A release on a streaming platform would certainly be a great way of testing the waters for a home release, especially in the Netherlands case where traditionally they have had English dubs of Dragon Ball, and have thusly been served since 2015 when Manga UK released Dragon Ball Kai on home media for Dutch fans that want the Funimation dub, and even the Yamamoto score for episodes 1-39 (which a separate Dutch release would almost certainly not have).
In any case we will be keeping a close eye on any updates on this mythical Dutch dub and streaming release.
It’s been a whole decade since the CW’s animated programming block Vortexx shut down and Funimation’s edited dub of Dragon Ball Kai was last seen in the US.
Kai then received new episodes from April 13th and a double bill followed starting May 18th until the week of August 10th, and then the week after for the remainder of the run it was a single timeslot at 10am each week.
Saban’s Kidsco Media Ventures LCC bought Toonzai and rebranded it after the splitting of 4Kids’ assets between themselves and Konami’s 4K Acquisition Corp.
As Dragon Ball Community pointed out on Twitter while Toonzai marked the CW premier of the Saiyan and Freeza arcs, Vortexx was the first (and only time) the channel aired the Cell arc, and less episodes were aired over time on Vortexx because it was a Saturday morning block only. Nonetheless the channel aired a large number of episodes, so it was a massive success.
On the Toonzone forums a number of views were expressed over the fall of Vortexx with some regarding its end as the greatest mistake of the animation medium and others acknowledging that even without many other streaming services it was at a disadvantage in the TV landscape of its time.
The end of Vortexx marked a cultural shift of Dragon Ball on US TV, as only a few weeks after the block closed Dragon Ball Kai began airing on Adult Swim’s Toonami block, which was where Dragon Ball Kai: The Final Chapters and Dragon Ball Super premiered in the country.
To this day Dragon Ball has not returned to kids TV in the US, despite the monumental success it had 20-25 years ago on Toonami. It remains to be seen whether or not it will.
Nonetheless as we can see from this Kanzenshuu thread there are indeed fans who not only grew up watching Dragon Ball Kai on the CW but also have fond memories of it:
In any case whether or not Vortexx was in the wrong place at the wrong time we can be grateful that it introduced more kids to Dragon Ball, which is all we can ask for at the end of the day.
TOEI continues to ramp up the releases for Dragon Ball Daima across Europe.
Following on from the announcements of France and Germany on the ADN streaming service as well as Italy, now Spain joins that list of European countries, which will have a legal means of watching Daima.
Selecta Vision has announced the series will be coming to their streaming platform Anime Box on October 11th, meaning Spanish fans can enjoy the series the same date it premiers on Fuji TV in Japan.
Like the other aforementioned European countries, no dub is announced as of yet, but it should be expected to arrive within the next couple of months.
The first of 7 volumes, which contains episodes 1-17 will contain 3 discs in a digipack, art cards, and an episode guide.
Exclusive gifts will also be available for all who pre-order, which appear to be Dragon Ball-themed accessories:
The description, on Selecta Vision’s website, as translated by Google states the following:
Dragon Ball Z Kai is here in a collector’s edition in 7 packs perfect to add to your collection!
THE DEFINITIVE EDITION OF DRAGON BALL Z
– More faithful to Akira Toriyama’s original manga
– No filler chapters
– Remastered in HD
– Improved image with new backgrounds, coloring…
– Scenes corrected with new animation
– New sounds and effects.
– New soundtrack
– Translation more faithful to the original Japanese
– New dubbing with current actors
– Adapted to new screens
Don’t miss out on any Box! Subscribe to comfortably receive each box at home before its launch, without additional costs or procedures. Get the full collection at a special price.
In addition, during your subscription you will receive four exclusive gifts along with box 1, 3, 5 and 7:
– A keychain with a Corp Capsule
-A Radar cushion with sound!
– Acrylic figurines to decorate your collection
– Container box with an exclusive design to be able to store and protect all the boxes.
Each Box includes:
– The episodes of the series in Japanese, Spanish, Catalan, Basque and Galician with Spanish subtitles translated from the original script in Japanese
– An episode guide
– 10 collectible visual cards
All in a digipack with a sleek design that will fit in perfectly with the rest of your collection!
The date of the subscription indicates the release date of the first box, the following deliveries will be received a few days before its release date. The final dates will be announced both on our social networks and on the website.
Remember that the subscription with exclusive gifts is limited and will not be replenished after stocks run out. In the event that the stock of any of the gifts is exhausted, it will be replaced by one of equal or greater value.
As of writing this article episode 56 of Dragon Ball Kai has been uploaded to Selecta Vision’s streaming platform in Spain known as Anime Box.
With a new episode released every weekday, tomorrow will see the release of episode 57 (titled Welcome Back Son Goku! The Confession of the Mysterious Young Boy Trunks) with the new Castilian Spanish dub.
Additionally the VOD platform has more catalogue content with further episodes of original Dragon Ball being released every Friday. Today’s update was a reminder for viewers the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai will be released in 4 days.
The above can be translated as:
“Are you enjoying the first saga of #DragonBall? 📣 Well, I bring good news: Every Friday you will have a new complete saga in AnimeBox! Folded and in VOSE, to give you a good marathon of power all week.
This Friday 20/09 we will see the 21st Martial Arts Tournament, don’t miss it! 🤖”
The above comment Anime Box posted yesterday, as translated by Google can be read as:
🟠 “Dragon Ball Z Kai Update: The Cell Saga starts tomorrow 13/09, and will do it with Spanish, Catalan, Galician and Euskera dubbing!
From Monday 16th all episodes published up to the date of #DBZKai will also feature Euskera and Galician dubbing, which were missing to be included.”
This will likely mean all 98 episodes of Dragon Ball Kai (excluding The Final Chapters, which can technically be counted as a separate show) are now available to view for Spanish audiences.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
French fans will soon be able to experience Dragon Ball Super: Beerus not long after the episodes premier in Japan. Starting October 13th a new episode will be simulcast every Tuesday at 11pm on…
Another Dragon Ball voice actor has lost the battle to cancer. Mike McFarland, who was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a rare form of brain cancer that originates as a growth of cells in the brain…
It has just been announced that the latest anime series in the long running Dragon Ball franchise, Dragon Ball Super: Beerus will be coming to Amazon Prime in Japan on October 12th, the day…
The European dubs of the latest TV anime in the long running Dragon Ball series – Dragon Ball Daima keep coming. To the surprise of fans online a French dub was missing in action,…
The first episode of the Dragon Ball Daima Italian dub is now available as an exclusive preview on the Mediaset Infinity streaming platform. A fan named Venixys on X (formerly known as Twitter) has…
In one of Kanzenshuu’s features they analysed the evidence surrounding the debut date for Dragon Ball Z in North America in 1996, which has many caveats to say the least. Unlike the UK where…
It has been a long road for the Dragon Ball Daima Italian dub, but nearly two years after the series debut across the world there is finally a premier date. Dragon Ball Daima is…
In the last two weeks there have been reports that a Dragon Ball theme park would be constructed near Paris in France, although, according to the anime’s license holder no such license has been…
A premier date has been announced for the enhanced version of Dragon Ball Super. The new TV anime Dragon Ball Super: Beerus will premier on October 11th, the same day as Dragon Ball Daima…
