Dragon Ball Z

Dragon Ball Z is one of the most popular animation series to come out of Japan. First airing in Japan from April 1989 until January 1996, DBZ has been the longest running anime sequel to the original TV series Dragon Ball.

First airing in the U.S. in September 1996, DBZ was cancelled after two seasons because of lowered ratings, but picked back up in August 1998 on Cartoon Network as a part of the Toonami program block.

The series received much more popularity on Toonami and Funimation continued dubbing and distribution of the series for Cartoon Network. In September 1999 the new dub episodes of the series aired until April 2007 and ended the series.

With a total of 277 episodes aired in the U.S. and 291 aired in Japan, the success of Dragon Ball Z was complete and Funimation now has a complete line of sequels, films and toys on the market.

DBZ is one of the most successful anime television series ever aired and continues to be to this day, even though the quality of animation is not of the highest. This is something of contempt to many anime fans as many remember this throughout their childhoods; however the fact remains that this show was very cheaply made and it shows.

Shifting proportions of characters, still frames for long periods and the propensity towards motion blur and speed lines are just a few of the signs of the cheap animation techniques used. Occasionally the plot grinds to a halt for ridiculous super power charge-ups, long and tedious training sequences and many episodes choked with filler. All of this withstanding, it is still one of the most popular anime television series worldwide.