"Dragon Ball" (1986/I) TV series

Director:

Daisuke Nishio

Writers:

Rob Gerein (writer)
Takao Koyama (writer)

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

25 June 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Fantasy | Thriller

Tagline:

The big showdown with Piccolo!

Plot:

Follows the adventures of an extraordinarily strong young boy named Goku as he searches for the seven dragon balls...

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Manga | Anime

Cast

Brice Armstrong	...	Narrator (152 episodes, 2001-2003)
Masako Nozawa	...	Son Goku (152 episodes, 2001-2003)
Jôji Yanami	...	Narrator / ... (152 episodes, 2001-2003)
Stephanie Nadolny	...	Goku / ... (131 episodes, 2001-2003)
Christopher Sabat	...	Yamcha / ... (126 episodes, 2001-2003)
Hiromi Tsuru	...	Bulma / ... (120 episodes, 2001-2003)
Tiffany Vollmer	...	Bulma (119 episodes, 2001-2003)
Mike McFarland	...	Master Roshi / ... (112 episodes, 2001-2003)
Naoko Watanabe	...	Puar / ... (110 episodes, 2001-2003)
Tôru Furuya	...	Yamcha (107 episodes, 2001-2003)
Monika Antonelli	...	Puar / ... (105 episodes, 2001-2003)
Mayumi Tanaka	...	Kuririn / ... (103 episodes, 2001-2003)
Naoki Tatsuta	...	Oolong / ... (100 episodes, 2001-2003)
Bradford Jackson	...	Oolong / ... (97 episodes, 2001-2003)
Kôhei Miyauchi	...	Kamesennin Muten Roshi (94 episodes, 2001-2003)
Mami Koyama	...	Lunch / ... (86 episodes, 2001-2003)
Meredith McCoy	...	Launch / ... (85 episodes, 2001-2003)
Lori Steele	...	Krillin (84 episodes, 2001-2003)
Kenji Utsumi	...	World Tournament Announcer / ... (73 episodes, 2001-2003)
Hirotaka Suzuoki	...	Tenshinhan (67 episodes, 2002-2003)
John Burgmeier	...	Tien (65 episodes, 2002-2003)

Also Known As:

As Bólas do dragón (Spain: Galician title) [gl]
As bólas máxicas (Spain: Galician title) [gl]
Bóla do dragón (Spain: Galician title) [gl]
Dragon Ball (Spain: Galician title) [gl]

Runtime:

Japan:25 min (153 episodes) | USA:30 min (including commercials) (153 episodes)

Country:

USA | Japan | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Certification:

Australia:M | USA:TV-14 (uncut DVD version) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG

Company:

Blue Water Studios

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the original English dub for the episode The Kamehameha wave, Kamehameha is misspelled as Kamehameah on the title screen.

Quotes:

Commander Silver: What have you got in here?
Goku: None of your business.
Commander Silver: Okay then I'll give you one last chance give me that dragon ball.
Goku: No. I need those dragon balls.

Movie Connections:

Followed by "Dragon Ball Z" (1989/I)

No longer that great to me

I used to watch this as a kid and maybe even in my early teen years. Back then I used to love this (like the majority of people) and wouldn't miss a single episode. Whenever each episode was ending, a voice would always say something like «Don't miss the next episode, 'cause we won't miss it too». I'd always follow that line.

Anyway, I am now judging this from an adult point of view. Nowadays this anime series is nowhere near as significant to me as it once was. In fact, now I don't find this so good anymore. I'm not saying it's bad. To be fair, at least it is better than most of the crap they do today. But one has to recognize that this is extremely violent. Considering it is aimed at children (or at least that many children love this), it's even more violent if we put that in mind.

This is basically an anime TV series about martial arts, Japanese stuff and constant "good vs. evil" battles. The good ends up winning always, that's true, but it only happens after long-lasting violent battles and each new villain is worst and more powerful than the previous one.