Dragon Ball Z Kai Episode Summaries
ドラゴンボールカイ | ドラゴンボール改
(Doragon Boru Kai)
Dragon Ball Kai
- AKA -
ドラゴンボールゼット改 [カイ] | ドラゴンボールＺ改 [カイ]
(Doragon Boru Zetto Kai)
Dragon Ball Z Kai
98 Episodes
April 5, 2009 ~ March 27, 2011; April 6, 2014 ~ June 28, 2015 (Japan)
May 24, 2010 ~ January 1, 2012 (US)
Series Director: Yasuhiro Nowata
For the first time in history, experience the legendary Z as the master intended: bigger, faster, stronger, and packed with the pulverizing power to blow your puny minds! Beef up your collection with this manga-centric, fresh take on Akira Toriyama's original vision, featuring more action than you can handle, revitalized animation, and an amped-up audio experience that will make your ears beg for mercy!
From April 5, 2009 to August 25, 2011 with 98 episodes in its first run, Dragon Ball Kai (ドラゴンボール改 [カイ]; Doragon Boru Kai lit. "Dragon Ball Revised") is a revised version of the anime series Dragon Ball Z produced in commemoration of the original's twentieth anniversary. The two shows were being marketed together as 'Dream 9', which refers to the hour in which they both air. It features remastered high definition picture, sound, and special effects as well as a re-recorded voice track by the original cast. As most of the series' sketches and animation cels had been discarded since the final episode of Dragon Ball Z in 1996, new frames were produced by digitally tracing over still frames from existing footage and filling them with softer colors; thus reducing visible damage to the original animation. Some frames were selectively cropped, while other frames feature new portions added to scenes that were hand drawn to conform to the designated picture ratio. Much of the material original to the Dragon Ball Z anime, including whole story arcs, will be left out, reducing the episode count from 291 episodes to a hundred total.
The series uses two pieces of theme music: an opening theme, titled "Dragon Soul" and an first ending theme, titled "Yeah! Break! Care! Break!". Both pieces are performed by Takayoshi Tanimoto. Later the second ending is called "Wings of the Heart" (心の羽根; Kokoro no Hane) performed by AKB48. Although the story footage is taken from existing material, the opening and closing sequences were made from scratch using different animation methods. The first DVD and Blu-ray Disc compilation was released on September 18, 2009, with individual volumes releasing monthly as well as Blu-ray box sets.
Since Toriko took over the Kai timeslot, this series premiered in April at 9:00 a.m. on Sundays. The final Cell arc episode aired at the end of March, aligning Toriko and One Piece's Dream 9 slots together. However in November 2012, when seiyuu Mayumi Tanaka announced that this series continued outside of Japan although there were no plans as of yet to air new episodes in its home country. With Toriko finished its run, Dragon Ball Kai enters its second run, returning to the Japanese airwaves on April 6, 2014.
Dragon Ball Kai ended with 159 episodes on June 28, 2015 and was replaced by Dragon Ball Super.
FUNimation Entertainment has licensed the series for release in North America on February 2, 2010 in a recent Navarre's Q3 meeting, where it was retitled Dragon Ball Z Kai. On March 11, 2010, Nicktoons announced that the series had broadcast on their channel in May. Nicktoons premiered Dragon Ball Z Kai by showing two episodes of the series a day for four days starting May 24, 2010. However on May 18, 2010. the DVD released in a home market with Volume 2 in September 2010. Sporadically, more parts has since been released and FUNimation set to release Season 1 in May 2012.
In addition to Nicktoons Network, Dragon Ball Z Kai aired on The CW4Kids Toonzai programming block in August 2010. Nicktoons ended the series on January 1, 2012.
Click on the Saga for its Summaries
- Namek Saga (Episodes 17~30)
- Frieza Saga (Episodes 31~54)
- Trunks Saga (Episodes 55~58)
- Androids Saga (Episodes 59~67)
- Cell Saga (Episodes 68~86)
- Cell Games Saga (Episodes 87~98)
- Majin Buu Saga (Episodes 99~TBA)