Dragon Ball International

Category: News

  • Cartoon Network India continues to promote original Dragon Ball

    As of today a new promo has been uploaded to Cartoon Network India’s YouTube account, promising much for viewers to look forward to as the channel continues their long awaited rebroadcast of original Dragon Ball with new dubs.

    The channel initially marketed the 1986 Dragon Ball anime as “the adventure that started it all”, and going by this promo it appears in addition to challenges they also lean in to the adventurous aspect, and of course as the show is a martial arts series battles is thrown in as a selling point.

    The promo showcases scenes from several fights (namely Goku vs Giran, Yamcha vs Jackie Chun and Goku vs Namu) in the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai arc, which should be broadcast very soon.

    Cartoon Network began airing Dragon Ball with 5 episodes, but the number has fluctuated and with the timeslot moving from 2pm to 1:30pm there is a possibility of up to 6 episodes being aired every week. Episodes 1-5 aired August 25th and episodes 6-9 were broadcast on September 1st, so 10-13 can be expected this Sunday.

    It is worth noting while then original marketing for Dragon Ball has been misleading labelling it as a “new show” at a certain point Cartoon Network India may in actuality be airing new episodes for the first time as it is unclear how many episodes were broadcast back in 2010, although it has been said only 49 episodes were dubbed.

    Last Sunday Bardock: The Father of Goku premiered before original Dragon Ball, although this week there is no TV special or movie scheduled at the earlier 1pm timeslot.

    Should there be any changes to the exiting schedule or anything, which has not been aired in India yet or rerun it will be of course covered here.

    For now, may Indian fans continue to enjoy the journey of original Dragon Ball.

  • Dragon Ball Kai expected to be released in the Netherlands tomorrow

    At this year’s Heroes Comic Con on the weekend of June 22nd-23rd the company who previously released a Dragon Ball Super: Broly Blu-Ray Periscoop Anime casually presented a Dragon Ball Kai banner, prompting speculation the series might finally be coming to the Netherlands.

    Periscoop Anime have a streaming service called GoAnime (not to be confused with the illegal streaming site GoGoAnime), which it is expected Dragon Ball Kai will be released on, although as they are also a home video distributor a DVD or Blu-Ray release may be possible.

    Although the company never announced a release date on their social media, or issued a press release, a fan was told it would be September 6th, and that Kai would be available on another Dutch streaming service named Videoland.

    After further fan enquiries Periscoop checked with their material manager that confirmed their contract included Japanese and Dutch audios with Dutch subtitles and that they were looking into an English option if enough potential viewers were interested. In a tweet I made that received 4,345 views, 25, likes, 22 retweets and 3 comments as of this date fans expressed a desire to see the unreleased Ocean Productions dub of Dragon Ball Kai.

    As there has never been a Dutch dub of Dragon Ball this will be the first of its kind, and it remains to be seen whether Periscoop will acquire Funimation’s dub of Kai or take the extra initiative, as fans have advised for licensing the Ocean dub. Nonetheless, Videoland forwarded on the request to the relevant department about what needs to be paid attention to in future.

  • Dragon Ball Daima will begin airing on Fuji TV from October 11th

    The newest Dragon Ball TV anime finally has a release date and timeslot – October 11th at 11:40pm on Fuji TV, marking the first time a Dragon Ball anime has premiered during a late night slot in its native Japan with the first episode being 10 minutes longer than normal. The announcement was made at a revision presentation at Fuji TV headquarters in Minato-ku, Tokyo.

    Previously Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball GT premiered at 7pm on Wednesday nights before Dragon Ball Kai and Dragon Ball Super episodes first aired Sunday mornings at 9am. As such the new timeslot is the latest any Dragon Ball series ever had new episodes debut on Japanese TV.

    Dragon Ball Daima will air as part of Fuji TV’s new programming block dedicated to anime. The name of the block has not been confirmed, but as various sources have said its a new block, it is unlikely Daima will feature as part of Fuji TV’s existing blocks Noitamina and +Ultra. Although the former broadcasts Friday nights from 0:45am to 1:45am, and the latter had a partnership with Crunchyroll to stream content in over 200 territories worldwide after their TV premier, so either would be a suitable candidate for Dragon Ball Daima.

