With so many releases of the various Dragon Ball series’ in North America on DVD, and now Blu-ray, it has become exceedingly difficult to keep track of everything FUNimation has put out. It then becomes nearly impossible when you try to keep track of what languages are present, what the extras are, etc. This section of the “Home Video Guide” has been designed to breakdown these North American releases, providing you with each series’ release history and background, a breakdown of the various releases, re-releases, box sets, etc.
The entire Dragon Ball TV series has been released on two-disc sets, including a new “remastered” release of the first thirteen episodes. Previously, the first thirteen episodes were only available on the “Saga of Goku” box set, which was edited and dub-only.
Release Information
Released:24 October 2000 – 27 July 2010
Episodes:001-153 English / 001-153 Japanese
Availability:
- Edited, English Dubbed Only (001-013)
- Uncut, Bilingual (014-153)
- Uncut, Bilingual, “Remastered” (001-153)
Movie 1 was first released as part of the “Saga of Goku” TV box set in an edited, dub-only format. Since then all of the movies have had their own individual, uncut, bilingual releases with the exception of movie 2, which is only available through the two Dragon Ball movie box sets.
Release Information
Released:24 October 2000 – 08 February 2011
Movies:01-04 English / 01-04 Japanese
Availability:
- Edited, English Dubbed Only (01, 04)
- Uncut, Bilingual (01, 02, 03, 04)
The first two seasons of FUNimation’s dub were released by Pioneer as edited and dub-only. These were to be replaced by an “Ultimate Uncut Edition” release, but it was soon canceled in favor of a faux-“remastered” widescreen release which contains a redub using FUNimation’s current voice cast. Once completed, the entire TV series was available uncut and bilingual, released directly from FUNimation. The original single releases were phased out in favor of FUNimation’s faux-“remastered” widescreen release of the rest of the series, which themselves were succeeded by “Dragon Box” releases of the entire TV series. FUNimation began releasing a new remaster of the series for Blu-ray which was put on indefinite hiatus after only two volumes.
Release Information
Released:13 April 1999 – ongoing
Episodes:001-276 (-291) English / 001-291 Japanese
Availability:
- Edited, English Dubbed Only (001-053 / 001-067)
- Uncut, Bilingual (054-276 / 067-291)
- Uncut, Re-dubbed, Trilingual (001-027 / 001-027)
- Uncut, Bilingual (001-291, season sets)
- Uncut, Bilingual (001-291, “Dragon Box”)
- Uncut, Bilingual (001-034, Blu-ray; hiatus)
Similar to the first two seasons of the TV series, FUNimation’s productions of Dragon Ball Z movies 01-03 were released by Pioneer, with FUNimation themselves directly releasing the remaining movies. Upon releasing the remainder of the movies on DVD, FUNimation returned to release a “First Strike” box set that contained the re-releases of Dragon Ball Z movies 01-03. Following the success of the faux-“remastered” Dragon Ball Z TV season sets, FUNimation began releasing the Dragon Ball Z movies as double-features in a similar style beginning in May 2008 concurrently on DVD and Blu-ray.
Release Information
Released:09 December 1997 – 03 January 2012
Episodes:01-13 English / 01-13 Japanese
Availability:
- Edited, English Dubbed Only (04-09)
- Uncut, Bilingual (01-13)
- Uncut, Trilingual (05)
The Dragon Ball GT TV series on DVD “begins” with a special recap episode of the first sixteen episodes. FUNimation has since gone back and released these first episodes as part of their “Lost Episodes” five-volume collection. Most recently released are two “remastered season box set” versions of the entire series.
Release Information
Released:15 April 2003 – 21 September 2010
Episodes:01-64 English / 01-64 Japanese
Availability:
- Uncut, Bilingual (01-64 / 01-64)
- Uncut, English Only (Special Recap on Volume #1)
- Uncut, “Remastered” (01-64 / 01-64)
The two feature-length Dragon Ball Z TV Specials and Dragon Ball GT TV Special have all been released on DVD, while the two Z TV Specials also received their own faux-“remastered” release as a “double-feature” on both DVD and Blu-ray. The GT TV special was included on the second remastered Dragon Ball GT TV box set.
Release Information
Released:12 December 2000 – 15 September 2009
Specials:Z TV SP 1-2; GT TV SP (English / Japanese)
Availability:
- Uncut, Bilingual (Z TV SP 1-2; GT TV SP)
- Uncut, Bilingual, “Remastered” (Z TV SP 1-2)
The “refreshed” version of the series gained a letter back and was announced as “Dragon Ball Z Kai” for its North American distribution from FUNimation. It received multi-disc packs from the beginning, released on both Blu-ray and DVD, and later received condensed season set releases. The Majin Boo arc of the series was later released in 2017 under the sub-title, “The Final Chapters”.
Release Information
Released:18 May 2010 – 20 June 2017
Episodes:01-167 English / 01-167 Japanese
Availability:
- Uncut, Bilingual (Blu-ray)
- Uncut, Bilingual (DVD)
Released on both DVD and Blu-ray in two-disc packs, Funimation brought Dragon Ball Super to home video simultaneously with the series’ North American debut television broadcast on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.
Release Information
Released:25 July 2017 – 14 January 2020
Episodes:01-131 English / 01-131 Japanese
Availability:
- Uncut, Bilingual (Blu-ray)
- Uncut, Bilingual (DVD)
