Dragon Ball Z Kai

Dragon Ball Z Kai, known in Japan as Dragon Ball Kai (lit. "Dragon Ball Revised"), is a Japanese anime series that is a high-definition remastered and recut version of Dragon Ball Z, created for its 20th Anniversary. The series premiered on Fuji TV on April 5, 2009 and ended on August 25, 2011 with 98 episodes produced. There were initially no plans for Dragon Ball Kai to reach the Majin Buu Saga, but Dragon Ball Kai returned to Japanese TV from April 6, 2014 to June 28, 2015, with the Buu Saga (bringing the total episode count to 159; 167 for the international versions).

In North America, Funimation licensed the series and created the English dub using their in-house voice actors. The cast for Dragon Ball Z Kai was mostly the same as Dragon Ball Z except for a few re-casts for various reasons. The series originally aired in the U.S. on Nicktoons from May 24, 2010 to January 1, 2012, in an edited format. The series also aired on The CW's Toonzai (later renamed Vortex) block in an even more edited format.

The series began airing uncut on Adult Swim's Toonami block on November 8, 2014. From February 21, 2015 to June 25, 2016, a rerun of the previous week's episode could also be seen each Saturday at 8:00 PM on the regular Adult Swim block. On Nicktoons and The CW, the show was rated TV-Y7 FV. However, on Adult Swim, it is rated TV-PG DLV, with occasional TV-14 LV ratings.

More recently, the Majin Buu Saga of DBZ Kai made its U.S. debut on Adult Swim's Toonami; beginning on January 7, 2017 under the title Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters (airing concurrent with Funimation's dub of Dragon Ball Super).

Plot
Five years after the events of Dragon Ball, now a young adult and father to son Gohan, Goku meets his older brother Raditz, who reveals to him that they are members of a nearly extinct extraterrestrial race called the Saiyans. The Saiyans had sent Goku (originally named "Kakarot") to Earth as an infant to conquer the planet for them, but he suffered a head injury soon after his arrival and lost all memory of his mission, as well as his blood-thirsty Saiyan nature. Goku refuses to help Raditz continue the mission and has to team up with Piccolo, and sacrifice his life, in order to defeat him. However, Goku is revived a year later by the Dragon Balls, after training in the Other World with King Kai, in order to save the Earth from the Saiyan prince Vegeta. However, in the battle Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Tien and Piccolo are killed. Due to Piccolo being one with Kami, the Dragon Balls no longer exist, resulting in Gohan, Krillin and Bulma traveling to Piccolo and Kami's home planet, Namek, in order to use the balls there to revive their friends. However, the galactic tyrant Frieza is already there doing the same, leading to several battles with his minions and Vegeta, the latter of which teams up with Gohan and Krillin to fight the Ginyu Force. After Goku arrives on Namek, the final epic battle with Frieza himself comes to a close after Goku transforms into a legendary Super Saiyan and avenges the lives of billions across the galaxy.

Characters
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Differences from the original
Dragon Ball Z Kai features remastered high definition picture, sound, and special effects as well as a re-recorded voice track by most of the original cast (from both the Japanese and English dub casts). The English dub by Funimation also features a more faithful adaptation of the Japanese dialogue than their previous dub of Dragon Ball Z.

As most of the series' sketches and animation cels had been discarded after 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; thus reducing visible damage to the original animation. Some frames were selectively cropped, while other frames feature new portions added to scenes that were hand drawn to conform to the designated picture ratio.

Much of the filler material from the Dragon Ball Z anime that was not featured in the Dragon Ball manga has been left out in Kai; significantly reducing the total episode count.

English dub re-casts

 * Several minor characters' voices have also been re-cast by Funimation.

Broadcast History

 * Japan (Fuji TV) — April 5, 2009 - March 27, 2011; April 6, 2014 - June 28, 2015
 * United States (Nicktoons) — May 24, 2010 - April 2013
 * United States (The CW) — August 14, 2010 - September 27, 2014
 * United States (Adult Swim) — November 8, 2014 - Present
 * United Kingdom (Kix!) — December 26-28, 2012 ; January 5, 2013 - 2014
 * Asia (Toonami) — December 1, 2012 - Present