    The channel’s head of programming Yuichi Nakajima revealed the reason behind the change from Sunday mornings to Friday evenings is so Daima can be enjoyed across the whole of Japan because the former didn’t have a consistent timeslot in all regions of the country. Programming director for Dragon Ball Daima Nakajima Yuji added that Sunday mornings are not a national network and that they aimed for a timeslot accessible for both Dragon Ball fans and the target audience.

    Japanese fans can also get a sneak peak of the first episode during an event known as “Daimatsuri” (meaning Daima and festival) held at the Tokyo Big Sight on October 6th with three screenings of the first episode at 10am, 2:15pm and 6pm.

    With regard to how long Dragon Ball Daima can be expected to last, TOEI Animation’s localisation director Daniel Castañeda that the series will have roughly 20 episodes. There is no news about when Daima will be licensed internationally, but it likely won’t be long as Dragon Ball remains an incredibly strong brand and franchise globally.

  • Cartoon Network India crops nudity in Bardock: The Father of Goku

    On its first day premiering in India, a number of cuts and edits have been noticed by fans who caught Bardock: The Father of Goku on its 1pm broadcast today (on September 1st) on the native Cartoon Network.

    The scenes in particular, which cover up any cases of nudity are simply cropped out of the picture instead of applying simple pant edits.

    The source I spoke to provided these screenshots to confirm these crops did take place. I n any case it is very likely that original Dragon Ball.

  • Kurdish dub of Dragon Ball Daima coming to 4Anime in Iraq?

    Recently the anime channel 4Anime, which is part of the 4Group Channels in Iraq has seemingly teased they will be airing Dragon Ball Daima.

    The channel previously shared a promotional image, the same day the official Dragon Ball site posted it, suggesting some effort is being made to keep up with the news. This is further highlighted by the fact. Daima was referenced on 4Anime’s social media as far back as February

    Indeed the most recent instalment of the long running Dragon Ball movie series – Dragon Ball Super : Super Hero was first mentioned on 4Anime’s Facebook at the beginning of March 2022, and aired on their channel over a year later on April 24, 2023.

    Even more interestingly, when Super Hero was being promoted an image was shared of the movie poster with letters from the Arabic alphabet (a notable feature of Kurdish).

    4Anime is currently using these letters on the image they shared for Dragon Ball Daima. Of course this could merely be 4Anime engaging with their followers by asking are they excited, although evidently they are willing to put their mark on it, which could mean they are looking into it already.

    It’s worth noting other than Taiwan, Israel was the first known international territory to receive a dub of the previous series Dragon Ball Super, so it would not be unusual should a Kurdish dub from Iraq become one of the first countries where Daima airs. Israel’s premier also came 14 months after Super premiered in Japan, so assuming there is a similar gap between 4Anime announcing Super Hero and airing it viewers could very well be looking at a timeframe of summer to august 2025 for the new TV anime being released natively.

    In any case when there are updates on the Kurdish dub and 4Anime we will continue to share it.

  • Original Dragon Ball set to premier in Poland on GameToon

    It has been announced that the original 1986 Dragon Ball anime will be returning to TV in Poland next Monday, September 2th.

    Dragon Ball first came to Polish TV with RTL 7’s original run in 1999-2002 in which it aired during the ‘Cool Cartoons’ morning and afternoon programming block using a lectored version of the French dub. It also aired on TVN Siedem.

    Now the Kino Polska group-owned channel GameToon has announced they will be launching an anime strand, which will feature both “Dragon Ball” and “World Trigger” and broadcast several times a day. As both series are TOEI Animation productions it is possible they were acquired in a package deal.

    Fans hoping for a Polish dub as Dragon Ball Kai and Dragon Ball Super have received during their broadcasts on Polsat Games may be disappointed as it appears GameToon will be airing original Dragon Ball with only Japanese audio and Polish subtitles, although sources have said it is so viewers can appreciate the atmosphere and authenticity of the production.

