''Dragon Ball Z Kai'' is a recut and remastered version of the long-running sequel

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series ''

Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' (''DBZ'') is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 ''Dragon Ball'' television series and adapts the latter 325 chapters ...

'', produced to commemorate its 20th anniversary. The series was produced by

Toei Animation is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including '' Sally the Witch'', '' GeGeGe no Kitarō'', '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

with the intention of creating a revised version of ''Dragon Ball Z'' with re-recorded dialogue, improved animation

cel A cel, short for '' celluloid'', is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid (consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor) was used during the first half of the 20th cent ...

quality, and omission of most anime-exclusive content not found in the ''Z''-covered half of Akira Toriyama's original ''

Dragon Ball is a Japanese media franchise created by Akira Toriyama in 1984. The Dragon Ball (manga), initial manga, written and illustrated by Toriyama, was Serial (literature), serialized in ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from 1984 to 1995, with the 519 indi ...

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

. The series was originally broadcast in Japan on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

from April 5, 2009, to March 27, 2011, with follow-up continuation covering the remaining story arcs from the original manga airing in Japan from April 6, 2014, to June 28, 2015. ''Kai'' features remastered high-definition picture, sound, and special effects as well as a re-recorded voice track by most of the original cast. As most of the series' sketches and animation

s 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. This reduced visible damage to the original animation. To convert the 4:3 animation to 16:9 widescreen, some shots were selectively cropped while others feature new hand drawn portions; an uncropped 4:3 version was made available on home video and international releases for the first 98 episodes. Some countries would also air it in 4:3. Much of the anime-original material that was not featured in the manga was cut from ''Kai'' (ultimately abridging the 291 episodes of ''Dragon Ball Z'' down to 159 in Japan and 167 internationally). The series would return in 2014, running for an additional 61 episodes in Japan, and 69 episodes internationally. The international version of the 2014 series was titled ''Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters'' by Toei Europe and

Funimation Funimation was an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming service. Launched in 2016, the service was one of the leading distributors of anime ...

, and had initially only been earmarked for broadcast outside of Japan. The home media releases of ''The Final Chapters'' contain a Japanese audio track for all episodes, including those that were never broadcast in Japan. The first DVD and

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

compilation was released in Japan on September 18, 2009. Individual volumes and Blu-ray box sets were released monthly. France was the first country to release all 167 episodes of the series on DVD and Blu-ray.

Series overview

Episodes

Saiyan Saga (2009)

Frieza Saga (2009–10)

Androids and Cell Saga (2010)

Cell Games Saga (2010–11)

World Tournament Saga (2014)

Majin Buu Saga (2014)

Evil Buu Saga (2014–15)

Home media releases

Japanese

DVD

Blu-ray

English

Volumes

Seasons

Complete Series

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon Ball Z Kai Kai Animated television series set on fictional planets ja:ドラゴンボール改 zh:七龍珠改