Dragon Ball American Release Chronology
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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, with Viz also picking up the manga in 1998.
For a listing of Dragon Ball's release history in Japan, see: Dragon Ball release chronology
| 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 |
| August 1997 | Pioneer takes on the home video distribution for FUNimation's English dubbed Dragon Ball Z productions, starting with the "Dragon Ball Z: Arrival" VHS release |
| 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 |
| December 2002 | Viz begins releasing their monthly Shonen Jump print magazine, which takes over as the primarily serialization source for their ongoing "Dragon Ball Z" manga release; picking up with "Dragon Ball Z chapter 134," the series runs through to the end of the Cell arc with "Dragon Ball Z chapter 226" in the May 2005 issue, after which point "Dragon Ball Z" moves back to "Graphic Novel" format only for the run of the Boo arc |
| 2003 | |
| August 2003 | Pioneer's home video distribution sub-license expires, paving the way for an uncut/bilingual release of the first two Dragon Ball Z broadcast seasons by FUNimation |
| 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] |
Notes
References
- ↑ "The Lost 80s Dragonball Dub" (14 August 2000). Temple O' Trunks. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "The Dragon Ball Z American Debut Date" (01 September 2021). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "Dragonball the series" (03 January 1992). rec.arts.anime. Retrieved: 19 October 2019.
- ↑ "Authorized Viewers Guide to Jones Spacelink of Hawaii, Inc". Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Sunday, January 5, 1992. (p. 51). Retrieved: 15 June 2021.
- ↑ "Authorized Viewers Guide to Jones Spacelink of Hawaii, Inc". Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Sunday, December 11, 1994. (p. 75). Retrieved: 15 June 2021.
- ↑ "Authorized Viewers Guide to Jones Spacelink of Hawaii, Inc". Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Sunday, December 18, 1994. (p. 74). Retrieved: 15 June 2021.
- ↑ "REQ; Dragon Ball Z In Hawaii??" (03 January 1995). rec.arts.anime. Retrieved: 19 October 2019.
- ↑ "A Different Missing Link: From Zero to Goku (Again)" (28 May 2020). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "Viz Announces Dragon Ball & Dragon Ball Z Manga English Release" (05 January 1998). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "Television News" (05 March 1998). ZENtertainment. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "FUNimation To Release Second DragonBall Movie" (06 November 1998). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "Navarre Acquires FUNimation" (11 May 2005). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "Podcast Episode #0019" (26 March 2006). Kanzenshuu. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "Sony Pictures TV to Acquire Majority Stake in Funimation" (31 July 2017). Anime News Network. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "Sony's Funimation Global Group Completes Acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T (Updated)" (09 August 2021). Anime News Network. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.
- ↑ "Funimation Content Moving to Crunchyroll for World’s Largest Anime Library" (01 March 2022). Crunchyroll. Retrieved: 19 June 2026.