    GameToon have scheduled a daily anime stream Monday-Friday where the first episodes of Dragon Ball and World Trigger will be aired with additional reruns at various times throughout the day.

    For example, current times are as follows:

    6:20am – Repeat of the previous day’s “Dragon Ball” premiere

    7:00am – “Dragon Ball” premiere

    2:20pm – Repeat of the previous day’s “World Trigger” premiere

    3:00pm – “World Trigger” premiere

    3:45pm – Repeat of the previous day’s “Dragon Ball” premiere

    4:30pm – “Dragon Ball” premiere

    11:20pm – Repeat of the previous day’s “Dragon Ball” premiere

    00:00am – “Dragon Ball” premiere

    00:45am – Repeat of the previous day’s “World Trigger” premiere

    01:30am – “World Trigger” premiere

    This will mark not only the second channel to begin airing original Dragon Ball this year (as Cartoon Network India has just commenced their rerun) but also the second channel for the series to be launched on within the space of just over a week, and a first for GameToon.

    As the 40th anniversary of Dragon Ball’s debut in the 51st issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine on November 20, 1984 approaches expect more to be announced in the near future to commemorate the work that made Akira Toriyama a globally recognized mangaka.

    Perhaps more broadcasts or releases of the original Dragon Ball will be on the cards to test the waters for a kid Goku-centric show as countries around the world await the international licensing of Dragon Ball Daima. That would certainly be something to look forward to as the original Dragon Ball is often overshadowed by its successors, most notably Dragon Ball Z, but this may be the time loyal fans have long waited for.

  • Original Dragon Ball returns to India

    Last time we reported on the status of original Dragon Ball on Cartoon Network India there seemed to be hints it would be returning to the channel alongside the debut of Bardock: The Father of Goku.

    If current schedules are to be believed however the channel has stuck the landing of the previously announced August 25th date.

    Cartoon Network is available to Indian audiences through satellite provider Dish TV (channel 176) and content distribution platform TATA Play (channel 667).

    And if these listings weren’t enough, TV Wish’s general episode summary can only point to the original Dragon Ball series.

    This is wonderful news, as it’s been a long time since original Dragon Ball was shown on the channel, and today Cartoon Network dubs more Dragon Ball content than ever and in more languages than in the past with the addition of Malayalam and Kannada dubs. Kai, Super as well as various movies have

    Only a Hindi dub of original Dragon Ball was known to exist before the announcement the show was returning, which means in addition to the redub the Tamil and Telugu dubs are probably new audios as well.

    Super Android 13 preceded the airing of original Dragon Ball at 1pm, Bardock: The Father of Goku will follow this day next week at the same timeslot, and original Dragon Ball has been announced to air on Cartoon Network India at 2pm every Sunday with multiple episodes, so expect more movies and specials as well.

    In promos Cartoon Network continues to pull all the punches describing this “legendary story” as being “of a boy who became” the “mightiest warrior Goku”. Its this kind of promise other broadcasters should have considered given original Dragon Ball to allow it to perform to the best of its ability.

    Stay tuned for further updates on “the adventure that started it all” as Cartoon Network markets the original series as. The 2009/2010 broadcast didn’t cover the whole series, so it would be truly amazing for Indian audiences to finally receive the entire series.

    As Kai and Super were dubbed in full within less than a year this could very much become a reality for original Dragon Ball, and who knows what else that will follow. GT? Daima of course should come eventually, but there’s so much content that Indian Dragon Ball fans would be spoiled for choice if their local Cartoon Network continues dubbing in five languages as it has been doing for the last two years.

  • Panda Kids to air the “Future Trunks” arc of Dragon Ball Super in Portugal

    Then Portuguese channel that began airing Dragon Ball Super on July 29th1 every weekday at 10pm.

    From a source I’ve spoken to, fans that have been keeping up with the broadcast said 2 new episodes were aired every weekday with no breaks, meaning episodes 39-40 aired yesterday and 41-42 will follow on Monday.

    As such on Thursday, August 29th Panda Kids will begin airing the Future Trunks arc with episode 47.

