1998 Viz begins releasing the Dragon Ball manga in monthly floppy format (akin to American comic books) as a split "Dragon Ball" and "Dragon Ball Z" production[10]
August 1998 Cartoon Network picks up the first two syndication seasons of Dragon Ball Z from FUNimation to air on their afternoon cartoon block Toonami
December 1998 FUNimation produces an English-dubbed version of the second Dragon Ball movie ("Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle") with local Texas voices (while keeping the original Japanese score), which gets released on VHS, marking the first total "in-house" production[11]
1999
September 1999 A third season broadcast of Dragon Ball Z begins on Cartoon Network's Toonami block from FUNimation using yet another replacement score (from Faulconer Productions) and local Texas voice actors cast through an audition process largely meant to mimic the original Canadian cast; over the course of several more seasonal blocks of episodes, the series runs through to completion on Toonami in 2003
2000 June 2000 FUNimation begins producing and releasing their own line of uncut/bilingual DVDs, featuring a faithful subtitle track translation by Steven J. Simmons, starting with the "Season Three" content
2001 August 2001 FUNimation returns to the original Dragon Ball television series, redubbing the first 13 episodes; over the course of several more seasonal blocks of episodes, the series runs through to completion on Toonami in 2003
2002 November 2002 The International Channel begins their broadcast of the Dragon Ball GT television series in raw Japanese, running straight through to completion in 2004
2003 November 2003 FUNimation moves on to an English dub of the 1997 Dragon Ball GT television series, initially skipping the first 16 episodes (instead creating their own, dub-only recap episode) before eventually looping back around to the beginning which they release on home video starting in July 2004 and on Cartoon Network in February 2005 as "The Lost Episodes" (which were never actually lost); the whole series is ultimately kept all together in its proper order with subsequent home video and streaming re-releases
2005 May 2005 FUNimation is acquired by the multimedia publisher and distribution company Navarre[12]
2006 March 2006 FUNimation presents a limited theatrical release of the twelfth Dragon Ball Z movie (as a double-feature with the the sixth) ahead of its upcoming DVD release[13]
2017 July 2017 Sony acquires a majority stake in FUNimation[14]
2021 August 2021 Sony (FUNimation) completes their acquisition of Crunchyroll[15]
2022 March 2022 "FUNimation" branding sunset begins with streaming content, marking the move for all future branding to/as/from Crunchyroll[16]


TO DO:

2002 - US Shonen Jump Print Magazine 2004 - Pioneer sublicense expires


The following is a brief chronology of the Dragon Ball franchise's journey to the United States of America, starting back with its first official license attempt via Harmony Gold in 1989. From here, the series makes its way to certain cable channels for specialized broadcasts before ultimately landing in the hands of FUNimation as the primarily license holder in 1994.

Date Event
1989 Harmony Gold (known for the 1985 Macross-to-Robotech adaptation) attempts the franchise with a cut of Dragon Ball movies 1 and 3 (which air as a special feature on certain local networks) and the first five episodes[17]
1992 Nippon Golden Network, a channel out of Hawaii, begins playing the Dragon Ball television series with their own original subtitle translation[18][19], running through to completion in 1994[20]
1994 After completing the original series, Nippon Golden Network moves on to the Dragon Ball Z television series with their own original subtitle translation[21][22]; the subtitled broadcast gets through about 100 episodes subtitles before FUNimation's license kicks in and interrupts things
The brand new Texas company FUNimation gets the Dragon Ball license through co-founder Gen Fukunaga's uncle Nagafumi Hori, a producer at Toei; they produce a pilot version of of the first Dragon Ball movie titled "Curse of the Blood Rubie" (which never goes into wide distribution) and which uses the Harmony Gold character names (e.g., "Zero" for Goku)[23]
1995 FUNimation produces an English dub of the first Dragon Ball movie (this time redone with the new/original names) and first 13 episodes, which air in syndication; they had plans to go beyond this (in particular at least up through the 21st Tenka'ichi Budokai), but plans changed
1996 FUNimation shifts to Dragon Ball Z, and through 1998 they produce two seasons (covering roughly 68 episodes edited down to 53, plus a three-episode-cut of Dragon Ball Z movie 3) that air in syndication
1997 FUNimation and Pioneer release uncut/bilingual versions of Dragon Ball Z movies 1, 2, and 3 (out of order as 1, 3, and 2) on VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD
The International Channel begins playing the Dragon Ball Z television series in raw Japanese, running through to completion in 2002
1998 Viz begins releasing the Dragon Ball manga in monthly floppy format (akin to American comic books) as a split "Dragon Ball" and "Dragon Ball Z" production
After two seasons of Dragon Ball Z broadcast in syndication, Saban (the company handling the actual network distribution) exists the syndication business;
FUNimation produces an English-dubbed version of Dragon Ball movie 2 ("Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle") with local Texas voices while keeping the original Japanese score, which gets released on VHS; this marks the first total "in-house" production
Cartoon Network picks up the first two syndication seasons of Dragon Ball Z to air on their Toonami afternoon cartoon block
1999 A third season broadcast of Dragon Ball Z begins on Cartoon Network using yet another replacement score (from Faulconer Productions) and local Texas voice actors cast through an audition process largely meant to mimic the original Canadian cast; the series runs through to completion on Toonami in 2003
2000 FUNimation starts releasing uncut/bilingual DVDs of Dragon Ball Z beginning with their "Season 3" content
2001 FUNimation returns to the original Dragon Ball television series, redubbing the first 13 episodes and moving on to the entire rest of the series;
2002 The International Channel begins playing the Dragon Ball GT television series in raw Japanese, running through to completion in 2004
2003 FUNimation picks up with Dragon Ball GT, initially skipping the first 16 episodes (and creating their own, dub-only recap episode) before eventually looping back around to the beginning which they release as "The Lost Episodes" (which were never actually lost), and then ultimately just keeping it all together in order with subsequent re-releases
2005 FUNimation is acquired by the multimedia publisher and distribution company Navarre[24]
2006 FUNimation presents a limited theatrical release of the twelfth Dragon Ball Z movie (as a double-feature with the the sixth) ahead of its upcoming DVD release[25]
2017 Sony acquires a majority stake in FUNimation[26]
2021 Sony (FUNimation) completes their acquisition of Crunchyroll[27]
2022 "FUNimation" branding sunset begins with streaming content, marking the move for all future branding to/as/from Crunchyroll[28]


