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Dragon Ball Z has been around for over 20 years, and since then, it has been released for home use quite a number of times… In fact, so many times, with so many different iterations that it can become a tad confusing for people who’d like to purchase a box set.

So I’ve decided to type up a short summery of the VHS, DVD & Blu-Ray releases.

Pioneer/Madman DVD & VHS sets – 2000~

In the early 2000s Pioneer Entertainment (now Geneon Entertainment USA) released the first 53 episodes (originally cut as 67) on VHS and DVD as well as the first three movies. These contained the edited episodes that were broadcast on US TV.

These DVDs were also released by Madman Entertainment (The Australian & New Zealand anime distributor). These releases contained the original Ocean cast for the English track with the original Japanese music.

FUNimation/Madman DVD & VHS – 2000~

Either after or during the same time as Pioneer were releasing their 53 episodes dubbed by Ocean Group, FUNimation released uncut episodes 68 to 291 with their own dub. The DVDs also came with the option of viewing in Japanese and/or with the English translated subtitles. FUNimation also released movies 4-13 with their English dub.The music featured in these movies were unlike any scores in the series before. FUNimation decided to utilize various tracks from rock bands such as Disturbed, American Pearl & Breaking Point. The two movie specials, Bardock – The Father of Goku & The History of Trunks, were also released in this format.

Ultimate Uncut Edition Box Sets – April 12th, 2005

In 2004, when FUNimation managed to acquire the rights to the first 53 episodes (67 uncut) from Pioneer, they decided to release them with the FUNimation dub and uncut footage. These episodes would be released in 22 volumes featuring a 4:3 aspect ration and a 5.1 English track. FUNimation also acquired the rights to the first three movies. These movies contain different music to that of the Pioneer version or the original Japanese version.

After the 9th volume was released, FUNimation cancelled these box sets and planned to re-release them with the DVD Season box sets. With the Ultimate Uncut Edition not even finishing the Vegeta Saga, many fans who had purchased these DVDs became upset, causing online protests.

Remastered Box Set/Season Sets – February 6th, 2007

In 2007, FUNimation released this digitally remastered DVD box set starting with the first season (Vegeta Saga). The entire series had been transferred to 1080p resolution and cropped at 16:9. The cropped footage at the top and bottom of the screen caused fan out cry. While previously unseen footage from the left and right were apparent, the augment was that this was not how it was presented on TV and therfore not how it was supposed to be viewed. FUNimation announced that many of the frames were damaged and cropping the footage covered it up.

These releases contained an English track with Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound with the original Japanese score. From the Namek Saga onwards, many actors had re-dubbed their lines to keep it consistent with the remainder of the dub. With this release there are options to have the revised English dialogue track with the original Japanese music (Dolby Digital 5.1), the original Japanese dialogue and music (Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono), the English dialogue with FUNimation’s music (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo). The FUNimation music is as follows: Episodes 1-67 Ultimate Uncut Edition music by Nathan Johnson or episodes 68-291 with Bruce Faulconer.

Dragon Box – November 17th, 2009

In 2009, FUNimation announced that they would be releasing the English version of the Dragon Box. The Dragon Box was released in Japan in 2004 with the 16mm film being fully restored, effectively cleaning the film, frame by frame, of all dirt and scratches and most of the grain. The first Dragon Box includes the first 42 episodes, uncut, presented in 4:3 with the original Japanese audio (Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono) with options for an English track (Dolby Digital 5.1) and/or subtitles.

Adding an English dub was said to have been an “Afterthought” on FUNimation’s part, and thus they only used the 5.1 surround dub track from the Season Sets. The 5.1 Track was carried over from the Season sets and is the “English Voices and original Japanese Music” track. The Boxes entirely exclude the “Broadcast Audio” track featuring the US score by Bruce Faulconer. This was seemingly done to keep the video and audio birates at an acceptable level, as more audio tracks would cause the Birate to dip low.

Dragon Ball Z Kai – May 18th, 2010

On April 5th, 2009, the first episode of Dragon Ball Z Kai was released. This version of the series has cut most of the filler elements in the episodes, effectively reducing the overall quantity. In May of 2010, FUNimation released the, once again, revised dub of their English track. Kai uses a new Japanese background score by Kenji Yamamoto. His score was used regularly for all releases of episodes 1-95, however he was given a layoff notice from Toei Animation after it was discovered that he was infringing his music off of other artists and eventually resigned.

Toei released the first set on DVD and Blu-Ray in September, 2009 in 4:3 aspect ratio, which is said that is how it was originally created and was only 16:9 ratio before because it cropped for HD TV.

Dragon Ball Z, Level 1.1 – November 8th, 2011

The latest of the DBZ releases is presented in 1080p exclusive to Blu-Ray with a 4:3 aspect ratio. This release is a kind of counter-part to that of the Remastered/Season Sets.

This release contains three different audio tracks. FUNimation’s English dub, from previous releases, in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 with the original Japanese music. The original English language broadcast version with Bruce Faulconer’s musical score in Dolby True HD 2.0. And lastly, the original Japanese language track with the original Japanese music in Dolby TrueHD Mono.

In my opinion, Kai and the Levels sets are the most promising. Most people tend to go for the Dragon Box but I like the freshness of Kai. The new dialogue is more interesting then what I originally thought it would be.

Well… I mean either Kai or Abridged Never seen DBZ Abridged? Ohhh, I’ma ’bout to pop your lawls berry! Click here!

For more information on everything Dragon Ball, please visit DB Wiki