    Dragon Ball Super has been a huge success with Portuguese audiences, having aired on SIC, SIC K, SIC Radical, Biggs and now Panda Kids.

    No doubt the success of these continued airings will bode well for Daima reaching the country in the not too distant future.

    1. The premier date was announced to be August 1st, but listings for Super appeared on Panda Kids’ website the weekend before, confirming it would be on July 29th ↩︎

  • New promos may hint at Bardock the Father of Goku and original Dragon Ball premiering together on Cartoon Network India

    Two new promos have aired on Cartoon Network India, one for original Dragon Ball, another for Bardock: The Father of Goku.

    As we reported previously, current TV schedules seem to indicate Dragon Ball Super will air in original Dragon Ball’s place this Sunday at 2pm on the channel, although equally its possible these listings are just using Dragon Ball Super as a placeholder.

    Nonetheless, while rumours have suggested original Dragon Ball performed poorly when it first aired in India back in 2009 Cartoon Network has been demonstrating confidence in its promos. In the aforementioned promo we see the series being advertised as “a legendary story”:

    In the promo fans are also treated to various shots from the early arcs:

    Of course the marketing train doesn’t stop with original Dragon Ball, it keeps going for the Bardock special:

    What is even more interesting about the Bardock promo is not the hype terminology Cartoon Network uses, but the fact it showcases some shots from the Piccolo Diamao and 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai arcs, it is as if the channel wishes for viewers to stay tuned for September 1st when they will be able to witness both the TV special and the original Dragon Ball series return to India on the same day.

    Indeed the promo goes on to point to either the Bardock special by itself or the Bardock special and original Dragon Ball as being the beginning of something:

    It may be because of the subject matter of the special, Goku is sent to Earth as his father fights against the forces of Freeza’s empire. Original Dragon Ball takes viewers to where Goku’s story begins on Earth. As such premiering both on the same day seems like a clever business move, but this remains to be seen.

    Nonetheless, as mentioned the promo offers brief glimpses into where Goku’s journey takes him in original Dragon Ball:

    The special is being marketed as a “blockbuster”, which may suggest Cartoon Network has had major success with the movies (Dragon Ball Z movies 5-9, 12 and 13) it aired in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada last year.

    Original Dragon Ball and Bardock: The Father of Goku will receive the same treatment, which should allow both to reach audiences far and wide in India.

    So will original Dragon Ball grace Indian audiences within the next two days or will it be another week? Only time will tell, but for sure, exciting times are ahead for all Dragon Ball fans in India.

  • POP UK responds to fan enquiry about airing Dragon Ball Kai

    The former Sony Pictures Television broadcaster, which is now owned by Narrative Entertainment has responded to a fan enquiry about them airing Dragon Ball Kai.

    POP previously aired Dragon Ball Super, which premiered in the UK and Ireland in July 2019, has been in reruns since and only in the last few months been removed from POP’s schedule, although many promotional videos can still be found on their website suggesting they have not lost the rights yet.

    Dragon Ball Kai previously aired in the UK and Ireland on the now defunct channel Kix (owned by another one of POP’s previous owners CSC Media), but despite a lot of rumours at the time the channel ended up airing the Funimation dub, allegedly because TOEI gave them no other option. This may have been because Manga UK’s season DVDs of Dragon Ball Z, which contained the Funimation dub were being released at the time as a means of avoiding marketing confusion, or Funimation might have pulled some strings, but unfortunately clarity was never given on this.

    It is worth noting both WOW Unlimited and Toon-A-Vision negotiated with TOEI to acquire the rights to Ocean Productions’ English dub of Dragon Ball Kai, and the company’s long standing producer Diana Gage has previously said fans should make their voices heard if they wish for this dub to see the light of day.

    It would inevitably be a great opportunity for POP if they were to air Dragon Ball Kai with an English dub that is not widely available or seen, and has a built-in fanbase with actors like Brian Drummond and Scott McNeil, but until then the best that can be hoped for is enough fans reach out to them advising they seek out the Ocean dub.

Category: News