Notes

References

  1. ↑ "The Lost 80s Dragonball Dub" (14 August 2000). Temple O' Trunks. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  2. ↑ "The Dragon Ball Z American Debut Date" (01 September 2021). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  3. ↑ "Dragonball the series" (03 January 1992). rec.arts.anime. Retrieved: 19 October 2019.
  4. ↑ "Authorized Viewers Guide to Jones Spacelink of Hawaii, Inc". Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Sunday, January 5, 1992. (p. 51). Retrieved: 15 June 2021.
  5. ↑ "Authorized Viewers Guide to Jones Spacelink of Hawaii, Inc". Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Sunday, December 11, 1994. (p. 75). Retrieved: 15 June 2021.
  6. ↑ "Authorized Viewers Guide to Jones Spacelink of Hawaii, Inc". Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Sunday, December 18, 1994. (p. 74). Retrieved: 15 June 2021.
  7. ↑ "REQ; Dragon Ball Z In Hawaii??" (03 January 1995). rec.arts.anime. Retrieved: 19 October 2019.
  8. ↑ "A Different Missing Link: From Zero to Goku (Again)" (28 May 2020). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  9. ↑ "Viz Announces Dragon Ball & Dragon Ball Z Manga English Release" (05 January 1998). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  10. ↑ "Television News" (05 March 1998). ZENtertainment. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  11. ↑ "FUNimation To Release Second DragonBall Movie" (06 November 1998). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  12. ↑ "Navarre Acquires FUNimation" (11 May 2005). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  13. ↑ "Podcast Episode #0019" (26 March 2006). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  14. ↑ "Sony Pictures TV to Acquire Majority Stake in Funimation" (31 July 2017). Anime News Network. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  15. ↑ "Sony's Funimation Global Group Completes Acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T (Updated)" (09 August 2021). Anime News Network. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  16. ↑ "Funimation Content Moving to Crunchyroll for World’s Largest Anime Library" (01 March 2022). Crunchyroll. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  17. ↑ "The Lost 80s Dragonball Dub" (14 August 2000). Temple O' Trunks. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  18. ↑ "Dragonball the series" (03 January 1992). rec.arts.anime. Retrieved: 19 October 2019.
  19. ↑ "Authorized Viewers Guide to Jones Spacelink of Hawaii, Inc". Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Sunday, January 5, 1992. (p. 51). Retrieved: 15 June 2021.
  20. ↑ "Authorized Viewers Guide to Jones Spacelink of Hawaii, Inc". Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Sunday, December 11, 1994. (p. 75). Retrieved: 15 June 2021.
  21. ↑ "Authorized Viewers Guide to Jones Spacelink of Hawaii, Inc". Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Sunday, December 18, 1994. (p. 74). Retrieved: 15 June 2021.
  22. ↑ "REQ; Dragon Ball Z In Hawaii??" (03 January 1995). rec.arts.anime. Retrieved: 19 October 2019.
  23. ↑ "A Different Missing Link: From Zero to Goku (Again)" (TBD). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  24. ↑ "Navarre Acquires FUNimation" (11 May 2005). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  25. ↑ "Podcast Episode #0019" (26 March 2006). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  26. ↑ "Sony Pictures TV to Acquire Majority Stake in Funimation" (31 July 2017). Anime News Network. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  27. ↑ "Sony's Funimation Global Group Completes Acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T (Updated)" (09 August 2021). Anime News Network. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
  28. ↑ "Funimation Content Moving to Crunchyroll for World’s Largest Anime Library" (01 March 2022). Crunchyroll. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
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