Recently it was announced that RTL Consumer Products would be taking over the marketing of the Dragon Ball brand as part of a strategic plan for the franchises continued growth in popularity throughout Europe, as envisioned by TOEI Animation.
As part of that plan it was revealed that a German dub of the latest anime series Dragon Ball Daima would be coming to TOGGO Plus and then to RTL+, although at the time there was no release date.
That has changed now however with the most recent update in RTL’s press release.
New episodes of Dragon Ball Daima will be set to premier August 28th from Monday to Friday at 9:15pm.
Following on from this the episodes will be available on RTL+ and TOGGO’s website from September 25th.
Last week actor Manolo Solo (real name Manuel Jesús Fernández Serrano) passed away at the age of 62.
The actor known for playing Beerus and #17 in the Castilian dub of Dragon Ball died on Thursday from cancer.
Solo won a Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film Tarde para la ira.
The stage name Solo came from his childhood desire to be a rock star, in addition to his work as an actor he was a singer, bassist and guitarist of the rock band Los Relicarios.
Solo was also a theatre actor, performing in the documentary plays Ruz-Bárcenas (2013) and El Rey (2015), both of which were adapted to films.
Within Dragon Ball, Solo is also known for playing Tao Pai Pai, Silver Horn, Mr. Popo, Gregory, Zarbon (first voice), Jheese, Oob (Dragon Ball GT episodes 32 onward), Bon Para and Nappa in Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
With this week’s 3 new episodes of the Dragon Ball Super Danish dub the latest Nordic dub in the series draws closer to its conclusion with less than a month left to go.
Last summer the relevant rights for the 2024 TV anime Dragon Ball Daima was acquired by Starbright Licensing and Sabor, this strongly implied that a dub was in the works, but since then nothing has been revealed, until now.
Starbright is a licensing agency that helps brands and companies to identify high potential licensing opportunities by anticipating market trends and consumer demands.
Sabot, an Italian company involved in the production of Apparel and Accessories and is a benchmark for the fashion and Licensing world.
Dragon Ball Daima is available for streaming throughout various European countries on Crunhcyroll and Netflix, as well as Anime Generation (Amazon Prime Video) in Italy, but up until now it has only been available subbed.
Dragon Ball has had a long history in Italy since its debut on Junior TV in 1989, so the news of an Italian dub of Dragon Ball Daima will be great news for longtime fans of the franchise.
This is not the only European dub of Dragon Ball Daima coming, as a German dub and a Spanish dub were also announced. There was also an Albanian dub.
The company will rely on a comprehensive 360-degree strategy encompassing all important contact points – from TV and streaming to digital offerings and retail promotion.
The timeshift channel TOGGO Plus will be airing the German dub of Dragon Ball Daima later in the summer and RTL+ will follow suit in September.
Beate Mitschke and Ryuji Kochi, the Vice President of Franchise and Product Development at RTL Consumer Products and President of TOEI Animation Europe respectively both commented on the news about Dragon Ball Daima coming to Germany in the native language:
Mitschke said:
“Mit DRAGON BALL holen wir uns nicht nur eine der ikonischsten Anime-Marken überhaupt ins Portfolio, sondern unterstreichen zugleich unseren Anspruch, relevante Popkulturthemen ganzheitlich zu denken. Die enorme Strahlkraft der Marke ermöglicht es uns, sie zielgruppenübergreifend an allen Touchpoints zu inszenieren und so nachhaltige Impulse für den Lizenzmarkt zu setzen“
In English this can be read as:
“With DRAGON BALL, we are not only bringing one of the most iconic anime brands ever into our portfolio, but at the same time underlining our claim to think holistically about relevant pop culture topics. The brand’s enormous appeal enables us to stage it across target groups at all touchpoints and thus set sustainable impulses for the licensing market”
And Kochi stated:
“DRAGON BALL blickt auf eine weltweite Erfolgsgeschichte zurück. Mit regelmäßig neuen Serien und einer stetig wachsenden Beliebtheit in Europa entwickelt sich die Marke kontinuierlich weiter. Wir freuen uns sehr, heute eine neue Partnerschaft mit RTL, einem der führenden deutschen TV-Sender und Lizenzagenturen, einzugehen. Wir haben große Erwartungen an DRAGON BALL in Deutschland und sind überzeugt, dass RTL Consumer Products die Marke in der Region mit einem vielfältigen und erfolgreichen Angebot hervorragend weiterentwickeln wird“
Which can be translated as:
“DRAGON BALL looks back on a worldwide success story. With regular new series and steadily growing popularity in Europe, the brand is continuously evolving. We are very pleased to enter into a new partnership with RTL, one of Germany’s leading TV broadcasters and licensing agencies, today. We have great expectations of DRAGON BALL in Germany and are convinced that RTL Consumer Products will continue to develop the brand in the region with a diverse and successful offering”
There is no news yet on the exact date for the premier of the Dragon Ball Daima German dub, nor any of the specific products that will hit the market, but that should all be expected relatively soon.
When it comes to TV blocks and Dragon Ball most people will think of Toonami, but when we look at the history of the Dragon Ball anime on TV around the world we learn that there are many different blocks that the show, and indeed its various sequels were broadcast on.
Even within the context of English-speaking countries we had blocks other than Toonami where Dragon Ball became popular.
Fans that watched Dragon Ball down under may remember it from Network Ten’s Cheez TV block, but what about even further south?
The Daily Post TV schedule from the day Dragon Ball Z premiered on TV3 in New Zealand
In New Zealand Dragon Ball Z originally featured as part of TV3’s main lineup, but a lot of fans may remember the show and its sequel Dragon Ball GT from a popular local children’s block named Sticky TV.
Sticky TV was described to me as a “skit show type program”. Segments showcased children giving advice to other kids, mud fights, and contests of everything from singing to cooking, fashion and survival.
The target audience was preschoolers to 12-year olds and it introduced emerging presenters like TV weatherman Sam Wallace, Kanoa Llloyd (The Project) and Erin Simpson (The Erin Simpson Show).
Sticky TV lasted until Christmas Day 2017 but Dragon Ball Z and its sequel Dragon Ball GT were only shown individually (never together) during the first few years of the block’s existence.
Not many fans I’ve spoken to remember Dragon Ball GT airing on Sticky TV or TV3 in general, but having enquired with the National Library of New Zealand and a fan who watched the show at the time I can confirm it did.
On July 5, 2004 Dragon Ball GT was first listed in The TV Guide as a featured programme on Sticky TV, although the block didn’t always advertise all of its programming so the show may have premiered earlier.
July 3-9, 2004 issue of The TV Guide page 63
As for how the New Zealand broadcasts of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball GT differed from the English airings in countries like Australia and the USA? Well that’s a story for another day (Hint: There was further censorship on top of the existing edits).
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